Chapter 12

They had been crawling for over fifteen minutes, and Mark's knees were beginning to hurt. "I've always done this with kneepads or a skateboard," he thought to himself. "Thank goodness the marble is smooth." Mark looked up in admiration at his daughter before him. She was combat crawling rapidly, keeping the carbine trained on the leading edge of the curve in the spiral tunnel. Her body seemed to float over the floor, Mark could barely keep up with her.

Mayoni stopped suddenly and froze. The group behind her waited in silence. " * Father? * " Mayoni sang in a whisper.

" * Yes? * " Mark sang back.

"I am about a half turn from the end of the spiral. At the end, if I need to fire, a ricochet might travel straight back. You will be safer if I advance alone."

"No Mayoni. We go together."

"Understood... I love you father." Mayoni began to crawl silently forward. Mark tried to follow as quietly as possible.

They were soon both overlooking the circular well from the top ledge. There were numerous stacks of boxes arranged neatly at the bottom, and the bottom exit tunnel could clearly be seen in the beam of the flashlight. "Mayoni," said Mark. "This is not the time to lead with the carbine. I'll go down the ladder first. Cover me. Let me see if they are waiting to rush us from the tunnel."

Mayoni sighed. "Your tactics are correct. I will cover."

Leon was behind Mark and spoke up. "Brother, let me go first. I have a survival knife. Remember who won our throwing contest?"

"I did!"

"Well, yeah, but only because you were fantastic with the kitchen cleaver! I was better with a straight throwing knife. You tended to throw high, remember? And I've been practicing too."

Mark thought for a second. "Yeah, I remember... All right. Play it real careful. Climb back up like crazy at the first hint of trouble. Let Mayoni do the work of covering for you."

"Yeah." Leon gave Mayoni a brief smile, and she nodded back. He then climbed rapidly down, slowing near the end but still maintaining a steady pace down. The piles of boxes provided a small space for him to pass through. Leon finally stood at the bottom and shown his light down the exit tunnel. "Seems vacant," he called up to the team forty feet above. "There are more boxes stacked along the floor in the exit tunnel. Mayoni, come down and take the point again." Mayoni practically flew down the ladder. The rest of the team followed.

With Mayoni in the lead, they began to walk single-file through the short exit tunnel. After about forty feet, Mayoni could begin to see the exit light around the bend in the curve, about thirty feet away. She paused for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the sunlight. Carbine raised, she started to advance slowly to the exit, the team of warriors following closely behind. Mayoni stopped ten feet from the exit.

"Looks real peaceful..." Leon whispered.

Mayoni sang out loudly, " * Grandfather! * We * have * arrived! * We * are * coming * out! * "

" * It * is * always * a * pleasure * to * hear * your * sweet * song! * " sang Kaimi. " * Come * out * granddaughter! * "