Ch. 14
The next morning, Doug was up with the sun, checking backpack supplies, grabbing the needed maps and eagerly rousing Jay and Carlos. He handed each one a breakfast protein bar and started shoving his feet into his hiking boots. "If we leave soon, we should be able to get to the mine before lunch, and still have time go explore before it gets too dark. If we don't find the river before nightfall we'll camp out there tonight so we can start again tomorrow morning."
"How long do you think it's actually going to take us to find the river, neutralize the artifacts and make it back to Fairy Godmother's?" Carlos asked.
"If we managed to do it all today, we still wouldn't make it back until tomorrow, and since we don't know if that water is really what we're looking for, then we'll have to try mine eight, and that's nearly four hours away from mine three," Doug replied.
"You're saying we could be out here for days?" Carlos asked.
"Only if everything goes worse then we planned," Doug said.
"Then we'd better get a move on," Jay said, slapping Carlos on the back with a half hearted smile.
"Wait! What if Fairy Godmother doesn't have that much time? What if the barrier falls and we're still down in the mines?" Carlos asked, grabbing his backpack as he raced out the door after his friends.
"That's why we have to do this as quickly as possible, it's not safe to be in the mines after dark or we would have started last night," Doug replied.
Feeling the panic starting to creep up on him again, Carlos swallowed his fear and tried to keep up with the brisk pace Doug was setting as they left the cottage clearing and started towards the rocky narrow path that led along the base of the mountains. It was a very long walk, but the weather was clear and Carlos was very relieved that for the moment the only sounds were the chirping of birds and the crunch of gravel under their feet as the trees crowded in closer and closed off the clearing behind them.
Thankfully the path they were following was quite clear, and even if the vegetation did start to cover it, they could reach out a hand and touch the mountain side to keep going in the right direction. Once they found the first mine shaft, the three were able to follow a set of metal tracks that the dwarves had used to push large carts to and from while carrying heavy loads of stones and minerals as well as their mining equipment. The trail started going uphill after the second mine, slowly rising with the mountain, the edge of the trail dropping off quite steeply in a few areas. Doug warned them about possible rock slides so the three crept on as quietly as possible until the ground widened out once more.
The sun was high above the boys' heads once they finally got to the third mine. Doug took his backpack off and started digging around inside.
"The tunnels can be very dark inside, so everyone make sure you have your flashlight handy and stick a extra set of batteries in your pocket just in case. And take these," Doug said, handing Jay and Carlos a metal whistle on a string. "Put those around your neck, if we need to split up, one long whistle means 'everything's okay', two short whistles mean 'come to me' and three short whistles mean 'help'. We'll check in with each other every ten minutes, if you hit a dead end whistle for help, if you find the river first call for the others."
Setting their backpacks just inside the mouth of the mine shaft, Carlos unstrapped the duffel bag that held all the artifacts, including Fairy Godmother's wand in the wooden box and slung it over his shoulder. He sincerely hoped they would find the river quickly and be on their way back to the cottage before nightfall.
Doug led the way, flashlight pointing confidently ahead as the three began their trek into the mine. The light slowly faded as they went further in, until the only light left was the small beams of their flashlights. Jay reached out to put his hand on Carlos' shoulder, giving it a squeeze as he felt the tension coiled tight in his friend. Carlos was trying to feel cool and confident, but the mine echoed every step they took, the darkness was completely consuming and the air was stale and heavy. As a cobweb brushed across Carlos' arm, a sudden image of his mother's over crowded, fur coat closet, littered with bear traps flashed through his mind and he stumbled, barely face planting the ground as Jay's grip tightened.
"Carlos?" Jay asked, keeping a firm hold on the shivering shoulder ahead of him.
"Ya, just lost my footing," Carlos whispered, shaking his head to get the image to fade.
"Grab on to me, we should be coming up to the first split soon, we want the left path. I'm going to tie off a piece of string there so we can come back out," Doug said, stepping back to show them the map.
On and on the boys walked, time slowly going by as Doug guided them deeper into the mountain. "We're coming up to two more splits, it looks like both of these may reach the river, and one might link up to a different tunnel. So we can either separate and check them both out or stick together and do one at a time," Doug said, stopping as they reached the end of their path.
"How far until the river?" Jay asked.
"No idea, the path on the right looks like it just ends at the river, the one on the left splits again, one way goes near the river or to it, it's hard to tell, and the other winds around and runs into another tunnel," Doug replied.
"Do any of the other tunnels go near the river?" Jay asked.
"Two more I think, though they're much further along," Doug said.
"We should check out the tunnel on the right then, if it doesn't go to the river we can come back and try the others," Carlos suggested.
