Chapter 45: Ch 45 – Buckets

Devin was still lingering over me staring into my eyes, as though he intended to find some answers hidden there. We were so intently focused on each other that when an unwanted voice inserted itself into my head I sat up, smacking our heads together.

“Ow!” Devin and I cried out at the same time.

“What… did you do that for?” Devin asked rubbing his forehead.

I mirrored him, practically whimpering, “Sorry… Dungeon calls.” I tried to explain.

“I missed that, you sort of surprised me.” I replied via the dungeon's mental connection once the pain was no longer my primary focus.

“We’ve waited for you to leave in a cave north of town, what continues to delay you?” Naan asked.

“We need to wait for the things I traded for to be ready.” I explained.

“Hmm… I didn’t expect this.” Naan stated.

“Technically neither did I..." I admitted, "We are going to hold up in an old church on the edge of town.” I explained.

“How long?” Naan asked.

“Two or three days?” I replied.

“You can probably come into this building after the sun sets, there is space in the basement.” I explained.

“Is that wise?” The dungeon asked.

“It's underground, so you could probably establish a dungeon. We really should start playing around with this mana I’ve been busy making.” I pointed out even while tracing Devin’s jaw with my eyes.

“There is an expansive if somewhat strange cave system under us." The dungeon agreed, "I'm also well aware of your progress in replenishing our reserves.” Naan confirmed, "It's good to have a steady supply for my continued use."

“Sounds like a plan then?” I asked feeling like the word choice was a little weird, but it was Naan I was talking to.

There was a long pause as Naan considered, “You’re not specifically trying to delay us are you?”

I blinked, “What?”

“It doesn't escape my attention that the moment you’ve found yourself among your much-desired comforts that the first thing you’ve done is insist on staying for several days.”

I couldn’t deny that… Also, I had sort of been house shopping earlier too… But no, I shook my head. “No, it really does boil down to waiting for them to finish making what I want. Besides I wouldn't have chosen to stay in an abandoned church if I had my way.” I pointed out. I much would have preferred someplace with beds. Not that I really had many options. Then again I hadn't really pressed the issue either, but I had my reasons for that as well.

“Very well. We’ll wait until after dusk and sneak through the fields.”

That done I looked up at Devin, “So… I guess we should get started?”

He nodded standing up and offering me his hand.

Grasping it, and being heaved up to my feet I added, “By the way, you know anywhere that has glowing cave mushrooms? It's kind of dark inside.”

“No. But if you want something to light the place up we could probably get a candle or two?” Devin replied.

“We don’t really have any money.” I pointed out.

“I’ll talk to Jenny, she seems nice enough, and if anything else they subtract it from the coin they said they would pay me tomorrow since I'll be helping again."

I nodded and we did as Devin had suggested, turned out Jenny didn’t mind parting with a candle still feeling bad about how Evan had more or less kicked us out.

So lit candle, bucket, and washcloth in hand we started in the first room in the basement. Devin and I carried out the old mattress and threw it behind the building, out of the way. From there I had planned to attack one corner and work out from there. But before I could explain myself and my plan Devin just dumped the water on the stone floor. Stared at him in disbelief.

“What? Now we can scrub it clean.” He noted.

“With what?” I asked.

He frowned, “Oh right, usually when we did this... we had something…”

I sighed, “If only we had a mop or brushes.”

“Maybe there are some plants nearby we use.” Devin pointed out.

We wasted some time looking around and even argued briefly about asking Jenny for something but in the end, we just got more water and kept rinsing the rough cloth we’d been loaned. It was coated in dirt from the first use and it was a constant battle to keep it even a semblance of clean.

I kept sending Devin to get some more water while I worked on the floor itself. The main plan was to just get the dirt into the water and get it out of the room.

After the third or so bucket, Devin came back, and standing there with the door opened he just chuckled.

“What?” I asked glaring up at him from my hands and knees practically soaking in dirty water.

“I just realized how useless we both are at this.”

I frowned for a moment then chuckled back, “Right?”

We both laughed for a minute and Devin was the next one to speak as I continued trying to get the water out of the corner, “Hmm… The water is pooling on that side of the room right?”

