Chapter 120: Entrance to the underground tunnels
Chapter 120: Entrance to the underground tunnels
“Due to the darkness and the little vision that there was in the water because it was extremely agitated.
Walking through it was dangerous not to say that it was a real suicide. It does not matter if the water barely reaches your heels it was dangerous.
One of my companions was walking in front of me when he stepped wrong and ended up falling through what appeared to be a hole under the water. “
Staring at the soldier, Cornelio pointed to the ground as if hoping the soldier would understand.
“We did our best to try to rescue him, but it was completely useless.
As much as we used our weapons so that he could grab them, it didn’t take us long to realize that the hole where he fell was too deep and had a very strong current.
That soldier was my friend, I saw him die in front of me and I couldn’t even get his body back.
Not only did that happen, but during the whole journey, we encountered even more disturbing things, such as four of my companions who were passing by were suddenly trapped because their feet ended up stuck in a kind of sand.
Which was burying them little by little. We could not do anything and I could only see with sadness how they ended up dying, at least they could say goodbye before dying. “
Dean and Chaplain Amis who was listening to what the soldier was saying only frowned, because although they believed some things, they did not think that the tunnels under the city were so dangerous.
So Anders quickly began to walk towards where Cornelio was and when he arrived in front of him, he punched him in the face to calm him down.
“Soldier, I understand your anger, but you must calm down. We have to use the underground tunnels to be able to seek help.
Not to investigate its interior, although I am the Duke of this place I do not intend to sacrifice my life trying to find some mystery in that place.
Therefore, we will only use the tunnels that are marked as safe and which have an exit, I hope you can understand that. “
Cornelio who was already calmer after being beaten spat some blood on the floor of the church and looked at the duke seriously.
“I guess I don’t have a choice to refuse, but that doesn’t matter.
If you want to go to that place and we are only going to take the tunnels that lead to the exit, I will accompany you.
I just hope as a favor when this is all over and the emperor’s threat is over I hope you can close those tunnels.
They are a real threat, and I really don’t think it’s worth sacrificing other people’s lives to investigate what’s inside.
But of one thing I am sure and that is that most of these tunnels are natural and only the smallest were constructions that the Saxons made at some point.
Although I suppose the real reason was long lost after the conquest of the Charlemagne Emperor. “
Dean who was somewhat angry at the way he spoke to the salty decided not to say anything because it was not the time to fight with the only person who could guide him in that place.
“I can’t promise you anything, but maybe I could use those tunnels to create a sewer system for the city sometime in the future.
But as a duke, I can tell you that soldiers or people who process the glory of God will not enter that place.
The tunnel workers will only be the pagan slaves that would be a punishment for them since they should start preparing in that place before they go to hell.
In that way his life and death would only be in the hands of God, we would only be in charge of making those sinful souls work for the good of the duchy. “
Cornelius who heard Dean’s speech knew that it was useless and dangerous to try to say something so he decided to change the subject.
“Before we enter the tunnels, we have to have enough food, torches, changes of clothes, and some crucifixes ready to mark our way.
As for anything else you want to take, it should not be much because perhaps in some places we will have to pass crouching.
But this is the most important thing, and I hope duke Dean remembers it.
If I say stop, it stops and if I say come back we just turn around; I hope you can remember this.
Because your life is just as important as mine and I do not intend to die just because of a selfish action also if someone leaves the group it’s dead.
In that place without a source of light or food, it is only a matter of time before the unfortunate person dies, in there it is not to survive but how they are going to die.
Now that I have accepted the job, I will be at home saying goodbye to my family. May this soldier come to pick me up when everything is ready. “
When he finished saying those words, Cornelius walked to the door of the church and before leaving he turned his head and looked at the duke.
“I almost forgot but it will be better if we can take a bird to the tunnels, I do not know why, but the Charlemagne Emperor at the time recommended us to do that.
According to him, in some old mines near the ancient city of Rome, the miners had a habit of using birds in their journeys because these animals could die, and that way they would realize that something was wrong.
But in case we don’t have any birds, we can use a rat. “
Dean seeing that Cornelio had left the church took a deep breath trying to contain the anger he was feeling because, despite the fact that he was a nobleman, that soldier spoke to him without respecting him.
“Amis, when we get out of the tunnels, tell the guards who accompany us to kill that soldier.
I am not going to allow someone like this to continue living, as for their family as soon as we leave that they sell them as slaves or that my father is in charge of educating them.
I think he will love having some new toys for his bed. “
After some time of preparing everything necessary to be able to cross the tunnels safely, Cornelio looked at the duke, the chaplain, and the five great guards who will accompany them.
“I’m glad to see that you have everything prepared, but I hope that you are also prepared yourselves to be able to enter the interiors of this little hell.
You are going to follow my orders and you are not going to be separated by absolutely nothing as for this little crow that I have in the cage in my hand.
It will be in charge of informing if something is wrong in the tunnel that we are going so always pay attention to its condition.
As for the rest, I can only tell you that we may hear some strange noises in that place, I do not know where they come from or what they are.
But under no circumstances go where those sounds are. When we investigated the caves years ago, I could see some soldiers who very bravely went to follow those sounds.
I never saw them again, and I hope I can’t see them at this entrance to the tunnels.
As for the rest, I think you already know what to do and I don’t have to tell you how to do things. “
After speaking, Cornelius squeezed the wooden cage where the raven was and began to walk towards a thick wooden door.
Which was visibly damaged by the passage of time and lack of care, using a large iron key to open that door and a musty aroma could be smelled in the environment.
With the help of one of the duke’s guards, he opened the door wide and took one of the many torches they carried.
Everyone then started down a staircase that seemed to have been carved out of the stone a long time ago.
“When we went down years ago, we found quite a few broken wicker baskets and clay jugs on these stairs.
We assumed that they must have been full of food, but as time passed, the food ran out so they were simply abandoned in this place. “
After going downstairs for a few minutes they came to a large room which had some strange drawings on the walls.
They were also able to see in a large area of the wall a passage from the Bible, which was written in reddish ink.
“That passage of the Bible was written by order of Emperor Charlemagne, in an attempt that the dead could rest in peace.
Although I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore, it’s been so long that its meaning will be lost and maybe in the future it’s just a text from the Bible that someone wrote.
But we are not here to see the walls but to be able to get out of this place. “
Using his torch to point out one of the paths in that room, he looked at everyone.
“Although there are only 3 paths in this room, only this one will lead us to the tunnels that lead to a possible exit.
I can attest that the path that is on the right side will only lead to death because that was the path that I took many years ago.
Where only I could return and all my companions died in horrible ways and without any meaning.
As for the one on the right, it is also a place of death, as it is not only a path that leads to tunnels that are deeper in the earth.
If not, there is also an old Saxon cemetery there. “
When he finished saying those words, everyone in the place could hear some voices that came from the tunnel on the left.
These did not seem to say something understandable and were mostly murmurs that came out of the dark.
Cornelius kept his cool and watched as the chaplain began to recite the holy scriptures while holding his crucifix.
“You see that I was not lying when I said that this place is very far from heaven and close to hell.
You will have to prepare to be able to see listen to things as it is, although we already stayed a long time in this place, we have to start moving. “