(I changed the guy's name from the previous chapter. From Itoo > Stefon.)
Here is chapter 2 of my maps story.Stuff is happening.
Enjoy.
Chapter 2
Secret in the Door
~Tilma~
The cave was silent. And only the flickering torch made any kind of noise. Tilma smiled as the three story high doors appeared in the torchlight.
“I still feel we shouldn’t be here, Tilma. Not now.”
She turned to the voice and scrunched up her nose at her companion, Stefon.
“Are you afraid of a little dark?”
The man groaned and finally shrugged.
“You know I’m not. But, the Morning Trees will lose their light tonight. And you know full well what that means.”
As he talked she wagged her head from side to side. Not really caring about the fact they could get in a lot of trouble coming here. And it would not come from the Fort. Still, as the door got closer, her resolve renewed.
Nothing anybody had done had come close to opening the main door of the three. But, she had an idea. A crazy idea for sure, as they were risking the dangers of being outside and more, being outside when the nights would be without the protective glow from the Morning Trees.
A faint hum filled the air and Tilma quickly held up a hand to silence Stefon.
He stopped and gave her a questioning look.
“What is it?”
“Shh, listen.” She stepped closer to the door. The huge frame was intimidating to say the least.
But upon nearing it, the hum became louder. Yet, it was different than before. The spinning mechanism in the middle of the door wasn’t spinning at a breakneck speed like it always did. It was turning almost lethargically in its cycle across the door. Tilma beamed at the find.
“It’s slowing down! I knew it! You see Stefon, it was all about the timing.”
She glanced back at him unable to keep a smug look from her face.
Her companion shrugged in defeat and said,
“So, you were right. I’ll admit to that. But, can we go back now?”
Tilma immediately leveled her fist at him.
“No! We just got here.”
The act of him dragging a hand through his curly dark brown hair showing his agitation didn’t faze her. It was true, he had a point. Yet, the adventurer in her wanted to explore further even if it was risky.
Though, instead of protesting, Stefon said,
“You know, your father is going to have my hide for this one. Let’s be quick.”
It only made her huff. He knew as well as she did her dad considered him in a good light.
With no reply to his words, she shifted her leather armor into a more comfortable position before she stepped to the middle of the big door. The circular mechanism spun slowly enough that she could actually start to see smaller handles.
She waved her hand and said,
“Stefon, boost me up. I think there is something up there worth inspecting.”
Without warning, his bigger hands grabbed her waist and hoisted her up onto his shoulder. She squirmed about and managed to get a knee next to his neck and then a foot onto his shoulder. Stefon grunted when she pressed a hand into his face,
“Is that … ugh … necessary?!”
She grinned.
“No, but I like annoying you too much.”
“Hey! There’s no time for that. Hurry up.”
It took some careful shifting, but she balanced herself on his shoulders and his grip on her shins helped hold her steady. The spinning circle was in reach and Tilma started to time the slower spins. The seconds ticked by and she focused on the handle, counting softly under her breath.
Then with a flash of her hand she grabbed the next handle. She expected the thing to stop, but her body went surging up as she gripped the handle with white knuckles.
From below, Stefon shouted,
“Tilma! Are you hurt?”
As he said it, the circle slowly came to a stop and Tilma breathed out a sigh of relief. But, when she looked down, she was more than twice the height up from where she was before. A fall from this height could be trouble.
She grunted under the strain on her arms. But she replied,
“Ah, um, yeah. Though, I would like it if you could catch me.”
The affirmative shout came from below.
She took a few breaths and was about to let go when a hole in the circle caught he eyes. With the thing normally spinning incredibly fast, it was no wonder no one saw it.
“Wait, I see something…”
It was clear Stefon asked something from the ground, but she ignored him as she stuck her one arm into the hole. Inside there was a knob like protrusion and she pulled at it.
Not a moment later, the whole door shook and she had to grip the handle tighter as it started opening. But her fingers started slipping.
“Oh no! Um, Stefon, try to catch me!—”
She lost her grip and fell.
Air rushed past her for a moment before she struck arms and heard Stefon grunt loudly with the fall. They both tumbled to the ground.
As their momentum stopped, Tilma let out a whoosh of a breath.
“Now that was thrilling.”
A frustrated sound spilled from Stefon's throat.
“One of these days, you are going to get us killed.”
She glanced at him and made a sly smile before she got up.
In front of them the biggest door of three stood open. And the little light of the torch only revealed a few meters into what looked like a hallway.
Without waiting, or helping her companion up, she grabbed her torch and her knapsack and walked forward.
It was then great big bladed traps came into view. They looked lethal to say the least.
But, as she got closer, the hall revealed more and more traps. Yet the strange thing was their movement was clearly slowing down. She touched her dark blue braid and played with the end.
A crunch sounded right next to her. She jumped. Only to see Stefon there with her.
“What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know.” Tilma said sincerely.
Then with a reverberating thud all the visible traps came to a stop and every noise from just a moment before went silent.
The dark hall sent chills up her spine. All of sudden, she didn’t want to explore this discovery alone with Stefon anymore. She started to turn,
“Let’s get out of here—“
A scurrying sound filled the hall, and it got closer and closer, and Tilma pulled out a blade.
(You are welcome to point out errors. I tried to keep it clean.)
