Chosen (28 page)
‘Where is she,’ yelled one,
‘she must be out here somewhere, search the area thoroughly and
report back to me, if we don’t find her, Benitoff will have our
heads.’
‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
Thomas put a finger to his lips to silence her, he beckoned her on
down a dark tunnel, she could see a crack of light at the end,
‘that must be where we’re heading,’ she thought. They reached the
light which did indeed turn out to be a door slightly ajar, Thomas
pushed it open wider, letting her enter. He closed and locked the
door.
‘We’re safe now,’ he whispered,
‘as long as we keep quiet, nobody knows about this place but me.’
Elkeira flopped down on a nearby stool.
‘Thank you so much, you saved
my life.’
Thomas blushed, ‘I’m no hero,’
he said. ‘Around here I’m known as the eternal coward.’
Elkeira frowned, ‘you are most
definitely not a coward,’ she said.
Thomas hunched in fear, ‘shhh,
they’ll hear us.’
Elkeira hunched too, ‘sorry,’
she whispered, ‘I forgot.’
Thomas bustled around getting
some food and drink for Elkeira, while she sat looking around the
room. It wasn’t very large, but it was clean and tidy, a single bed
stood against one wall, a few books were stacked on the table and a
small fire blazed away happily in the hearth.
‘Won’t they see the smoke from
your fire?’ asked Elkeira.
‘No,’ said, Thomas, ‘all the
smoke on this side of the keep goes into one giant chimney, they
won’t know where the smoke is coming from.’ He walked over to the
table with some cheese and bread on a platter which he placed
before her, ‘I’m sorry it’s not like the feast you had last night,
but it’s all I have.’
Elkeira smiled, ‘this is more
my sort of food, I have never liked all that fancy stuff,’ she said
as she ripped a piece of bread from the loaf.
As she ate, she studied Thomas
who was sitting across the table from her; despite his scary
appearance with his bald head covered in strange tattoos, he wasn’t
much older than she was, she could see his skin was still soft like
a child’s and he had only fluff on his chin.
When she had finally finished
eating and was happily full again, she turned to Thomas, ‘well,
what do we do now, how are we going to rescue my brother and my
friends?’
‘There will be no rescue,’ said
Thomas, Elkeira could almost taste his fear, ‘the cells are
impregnable.’
Elkeira cocked her head to one
side and smiled cheekily. ‘I bet someone as brave as you would know
a secret way in?’
Thomas blushed again, ‘well,
yes I do, I know the all the secret passageways and doors to every
room in the keep, but it’s too dangerous, we could get caught. It
will be much easier and safer for both of us if I sneak you out
after dark, I can take you somewhere where you’ll be safe.’
‘I cannot do that Thomas,’ said
Elkeria, ‘we are on a very important journey, if you will not help
me rescue them, at least point me in the right direction so I can
try on my own. I need to know how my brother is fairing he was
being badly beaten when I escaped.’ Thomas was silent, she let him
think. When he didn’t speak she stood up, ‘could I have my bow back
please,’ she said sadly, ‘I will need something for
protection.’
He looked up, shamefaced, ‘I
can at least do that for you,’ he said, ‘I did warn you, I’m no
hero.’ He went to a cupboard standing in the corner. From it he
took two bows and two quivers, Tallons dagger and some metal
objects. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to carry
the swords as well.’ She strapped the dagger to her thigh and put
both quivers and one bow over her shoulder, the last bow she held
on to.
‘What are these?’ she asked
picking up the metal objects.
‘They’re guns,’ said Thomas,
‘you can give them to the other two men instead of the swords.’ She
tucked the pistols into her waistband. ‘Thank you Thomas, for all
your help, you will always be a hero in my eyes.’
He smiled sadly. ‘Follow me and
I’ll show you the door that will take you to the cells.’ He took
Elkeira back down the dark tunnel stopping about a third of the
way, ‘here,’ he said, ‘this will take you straight there.’
Elkeira turned and kissed
Thomas lightly on the cheek, ‘thank you again for helping me.’
He blushed in the dark, ‘I’m
sorry I couldn’t do more.’ She opened the door and was gone.
Max and Gilster were sitting
quietly, talking to Tallon about Daria, it was a way of honouring
their friend.
‘Do you remember the first time
I saw you, when you came through the portal,’ asked Max.
