[It takes him a bit, but Eustace manages to track down the source of the sound he had heard: a small lizard scurrying about on the walls. In a quiet voice he calls out to it, the lizard initially startled at having someone address it and then discovering it could be understood. Well, mostly, when it doesn't talk a mile a minute or get distracted. But after listening to unneeded stories about the miners, the family, its many harrowing escapes from death, Eustace is finally able to get it to focus onto whether the dragon is nearby.
It is!
Just not down these tunnels. Who would want to go near a scary beast like that?? They might look similar, but really—
Eustace sighs and begins to tune it, letting it run its mouth for a few seconds before getting it back on track. Just as the lizard is about to give him concrete directions, he hears a strange sound back towards where he had come from...a sound that does not bode and he immediately has to abandon the lizard to run back.
About halfway between where Eustace was and where the two were mining were some tracks that led down another shaft and abandoned mining carts. Most were empty, but some held some equipment and other parcels. While he was gone and the two were mining, the weight of the items within one of the carts to slowly shift along the tracks. While the ground may seem level, in fact they are on a very subtle incline, and so bit by bit the cart had moved until it finally gained traction to roll down. It makes a loud CRRKKKKKKKSSSHHH sound as the rusted wheels grate on the metal tracks, catching the attention of all of them easily (and the sound Eustace heard).
Of course, luck would have it that some carts had explosives in or near them and the one that's rolling away is carrying some, something that Eustace quickly notices. So don't mind Eustace shouting—]
no subject
It is!
Just not down these tunnels. Who would want to go near a scary beast like that?? They might look similar, but really—
Eustace sighs and begins to tune it, letting it run its mouth for a few seconds before getting it back on track. Just as the lizard is about to give him concrete directions, he hears a strange sound back towards where he had come from...a sound that does not bode and he immediately has to abandon the lizard to run back.
About halfway between where Eustace was and where the two were mining were some tracks that led down another shaft and abandoned mining carts. Most were empty, but some held some equipment and other parcels. While he was gone and the two were mining, the weight of the items within one of the carts to slowly shift along the tracks. While the ground may seem level, in fact they are on a very subtle incline, and so bit by bit the cart had moved until it finally gained traction to roll down. It makes a loud CRRKKKKKKKSSSHHH sound as the rusted wheels grate on the metal tracks, catching the attention of all of them easily (and the sound Eustace heard).
Of course, luck would have it that some carts had explosives in or near them and the one that's rolling away is carrying some, something that Eustace quickly notices. So don't mind Eustace shouting—]
Stop the cart!