7.
Three miles from the
junction of the road to the house, there was another road going left for
another mile towards the small streams. The stream cut through the land from
the low hills into the pond where Father Dennis fished on weekends.
At the
north side of the pond, there was a small trail up a low hill, and there was
the abandoned mine. The mine consisted of two stone huts where the miner office
was located and next to it was the wooden storehouse where the supplies were
kept. There was another stone hut further up which was the kitchen for the
forty miners that worked there.
The mine was furthered up along the trail to a
rock atop the peak of the hill. The large boulder was shaved on one side; flat
as if it was sliced apart. The trail continued there and over the hill into an
old camp. The camp was long abandoned but there were scattered remnants of the
stay there. There were the rusted equipment and machineries including the pots
and pans, fragments of the metal bedding, and even an old oven. Those were the
things that inspired Lance to spent time there doing his art. He remembered the
camp was where the hole leading to the tunnel. The mine shaft was there
alongside the remaining of the burrows. There was the wooden beam across the
shaft. Lance recalled the tunnel reached down for quite a distance. He had
never climbed down but a stone thrown from above left some deep echoes.
On that day with the
sun setting behind him, Lance held his body close to the ground. He was dressed
in dark shades including the dark Stetson hat and had on his gun belt with the
double guns. He had on the looking glass that he found useful on the wilds at
the darker continent and also on the prairie. His gadget gave him a magnified
view of the new walls build by the new owner. The wooden wall started at the
large boulder where the main gate was located. The wall stretched to the rear
of the mine and had sealed the mine off from the outside. The wall was high at
about twenty feet and had two entrances. There was another gate at the rear.
There were guard on the perimeter and each gate had three guards each with
rifles. There were also more guards at the two stone huts and the number added
up to twenty five in total.
Lance studied the wall
by walking round it and then he felt the numbness on his body. The inklings
were twitching and that was adequate caution for him. He knew the scent of it;
they are predators with handlers. He spied the dark shaded canines that had
caught his scent. He picked himself up and ran towards the horse tied nearby.
He reached for the pouch there and scattered the contents on his clothes. It
was skunk poo and they smell badly. He sent the horse off and then moved on
along the all. He had seen the tree there and it was his avenue in. He took to
the climb as if he was in the deep forest at the familiar continent but that
tree had no long vines. He improvised with the rope that he had taken from his
saddle. He tied the rope to the upper branch and then swung over the wall. It
was a matter of elevation and in the illustration field it was a study in the
depth. He made it over and the landing was smooth. Once his legs hit the
ground, he sprang off to the nearby cover by the camp. He was familiar with the
camp ground and was soon at the shaft. He did not know what to do next but the
action was prompted by the arriving patrol. He went for the rope over the shaft
and scaled down. At the drop of ten feet, he felt the shaft was getting
constricted and the inklings started moving.
He could draw on them but they will just go off on their own. He hovered
there and then reached for the mask piece to place on his face. It gave him the
vision of the dark and that includes the previously unseen night stalkers. If
there were words to describe the floating dead, the best sentence was to say
that they were fleeting and ghostly floating images that seen there. If one
tried to focus on them they will find the image constantly swirling and hard to
identify. The stalkers were keeping pace with him but a short distance away.
With the mask on, the inside
of the shaft was a greenish view with the varied textures of the layers of
soil. He felt more relaxed then and continued the descent. Soon he reached the
bottom and was relieved that his feet reached the solid ground. He looked
around him and saw the tunnel ahead. There were the old tracks with the rusted
carriage there. He did not need the inklings to tell him of the threat for the
mine was filled with them. The lost souls that were once miners had stayed for
there for comfort. There were the five miners that were the last to die there.
Unfortunately, there
were not the last.
The soul dragged its
left leg that was nearly severed at the shin with the dark suit. The
distinguish clothing was the white collar hanging at the shirt lapel.
“The demon is here.”
Lance heard the cry but
he heard more. There were movements further in the tunnel. It was not more
souls but physical ones. There were three of them and they were on the walls
like spiders but they have wings. They looked like dragons in the shadows.
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