Chapter 2 - Return

As Mari walked down the path into The Burrow, the familiar muffled sounds of hustle and bustle progressively rose. She had used this entrance many times throughout her life; it was a shared secret among academy aspirants. With Phlip hopping along at her side, she approached a circular slab of stone that terminated the hall.

The center of the stone held a small hexagonal depression. Mari pulled a silver pendant from beneath her vest. She pressed it into the concavity where it fit with satisfying precision, and focused her mind on the door. It jarred and shifted forward, revealing the roughly cut edges. Loose dust fell from the door as it rolled to the side disappearing into a pocket formed by the adjoining wall. Aromatic scents rushed over Mari’s nose reminding her stomach that it had an unresolved issue while undamped crowd chatter filled her ears.

The door opened to one of the darker alleys. She carefully stepped out into it with Phlip trailing closely. The large stone door rolled back into place. On this side it was marked with a large number twelve in worn yellow paint, appearing as just another maintenance passage used for sewer and other utility access.

Mari made her way quickly out of the empty alley and wove herself into the crowded street, dimly lit from the high ceilings by the warm glow of bioluminescent root tendrils. The smell of perfectly roasted butter stick potatoes hit her like a collapsed tunnel, and her stomach growled. She turned to the vendor and reached into her purse. A large marmot with a grease-splattered apron stood behind a food cart with steaming skewered potatoes lining the front.

“That’ll be two greens!” he beamed at her. She reached her paw down into another vest pocket which doubled as her purse. 

Three triangular stones greeted her and she looked up at the marmot, overturning her paw and presenting the blue gems. “I only have three blues, would you do a half potato?”

The marmot leaned forward and looked over his cart at her, swimming in the oversized vest. Her academy pendant still rested on her chest after using the secret passage. The marmot gave a big grin and winked at her. “Well, why didn’t you mention you're an aspirant, how about I give you the discount, one potato for…” He paused and glanced at her paw holding the gems. “three blues!”

His large paw released one of the pierced potatoes from its holster and he handed it down to Mari as she reached up and slid the gems onto the corner of the cart. A shy smile drew across her face as she thanked the vendor. Philip nosed her shoulder, she turned her head towards him to see his large glassy eye nearly touching her and he shifted his gaze down to the potato. Mari reluctantly broke the potato in half and popped it into Phlip’s.

She started working on her half of the potato as they moved down the large tunnel like street, weaving through the crowds. This was Merchant Hollow, one of the primary tunnels of The Burrow or as the locals called them, digs. Shops lined the walls and even curved up into the ceiling supported by twisted roots and stacked stone. Anything you could imagine could be purchased here: delicious food, psionic amplifiers, elixirs, grimoires, and even pre war tech could be found down the smaller offshoots.

The crowd chatter was typical, but she noticed a group of several hamsters gathering that seemed unusual. She walked slowly past a group and overheard a young black and white hamster gossiping in hushed tones. “My cousin was just over for dinner, you know the one in Shadowpaw, and he said there was some suspicious activity in Deepworks earlier.”

“That’s a load of worms!” a tan shrew said. “The Builders would never let anything happen to Deepworks, it’s too important to The Burrow. Plus that new guy’s running a tight ship, what’s his name again?”

A mottled chocolate and cream gerbil butted in. “Ordinate Rull.”

“Yeah, he seems like a good beaver. I’m sure everything will be fine, a strong burrow will weather any storm afterall.” the tan shrew said.

Mari looked over to Phlip as their pace returned to match the flow of the larger crowd. “I wonder if Jerro’s off shift right now, you want to swing by Tailweaver’s on our way home and check?” Phlip hopped along unphased by her questioning. She pulled the last of the potato off the skewer with her teeth and confirmed her own question while chewing the mouthful.  “I think you’re right, he’ll probably know what they were on about.”

