After a series of silly and mostly pointless ideas on how to get our equipment back, we lay on our hay beds and tried to sleep. After all, we had no new or at least minimally useful ideas to discuss, and there was nothing else we could do.
Yibo and I were lying quite close to the door, still talking quietly. I had my head on his shoulder and he had both arms around my body. Every now and then he stroked my cheek, kissed me and told me how much he wished we were alone because he had naughty things in mind with me.
We giggled quietly and at some point I pulled Yibo to me and he was lying on top of me when we heard a rustling sound. We immediately looked around and thought it might be a mouse or worse, a rat. But it wasn't. We actually saw nothing more than a shadow. A huge shadow that was bent over Cheng and Haikuan.
Yibo and I held our breath. Was this really happening? Or were we just imagining it? What was it? When Cheng apparently sensed that something was there, he opened his eyes and was about to scream in terror again when he saw the shadow. But the shadow thrust out its arm and held its hand over Cheng's mouth to stop him from screaming.
Cheng fidgeted, Haikuan froze, and He Peng sat in his corner of the room with his eyes wide open, staring just like Yibo and me at that shadow creature. It slowly released its hand from Cheng's mouth and appeared in front of He Peng the next moment. It swayed its head back and forth a few times and then came to Yibo and me.
The shadow knelt in front of Yibo and me. I raised my hand and wanted to touch the shadow, but the shadow backed away. I said, "Sorry. Are you afraid of us? Who are you?"
"Afraid of us? Are you crazy? This thing is a giant shadow. If anyone should be afraid, it's us!" Grumbled Cheng.
The shadow backed away further and seemed to cover its ears. "Be quiet." Said Yibo and said to the shadow, "He won't be so loud anymore. Can you communicate with us? Can you speak?"
A soft voice rang out. "I won't hurt you."
"Okay. Who are you and why are you here?" Asked Yibo. Apparently the shadow trusted Yibo and it responded to Yibo.
"My name?" Asked the shadow.
Yibo: "Yes, what is your name?"
Shadow: "Ian."
Yibo: "Hi Ian. I'm Yibo. My partner is Zhan. Over there that's He Peng, Cheng and Haikuan."
Shadow: "I know. You are friends of my master."
Me: "Who is your master?"
Shadow: "King Bac. He is my master."
Yibo: "Bac? And where is your master?"
Shadow: "He has important things to do. Zhan?"
Me: "Yes?"
Shadow: "You are my master too."
Me: "I am your master? But how? And why?"
Shadow: "I'm here to watch over you and help you."
Yibo: "Help with what?"
Shadow: "To escape!"
Me: "Bac wants you to help me or us escape?"
Shadow: "My master said to take care of Zhan. Put him and the others out of danger."
Yibo: "So he knows where we are?"
Shadow: "He knows. He sees everything Zhan sees. Hears everything Zhan hears. Feels everything Zhan feels."
Yibo: "That's um, well. Zhan is my mate and that sounds kind of..."
Shadow: "He sees, hears and feels you too." The shadow pointed first at Yibo and then at He Peng. "You are connected to him. Forever. A bond that cannot be broken."
Me: "And what else can you tell us? What about the jungle warriors? Can we trust them? I mean can we trust their queen Janala?"
Shadow: "The jungle warriors are neither friend nor foe. They kill to survive. They have to. But they only kill what they needs to. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone."
Me: "She offered me an alliance. She wants to help us get out of here and she wants us to find Bac to tell him she needs help."
Shadow: "I know. But she won't get here in time. King Raha wants to have you executed!"
Cheng: "But I thought he needs us to lure Bac?"
Shadow: "Raha doesn't want to wait anymore. He wants to hurt my master by killing you. He knows you are connected and can feel what you feel."
Me: "And what should we do now? We are trapped here!"
The shadow seemed to look around and left the room through the door. A short moment later, the shadow returned. From under his coat, or whatever it is, because everything about this guy is shadowy, he pulled out Yibo's and my backpack. "Here, take it, flee through the tunnel. The creepy tunnel leads outside. Escape now and don't wait another day. I must go to my master and report to him. I'll be back soon." And he was gone.
Without thinking, we grabbed our backpacks, pushed the shelf from the secret door to the side and took our flashlights out of the backpacks. How good that we had taken several with us, in case one should be broken. Everyone was now equipped with a flashlight. We walked down the stairs and Yibo took the rope out of his backpack.
He attached it to a rake on the ceiling that was very sturdy and let himself down the rope first through the hole. I followed him on it, then Cheng, then He Peng, and finally Haikuan. We had to hurry because we knew we couldn't hide our escape route and in a few hours the guards would realize we had escaped.
Once down in the tunnel, Yibo grabbed my hand and led the way with me. Cobwebs were hanging everywhere, sticking to our faces and hair. But we didn't stop and walked on without caring. It was more important to reach the end of the tunnel than to remove the cobwebs.
