***
The remainder of our travel was smooth and blessedly uneventful. It was also remarkably fast. I alternated between carrying Ashley and letting her walk for the first five miles of the trip. The remaining ten miles was another story altogether. I chose to carry her piggy-back style since the ground was so hard and uneven, with roots jutting here and there. I didn’t feel that it was a good idea to let her try and navigate the rough terrain; she didn’t seem to mind the decision and merely clung quietly to my shoulders till we reached the cave. It loomed black and imposing in the distance and I forced myself to breathe normally as we came upon it.
I took the entrance that lay to the right, stopping to explain that the rest of the journey would be through the cave. That no matter what happened, we had to keep going. It was every bit as dismal and dank as I remembered it. But if nothing else, the trek through the cave went twice as fast as it had the first time around, and thank God for that. The thick spider webs that I had not been able to get out of my head for a year and a half still hung from the ceilings like a bad Halloween prop. Ashley paused and gasped upon seeing them, then promptly hid behind my legs. She had flatly refused to take another step, and it had taken a good five minutes for me to convince her that there were no giant spiders lurking about. I finally reminded her that should we happen to encounter any spiders, I still had my gun.
“So if we see a big spider, you can shoot it?” Her voice was tiny yet echoing in the cavernous space.
“That’s right.” I nodded, and we moved deeper into the cave. We reached the fork in the cave in under an hour, crouching down to fit through the small doorway that led to the long tunnel. It was the last leg of our journey, and the one most likely to cause us the greatest amount of discomfort. The passage was so low and narrow that the only way to pass through it was to crawl the two miles on all fours. I took the short length of nylon rope I had stowed in our pack and used it to fashion a tether that went from Ashley’s wrist to my ankle. She still had plenty of room to crawl freely behind me, yet would still be securely attached to me at all times.
Two hours later, we crawled through the opening and into the mountainous chamber that stood at the end of the tunnel. The doorway was directly in front of us, a simple hole surrounded by etchings. I felt the chill creep across my skin as I deftly steered Ashley around the crimson stain on the floor and approached the back wall of the cave. I closed my eyes and ran my fingers over the warning that was etched into the stone.
Long, harsh-looking lines had been carved into the rock in a circle formation. The carvings were so deep it looked as though the rock had been viciously slashed over and over again. A chill crept across my skin, refusing to be held at bay. There was a deep gash in the smooth center of the carving. Above that was a tiny picture. Someone had carved what looked to be a picture of a rudimentary, unadorned coffin.
There was a single long straight line above the coffin and a sun several inches above that. A representation of the ground, I assumed. A spiral cut through the line and into the coffin.
With a final glace around the rest of the cave, I took a deep breath and pulled the key from my bag.
Ashley stood close by, her eyes widening as she took in our less than homey surroundings. “Mom, what are all those lines and drawings all over the walls?”
“I don’t know,” I responded semi-truthfully. “I never did figure that out. Ancient writings of some sort, to be sure. As for what it says, I wish I knew. Okay, Ashley, I’m going to put this key in that lock and it’s going to take us to the magical land.”
I picked her up and settled her securely on my hip, instructing her to hold on tight. In one hand was the key; in the other, the gun was loaded and at the ready.
“Mama, are you scared?” Her face was pressed tight against my throat.
“No, of course not,” I immediately lied. There was no way I could have ever admitted to her that we were about to be transported and dumped into an unprotected area of Terlain. No way to tell her there might be guards waiting for us in that forest. Though, honestly, enough time had passed, I didn’t think they would be waiting for us. Still, I tightened my grip on the gun, took a deep breath, pressed the key into the stone, and turned.
The darkness engulfed us.