A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Go and see if it works, then," she said. "There's no point celebrating until we see this through to the end."

Sure enough, as Beam crouched down to put the key into that lock, it fit perfectly. With a twist of his wrist, they heard a click, as the lock opened.

The sergeant shook his head. "What a thoroughly foul old man."

The others were in agreement. Judas dove in to help lift the trapdoor up – it was far heavier than one might have expected, and the strain on his face as he lifted it made that more than obvious.

"Gods! It's nearly half a foot thick!" He complained as he lifted it. Beneath the top layer of floorboards, there was a thick sandwich of lead, followed by more wood. Enough to deflect any manner of force. It was more a vault than a trapdoor.

Finally, Judas managed to clear it, and the door flopped open with a loud crash.

"Now ain't that inviting…" Judas said. He was the first to look down at it. A ladder, and then, impenetrable darkness. Even as Beam held his torch over the opening, the light didn't reach all the way down to the bottom. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but ain't no one else in the village got a cellar that deep, do they?"

Nila shook her head. Nearly everyone's house had been searched as a consequence of the disappearing children. With that, many cellars were searched along with them, but few even had a cellar in the first place, and even fewer still had locks.

They'd all been opened, after much angry requesting. None of those cellars were dug that deep. They were directly beneath the lowest floor of the house, to keep the digging distance minimal.

"How are we going about this, then?" The sergeant asked. "We're of the suspicion that someone is down there, aye? Yet this ladder runs deeper than we can see the bottom of. If a man's waiting down there with a spear, we'll be as good as skewered before we can get in reach of him."

"I'll go first," Beam said. "I'll light the way with a torch."

"I'd be more useful aiming down with my bow, wouldn't I?" Nila murmured, though it was clearly a realization that didn't make her happy.

"Aye, I'd feel better if you had an arrow primed and ready," Judas said. "Even though there isn't much ya can aim at, with how small this damn tunnel is – am I really going to be able to get down there."

"I don't know how comfortable I feel about climbing down there amidst arrow fire," one of the soldiers said doubtfully.

"I'm in agreement," the sergeant said. "Doesn't seem wise to me. Just because you brought a bow with you doesn't mean you have to use it. I wouldn't trust myself not to hit an ally firing down there, never mind a young girl."

"Ah, c'mon, you fellas don't know it, do ya? She's a sure-shot with the bow. She's got a talent with her bow like Beam's got his talent with a sword. She ain't going to hit you," Judas said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"That good?" The sergeant still looked doubtful, but he relented. "Fine then, I suppose. I'll leave another two men up here with the girl, to defend our backs. We don't know what manner of things might be hiding in these walls, after all."

"Let's go, then," Beam said. He already had a foot on the ladder. He was conscious of the time, well aware that they needed to move swiftly. With a torch in one hand, lighting the way, he began to decent the ladder, rung by rung.

Once he was far enough down, the sergeant climbed down after him.

"I'm under orders to look after you," he explained, once Beam shot him a quizzical glance.

And then Judas came next, once there was enough space – and still Beam had to hit the bottom. The light from his torch still had yet to penetrate. Nila looked down, with an arrow ready on her bow, her sharp eyes searching the darkness.

Once two more soldiers were on the ladder, finally, Beam's torchlight pierced the bottom, and revealed a paved stone ground. He paused, and looked up. The sergeant caught his gaze, and nodded. No one said a word.

Nila drew back her bowstring until it was taught. She could hear the anxious breathing of the soldiers next to her, as they too peered down into the darkness.

Then Beam moved once more. He leapt from the ladder, to the stone floor, drawing his sword as he came out of a roll.

No one leapt from the darkness at him, but they might as well have. "Gods…" he murmured, his whisper spurring the others on.

The sergeant came next. "Claudia have mercy…" he muttered, aghast.

"What, what is it?" Judas called out, rapidly descending the final rungs of the ladder. By the torchlight, he glanced at the scene around him, and even he – who had committed all manners of evil in Greeves' name – felt a sickness build up in his stomach.

"They're dead, without a doubt…" the sergeant said, taking the lead, as he inspected three corpses. "I can't tell with the others…"

As she listened to them talk, Nila felt the dread building in her chest. She hurriedly descended the ladder after them.

Beam looked up, hearing her coming. He almost ordered her to go back, but he held his tongue. It was a horrific sight, but Nila would not have forgiven him had Stephanie been amongst them.

As her feet hit the stone floor, she could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes. There were three corpses, the size of children, rotting in a corner at the bottom of a stairwell. Beam couldn't tell how long they'd been dead, but Nila could.

She searched their faces for Stephanie's. It was with grim relief that she didn't find her. "These three went missing years ago," Nila murmured, fighting to control her shaky voice. "They've been dead for two weeks, at least."

Then she cast her eyes to the rest of the children. Not a single one of them was moving – nearly twenty in total. Amongst them, she saw the faces of those who had gone missing the previous night, though from how haggard they looked, and how pale their skin was, it seemed as though they had been missing much longer.