They continued down the dig turning a rounded corner into a narrow alley that ended abruptly with a towering set of wooden double doors flanked by arched stained glass windows. ‘Tailweaver’s’ crested a sign above the door in bold lettering. The curved black lettering was inlaid with glass that produced amber ripples as light escaped from within the structure.

Mari reached up to the brass handle and pulled the oversized door. The light enveloped her in stark contrast to the alley. As they shuffled in the comforting smell of steeped tea and dusty old books replaced the earth and spice mixture of Merchant Hollow. A stout hedgehog sat cross legged in a plush maroon corner chair and puffed on a pipe as the sweet vanilla smoke lofted into the air mingling with that from the large central stone hearth. The walls were lined with bookshelves that stretched to the ceiling, a track ladder attached to the top row. Mismatched furniture filled the remainder of the room. In the opposite corner a round eared grey chinchilla and a young tri-colored guinea pig wearing glasses poured over a large text quietly discussing the content.

Mari moved into the room swiftly and crossed this open space to a small hall in the back. The hall ended abruptly with a short bookshelf and a gold filigreed framed illustration of a sailing ship in the midst of a terrible storm. Waves tore over the side as rodent’s hurried about the deck. Two worn wooden doors stood opposing each other. Phlip settled in with his back against the warm stone hearth. A sign on the left door displayed a pile of small oval pellets, and was cracked open revealing the edge of a toilet and wash basin. The other door was closed with a stained wooden placard engraved with the name ‘Rufus’.

Mari placed her hole of an ear against the door for a moment then pulled back and knocked quietly.

“He’s not in today.” the hedgehog said from around the corner.

Mari poked her head back around the corner from the hall. “Oh, thanks Xan, do you know where he is?”

“No idea, he was here earlier, then popped off without a word.”

She turned her head to the chinchilla and guinea pig, pulling them into the conversation. “How about Jerro, you guys seen him around?”

The guinea pig shook her head looking at the chinchilla. “Not today, at least not since we’ve been here.” 

Mari’s lips pursed and she let out a small puff of air. “Alright, thanks guys. Hey, what's that tome you’ve got open there?” She walked over to the table with the guinea pig and chinchilla.

They looked up from the book and the guinea pig flipped to the cover while keeping its paw on the page they had been on. “The Prime History of The Burrow, by Yari Highpaw.”

“Such an underrated historian, and great writer too.” Xan said from the corner between long draws from his pipe.

“Actually…” the chinchilla said, pushing the book back open and flipping to the back section and casually smashing the guinea pigs book mark arm with the thick stack of pages. “Isn’t this your mom, there’s a section on the recent history of the Great Bird War and it goes into the founding of the Outriders and there's a picture here.”

Mari moved around the table and positioned herself between the two thickly furred rodents. “Yeah, that’s her right there.” She pointed to the monochrome picture, a line of gophers sat atop long eared peppered rabbits. Striped helmets capped their heads. Her finger moved along the line until she stopped on a small gopher with gracile features. She gripped the reins confidently, her gaze drawn off scene matching the others. “Dad too!” she pointed at the mounted gopher next to her mom. He sat proudly and a head taller than Mari’s mother.

“I can’t believe I’ve never seen this picture! Dad doesn’t talk about it much.” Mari said, straightening back up, her smile dropped.

The guinea pig looked around Mari at the chinchilla. “Hey Alfie, you think I could have my arm back now?”

With a surprised look the chinchilla flipped the book back to the page marked by the guinea pig’s arm. “Sorry Jess!” Alfie apologized.

Jess lifted her arm free and shook it above her head. “No worries.” she said with a tight smile bringing it back down and taking a swig of her chipped mug.

Mari strolled over to Phlip and gave him a warm smile, drawing a paw down his back. “Thank you guys for showing me that. I’ll definitely be reading that later. Come on Phlip, let’s head home.” 

