Shartha cracked one eye open, glaring up at the lion. “Yeah, thanks. You couldn’t have told me that before I jumped?”
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Matakh laughed back.
“Just shut up.”
Matakh shook his head. “Fine. Hey, could you send the reel up, please?”
The cheetah chuckled weakly. “Sure. Catch!” His fingers flew open, and Matakh had to pull his head back to avoid getting struck by the reel as it quickly rewound. Grabbing the last two bags, he took hold of the handle and jumped, making sure to keep enough pressure to slow his descent. Within moments he had reached the floor, coming to rest lightly on his feet. As he recalled the cable, he smiled down at Shartha. “Now that is how it’s done.” The cheetah just shook his head in mock annoyance and stumbled to his feet, moaning and rubbing the back of his head.
“Seriously, are you alright?” Matakh asked him, genuinely concerned by his friend’s discomfort. Shartha grimaced and his legs wobbled, prompting Matakh to step forward and take hold of his friend’s arm. The cheetah just leaned on Matakh for a few moments, cradling his skull, before shaking his head slowly and straightening up.
“Uhh… Yeah, I’m just a little sore… Oooh.” He moaned, cradling his head and wincing in obvious pain. “Just give me a minute,” he finally managed to force out. “I think I need to sit down for a little.” Matakh nodded in understanding and helped his friend over to what had once been his family’s living room, gently lowering the slimmer feline into a padded armchair. “Thanks,” the cheetah said meekly. “Sorry about this.”
“It’s fine,” Matakh assured him, giving the cheetah a friendly pat on the shoulder before returning to the girls. “All right, while Shartha takes a little break, we’ll look for the capsule.”
“Do you remember where it is?” Meea asked him.
Matakh thought for a moment. “Gee, it’s been so long.” His face brightened as he remembered. “Oh, yeah! It’s down in the basement.”
“You mean down in that pile of rubble that used to be the basement?” his sister said, her lips twitching upwards in a teasing smile.
Matakh groaned and clapped himself on the forehead. “Great! I forgot all about that.” Sighing, he shook his head wearily. “Well, I guess we’re going to have to do a little digging.”
Meea chuckled ruefully. “Perfect. Just what I was hoping for.”
Matakh smiled at his sister before turning to look at Shartha. The cheetah was still holding his head, but he appeared to be in less pain than before. “We’ll be downstairs,” he called to his friend. When Shartha nodded to show he had heard, the three of them made their way to the basement door and started down the stairwell.
“Let’s just hope no more of the ceiling collapses,” Meea observed. “I don’t feel like getting buried alive again.”
Timirza turned to her in shock. “You mean you were down here when the bomb hit?”
The lioness nodded and chuckled sarcastically. “Yep. What a fun time that was. Matakh got bashed in the head by a rafter, and then half the roof caved in on us.”
“That does sound like fun!” the cheetah girl said, grinning widely.
Meea just rolled her eyes. “Yeah? How’d you like to find out for yourself? I could probably knock some more plaster down for you.”
“Okay, you two,” Matakh cut in. “Save the bickering for later.”
“So,” Timirza offered, “do you know where the capsule was before all of this happened? We could start at that spot and work our way outwards.”
Matakh looked at her sadly and shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly where Dad had put it. We’re just going to have to search the whole basement until we find it.”
“Well,” Meea said, trying to sound cheerful, “then we’d better get to work. The sooner we find that thing, the better.” She glanced at the ceiling furtively. “I don’t want to stay down here any longer than I have to.” As if on cue, the ceiling gave a faint but ominous creak.
The three started wading through the ruins of the basement, but they quickly realized that this task would be the hardest yet. Matakh had thought his room was a mess, but it paled in comparison to the veritable minefield of hazards that they were digging through. Splinters of wood dug into every exposed surface that they could find, and the sharp edges of glass and metal rent their clothes and left painful gashes in their skin. Within minutes, the hands of the three felines were stained crimson from numerous cuts, and their knuckles throbbed painfully from repeated strikes as they tried to shove aside the debris. At one point, they had to stop their work to remove a large shard of glass from Matakh’s hand, and not long after an exposed nail punctured the sole of Meea’s boot and into the soft skin of her foot.
The three were nearly ready to give up when Shartha finally stumbled down the stairs, still slightly shaky but otherwise recovered. “Did you find it yet?” he asked, only to wither slightly when Meea shot him an annoyed scowl.
“If we had found it, do you think we would still be digging through all of this?” Matakh said irritably. “Or does it just look like we’re doing this for fun?”
Shartha looked down at the ground, feeling very chastened, while the other three turned back to their work. But just as Matakh was preparing to heft aside the remains of a cupboard, the cheetah suddenly spoke up. “Well, you must not know what you’re looking for then.”
Matakh looked over at his friend, frustrated but also slightly curious. Immediately, he noticed that Shartha’s embarrassment had been replaced with a look of smug satisfaction, a cocky grin on his face. “Now what’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. “And what’s with that idiot smile?”
“I mean that the capsule’s been right under your nose the whole time. You walked right past it to get down here!”
Stunned, the other three made their way through the chaos to where Shartha was pointing. Sure enough, they could see the faint silvery-blue glint of jumagium amidst the dust and debris. Matakh gave Shartha a hearty pat on the shoulder, his aggravation gone in a flash. “Good work. Now, let’s see if we can get it out of here.”
It didn’t take long for the four of them to pry the capsule free from the meager pile covering it, and a close examination gave no indication that it had been damaged. However, getting it up the stairs proved to be a far more challenging task. The incredibly dense jumagium walls made it surprisingly heavy, and just lifting it was difficult. It took several minutes to finally work out the best way to maneuver the container up to the ground floor, by which time they were all red-faced and panting from the exertion. Shartha had fared the worst, having sustained a pulled bicep, but he kept silent to avoid raising the others’ concern.
After catching his breath, Matakh felt around for a few moments, finally locating the control switch for the capsule’s lid. As soon as he triggered it there was a loud hiss of escaping air as the magnetic seal was broken, the hatch flying upwards from the pressure. Recessed light strips flickered on to illuminate the well-padded compartment within, which also appeared undamaged.
“Alright, then, let’s fill this baby up,” Meea said brightly, unzipping her case and beginning to place its contents reverently inside the capsule.
Shartha suddenly held out a small tote bag, a faint blush coloring his ears. “I have a few more things for you guys,” he said sheepishly. “When I was trying to walk off the headache from my fall, I found some of your parents’ treasures in the mess.” He opened the bag and tilted it so they could look inside, and both of the lion siblings gasped. Nestled within the tote were several of their mother’s knick-knacks and trinkets, their father’s reading glasses, and the family Bible that had been handed down all the way from Kotaho’s great-grandfather. “I also