The Traitor's Wish

26. The Girl's Nightmares

(Please comment your thoughts during this chapter! It really does help me.)
TTW Ch26

Robin Hood had a system of old mine tunnels under his pub. What were the odds? Killian and Emma had wandered into this bar and made friends with the owner. In this desperate time of need, he had the thing that would save Emma's life and end Killian's. It was everything he could have asked for and more.

The crew crawled into the trap door behind the counter. The drop down was about seven feet. Hook handed Emma to Brinley, knowing he could not make the jump and keep her safe with the hook. He leaped down first, moving the torch through the darkness.

"Seems to be cobwebs and nothing more. Come on down, men." He called to the peering heads of his crew. Wallace jumped down, pulling Baelfire with him, and glancing around the dark tunnel.

Brinley came down last, holding Emma by her shoulders for the crew to get a grip on her feet. Very carefully, he let go of her. The crew caught her safely in their arms, and Killian lifted her immediately. He held her close to his chest, able to feel her sluggish heartbeat against his.

"Robin, can you lead us to the ocean?" He asked with a forlorn glance.

"As long as we take every left we should get there within the hour. But we haven't got a ship, so what's the point?" His brow furrowed with confusion as he glanced through the darkness at the strange crew.

"We've got a ship." Killian responded simply. He walked off into the darkness, leading the trek onward, to life, to death, to love.

The ceiling of the tunnels seem to lower as they walked onward. Soon, no one was able to stand all the way up. They found themselves crawling on hands and knees, forced to be extra careful with the torches. Killian laid Emma on his back and crawled so low his stomach dragged upon the ground.  They dragged on, at a pace slow and agonizing for Killian. If Emma awoke, she'd force him against his plan.

"These were mining trails for dwarves a couple decades ago. I assume they haven't been used since." Robin explained. His age shown as he huffed in each breath.

"They couldn't make em any bloody taller?" Wallace complained, spitting dust from his mouth.

"Look ahead." Killian called back from the front of the group.

The tunnels split into two. The right side had a square of moonlight just a few yards away. "I could scout ahead?" Ricker, the youngest offered.

Killian squinted, unable to see anything more then the starry light through the hole. "Alright, take Yates and be quick." He decided.

"Yes, Captain." The young men responded, crawling down the tunnel. It seemed to get taller and taller. Soon Yates and Ricker were able to stand. They slid out of the tunnels, and the group lost sight of them. They sat in dark silence for minutes. Killian wondered if the others were even still there. It'd be easy to sneak off. He would not blame them. Maybe he would sit in this darkness forever, never to see the sky or sea again.

When they returned Killian shook the odd thoughts from his mind. The thought of death was driving him mad. He had survived for years through many hardships, but this truly was his end. It was very hard to wrap his mind around, to accept.

"The beach is a good ways away, but it's visible. The trees are thin. We could run there within minutes, but there's a town just through the trees. They may see us." Ricker explained to Killian.

"So do we stay hidden in the tunnels, possibly take another hour through these thin halls, or risk running though the forest?" Brinley asked, hung up on two choices that both led to death.