Mari and Phlip rejoined the crowd in Merchant Hollow. The tunnel’s diameter slowly expanded, and a cooler deep magenta hue began to envelop the space. The crowds also seemed to be dying down. She was nearing The Spine, the central column of The Burrow, which spiraled upwards connected all sub-corridors and extended to the surface. Ascending through the center of The Spine was an imposing crystalline structure, the source of the light. Within that crystal was the life energy of The Burrow—pure psionic essence that permeated everything. The color of the crystal was indicative of the above ground night and day cycle. Residents of The Burrow simply referred to this cycle as a lune.

“Miss Stonepaw,” a shrill voice called out behind Mari. She stopped in her tracks and turned around hesitantly to see her least favorite academy instructor, Mister Craghorb. A small ground squirrel with long, wispy eyebrows and a maroon robe stood in the middle of the street, piercing Mari with squinted eyes.

“Miss Stonepaw… we missed you at lessons today,” his weirdly deep yet squeaky voice let out as he approached, inspecting her more closely. “I assumed perhaps you were unwell… but your constitution seems to be in good quality.”

Mari looked at Phlip without moving her head then back to Mister Graghorb. “Mister Craghorb, my father has a nasty cold. I’ve been caring for him all day, and you know it’s just the two of us,” she quickly added. “I just came out to get some quantum blue carrot matrices to ease his symptoms.”

“Alright, young lady… you better hurry home then. I expect to see you early tomorrow to make up for the lost time,” he slowly squeaked and started turning away dismissively, then stopped and turned back. “You know, it’s been eight cycles since a gopher has been admitted to The Yarrow Academy for Gifted Rodents?”

“I do Mister Craghorb, and I’m sorry I missed class, I promise I will go out of my way to make up for any missed assignments and lessons.”

He approached her closely so as to not speak louder than necessary. “Mari, I know you and your father don’t have the same luxuries as many of the other aspirants. Tudors, private lessons and the sort. I may not be your favorite instructor, but I push my students the hardest that I believe in the most.”

Without more words, he quickly patted Mari on her shoulder and turned to resume taking his leave. As he shuffled away, he shot a final glance over his shoulder, the corner of a smile showing. Mari waved awkwardly and ran off with Phlip heading towards the pathway that wound up the perimeter wall of The Spine. She turned down the dig which led to her den. Her den had a large courtyard, especially for this dig. It was calmly lit by bioluminescent fungi and roots dangling from the ceiling. In the corner was a mat of straw. Mari led Phlip into the courtyard, and he joyously hopped over to the worn bedding. She pulled some fresh hay from a storage bin near the porch and filled a bowl with water from a spigot. 

“Sleep well, pal,” she gently whispered to him as he munched away.

She moved to the circular stone door that was the entrance to her den, placed her paw on a groove which ran around the edge, and gently rolled it to the right into a pocket in the earthen wall. She slid in while it was only about half open and quietly closed it behind her.

The den was silent, except for a faint murmur coming from her father’s bedroom. She recognized the sound; it was a Beaverwave broadcast. A game show called “How Deep Can We Dig” was playing.

A gregarious voice boomed over the airwaves. “Greetings contestants and listeners, I’m your host Bobber Broadtail and this is ‘How Deep Can We Dig’! Today, we are putting up two of our returning contestants, Cluver and Cloe, the dynamic duo hailing from Merchant Hollow, to see if they can solve the mystery that our riddle master’s have spun!”  

Mari paused at the open passage and briefly watched her father’s chest rise and fall with each snore. The far wall of her father’s room was plastered in pictures of the two of them. Her first day of Burrow School, the day he taught her to ride Phlip and a picture of her holding her acceptance letter to the academy. Centered on the wall was a large painted portrait of her mother, father and her as a pup. He choked and rolled over, struggling to breath. Mari took a step into the room opening his door further, then stopped herself. His breathing returned to a normal cadence.

“Sleep well, Dad,” she whispered and quietly went to her own room in the den.

