Let's Make A Deal, My King

13: Heads Or Tails

Amelia

I exited through the back door of the house which is located in the kitchen. I went out of the house and walked straight to that old building. There are quite a lot of guards in the area ever since that whole mysterious threat. I was making sure no one sees me. It was already getting dark so it was easy for me to sneak around.

When I entered the building, there is no door on the ground that leads to the basement. I only saw a table at the side with a candle holder, a small shelf on the wall with four books, and under it, was a large dirty doormat with 'welcome' written on it. I went towards the table since the books on the shelf are pretty common in movies that hide a trap door. I know how Cassius thinks. He'll go with the candle holder.

I pulled the holder down and nothing happened. I was so full of myself that it was so embarrassing that I failed. I tried to look again at my surroundings and found three paintings near the door. No wonder I didn't notice it since upon opening the door, the pictures were blocked by it.

I looked at the paintings and they were quite old and of different sizes. The one on the left is a painting of a woman with her eyes looking up at the ceiling and it was the biggest. The center was of two wolves, black and white, staring at each other and it was the smallest. The last one is a man falling down and it was medium size.

I tried to grab the painting but it was firmly stuck on the wall. I knew that this is the key to a hidden door since, among all the things here, these three are not too dirty or full of dust. So it must have been moved for some reason but it's really stuck. The painting must be a clue so I guess it's time for me to rack my brains.

You can do this, Amelia. This is like one of those escape games that you loved so much. I encouraged myself.

"In the first painting, the woman is looking up. In the third one, the man is falling down. So up and down. The second one is two wolves looking at each other. I'm not quite sure what this is." I mumbled to myself.

"Up...down...up...down...wolves..." I chanted like a mantra and then it hit me.

"UP.SIDE.DOWN!" Urgh! I'm so stupid. The wolves looked at each other so they were on their side view.

I figured out the clue but how am I going to do this? The paintings are stuck. But then I saw a tiny brown button under every painting. It was so tiny and the color camouflages the wall. If you don't look clearly, you'll miss it. I click every button in order to their sizes.

After I pressed all the buttons, the ground vibrated and I saw a large rectangular hole with stairs going down, where the doormat was located.

No wonder it was suspiciously large for a doormat.

"Goddess! That took longer than expected. But this is so much fun! As expected of Cassius." I said to myself, feeling quite happy and proud.

I quickly went towards it and went down the stairs. It wasn't dark since I can see a bit of light. The place has a narrow hallway with lamps on each side of the walls. I walked and walked until I was faced with three passages. I choose the one at the center randomly and it was a very long path until it was a dead end.

"Great, this is gonna take a while than I thought." I said to myself.

I continued to walk through this maze-like labyrinth. I knew where to go by following the very faint scent of Cassius. On each path, the scent became stronger until I was almost at the place. I can finally hear his booming angry voice from the hallway. I only stopped when I reached a door which is slightly opened. I took a peek at who is inside and I saw the rogue behind the opened bars who has chains on his hand and feet tied to the wall to keep him off the ground. There was also a man inside the cell with dark hair and a scar under his eye on his left cheek. He also has blood on his fist which I'm guessing is from the rogue's. Zeyd and Cassius were standing in front of the cell with their backs facing me.