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Labyrinth Tunnels OMK!

If you're new here, start at the first labyrinth post. All the labyrinth posts live on the Power of Claw page.

The letters that remain on the bark are MEMIAGEHRTU. The old badger pointed us to the Book of Myth & Legends page featuring the Giant Ground Sloth...also known as Megatherium...and MEGATHERIUM is an anagram of MEMIAGEHRTU! I’m not sure what it means, but it has to be it.

"MEGATHERIUM!" I shout as loudly as I can, trying to overpower B.I.G.’s drill noise.

Nothing happens.

"Everyone, shout with me! In whatever tongue you speak!"

"MEGATHERIUM!!!" we all shout, hoot, howl, bark, squeak, squawk, growl, bleat, and caw. 

But a Giant Ground Sloth doesn’t appear.

Instead, the ceiling falls in. 

Rocks and dust fly everywhere. Sunlight almost blinds me. 

"Oh my Kyngdom!" someone cries as we all scatter and run for cover. The drill sound is deafening now. I press as hard as I can down on my ears, trying to drown it out. I look up, waving dust away from my eyes. 

A gigantic drill, easily as big as a rhino and ten times as loud, hangs down from the ceiling. It’s slowing down but still spinning. It looks vaguely familiar...like a machine I saw on my trip to Bleak Peak. Could it be...

"We have a squirrel down! A squirrel down!" someone yells from across the room. I can’t see anything, what with all the dust and sunlight. 

The drill slows to a stop and rises up out of the hole it made. Everything is still except for the dust churning around in the air. My eyes adjust to the light. My ears adjust to the silence. And I see them. Agents of the Brazen Inquiry Guild. 

And an owl. 

"Who!" Silverpaw shouts. "Is that you?" 

"Who! Who!" hoots the owl, almost laughingly. 

"I knew it..." I whisper to myself, although I’m not sure anyone is surprised--just angry at ourselves for trusting such an obvious mole, er, double agent. 

"Ha! Ha!" a human voice laughs from above. "Silly animals! Silly humans! Silly FAR-FAR!"

"It’s F.A.F.A.," Silverpaw growls back. 

"I don’t care if it's FA-FA-LAFEL! You’re SILLY!"

"Is that what you came down here to do? To tell us we're silly?!" I yell back, a bit impatient and confused and angry.

"Yes! You're SILLY for walking around in tunnels for weeks! You're SILLY for following an old badger around to the end of the world! You're SILLY for thinking you could beat us to the Powers!"

"And we're...silly...for thinking you were our friend, Who!" Little Crow caws. The owl just hoot-laughs again. 

"If you had a pound of smartness, or one ounce of money, you’d have drilled down here like us! Ha! Ha!"

"If you had a pound of concern for the planet, or a pound of respects for the animals that live in the Labyrinth Lands, you'd have walked here like we did!" Silverpaw growls back.

"No! If you had a pound of smartness...or one ounce of money...you’d have...drilled..." 

"OK, that's enough, Gog," another voice butts in. "Listen, everyone and everything down there. I represent the Brazen Inquiry Guild, the pending owners of this land. If you’ve found anything in those tunnels, you must immediately surrender it to us." 

"We haven’t found anything," I say, "and even if we had, it would be ours to keep. This isn’t B.I.G. property."

"This land might not be official property of the Brazen Inquiry Guild yet," the voice said. "But it will be as soon as we can track down the owner." I can't see the man, but I swear I hear him smirk. "And the more important issue is, if you don’t make it out of these deep, dark tunnels, how will anyone know what happened to you?"

"Ha! Ha! The news is gonna say, BUNCH OF SILLY ANIMALS GETS LOST IN THE DARK AND DIES!" Gog butts in. 

"We have worse things to worry about," Silverpaw yells up, "and you do, too. There’s nothing in this room but rocks and dust. The Power is gone."

"We'll see about that," the voice from above says. "And we’ll give you something worse to worry abo--"

Suddenly, as promised, we have something to worry about. 

In the middle of the room, the ground starts shaking violently. Cracks spread, inch by inch, more than ten feet from the center. We all press ourselves against the walls. The B.I.G. gang steps back from the edge of the hole they made, except Who, who flies low to get a better look. 

Everything goes still for a few seconds. We all relax the tiniest bit. Then the cracks explode upwards, like the ground itself is trying to fly up into the sky--or like some huge creature pushed its full weight up against it. 

I hear screams from above and howls and squawks from all around me. I start grinding my teeth together, something I do when I get nervous. 

Then the air goes completely still for a split second, and the cracks collapse. They sink into the floor, leaving a massive hole. 

I look up. The B.I.G. agents are nowhere to be seen. From somewhere, I can hear the sound of gurgling water. 

Silverpaw is the first to leave the wall. She walks, legs crouched slightly, back arched, to the edge of the hole, and stares down. She motions for us to join her. 

I approach. The gurgling gets louder. And in the distance, I can hear water running. No, the correct word would be rushing. 

I reach the edge of the hole and look down. Rock walls, dirty, bubbling water, a stench like an unwashed buffalo.

And then a gigantic clawed hand reaches up from beneath. 

Megatherium.