This time, I'M POSTING
GUARDIANS, THIEVES, AND INDUSTRY--The battle for Last Legs (cont.)
They passed the smoldering wreckage of the blockage the rebels had blown to pieces. Metal bars that acted as a support for the cement building was now melting a red-hot heat, bubbling down in to the ice-cold water, hissing steam as it went down. The river current was a bit more stronger without the dam that blocked the flow, so they went faster down the river, and didn’t waste too much time to get to Sekto’s dam. Nearly half-way down the river, Stranger slowed the boat down, holding back on the oars. They both looked at another blockage of the river, only the dam was much larger, and was literally a part of the canyon passage. Stranger grunted in anger, punching the edge of the boat and looking down at the water. Umi observed the canyon walls carefully for something else to get by the dam. She locked on the left wall, near the edge to the dam, then tugged on Stranger’s arm. When she got his attention, she pointed to the canyon wall. He squinted his eyes, getting a better picture of the thing she was pointing at. He saw a small crack in the canyon, leading in to a cavern of some sort. He smiled, and gave a grateful squeeze on her shoulder.
“That’s usin’ yer eyes, kid. Good work,” he smiled down to her. He turned the boat to the crack, then began to row vigorously towards it. The crack was large enough to fit the entire boat through. And what was inside was something remarkable to Umi. The cavern was tinted a teal-blue color, glowing off on to their faces. Giant brushes grew either on top of the cave, or beside them, near the water. As they got deeper, large plateaus of land towered over and nearly up top to the roof. But that didn’t interest them. It was what was on them that caught their full attention. Small shaven, crack shacks made of stone and tin roofs, stood abandoned on the shameless plateaus. Rickety bridges were held together with fleshy vines, leading to the other side of the abandoned cave town. Boulders that stuck out of the water had the same paintings that they saw back in the forest, when they were traveling to New Yolk city, but some were different. Next to the Steef guardian, was a small, spikey-haired character, wielding a spiked object out in front of it. Umi squinted as they got closer to it, then suddenly realized who that was. Stranger grinned at her expression when she realized.
“Well. I guess when they say yer gonna be a legendary part of a Steef guardian’s life, I guess they meant it,” he smiled back down to her again.
“Yeah…” she said absently. Her mind only concentrated on the painting. She and Stranger, fighting along-side to defeat the Sekto demon. She knew it was going to happen, but now she realized her destiny with Stranger. “But…how could anyone know? This place is a ghost town,” she looked back to him, then snapped back up. Small figures emerged from the dark corners of the shacks, watching the travelers pass by their feet high above. They smiled to them as they passed, knowing comfort would come to them soon. The plateaus ended, and so did the town. The Grubbs continued to watch them go. That gave them more confidence that Sekto would definitely go down, and so would his dam.
They popped out of the crack at the other end to a large body of water. The water turned sharply and tightly left around a bend. He stopped abruptly, both of them now staring in amazement. In front of them was Sekto Springs Dam, the most largest dam both of them has ever seen. She estimated that the dam reached nearly three miles in the air. A stronghold deathtrap. Up ahead near the entrance to the dam, Wolvarks patrolled on two separate water bases built in under the water. There was a large loudspeaker overhead the entrance to the dam. A Wolvark’s voice began to shout through it.
“Ok, boys! Those little peckerheads are up ter somethin’! So we’re going to lockdown! CAL 1, begin sequence! Shut down power to lock one!” the loudspeaker said. The head leader of the group on the left side of the water bases ran up to an activation key on the head of a ramp. It tapped in to the keypad quickly, then watched the show. A large lock began to slide down to the bottom-half of the lock, and twist roughly to the right. A gate side slid out from its coupling, stopping half-way closed. The rumbling of the water stopped.
“Ok! CAL 2, shutdown power to lock two!” the loudspeaker shouted again. The head leader of the other side of the water bases ran up the ramp to the keypad, and typed in to it. The second lock slid down to the bottom half, and turned right to lock it. Another door slid out of its coupling, and shut together. The entrance was now locked.
“Good! Nobody opens that door, nor let anyone open that door!” the Wolvark spoke, but didn’t shut off. A loud screech of feedback echoed through the canyon. “And I would like to announce another thing. Te-“ there was a loud grunt and thud, then silence. “Never mind, folks…” it grumbled angrily, then the loudspeaker shut off.