The Land of Dragons

Chapter 11

After Chapter 10

Alex led the way through the door. Behind, there was a one-man tunnel where their shoulders brushed against the wall. Charles was close behind Alex. He was followed by Pierre, then Max and Lando. Carlos was the last. When the Spaniard went through the door, he let go of it and it closed with a bang. Carlos realised too late that there was no handle, no lock on the inside. It blocked their way back and also the light. It became pitch-dark in the tunnels, and he heard Lando take a quick breath. He cursed himself for being so stupid.

"Oops, we can't use that door now," he said. "Sorry, I let go of it and there is no handle inside."

"Well, at least we don't have to decide if we would've wanted to come back." Pierre replied.

"I can't see a thing!" Alex called from the front. "It's worse than the worst wet race!"

"Sorry." Carlos said again.

Lando felt fear growing inside him. It was so dark that their eyes couldn't adjust to it. This meant that practically they were blinded. The whole situation scared Lando so much that he could barely think. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned.

"Shh, Lando, calm down." he heard Carlos' voice. "Don't try to look, try to hear! It will be better that way."

Lando nodded, then realised Carlos couldn't see it.

"I will try," he said in a voice barely more than a whisper.

They were progressing slowly. Soon, the tunnel widened, but they decided to stay in a one-man line. Despite everything they experienced from the Devils, it seemed like a simple tunnel.

Just when Alex had this thought, his next step proved it wrong. The ground level dropped suddenly, and Alex stumbled. He let out a startled cry and tried to stabilize himself but the ground had became uneven and sloped down. Alex fell over, rolling and bouncing down. He arrived at the bottom in a crumpled heap. He untangled himself and realised he sprained his right ankle, which throbbed quite painfully.

"Alex! What's ha-" he heard Charles, then something stumbling down like he did.

"Careful! There are stairs!" he shouted, warning the others.

"Huh, you saved me!" Pierre called back.

Charles lay winded on the ground, trying to catch his breath. It seemed like the stairs had beaten everything out of him. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head. He felt a little dizzy.

"Are you OK?" he heard Carlos asking. He thought about it for a moment. The most painful part of him was his left wrist, which got bruised when he had been trying to stop himself.

"Yeah," he replied. "Mostly."

"Alex?" came Carlos' voice. Charles heard something shuffling from where he guessed Alex might be.

"Um... I think I have a sprained ankle." Alex said.

Oh no. Carlos thought. He hoped it wouldn't complicate their situation even more. If he's injured, it's going to be hard for everyone.

"Clear the end of the stairs, we're coming down!" Pierre said. He heard Charles and Alex moving to the wall.

"Come!" Charles called.

The rest of them carefully manoeuvred down the stairs. Fortunately, they managed to do it without anyone else falling.

"We have to be more careful." Carlos said.