The Land of Dragons

Chapter 6

After Chapter 5

Time was a strange thing in the cave. The drivers didn't know where the sun was actually, but there were kind of days and nights. In the evening, the lamps in the rooms were gradually darkened and it took them around two hours to turn off completely.

It was this two-hour twilight when Max and Charles went exploring. They were both happy to be out of their small room and move around a little bit. Carlos smiled inwardly when he saw them disappear in the first turn. If they're happy, there's a less chance of conflict, he thought.

There was no plan for the expedition, so they just went after their nose. The lair of the Devils was like a giant underground maze. Max and Charles had to be careful not to get lost. The twists and turns continued endlessly, with the occasional doors on the wall. The youngsters tried each one, but all was closed. Even stranger, the whole thing was silent. They never met any Devils, nor heard them.

After around an hour's exploring, they decided to head back to their room. It was all good until somewhere they had missed a turn and they found themselves in the elevator-room.

"Just how did we get here?" Charles asked himself. That elevator room always came up when it wasn't supposed to.

"We may as well look around," Max said and went to the wall. He tried to find the trick, the mechanism that made the elevator disappear. It would be evidence for him that at least something is right with the world. But there was nothing. The wall was just like anywhere else. Max felt frustration and fear appearing inside him. He hated when he didn't understand how something worked.

While Max had been staring at the wall, Charles had looked around in the other parts of the room. It was mostly empty apart from a paper on the ground near the wall.

"Look, Max! It's a paper!" Charles showed him. Max turned and took in the information, then muttered something. He really wasn't in the mood of speaking.

After finding the paper, they were done in the elevator-room. For a moment, Charles played with the idea of exploring the other tunnel where they hadn't been yet but he discarded the idea because they didn't have much time until full darkness. He shuddered at the thought of trying to find their way back to the others blindly.

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"Have you found something?" Carlos asked when he opened the door for the explorers.

"Nothing useful and not much of not useful." Max replied in a grumpy tone.

"We found a paper," Charles added.

"How many holes does it have?" Pierre asked before Charles could finish the sentence.

Charles unfolded the paper and everyone gathered around him.

"Une, deux, trois..." Pierre counted, not even realising he's speaking French. Charles hid a smile.

"Vingt-six! Where's the other paper?" he looked around.

"Here it is," Carlos handed him the other paper, also smiling. Pierre put both on the ground.

"Look, they both have an arrow in the corner!" Carlos said.

"Maybe they show which way is the top!" Lando added. Pierre turned the papers so the arrows were aligned correctly. Now they had a paper with holes and a paper with a message and lots of letters on the other side. Alex had an idea.

"Put the holey one on the other! To the meaningless words side!" he exclaimed.

And he was right. In each of the holes, one letter could be seen. The holey paper also had a symbol above each hole.

"It's a code to a secret alphabet!" Carlos realised.

"Then we can figure out what this means!" Max pointed to the few rows of symbols at the bottom of the paper. Carlos stared at the paper, finding each symbol and translating the letters. Once he had read it, he went through it again, this time reading it aloud for the others.

"It says: 

Guys!

Please trust me, I want to help you! I can get you out of here, but it's a dangerous place so I can only leave instructions. Beware of the spiders and red crows! Find a blue hexagon and push it, then keep what you find inside! I'll leave you a message about what to do next. Hope you're alright!

An ally.

Well, what do you think?" he asked.

"It's every bit as strange as the previous one," Alex said.

"It might still turn out to be a trap," Charles replied.

"And it can be our chance to escape." Max pointed out.

"I think it's worth the risk." Lando said, smiling at Charles. "I hate it here." he added in a more serious tone.

"Okay, so same as with the first paper. You should look for that hexagon but you should be careful." Carlos summarized, looking at Max and Charles, who both nodded.

In that exact moment, the lights finally went out and the full darkness of the night arrived. Lando sat closer to Carlos, the way he did every time when darkness came.

"We should go exploring at dawn." Max stated.

"We don't know when the Devil guards arrive." Charles objected.

"You might find yourselves stuck outside if they come when you're not here." Carlos agreed. "It's a logical idea but the risk is just too big." he added, looking in Max's direction in the dark.

Max understood the risk but he still wasn't happy about the refusal. He just felt uncomfortable and very hungry. He hadn't eaten in a whole day. And to top it all, he was confused and - although he wouldn't admit it even to himself - a bit scared by the Devils and the mysterious person who sent the messages.

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Edited 14.04.2024