Dark Age (21 page)

Chapter 28

I
had returned
by mere chance. To my left lay the gate to the Underground Empire: The path to Africa. In awe I walked closer to the wooden barricade in front of the fortified doors. My fingertips brushed over the thick material like it was a valued relic of ancient time.

After all I had suffered… after all I had to go through because I did not leave the last time, I realized that it was time to take my chances. As my fingers slid over the barricade, my mind traveled back to the uncertainty of what could await me beyond. I needed a friend at my side. One that would help me fight whatever last trials were in my way to freedom. After all that Stephan had done for me, I owed him the truth. He deserved the choice to freedom, and he needed to know that I did not just vanish or die in the ambush.

I decided to return with him at nightfall. Unknowing of whether the ambush was over, I sat down in the middle of the hallway reading and memorizing the tunnel number over and over until I knew it like my name.

An hour might have passed until I headed back to the camp outside the mine. The moment the others saw me emerge from within the mines, they embraced me with wide smiles.

“Listen up everyone!” Constantine called out. His face and shirt were smeared with blood, but none of it seemed to be his own. He singlehandedly killed the invading enemy and made it out alive. “Two guards are confirmed dead, but we are still missing a few men. Swarm out in groups of two or three and go through the channels to see if you find someone along the way. Be back in an hour. Keep your swords drawn and armor on; you never know if one of those beasts got away.”

I grabbed Stephan by the shoulder, “Follow me and don’t let anyone join us. I need to show you something.”

With a confused look he nodded and followed me into the mine. Repeating the hall number over and over in my mind I turned right and left exactly knowing where to go.

“We can’t go here. This is an abandoned tunnel segment, entry is strictly prohibited,” he said pointing towards a red cross at the ceiling of the hall.

Never having seen that sign before, I shrugged my shoulders, “It means that they are hiding something from us. Just trust me this one time.” I strode past the sign leaving Stephan behind. After a moment of waiting he decided to follow.

“We are almost there,” I said and grabbed his arm. Turning left into the dead end tunnel, I had returned to the gate; a gate which I was yet uncertain was either a gate to heaven or hell.

“What is this Adam?” he asked frightened the moment he caught a glimpse of the remains of Winston Smith.

“It is the key to the past,” I said marveling at the throne and the other remainders of an age long gone. “Tell me, when did the Inquisition start?”

“We both know that, 2050, the year the Inquisitor found this valley. It’s in the Final Testament.”

“But what happened before?” I insisted.

“Well there was the Renaissance followed by a dark age. The Inquisition probably even existed long before that. It has always been around. But why does it matter?” he responded promptly. “And where are we?”

“They always tell us half-truths, real enough to go along with the bits and pieces of the past. The Inquisition is only a little over a hundred years old. You might think it is all that has ever been, but great empires and great liberties have preceded us. Life used to be better than this Stephan. The ‘things’ we are fighting were and still are human beings like you and me. Some of them might be deformed but that is due to a history that is much longer than I can explain now.”

His eyes were glued to the ground. For a moment he thought about what I had just said, “Even if what you are saying is true, there is no way of bringing the past back, Adam.”

I grew furious and passionate at once, “Don’t you see Stephan? This gate will give us access to this long lost world. A land called Africa is said to be unaffected by the destruction of the past hundred years. If we can escape there, maybe we can finally live in harmony and lay our swords to rest.”

“I have only two years left to serve Adam. Peace will come soon enough for us,” he responded with similar passion, “We have fought so long and survived every day of the journey. Both of us have been entangled in countless fights, yet we persisted.”

“That is exactly what Peter said the night before he died. We assume ourselves safe to the point where we think we conquered death, yet on the day we believe we won we stare him right in the eye. This is our chance to escape this inevitable fate, Stephan. This is our chance to make a difference. Once we find that there is an alternative, we can return and take our people with us. There will be no more Inquisition, there will be no more Grey Guard, there will be no more killing. Are you ready to pass an opportunity like this when it lies at the tips of our fingers?”

He breathed deeply, looking around the room trying to sort his thoughts. Biting his lip he said half angered yet half relieved, “Alright, I am in.”

After all I would not take my journey alone. For the first time since the death of my friends I smiled. I was ready. Walking over to the gate I was about to take a step into my dreams.

“Hold up Adam,” Stephan said. “We can’t just leave now. What about James, he will go mad if he thinks all four of his friends have perished. You out of all know how it feels.”

“James will be alright, he is living a safe life on the farms. The savages rarely get there,” I said unconcerned after having it thought through many times. “We can’t involve him. You know as well as I do that he would be too scared of punishments to come with us.”

“We can tell him at least,” Stephan suggested.