I followed his gaze and I nodded. It was one of the reasons it was taking so long, the floor itself's angle didn’t really want me pushing the water out of the room, or anywhere for that matter.

“It's flowing the other direction in the hall out here.” He pointed out, tapping with a boot on the floor.

“Does that help us?” I asked.

He considered, “Maybe we should check the other rooms?”

I frowned, “Maybe…” If the other rooms had a different slant this might be easier in them, but we’d already put some effort into this one, it couldn't take that much longer could it?

“Might as well?” He pressed.

“Sure…” I sighed.

There were four rooms in total, and the first room was quite soggy from the mess we had made already. We moved to the second room, to find there was no mattress, just an empty wooden bed frame leaning against the wall. We emptied a bucket of water onto the floor to find that the water in this room actually flowed towards the door, or at least to that side of the room.

“Alright… this is going to help quite a bit.” I admitted.

“Might as well check the next? I didn’t use the full bucket.” Devin said.

I nodded, we might as well check it out.

We pushed open the third door to find the old sacks and planks. A half-broken shelf and some long wooden tubes were in the corner.

“Some kind of storage?” I asked.

“Looks like it, last room?” Devin replied just moving along since the room was smaller and full of things we didn't want to deal with.

We pushed open the last door only to be pushed back suddenly as a massive rush of air struck me, and I was forced backward. After a moment we both leaned forward confused by that. Devin held out the candle which luckily had continued to burn. We found there was not much of a room to be found. Instead, it was mostly a pit.

“Shit…” I said staring down into the darkness.

“What the hell…” Devin said.

After a moment of squinting something caught my eye, “There's a ladder down there.” I pointed down into the darkness.

Down maybe a whole extra level from where the floor should have been was stone and a ladder that had tipped over.

Devin squinted down into the darkness but the candle right in front of him wasn't helping his night vision.

“You want to help me down?” I asked.

“What!? You want to go down there?” Devin stared at me.

“Why not? I’m curious.” I replied.

“I thought women were supposed to hate dark caves.” He mused.

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“I was born in a dark cave.” I stated.

“I can’t tell if that's serious or not?” He said considering me.

“Never mind… a bad joke.” I said realizing that I’d accidentally almost let the truth slip there. Did it matter? Come to think of it, why was I still hiding that truth? Especially from Devin, he would understand, right? I decided I’d consider it for a time longer and instead asked him, “Come on, where is your sense of adventure?”

“Back in that camp with Dragon Smith.” Devin snorted.

“Really?” I asked him.

He chuckled, “Alright, But I’m going down first.”

“Don’t be silly. I can’t possibly lift you out.” I insisted.

“There's a ladder.” He pointed to the object in question.

“Which might break when you try to climb it. I go down first, you stay right here in case I need you. When I make sure the ladder is fine you can come down too.” I explained.

He sighed, “Fine. I hate it when you make sense.”

“What? I always make sense.” I insisted.

He frowned, “Maybe that was a poor way to put it.”

“Then what did you mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” He sighed and held out his arm, “Grab on, let's do this.”

I shook my head at him, “Alright.” Then gripped his arm tightly to my bosom.

He lowered me down with a bit of effort and after my feet were on the cool stone ground I checked the wooden climbing aid as planned. As it turned out the ladder was actually better than fine. Not a single problem with it. I leaned It up against the wall and climbed up it. “Welcome to my cave!” I said as I reached Devin who was sitting next to the edge.

I climbed back down and waved up at Devin who was watching me intently, with a raised eyebrow.

He climbed down and we stood down in the oddly dry area with wind seeming to constantly be flowing up and out the door.

“What is this place…” Devin said holding out the candle to try and see a bit further, the candle flame flickering at the smooth flow of air from the depths. The light reached the edges of a tunnel around us, but the tunnel continued down a slope.

“Some kind of cave.” I pointed out the obvious. “Naan did say there were a lot of caves around here… I didn’t expect one to be literally connected to the church though.” I pointed out.

“Yeah…” Devin said walking forwards towards where the path began to descend in earnest.

I followed after him so as to not be left in the dark and we wandered down what appeared to be a natural cavern. We followed the passage and it eventually expanded out into a much larger chamber. Continuing just a bit further we stopped at the edge of a perfectly reflective pool.

