Chapter 13 #2
With my stomach no longer growling at me, I immediately felt much better. I put an arm around Ellis, intending to comfort him, but there wasn’t really anything to say. The situation was what it was. No amount of words were going to change things.
All four of us ended up sitting there in silence, listening to the noises of the forest as we waited to see what would happen.
It took nearly an hour, but eventually, Creed reemerged with a few of Deputy Hillard’s officers in tow. They brought with them some of the cult members that had attacked us, tied up in handcuffs and dumped face first onto the forest floor.
Only half the cult members that attacked us were present. I didn’t question what happened to the others. Whenever Creed pulled out a gun, he never left his enemies alive.
Surprisingly, the man that Ellis had shot was still alive. A hasty bandage had been wrapped around his stomach, which at this point was more red than white. He was unconscious due to the blood loss, but was clearly still breathing.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some information out of these fuckers,” Creed said as he dumped the last captured man into the ground. “Although, I’m regretting keeping so many alive. It’s going to be a bitch getting all six of them out of the forest while they’re handcuffed.”
The man that Ellis had shot groaned into the dirt, and Creed nudged him with his foot. “Well, depending how long it takes, maybe only five.”
If we were out on the battlefield, I would have agreed with Creed.
Lugging a prisoner who was already on death’s door through the forest wasn’t worth the effort when time could soon solve the problem for us.
However, when I looked over at Ellis, I noticed the ashen tint to his face as he stared at the man he had shot.
Ellis wouldn’t speak up. He’d let the man bleed out if I said it was the best option, but it would also haunt him.
Ellis had already been through enough. He didn’t need this burden as well.
“Six,” I said with a tone of finality. “We’re taking all six of them back. Alive.”
At first Creed looked at me with confusion, but quickly got the message when I glanced pointedly over at Ellis.
“Right. We’re taking all six back. Guess I better bandage this guy up a bit better so he can actually get to a hospital.”
As Creed went to fetch more medical supplies from the officers, I watched as the tension melted away from Ellis.
After so many years of military training, I hated leaving an enemy alive unnecessarily.
It was just one more danger that could come back to bite us in the future. Yet, I didn’t regret it.
Whatever threat we may face later was worth the peace that I was able to bring Ellis now.
Deputy Hillard and the other law enforcement officers took their time clearing out the underground tunnels, making sure that no other members of The Tamed Souls had slipped their notice.
They didn’t find anyone else lurking around, but they did find something interesting that they said we should see.
All five of us—Creed, Magnus, Trent, Ellis, and myself—were brought back down underground into a tunnel we hadn’t seen before.
Apparently, there was a whole system of them branching out from the mausoleum that led to various points around the forest, and even a few that seemed to lead in town.
The place they wanted us to see wasn’t too far away, and after only a few minutes of walking, we found ourselves in a large area that had clearly been dug out a long time ago.
“It’s a mine?” I asked as I looked around.
“Yeah,” Deputy Hillard said as he ran his hands over parts of the wall that still bore rough tool marks.
“There seems to be veins of both silver and gold here. A significant portion of it has already been mined out, but there is still a ton left. It could even stretch all the way through the mountain.”
Without knowing where the tunnels of the mine led, we didn’t dare venture too far and mostly stayed close to the main cavern where most of the tunnels branched out from.
About two stories tall, it was an impressive size.
It had obviously taken many workers to construct, but there was something familiar about the overall design.
When trapped in a narrow tunnel with only a flashlight to see by, I hadn’t noticed it before, but now that I was able to get a good look at so much of the design at once, I recognized the style.
“Poppy Milford designed the mine. She probably even had a hand in building it herself.”
The mine was in good condition, but still old.
There was loose rubble over the floor, and areas where the ground had clearly been disturbed.
Magnus nearly tripped over his own feet as he attempted to look at the ceiling and watch the floor at the same time.
His interests lay in the living things that could be grown from the earth, not in the raw materials that could be harvested from under the soil, so he only gave the mine a cursory glance.
However, at the mention of Poppy Milford’s name, his interest was piqued, and he turned to me with a new spark in his eye.
“How can you tell? I’m sure the sisters were involved since these tunnels connect to their own mausoleum, but how can you tell that they actually built it?”
I ran a hand over one of the nearby support structures, taking note of the way the materials had been manipulated and the overall grace of the design.
“Any builder with enough experience will develop a style. For example, anyone with a keen eye for construction will be able to tell that I built both of our houses, based on the way that I choose to put things together. The mine, the tunnels, the vault, everything down here was built by the same person.”
Magnus looked around again, as if he expected to see evidence of what I was talking about, but unsurprisingly there was no more recognition in his eyes than there had been before.
“Okay? But how do you know it was Poppy Milford? Just because the vault had more Poppies on it than other flowers? Someone could have just designed it for her.”
“Perhaps, but the same person also created Rose’s locket, and those archways you found leading to the mausoleum from the old mill.
