Dreamy Red

Episode 37 - Doomed Escape

"Instead of putting our hands in all of the barrels and spoiling the wine, let us push each barrel to see which one stands still. The one that doesn't move ought to be the one with the handle that connects to the door behind the wine shelf", I told wisely. "Ya, but there is no door behind the wine shelf, the wine shelf itself is the door", corrected Karan. We all laughed and got to pushing and pulling down all the barrels.

One of the barrels in the bottom row didn't move. So Karan put his hands inside and moved his hands with full power. "Clank" We heard a noise behind the wine shelf and then, "fizz", we heard another noise from the same place and a spark erupted from behind the wine shelf. There was a short circuit. A fire broke out on the wine shelf. We had no idea how to stop it. "Oh no. The door's jammed forever!", Karan muttered keeping his hands on his head and sitting on the floor. "Leave that, what about the fire?", I questioned him in panic. "Don't you see it is going off?", he asked. And it really did. The fire was going off. "But I don't understand what happened!", I expressed.

"You see the handle is connected to the wine shelf via an electric cable. So when you turn the handle, an electric signal is sent to the latch console and it opens up. That's why we had to empty the barrel before turning it. I did not remember this until now", said Karan pouting.

"It's okay. Can't we still open the door?", asked Sid innocently. "Nope", replied Karan. "Okay. But shall we give it a try? No loss, right?", asked Sid smartly. Karan shrugged but joined Sid when he tried to push the wine shelf. But it didn't budge.

"Told ya. Great-grandpa designed it that way. One who doesn't know the logic can't escape the dungeon", said Karan. "You told us there was one more exit, right?", asked Christy. "Yes, but it is a dangerous one and I have no idea where it leads", said Karan with no hope on his face. He looked at me and said, "We are doomed!" I checked my phone, there was no signal and it was about to die as there was no charge. I looked at Karan expectantly. He said his phone got damaged when we fell down. "Things were getting better in my life. I was about to get married to my love, but seems like I'm going to rot to death", commented Karan.

"No, I'm sure there is a way out!", I told confidently. "What is the last exit route?", I asked him. "One wrong move and we all will die in an instant. Great-grandpa was a genius, he must have laid all kinds of traps in that room", he replied with fear. "We have no other go, do we?", I asked. "But", he said, paused for a bit as he was thinking, then said, "Ok, let's give it a try. Either we starve to death or we die on a battlefield. Either way, we are gonna die. That's confirmed", he told bravely. "I hope we don't have to die!", I told them smiling. But neither of them smiled back.

*****

Karan had led us to the far end of the dungeon where there was a massive grey iron door with a large wheel-shaped handle. We all had to together put so much force to turn it. Once the latch opened, we pulled the door open with all our might. The half-foot thick iron door was heavy as a bull. It was very dark inside. I was about to keep my foot inside, when Karan shouted, "Doooooon't!" He pulled me out. He had the lighted torch in his hand and showed some light on the floor of the room. Actually, there was no floor. It was a hollow space with an ever-ending cavity. I was shocked. I could have died or even worst, got lost in the depths. "Gee, thanks", I told Karan while grabbing his hands tightly. He smirked. "I told you, it's not safe!"

I saw Sid and Christy swallowing down their saliva in fear. "How do we get in?", I asked. "Let me think", he said. He thought for a while, then went to the room opposite which did not have a door. After a minute, he came out with a large rope ladder. "Are we gonna get inside the cavity?", I asked eagerly. "No", he said sternly. "Help me throw this as far as possible", he requested me. The end of the rope ladder had an average-sized iron anvil. Karan took that end and swirled it in the air and threw it as hard as he could. He had asked me to help but didn't wait for me to help.