The Scent of Death

by Shelby Skabelund

  He ran down the tunnel excited to share the gift with the others. As he ran down the tunnel, his heart froze as he saw a man limping in his direction. It was the other guard that had been fighting down below. He had heard Nick’s footsteps and was looking straight at him. He came to an instant stop frozen. It took a moment for Nick to realize he was not able to see him, but it was obvious he had heard him. He had stopped and was looking around the tunnel. “Anyone there?” called his nasty voice. His face was a mess. Blood was running off a gash on his forehead and into his beard. It was now black, bloody, and matted. His left eye was swollen shut and he could barely see out of it.

  He stood right in the middle of the tunnel. It was a narrower part of the tunnel and Nick Knew he couldn’t squeeze past without being noticed. He had an idea. There was a torch on the wall just in front of him. Nick reached out a finger and flicked the torch. It let out a metallic thud. The man’s good eye went straight to the torch with an inquisitive look. He shuffled over to the torch to have a look. It had worked. The tunnel was wider here, and Nick barely slipped past. As he did the man must have caught sent of the roast pig. His head turned about following the smell. Nick stepped away quietly and as he did he saw the man shake his head and sniff towards the large hall and shuffle on. As he did it seemed Nicks heart started to beat again.

  Nick moved down the tunnel and removed the spell again. He had to. He was feeling very tired and could feel his energy draining. He didn’t run into anymore guards on his way out of the tunnel. When he came to the mine, Nick couldn’t see any sign of life and chanced being seen. He moved as quick as he could between the piles of stone and rock that were piled up. He slipped into every open trench or large crack that he could, just in case someone came into the cavern.

  Nick finally reached the tunnel where they mined each day. He was relieved to slip into the shadows of the entrance. There were no burning torches here and it felt safe. There was no reason for the guards to pay attention to the actual mine sites. They were dead ends, and no one could escape going into one. That was Nicks reasoning at least. It made him feel secure.

  Nick sat down on a rock and pulled the pork shank from under his shirt. The piece he had pulled was the length of his forearm and as thick as his mid-thigh. It smelled so good. He peeled back the burnt skin and pulled a large piece of meat free. When he started to chew the meat, he found it hard not to let out a sound of delight at the flavor of the warm perfectly cooked pork. He hadn’t eaten a real meal since staying at Rhen and Vi’s home in the rocks.

  For a few minutes he savored the delicious pork until he felt a pang of guilt. The others deserved some too. Nick got to his feet and wrapped the shank back under his shirt. He felt tired still but thought he might have enough energy to make it back to the cell. He did what he could to sneak back, but after he got about half way, he could hear voices echoing about the cavern. “The guards are coming back.” He thought to himself.

  Nick was forced to cast the spell and took off running for the cell. He held tightly to his precious gift, so it wouldn’t fall out on the floor. When he got to the cell he didn’t think to remove the spell, but just quickly unlocked it, swung it open and slipped in. He startled the prisoners who were sitting by the door. One of them let out a scream. “SHHHhhhhh. It’s me.” Nick said as he removed the spell. “Quick, someone lock the door for me. The guards will be here in a few minutes.” He said extending his hand with the key.

  Rhen jumped up and locked the door. “What do you have in your shirt?” Rhen asked looking at Nick with one hand holding his wrapped up shirt. Nicks face broke into a smile. “This.” He replied as he pulled the roast pork out from under his shirt after he unrolled it. There were murmurs of delight.

  “Quickly now.” Nick said “Rhen hand this out and eat it before they come.” Rhen started tearing of pieces of meat and handing it around to the others. There were groans of delight as they got what must have been their first taste of meat in months. There was a sense of happiness in the dark dank prison cell, even if it was short lived. They had been given hope. More hope than these people had to cling to in a long time.