Doug grimaced as he glanced down at his watch, "It's already 4 p.m. we really need to hurry."
Jay glanced at Carlos and heaved a sigh, "Then we split up, we'll each take a line of string from here and if we don't find anything in an hour we'll head back. Carlos you should take the tunnel closest to the river, but don't do anything until we all get there."
"Okay, be careful and don't get lost," Carlos warned, clenching his shaking fingers around the duffel bag.
Making sure his string was tied off to one of the metal rails on the ground, Carlos watched as Jay and Doug disappeared down their own tunnel, their string bobbing and bouncing behind them. Having no other choice Carlos started down his tunnel, his flashlight beam quivering as it lit up the rocky ground ahead of him. It felt like he'd been walking for hours, his string slowly unraveling behind him, the coil getting smaller while Carlos felt like he was getting nowhere. The roof of the tunnel began to shorten, and as Carlos reached up he could tell it was cold and damp. As the floor started to slope down, the tunnel widened out and was abruptly cut off. Carlos scanned his light right to left and back again but there was nothing but empty darkness. Pointing the light at his feet, Carlos took very small steps until the ground disappeared over a very high ledge. His flashlight beam couldn't reach the bottom of the pit, and there didn't appear to be a way across it so he started rolling his string back up and retracing his steps.
Once Doug and Jay reached the split in their own tunnel, Jay took the right hand path and Doug took the left. It had taken nearly fifteen minutes to get this far, so both decided to try and make up some time.
"Bet I get back before the hour is up," Jay grinned.
"Bet I find the river first," Doug replied.
With that the boys set off as quickly as the could manage. Jay kept one hand along the wall of the tunnel as he swept his flashlight across the ground, large boulders blocked the path in several areas, making him have to climb up and over. As he gripped a wooden support beam while trying to squeeze between the top of a rock and the roof of the tunnel, the rotted wood splintered beneath his hand causing Jay to tumble down the back of the rock and the beam to collapse. Rocks began to cascade down on top of him and Jay heaved himself to his feet, trying to move out of the way. The tunnel shook and groaned as the support beams along the path started to buckle under the shifting rocks. Jay braced himself against the wall, until the shaking stopped, dust filling the air and making him cough with each breath.
With the path now blocked, Jay carefully started working his way deeper into the mine. Unfortunately a larger cave in at some point had cut off the rest of the tunnel up ahead and Jay couldn't get much further. Going back, Jay began moving as many of the small rocks as he could out of the way, trying to reach the ones that had closed off the small space between the large bolder and the collapsed support beam.
Doug felt like he'd been going in circles for an hour already, his tunnel kept twisting and turning and if he'd already walked into the adjoining tunnel he couldn't tell. A deep rumbling began shaking the ground beneath his feet and he immediately turned back and started running, terrified that they were all about to be trapped.
Carlos slowly got up off the ground as the shaking subsided, grabbing his whistle he sent out a single long note. Silence swallowed the sound, and Carlos strained his ears trying to listen.
Doug stumbled in his headlong rush as he heard Carlos' whistle and fumbled to grab his and reply. He sent off an answering single long note followed by two short ones and continued running.
"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay," Carlos chanted, picking his way carefully back the way he had come. The pounding of boots met his ears as Doug burst out of his tunnel, almost barreling into the other boy, both looking relieved to see the other. "Where's Jay?"
"I don't know, did you whistle?" Doug asked.
"Yeah, so when I heard the two short ones I headed back. My tunnel just ends, there's a huge cliff and nothing," Carlos replied, looking anxiously down the tunnel Jay had taken.
"Mine just kept going, I don't know where I was actually or if I was even close to the river at all," Doug said.
Suddenly a loud crack was heard, followed by the crashing of rocks, and Doug and Carlos each huddled against the wall until the ground was steady once more beneath their feet.
"Let's get Jay and get out of here, if the mountain comes down I say we just leave the artifacts buried here," Carlos said, as he and Doug headed down the tunnel.
Jay crawled back from the boulder he'd been trying to clear, the air thick once more with debris and rock dust, stinging his eyes and throat. Every etime he tried to move the rocks more slipped down from the ceiling and the other wooden support beams were cracking and breaking.
"Jay! Can you hear me?" Carlos' frantic voice rang through the air, as he and Doug ran into the blockage in the tunnel.
Jay scrabbled up the side of the boulder, sticking his hand through the small opening that was left. "Yeah, I'm here, just need a hand moving these out of the way."
Doug eyed the rocks and the split beams warily. "If we move too many we could cause the whole tunnel to come down, these posts aren't going to hold up much longer."
