Tordhir - Lost in the Deep - Part 4
Day 188
Dreams of Belgrima didn’t come, neither did those of home or of my companions. At least there were no dark dreams. As usual I planned to walk for two or three hours before I broke fast. As I broke my camp the daydreaming began. With this new sense of direction it felt like I was getting close. Could it be that my breakfast would be my last meal within the mountain?
That I would eat lunch out in the open fresh air? Perhaps birds would sing close by. After an hours walk I was ravenous. In my head I’d already consumed a feast, eaten things I didn’t even have in my pack when we started out all those months ago.
When I saw the statue my heart sank. For a moment I felt devastated. I thought I had somehow walked in circles and that I was back with Belgrima. Luckily I was wrong, this was another statue. Again my heart caught and at first it shamed me, but I dismissed those thoughts. It wasn’t vanity from my part, the statue did resemble me.
I will admit that the statue was of a warrior and not a scout, still the features, it looked just like me. He even had a big head and wore a similar helmet to the one I was wearing now. I almost expected the plague to have my name, but someone appeared to have hacked the sign to pieces. I ate my breakfast under this warrior.
When done I produced my hammer and chisel and started to add my name at the base of the statue. “Tordhir,” I was going to add a short description but I heard something behind me and instead packed up my things and ran.
I ran through a corridor with cracks running up the walls and across the ceiling. After almost tripping I slowed down and listened. Whatever noise I had heard was no longer there. But over the whispers in my mind taunting me for a coward there was something else, a rumbling. How does it sound when a mountain… yawns?
Stone was grinding against stone when everything shook and dust began to rain down from the ceiling. Then came the ceiling itself, it would have crushed me if I hadn’t stopped. I didn’t seem hurt at all but I could no longer hear anything. I was too afraid to test my theory and see if it might just be quiet after the crash.
I didn’t dare to call out or make a sound. The dust instead made me cough and I couldn’t hear a thing. It should only be temporary, but for now I wouldn’t be able to tell if something was approaching. Then I realized that one of the rocks had fallen on my head, if it hadn’t been for the helmet everything would have been a lot worse.
Most part of the path forward looked blocked, though the way back had filled with rubble, so forward was the only way. I hoped also the right way. I had to risk climbing over an unstable pile of rocks, trying to decide if I should rush or if gentle steps was the safer option.
Thinking back I don’t remember what option I chose, only that it seemed to take forever. I did slip at the end though I was already in the clear. I could hear the sliding rocks, so my hearing was already coming back. I was trying to think about what had led me down that corridor.
I had heard something and couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had led me there on purpose. If so, to what end? The end would of course be my demise, but how? Was I meant to fall when the ceiling collapsed or is the real trap still ahead?