“If we keep between the hills,” Jiron says, “I think we might be able to get over there without being spotted.”
“Let’s do it quickly then,” says James.
Jiron nods as he heads out with James right behind. It’s a couple miles of hills they have to work through in order to reach the river. Keeping low, they’re able to cross the distance within an hour while remaining unseen.
At the river, they look with chagrin at a stretch of broken stone over two hundred yards long. “We’ll never find it!” exclaims Jiron.
“We don’t have a choice,” insists James. “Let’s start looking, most likely we’ll find it at the base of a hill or among some trees.”
Nodding, Jiron says, “That does narrow the scope down some.”
Getting busy, they begin combing the area, concentrating mainly within the parameters set up: within a couple yards of the river, by a hill or among some trees. “I think I found it!” exclaims Jiron after a half hour of searching.
James looks over and sees him at the base of a hill that looks as if it had collapsed sometime in the past. Several trees and bushes have overgrown the area, masking the entrance. He goes over to where Jiron stands next to a large boulder.
“I can feel air moving from behind here,” he tells James as he joins him.
James checks it out and sure enough, he can smell the musky odor of the earth coming from behind the large boulder. “Can we move it?” he asks, indicating the boulder.
“I would think so,” Jiron replies. Putting his shoulder against it, he begins to push as James adds what strength he can from his one good arm. The other one has steadily improved, but remains too tender to allow him to use it for this.
The boulder begins to move and then the top rocks to the side revealing an opening with a downward slanting passage behind it. James looks to Jiron with a big smile on his face, “Told you.”
“Okay, so you did,” he admits.
Looking around, they make sure no one is in the vicinity before slipping into the passage. Once they’re both within the tunnel, Jiron manages to pull the boulder back into position, again hiding the entrance. Light suddenly floods the passage as James’ orb appears on the palm of his hand. He takes the lead with the orb held out before him.
The passage is narrow, barely wide enough for them to stand side by side let alone walk next to each other. As they move forward through the passage, they encounter water. The floor of the passage has been flooded, maybe by rains or maybe by just seeping through the ground from the nearby river.
After several yards of first encountering the water, it deepens to the point of where their boots are completely submerged in it. “This better not get much worse,” comments Jiron.
“Whoever built this should’ve anticipated something like this happening,” says James. “The river will at times overflow its banks and this place would then be completely submerged.”
Sure enough, they come to an area further ahead with a grate in the side of the tunnel where the water is draining away. “See,” says James when they come to it. “Stop worrying.”
“Wasn’t worrying,” Jiron replies defensively. “Just stating a concern.”
Continuing past the grate the water level of the passage remains constant all the way through. It’s a wonder smugglers would’ve used such a way to get their goods out of the city. Of course, back in that guy’s grandfather’s day, this passage was probably better maintained than it is now.
It seems a long time before the passage again begins to ascend back to the surface. James realizes they are again moving to the surface when the water level in the passage begins to drop. After several hundred more feet, the floor of the passage passes out of the water and they’re once more walking on dry ground.
Not too much further past where they are again on dry ground that the passage ends abruptly at a brick wall. No handle or latch is visible for opening whatever door this may be. James hunts around for loose bricks, or ones that seem loose. So confident at first of being able to solve this riddle, he soon becomes more and more worried that he’s not going to be able to figure it out as time passes.
Bored, Jiron leans against the brick wall at the end of the passage while he waits for James to finish searching the walls for the hidden mechanism. As his weight comes full against the brick wall, it suddenly swings open with a slight squeal of rusty hinges. Off balance, Jiron stumbles through the opening and falls to the ground on the other side, coming up quick with a knife in his hand.
“Found it!” he says to James with a smile.
As James leaves the tunnel, the light from the orb reveals they are inside what used to be a basement. The place reeks of charred wood, the ceiling having recently collapsed due to a fire that had raged through here, burning most of the wood.
Above them, light filters down through the rubble and wreckage that used to be a building. James extinguishes the orb, as the light filtering down gives them plenty with which to see.
Jiron holds very still as he listens for a sound that may indicate someone is nearby. “Stay right here,” Jiron tells him.
He moves carefully through the rubble, trying not to disturb anything that may cause the wreckage above them to come crashing down upon their heads. He works his way to the other side of the room where a stone stairway still stands. At the foot of it, he turns to James and motions for him to come over to him.
When James reaches his side, he whispers, “I’ll go up and see what’s going on. Just wait here and I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” James says. Waiting there at the bottom of the stairs, he watches as Jiron moves to the top and then with a quick glance back he motions for James to remain where he is.
James watches as he moves away from the top of the stairs. Several minutes pass by before Jiron reappears and comes back down to where James is waiting for him.
“Well?” asks James.
“Up there is pretty messed up,” he explains. “We are going to need to be really careful, the whole place looks unstable and about to cave in at any minute.”
Nodding, James says, “I see. We’re going to need this to remain open so we can get out of here.”
“Exactly,” agrees Jiron. Pointing up the stairs, he says, “Once to the top, we have to cross through the wreckage before we’ll be able to reach the street. I couldn’t see any better way, so we’ll just have to step very carefully.” He looks to James and asks, “Understand?”
Nodding his head, he says, “Yes.”
“Follow me and try to go where I do,” he tells him.
“Okay.”
Jiron again moves to the top of the stairs, this time with James right behind him. When he gets to the top, James understands what he was talking about. The walls near them are still partially standing and no way to leave the building. The only way out is across the broken, burnt floor to where a wall has collapsed outward when the roof had caved in.
“Ready?” asks Jiron. When he gets a nod from James, he steps out onto a blackened piece of wood that used to be a support beam for the ceiling.
James waits until Jiron has completely navigated it and is on another section before following. Piece by piece, Jiron leads them closer to the hole in the wall. Suddenly from the street outside the building, they can hear footsteps approaching and they hold still upon their precarious perches.
The footsteps come close and James watches as several soldiers pass right in front of the hole in the wall they’ve been trying to reach. Had they but looked within the hole, they would’ve seen Jiron standing there on a section of the collapsed ceiling not six feet from them.
When their footsteps can no longer be heard, Jiron resumes moving until he reaches what remains of the floor beside the hole. Jiron steps to the hole in the wall, knife in one hand, as he looks out upon the street running outside the building. When James joins him he says, “Looks clear.”
“Alright,” replies James. “Let’s go.”
The building across the street from them still looks to be in good shape. Jiron gestures with his head toward it and raises an eyebrow questioningly. James nods his head in reply and after again making sure no one is on the
