On the other side of the entrance they just sealed, Jake heard a troll say, “I don’t think there is anything going on. No one took anything from them. I’m not going to search anymore.” The troll and whomever he was talking to, were still talking as they walked away. Jake couldn’t make out anything else that was being said. Jake listen for a little while longer then turned to the others and whispered, “They’re looking for us. They must be searching all the tunnels.” Sara’s eyes bright with tears, asked, “What are we going to do now?” Jake put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close to him, “Rest.” Sara looked up at him and asked, “Do what?” Jake said, “We are going to sit here and rest. They will search the tunnels and not find anything. Things will settle down, and then we will leave.” Jake notice the concerned look on George’s face as he held Tammy, who was quietly weeping.
The hours were dragging by. They had slept all they could, told stories to each other, and even told some little unknown information about themselves. Five hours had passed and they were getting restless. Sara suggested, “Let’s play a game.” Jake reach over and touched her and said, “Tag you’re it and no tags back.” Sara smiled at him and said, “No, not tag. Let’s play something you don’t have to move around or make noises.” Tammy said, “How about I spy.” Everyone was in agreement with I spy.
They found various items and the others guessed until it was known what that person was looking at. When it was Sara’s turn, she was looking around and said, “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.” Jake said, “First of all you would have to be a monkey’s aunt and second you would need a little more hair.” Sara turned from what she was looking at and said, “A little? Did you say a little more?” Jake’s eyes widened and he stammered, “Your skin is flawless. I miss spoke, I should have said you would need a lot more hair.” George and Tammy sat snickering once again at Jake’s flustered state.
Letting Jake off the hook Sara smiled and said, “Look over there and tell me what you see.” The three looked to where she was pointing but couldn’t see anything. Jake asked, “Are you talking about the inside of the mountain?” Sara smiled and said, “No. Move over here and look again.” Jake moved to where Sara had been sitting and looked. He was going to say so what, but ended up saying, “If that isn’t the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” Jake moved back and forth looking from the different angles and just kept saying “Wow.”
George and Tammy kept asking what it was, but he would only say, “You need to see this for yourself. If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” Tammy moved over to look and said, “Your right, I never would have believed you.” George was getting ready to move over to take a look, but stopped. George said, “I’m not falling for it. You three are up to something.” Tammy responded first, “No we aren’t. There are stairs going up the inside of the mountain.” George looked and said, “Yep. All the way up to that golden dragon that is going to grant each of us one wish.” Jake smile at the image. He looked over at George and said, “It’s not a trick or a joke. I promise.” George looked at him and said, “You look very serious right now. I’ll take a look so the three of you can get your laugh.”
George moved to the spot the others had been at and did a quick look. He then said, “Okay you got me.” The other three weren’t laughing and no one said a thing. George looked back over and could see the steps going up. He said, “Well, if that doesn’t beats all I’ve ever seen.” George walked over to where the steps started and stepped on the first one. Tammy said, “Be careful!” George smiled at her and stepped toward the edge announcing, “Look at me. Tight rope walking on a stone step, hundreds of feet above the ground without a safety net.” George was sliding his feet on the edge of the steps, when one slipped a little. The girls gasped and George about crapped all over himself. He quickly regained his balance and moved away from the edge. Jake saw the frightened look on George’s face. He wanted to laugh at him, but decided that it wouldn’t be appropriate. George quickly hopped back to the overhang. Tammy was about to light him up, but stopped when Sara held up her hand. Everyone froze.
Sara heard noises coming from the other side of the now sealed opening. Jake slipped quietly over to see if he could hear anything. The only sound was from boots crunching on the dirt floor. Jake said, “They must have everything in this mountain looking for us. Those steps may be our only way out.” Tammy exclaimed, ‘We don’t even know where they will end!” Jake replied, “We can go up them one at a time. I’ll go first to see where they lead.” Sara said, “No, let me go first this time.” George smiled because he knew that whatever Jake replied back to Sara, he was going to be on the losing end. If he said no, then she would ask ‘Is it because I’m a girl?’ If he said yes, then he would worry about her until she was at the end or returned. Jake said, “I don’t care who goes first, we can only go up one at a time. All of us will have to go.” George said, “Nice save.” Sara and Tammy both shot him a snotty look.
Sara didn’t wait for someone else to volunteer. She grabbed her backpack, pulled on her cloak to blend with the surroundings, then up she went. The steps protruded out about three feet from the wall and were about three feet long. None of the steps touched each other, nor did it require you to jump to get to the next one. It was a natural movement from one to the next. Sara was about twenty steps up when she stopped and looked down. Jake thought to himself that was a bad idea, she’s going to freeze. He knew he would have to go up and rescue her because of her being frightened. Sara looked down at the beauty of the mountain. She only took a second to admire it before she continued her climb. The rocks along the side allow just enough room for safe passage, not hindering your movement.
