Day #11: The Bell Tolls by Elizabeth Averay
Tick tock tick tock tick tock…
Time is running out.
Beads of sweat run down my face as I look around, which way should I go? Left or right? I don’t know, but I will have to move soon or the lava that is oozing over the ground will cut off the way.
If only I could remember – left or right?
Watching the lava inch closer I go left, into the tunnel and down, down, down the tight spiral staircase carved into the rock. Reaching the bottom I slam the door shut in the hopes it will slow the deadly molten liquid.
Falling flat on my face I slide along for a few feet, coming to a stop just before a sudden drop into the bowels of the Earth.
Getting up, I move to the right, finding the narrow ledge that leads across the cavern to the other side and just that much closer to fresh air.
As I edge my way across the ledge, which I should say is a rocky plank, I think about why I’m here.
A note posted through my letterbox stating that my sister, her husband and kids had been taken. The only way to get them back is to retrieve the Star of Moonrise – a very large, ancient crown once worn on Christmas Eve. It is said the crown has power over the population of the world, and the one who wears it will rule unrivalled for one hundred years.
The crown has lain forgotten for over one thousand years in an underground city with an enormous tower at the rear of the immense cavern.
Finally on the other side I heave a sigh, then remember I have to be out of here before midnight. I retrace my steps through two sand traps, another staircase with false steps and trigger steps (thankfully I used fluorescent paint on those). Then I swing across a pit writhing with vipers and then I’m out through the entrance into the hidden city and climbing up, up, up, up, and up to the surface to find the men with my family five hundred yards away near a helicopter. The guns are out and pointed at the kids.
The head man motions to me, and I move over to them. ‘Have you got the crown?’ he says, gripping the youngest’s arm tightly.
‘Yes. It’s in my pack. Let the kids go and I’ll hand it over.’ Trying to stall them ‘til midnight.
The great brute of a leader grins with a devilish gleam in his eyes. ‘I think you hand it over now or I kill them all.’ Levelling his gun at the base of my niece’s head he cocks an eyebrow at me.
‘Fine.’ Taking the crown from my pack I throw it up in the air. All the men take their eyes off my family and lunge for the artefact.
The leader catches it and jams it onto his head. Just as the bell in the nearby town tolls midnight.
His eyes closed, arms outspread, they wait for something to happen. In the meantime I have ushered my family into the jeep, got my rifle aimed and take out his henchmen.
Unaware of what I’ve done the remaining brute opens his eyes and spins around, looking for me. I pop up right in front of him. ‘I brought you the fake one. The real crown was eaten by the lava. I saw it happen. Did you really think I would give you that sort of power?’ With that I draw out my hunting knife and slash his throat open.
Before he’s even stopped bleeding I drag their bodies to the hole which offers access to the city and roll them into it.
I take my family home.
Scribble City: Write Now 