Conquering Darkness

Chapter 5

It turned out that nobody else had their phones with them. Jim tried using his sword, but the glow didn't extend far enough to be useful. Blinky sighed and grumbled, "Well, now it's dark for all of us." The blue troll didn't want to admit it, but he was a little stung by Jim's remark. He knew he had limits, but Blinky didn't like being reminded of them. "Sorry Blinky, that was rude of me. Do you know the layout of the tunnel?" Blinky answered, "Yes, I know where the traps should be, but I don't remember all of them. Thankfully the tunnel is rather short".

Stumbling through the dark, Blinky tried to guess how far in they were. "There may be darts closeby, watch your step." The words were barely out of Blinky's mouth when he heard the scraping of a stone pressure plate being stepped on, followed by Toby's "Oops." Hearing more clicks and groans of ancient machinery, Blinky yelled, "Duck now!" Seconds later, darts could be felt whizzing through the air over the group's heads.

"Wow Blinky, I guess you do know this tunnel pretty well." The blue troll shrugged, dusting himself off. "I played in here as a child. Dictatious and I would run in and see who could get through the fastest." He laughed, remembering something funny about playing down in that tunnel, "My brother always sulked when I won, he never could understand how I avoided almost everything." Then Blinky frowned, "I almost always fell in the pit though, just couldn't jump far enough. That was the only part I ever cheated on." Toby was confused. "How did you cheat?" Blinky smiled again. "I kept a coil of rope near the far end of the pit, and I would use it to climb up. Dictatious discovered that eventually, but it was a good trick while it lasted."

The humans and troll kept going for what felt like miles, only changing speed whenever they came across more traps- fire, steel claws, spears sprouting from the walls, etc. Claire yelped when a spinning blade whooshed just past her ear and she called to Blinky, "I can't believe your parents let you play somewhere so dangerous!" Blinky replied, "They allowed it because they didn't know. They trusted Dictatious, and they never really questioned him about where he took me, even when I was a baby." Soon after, the trollhunters came across the pit.

Blinky had tried to keep track, but he was just a little off with distance, discovering that the pit was a little closer than he remembered. Stumbling, Blinky put out his arms, stopping his friends from falling in but failing to stop himself. "The one time I misstep and it's this blasted pit. At least I'm a great deal taller now." Jim, Claire, and Toby all managed to find a tiny ledge that circled the pit, for it was far too wide to jump- Blinky had never used it, the strip being too small for his wide troll feet.

Blinky managed to scramble up the steep walls of the pit, but was surprised to discover water in there as well. Was this tunnel already starting to flood before the collapse? "My friends, I am afraid that we must make haste- the flooding seems to be more extensive than I first realized." Now the group could hear the water, and Claire shivered as the water gurgled and rushed, filling up the tunnel behind her.

The water was at their waists, and Blinky was starting to panic. The exit should be close, and yet Blinky could hear nothing except the breathing of his companions and the gurgle of the water. "Master Jim, is there a light up ahead? We should be nearing the exit." Jim strained his eyes, and he thought he could see a tiny bit of light. Their hopes were crushed as soon as they reached the exit- more rocks had crashed on this end, allowing the light of a sunset to peek through but providing no means of escape for the trapped trollhunters.