Rushing headlong toward the waiting soldiers they each know must be down there, James suddenly notices a stream that abruptly appears out of a clump of fallen trees. Not understanding why it should nag at him, he comes to a stop.
“What’re you stopping for?” Jiron asks as he comes back to where James is standing near the fallen trees.
“This stream is flowing out of these trees,” he says. “But it doesn’t flow into them.”
“So?” he asks, scanning around for hostiles.
James begins making his way to the base of the pile as he continues, “Doesn’t it seem odd for a stream to suddenly appear like this?”
“No,” replies Aleya, joining in. “It’s probably being fed by an underground spring.”
“Maybe,” replies James. He hears Aleya’s startled intake of breath as his orb materializes in his hand. Holding it out, he peers within the pile. “It looks like there may be space enough in here for all of us. Maybe we could hide until the coast is clear.”
Aleya suddenly stands up, draws back her bow and lets fly an arrow. A soldier further up the hill cries out as the arrow impales itself in his side. “They’re coming!” she cries out as she draws back another arrow and lets fly.
Crumph!
The ground further up the hill by the advancing soldiers erupts, slowing the advance and filling the air with a great cloud of dust. “Come on!” James cries out as he extinguishes his orb and then works his way within the pile of fallen trees. The others follow and Aleya just clears the outer edge before soldiers begin racing past.
From their hiding spot, they see dozens of soldiers running past in pursuit. Holding still and remaining quiet, they pray the soldiers don’t think to look within the pile. After the last soldier disappears into the forest, they breathe a collective sigh of relief.
“Let’s give it a minute before we leave,” whispers Jiron. “Give them a chance to get further away.”
“Good idea,” says James. He sits there in a most uncomfortable position as they stare out at the forest, trying to ascertain if anyone is about. Aleya is between him and the outside, and again something doesn’t seem right.
Her hair is blowing as if in a slight breeze, but the pile they’re in should block any breeze from getting to them. He wets his finger and then holds it out to determine where the breeze is coming from. In amazement he realizes the breeze is blowing out from the rear of the pile. Which should be impossible as the rear of the pile is against the side of the mountain.
His orb springs to life and he looks closely at the far side of the pile. The stream is originating from there as well. Moving carefully, he starts working his way further to the rear of the pile.
“What are you doing?” Jiron asks as soon as he begins moving.
“Just wait here a sec,” he tells them. “I want to check something out.” Moving carefully so as not to disturb the integrity of the pile of trees, he makes his way further toward the back. After a few minutes of slow moving, his orb finally illuminates an opening, three feet in diameter, which is the source of the water. The breeze which had ruffled Aleya’s hair is also coming from there as well.
Making it to the opening, he holds his orb to allow the light to shine in and discovers the opening extends further back into the hill. The entire length his orb illuminates is a uniform three feet in diameter and the sides looks to have been bricked to hold their shape.
He goes back to the others and tells them what he’s found. “It looks like an outflow for an ancient sewer or maybe for drainage,” he explains. “There’s a breeze coming out of it as well, so that means there has to be another opening somewhere deeper within.”
Just then, another force of soldiers can be heard approaching and they hold still. Fifty soldiers move quickly down the hill, following the same route as their fellows had earlier. One of them lifts a horn and blows a staccato before they move out of sight.
“You sure it’s safe?” asks Aleya.
“No,” replies James. “And it might not lead anywhere, but it has to be better than being out there right now.”
“True,” agrees Jiron. He begins moving to the rear of the pile and says, “I’ll go first.” Coming to the opening, he takes James’ orb from him and gets on his hands and knees as he begins crawling in through the opening.
Once his feet have cleared the opening, James glances to Aleya and says, “Ladies first.”
“Whatever,” she replies as she gets on her hands and knees to follow Jiron. Positioning her bow and quiver on her back and out of the way, she enters the opening.
James waits until she’s disappeared into the tunnel before he too gets down and begins to enter.
Chapter Twenty Three
“Jiron,” James says after they’ve crawled for several minutes.
“What?” he hears him reply from further ahead.
“Why is it, that no matter where we go, we always seem to be crawling around in some sewer?” he asks.
His laugh echoes back to him. “I don’t know man,” he replies. “Just lucky I guess.”
After crawling for what seems like half a mile, he hears Jiron holler, “I’m through!”
“What’s there?” Aleya asks him.
“I’m in a small room with two feet of water,” he replies. “Might be some kind of drainage system from the looks of it. A set of rungs lead up about twenty feet to what looks like it might be another passage.”
James looks down the drainage tube and sees the back end of Aleya silhouetted by the light from the orb. Another minute of crawling soon has both he and Aleya standing in the room with Jiron, both soaking wet.
The room is about fifteen feet square and slightly taller. Water pours into the room from numerous openings in all the walls, save the one with the rungs leading up. The water itself seems fairly clean.
Aleya checks her bow quickly as Jiron begins ascending the rungs. “Wait here,” he tells them as he climbs up to the passage above. Upon reaching the top, he peers over the edge then turns to them waiting below and says, “Looks like it goes down a ways.”
“Alright,” hollers James, then to Aleya he says, “After you.”
Finding her bow still to be in good shape despite having scraped along the narrow passage as she crawled, she slings it behind her shoulders and grabs one of the rungs. After she climbs up several feet, James follows.
When James crests the top, he glances down the long dark passage that Jiron mentioned. At least this one will enable them to follow it without crawling. Shivering slightly from the chill in the air, he indicates for Jiron to proceed.
Holding the orb in front of him for light, he begins moving down the passage. “Wonder what this place used to be?” he asks.
“Who knows?” replies James. “Could be anything.” Taking a closer look at the walls, he adds, “Whoever built this, made it to last a long time. This stone still looks in good condition.”
“I doubt if anyone’s been down here in a long time,” pipes up Aleya.
“I agree,” says James.
The passage they’ve been following suddenly ends at a stone stairway, spiraling up. Without even pausing, Jiron takes it with the others following close behind.
The stairs circle around twice before ending at another passage similar to the one below running left and right. Jiron glances down both ways then turns back to the others. “Can’t see anything other than corridor either way,” he tells them.
“Take the right,” suggests James.
“Okay,” he replies before stepping out to the right. Moving quickly, it isn’t far before they come to another corridor branching off to the left. “Keep on straight,” he hears James say behind him. Nodding, he continues on past the new corridor. He shines the light from the orb down it but doesn’t see anything of note.
A little further down, the corridor opens up to a square room. It’s a rather bare room, an old tapestry hangs