It was all made by the same hand.” I tapped a spot on one of the support structures, where metal had been welded together in a circular pattern that resembled a flower.
“Besides, this craftsman likes to sign their work. There’re poppy flowers hidden all over the place if you know where to look. ”
“It doesn’t matter who built it,” Creed interrupted us.
“More importantly, this mine explains how these sisters had so much influence in the town and formed their own cult in the first place. The resources here would have been worth a fortune, and money talks. They couldn’t easily have bought people’s favor. ”
Having Creed back after months of being apart was so odd, yet so comfortable at the same time.
It was like suddenly having an arm reattached that I didn’t know was missing in the first place.
He easily slipped right back into his position as the third member of our trio, and for a moment, I almost felt like I was back on the frontlines.
In order to see down in the mine, several large spotlights had been set up. They cast strange shadows in every direction and accentuated the harsh look on Deputy Hillard’s face when he approached us.
“The Mothers of the Mountain didn’t have to buy anyone. Their abilities allowed them to find this mine when the town needed finances after the fire. The profits saved this town.”
Creed kept himself partially concealed in the shadows so his expression was hidden, but I could tell from his posture that he wasn’t amused.
“So, you’re saying that the Milford sisters… what? Were able to magically locate the mine when they needed it?”
Since he couldn’t see Creed’s expression, and didn’t know how to read the other man’s body language, Deputy Hillard made the mistake of thinking Creed’s question was genuine.
“Exactly,” he said, looking happy that he was believed. “That’s why they are called the Mothers of the Mountain . Because they were brought here to take care of the land.”
I pulled Creed away before he could argue further, shuffling him toward Magnus, where the two of us could, hopefully, keep him in check.
I’d missed Creed, but I’d almost forgotten how stubborn he could be, and he didn’t need to get into hot water with the local authorities the first day he arrived in town.
“You don’t seriously believe what he’s saying,” Creed whispered to me as I dragged him to the other side of the mine.
“Of course not. But there’s no point in arguing about it.”
“Although…” Magnus leaned closer to make sure his words were only for us. Even Trent and Ellis, who were inspecting another part of the mine a few steps away, wouldn’t be able to hear him. “It is strange. How were the Milford sisters able to find such a mineable area that no one else knew about?”
Creed crossed his arms, staring down at the floor with a harsh glare. “Maybe they could read the land and knew there were resources in this area, and that’s why they came to this town. Or maybe they just got lucky. Whatever the real answer, we’re never gonna know, but it certainly wasn’t magic.”
“Speaking of unknown answers,” I nudged Creed’s shoulder.
“You still haven’t told us how you ended up here in the first place.
Last we’d heard, you’d been captured, but possibly rescued.
We haven’t been able to get a straight answer out of anyone concerning you, so you’d better give us an explanation. ”
Creed looked away before he answered, a clear sign that I wasn’t going to like what he said.
“I ended up getting captured because of the incompetence of my superiors, but luckily, I was rescued after only a short time. The military then let me retire early as compensation, although it’s really just a bribe so that I won’t sue them for their negligence.
That was fine with me, plus I have POW status now, so I accepted the deal. ”
Magnus and I stared at each other for a moment. Based on the look in his eye, I could tell we were thinking the same thing.
“Creed,” I said hesitantly. “Did you arrange your own capture so that you could manipulate the military into letting you retire a few months early.”
The expression on Creed’s face never changed as he returned our pointed stares. But something indecipherable shifted behind his eyes. “Legally, I’m required to say no.”
Which meant yes . It was as I suspected. Creed really had orchestrated his own disappearance. I would have been furious with him for worrying us like that, but I was also grateful for the outcome.
Clearing his throat, Creed pulled out something from his pocket and held it up to the light. “Anyway. More importantly, what is this?” He held out the wooden dowel that had been hidden inside Poppy Milford’s vault.
Grabbing the dowel, I turned it over in my hands. “I forgot about this. It was stored inside Poppy Milford’s vault. Ellis and I were both almost killed for this damn piece of wood.”
Even up close, it still didn’t look like anything important. A part of me wanted to chuck it down into the deepest depths of the mine, where it could remain lost forever, but I resisted. Even if it didn’t look important, it must have been stashed in that vault for a reason.
As simply as we could, Magnus and I explained everything to Creed. He was just as confused as we were about the situation, and none of us had any idea why the sisters had gone to such great lengths to hide such a random object.
We still hadn’t come up with any answers when Deputy Hillard came up to us, saying that the rest of the tunnels had been searched and so far, there didn’t seem to be any other cult members lurking around.
I quickly stashed the dowel in my pocket before Deputy Hillard or any of the officers could see it.
Just because I didn’t know its importance yet, I also wasn’t going to relinquish it to anyone else.
Ellis and I had almost died for it, so as far as I was concerned, we were the most deserving to keep it.
So many questions still remained, but it was clear we weren’t going to get any more answers. We were free to go home, safe in the knowledge that our attackers had been stopped and the danger had passed.
For now.