The Adventures of Freddy The Flea Pt 16

Previously on Freddy The Flea:

DaFlea held Lord Ticks Cloaked Fleas off, giving Fria a chance to get across the hairy passage. Initially, he was struggling to fight against them, as their movement and speed were too much to handle. He managed to figure out what gave them their edge, which aided him in the fight and helped them cross the bridge-like passage quickly.

Part 16:

As Fria and Daflea stepped onto solid ground again, the sense of relief was palpable. They looked back at the Roughneck Fleas and Ticks struggling to get across.

The two burst out into laughter. Not because they saw how their pursuers were struggling, but more out of a sensation of elation and relief.

“You were amazing out there,” exclaimed Fria.

“If it hadn’t been for my partner, I might not have seen what was right under our noses.”

Fria gave off a slight chuckle at how nonchalant he was. If it weren’t for him, she’d surely be captured a long time ago.

“We need to get moving Fria. There should be a path through here that leads to The Arena.”

“What do you mean, should?”

“Sorry, I mean there will be. I just haven’t been through here yet.”

“Then how do you know?”

“I have a highly credible source. More than that, I can’t say.”

“Okay, I trust you. You’ve gotten me this far and thank you.”

“Thank you for what?”

“Thank you for not leaving me behind, even though it was my fault we almost got caught.”

DaFlea just shrugged it off, “Let’s move.”

“Very well. DaFlea, I must say that you are a bit of a strange character,” she said as they headed off towards The Arena.

As he’d done a few times before, DaFlea didn’t respond.

“Hand me the map,” he asked, “We need to add these chambers on there.”

Fria pulled the map out and handed it over.

As they were walking, he started drawing pathways, starting from the hairy path they’d crossed.

“There are three paths heading right down here, one down the middle and two to the left. We need to go down the second one to the left. Then we’ll come across two path’s heading at an upwards angle, with two more heading down. We need to take the first one heading up. Next, there’s a ledge. We’ll have to go right. There are passages that seem to head back this way from there, and we need to take the third one. This should lead straight to the holding chambers of the warriors.”

“You remembered all of that?” Fria asked as they headed down the first path.

“I did. If the intel is correct, we’ll be there in no time.”

“Okay, what if it isn’t?”

“Then we could get lost in an infinite number of tunnels, or head back to a certain death.”

DaFlea never seemed to surprise Fria. His completely unemotional, flat response left her perplexed.

They quickly made their way through until they reached the ledge. It was narrower than Fria had expected and seemed to carry on forever in both directions. Perhaps it was because it was quite dark in there too. When Fria peered over the edge, she couldn’t see the bottom. It made her feel dizzy and she stepped back.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you? Never, ever look down.”

Fria’s nervous chuckle seemed to break DaFlea’s stoic expression for a second. His eyes softened and a slight smile crossed his face.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” he said as he gently took her hand.

“We’ll have to walk sideways with our back to the wall,” he said, looking from their path down the right of the ledge.

“Just follow my lead. We’ve got this,” DaFlea said, not letting go of Fria’s hand.

As they slowly started moving along the ledge, he could feel how Fria’s grip tightened. DaFlea reciprocated, making sure he’s got her should something happen. After about ten sideway steps, he felt it was hollow behind his foot. He looked down and saw a small opening.

“Okay, this could be the first one.”

As nervous as Fria was, she still managed to ask, “What do you mean should be?”

“I’m not sure. It seems quite small, and we didn’t discuss those details. Let’s move along.”

As they reached the second opening, it was substantially bigger. After that, the ledge widened up a bit more, and the were able to walk normally.

“This is so much better,” Fria said.

It was only a few steps later when they came to the third opening.

“This must be it,” said DaFlea, “There’s hardly a ledge after this one.”

Fria quickly nodded in agreement. She’d seen enough ledges for one day.

The two made their way into the dark passage. It was constantly winding and bending. Left, right, up, and down, completely disorientating them.

“How far does this go?” Fria asked.

DaFlea didn’t say a word and just kept his wits about him.

A few steps later, as they reached another sharp bend to the left, DaFlea suddenly stopped.

“What is –“ DaFlea lifted his hand, motioning to Fria to be quiet.

That’s when they both heard a scraping noise nearby. It sounded like something hard and heavy dragging along the ground. It wasn’t long until they heard another, and another.

DaFlea decided to peek around the bend. What he saw sent shivers down his brave spine.

Previous Chapters:
@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-1

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-2

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-3

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-4

@therneau/the-adventure-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-5

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-6

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-7

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-8

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-9

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-10

@therneau/the-adventures-of-freddy-the-flea-pt-11