  After the last of the meat was eaten, there was a large bone and extra skin scraps left. Rhen realized this would be a problem if the guards discovered it. “What should we do to hide this?” Rhen asked. They all looked around the cell. There were not any cracks or crevices to hide something this big. Then Alex spoke up. Put it in the waste pail. Nick looked over at the buckets that were left in the dark corner of the room for the slaves to relieve themselves into. They hadn’t been dumped for two days and were more than half full. It was disgusting but perfect. Nick could hear voices coming down the tunnel. He reached out and grabbed the evidence and ran to the corner with it. Holding the bone by the end he pushed the evidence deep into the waste to make sure it wasn’t visible. Then he let it go and grabbed a small stone from the floor. He pushed the bone down about an inch to make sure it wouldn’t be seen. The stench was almost unbearable, but it worked perfectly. There was no evidence of the feast they had just shared. He dropped the rock and slipped back to his place in the cell to rest.

  The guards wandered back to their spots at the table and Nick new there would be no practice or study tonight. A few moments later Nick heard a woman’s whisper. “Nick, thank you.” It was Ellen. “You are welcome!” he whispered back.

  Chapter 14

  The Prisoner is a Prisoner

  Before Nick fell asleep that night, he couldn’t help but smile and think about his new-found freedom. He wasn’t free from the mines, but at least each night he would be able to do things for his friends that they couldn’t do for themselves.

  He did have a slight problem though. His shirt was greasy with pork grease and smelled like pork as well. He spent a good amount of time rubbing dry dirt on his shirt where the grease was to try and get the dirt to absorb some of it and break it up. He did notice that it had worked for the most part except for now the one side of his shirt was forever dirty from the embedded dirt and grease. “Better that than getting caught for steeling the shank.” He thought.

  The next day was a good one for their group. Everyone seemed to have more energy than ever, and smiles were exchanged as they worked. They were careful though not to let on to the guards that they were in good spirits. As the days passed, Nick continued his nightly explorations. He tried bringing extra food and water to the prisoners whenever possible. He was still tired at the end of the days, but he was always anxious for the next adventure.

  Nick was getting to know the mine very well and feeling more and more comfortable being out on his own. The problem was he couldn’t think of plan to help the prisoners escape. Rhen kept asking him questions about the other tunnels that led out of the mine and the habits of the guards each night. Rhen was frustrated because he couldn’t come up with a plan without seeing things with his own eyes.

  “Isn’t there a way you can take me with you?” Rhen asked. “There is, but I don’t think I am strong enough yet.” Replied Nick. “There is an addition to the spell to hide others, but it warns about doubling the power strain to do it. I would have to dress in the robe according to the book, and you would hold on to the hem of the robe. I have to say an incantation with the wand movement and if you hold the robe you would be invisible along with me. If you let go, you would become visible again.” Nick explained.

  “Can we at least try it?” asked Rhen. “I can’t stay here another day. I am worried about my sister. One wrong move by any of the prisoners she took with her and she could be captured or even worse dead.” Rhen said his voice wavering. Nick could feel the concern Rhen had for his sister. He just realized why Rhen had seemed on edge for the last three weeks. Rhen was worried his sister was going to be caught and or worse killed. All he wanted was to protect her and keep her safe, but in here he could do nothing but worry.

  Nick agreed that they should try. He was worried about Vi as well. He had thought about her quite often during the da
ys and nights in the mine. He didn’t want to tell Rhen that though.

  When the guards had left, and they had time. Nick pulled his robe out and slipped into it in the corner. He handed a hem to Rhen and uttered the spell and made the motions as before. “Esconde di exo en di min” Nick felt the rush of the magic through his hands and out his wand. It fell upon them with a tingling sensation as he saw Rhen’s face disappearing before him. “So that is what it looks like.” Nick thought to himself as Rhen’s face faded into nothingness.

  Nick could feel the strain from his physical energy. It felt as though his arms and legs weighed twice as much. It made his head feel thick and his thoughts muddied. Nick didn’t like the way it dulled his senses. After just 30 seconds Nick waved the wand and ended the spell. He pulled the robe from his body and folded it up. “What are you doing?” asked Rhen “That was great. I couldn’t see any part of my body.”

  “It worked, but it was too much. I can’t support magic like that for long. It drains too much from me.” Nick said. “I can already feel the toll it took to hide you for just that long. We need to practice for just a little each night. I need to build up the strength for it. I would need to support it for much longer, if we are going to sneak around the mines.” Nick explained a little angry.

