Chapter 12

“I will jump down first and help you both down into the tunnel.” Lyle leapt down effortlessly into the hole which was over his head. He put his hands up and said “Gran you first.” Lyle helped Gran down into the hole with him and then turned back to help Amaris who had already jumped down without his help. Lyle moved past her and reached up and closed the hatch and pulled a string that was next to the hatch then pushed a code into a box that Amaris had not seen next to the hatch. Lyle turned to look at the two women. “That will lock and cover the door with the carpet, but we need to move quietly until we get further out in the tunnel. Follow me.” He reached up to a small shelf above his head and grabbed 3 flashlights down and handed one to each of the women, then he grabbed a backpack that was hanging on the wall and started down the tunnel. Amaris let Gran go ahead of her and moved on down the tunnel after them.

It smelled earthy and yet was hard and cold like cement where she touched the walls as she moved through. It was not humid or dank in the tunnels and despite the walls being cold, the tunnels were actually quite a comfortable temperature and not at all unpleasant. Every few feet there was an indentation in the wall but they did not seem to go anywhere.

They moved quietly forward for a few minutes when they suddenly heard banging and then an explosion. A small dust cloud rolled toward them. They heard men’s voices and then running.

Lyle put his finger up to his lips and waved the two women into an alcove on the side of the tunnel. He went around a hidden corner and waved the two women behind him. He grabbed the back pack off his shoulder and unzipped the front pouch. He grabbed out a spray bottle and began squirting at the opening to the alcove and around the corner. He put the spray bottle back into the backpack.

Amaris leaned back against the wall and waited as she heard the feet faulted near them, and then suddenly continue further down the tunnel. Lyle moved forward and then waved them to follow him. He headed back up the tunnel the way they came. He turned into another hidden alcove on the opposite side of the tunnel not too far down from the one that they hid in. This time he urged them to move faster, taking hold of Gran’s hand and actually pulling her along. They followed the tunnel for what must have been miles. Lyle suddenly came to a stop at a ladder on the wall.  He climbed the ladder and reached up and found another keypad and unlatched a second hatch door. This one just like the first. He went up and out through the hatch.  He leaned back to tell them to stay where they were. He came back in a few minutes and helped Gran up out of the tunnel and then Amaris.

They had come out in the center of what looked like a meeting room set up with chairs in rows and a large table with chairs on a raised platform at the front. There was a podium facing the main table and chairs.  It was also on a raised platform like the table and chairs at the front of the room. They came up through a hidden hatch in the podium floor.

Amaris looked around. It had bronzed statues of wolves all the way around the outer edge of the room.

“Hurry. That is not going to fool them for long.” Lyle said hurrying to the double doors at the back of the room.

“Leave me here. I can’t move that fast. I will only slow you down. I will find a place to hide here.” Gran said out of breath, leaning on a chair next to the aisle.

“NO” both Amaris and Lyle uttered at the same time.

“You know that they want you too. There is no way I am leaving anyone.”Lyle grabbed Gran under the arm and hurried her down the aisle. “I will carry you if I have to and you know it.”

Gran smiled at him and picked up her pace a little.

Amaris noticed an almost knowing look pass between the two. Almost as if there was an unspoken joke that she was not privy to.

As they reach the doors they heard banging on the hatch that they had just come through. They all looked back in the direction of the noise.

“Damn! I had hoped it would take them longer to figure that out.” Lyle quietly cursed some more as he ran his fingers through his hair and then taking Gran under the arm again, whispered “Through here. I have an idea.”

The three of them went out the double doors into the hallway. Lyle let them close quietly and then ran to a closet in the hall and opened the door. It was a storage closet. He grabbed the chains that were used for the garbage cans to keep the bears out. Not that many bears were stupid enough to come into the village so the chains were left in the storage closet. He ran back to the doors and chained the two handles together and locked them in place. It would both lock the handles and hold the doors in place. He then turned and grabbed Gran and motioned to Amaris to follow him and started quickly down the hallway. This time he turned into an office that was also a library. It was the most amazing office that Amaris had ever seen each wall was at least 9ft tall and had book shelves to the ceiling. The desk stood in the middle of the room but the office was big enough that in each corner was either a small library table, lamp, and chair or a wing backed reading chair with a floor lamp. It was a cozy quiet room and it smelled like old books.

Lyle walked straight to the desk and pulled the desk chair out. Amaris could see the desk in front of her was a carved ornate piece, that was most likely very old. It too, like many of the things that she had seen in this place, had scenes depicting trees and woods and wolves on mountain tops. While Lyle was doing something at the back of the desk, Amaris took the time to look at the carving in the center of the front of the desk. It was a wolf who appeared to be glowing on a mountain top under a very large full moon. Further down the piece, there was a wolf clearly injured at the glowing wolf’s feet and below that there were men and wolves both with spears, torches, and other weapons coming up the mountain toward the glowing wolf. Lower still there was a group of wolves and men that were clearly being held captive and the glow from the wolf had shined down on them and freed them from their prison. It was beautifully done, and the seen was very 15th century in artistry and style. A loud click followed by a creek brought Amaris back to her surroundings.

“Got it! Come on. Through here.” Quietly Lyle turned the book case behind the desk that had popped forward to reveal that it was a hidden door with another tunnel behind it.

“What is this place. There seem to be hidden tunnels everywhere?” Amaris asked as she looked around taking in this new tunnel. This one was clearly wood and sheet rock inside the walls of the building. Lyle lead them in and then shut the bookcase door behind him. “Ok we can speak more freely in here this tunnel is sound proofed very well.” Again he grabbed flashlights and a backpack off a shelf and peg on the wall near the door. He turned his on and started down the passage looking back at the two women to speak.

“These are old tunnels that were originally built in the 1700’s and have been secretly updated as the buildings have been. This town has been here for a long time, and there has always been a need to protect those who were in power here as well as the under ground tunnels are a great way to get from place to place in the dead of winter up here. Some of the winter storms we get here can bury the town overnight.”

The passage went what appears the length of the building and at the end was a staircase leading down. At the bottom was a door.

“Does this lead back into the underground tunnel?” Amaris asks.

“Yes and No. You can get back into the tunnels from here if you wish but you can also get into the underground parking garage, and if you are in the leadership there is a third place. Our bunker. Great place to hide out and lay low.”

Amaris was not sure if she wanted to be locked in a room like a sitting duck but if it was safe then maybe she could get some answers while they waited it out.