6. Escape Plan

Sybil was rather quiet as she followed Morris down a flight of stairs and then a large corridor. She had to say that for being built into the side of a mountain, this place was rather open and airy. She noted that it looked like a honeycomb. With large gathering rooms, and whole areas that looked like apartments or something. Morris said that they were large and families lived  here. They had a number of rooms to call their own, which was just like owning a house outside. 

It was clear that each level was designated for something, but she didn’t get to see much of that. She wasn’t even sure what level she had been on. But where he took her she got the feeling that this was where the schooling happened. She saw a number of younger children through one door. Perhaps ten and then farther down older children, no more than twelve of them. 

“Do you school age groups together?” She asked and he gave a nod.

“We have grown few. This is the only schooling area for us at the moment. Depending on where the ages are, we tend to teach younger children at a higher level. Or the older children come at a later time for private teaching.”

“Oh.” She smiled at a couple that they passed. They gave her a curious look saying something in a language she didn’t know. Morris responded, and it must have been some kind of pleasantry because they continued on. She noted that they did watch her a bit. 

“Guess it’s easy to tell I’m not from here.” She commented softly as they went through a door and he held it open for her to go ahead of him. There was a flight of narrow stairs here.

“Seeing as we are a small community, yes. But we are still large enough that some don’t actually know each other but by word of mouth. What sets you apart is your scent, you don’t smell like us. You have a human scent.” He told her as they went down. At the bottom there was what looked like a stone wall and you could go right or left but only about ten feet in either direction. She didn’t see any doors, it made her a little uneasy.

“What do we smell like?” She asked curious.

“Everyone has their own scent miss, there is a… tang to the scent that humans carry. It is hard to describe unless you have scented it.” 

“Oh.” She said and he didn’t go left or right. He just stepped forward and shoved a stone in. It slid to the side and a key hole was there. He then inserted it and turned left first then right. A moment later stone slid and a doorway was revealed where nothing had been before and she was rather amazed.

“Wow, neat.” She said seriously and stepped into the room. Her gaze slowly went around it even more stunned. Wow, there was so much in this room. She felt her body hum in reaction to the items here. It kind of made her smile.

“Things are stored on shelves by where they come from, and then stored by name. Of course some items are out of order if they can’t sit next to certain items in case of a reaction. There is an inventory list in that large tome over there.” He said pointing. She just briefly glanced at it. The room went up about fifteen feet and then was as long as a football field. There were a lot of items stored in here. It looked like a place where one would practice alchemy. 

“This is amazing.” She said and all she could do was stare. This made her hard earned stores look dismal. She could tell that they didn’t have mass volume of just one item, but they had mass volume of many items. The room looked like it hadn’t been used in years. It was neglected, even had the smell of stale air.

“That it is, but we don’t have a healer that works with such things. Our people are very healthy and there are only a rare few aliments that strike us. Mostly from an unnatural form. This craft was lost to us as my people don’t tend to carry this kind of magic.” He cleared his throat. 

“This is incredible, I could do a lot with this. Help many, but I do need to make sure you have all the ingredients that I need or I can’t make it here.”

“We will get whatever you need. This illness is one that we can fall too as well. Especially if the Xolotl that spread it isn’t killed in time. We could use your help too Ms Temes. If you’re willing.” She looked at him and saw a sadness in his gaze. There was a bit of hope but sadness and perhaps defeat. She wasn’t sure which.

“I’m willing to help any that need it. However I do need to take care of those that I know are inflicted first. My father is one, and I’ll never forgive myself if I run out of time. If you need help Morris, I’m willing to. Just know that I need to take care of this first and then I can take on another challenge.” Because she had a feeling that the help he hinted at might not be the same.

“Completely understood, our Prime said you may have access to these stores. What has been learned about you is why you are allowed. You are not a mean spirit with malicious intent.” He pointed to the pack she had carried with her. “Even if you did come to our land to harvest plants without permission.” She turned a little red and glanced away from him.

“If it was your family you’d do the same thing.” She commented.

“Fair enough, please do see if what you need is here so I can get you what you require. Time waits for no one.” She gave him a smile and moved over to the tome to read what was in there, and hoped like hell they labeled things the same as she did, most of her items were from her world so they should be called the same name. She’d just have to search a bit for  the others. However if she couldn’t find them quickly, she wasn’t staying here she was going, and no one was going to stop her.