‘I do indeed,’ smiled Gilster,
‘Haven did that mind tickling thing he does so well and read your
thoughts, which, if I’m not mistaken were about him.’
Max turned crimson, ‘yes,’ she
said sounding embarrassed, ‘but that’s not what I was talking
about, remember how Daria told him off when she found out he had
read my mind.’
Gilster started laughing, ‘I
do, she was quite mad, and gave him a piece of her mind.’
‘She sounds like a woman to be
reckoned with,’ grinned Tallon.
‘Oh she was,’ said Gilster
sadly, ‘she most definitely was.’
‘You would have liked her,’
said Max, ‘she was very feisty.’
‘Seems all the women in this
group are feisty,’ said Tallon.
The door to the cells opened
and two guards entered. Thinking it was food being delivered
Gilster walked over to the bars to retrieve it. Instead he saw an
old woman dressed in rags, being dragged towards the cell next
door. He lost his temper, ‘she’s an old woman, you brainless
idiots, treat her gently, it’s not like she can do you any
harm.’
‘Mind your own business,’
snapped one of the guards, ‘or I’ll take you out of your nice, cosy
cell and give you a beating.’
‘Then you’ll have to give me
one too,’ said Max standing up and walking over next to
Gilster.
‘Me too,’ said Tallon limping
behind her.
‘Seems to me like you got a
mutiny on your hands,’ laughed the other guard.
They unceremoniously tossed the
old woman into the cell. She landed heavily on her hands and knees,
whimpering in pain.
‘I’ll be back to sort you lot
out later,’ said the first guard, as he passed their cell.
‘OHHH, I’m sooo scared,’ said
Max. Tallon doubled over laughing, and then clutched his side in
pain.
The door slammed shut behind
the guards. Gilster went to see if the old woman had been hurt. She
was still on the floor, too far away for him to reach through the
bars. She was small and frail, her long, white hair a mass of
tangles, layers of filthy clothing covered her body, bare feet
poked out from beneath a tattered and torn skirt of some
indiscriminate colour.
‘Are you alright?’ asked
Gilster, concerned.
She stirred groaning softly as
she gradually pushed herself up into a sitting position. She pushed
the white hair from her face so she could see who was speaking.
‘Yes, thank you young man, I will recover.’
‘Would you like a drink of
water? I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything to eat,’ said
Gilster.
‘Please, don’t worry yourself
about a useless old lady.’ She spied Tallon. ‘You seem to have
taken quite a beating, who did you upset to warrant such harsh
punishment?’
‘Benitoff,’ said Tallon
bitterly, ‘and when I get out of here, I mean to repay the favour .
. . with interest.’
The old woman cackled, ‘that’s
the spirit.’ Tallon smiled grimly.
Moving her attention to Max who
was sitting with Haven, she continued. ‘What’s the matter with your
friend?
Max looked up, worry lining her
face, ‘I think he’s dying,’ she said, the words catching in her
throat. ‘If we don’t get out of here soon, I think it will be too
late to do anything for him.’
‘Is he sick?’ asked the old
woman.
‘Not sick as such,’ said Max
rising and moving closer to the woman. ‘He’s a telepath and
Benitoff’s device is draining his energy.’
‘Do you really think you should
be talking about it,’ whispered Gilster.
‘I don’t care anymore,’ said
Max, ‘if she’s a spy then she’s a spy, all I know is, if we don’t
get out of here soon Haven will die. He’s only lasted this long
because he’s so strong.’
‘Ah, Benitoff’s device,’ said
the old woman, ‘such an evil invention if ever there was one.’
‘You know about it?’ said
Tallon, surprised.
‘I know many things, warrior,
I’m an old lady. Here’s another thing I know,’ she said
cryptically. She rummaged around in a deep pocket of her skirt,
pulling out a piece of paper and holding it out to Gilster. ‘You
will need this when you continue on with your journey.’
‘You seem to know a lot about
us,’ said Max, ‘who are you?’
Gilster was looking at the
paper she had given him. ‘This is the last scroll,’ he gasped.
‘Where did you get? Are you the last chosen?’
The old woman smiled, ‘I am not
the chosen,’ she said, ‘and I did not get the scroll from anywhere,
I wrote it.’
‘What!’ said Gilster, not
understanding what the old woman was telling him. ‘You wrote
it?’
A light dawned in Max’s eyes.
