The strange, massive bite marks on the tunnel walls were a constant, unsettling reminder that he wasn't alone down here. He was the hunter, tracking his prey.
After several minutes of silent, tense progress, his enhanced senses picked up on something new.
It was a faint, rhythmic sound, carried through the solid rock from a tunnel deep ahead.
Scrape… scrape… crunch… It was the sound of something digging, something powerful and methodical.
It was followed by a strange, almost delicate clinking, as if small, hard objects were being dropped onto a growing pile.
Daniel's curiosity, a powerful force that had led him into both great danger and immense fortune, was fully stirred.
He slowed his silent approach to a near crawl, advancing with the measured patience of a predator tracking an unfamiliar, larger foe.
He followed the sound around a tight bend in the tunnel and glanced into a newly excavated cavern.
