The right tunnel

Teysa dove for the right-hand corridor, half-dragging Aliara behind her. She wrinkled her nose as a fresh gust of air brought with it a thick, cloying stink, like a body rotting in the sun. The corridor sloped slightly downward and Teysa's headlong flight became a stumbling, loping dash, her one free arm flailing for balance. For a moment she thought she could stay upright, but the water made the stone floor treacherous and she found herself overbalancing. She windmilled her arm frantically as she toppled over. The floor was worn smooth and she slid a few feet before coming to a stop in a bruised heap.

Aliara groaned faintly from somewhere behind her. Teysa propped herself up on her elbows, wincing as she moved, and leaned against the wall. The glowing ball lay on the ground next to her. Whatever it was, it wasn't glass-- it hadn't so much as chipped during her fall. Teysa shook it a bit and the glow brightened enough to reveal Aliara, who was picking herself up as well.

Teysa suddenly couldn't help but smile. She giggled, which sent a flare of pain through her bruised ribs. A few feet away, Aliara groaned again. "Tey? What's so funny? Are you ok?"

"It's-" Teysa could barely get the words out. She paused for breath, and a new fit of laughter overtook her. "It's just, Li, look at us. The one time you let me lead I got about four steps before falling on my face. This is why I always let you do this."

Aliara smiled. "Ok, ok, fair enough. Mea culpa. And I don't know what came over me back there. It felt like..." She shuddered. "It felt like doom. Like in a dream."

Teysa picked herself up off the ground and grabbed the orb. "Well, are you ok now? She stretched left and right and grimaced as her joints protested. "Let's slow down, ok?"

Aliara nodded, standing up. "Alright. Onward, I guess." She took the orb from Teysa and held it by her side as she started down the tunnel. Teysa fell in behind her, watching her step to avoid slipping.

The tunnel continued to slope down gently for a while before leveling off. The flow of water sometimes narrowed to a trickle or widened until it was almost a proper stream, but never went away entirely. Teysa noticed that the floor was clear of rubble or debris. Even the dry parts were worn smooth. The passage turned gently this way and that, but for the most part it ran as smooth and straight as a subterranean road.

Aliara held up a hand to call a halt, and pressed her palm against the floor. Rising, she sniffed it, and made a face. She wiped her hand against her tunic as though it was dirty. "Tey," she whispered, "keep alert. The floor's sticky. Something's been this way lately."

Teysa felt naked without her mace. She cradled the dagger that Mish'li had given her, but the drow was right-- against any kind of real threat, this wouldn't be much use.

The tunnel began to slope slightly upward. The ceiling rose above them from a claustrophobic arch to a high vault, with dangling stalactites that vanished into the gloom like the teeth of a vast predator. The stream dissipated, but the sound of trickling water was still omnipresent. Something about it set Teysa's nerves on edge. She swiveled her head back and forth as she walked, hoping to catch a glimpse of the river, but the walls and floor remained stubbornly barren.

Up ahead, Aliara had stopped. Teysa opened her mouth to ask why, but Aliara shushed her with one hand and pointed. Off to one side of the corridor was a stump of stalagmite, a low barrel of stone that had been broken cleanly in two at some point. The light from the orb glistened oddly off of it, and it took Teysa a moment to realize what she was seeing. The entire stalagmite was covered with some kind of thick mucous. The odor of carrion was noticeably stronger now.

Teysa gave Aliara a wordless look and shrugged. The half-elf shuddered. She set off along the corridor at a brisk pace, making Teysa scramble to keep up. Something was driving Aliara on-- the same fear that had gripped her earlier was back. Teysa followed her in silence for a few minutes, but the tension was unbearable. She opened her mouth to ask what Aliara had sensed, but was silenced by a deafening bellow from somewhere behind them.

"RUN!" Aliara screamed, all pretense of stealth abandoned. She began to sprint up the corridor. Teysa followed. Behind her, another keening roar echoed off the walls, along with a loud squelching sound, like liquified meat being dropped from a height. There was a bone-shaking thump and a tremor shook the corridor. Teysa barely kept her feet and redoubled her speed.

Behind her, she could hear something rumbling and thundering along. Wet thuds echoed up the corridor, the sound of something heavy slapping into the corridor walls. The next roar was almost deafening. Whatever it was was getting closer. Teysa put on a burst of effort and caught up with Aliara. The half-elf's face was completely white, her eyes rolling wildly. The orb swayed as she pumped her arms, throwing dizzying shadows across the walls and floor of the corridor.

The thing chasing them was gathering speed, like a boulder rolling down an incline. Teysa's heart thundered in her ears. Terror seized her brain, crowding out all thoughts but blind panic. Her world became her legs, and her lungs, and the hard stone of the tunnel. Up, down, up, down, her knees pumped mindlessly. Her chest burned, her muscles were close to giving out, but primal fear pushed her onward. Another bellowing exhalation filled the corridor, this one was close enough that she could feel the hot wind of its breath blow across her back. It brought with it the charnel stink, the smell of a predator that lived only to feed in the darkness. She pictured its gullet, a wide trench full of rotten half-digested meat, whatever scraps it could scavenge here in the cold darkness. That image gave her another burst of energy and she leapt forward.

Up ahead-- was that light? Was it an exit? Was it just their orb, now barely bright enough to see by, reflecting off more of the thing's horrid mucous? She couldn't spare the energy to look closely. If it wasn't an exit, they were dead. She knew she could not go for more than another minute like this. Next to her, Aliara doggedly matched her pace, her face blank and slack.

The glimmer resolved. First a pinprick, then a narrow oval, then a square of light: a doorway, unmistakably, and beyond it the flickering coals of the drow braziers. Nothing had ever looked so beautiful to Teysa. As if sensing that its prey had nearly escaped, their pursuer let out an enraged bellow and thumped the wall almost hard enough to make Teysa stumble. She could feel the disturbance of air as it lunged. Her heart bursting, lungs gasping for air, she propelled herself forward for one last push.