‘Oh my god, you’re Epona.’
Gilster and Tallon couldn’t
believe what they were hearing.
‘I don’t understand,’ said
Gilster, ‘you’re Epona, what’re you doing here? Can you get us out
of here?’
‘You are a smart young woman,’
said the old woman addressing Max, ‘yes, I am Epona, I can’t help
you escape, I have no powers, but that doesn’t matter, rescue is
already coming.’
‘Elkeira,’ said Tallon.
‘Yes, she will be here soon
enough but before then I can give you some information that will be
of help. I can tell you how to turn off Benitoff’s device, it must
be done before your friend can recover.’
‘Slow down a bit,’ said Gilster
raising his hands, ‘it’s too much to take in all at once.’
‘There is not much time,’ said
Epona, ‘listen closely. First the device, it is situated on the top
floor of the keep.’
Tallon snorted, ‘and how are we
supposed to get up there, fly?’
‘That is a problem I cannot
help you with, but you are all very resourceful, you must be to
have come this far, I’m sure you can find a way.’ Epona continued,
‘the device is sitting on a pedestal to which it is attached by
wires, the pedestal is standing on a metal plate, under no
circumstances are you to step on the metal plate or touch it in any
way, if you do the concentrated energy will kill you. Find a way to
knock the device off the pedestal and the wires will disconnect,
once this is done your friend should recover fairly quickly. One
more thing, don’t touch the device with anything made of
metal.’
‘Assuming we can get this
done,’ said Tallon sceptically, ‘then what, we don’t know where the
portal is.’
‘Such an impatient young man, I
was just coming to that,’ said Epona. ‘The portal is at one of my
shrines, it is a very old shrine and not many people alive today
know about it, you’ll find it hidden somewhere near an old rock
quarry.’
Ever the pragmatist, Tallon
asked, ‘and how do we get to this quarry?’
‘That I can’t tell you, because
. . .,’
‘Don’t tell me,’ said Tallon
with and exaggerated sigh, ‘the rules of the game don’t permit
it.’
‘No,’ she continued, ‘I can’t
tell you because I can’t remember.’
‘But I thought you were all
seeing, all knowing,’ said Tallon becoming annoyed.
‘Ragnar and Isis should’ve
taught their people some manners,’ she snapped.
Gilster put a hand on Tallon’s
arm, ‘calm down and let her finish,’ he said quietly. Tallon pulled
his arm away roughly and walked to the other side of the cell.
‘Please continue,’ said Gilster. Epona nodded.
‘We are a race of beings just
like you, we do not have any great powers, I changed into the old
woman so I could get into the keep without alerting anyone, I
cannot change form again until the device is turned off or it will
drain my energy just like it is doing to your friend. I don’t know
who any of the Chosen are I only know the Chosen of this world, his
name is Thomas.’
‘Thomas,’ said Max, ‘is that
the same Thomas I tried to help? Fischer’s friend?’
‘It is,’ said Epona, ‘but he
believes himself to be a coward, so he does not know he is the
Chosen, that is for you to tell and then you must convince him to
go with you because it must be his choice, you cannot force him.
The Chosen and only the Chosen can open the last portal. The names
of the Chosen are written on the scrolls. Thomas will be able to
read them.’
‘Oh, great,’ said Tallon who
had been listening from the other side of the cell, ‘this just gets
better and better.’
Epona chose to ignore the
outburst. ‘I have spent much time with Thomas, he is a bright young
man. I have taught him to read the Uthian language. You must
succeed, then I and my brothers and sisters will leave your worlds
forever.’
Elkeira was stumbling along the
tunnel, hoping she was still going in the right direction, there
was no light and she had no torch. She held out her left hand and
felt her way along the tunnel wall, the width of the tunnel was
slightly wider than her out-stretched arms. It was damp and musty
smelling and the wall was wet and slick under her fingers. Once or
twice she had walked into giant spiders-webs, the first one causing
her to shriek with fear until she clamped a hand over her mouth,
more frightened of being caught than any unseen spider.
Small animals scratched around
in the darkness, sometimes running over her feet. ‘Rats,’ she
thought, ‘I hate rats.’ She had to keep her pace fairly slow so she
didn’t trip over or run into anything; it seemed to be taking
forever to reach the end. Just when her imagination threatened to
overrun her already taut senses, her fingers brush something
different, wood. She had reached the end of the tunnel.