Sybil was amazed though at the items that they hand.  Not just the natural things she liked to work with. It was clear this race collected a great many things that they came across. There was a large amount of historical value in here, but she didn’t have time to really look at it. What she was doing right now was standing facing a shelf that had several different clear jars on it and then a couple metal tins. 

There wasn’t enough mint. The kinds that were here, didn’t look like the one she used. There were trillions of species in plants alone out there in the universe. She didn’t have the time to assume that one of these was going to work the same. She had a feeling the first in the clear jar would, and she’d use it. Sybil took the jar to give it a try. 

She was right, at least with what she found to use. There wasn’t enough and had only managed to make four cures, she needed to go back home. She didn’t have the time to search the tome and read all the descriptions to find a suitable substitute. If she did she’d stay. This room had an amazing amount of items in it. She’d love to work in here and add to the stores.

However she knew she was going to have to find her way out of here. She had a pretty good memory but she’d not seen an exit when leaving her room farther above. Sybil had her talent though. She had a few items that would help her get out. Didn’t matter to her, the little magic she had outside of potion making would help this time. She had waited for Morris to show again and check on her. Then after waiting about five minutes she packed her bag and consumed a blue green leaf before drinking some yellow liquid. In her opinion no one gave this branch of magic and science much credit. That was their problem, not hers. 

Sybil pulled a clear jar toward her and took some of the paste from it. She rubbed it on her clothes and arms before she jogged over to the door and went out. By the time she was in the hall, you couldn’t see her at all. What she’d eaten and drank did it. She was invisible and what she smeared on herself would conceal her scent. She jogged up the stairs and then was sure to be quiet as the potion used didn’t stop others from hearing her. She reached in her pocket and squeezed her hand hard around a rather soft and squishy item that popped, she mumbled a few words and then tossed it. 

To her eyes only she could suddenly see a golden trail that lead forward and she smiled. Man she was glad for her skill and the use of that room. She was quick to follow it, having to stop only a few times as people passed her and she swallowed rather harshly as a large wolf went by her at one point. It stood at her hip at least, but it meandered by and she rounded the corner cautiously. When she did that the wolf stopped and turned its head back, eyes narrowing and head going up. However after a couple minutes where she held even her breath it continued on and then so did she. She needed to hurry though, this potion would only last for an hour and she had no idea how close to the cave system from here she was.

The golden line lead her to a window that was about ten feet up. It was more of an arch way than a window, but to the left she saw stairs that went down. Leaning out the window she could see down the way toward where she knew the cave was. They lived close to the entrance, and luckily she had been taken here. She ran for the stairs as no one was present and then was going down them. The air cold here and showing her breath. She was almost to the bottom and stopped at a couple people coming up the walkway. Shit, the snow was high on either side from where it had been cleared to make a path to the stairs. Sybil couldn’t walk around them.

However the cleared area here was large enough for her to step to the side, but she had to be careful. They could still see footprints if she made them. Or her breath if she kept breathing the way that she was. So she calmed her breathing, made sure to stay on the stone that was clear and waited. Her heart skipped a beat as they were nearly to her. The one was Aries and that made her more than nervous. She knew she wasn’t giving off a scent she made sure, and she couldn’t be seen yet. However something about him set off her alarm system, not to mention he said that he was what they called Prime. She prayed that they would keep going and not bump her as the two large men walked up. She also prayed that he didn’t have some unknown ability and would know she was there. 

It was the other man who was closest to her, one she had never seen. He had blue eyes and really dark hair. Both of them were talking and seemed down about the conversation though she couldn’t understand them. The were speaking the native language here. They reached the bottom of the stairs and the one came close to brushing her but didn’t. He started up first as there wasn’t as much room on the stairs to walk side by side. Aries went to follow him, one foot on the first step and then stopped. 

Aries paused frowning and the other noticed this. She felt her heart beat hard against her chest. There was no way that he could know she was standing here. She hadn’t done anything, so she was hoping that it was something else. His gaze slowly swept the area, and she felt like it paused on her for a moment and then looked around again before at the ground. He stared at the snow and the other man seemed to ask him a question. He responded. They had a quick conversation and then Aries turned and went back the way they had come from. Sybil cursed under her breath. If she wanted out, she had no choice but to follow and hope he didn’t notice. He was going the direction she needed to go.