And yes, the tunnel was really creepy. At first we hadn't noticed it at all, but at some point we heard eerie sounds like rustling, whispering and soft footsteps. But there had been nobody to see. And then every few meters there were these bulges on the sides that reminded me of a crypt. Shallow bulges on which bodies might have lain at some point?
This super long and super creepy tunnel was really weird. I don't know how long we had been walking in it, it could have been 5 minutes or it could have been an hour. It was as if time was running differently down there. I actually had no sense of time anymore. I only know we ran and ran and at some point He Peng could no longer. He was completely out of breath. And so was Cheng.
We walked slower and even though we knew we had no time, we just had to see what was behind a door to our right that we spotted. Yibo kicked the door, which no longer had a handle. It immediately burst open and we entered the room behind it. We stood rooted to the spot as we realized that this was a room where corpses must have been prepared in the past.
There were two tables carved out of stone in the room. Tools were lying next to them. And on one wall hung ancient pictures of the dissection of a corpse. There were several small vials standing around. On one of them the name could still be read. " Ricin " I remembered a documentary I had seen once. It was about the 5 most dangerous poisons in the world.
I remember that Ricin was one of them. Ricin is extracted from the beans of the miracle tree, which is cultivated to extract ricin oil. Even the smallest inhaled or injected amounts are deadly, it said. Carefully I put the bottle back and looked at another whose label was still legible. "Arsenic" A worldwide known poison.
"Damn it, what were they doing down here? They didn't poison people and then dissect them to see what the poison did to the body, did they?" I asked myself. The others looked at me questioningly. I just shook my head and asked to go on. And we went.
Shortly after, I saw my question confirmed when we saw four larger rooms with iron bars in front of them. Iron chains had been attached to the walls and an iron noose with which they presumably fixed the people by the neck. I felt a chill run down my spine. Where the hell were we?
"From the looks of it, this wasn't just a farmhouse. If it ever was." Said Yibo as he looked at the windowless gray cells.
"How awful must it have been, chained down here in this cold and the dark waiting for someone to come and get you and then kill you with a poison, only to cut you open afterwards?" I asked.
"And we dare to call the creatures monsters?" Asked He Peng. No one had said anything in response. Instead, we kept walking.
The seemingly endless tunnel went on and on and on. But we saw no more bulges, no more rooms or cells. It just went forward. It seemed like we were down there for hours and that the exit would never come. But then it was there! A rusted iron door right in front of us.
This time Haikuan kicked hard and the door burst open. Icy cold hit us. Snowflakes slapped our faces. Somewhere in the distance we heard thunder. A snowstorm and a thunderstorm? And then of all times we were outside? And in an area we didn't know? Unprepared and not warmly enough dressed? Only we could be so lucky. That was meant sarcastically with the luck!
At least the snowstorm had something good. This way, our tracks would disappear immediately and the Demoids would not be able to follow our tracks.
We ran first, then looked around, but couldn't see anything because of the snowstorm, so we ran on until we reached a group of trees. Yibo took out his map from his backpack and tried to orient himself, using his compass as well. "We have to go that way." He said, pointing to the left.
"And where do we go there?" I asked.
"That's the way to the next bunker. We should keep a circle around the town, though. I don't feel like getting caught right away." Yibo replied and repacked the map and compass.
So we set off in the direction shown and after half an hour or so, He Peng suddenly stopped and said he saw a house or something. He showed us where and we went in that direction. He was right. It was a house and it looked like a bomb had hit it. Perfect!
Cautiously we entered the house and quickly looked around. There was not much to see, it must have been empty for a long time. Two rooms were still intact, the others were destroyed. We retreated to the largest of the two rooms and Yibo again made his fire that does not form smoke. We warmed ourselves and listened to the thunder storm approaching.
Through the cracks and grooves of the house whistled loudly the wind through. The brittle window crunched and cracked under the strong wind. The thunder became louder and louder, the blizzard stronger and stronger. We were glad at this moment no longer to be outside.
When the first flashes of lightning came, they were so bright that they lit up the whole room. The thunder crashed over us and made the house tremble. We clung to each other and prayed. We were afraid that the ceiling would fall on our heads. Everything vibrated, cracked and crunched. Somewhere in the house something crashed loudly. For over an hour we sat huddled in a corner, holding on to each other. Then only the wind could be heard again. The thunderstorm was over and we exhaled in relief.
We talked again by the fire about the eerie tunnel and speculated about its function. But then, fortunately we remembered to pack the blankets and sleeping bags, we got tired. We wrapped ourselves in the blankets and sleeping bags and just fell asleep. Despite our fear that the Demoids would find us, we fell asleep and did not wake up before noon.