Liberty's Heirs

Chapter 25

Peterborough was a much poorer town than Grimsby; even poorer than Lincoln.  Perhaps it was a bit more populated, however.  Miles of overgrown Ancient buildings lined miles of overgrown streets.  Only when they reached the center of town did they reach a small group of incredibly shabby buildings. The roofs seemed be in bad shape, some regions had collapsed.  Feeble attempts at handling these collapses had been made by piling metal and other materials over the holes.  They must have been inhabited since coils of smoke came from chimneys and the occasional window or hole in the roof.

There was a small marketplace with vendors who stopped their activity and stared at the little procession marched into town.  Blion's hands were still manacled at his back as he led the group of law-enforcement personnel.  One of the Peterborough men had long grimy blond hair and a long whip which he used expertly from horseback to ensure Blion went where he was supposed to go.  If he veered either to the right or to the left he would receive a painful correction to one of his shoulders.

"Here we are," said the man with the whip as he got off his horse.  Their procession came to a stop in the middle of an open field, not far from the center of town.

A small shack made of brick and wooden boards was adjacent to the field with a little sign made of a piece of wood saying "Sheriff's Office."  It seemed too small to hold an office and a jail cell but Blion assumed that he would be taken in there.

"Help me get these boards out of the way," said a gray haired man with deep voice and a metallic badge on his chest.  "Go and get a rope," he barked at one of the other blond Peterborough man with the whip.

Blion was a bit perplexed.  Why weren't they taking him to a jail cell?

Quickly the whip man came back with a rope and unshackled Blion.  He placed the rope under Blion's arms and brought him to the edge of a deep, dark pit that had been covered by the planks.

Minutes later he found himself at the miry bottom with sore armpits.  He wasn't heavy but being let down by ropes was still painful.  The men above placed the wooden planks back on top and left.  Blion looked up and at the boards that had been placed across the top in a clever overlapping pattern.  They were arranged parallel to the four sides of the pit with a central hole allowing him to look up at the sky.  The brick walls were at least three body lengths tall and impossible to climb to the top.  Even if he were able to, it would not be possible to get out because of the boards.  One of the boards had fallen in and no one had bothered to get it.

As his eyes gradually became acclimated to the darkness, his feet began sinking into the mire.  The stagnant mud and rotting leaves that had blown in made a disgusting smell.  When evening fell, which was not long, the blond man came and without speaking tossed stale bread down which landed in the stinky murk.  Blion would have tried to catch the bread had he known it was coming. The man laughed at Blion as he picked up the disgusting bread. He also let down a bucket of water which Blion was allowed to drink from briefly before he took it back.  This was far worse than Grimsby, he thought.  It was also looking quite bleak from a time perspective.  The two weeks he'd been allotted would be gone soon and his parents had not been found.

The night was cold but not as cold as it would have been on the surface.  It was very damp but he was able to escape partially by crouching on the board.  The special undergarment from Mac Spencer made that part of it bearable.  Drizzle came around midnight but then larger and more frequent drops. As morning came, the rain became quite heavy.  No one came to provide food or water.  He was both very hungry and very thirsty.  He dared not drink the filthy water at the bottom of the pit since he doubted that his immune system could withstand a siege of so many bacteria, viruses, and other hostile microbes.  Instead, he stood under the aperture and opened his mouth to quench his thirst but the rain drops weren't enough.