‘she must be out here somewhere, search the area thoroughly and
report back to me, if we don’t find her, Benitoff will have our
heads.’
‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
Thomas put a finger to his lips to silence her, he beckoned her on
down a dark tunnel, she could see a crack of light at the end,
‘that must be where we’re heading,’ she thought. They reached the
light which did indeed turn out to be a door slightly ajar, Thomas
pushed it open wider, letting her enter. He closed and locked the
door.
‘We’re safe now,’ he whispered,
‘as long as we keep quiet, nobody knows about this place but me.’
Elkeira flopped down on a nearby stool.
‘Thank you so much, you saved
my life.’
Thomas blushed, ‘I’m no hero,’
he said. ‘Around here I’m known as the eternal coward.’
Elkeira frowned, ‘you are most
definitely not a coward,’ she said.
Thomas hunched in fear, ‘shhh,
they’ll hear us.’
Elkeira hunched too, ‘sorry,’
she whispered, ‘I forgot.’
Thomas bustled around getting
some food and drink for Elkeira, while she sat looking around the
room. It wasn’t very large, but it was clean and tidy, a single bed
stood against one wall, a few books were stacked on the table and a
small fire blazed away happily in the hearth.
‘Won’t they see the smoke from
your fire?’ asked Elkeira.
‘No,’ said, Thomas, ‘all the
smoke on this side of the keep goes into one giant chimney, they
won’t know where the smoke is coming from.’ He walked over to the
table with some cheese and bread on a platter which he placed
before her, ‘I’m sorry it’s not like the feast you had last night,
but it’s all I have.’
Elkeira smiled, ‘this is more
my sort of food, I have never liked all that fancy stuff,’ she said
as she ripped a piece of bread from the loaf.
As she ate, she studied Thomas
who was sitting across the table from her; despite his scary
appearance with his bald head covered in strange tattoos, he wasn’t
much older than she was, she could see his skin was still soft like
a child’s and he had only fluff on his chin.
When she had finally finished
eating and was happily full again, she turned to Thomas, ‘well,
what do we do now, how are we going to rescue my brother and my
friends?’
‘There will be no rescue,’ said
Thomas, Elkeira could almost taste his fear, ‘the cells are
impregnable.’
Elkeira cocked her head to one
side and smiled cheekily. ‘I bet someone as brave as you would know
a secret way in?’
Thomas blushed again, ‘well,
yes I do, I know the all the secret passageways and doors to every
room in the keep, but it’s too dangerous, we could get caught. It
will be much easier and safer for both of us if I sneak you out
after dark, I can take you somewhere where you’ll be safe.’
‘I cannot do that Thomas,’ said
Elkeria, ‘we are on a very important journey, if you will not help
me rescue them, at least point me in the right direction so I can
try on my own. I need to know how my brother is fairing he was
being badly beaten when I escaped.’ Thomas was silent, she let him
think. When he didn’t speak she stood up, ‘could I have my bow back
please,’ she said sadly, ‘I will need something for
protection.’
He looked up, shamefaced, ‘I
can at least do that for you,’ he said, ‘I did warn you, I’m no
hero.’ He went to a cupboard standing in the corner. From it he
took two bows and two quivers, Tallons dagger and some metal
objects. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to carry
the swords as well.’ She strapped the dagger to her thigh and put
both quivers and one bow over her shoulder, the last bow she held
on to.
‘What are these?’ she asked
picking up the metal objects.
‘They’re guns,’ said Thomas,
‘you can give them to the other two men instead of the swords.’ She
tucked the pistols into her waistband. ‘Thank you Thomas, for all
your help, you will always be a hero in my eyes.’
He smiled sadly. ‘Follow me and
I’ll show you the door that will take you to the cells.’ He took
Elkeira back down the dark tunnel stopping about a third of the
way, ‘here,’ he said, ‘this will take you straight there.’
Elkeira turned and kissed
Thomas lightly on the cheek, ‘thank you again for helping me.’
He blushed in the dark, ‘I’m
sorry I couldn’t do more.’ She opened the door and was gone.
Max and Gilster were sitting
quietly, talking to Tallon about Daria, it was a way of honouring
their friend.
‘Do you remember the first time
I saw you, when you came through the portal,’ asked Max.