  “Hey, you don’t have to be angry with me, I just wanted to give it a try,” Said Rhen.

  “No, Rhen, I’m not mad at you. I am angry with myself. I wish I was more powerful. If I was we could have been out of here already.” Nick said back at Rhen. Nick realized he was very concerned for Vi. They had not seen her since their capture in the mine. Just in the few days they had spent together, Nick had been intoxicated by her beautiful eyes and heavenly blonde curls. He realized he was worried just like Rhen. He felt so frustrated that it was taking so long to learn new spells and to sustain them for a meaningful amount of time. He couldn’t help her if he Nick had glanced deeper into the book and seen powerful spells that would char the guards to a crisp and spells that would shield him from their weapons, but he remembered the warnings with each spell not to try the next page until he had mastered the page before it.

  “It is ok, I understand. Thanks for trying. Don’t get frustrated. This is a step in the right direction. You will just have to practice it some more and build up a tolerance. We only need to hide when the guards are close. So you wouldn’t need to hold it for long periods of time” Said Rhen.

  “I guess you are right.” Nick said. “We can sneak through the tunnels unseen for the most part, and I am familiar with a few hiding places now that I have been out so many times. The guards seem to stick to the lighted tunnels, and we could hide you if we needed to.”

  The two agreed that this would be the most important piece of Nicks training to this point. Nick promised he would work harder than ever to master this spell. The ability to have someone else sneaking through the tunnels with him brought him courage. He knew that Rhen didn’t panic in the face of a problem and that would come in handy. He also knew that coming up with a plan to escape would come naturally to Rhen.

  The next few weeks were uneventful besides the constant work in the mines. Nick was stronger than he could ever imagined. His arms were thicker and rounded. The weight of the rocks seemed light to him now. It was just part of the day. His hair was growing long and mangy. The clothing that Rhen and Vidian had given him was now well worn and filthy from all the work in the mine. Now and then the guards would show up unannounced with large buckets of water and drag the prisoners out into the tunnel one by one and soak them down to try and remove some of the dirt and stink, but it was never enough to get their clothes clean. If anything, it just embedded the dirt deeper into the fabric.

  Nicks late night studies were paying off though. He was getting stronger and stronger the more he practiced the invisibility spell. He could now keep Rhen hidden for a few minutes at a time without feeling his senses wain. The hard part now was getting Rhen to move in unison with him without speaking. They couldn’t see one another while they were invisible, so they couldn’t make hand signals or mouth words to each other. They had to resort to holding on to an arm and tapping signals with a finger. It was much harder than Nick would have thought. He didn’t realize how much seeing someone helped with communication.

  Tonight, was the night. Nick knew that when they finished in the mine, Rhen would go with him out to explore when the guards left them for dinner. The day drug on again, but it was uneventful. For some reason the hair on Nicks neck was standing on end and he had goose bumps all over. He had a weird felling and couldn’t explain it. It came and went all day long. Nick found himself turning to look over his shoulder several times to be met with the same felling each time. At one point he swore he heard voices in the back of the cave they were tunneling in, but when he went back to investigate there were no voices and no one there.

  Rhen noticed Nick was acting strange. “What is it?” Rhen asked. “I have been watching you this morning and you keep looking over your shoulder.” he finished.

  “I’m not sure.” Said Nick. “I just feel like someone is there. Like we are being watched. It just doesn’t feel right. I’ve noticed it now for days. Especially at night. Today it just won’t go away. It is ... I don’t know … I guess, creepy.”

  About an hour later Rhen came back over near Nick. “Ever since you mentioned it, I have noticed it as well. I can’t pin point it, but I swear I heard voices whispering just a few minutes ago. The weird thing is that there was no one there to whisper.” Rhen told Nick. Just then they both felt it again. They saw it in the others face. They instinctively moved back towards the group of miners.

  Rhen and Nick finished out the day and were soon headed back across the mine to enter their cell. They both kept scanning the mine walls expecting to see someone or something. All they could see were dark shadows between the gray rocks. They saw the shadows jump from the flames of the torches but couldn’t make out anything else.

