“Let’s hope not,” says James. “Tomorrow we’ll begin checking the mines and then if nothing is found, we’ll leave.”
From where Dave sits, he can hear him mumble, “Should leave now.” He glances over to his friend and only receives a glare in return. All day his mood has steadily deteriorated and James isn’t sure why.
When they’re done with the noon meal, they once again split into pairs as they search the few remaining buildings. So far, the miner Miko encountered the day before has yet to put in an appearance.
Miko and Jiron head off for a building which looks to have once been a temple of some sort, though now the years of disuse have turned it into a dilapidated building. Slightly askew on its foundations, it sits cocked to one side. The windows which at one time must have been beautiful lie shattered in the street.
Coming to the entrance, they find a pair of double doors. The one on the right sits closed, the one on the left has fallen off its hinges and lies across the front steps. Stepping carefully around the fallen door, they move inside.
It’s not a very large building, merely two stories high. The interior actually has a couple plants growing through the floorboards near one of the broken windows. Whatever furnishings it once had, have long been removed, most likely when the town was abandoned.
“Sad,” Miko says as they walk across the floor.
“Sad?” questions Jiron. “What makes you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he replies. Glancing to him, Miko says, “The place depresses me. Do you think this could have been a church to James’ Morcyth?”
“Never know,” he says.
At the back of the temple they find two sets of stairs, one going up to the second floor and another leading down into darkness. Jiron glances to Miko and asks, “Up or down?”
“I’ll take up,” he says.
Jiron nods and turns to descend into the darkness.
On his way up the stairs, Miko is careful to make sure the steps will support him. On several different occasions over the last few days some of the buildings they’ve searched have been rotted, termites or other such insects having robbed the wood of its integrity.
He places his feet gingerly on each step before moving to the next. One step cracks and he immediately removes his foot. Stepping over the suspect step he continues up until finally reaching the upper rooms.
This area is smaller than the one below as most of the second floor is taken up by the upper reaches of the service area below. There are only three rooms here and he makes his way first into one and then another. The second room looks to have been living quarters of the priests, four beds are spaced evenly about the room. Two chests sit at either end of the room and he moves forward toward the one closest to him.
In the back of his mind he hears James telling him not to open chests as they may be booby trapped. He remembers that one occurrence in the swamp when a trap sent him flying across the room when it exploded in his face.
Disregarding James’ voice of caution, he continues toward it. I can’t imagine there would be anything dangerous with a chest here. Even though he feels that way, when he reaches it he slows down and hesitates a moment before reaching for the lid. Taking hold of it, he flings it open while at the same time jumping backward. The lid flies up, hits the wall behind it and then slams shut again.
Miko waits a moment and when nothing fatal happens, goes back over and opens the lid slowly. The inside of the chest is empty. He reaches in and feels around the sides and bottom but fails to feel anything which might indicate something hidden. Disappointed, he closes the lid and turns to walk over to the other chest.
As he moves across the room to the other chest, he looks at it closely. It looks just as the other had so it’s unlikely anything will be wrong with it too.
Three feet from the chest, the floor suddenly breaks open slightly and his foot crashes through. “Aaaaaahhhh!” he cries. Pain erupts from where his foot is wedged in between the broken boards.
“Jiron!” he screams. He tries to pull his foot out but that only increases his pain, the jagged edges of the broken planks are cutting into his skin. He starts to panic when he sees drops of blood begin to well from where the wood is imbedded into him. “Jiron!”
Down below in the basement, Jiron walks with a makeshift torch. He found a chair and broke it apart. Using one of its legs, he tied an old cloth around it and then used flint to strike a spark to light it.
The basement is fairly empty, some old boxes and crates. He rummages around for several minutes before he hears Miko’s cry from upstairs. Pulling a knife, he races back up the stairs to the ground floor then takes the steps leading to the second floor.
His foot hits the one step which Miko had bypassed before and it breaks in two beneath him. Losing his balance, his foot sinks through the step and he falls upon the stairs. The torch goes flying out of his hand as he stops himself and comes to land a few steps above him.
“Jiron, help me!” he hears Miko cry out again.
“Coming!” he hollers back. Pulling his foot out of the hole, he finds only a few scrapes on his calf and then gets to his feet. Stepping over the hole in the stairs, he picks up his torch and races the rest of the way to the top.
“Where are you?” he hollers as he reaches the top.
“In here!” Miko yells, a touch of fear in his voice.
Running down the hall, he bolts through the door to the room where Miko is stuck and comes to a stop as he sees him there. “What happened?” he asks as he sheathes his knife.
“The floor gave way and my foot’s trapped,” he explains. “Help me out of here will you?”
Grinning despite the gravity of the situation Jiron comes over to him. Miko’s leg is sunk into the floor to just below the knee and he takes note of the jagged edges biting into him. He puts out his torch so it won’t catch the building on fire and then kneels down next to him.
Blood is now flowing from a couple wounds. He tries to pull his leg out but that only drives the wood in deeper and elicits a cry of pain from Miko. “Don’t!” he cries.
Next he tries to push the boards away but that hurts just as bad. Not sure just what to do, he looks at Miko and says, “I need to get the others.”
A haunted look leaps to Miko’s face as he realizes Jiron is suggesting leaving him here alone. “Don’t leave me!” he exclaims.
“I don’t see that I have a choice,” he says. “I could get you out but not sure how much pain and damage I would cause in the process.” He gets to his feet, “I won’t be long.”
“Jiron,” Miko says pleadingly.
“I’ll be right back,” he says as he races from the room.
Taking the steps two and three at a time, he hits the bottom running and is soon out the front door, racing to where James and the others are searching. “James!” he hollers as he runs through the streets.
“James!” he cries again.
“What’s wrong?” Fifer asks as he and Qyrll dash around a corner to see what he’s yelling about.
“Miko’s hurt,” he says.
Just then James and Dave enter the street further down and run toward them. Uther and Jorry come running down a side street. “Where’s Miko?” James asks.
Turning back the way he came, Jiron says, “He’s hurt. His foot broke through the floor and it’s wedged in there pretty bad.” Breaking into a run, he leads them back to the old temple. “Need help to get him out.”
The others follow him as he races back down the street. When the temple appears down the road ahead of them, they see Miko being led out of the front by someone who looks just like the miner he mentioned seeing days before.
“Miko!” James cries.
The miner stops dead in his tracks and glances their way. He begins moaning and wailing as he reaches out toward them with one hand.