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To Edward's horror, the tiny gun's bullets only seemed to irritate the beast. Each one penetrated the flesh of the monster -- it was a gun after all, and few things were bulletproof -- but after a series of pained, piercing screeches, the cat only seemed more enraged. They had very little time.

"Back the way we came!" he shrieked, his voice entirely too shrill for his own self respect. There was nothing but blinding terror in his heart, at least until he slammed into the strange magician man from before. "Plummet!" he hissed, grabbing the magician by his silly costume. "Let's go, creep!"

Adrenaline and cold-blood fear gave Edward all the energy he needed. Trusting Luna and Armas to get Constance to safety was about as much as he could hope for, as fight-or-flight gave wings to his feet and iron-will to his arm muscles. Half guiding, half carrying the man, he sprinted toward the exit to the cave. At least, he thought it was the exit.

Unfortunately, the cat noticed them -- little maggots -- fleeing its domain. With a roar it leapt after them, but hissed with surprise as it stumbled to one side. One of the burning hot wounds had been in its hind leg, preventing the monster from leaping. For a moment, Edward glanced back. A pang of sympathy somehow shot through him. They had come to this creature's home unannounced, and now they were hurting it.

This was not what he had wanted to do out here. Hurting the beings they encountered had never been part of the plan.

Then the animal started using its massive tails to air in its walking, and Edward's terror began anew. The beast was much slower, now, but it was still chasing them. "Come on!" He shouted again, pulling on his new...friend. They fled together, with Edward in the lead. Twisting and turning tunnel was all he saw -- had it really been this long on the way in?

Another roar echoed out from behind them, and Edward's heart actually skipped a beat. He rounded the corner even faster than he had thought possible, and blessed light stung his eyes. "Almost there!" he shouted, throwing himself forward with renewed vigor.

They tripped out into the light to see Conway and several others standing there, including Krauss. "Oh thank God!" gasped Ed, before another bellow from the cave kickstarted his fear once more. He screamed.

"Get behind us, ya fools!" Roared captain Conway. Edward lurched forward, still screaming. The captain hefted a firearm entirely too large to be healthy, as did two of the sailor-soldiers. With a crack like thunder, each one fired. Caught off-guard by the sudden fire and pain, the giant cat-beast twitched in mid-air from the shots, life leaving its body even before it crashed to the dirt. By the time it had finished sliding, it was right up against Conway's boots.

He stepped back with a wretched sound, staring down at the beast with wide eyes. "Where in tha blasted fuckin' hells of our nine mothers did ya find that?" He glanced back toward the cave entrance. "Ya didn't. Ya're all a buncha cockspawns."

"I'm ssssorry, cap-tain," wheezed Ed, finally forming words from his exhalations. "We heard a noise...it...it was that guy." He pointed at the magician. "Idiot got swept up by that thing, and we had to go in and try to save him."

"Oh, didja now?" The captain scoffed, handing his gun to one of the soldiers. "Glad yer all big damn heroes, eh?" He snorted. "Save him, my sweet, plum-rose ass. Ya're lucky we could hear tha roars from here, and ya're even more lucky tha' Krauss came back to tell me what was goin' on. Come on, ya lunatics." He stalked off into the cave, mumbling to himself.

Edward followed cautiously, trying not to pass out from the sudden adrenaline crash he was now suffering from. That had been far too close for comfort. When they came back to the room where they had been attacked before, he felt another wave of nausea roll over him. His hands shook, his eyes kept crossing, and the ground felt unstable beneath him. Despite that, he forced himself to keep moving. "Where are we going, sir?" he dared to ask after a while.

Conway waved a hand at one of the soldiers. "See if ya ken help that lass Constance. She looks a mite worse for wear. Luna, you stay as well, yeah? The rest o'ya, come on." He motioned for Krauss, Edward, Armas, the weird magician dude, and the others in the small group to follow him. "There's another tunnel here, ya see," said the man as he disappeared into the blackness.

"An' what do ya bet that -- aha! -- there's somethin' worth seein' in here.

Edward turned a corner and stopped dead in shock. He was promptly slammed into from behind by someone, who cursed and muttered something grim. Edward didn't care. "Why in God's name didn't I bring my camera?" He moaned.

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It was patently mind-boggling that the first place they had found was such a magnificent specimen of wonder. In fairness, he reasoned, so were the United Isles: floating continents surrounded by an impossible storm? But this was on a different level entirely. "Just what kind of trip have we gotten ourselves on?" He asked Krauss. Or Armas. Maybe the newcomer. He was in too much awe to really care which.