“We shouldn’t. He will be the first to be interrogated by Yorick upon our disappearance. The less he knows, the safer he is.” I grabbed Stephan by the shoulders and stared him straight in the eyes, “Stephan, no one can know of this, do you understand me?”

He nodded, “Alright, alright. But at the very least we need to prepare. We might be up for a week long journey, if not longer. There will be no going back. I still have some things in the cottage, and we need to find a way to get our hands on lots of food that won’t spoil.”

Once again my dream was delayed. “You are right. But where can we get that much food from. We can eat less and bag the rest.”

“People will get suspicious if we suddenly eat less. More importantly we need the little we get to sustain our bodies. You won’t be able to finish a day of mine work without a full meal.”

“We could buy food with all the earnings we have made over the last eight years,” I suggested.

“Who buys that much food? And for what? I’m sure they will ask questions.”

“Then we will have to steal it. Don’t you still work in the kitchen at times?”

“Yes, Tuesday and Thursday nights. But it won’t be easy.”

“I have faith in you,” I reassured him. “We will have to wait a few days then. Tuesday night I will wait inside the mines before the guards arrive to call for curfew. The moment your shift is over you need to run here. The kitchen closes a good half an hour before curfew…,”

“And then I have cleaning duty for another ten minutes or so,” he said.

“You have twenty minutes for a thirty minute walk, so you need to be in form that day, both body and mind.” I put my hand on his shoulder, “Don’t fail this one. It must be done right, or we will lose everything.”

“I got it,” he said trying to level down the pressure I put on him. “Let’s go back before they come searching for us.”

The plan was set. In four days we would leave, once and for all.

The moment we exited the restricted tunnels, Constantine walked into us, “Are you two alright? You look troubled. Have you found any of the others? We are still one man short.”

We shook our heads, frightened that he might have followed us all along.

“Where are you coming from anyway?” he asked.

I looked at Stephan who immediately took charge, “We checked route one, since two is restricted. We found nothing.”

He looked at us for an extended moment, testing our sincerity, “Good work. I checked route three, we are done here.”

That night we sat around the campfire rather quietly. Nobody danced, nobody sung, and nobody said more than was necessary. We all were shaken by the day’s events. When Yorick’s men arrived, most were relieved to go back to the cottage.

Constantine rose to talk to them. Getting up to leave, I slowed to listen. “I have something important to tell Master Yorick. It is urgent,” he said in a fierce whisper.

The days went by swiftly in my growing anticipation for my final escape. After my shift on that tuesday, I headed to the cottage and stowed blankets and the few belongings I owned underneath my armor.

I sat around the campfire and went over my plans. Over and over I visualized us chasing through the tunnels, lifting the barricades of the gate, and finally exiting into what had become my life’s enigma.

As curfew drew closer, I inched my way to the tunnel entrance. For half an hour I leaned against the tunnel wall, until slipping inside when no one was watching.

I raced to the next intersection without looking back. My heart was pounding like the hooves of a running horse. Even after I ducked into safety, my breath was still short. I did not dare look around the corner for many minutes, fearing one of them to catch sight of me. After a while, I checked the hallway for Stephan but there was no sign of him.

Time went by slowly as I waited with my back leaned against the wall. With no clock tower nearby, I grew uneasy. In my heart I prayed that everything went over safely. I could not stop the terrifying thought of him getting caught from entering my mind. When I heard Yorick’s men approach, I rose to my feet, ready to leave for the camp. Maybe he got caught; maybe he simply could not make the run in time.

I turned to leave the hallway as Stephan ran into the mine with a large bag in his hand. Drowned in exhaustion, he lifted it, showing that he got what we needed. I led the way and chased down the tunnels, feeling as if I could run at the speed of light.

People always described the moment of death like seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I was running into that light only to be born again. We entered the restricted area and strode into the final hall leading to the room of Winston Smith, the last of the Gate Watchers.

Jumping for joy I turned around and threw myself at Stephan, almost pressing the air out of him in my happiness. “We made it!” I said gasping for air. “We finally made it. Let’s lift that barricade and leave.”

Before he could respond, a loud explosion shook my entire body.

Chapter 29

F
rightened to the
marrow of my bones I ran to the entrance of the hall. All torches had been extinguished leaving nothing but an undefined darkness. Down the hall I could hear footsteps.

“They found us Stephan!” I cried returning to the room, “We need to leave, now!”

Stephan seemed hesitant, as if he was waiting for what was about to come. “They will catch up to us, or spike our backs with arrows,” he drew his sword. “Let us make a stand, together.”

Carefully, I leaned around the corner and saw a dark outline approaching through the hallway.

“Who is there?” a voice yelled.

“You shouldn’t have followed us,” I responded. “Leave now!”

