The bottom of the mineshaft was dark and musty.
Abandoned years ago, the winding tunnels of the mines had eventually caved in, reclaimed by the earth, but the shaft leading up to surface remained a hidden deathtrap beneath piles of rubble and dirt that the pregnant mother had been gouging out with her hands for hours. She had been making good headway in the soft earth above, not realizing she was hovering over a good 30 foot drop into the chasm below. This time she would get her birthing den right. The foliage here grew thick and leafy upon the boulders and rocks, giving the makeshift hole its perfect camouflage within the woods. It was also conveniently close to her favorite spot in all of New Dawn, her little Eden.
It happened so fast.
Toiling away under the summer sun, the pregnant goddess flung earth and pebbles this way and that. She was a determined machine, these pups weren’t about to wait any longer and she wanted the place to be perfect before they arrived. Palaydrian knew such activities this late in her pregnancy weren’t especially healthy for her unborn children, but natural instinct overrode all sense of reality. In her mind, letting her packmates know she was going off to her garden each day, was enough of a check in while her mate was gone. They knew if she didn’t return by late afternoon, they should search for her, in case the birthing time had come. So here she was, a fleshy contender against mother earth when her foot gave out from underneath her. Oh Luna! She cried before the gleaming woman slipped into the maw of the earth.
3 souls departed.
There was no time to grapple with the rocks and debris surrounding her on her descent. The woman fell fast tumbling downward with arms and legs flailing before a broken beam in the shaft knocked her out cold on her fall before the thud. Ocean eyes were heavy under the lull of her concussion. She felt inebriated from the blow to the head, tasting dirt and blood mingled in her mouth, but the expecting mother immediately knew something was wrong...she was on her belly. Drin groggily rolled onto her back as her gloved hands gently poked and prodded the swollen mound beneath her breasts. Little angels, are you there?...please....oh no...no no no no, her questioning turned into desperate sobs as her hands continued to explore her bruised stomach in the dusty light. There was no movement beneath her paw pads and as she managed to sit up, her hands discovered the terrifying sticky moisture between her thighs...blood.
A mother’s plea.
Help! Someone help! A feral scream cut away from her jaws before the golden woman surrendered to her worst fears and began crying hysterically at the bottom of the pit. My babies...no, not my babies! Drin was shaking now with the effort of trying to stand up, but her head wound was making her woozy. She collapsed to the ground in a heap, cradling her stomach with her arms and staring up at the tree dappled sky. Someone please...please help us! Palaydrian’s world was undone.
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