THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART FIFTY THREE )

After a good sleep, they awoke, it seemed strange
to be waking in this chamber and not in the forest.

They had nothing to eat or drink, so they decided
to move on straight away.

As they started to move through a tunnel off of the
chamber, it was very quiet except for water, which
dripped down the walls. Bella shivered, "I don't
like this," she said.

"It's okay," said Bess, "it feels creepier that it
actually is, it's a lot safer here, than walking
through the forest."

They came to a fork, "which way now?" said Arvid.

"This way," said Bess, she took the left tunnel.

"I'm glad you're with us," replied Arvid, "I haven't got a clue where we are, or where we will
end up."

They carried on walking, Bella was getting hungry
and she needed to do other things. "Can we stop a
while, I need to relieve myself."

"Ofcourse," said Bess, "here take the torch."

Bella wandered back along the tunnel, as she was
relieving herself, she heard a noise, looking
behind her, she shone the torch back down the
tunnel, she screamed...it was a family of rats,
"Yuk!" she hated rats. She couldn't move, as they
scampered past her.

Arvid came running back down the tunnel, to find
out what was wrong. "Sorry," said Bella, "it was
a family of rats, they were horrid, I hate this
place."

Arvid put an arm on Bellas shoulder, "we all have
our fears, as long as you are okay, that's all that
matters. Come we will carry on."

They seemed to be walking for ages, still no closer
to daylight, "How much longer Bess?" enquired Arvid.

"Not long now," replied Bess.

After a while Arvid noticed it seemed to be getting
slightly warmer. They kept walking, then all of a
sudden Arvid saw a spot of light ahead.

They were now walking towards the light, when they
got closer, Bess stopped, "hush!" she put her finger to her mouth. "I hear voices," she told Arvid and Bella, she told them to keep down, it was not safe. As they kept down, Bess turned to Arvid, "you go and investigate we will stay here."

Arvid handed his torch to Bess and started to walk
towards the entrance, keeping in the shadows, so as
not to be seen.

He saw a group of men talking, he recognized them,
it was two of Jonah's men.

Arvid tried to hear what they were saying, but they
were whispering and it was muffled. 'What are they
planning now?' he thought.

A little while later, the men walked off and Arvid
waited. When he realised the coast was clear, he
went back into the cave, grabbed the torches and
put them out, all but one...he left sitting in the
rocks.

"What are you doing?" called Bess.

"Come and see," said Arvid.

To the left of the tunnel, there was a wall of rocks, with a gap...just big enough for a small
person to squeeze through.

Arvid said to Bella, "if you squeeze through that
gap in the rocks, you can tell us...if it's safe to
come out, but be careful!"

Bella was quite happy to just get out, so she never
complained. She managed to get through the gap, she
felt a great relief to be out.

She stood...brushing herself down, when suddenly
she was aware that she had been here before.

To be continued .......THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART FIFTY FOUR ) | ABCtales