As Sara continued to climb, she could see the top of the mountain was steadily closing in. She could see where the steps were leading, but couldn’t see an end in sight. Sara stopped several time to see where she was in relation to the rest of the group. She noticed that she was now about a quarter of the way across the mountain, and quite a good distance from the others.
Jake, George and Tammy watched her climb effortlessly. She looked like a natural at climbing. The place they watched from, didn’t allow them to see all the steps. There were times that they couldn’t see Sara. With her cloak on, she blended in thoroughly. The step were so well designed they blended with the surroundings perfectly. If you didn’t know better you would’ve thought Sara was flying around the inside of the mountain.
Sara noticed there were only five more steps in front of her, and she was straining to see where the steps were leading. At first she thought the other steps may have been removed in some form or another. As she topped the last step, she turned to face the mountain. Sara raised her hand, finding empty space where she thought the mountain should be. She could still see her whole arm, and began to move it from side to side until she hit a wall. Squatting down carefully, Sara felt the step and noticed it continued into the side of the mountain. Cautiously she crawled a few feet and felt for a wall on the opposite side. Making contact with another wall, she stood and realized she was inside another tunnel. The opening melded so perfectly, she actually was wondering if it was an illusion. Lowering herself again, she crawled a short distance to make sure it wasn’t just an alcove.
The others watched as she just disappeared from view. Jake was ready to bolt up the steps to help her when Tammy grabbed his arm. Jake looked at her hand, then to her face. Tammy said, “She’s fine. If something happened you would have heard her screaming.” Jake relaxed a bit because he knew she was right. It didn’t take long before Sara reappeared waving for the next person to come up. Jake didn’t wait for them to decide, he went next. Tammy followed Jake, with George following at a slower pace.
>
The tunnel was dark. This was the first place in the mountain that had not been magically lit. When everyone was in the tunnel at the top of the steps Sara said, “I’m not sure where it goes but it is level and solid. As Jake started to walk further into the tunnel he turned and said, Sara grab a hold of my backpack, Tammy grab Sara’s and George you hold onto Tammy’s. George asked, “Is this, I go, we go situation?” Jake murmured, “More or less.” Jake inched his way along the tunnel. You could hear his sword lightly tapping in front of him and along the walls. From the dark you could hear Jake say, “Right turn ahead.” A few minutes later, “Left turn ahead.” Then several minutes later, “Another right turn.” After the group had made the last right turn, Jake could feel the floor, but no walls.
After moving about ten feet into this area, the whole place lit up. All four teens dropped to the ground like they were ducking to hide. They had entered a forty by forty room that once upon a time was expensively decorated. Time had taken its toll on the fine cloth items. Rust had taken some of the steel items. The finely crafted wooden items remained intact, as well as some of the other metal items. After studying the room, Sara said, “This looks to be a sitting room if you asked me.” Tammy said, “I would’ve loved to see it, when it was in better condition.” Sara agreed.
The room had two doors that were closed. Jake looked at Sara and said, “Ladies choice.” Sara strutted like a queen over to the door to their left and pulled on it. Nothing happened. Jake replied, “Maybe her majesty is too weak or has forgotten how to open doors from always allowing her servants to open them for her.” He did an elaborate bow and scurried over with his head lowered as he passed Sara. When he got to the door, Sara came up behind him and popped him on the back of the head playfully. Jake said, “Don’t beat the servant me queen. I’ll do better.” Everyone was now snickering. As Jake grabbed the handle on the door, Yatuku started glowing green. The door softly squeaked open revealing the outside.
Jake and Sara stood in amazement at what was before them. George and Tammy could both see the sky outside and the tops of a few trees. The backside of the door was solid rock and appeared to be part of the mountain. Jake stepped out and shut the door slightly behind him. The door blended perfectly with the surroundings and would be hard to locate. Stepping back inside, he inspected the craftsmanship of the door. Totally amazed, he exclaimed, “From outside you would never know the door was here unless it were opened.” Opening the door again, he gestured for them all to leave. Just before Jake stepped out, George asked, “Do we want to check this other door?” Jake said, “No. Let’s just get out of here while we can. I have a feeling that one leads to another tunnel back into the mountain. Like another escape route or something like that.”
CHAPTER 39
No one was happier to see the outside as Jake, Sara, Tammy and George were right then. They were having problems locating something they could recognize to get their bearings so they could go back to the campsite. Jake said, “I have the feeling the camp is on the other side of the cavern’s main entrance. I’ll bet we are going to have to walk most of the way around this stupid mountain.” Jake was once again right. They were east of the campsite with the main entrances to the Dwarven Caverns right in the middle between the two areas. This had been one time Jake hoped he was wrong.
As they moved around the mountain, they noticed the number of patrols on the outside had also increased. The only good thing that could be said about this situation was most of the patrols were just going through the motions. It didn’t appear many of them cared about patrolling or even took it very seriously. The whole group knew with the abundance of guards, and the distance they had to cover, it was going to be an all-day affair, or longer. The stopping to hide, took a lot of time when trying to get somewhere in a hurry.
