The Unexpected (Part 6- Smuggler's Path)

[Briggs]

General Armstrong had selected 2 of her soldiers who would guide Danny and Maria to Drachma, where they would meet a person named Boris, who would take them to Othon, the capital city of Drachma. The soldiers who were selected by Olivier were Sergeant Ronny Williams and Second Lieutenant Steven Hill. The reason they were selected was that they knew the path to the smuggler's path and had previously traveled through it.

Smuggler's path was a very infamous icy tunnel which was considered a miracle of nature. The tunnel connected Amestris and Drachma by penetrating through mountains. Even after having just a tunnel, no one dared to step foot in it. Lots of people had gone missing in that tunnel because of its maze-like structure and presence of natural traps like thin ice, potholes, icicles, and absence of light. Moreover, the militaries of both the nation didn't guard the path as there were multiple entrances and, normally nobody took those paths due to the dangers inside the path. Only Lieutenant Steven Hill in Briggs was the only one who had experience in crossing the dangerous tunnel.

It was 8 AM in the morning, yet the climate was ruthless in Briggs. The newly formed team by General Armstrong was walking through heavy snow and snowy wind, which was decreasing the visibility almost to zero. Everyone was wearing the Briggs military's white uniform to tackle through the harsh climate and remain undetectable. They were also carrying necessary tools and weapons for their travel, but instead of big rifles, Maria and Danny were carrying only handguns.

"I heard that the smuggler's path is not a safe route," Maria shouted in the blizzard so that their guides could hear.

"Yes, but don't worry, we will take you there safely," Ronny assured.

"How many times have you gone through this path?" Maria asked.

"Well, I haven't crossed the path ever," Ronny answered.

Maria and Danny stopped walking when they heard Ronny's answer, but they were quickly assured by Steven. "Don't worry, I have been through the path multiple times."

Danny and Maria heaved a sigh of relief and started walking again. But, Ronny continued to scare them. "But, still the path has lots of uncertainties," he said.

"Stop scaring us," Danny responded annoyingly.

Meanwhile, Steven interrupted. "You should be scared, after all, it's called the path to the afterlife," He said.

Ronny burst into laughter when he heard his superior making fun of the soldiers from Central Command, and why not? After all the soldiers of Briggs were considered the toughest and bravest soldiers in all of Amestris. On the other side, Danny and Maria stopped listening to their scary stories and continued to follow them in that harsh weather and snowy path.

After an hour of walk, they reached a place where Steven stopped.

"Why did you stop?" Maria asked curiously.

"We are here. One of the entrances to 'Smuggler's Path'," Steven replied while standing still and looking toward the bottom of the snow covered mountain.

Steven walked a bit forward, near the bottom of a mountain which seemed to be like a door covered with snow. The soldier wiped the snow with his gloves covered hand, and revealed the entrance. It was a 5 feet X 6 feet doorway blocked by crystallized water. So the Brigg's soldier pulled out their chisel-faced hammers and started breaking the crystallized water. The crystal was thin, so it broke in few minutes. And after clearing the blockage, they entered inside the tunnel. They were saved from the blizzard but, their new shelter was very dark. However, they came prepared to the tunnel. They lighted up the lanterns they brought with them to see through the darkness. When it was lighted, they saw the tunnel, it was huge and there were lots of paths inside as if it was a maze.

"Great, now there so many paths to choose from," Danny glowered.

Meanwhile, Steven informed, "These paths are pure ice which reform every year, that's why this place is like a maze. But, there are more dangerous things than these paths."

Maria and Danny quickly looked curiously toward Steven. "Like what?" Danny asked.

"Bears," Ronny replied in a slow and scary voice.

Danny and Maria were shocked to learn that. They responded in sync, "WHAT!"

"Just kidding," Ronny laughed.

Observing Danny's and Maria's reaction, Steven asked, "Why you two are so afraid? If you're so scared here, then why are you even going to the enemy territory?"

"Who said we are afraid? We were just surprised," Danny laughed nervously.

"Yes, he is right," Maria supported him with an uncomfortable laughter.