‘I do indeed,’ smiled Gilster,
‘Haven did that mind tickling thing he does so well and read your
thoughts, which, if I’m not mistaken were about him.’
Max turned crimson, ‘yes,’ she
said sounding embarrassed, ‘but that’s not what I was talking
about, remember how Daria told him off when she found out he had
read my mind.’
Gilster started laughing, ‘I
do, she was quite mad, and gave him a piece of her mind.’
‘She sounds like a woman to be
reckoned with,’ grinned Tallon.
‘Oh she was,’ said Gilster
sadly, ‘she most definitely was.’
‘You would have liked her,’
said Max, ‘she was very feisty.’
‘Seems all the women in this
group are feisty,’ said Tallon.
The door to the cells opened
and two guards entered. Thinking it was food being delivered
Gilster walked over to the bars to retrieve it. Instead he saw an
old woman dressed in rags, being dragged towards the cell next
door. He lost his temper, ‘she’s an old woman, you brainless
idiots, treat her gently, it’s not like she can do you any
harm.’
‘Mind your own business,’
snapped one of the guards, ‘or I’ll take you out of your nice, cosy
cell and give you a beating.’
‘Then you’ll have to give me
one too,’ said Max standing up and walking over next to
Gilster.
‘Me too,’ said Tallon limping
behind her.
‘Seems to me like you got a
mutiny on your hands,’ laughed the other guard.
They unceremoniously tossed the
old woman into the cell. She landed heavily on her hands and knees,
whimpering in pain.
‘I’ll be back to sort you lot
out later,’ said the first guard, as he passed their cell.
‘OHHH, I’m sooo scared,’ said
Max. Tallon doubled over laughing, and then clutched his side in
pain.
The door slammed shut behind
the guards. Gilster went to see if the old woman had been hurt. She
was still on the floor, too far away for him to reach through the
bars. She was small and frail, her long, white hair a mass of
tangles, layers of filthy clothing covered her body, bare feet
poked out from beneath a tattered and torn skirt of some
indiscriminate colour.
‘Are you alright?’ asked
Gilster, concerned.
She stirred groaning softly as
she gradually pushed herself up into a sitting position. She pushed
the white hair from her face so she could see who was speaking.
‘Yes, thank you young man, I will recover.’
‘Would you like a drink of
water? I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything to eat,’ said
Gilster.
‘Please, don’t worry yourself
about a useless old lady.’ She spied Tallon. ‘You seem to have
taken quite a beating, who did you upset to warrant such harsh
punishment?’
‘Benitoff,’ said Tallon
bitterly, ‘and when I get out of here, I mean to repay the favour .
. . with interest.’
The old woman cackled, ‘that’s
the spirit.’ Tallon smiled grimly.
Moving her attention to Max who
was sitting with Haven, she continued. ‘What’s the matter with your
friend?
Max looked up, worry lining her
face, ‘I think he’s dying,’ she said, the words catching in her
throat. ‘If we don’t get out of here soon, I think it will be too
late to do anything for him.’
‘Is he sick?’ asked the old
woman.
‘Not sick as such,’ said Max
rising and moving closer to the woman. ‘He’s a telepath and
Benitoff’s device is draining his energy.’
‘Do you really think you should
be talking about it,’ whispered Gilster.
‘I don’t care anymore,’ said
Max, ‘if she’s a spy then she’s a spy, all I know is, if we don’t
get out of here soon Haven will die. He’s only lasted this long
because he’s so strong.’
‘Ah, Benitoff’s device,’ said
the old woman, ‘such an evil invention if ever there was one.’
‘You know about it?’ said
Tallon, surprised.
‘I know many things, warrior,
I’m an old lady. Here’s another thing I know,’ she said
cryptically. She rummaged around in a deep pocket of her skirt,
pulling out a piece of paper and holding it out to Gilster. ‘You
will need this when you continue on with your journey.’
‘You seem to know a lot about
us,’ said Max, ‘who are you?’
Gilster was looking at the
paper she had given him. ‘This is the last scroll,’ he gasped.
‘Where did you get? Are you the last chosen?’
The old woman smiled, ‘I am not
the chosen,’ she said, ‘and I did not get the scroll from anywhere,
I wrote it.’
‘What!’ said Gilster, not
understanding what the old woman was telling him. ‘You wrote
it?’
A light dawned in Max’s eyes.
‘Oh my god, you’re Epona.’