Carlos gave Doug an almost frantic look. "How else are we going to get him out?"
"What we need is more support for the beams that are breaking before we try moving the rocks," Doug replied. "Stay here, I'm going to go and see if I can find anything."
"Man, I really don't want to be stuck down here forever," Jay sighed.
"Well you did want a good hiding place, so I think this qualifies," Carlos snickered, earning a groan from Jay.
"Haha, this is not what I meant," Jay groused.
"So, did you find anything down there?" Carlos asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah a dead end, you?" Jay replied.
"A really big hole," Carlos said. "It went down so far I couldn't see the bottom, the river might be somewhere down there."
"That sounds promising, if we could fly," Jay said, his tone bitter and sarcastic.
Carlos carefully climbed onto the large boulder, getting as close to the small gap he could hear Jay through as possible. "Jay, don't worry Doug and I are going to get you out of there."
"There's not a lot of time Carlos, you should take the map and keep looking. If the tunnels keep collapsing we might all get stuck and then you'll never get the wand back to Jane," Jay replied.
"Jay that's crazy, we're not leaving you behind," Carlos protested.
"I was only along as backup Carlos, you're the one who has to finish this," Jay insisted.
"Damn it Jay, I'll drag every single one of the seven dwarves here to dig you out if I have to but I'm not leaving you here," Carlos argued.
"I didn't say I wanted to stay here, just promise me you'll deal with the wand first, okay?" Jay snickered.
The two lapsed into a heavy silence, until they finally heard Doug coming down the tunnel.
"Find anything?" Carlos asked impatiently.
Doug nodded, slightly out of breath. "Back by the entrance there are a few extra pick axes, shovels and more wooden beams. I can't carry them all back by myself though."
"There was a cart down my tunnel, we can get it all in one trip," Carlos replied, sliding down the rock. "Jay we'll be right back."
By the time Doug and Carlos made it back to the front of the mine pushing the heavy cart along the tracks it was dark outside and getting cold. The wooden beams were easily over six feet long and weighed nearly eighty pounds each, making them very ungainly to move. They filled the bottom of the cart with rope, shovels, pick axes and their backpacks while balancing two of the beams across the top.
"Jay, once Carlos and I get the beams in place you can start removing the rocks, very slowly and carefully. If anything starts shifting stop immediately," Doug instructed, as he and Carlos tried to move the beams in the dark.
"Jay, can you stick your light through the hole and see if we're going the right way?" Carlos asked.
"There, Carlos lift your end up, you're right under the edge of the support. Doug drop your end down and move forward," Jay said, wiggling himself as close to the opening as he could get.
"Carlos be very careful, don't bump that support. If it breaks it could cause the entire wall to cave in," Doug warned, as Carlos tried wedging himself between the side of the boulder and the wall without dropping the beam.
"Okay, it's good. Let's get the next one," Carlos said, slowly stepping away from the beam.
The next beam was put into place as well, right under the edge of the cracked section and Carlos stood anxiously by as Jay began digging his way out. Bit by bit the hole widened as Jay worked the rocks loose. Carlos moved forward once Jay was able to stick his head through and tried to help.
"The beams' too low, even if we get all these rocks out I won't be able to get my shoulders through," Jay said, as he shoved against the opening.
"If we move that beam the whole ceiling will come down, it's caught itself on the top of that boulder and it's the only thing keeping it up," Doug said.
"What if we dug out the side of the wall?" Carlos asked hopefully.
"It's too unstable," Doug replied with a shake of his head.
"Then we go back for help, if we leave right now we can probably make it to the limo and into town by tomorrow morning," Carlos said.
"Carlos stop. You'll waste way too much time, Fairy Godmother won't last much longer. You have to find the river," Jay replied sternly.
Carlos balked, the last thing he wanted to do was try going through the creepy, dark tunnels alone while leaving Jay stranded behind.
"Carlos, listen to me. This whole mission is about saving Auradon from our parents and the rest of the villains. I'm not the one who has to help finish this, you are. You have to get the artifacts neutralized and back to Jane so she can keep that barrier up or I might as well stay here, because we're all going to die anyhow. I know these mines are seriously freaking you out, but are they really worse then your mother?" Jay added, earning a shake of the head from Carlos.
"Alright Jay, but don't try to move those beams until I get back. We'll figure a way to get you out so we can all go back to Auradon together, okay?" Carlos said, reaching out to clasp Jay's hand through the small opening.
Jay gave him a smile. "Get going man, the faster you get the wand to Jane the faster I can get outta here."
"I promise Jay, I'll do everything I can to keep Auradon safe," Carlos replied, stealing himself for what he was about to do.