George suggested they move away from the base of the mountain. That suggestion had proved to be a very good one. The amount of patrols were fewer and they were able to cover more ground. Sara said, “At this rate, we may make it back before sunset.” Tammy added, “That’s if everyone is still at the campsite.” Jake looked at her and said, “That is very true. If they’re not there, our only hope is that they left our horses behind.”
***
They made it to the area of the campsite with about an hour of daylight to spare. When they entered, Ralnor and Trueway were both sitting near the entrance waiting for their return. Ralnor said, “I’m glad to see you again. I do have to say you returned much earlier than I expected.” Trueway asked, “Did something happen inside?” Everyone shook their heads no. Ralnor raising his eyebrows asked, “Did you leave everything like you found it?” This time they all nodded yes. Tammy turned to look at George, “Did you remember to at least close the door? George mumbled, “I think I did.” Jake looked at him and said, “Either you did or you didn’t, which is it?” George thought for a minute and said, “I don’t think I closed it all the way.”
Ralnor and Jake exchanged looks as if to say, ‘not good.’ Jake noted, “That may explain all the troop activity.” Ralnor instructed, “Everyone grab your gear, we are leaving immediately.” No one wasted any time. The four went to their area and began collecting the rest of the items they left behind. As George moved deeper into the cave, Ralnor took note at the way he was carrying his heavy backpack. He thought about saying something, but knew it wasn’t the right time or place, he would wait until George was alone to speak with him. Watching the teens move, he could tell the other three had acquired a few items, but not near the amount George had collected. Ralnor and Jake had both noticed that George didn’t let the backpack get too far away from him, it almost looked as if he were guarding it. When everyone had finished gathering their gear, they began exiting the cave. George was the first to depart. Again Ralnor and Jake exchanged looks with each other. Both had the same thought about the content of the backpack, but neither one would address it.
The trek to the horses was uneventful, however loading them with the gear became problematic. Taragin and George were having difficulties getting their horses to remain still. They seemed reluctant to have them mount up. Ralnor took notice of the situation and was approaching to say something when George mounted his horse and said “Ready.” He reached down and patted the horses’ neck and whispered something to him that couldn’t be heard. When Ralnor turned toward Taragin, he also was mounted up and prepared to ride. With everyone mounted, they started the journey back the way they had come from. Ralnor said, “We need to travel until late in the night. We will need to put as much distance as we can from this place.”
The wardens spilt up and put a bit of distance between themselves and the others to scout the area ahead. Ralnor remained with the main group. After riding for a league, Ralnor rode up alongside of Jake and quietly asked, “Did you see what George put in his backpack?” Jake looked at Ralnor and shook his head no. When Jake was sure no one could hear, he whispered, “He packed it alone and hasn’t left it since. George got up tight when I tried to look inside.” Ralnor just nodded back at him and rode back to the front. Once there, he picked up the pace. Sometime during the third league of riding, Jake rode up to Ralnor and said, “We are going to have to stop and rest. Within a couple of minutes they had stopped to rest. Ralnor said, “We will rest for just a few minutes, then continue to ride for another couple of leagues. Once we find a half decent place, we will stop and make camp until sunrise. Camp was quiet as everyone was on edge with the possibility of danger lurking.
***
Sunrise the next morning found everyone starving and fit to eat a side of beef each. Fontun had worked his magic and prov
ided another outstanding meal. As simple as it was, it filled everyone up nicely providing them with the energy they would need for that day. Ralnor told everyone to mount up so they could leave. To Halfar he instructed, “Wait a short time before you leave. Trail us for a good while to see if we are being followed, then join back up with us before dinner. Return right away though, if we are being followed.”
The group headed off without Halfar. Sara was thinking how that must feel, being left all alone by your group. Ralnor said, “We are used to being alone. This is very unusual for us traveling together.” Sara asked, “How did you know I was thinking that?” Ralnor smiled and said, “It was the way you were looking back at him with pity.” Sara replied, “Oh, I guess I was.”
Ralnor set a very fast pace that morning. When Jake inquired why they were moving so quickly Ralnor replied, “They know someone was in those rooms and my guess is they would like to know who and why. I don’t want to give them either answer.” Jake asked, “Will they be able to catch us riding at this pace?” Ralnor replied, “We can stay ahead of them as long as we continue to ride, but when we stop, they will be able to close the distance to us. I took a chance stopping last night, it worked in our favor this time.” Looking worried, Jake asked, “How long can we ride like this?” Ralnor answered, “We will slow down soon and walk the horses for a while so they can rest. We will do this for the better part of the day. Once night falls, we will continue to walk them through the night, providing there are no problems between here and the road. We will stop just before sunrise and sleep a short period. Our biggest problem is we are leaving a trail a blind man could follow.”