Lone Ranger Chapter 7

7.

Three miles from the junction of the road to the house, there was another road going turning left for another mile towards the small stream. 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 ridge atop the peak of the hill. The large boulder was shaved on one side; it was 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 pieces of machinery 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. The inklings on Lance’s back.  was on his back. He had on the looking glass that he found useful during his days on the wilds at the darker continent and also on the prairie. His gadget gave him a magnified view of the new walls builds 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 was a 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 around it and then he felt the numbness on his body. The inklings were twitching and that was adequate caution for him. The inklings were his gifts by the Gods to fight the demons. The inklings also cautioned him with 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 bad. 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 campground 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 to battle but at times, they will just go off him and onto their own.

Lance 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, they were not the last of the lost souls.

“Save us.” The leading 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 demons are here.” Lance heard the cry and then 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.