Royal

Tunnel of Love

The further we descend down the stairs the colder the air gets. I hear the prisoners leer at us and whisper filthy things one of them spits on me as I walk past. Peter wraps an arm around me and glares at the prisoner wiping off my cheek. I keep my eyes down after that quickly scampering deeper into the dungeon.

We enter a part that I myself have never been way to far down for me to ever wonder about it.  The torch Peter holds above his head hardly lights the darkness of this tunnel and the cells hold nothing but bones and rats. We continue and soon the cells stop and it is just a narrow tunnel of jagged stairs leading downward. What could possibly be so far down. I look at Peter the fear I feel reflected within his own eyes as he too knows that if we go down there, there is no coming back up. Whatever this tunnel holds may it be escape or a dead end this is it.

I gulp as Peter takes the first step down I hold onto his shoulder as we begin the trek down the narrow space. I shiver as the air begins to get colder and colder the only heat being Peter and the flame of the torch.

I worry about Brendon up in the castle all on his own trying to hold back the crowd of angry citizens and soon probably followed by the French military. They will take over the castle and probably tear it down or convert it into a democracy take away the hierarchy government system. I never understood that myself because it is a lot easier for one man to make a decision than large groups.

I shake my head and refocus on the current situation. Peter stops suddenly and I nearly crash into him. The torch flickers and in front of us I see a solid wood door. And right below the doorknob a large golden lock securely fastened shut keeping us locked on the wrong side of the door.

"You wouldn't happen to have the key would you?" Peter asks his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No." I whisper but still my voice echoes up the steps. Peter sighs and hands me the torch. I shuffle back a few steps as Peter takes a deep breath before ramming his shoulder against the door. He grunts in pain and the door doesn't budge. He smacks his body weight into it again and still nothing on his thirds try the fasten holding the lock shifts slightly the nails holding it in beginning to bend.

Peter notices this and continues ramming into the door and kicking the lock. I stand shivering holding my robes close to me and trying to keep warm in the damp space. I can tell Peter is hurting himself the flashes of pain cross his face every time he hits the door again. I want to tell him to stop but I know this is the only way we will ever make it out alive.

Finally with a giant crack the nails on the locks hinge rip free from the wood of the door taking splinters with it fall away and the door flings open.

I shuffle forward and grasp Peter's hand as he rubs his shoulder with the other. I lift the torch and illuminate a room filled with barrels and chests. I can only imagine the illegal substance within all of them and beside that a small stream flows I walk to its edge and peer up stream squinting to try and see if the daylight is down there somewhere. I can't see it and I sigh Peter walks to my side and grabs my hand once more.

"Well this is it." He sighs and wades into the water holding his hand out for me to join him. I take the first step in and gasp at how atrociously cold it is.

Peter squeezes my hand and we begin easing up the stream. The rocks are slippery and the air is cold and damp. I shiver as the water rises above my knees soaking my pants.

Peter also shivers his teeth chattering every so often as we continue in the dark the torch flickering every few seconds threatening to give out. We walk for what seems like hours until my toes go numb and my teeth won't stop chattering. I go to take another step and my foot slips and I fall backwards flailing into the water. The cold surrounds me and the world plunges into darkness as the torch hit the water with me. For a second I am completely under water before being hauled back up into the air by Peter.

I gasp and rub my eyes trying to see anything in the pitch black. "Are you okay?" Peter asks his voice echoing all around us.

"Yes yes I'm fine." I say but I can already feel my body dropping to a freezing point the clothes clinging cold and wet to my goose bump covered skin. Peter grabs my arm and we continue in the darkness.

Finally when we are both just about to give in we round a corner and see daylight still far away but there shining brightly in the distance. Our pace quickens as the excitement of seeing the sun rises.

We emerge into the world again far away from any place I have ever been the sun is low in the sky meaning we were down there for almost the entire day. I look at Peter and smile his lips are tinged a slight blue as well as his cheeks and I can imagine I look much the same. I hug him close and he hugs me back pressing his cold lips to my cheek.

We walk along the grass for a few feet before collapsing to the ground. I look back to where we emerged a hardly noticeable gap in a rock formation water from a near by river just so happening to stray off down into the space. To anyone else it would be nothing more than a simple rock pile but to my father it was an underground illegal smuggling place where he could transport goods in and out of the castle. Who knows how many men died in that tunnel unable to see the sun for hours wading through the freezing water.

I shiver and begin to pull off my shoes and stockings wanting to hopefully use the dwindling specks of sun to warm myself up. I continue stripping as Peter stands and begins gathering wood for a fire. How we are going to start it I have no clue but just the thought of its warmth gives me hope that we can.