Autumn's Fall

VI. What They Found There

Angus anxiously watched the sun falling steadily nearer to the horizon, they had to find a way out of this ravine or find a place to camp for the night soon. This ravine, which had at first seemed an easy obstacle, now had become an impossible mountain. They did not want to be out in the open like this. Night was when the creatures seeking a drink would find them with only a flimsy tent for shelter.

Angus shouldered his pack, "On your feet, we've got to get moving. We've got to find a way out of here before dark!"

Cecilia helped Sophia put on her pack, being sure to not touch her injured hand. Carefully making their way over the rocks, they joined Angus as he unfolded his map, "Do you think up or downstream would be better? The path we are supposed to join with will come closer to us upstream, but I don't remember if there is a way up or not. If we go downstream and closer to the road that we left earlier we might find a bridge over the ravine but I can't tell if there are any nearby by this map."

Cecilia pointed at the stream, "I think we should try upstream, sounds like it's our best bet since it's at least taking us in the right direction. We might even find a spot that's easy to climb up, even for poor Soph."

"What do you think Soph?"

Sophia didn't have much of a preference for either direction. All she cared about at the moment was keeping her poor hand as immobile as possible to keep it from smarting, "I agree with Cici."

"Alright, upstream it is then. Keep an eye on the cliff and the ledge as much as you can for a possible way out of here. Let's move out."

For probably the first time in their short trip, they were beginning to feel just how dangerous an undertaking they had really set out on. Fear closed their mouths and kept them wary. The rippling of the quiet stream next to them was the only sound they could hear over the crunching of their feet over sand and stone.

Now and again they would stop before a portion of the wall, examining it to see if perhaps it'd be climbable, but every time they were disappointed. On and on they went, then Cecilia grabbed Angus' arm with a hurried whisper, "Look!" Glancing where she pointed, he could just make out a furry shape vanishing behind some bushes at the ledge above them.

Lowering his voice so that Sophia wouldn't hear, he whispered in Cici's ear, "What was that?"

"I don't know, but it was big. It almost looked like a dog."

"How big of a dog?"

"Pretty big."

A cold lump settled in his gut, "Wolves."

"Wolf, and it could have been just a big fox."

"Wolves don't generally go out alone."

"But they can. But it's on the side we want to get up, what should we do? Should we turn back?"

"And go where? It's much too late for us to...where's Soph?"

They looked behind them, no Sophia, in front, nothing in sight. "Sophia!"

"Shh!!!!" Angus slammed his hand over her mouth, "Quiet!"

A small voice, as if muffled by something, came from a little ways ahead of them, "I'm over here. I've found something, come look!"

Following the voice, they found a small opening in the wall. It was square shaped, almost three feet high so that they had to stoop a bit to get inside. Taking out their flashlights, they found themselves in what seemed like a recently-dug tunnel. Another five feet or so inside they found they were able to stand in a rounded opening, leading into a fairly large cave. It was big enough that several people could stand comfortably without crowding each other. It had the smell of freshly tilled earth. What seemed like recently exposed roots twisted around each other, covering almost every inch of the cavern's walls as if they were the only thing that was keeping the cave from collapsing in on itself.

There in the back, next to their sister, was a long silver shape—around five feet long and maybe two feet or so high. Sophia looked up from it, "What is it, Angus?"

"I don't know." Walking over to her he lifted up his flashlight, "Hold yours up too so I can get a better look." They all held up their flashlights and examined the object.

It appeared to be some sort of box. There was something heavy in it, by the feel of it, and it was incredibly cold to the touch. At one end was a lighter shaded portion, this Angus scraped his hand over to remove the ice crystals. Dropping his flashlight he jumped back yelling, "Lower your lights!"

Both of the girls had already jumped away when he did, "What? What is it?"

"I...I think it's some sort of coffin."

Their faces went white. Sophia grabbed her sister's arm, "I want to go, let's get out of here!"

"It's too late for that now."

Cecilia stared at her brother in disbelief, "Have you lost your mind, Angus?! What do you mean?"

"It's too late for us to go anywhere else, and there's only one entrance here, which we can block with the coffin so nothing can get in. And besides, we know this person."

Sophia gave a dismayed cry at that as Cecilia's arms wrapped around her sister's trembling form, "We know them? Who is it?"

Angus held up the light over the glass portion, "See for yourself."

The girls clung tighter to each other, Cici practically screamed at him, "Just tell us who it is Angus!"

"I've only seen her once, last year on TV. I think it's the new Minister of Winter."

They all stood in silence as they contemplated what this implied, but the sound of howling in the distance quickly shook them from their thoughts.

"Come on, we've got to push it out of here and block the opening. Cici, help me."

Cringing, she clenched her eyes shut and pushed for all she was worth. The less time she had to touch that thing the better.

Sophia was standing to the side, her face still pale, tears starting to stream down her face as she realized just how serious her siblings were about staying here for the night and trapping themselves inside with a coffin for a door. "I don't want to stay here tonight Angus, I don't like it!"

"It'll be alright Sophie!" Angus huffed as they finally secured the coffin in the tunnel, leaving only about a foot of clearance at the top and hardly any room on the sides. "It's a lot safer in here than out there. Nothing will be able to get in here tonight. And we'll set up the tent! That way you won't have to look at it."

Cici wiped her tears and gave her in a big hug, "Don't worry, Soph." Though the older two wouldn't admit it aloud, they were also glad to not be able to see its outline against the tunnel.

Rolling out their bedding, they huddled together to eat their dinner of more trail mix then stuffed their backpacks into the open space above the coffin.

No stars shone over them that night and they drifted off to sleep in darkness, trying not to think about what lay a few feet beyond their tent.

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A/N This week's chapter dedicated to @emilyyoder for her best guess as to what would happen this week.

...Didn't see that coming, did ya? :P

Leave a comment and vote if that surprised ya ;D