She flopped down on her bed and stared briefly into the darkness, a calming purple light projected abstract shapes onto the ceiling. It blended quickly into a dream. Mari was floating, weightless. She felt a strange sense of calm wash over her mind. It seemed she was suspended in some sort of warm water, but she wasn’t struggling to breathe. She touched her face and found an apparatus over her mouth. She felt ribbed tubes protruding from the mask. Through blurred vision, she caught sight of her paw, but it wasn’t a paw—it was hairless, with long fingers and a large flat palm. She’d never seen anything like it.

A rush of fluid and the transition to gravity took over as she was dropped or thrown out of whatever container she had been in. She lay cold and shivering on a stone floor. She struggled to see through the darkness, waves of shadow flowed around her.

Suddenly, a wall began to trace images and letters she had never seen before in a warm glow. The light flowed through the images of celestial bodies, creatures with long thin bodies, unfamiliar rodents and parabolic sleek ships moved in formation. The nested diamond symbol was last to be illuminated followed by the inscription below it.

Before she was able to inspect it further, she was awakened abruptly. Her dad stood over her. “Mari, we’ve got to evacuate. There’s been an incident at the dam, and there’s flooding throughout The Burrow. Quickly, there isn’t much time!”

She jumped up, snagging her pack  while her father took her by the paw leading the way out of their den. Once outside, Mari overtook him as he slowed coughing. She gave a quick whistle to Phlip, who leapt over the fence and quickly joined her in stride.

The main corridor was filled with rushing water up to their waist. Other residents were running from their dens and sloshing through the main thoroughfare towards The Spine. A large family of prairie dogs upstream from Mari and her father attempted to ford the torrent of water. Two of the pups were swept up crying out for help.

Mari slid on Phlip’s back and outstretched an arm to her dad. His paw grasped halfway up her arm and she pulled him onto the rabbit's strong back. Phlip’s large frame held steady in the rapids as they dodged debris and moved along the shallow spread of the flood, leaping across courtyards.

As they made swift progress, Mari pointed back to two tan dots swirling down the dig towards them. “Dad, those are the Graslow pups!”

“Get us to that fence line up there” he said pointing ahead to the arched entrance to a connecting dig where a courtyard fence abutted.

Mari guided Phlip to the spot where they quickly dismounted. Mari’s dad grabbed a rope from Phlip’s saddle and started wrapping it around his midsection.

Mari picked up the other end of the rope and started tying it around herself. “Dad, I’m going out there, not you. You and Phlip reel me back in.”

He looked at her with bewilderment. “I’m not letting you go out there.”

“Dad, you won't make it. It’s not a question”

She finished the knot, dropped her pack and before he could stop her she vaulted the fence plunging into the freezing turbid water. Fighting the current, she swam out planning her intercept course for the two pups.

They had split at this point. Mari set her sights on the far one, paw over paw progressing slowly across the river. A wave of water smashed into Mari and she felt a pull on the rope. Treading water she looked back to see a log tangled in the rope. It rotated up, wedging into the ceiling. She hinged on the rope, the current swinging her down stream. Another wave swept over her and she choked on the thick water as a firm object impacted her below the surface taking her breath away.

Mari looked up, to see the far pup pass her along the distant shore. From behind the high pitched cry of the other caught her attention. She whipped around and threw out a paw, grasping the pup by its scruff. The pup’s tiny paws grasped onto Mari’s soaked fur. She pulled herself against the force of the water up to the log where the rope had gotten tangled. It had only looped once and she was able to free it. Mari’s dad and Phlip towed her and the pup back to the near shore where they used the fence to retrieve her. 

She panted, coughing up muddy water. “I couldn’t save them both!” her eyes welled and she choked on the words. “Dad, I couldn’t save them, the other one was too far.”

“You did amazing, your mother would be so proud.” her father said, pulling her a hug before she could continue and sandwiching the pup between their embrace.

They climbed back on Phlip’s back. Mari wiped the mud from her face and took the reins. “Let’s go, Phlip, get us out of here!” she said to the rabbit kicking her heels.