The Hunt

Chapter 11 Zip In

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Danny asked.

It was now late. We had rode on horses through a tunnel that led to the nearest town. Danny was hilarious on his horse! He could never quite stay on. It was a town called Salville. It was a small town, with few tall buildings. It was closer to a village than a town.

"The nearest entrance to the Conquerors' lair is just outside Salville." Starn said.

"Well then, let's go!" I said impatiently. I really wanted to see that map.

We headed off towards the town entrance. Many heads turned to look at us as we walked along.

"Geez, we don't look that weird." Fiona whispered.  

"Just ignore them." I whispered back.

We finally got outside Salville, and Starn directed us,

"This way." he said.

When we got to a little sand area, with a metal trapdoor, I figured we were here. Ami fiddled with the lock, then lifted up the trapdoor. There was a ladder that seemed to go on forever.

"So... who's going first?" Danny asked.

"I'll go." I said confidently.

So I did. I carefully stepped onto the ladder and started to climb down. Soon after, Starn, Fiona, Danny, and Ami followed me. We were silent on the way down, until I saw a light below me. I stopped and whispered,

"We're almost there!"

When I reached the bottom, I peaked out of the small stone door, that was in front of me.

"The coast is clear, let's go!"

We crept out into a cream-coloured room. Thankfully, no one was there. Instead, there was a single dark blue chair at the side, and a passcode lock by a steel door.

"Now what?" Danny said.

"We crack the code. Duh." Fiona replied.

"Oh sure, why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, maybe because we don't know how to hack a super secure, secret lock!" Danny fumed.

"We don't have to hack the lock, when we can just figure out the passcode." Ami pointed out. She walked over to the lock, and studied it for a moment. She thought for a moment, then pulled out some clear tape from her pocket. She spread the tape the across the keyboard, revealing fingerprints on certain keys.

"E, R, T, O, S, C, N. What could that be? Those are just the letters, remember. There might be more than one letter in the passcode." Ami announced.

My mind went to work on this puzzle. Not... Corn... Corns... Sort... Sorts... Sorter... Sorters... Cross... Crosses... Tore... Torn... Scorn... Test... Tester... Tests... Testers... Store... Stores... Stone... Stones... Oh wait! S...E...C...R...E...T... Secret! Secret Stone! 

"Guys! Try secret stone!"

Ami thought for a moment, "Yes, that works!" She typed on the keyboard, and the door opened! 

"Alright. We're in. Remember to be quiet. We're only here to get the map. Zip in, zip out." Starn reminded us.

We peeked out the door, and saw a guard walking down the corridor.

"What do we do?" Danny asked.

"What did you do when you escaped?" Ami replied

"We hid and waited it out." I answered.

"Then that's what we'll do. We have to be quiet and not disturb anything unless we have to."

Just then, we heard fast footsteps coming our way! I quickly ran through the door and starting climbing the ladder. Everyone else was climbing up when I got there. I didn't really know what I would do if someone came through the door and looked up, and saw us. The heavy footsteps came into the room, walked around... and left, closing the door. We exhaled a sigh of relief. Ami typed in the code again, and we walked silently into the corridor. We passed many coloured rooms, none were labelled. Until we got to the farther part of the hallway, where we found Fiona's blue room, and Danny's red room.

"Here's your room Mac." Danny poked me.

We decided it would be best to go to the dining hall, and check out all the other doors inside the room. When we got there, we heard sounds coming from the dining hall, it must be Corple having a late snack. My mind thought rapidly as I tried to figure out what to do. We needed to distract him, lure him away from the dining room, but how? Starn had an idea before me. He walked into the dining hall, facing Corple. I heard them talking,

"So, my old enemy has come to my home for dinner? Or maybe just a cold plate of revenge?" Corple taunted.

"Neither. I came to plan a strategic attack on you. But now, since you're here, I think I'll just kill you."  Starn replied. He pulled out his sword and advanced.

I couldn't see what happened next, but it sounded cool. I heard the sound of swords crossing, and a grunt. Ami was suddenly urging me into the opposite hallway, and into the closet. I heard them come out of the dining room, swords still crossed, and into the hallway. I realized now, why Starn had wanted to fight Corple. He wanted to distract him! Get him away from the dining hall! They were farther down the hallway now, I heard someone getting kicked, and an "oof!" They got farther down the hallway until, finally, they rounded the corner.

"Now's our chance!" I whispered.

We crept to the dining room. Ami stood, keeping guard, as the rest of us checked the many doors, We opened them a tiny crack, one by one, and peeked inside. Most of them led to the kitchen, but one opened up to a dark, empty, hallway. This has to be it. Just then, the sounds of the two men became audible again. They sounded close. Too close. I ran over to Ami and pointed at the door. She nodded, and we both ran back to the door. The noises had gotten very close, they must be right outside! I ran into the dark hallway, with everyone close behind me. Fiona shut the door behind us, leaving us in only darkness.

Sorry that I didn't upload yesterday... :( I had a busy week and couldn't finish chapter 11 until today! Thanks for all your support!