  As they entered the tunnel leading to the cell, the feeling became even stronger. Nick was sure that something or someone was watching them. When they got into their cell, Nick and Rhen climbed quickly into their spot in the corner and whispered to one another.

  “Something is coming.” Rhen said to Nick. “We need to go tonight!”

  “We don’t even have a plan.” rebutted Nick.

  “We will figure something out, as soon as they leave, we will leave with them.” Rhen said.

  With little argument the two came to an agreement that they needed to try something. The feeling was too strong. Nick even overheard the guards talking in the tunnel. They felt uneasy, “…as if someone is watching us.” Nick heard one say. The guards were soon ready to leave, and so were Rhen and Nick. As the guards headed up the tunnel Nick pulled the book and robe out of their hiding places. He threw the robe on and Rhen grabbed the hem. With a flick of the wand they both disappeared. The lock clicked, and the door swung open.

  The others were used to Nick sneaking out, and hardly noticed tonight. Thy slipped up the tunnel and as they approached the mine, Nick waved off the spell to plan with Rhen. Rhen seemed a little nervous to be in plain sight. “Don’t worry, I do this every night. I only stay hidden until I reach the mouth of each entrance. The torches usually burn deeper in the tunnels and we have these nice shadows to keep us hidden.” Nick told him.

  The uneasy look on Rhen’s face told Nick that this hadn’t helped much. They both clung to the dark shadows around the mouth of the tunnel. Looking out across the mine, they couldn’t see any sign of movement except for the two guards that had left in front of them. They were making their way across the mine the same way they went every night to join the others for their dinner. They dropped out of sight as they followed the path behind a pile of rock and dirt. Nick knew the trail well as they walked it every day. The path slowly dropped down into a large crevice on the mine floor and worked back and forth a few times before coming back up on the other side of the mine. There was a
n intersection in the crevice with the trail that led to their worksite. It was after the second turn in the trail. This was where he wanted to go. He felt safe here at night. He reasoned with Rhen that the guards had no reason to check these areas since there was no exit, just tools and unmined ore.

  After giving the guards plenty of time to have crossed the mine, Nick handed his robe hem to Rhen and waved the wand again. They silently moved down the trail keeping their eyes and ears open. There was no sound and no movement that they could see, yet the hair on Nick’s neck was standing on end. He couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was very close to him. Someone was following him.

  They reached the intersection and hurried into the shadows of the work tunnels trail. Nick removed the spell again with relief as he could feel the energy draining him. He had built up a tolerance to the spell but that was sitting still in the cell. He hadn’t expected it would make much of a difference walking around the mine, but it was making it much harder. He didn’t mention anything to Rhen. He was worried enough as it was. “Hurry let’s get down inside the tunnel.” Rhen said uncomfortably and quiet.

  Nick just nodded and followed him. He held out his wand as they entered the mouth of the cave and uttered “Illumino”. Bright white light sprang from the tip of his wand and lit the cave. It was a little too light, so he relaxed his grip on the wand and the light diminished. It was just enough light to keep them from stumbling over rocks and not enough light to alert anyone out in the mines that there was someone down in the tunnel.

  “Now what?” asked Rhen. “I’m not sure, that’s what I was trying to tell you.” Nick replied. “We need to figure something out.”

  The two sat for a few minutes discussing their options, but nothing seemed to make sense. The only thing they could come up with was trying to sneak back up and out of the mine the way they had come in. Nick could make them invisible, but it would do no good to be invisible on a lift that wasn’t. The only other way he could think of was out through the guard’s dinner hall. The thought made Nicks skin crawl. In all the nights in the mines, the only place he had encountered the unfeeling Dead Ones was in the dinner hall. They would come in from the tunnel on the far side of the room. He never had seen regular guards go into that tunnel. He only saw the Dead Ones come and go through it. He hated their blank unfeeling stare. The other guards were always on edge when there was one around. They lashed out for no reason and the last time Nick had been trying to steal some food for his friends, he swore one of them was following him with its eyes. He felt cold chills come over him just thinking about it.