The rumbling had begun again. The ground shook so hard that without handholds we fell to the floor. The lights dimmed then went out. The cave became menacingly dark. I let Smyth go and covered my ears with my hands. The rumbling noise inside the cave echoed loudly. It seemed that the rumbling was becoming more frequent. Two lots of it in less than an hour had me worried. At last the rumbling and shaking stopped. I stood shakily then and helped Smyth to her feet, stumbling a little in the darkness.
The bright flare of light from the match he lit showed every crevice on his face. The deep creases at the corner of his eyes served to highlight the startling blueness of his pupils as he speared me to the spot with them. His short oily black hair stood straight up on the top of his head. It looked as if he’d awoken that way and not bothered to comb it into any style. He’d run his fingers in an agitated manner through it so many times that this was his normal look.
What was most surprising was the indentation that ran from his left eye down over his cheek to the corner of his mouth. The scar was an old one and I hadn’t noticed it before. It must have been the match light catching the scar at a certain angle. I could only guess at the reason for it being there. I didn’t like the guesses I was coming up with either.
“Miles! I’m so glad to see you here. Please help me with Lorris. We need to get out of this cave quickly.” I looked expectantly at him.
His manner was not that of a concerned friend. He stood back, staring at us both. The scrutiny felt very odd and my body had begun to tingle with uncertainty.
“Miles?” It was then that I noticed the other dark figures surrounding us. Several men stood close, one had a hold on Smyth’s other arm.
“You’re not going anywhere Bess. You will do as you are told and you will be quiet while you are here, or you’ll find yourself in a worse condition than this silly bitch.” He waved his palm towards Lorris.
Smyth, I had noticed, had gone deathly white and very quiet. Her hand gripping mine squeezed so tight my fingers became numb. Her body as it lent against mine was shaking. Absently I put one arm around her shoulders and held her close.
“Miles, what’s going on? Why are you behaving like this?” I couldn’t figure out what he was playing at. I knew there was more to him than he let on, but I was still a little in the dark as to what exactly he was up to.
“You will both follow me and you will follow me quietly. Any noise and you will be tied and gagged.” He turned and walked through the tunnel.
Well, that was plain speaking at least. I decided it was prudent to just follow along with his lead for the meantime. Eventually we’d discover what was in store for us. I was pushed forward roughly. I glanced behind noticing all he wore was a loincloth, but that did nothing to hide the dark masculine body with its rippling muscles. His muscles glistened and it was then that I realised the lights were beginning to glow again.
I was pushed hard in the centre of my back. I fell forward and lost my grip on Smyth. She moaned in pain as she fell to the floor.
“Get up!” Miles demanded angrily.
“She fell. She needs help to walk.” I bent down and helped her up. Using my arm for support, we continued through the tunnel.
The tunnel had a higher roof than the storeroom. The walls were slippery and slimy and pools of water gathered on the uneven surface of the rocky floor. We walked between the rail tracks moving to the side of them whenever our guards poked and prodded us out of the way. I didn’t have long to wait to see a couple of men struggle to push a fully laden crate on wheels towards the storeroom. Whatever was inside the crate, was concealed with a large green canvas cover. The storeroom we left behind had been full of new wooden crates. I wondered now what had been stored inside them.
There were odd-shaped rooms that opened off to the sides of the main tunnel. They were not well lit. Some of them looked similar to the original storeroom. Others were set up like dormitories and I shuddered when I thought of spending a night deep inside the mountain.
After what felt like half an hour of shuffled walking, Miles stopped beside the entrance to an empty room.
“Leave them in here. Guard them until I get back.” With that, he strode off with purpose further along the tunnel.
The guards shoved us unceremoniously into the room. The single light lit up what had to be the most depressing looking room I’d ever been in. It wasn’t a totally empty room. There were a couple of camp stretcher beds set up in one corner. A small wooden table with two rickety looking chairs stood in the centre of the room directly under the bare light bulb. A deck of well-used cards sat on the tabletop.
I half carried Smyth over to one of the beds. She slumped down; wrapped her arms around her belly, then lay still.
The guards stayed outside the room. There was no door, simply an opening straight into the tunnel. I pulled out a chair and sat gratefully on it. My body felt bruised and battered from the fall out of the waterfall tunnel down onto the hard rock floor of the storeroom. A lump on my left leg showed the early signs of a nasty bruise, but by prodding it gently, I didn’t think anything was broken.
As I rested, I had a few minutes to gather my thoughts; I wondered what Miles was up to. Obviously, he had known about the tunnel system, he certainly seemed to fit right in amongst the few people we’d seen. More obviously he was their boss; they didn’t show any hesitation in following his orders. In fact, they seemed to be very in awe of him.
I thought I had known what the rumbling noise was all about. It seemed hot enough on the island to have been the rumblings of a volcano about to explode into life. I would have expected that the heat within the tunnel system to have been much greater if indeed it was an active volcano.
The one fact that I’d noted since being inside the tunnel was that the temperature seemed to be steady. Admittedly, there was a decent breeze moving through the main tunnel, the heat inside the room was stifling, but it was not hotter than outside in the jungle.