“I would, if I could. But we are locked in. Something or someone caused the tunnel to collapse.” Out of the dark stepped Constantine with his sword drawn. “What is this place,” he asked with a puzzled face. “I knew you two were up to something. The day I ran into you at the restricted area I found our missing man dead in the route you claimed to have checked.”

Stephan looked at me. I sensed that he did not trust Constantine. Before I could say anything he slashed his blade at our intruder. Without effort, Constantine stepped aside avoiding the blow, letting Stephan charge past him. With a powerful kick in the back, he put Stephan to the ground.

“Stop!” I ordered them, “I will not watch one more person dying. Put your swords away or I will kill you both.”

Constantine put his sword away and reached out his hand to help Stephan back to his feet, “Tell me, what is this room, and why are you here?”

I hesitated for a moment before I shared my secret. “Take a seat,” I said at last, “this will take a while.” The more I told Constantine, the more suspicious he grew. By the time I finished telling him about everything, from 2049 up until my newest discoveries with Janari, he sat there baffled, with his jaw slightly dropped. To him it seemed to mean a lot more than it did to Stephan, who never showed the excitement I had hoped for.

“There is the catch,” Constantine finally said. “We know too much. The Inquisitor must have paid a nice sum for your head to whoever made the tunnel collapse.”

“But he couldn’t know,” I said, “I did not tell anyone.”

Constantine looked towards Stephan, who tensed under his gaze.

“Do you see what he is doing?” Stephan said furiously. “He is trying to turn us against another. If we start pointing fingers and asking questions, then tell me: why are you here? Bumping into us the second the tunnel collapses?”

“If I wanted to kill you I would have stayed at the other end of the tunnel before I made it collapse. I am your camp leader, and I was curious why you two sneaked back inside the mountain.”

“The tunnel is blocked,” I noted once the realization struck me. “We would not be able to return, even if we were to find Africa. They want the truth to die with us.”

Constantine observed Winston’s skeleton for a moment, “Africa sounds wonderful, it really does. But what is it worth without the ones we love? Leaving would mean leaving our families and friends behind. Wasn’t a girl the reason you did not give me that necklace the day we met? What about her? Adam we can achieve far greater things if we share our knowledge with the other guards. We can finally change the city and this valley into something we feel comfortable calling home. Africa might be free soil, but soil is all it really is.”

Stephan rose and walked up close to me, whispering in my ear, “Don’t listen to him. He is trying to prevent us from leaving, Adam. I cannot say it any clearer: We must kill him.”

I ignored him. “How would you tell the guards? Did you not just warn me that I might have told one too many?”

“I am not talking about telling a few of your friends. I am talking about revealing the truth to the entire Guard all at once. If we make it back during the night, we might surprise them, thinking that they effectively locked us in,” Constantine suggested. “All we have to do is make enough noise in the cottage, to wake the sleeping guards and tell them what you just told me.”

“We are locked in. How will we get back?” I asked still uncertain of whether he had lost all his reason.

“Grab a torch and give me a hand,” he responded briskly leaving for the tunnel. We lit up the torches that had been extinguished by the massive explosion. Once the flickering lights illuminated the hall, we saw what we were up against. A large portion of the ceiling was broken off, forming a steep wall of boulders.

“It will take a while,” he said. “Some of those rocks are heavier than all three of us combined. We will need to dig around them. Let’s get to it.”

We started with the smallest rocks and tossed them behind us, since there was no other place to put them. At first I was optimistic. Within an hour we had made enormous progress, yet with every minute we grew more tired and the stones heavier.

It must have been the middle of the night when Constantine pulled out a rock that caused a group of other stones to collapse onto us. There was no sign of light, yet we almost died in the process.

“We won’t get through tonight,” he said, “let’s call it a day and rest a little. If we make it out, we want to make sure that we come out at night.”

Welcoming the rest I returned to the room. With my back against the wall and my eyes on the gate I drifted off. Even when I dreamt the gate was still there. Constantine’s reason had appealed to me, but I still wanted to see what lay behind that door, and an even bigger part of me wanted to proceed with my original plan and find Africa, the place of mystery and answers.

I awoke to a gurgling sound. My eyes flew open to see where the noise came from. Stephan was kneeling over Constantine, his fingers around the camp leader’s neck. With a hand-sized knife he cut his throat, drowning the choking in silence.

Woken by terror I pressed my back against the wall, trying to escape the image I had just seen. The blood began to spread over the entire floor as Stephan rose with satisfaction.

“Why did you kill him?” I asked in contempt clawing a knife behind my back.