Staring down at the water Devin asked, “You don’t think this is the well water do you?”

I leaned over poking a finger into the water, “It’s cool and wet as expected.” I could feel and see the water push around my finger, it wasn't just still, it was flowing with some force behind it.

“Good to know…” Devin said before laughing.

“Would it be faster to draw water here than from the well?” I asked.

“Probably, it's not too far. Though it's really dark down here.”

“True.” I agreed just as a burst of wind blew past us causing the candle flame to flicker more intensely.

“Let's go back up top. There's not really much for us to do down here.” Devin said after a moment.

“Done already?” I asked.

“For now. I really don’t want to be stuck down here in the dark if the candle goes out.” Devin said quite seriously.

“Fine… I really hate it when you make sense.” I said.

He snorted and reached out and slapped my ass, “How’s that-” He started before realizing what had already started happening.

My feet were both on the damp stone near the water's edge, and that tiny shove had caused me to slip forward. I shifted this way, and that way but no matter how I tried to catch myself the stone was so smooth and slippery that I just slid right to the edge and then dropped down into the water. “Fuck!” I shouted right before plunging into the clear mirror below me, which quickly shattered into a sizeable splash.

I dropped into the icy water and flailed for several moments in panic. Luckily the water itself was clear and steady, my eyes locked onto the light of Devin's candle and I quickly righted myself and reached out for the stone lip. Pulling myself just enough out of the water that I could take several quick panicked breaths. I was soaking wet and catching my breath, but I was fine.

Devin who had just managed to set down the candle had looked ready to leap into the water until he noticed I'd already pulled myself to the surface. Of course, he was a handful of steps away from me now. I'd clearly drifted but he seemed relieved that I was alright as his eyes settled on me.

“Help?” I asked him holding out a hand.

He didn’t hesitate to make his way over to me and leaned over offering his hand. I took it and pulled him instead.

A few moments of flailing on his part and he came up to the surface glaring at me, “Seriously!?”

“What? You wanted to take a bath. Here we are.” I offered.

“Damn it’s cold…” he shivered.

He wasn't wrong, it was quite cold. I pulled myself out of the water sitting on the edge for a moment and he quickly followed after me.

“Now we have to dry our clothes…” He groaned.

I simply let my fleshy dress flow back into my naked flesh and turned to grin at him.

“Fine… I need to dry my clothes.” He said with no less frustration.

“Well, you might as well take them off then.” I gestured with a hand eager for him to remove them once more.

He sighed but did so, pulling each item free, wringing it out, then tossing them onto the slick stone one by one, shirt, pants, and finally underpants.

“Had you left it alone neither of us would have to deal with this.” He complained.

“But this is way more fun.” I admitted practically beaming as I stood up careful not to slip on the smooth stone.

“You’re incorrigible.” he sighed as he walked over to me.

“Hmm?” I asked glancing up at him.

He reached over and his rough hand ran along my cheek as he let his fingers cup around my chin. Then, he leaned down and kissed me.

A few breathless moments drifted past no different than the slow breeze. He pulled back and stared into my eyes, even in the shadowy darkness of the cave.

I didn't mind of course, but I was curious. “What brought that on?” I asked. Not that I wanted that moment to end.

After a moment he said, “Just felt like it. But I do need you to be serious for a moment, and go see if you can find me a change of clothing I can borrow, and maybe some twine to hang these up?” He gestured towards his clothing.

That sounded boring... “Or… we could wait for them to dry and occupy ourselves in other ways…” I offered, wriggling my fingers to let my own plans be known.

“Did you already forget about earlier?” He asked, staring at me in disbelief.

“Earlier. Later. Fuck now. Fuck later. Is there really a downside to all of the above?” I asked innocently.

He chuckled, “You temptress, will you stop tempting me? This whole thing has been one massive distraction as it is. Get going, or we’re going to be sleeping down here.”

But tempting him was the most fun! “Is it that bad of an option?” I asked, honestly weighing it.

“Considering we have no idea what's actually down here?” He asked back.

“Oh…” I said realizing that maybe I had forgotten something in all of my fun and silliness. This world had monsters in it…

Best to maybe stop goofing around, for a bit.

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