A/N – I'm sorry I didn't get to posting this earlier, but last week was exam week and I bet most of you know how busy that is...thanks for your patience!
Chapter 5- Down Below
Justin's POV - Justin and Alex wake up on the jungle floor and sleepily get sup. They will never again sleep on the ground, it's too uncomfortable. They remember the night before and start walking even farther away from the village. They end up at the entrance of a deserted mine. He Justin is very paranoid about going into confined spaces because he's paranoid from all of Alex's pranks. He knows that they are dangerous and that they could cave in, but Alex hears voices of the Indians in the distance. They've been found! They rush into the mine and when they reach a dead end, Alex starts banging on the dirt wall. She starts a cave in. Justin falls down a landslide that the cave in caused and lands somewhere far below. He finds a large gold mine at the bottom. Alex meanwhile, gets caught by the Indians.
"Alex, please forgive me! I had no choice!" His voice echoed through the woods. I stared around until I saw his tall figure steps out of the trees. Oakley was dressed in creamy-brown pants than looked like the fabric moccasins were made of. His feet were bare, and so was his chest.
"Listen, I'm not like these others. I despised the thought of trickery and sacrifice. My fellow closed their ears to my words. I didn't choose to be in command, it was my birthright. My family has always been most powerful over all others for as long as our culture has lived." He spoke gently and slowly approached me. I stood frozen, at a loss for words in front of him. Was this a dream?
"You speak English?" I blurted out stupidly.
"My sweet Alex, only to you do I speak your native tongue, since my people would never accept me as their leader if they knew I spoke this language. Everything I say is quite real, although I am saddened to know that this is but a dream." He whispered.
The forest faded into black and I opened my eyes. The sight in front of me shocked me. I was propped up against a tree stump and I was staring at the exact same scenery that my dream had; the same forest, the same trees. The only difference was that Justin was sleeping on a pile of moss and Oakley wasn't present.
I stood up and started pacing around our little meadow. I thought about what Oakley had said in my dream. Did he still like me? Yes. Did he know where we escaped to? No. Would he be on our side if the rest of them found us? Maybe.
Justin sat up and looked over at me. "Good morning, Alex. What's for breakfast?" He said sleepily.
"Uh, the morning's cold and damp and you can eat whatever you find." I grouched at him. I was not a morning person.
"Well, we could pick some berries as we walk." He suggested.
"If only we had our wands." I muttered.
We continued walking through the forest. Soon, every tree and leaf started to look the same. By lunchtime, we were hopelessly lost.
"Which way are we headed again?" I asked for the millionth time.
"Away from the Indians." He said frustrated. We continued marching through these same god-for-saken bushes until I finally yanked my brother to a stop.
"What?" He yelled.
"Stop walking and let's figure out where exactly we are. For all you know we could be getting deeper into the forest instead of out." I retorted.
"Why don't we start there?" Justin pointed to something behind me. I turned around and saw a wooden pillar over the tree tops.
"Fine, if you want to do this the easy way." I muttered. We walked up to the wood pillar and found much more equipment.
"This is a mine." Justin said poking me.
"Okay, let's go." I started forward.
"No! Don't go into it, it might be dangerous! The wood won't be sturdy enough to hold your weight. What if there was a cave in? You'd be trapped forever! You know I'm not good with confined spaces!" Justin rambled on.
"Oh, stop worrying. We're not going to get anywhere if we just stand here." I smirked. I approached the pillar in the ground and found a large hole in the earth. The pillar was in the middle of the big gaping hole and worked as a sort of elevator going down underground. I hopped onto the shelf and tugged on the rope. Slowly, the platform I was on started sinking.
"Wait for me. I don't want you going down there by yourself!" Justin yelled. He ran over and jumped onto the platform. It started sinking faster once Justin's weight was added on.
"I don't like this I don't like this." Justin clutched my arm as our heads sank beneath the surface.
"Stop being such a baby. Look, there are even lanterns down here." I picked up the ancient-looking light and swung it around. The handle broke and it fell onto the cold rock ground and burnt out. We stood in pitch-black.
"Now look what you've done! How are we supposed to get out now?" Justin yelled.
"If you're constant speaking was to cease, the farther you would travel." A familiar voice whispered from close by.
"Who's there?" Justin panicked and started flailing about.
"It is I, Okhmhaka, leader of the Pajetani people and wanderer of the sinking gold wells." Oakley said just as quietly.
"Oakley, is everything you told me true? Are you really not going to harm us?" I said.
"My sweet Alex, I wouldn't think of harming thee." He said taking hold of my forearms.
"I-what'd going on? I can't see anything." Justin said awkwardly.
"Ah, this must be my lady's brother. Justin, I believe." He murmured.
"Yeah, I'm Justin, how come you're here? How did you find us?"
"These tunnels are grand. Your voice rang out to me from a great distance."
"But how did you get in here? And how did you know we were in this tunnel?" Justin said suspiciously.
"Be not unkind, young one. Every tunnel is connected to another. This entrance is one of many dug deep into the rock." Oakley smiled. "Now shall we bring light into these darkened trenches?" Oakley said lighting another torch. This torch looked newer and stronger than the one we found earlier.
"Where shall I lead thee?" Oakley asked.
"Can you take us to the surface? We don't exactly know where to go from there, but it would be nice to get out. I'm getting a little claustrophobic." Justin said.
"To the surface we shall rise, and from thy surface you shall be led home." He declared. Oakley took my hand and we walked at a fast pace. Justin scrambled to keep up.
"It is the end of another day." Oakley said stopping. He pulled us down a narrow path and stopped at the dead end. "Here we will rest, for tomorrow our journey will continue."
The small room was about the width of small tent and the ceiling was just barely high enough for Oakley to stand up straight. The floor was lined with leaves and feathers. It looked like a nest. I curled up and fell asleep in the corner of the room. Justin stretched out diagonally across the short space and Oakley sat up straight in the entrance way. I was out before either of them even closed their eyes.
A/N – If anyone is wondering why Oakley is talking differently, you can blame that on the Shakespeare unit we just had in English class. I hope no one minds, but I thought it gave him more character. Let me know if you guys like where the story's going. Thanks!