Cairn drank greedily from the stream, sucking in enormous mouthfuls of the clear water. His eyes closed in pleasure at being able to finally slake the thirst that had plagued him since a few hours into his first dive.

He'd been lucky to come across Polaris, who now stood next to him filling a waterskin. The other Courser had taken pity on him and guided him through basic survival in the caverns. Listening for running water and cutting through the dense jungle plants to find streams was just one of the new skills Cairn had learned. He now knew they crisscrossed the caverns in multitudes - but only, Polaris had said, on this level. Who knew what lay below?

Sated, he lifted his muzzle from the stream. Water dripped from his whiskers, staining his chest as he flicked an ear at Polaris. "What now?"

Polaris tugged the waterskin's drawstring tight and slung it over a bone hook on his harness. "Forward, I guess," he said, shaking his mane. "I have a feeling we're going to run into something soon. It's been too quiet for too long- we haven't even seen one of those mushrooms with legs in a few caves' time."

Cairn snorted in amusement. The first one they'd seen had practically begged to be run over, crossing their path just a couple feet in front of them. Polaris had reacted before Cairn even saw him move, skewering the mushroom with a dagger he'd pulled from his chest sheath. The mushroom had perished with a sigh, and Cairn had been momentarily scarred by the interaction.

He'd been slightly less scarred when Polaris had roasted the thing over a fire and shared it with him. The mushroom had had a delicious savoury flavour, vastly different from the earthy tones raw mushrooms tended to have. Still, he'd questioned why Polaris had gone for a sentient mushroom when there had been so many inanimate ones growing from practically every surface in the caverns.

"Tastes better when you catch it," the chestnut Courser had replied. He'd wiped his mouth on one of his front legs, staining a white stocking with brownish mushroom juice, and that had been the end of that conversation.

Now they moved forward together, Polaris taking the lead and Cairn happy to follow behind. The other courser's short tail flicked at a buzzing insect, and Cairn dodged, staying back an extra half-pace. A few minutes later, the trail they'd traced through the undergrowth widened enough so that they could walk two abreast, and then more, until what stood in front of them was a vast, high-ceilinged cavern. There were the typical plants underfoot, glowing with a green light Cairn had now adjusted to, but above them, the cavern yawned into blackness.

A light flapping sound carried to their ears and a silhouette of a creature appeared out of the darkness looming above. It flitted over them and vanished once more. Cairn's gaze dropped from where the creature had been and he made to step forward, but Polaris stopped him with a flick of his ear and a low warning.

"Don't. Move." Polaris' voice was quiet and harsh. "That cavern looks like it holds a massive swarm of bats. They're asleep now, but this far down we can't tell what type they are. If we disturb them and they're Draculas, we'll be dead before you can say 'bats'."

"Bats," Cairn muttered.

Polaris shot him a withering look. "I'm going to leave you here."

Cairn flicked him good-naturedly with his tail. "You wouldn't."

Polaris craned his neck to reach into his satchel, removing something a paper-wrapped bundle. Placing it gently on the ground, he rolled a lantern out of the parchment and lit it, illuminating their space tenfold. Cairn blinked, unaccustomed to such bright light after so long in the relative darkness of the caverns.

The light only just reached the lowest overhangs of the cave above, but even so, it was enough to see the hundreds- no, thousands- of podlike objects hanging from the ceiling. If Cairn hadn't known better, he'd have assumed it was a strange new rock texture.

Polaris heaved a sigh of relief. "Fruit bats," he said at normal volume. "Let's go."