Once Upon A Tale (Published Amazon)

Chapter Nine

...The Secret Tunnel...

Aurora had spent the day after her dream at home. Eliza had taken the day off to spend with her and she could not just tell her mother she had other things to do. They had driven into the little town and gone shopping then they had had lunch followed by more shopping. It was a lot of fun, but Aurora's mind was on the library and she wondered if her dream had been just that or if it were real. Had Prince Patrick come to her in her dream and enclosed all that information, or had she dreamt it all up? Aurora really did not think she had that good of an imagination.

It was Saturday morning and her mother had a big day, so their usual meeting in the library around ten would not be happening. A wedding was to be held the next day and Eliza was busy preparing the wedding cake.

Aurora rose early and packed a bottle of water and a sandwich in her bag. She then headed to the castle. It was so early, the halls were deserted which she had been hoping for. She entered the library and looked around. There was no one in sight. She climbed the ladder and made her way to the bookcase in the corner. With another look around her to make sure she was really alone, she squatted down and looked at the place Patrick had pressed. She pushed it with her fingers and the door sprung open. She gasped in shock. She had not expected it to work. She removed the torch she had packed the night before and heading into the opening. She clicked on the torch and pushed the spot Patrick had shown her to close the door. It slid closed quietly and she took a deep breath. She was actually inside the secret tunnels. She took the same route Patrick had taken her on to see how much of her dream had been true.

The tower was indeed full of all the treasures she had seen. She walked around the room in awe, as if seeing it for the first time. However, there was time to look at all the treasures later. She headed down to the place she was extremely curious to see. The one place Patrick had told her not to go. As she took the left tunnel towards the dungeons and torture chambers, she remembered Patrick's words and hesitated. Maybe there were traps down there that could hurt her, she thought. She continued more slowly, watching every step she took until she was at the bottom. The sight that greeted her was indeed gruesome. She gasped as she looked from the bottom of the steps. In one of the dungeons, she counted no more than eight extremely small skeletons that could only be children. Her hands lifted to her face as she gasped in horror. What on earth had these small children done to deserve such a horrific death, she thought. In a separate dungeon beside the children were six more skeletons, but these were obviously adults. She slowly stepped into the room and turned to her left and screamed. Every torture device still bore their last victim. They had been tortured and left there forever. There was a huge wheel with the bones of a child obviously tied by rope. Some of the bones that still clung to the wheel, some of the broken bones lay on the floor below. A chair where the bones of another child sat, sharp spikes through the bones held the skeleton in place. Aurora began to weep for the children, how terrified they must have been. A rope on a pulley system with two small arm bones still tied with rope hung in the air from the ceiling. The rest of the tiny  skeleton lay in a heap on the floor below. She turned and saw a skull in a cap. The skull was crushed and teeth lay on the bench. All these victims were children and she assumed the parents were the adults in the other dungeon forced to watch and hear their children tortured and murdered in front of them. Aurora felt sick, she turned and vomited, then raced back up the steps. She wished she had listened to Patrick, for he was right. She did not like what she saw.

With tears in her eyes, she made her way down to the Patrick's stone office. She reached beneath the table where he showed her and her hand hit a wooden box. She slid it out from its hiding place and looked at the box with excitement. She lifted the lid and inside was the leather bound journal Patrick had promised her as a present. The cover had a symbol she recognised but could not place. She opened the journal. There were pages after pages of writing.

She headed down towards the lagoon. It was a warm day and she felt like she needed to cool off especially after what she just saw. She pulled out a towel and stepped into the water. It was so refreshing. She lay on her back looking up at the rock formations. How could a place so tranquil like this have such horrors buried within she thought. Her mind went into overdrive and she began to feel sick again. She decided to dry off and see where the opening to this tunnel led her.

She was in a forest, she suspected the same forest they had found the cottage. She continued to walk until she came upon the cottage. She still wondered whose it had been once. However, it seemed, no one had the answers she wanted.

It was close to lunchtime when Aurora arrived back at the treehouse. She dropped her bag on her bed and headed for the television. She needed to get those ghastly visions out of her head, or she would not be able to sleep. She suspected nightmares were to come anyway. At least she had something interesting to read  when sleep eluded her.