Friday, August 8, 2008

Chapter 86: Subterranean

~ "This is kinda freaky weird," commented Andrew as he played his flashlight beam over the chiseled granite walls. The room that they had fallen into was expansive and roughly cut from the surrounding stone. On one wall a riveted iron door was set into the rock, and it seemed to be the only access.

"I don't like the looks of this at all," he murmured.

By the light of Jaden's flashlight Takyle quickly located her backpack and pulled it close.

"Oh shit. A bunch of stuff fell out."

"It's ok; I'll help you gather it up," offered Andrew.

"And uh, I'll take a look around." Jaden got to his feet gingerly and flexed his back, wincing slightly.

"Be careful," Andrew reminded him, unnecessarily.

As Andrew and Takyle set to reassembling Takyle's pack, Jaden took a quick circuit of the room. The floor was rough and uneven, with large pieces of rock scattered here and there. It seemed more like a natural cave floor, with parts of it chiseled away so that it was for the most part vaguely level, than an artificial excavation.

"Perhaps it was a natural cave that was expanded at some point to form this chamber," mused Jaden silently. He shone his light up the walls and noted that they were almost perfectly vertical, and definitely worked, but the beam was too weak to reveal any detail on the high ceiling.

When he finally approached the large door, he did it cautiously and from an angle. He stood to the side of it and gave the handle a tug. The door didn't budge. He gave the slightly rusted iron a quick rap with the butt of his flashlight and heard a very solid thunk in return. So not a thin door either.

"Great. This is just great."

Jaden turned around to go see how his teammates were getting on and very nearly ran into Andrew.

"So the door's locked then?" Andrew asked, gazing up at it. Takyle stood next to him fiddling with her flashlight.

"Yeah. And at first inspection seems to be pretty solid."

"So what do you want to do, Boss?" asked Andrew.

"Um, well, first let's- Oh! I got it to work! And now it's not- And now it is again... Sorry. Let me see now. No other accesses, Jaden?" said Takyle, shining her now operational flashlight around the room.

"Sure don't seem to be."

Takyle opened her mouth and for the second time she was cut off. This time by a resounding clang from behind the iron door. ~

No comments: