I sat behind a pile of rock a short way down the side tunnel where I wouldn't be seen from the main tunnel, and I was pretty sure nobody would come down this way and find me.
"Search everywhere!" I heard Beso's angry yell coming from the corridor.
<i>Oh no, he might send someone down this way to find me.</i> I thought, and started looking around me for someplace to hide. There wasn't anywhere to hide that I could see, and I didn't like the idea of going further down this passage. It might be dangerous or I might get lost.
In my panic, I started looking around for a weapon. Yea... as if tiny little me was going to fight my way through a bunch of soldiers and free my father who... Probably wouldn't do any better against soldiers than I would. My eyes landed on my forest pack. Was there anything in there? It wasn't like I ever fought the Gorfs, I relied upon my speed and ability to hide when dealing with the Gorfs. No weapons there.
Then I remembered my hammock with it's no-see-me totem. Beso and the part of the militia that followed him would know about that trick, but would they consider that I might use it here in the cave? I almost dismissed the idea because I only ever used the no-see-me totem in the forest, but it should work just as well here. I quickly looked around for a place to hang my hammock. Nothing. But I did see a low, dark gap near the floor. I heard footsteps coming, so I was running out of time.
"Smoke, is there anything in there?" I whispered, indicating the gap.
*"Nothing to fear, is nice dark place."* Came the amused reply.
I pulled my hammock from my pack and, careful to scoop up all my things and to not leave any tail-tell signs in the dust on the floor, dove into the opening. I found myself covered in spiderwebs and dust, and had to force myself not to sneeze. As quietly as I could, I found the no-see-me totem laced to the bottom of the hammock and pushed it in front of me, towards the opening of my hiding spot.
*"Shhh... a soul approaches."*
I could see flickering light, like from a torch, coming from the passageway outside my hiding spot and forced my breath to become shallow so that it wouldn't make any noise. I was so scared that the no-see-me wouldn't work, and I would be caught.
When I created the first working prototype of the no-see-me totem, I was a little over confident in my new creation and tried to use it as a cloak of invisibility by hanging it on the front of my cloak. Needless to say, it isn't quite that powerful, so while I was maybe slightly less noticeable, I sure wasn't anything close to invisible. As soon as I moved, my parents would notice me, and once they knew I was there they didn't have any problem keeping track. I almost tossed the prototype and moved on. It wasn't till I tried to figure out how to make it better that I began to understand it's limitations. Used within those limitations, mostly not moving and keeping quiet, it turned out to be one of my best designs.
The torchlight passed by my hiding place and moved on down the passage without even pausing. Either the no-see-me totem was doing it's job, or the soldier wasn't. Either way, I was safe for the moment. The light from the soldier's torch soon died away as the soldiers kept searching down the corridor
.
"Can you see if there is anyone guarding my Father Smoke?" I whispered.
*"I will look."* With that, she was gone. I hadn't looked, but ever since she started talking in my mind, I've been sure that Smoke was a girl kitty.
Smoke soon returned. *"There are souls"*
<i>There are souls? What does that mean?</i> I asked myself. I guessed that it meant there were guards. Nothing for it but to get moving.
I eased my way out of my hiding place, trying to watch both ways at once, and carefully returned to the main passage. I could hear the sound of feet up the passageway the opposite direction from the cells, but they sounded like they were moving away from us. I moved down the passage toward the cells and heard raised voices.
"I'm tired of that brat Beso ordering us around. How dare General Bout put him in command, he isn't an officer. He isn't even a member of the militia. And now Bout has jailed the only surviving Elder? He's gone power mad!"
"You better shut up with that treason, or I'll have to take note of it and report you. You were from that traitor Zon's platoon so you don't understand what's going on here Garis. General Bout does not tolerate traitors!" came the reply.
I carefully took a peek, holding the no-see-me up in front of me hoping that it would help. There were two militia soldiers talking. I vaguely recognized one of them, I was sure I had seen him with Uncle Zon when they found me. He was facing my direction, while the other soldier was facing away.
I thought I caught a flash of recognition in the soldier, Garis's eye, but he did not raise the alarm. Or maybe I was imagining it. I don't know. I've never been what you would call "good with reading people", but time was running out. Beso would be back with the other soldiers soon so I had to act now.
One of the things my mother had put in my first aid kit, along with the enchanted needle for stitches, was a little box of pins. I was warned that they were not to be used except in cases of extreme emergency. The pins were used to stop pain. Say, if someone broke their leg, you could stick a pin above the wound, and it would dull the pain. Mama warned me that they were only to be used on limbs. You know, arms and legs. And never on the body or on the head or neck area. I had once seen Mama put one in the middle of a farmer's back, but that was a special case. Farmer Delus had broken his back, and was in so much pain. There was nothing else that could be done for him. The pin just eased his passing.
I was sure Mama was going to be mad, but I didn't see any other choice. So I pulled out one of the pins, I only had three, and creeped up behind the soldier's back. Garis kept talking to him as if nothing was going on. Surely, Garis saw me, but made no mention or warning to his compatriot that I was there.
The pin went in a lot easier than I expected. One second the soldier was talking to Garis, the next he was lying on the floor confused. Then he saw me and took a breath to start yelling, but Garis pulled out a sap and whap! The soldier dropped.
"Young Tandy, it is dangerous for you to be here." he made a show of looking down the passageway. "Beso and the others will back shortly."
Garis was visibly worried.
No comments:
Post a Comment