The Princess's Rebellion

Chapter 21: Back in the Past

     The sun was still climbing the sky when Garrett finally stopped. Rebecca sighed in relief when she was given a break and tried to sit down, but Garrett grabbed her wrist.

     "We're here; you can rest once we're inside."

     Rebecca groaned but reluctantly heaved herself up and allowed him to guide her further. The area was no different from the rest of the terrain; a demolished house with nothing but the broken foundation left. Rebecca could tell when they entered the house because of the walls and worn wooden floors. She gave a confused look to Garrett.

     "What is this place?" she asked preflexingly.

     "This was my home. I grew up here."

     Rebecca was about to open her mouth to question more, but she stopped herself when he crawled under a fallen brick wall that was propped up on one side by the rest of it. He passed out a small crate before pushing out several planks. Rebecca widened her eyes in surprise as he suddenly disappeared. Rebecca ducked down to see that the brick wall was covering an opening. It lead into the ground.

     "Uhh, Garrett?" she called down. His head popped up to meet her gaze.

     "Come on, I need to place the roofing on." Rebecca crawled under likewise to him and entered through the opening. Garrett let her slip by before pulling the materials over the secret room. There was no sign of light when he finished covering the aperture, the walls barely far enough for Rebecca's broad-ish shoulders to squeeze through. She let him lead her down a flight of stairs deeper into the ground, the air beginning to become slightly humid. Memories of the darkened hallway to the dungeon flooded her mind, turning her emotions from uneasiness to pure fear. She stopped dead on the stairs, frozen while she could hear something raking the side of the wall. Rebecca felt sweat trickle down her forehead as the pungent smell of blood invaded her nostrils. Then the pounding of feet advancing towards her made her legs tremble, begging her to run back to the light.

     But before she could move, a hand grabbed her arm, causing her to jump. Garrett's face eventually appeared before her.

     "Becca, you're alright. There's no need to be afraid of the dark. Just a few more steps, I promise," he tried to reassure her. The feeling didn't go away, but at least there was some sort of relief Rebecca felt for knowing she wasn't alone. Gulping, she forced her feet onward, gingerly taking slow steps down the stairs. Surprisingly, Garrett kept right in front of her, holding a slacked speed so she could just see the outline of his figure in the darkness. They continued on like that for what felt like hours until the ground evened. Rebecca waited nervously behind Garrett as he grabbed something on the wall- no, a door. She could just see the faint difference of the old door to the dirt-packed walls. Finally, the sound of a creaking door hit her eardrums, and it was barely an inch open when what looked like radiant light to Rebecca illuminated the darkened room. Rebecca felt alleviation wash over her as her heart rate decreased. Garrett opened the door to let them both in, and immediately she knew that this wasn't the dungeon.

     The room was small, dirt floors and walls that they had somehow compacted to made a livable structure created the living space. The far wall had cabinets and shelves covering the surface with tables underneath them. A fairly large ash wood table was placed in the middle with six matching chairs surrounding it. Rebecca also noticed the doorway on the right wall that she concluded lead to another room.

     "What is this place?" Rebecca asked.

     "Our home."

     "Our?"

     "My family and I live here. Repeat that and you could get us killed. Now, let me go find the rest of my family. You can sit here, " he directed her to the table in the middle. Rebecca sat in one of the chairs while Garrett propped up her injured foot on another. When finished, he scratched behind his neck self consciously while murmuring apologetically, "Sorry for the dusty air; we've done our best to try to get rid of it."