Steven ignored their unconvincing excuse and ordered, "Alright. Now follow me, and whatever happens, do not separate."

All of them advanced further into the tunnel in a line with Steven leading them, followed by Ronny holding one lantern, who was followed by Maria, and Danny was at the end, holding the other lantern. The tunnel was too dark, so they could only see a few meters around them. When it came to choosing a path among several paths which were available, Steven put his ears on the floor and then selected the leftmost path in front of them, and kept on walking ahead. Danny and Maria were amazed by the process of selecting a path.

"How did you choose this path?" Maria asked curiously.

"There is a small water channel flowing below this tunnel. If you place your ear on the floor and listen carefully, you can hear the water flow. Based on that, you can predict from where the water is flowing and then you can follow the sound of the water channel, which straight up will lead you to the exit. But, it can't be done by everyone," Ronny replied. He continued, "By the way, Lieutenant Hill is also known as the Angel. Not because he is a good person, but he is the only person in Briggs who can come and go through 'the path to the afterlife'," He mocked Steven.

Ronny giggled soon after that, and listening to his explanation, Danny and Maria also started laughing. Suddenly, Steven shouted, "EVERYBODY STOP WHEREVER YOU ARE."

Everyone was startled and stood still at the place where they were standing. Soon after that, they got there answer to why Steven asked them to stop, as they could now hear the ice below them cracking. All of them looked at the floor to see where the ice was cracking, and unfortunately, the floor below Ronny was the answer.

Ronny was terrified to every bone in his body. And instead of worrying, Steven smiled and said, "This is what you get when you make fun of the person who is guiding you."

"Sorry Lieutenant, please help me," Ronny cried.

"Stop whining you idiot. If General Armstrong finds out that there is a whiner in her unit, then just imagine what she will do to you," Steven scolded.

Meanwhile, the Ice below Ronny started making more cracking noise, because of which Ronny started trembling. In order to save him, Steven pulled out the rope he brought with him and stretched it toward Ronny. Ronny held the rope tightly.

"Looks like that is a pothole covered by thin ice. It doesn't look that wide though, but if you fall, you might die," Steven said.

"WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO SCARE ME?" Ronny cried.

Steven coiled the other end of the rope around his wrist and looked toward Danny and Maria who were cautiously standing still behind Ronny.

"You two stay there," He instructed.

Danny and Maria nodded with agreement. Then Steven looked back toward Ronny and said calmly, "Now it's your turn to jump."

Ronny took a deep breath and jumped toward Steven. As soon as he jumped, the floor below him broke, and a pothole of around 1 square meter appeared. Out of curiosity, everyone went near the pothole to see what was below it. When they gazed, there was only darkness, so they tied the rope at the lantern holder and lowered it down slowly. Slowly, the things down there started revealing themselves, and when the lantern was around 30 feet down, they could see what was below there. The scene was so unbelievable, that their eyes were widened watching it. The place was full of human skeletons, swords, and metal armors.

"This doesn't seem like these people took this path just to smuggle things," Maria said.

"If I am not wrong, then these bodies can be from the first northern wars when Amestris attacked Drachma to capture a big part of it. After defeating the Drachmann army, Amestris built a wall in Briggs to block the open area between Drachma and the newly captured part by the Amestrian military, which is now known as Fort Briggs," Steven informed doubtfully.

"And other parts of the northern border is blocked by mountains. So, if Drachma ever had to attack Amestris, then there only option was through Fort Briggs," Maria added.

"Right. Now let's leave, and let them rest in peace," Steven said while moving away from the pothole.

Ronny pulled out the lantern and untied the knot on its handle. He bundled up the rope and hanged it on his waist, and held the lantern. Everyone then followed behind Steven.

Now that Steven knew there was a danger of potholes, he first used to examine the path before proceeding. After some time, they followed every safe and correct route and got out of that tunnel. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief after successfully getting out of that dangerous tunnel.

"We are in enemy territory now, we cannot stay here, and the safe point is only 5 miles away from here. We need to get there and then only we can relax," Steven ordered.

Now that they had witnessed his surviving skills, everyone responded to him with a "Yes Sir" respectfully, and followed him further.