Gilster and Tallon couldn’t
believe what they were hearing.
‘I don’t understand,’ said
Gilster, ‘you’re Epona, what’re you doing here? Can you get us out
of here?’
‘You are a smart young woman,’
said the old woman addressing Max, ‘yes, I am Epona, I can’t help
you escape, I have no powers, but that doesn’t matter, rescue is
already coming.’
‘Elkeira,’ said Tallon.
‘Yes, she will be here soon
enough but before then I can give you some information that will be
of help. I can tell you how to turn off Benitoff’s device, it must
be done before your friend can recover.’
‘Slow down a bit,’ said Gilster
raising his hands, ‘it’s too much to take in all at once.’
‘There is not much time,’ said
Epona, ‘listen closely. First the device, it is situated on the top
floor of the keep.’
Tallon snorted, ‘and how are we
supposed to get up there, fly?’
‘That is a problem I cannot
help you with, but you are all very resourceful, you must be to
have come this far, I’m sure you can find a way.’ Epona continued,
‘the device is sitting on a pedestal to which it is attached by
wires, the pedestal is standing on a metal plate, under no
circumstances are you to step on the metal plate or touch it in any
way, if you do the concentrated energy will kill you. Find a way to
knock the device off the pedestal and the wires will disconnect,
once this is done your friend should recover fairly quickly. One
more thing, don’t touch the device with anything made of
metal.’
‘Assuming we can get this
done,’ said Tallon sceptically, ‘then what, we don’t know where the
portal is.’
‘Such an impatient young man, I
was just coming to that,’ said Epona. ‘The portal is at one of my
shrines, it is a very old shrine and not many people alive today
know about it, you’ll find it hidden somewhere near an old rock
quarry.’
Ever the pragmatist, Tallon
asked, ‘and how do we get to this quarry?’
‘That I can’t tell you, because
. . .,’
‘Don’t tell me,’ said Tallon
with and exaggerated sigh, ‘the rules of the game don’t permit
it.’
‘No,’ she continued, ‘I can’t
tell you because I can’t remember.’
‘But I thought you were all
seeing, all knowing,’ said Tallon becoming annoyed.
‘Ragnar and Isis should’ve
taught their people some manners,’ she snapped.
Gilster put a hand on Tallon’s
arm, ‘calm down and let her finish,’ he said quietly. Tallon pulled
his arm away roughly and walked to the other side of the cell.
‘Please continue,’ said Gilster. Epona nodded.
‘We are a race of beings just
like you, we do not have any great powers, I changed into the old
woman so I could get into the keep without alerting anyone, I
cannot change form again until the device is turned off or it will
drain my energy just like it is doing to your friend. I don’t know
who any of the Chosen are I only know the Chosen of this world, his
name is Thomas.’
‘Thomas,’ said Max, ‘is that
the same Thomas I tried to help? Fischer’s friend?’
‘It is,’ said Epona, ‘but he
believes himself to be a coward, so he does not know he is the
Chosen, that is for you to tell and then you must convince him to
go with you because it must be his choice, you cannot force him.
The Chosen and only the Chosen can open the last portal. The names
of the Chosen are written on the scrolls. Thomas will be able to
read them.’
‘Oh, great,’ said Tallon who
had been listening from the other side of the cell, ‘this just gets
better and better.’
Epona chose to ignore the
outburst. ‘I have spent much time with Thomas, he is a bright young
man. I have taught him to read the Uthian language. You must
succeed, then I and my brothers and sisters will leave your worlds
forever.’
Elkeira was stumbling along the
tunnel, hoping she was still going in the right direction, there
was no light and she had no torch. She held out her left hand and
felt her way along the tunnel wall, the width of the tunnel was
slightly wider than her out-stretched arms. It was damp and musty
smelling and the wall was wet and slick under her fingers. Once or
twice she had walked into giant spiders-webs, the first one causing
her to shriek with fear until she clamped a hand over her mouth,
more frightened of being caught than any unseen spider.
Small animals scratched around
in the darkness, sometimes running over her feet. ‘Rats,’ she
thought, ‘I hate rats.’ She had to keep her pace fairly slow so she
didn’t trip over or run into anything; it seemed to be taking
forever to reach the end. Just when her imagination threatened to
overrun her already taut senses, her fingers brush something
different, wood. She had reached the end of the tunnel.
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