“Because he was poisoning your mind Adam. He is the one that set you up. It all makes sense! Think about it,” Stephan said passionately, “he still had a score to settle with you since the day you met. Even more conveniently, he is the one in control of the mines and could easily have caused the collapse. Remember the day the savages attacked the mines? He pretended to have run into us, and shortly after requested a meeting with Yorick. You yourself told me that. Now let’s get back to sleep and forget about the stones. We must leave through the gate tomorrow.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe Constantine betrayed us. Something must have gone wrong in his plan, so he used us to help him free the way to the outside. Once we cleared the tunnel he may have killed us. Despite my repulsion by murder, I thanked Stephan and laid back down. Nevertheless it was hard to sleep because my eyes stayed focused on Stephan. Every few seconds I awoke to check he did not move.

The next time I awoke I was ready to leave. The gruesome look of Constantine’s body frightened me. Every dead person reminded me of Peter and the many friends I had lost.

With a growling stomach I grabbed the bag Stephan had stolen and untied the knot. Ecstatically I reached inside and took the first thing my hands could find.

It was a stone. Confused my fingers kept searching the bag, only to find more rocks and blankets. I shoved them to the side in the hope to find something edible, until in my rage I turned the bag upside down only to watch a pile of stones fall onto the ground.

“Stephan! Wake up! Where is the food?” I yelled.

“You shouldn’t have touched that bag,” he whispered from behind me.

I spun around. He stood in front of me with his blade drawn.

“What are you doing?” I asked grabbing for my sword, only to find an empty sheath.

“I am sorry, Adam,” he said and rammed his sword into me. Piercing me at the side, the sword went through my body. He shoved it deeper until his face was inches from mine.

The pain flushed all air out of my lungs. A burning sensation rose within me. Whether my body or heart hurt more, I could not tell. I stared at him questioningly, “Why?”

“It does not matter,” he said with a lump in his throat.

“Why!” I yelled at him with the little voice I had left.

“Because I owed it to Yorick,” he said bitterly, “that day during my first year, the day we called the disaster in the forest, you never found out what really happened to me. Me and the other recruits were ambushed and entrapped by the savages. I was scared for my life Adam. I did not know what to do. Me and a friend escaped and were being chased down by one of those monsters. It had almost caught up to us, and I needed to distract it. It was do or die. So I took the only choice that came to my mind. I ran my blade through my friend so that the savage could have him while I escaped.” He paused. There was a bitter sparkle in his eyes, filled with regret and helplessness. “That moment, Yorick arrived on horseback. He ordered me to keep running as if nothing had happened. Yet later that night, he told me that what I did was murder and punishable by death, followed by an afterlife in hell. He promised me to keep quiet if I did him a favor whenever he asked for it.”

“So you would kill your best friend and an innocent man to redeem another act of murder,” I asked with tears in my eyes.

“Constantine was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was collateral. Yorick gave me far more than just keeping me out of prison,” he said self-righteously.

“Money, riches? Is that what you wanted?” I yelled and spit at him.

He shook his head with a painful chuckle as the first tears started to roll down his cheeks, “No Adam, not money. He gave me absolution. He promised to free me from all my sins so that I may go to heaven.”

Stephan began to shake. He withdrew the blade from my body, letting it fall to the ground as he stepped back.

In pain I dropped down to the floor, covering my wound with my hands.

Stephan grabbed a dagger from his belt and whispered to me with a bittersweet smile, “I am free now.” Without a second thought he rammed the iron through his heart.

When he collapsed to the floor my senses began to fade. I grew weaker and weaker due to the wound and the shock, until at last I lost consciousness.

Cold sweat sat in my neck and on my forehead as my vision slowly returned. The blood had clogged and dried. I would not die today, I thought, but if I could not find a way out of this cave I would die tomorrow. Crawling towards the wall of stones, I screamed for help. When no one answered, I started punching against the rocks furiously. Crying, screaming, hoping, it all did not help. It was down to me and my actions. Nothing else could get me out of this prison.

I forced myself up. Under pain I made it back to the room, step by step. There was no way back to my old life, and dying was never an option. So I was left with one choice.

I stepped closer to the barricade and lifted it with all my power. Long ago, the doctor said that my shoulder had healed from Janari’s arrow, but now more than ever ate the permanent damage my strength away.

With every inch, my side burned harsher. Blood began to trickle from the wound again. When I lifted the large barricade about a foot into the air, a small key dropped to the ground. With a violent scream I pushed the barricade a few more feet up and tossed it to the side.

Exhausted, I bowed down and picked up the key. It was a small key with the sign of the Gate Watchers engraved in its top.

The chest. I turned around and found the little box at the side of Winston’s skeleton. I inserted the key into the iron lock and turned it. Carefully I opened the top and found two small round devices. A little note was pinned to the inside of the chest.

To whoever finds this
note,

You may take everything you find when I am dead. In my pocket lies a book detailing my life and the events that led up to the world you are living in now. Take everything, but leave me the picture of my wife and daughter. That is my only wish. Find the truth and spread it, if you think it wise.