The day has not yet dawned when I awake, smothered in blankets, shivering. Although it is night, the moon dances into the room allowing me to see where everything is. Folded nicely on the ground beside the bed is last nights attire, still looking unreal to me.
I role over onto my side and close my eyes again, trying to fall back asleep but I can't, the cold is relentless now. I had hoped that my new warmer travelling clothes would keep me warm enough but obviously I was mistaken.
I gaze out the window and am suddenly reminded of Gisala's words, "Our house, although big gets many drafts rushing through it, if you ever get cold we keep our spare blankets out in the stable."
I sigh, am I really that cold? A further blast of cold wind hitting the house answers my unspoken question and motivates me to get up and slip on shoes, silently leaving the house but not before I make a last minute decision to grab the dagger from the bedside table, for who knows what lies in the depths of night.
The moon shines even brighter outside, and I have no struggle in seeing anything. The outskirts of the village is sleeping, everybody exhausted after a night of dancing and enjoyment. I make it to the stable easily and am greeted with a soft neigh from Griffin making me smile. In the corner is the stack of blankest however just as I am walking over I hear voices from outside making freeze in my tracks.
"We are behind..."
"....took longer than we planned,"
"I know.... must get back quickly."
Gruff voices right outside the stable. I remain quiet inside until I hear them gradually drawing further away. Once a safe distance from me a sneak back outside only to stare in shock at the sight before me.
A very tied up and unconscious Killian is being dragged away on a cart by some burly men. My mind begins to race, how did this happen? How have they managed to take down Killian, and why?
I calm my thoughts and try to go through rational ideas, there is no way I have enough time to go get help and I do not even know who these men are and what their goal is. My best option is to follow them and try and gain more of an understanding.
After making sure that my dagger is easily accessible I creep after the men, making very well sure to stay out of sight by dodging behind trees and bushes. The men are following a faint track that leads off from the village, gradually getting steeper as we approach the base of the mountains.
By this point I still have no idea as to where they are going. From memory there is nothing up these mountains, no huts, no farms, nothing. Quietly I keep following them, staying in the dark shadows and avoiding the moonlight that could so easily reveal me if one of them turned around.
Without any warning the merry group of kidnappers come to a halt just behind some large boulders, perfect for me to hide behind. I wait behind the rock, not wanting to risk peeking out for fear of being caught. I rely on my ears to hear where the group is, for a few seconds they talk but then suddenly I can hear nothing, only silence.
I wait a minute or so incase they are still there but with no sound to warn me I start making my way around the boulders only to stop completely confused.
The men have vanished along with Killian. Completely gone, poof just like that into thin air like magic. No familiar dark shadows seen walking off, they have disappeared off the face of the land leaving behind only their cart in plain sight.
I spin round, straining my eyes in all direction but still nothing.
Killian's words suddenly echo in the front of my mind, "These mountains are littered full of caves everywhere, caves and tunnels to be exact." And that is when I realise I have been looking in the wrong directions. Instead of looking outwards I need to turn towards the boulders, I need to search for an entrance because there is no other reasonable explanation as to where they are.
I am searching on my hands and knees for only a short amount of time when I come across some wooden lying in the ground. With further feeling I locate and metal handle and without overthinking I pull it slowly up, letting a small glimmer light escape.
What has Killian got himself into?
Below the trapdoor is a ladder that descends with the wall of the cave into a small area, lit by a candle on the wall. Nobody seems to be there and so grab the ladder and start making my way into the depths of the ground.
Leading off from the area that I am in is a passage way, lit too by torches on the wall. Gisela nor Killian every mentioned that people inhabited these mountain tunnels making me question whether the village even knows of these existence of these people, whoever they are.
Slowly I creep along the tunnel, praying that I don't meet someone coming along the other way. As I go the passageway gets smaller and smaller, the cold walls slowly pressing in on me as I move deeper into the mountain side following the twists and turns.
Before too long I come across a fork in the tunnel, no sound comes from either direction so I randomly choose to go left, making a mental note in my mind so I don't get lost in a maze of underground tunnels. This tunnel widens out giving me more breathing room and I stick to this, ignoring the smaller tunnels that lead off it occasionally.
Signs of humans are also more prominent as sometimes there is an actual door in the cave wall however they're all locked when I try them and so I continue onwards, keeping my eyes also peeled for any sign of Killian. Finally I reach what must be the end of this main tunnel as it stops, leaving me two options. One, turn back or two, explore the small opening in the wall that I had just passed and see where it goes.
I decide that two is the best idea for it looks to be a less used path meaning less likely for someone to find me and more chance that I can find out what is going on down here from a more hidden location rather than smack bang in the middle of a tunnel. I grab a torch off the wall and hold it in front of me as I squeeze my body through the crack.
I am forced to walk side ways in this new crack and a part of me wonders whether I am just going to hit a dead end. With hope spurring me on I keep going, my torch lighting the way.
It is as I am rounding a corner that my optimism pays off. There is a crack in my small tunnels wall and this crack shows me what I have been looking for; Killian. The crack allows me to see that one of my tunnel's walls actually share's the wall of a large cavern that is filled with many people, one of which is Killian.
I assess the situation, Killian is actually rather close to my spot in the wall, he is bound up and still unconscious from what I can see, the rest of the people are at the other end of the cavern, their backs turned as they look to where someone is talking to them at the front.
"...is the day!"
The crowd lets out a roar of celebration.
"The day where we shall take back what is ours!"
Another roar of celebration.
The speaker continues and my stomach drops as his words get worse and worse, the people's weapon draped outfits making more and more sense.
They are planning to attack Kirkwall.
A/N:
Whoop whoop, another chapter done and dusted! Things are getting more dramatic again... who are these people in the tunnel and why have they got Killian? Questions questions.
*Evil cackle*
Also a quick note... this is all a first draft so there will be mistakes here and there however I am most definitely going to edit the entire book once its finished I just think it's better to get it all out first!
Anyways hope you all enjoyed if you did please vote and comment!
SouthernAlps over and out...