Caught Like Rats

Reiner and the others ran up the trail in near total darkness, stumbling and cursing but not daring to light a torch. When the windblown clouds permitted, moonlight illuminated the mountain tops, but the moon had not yet risen high enough to illuminate the interior of the narrow canyon through which the group trudged. They could have missed any detours in the trail, for they were invisible as they blended into the dark basalt of the gorge walls.

Reiner could hear the panting breathing of the men all around him. He identified Franz's light, rapid breathing, Pavel's phlegmy, wheezing breathing, Ulf's deep inhalations. They were exhausted. The enforced rest while they waited for the Nordic army had allowed them to recover a little, but it had done nothing to replace sleep. Soon they would have to stop. Even in the midst of the terrified flight, Reiner felt his eyelids closing. Since the darkness was total darkness, he might as well walk with his eyes closed.

After that, Reiner was often unclear whether he was walking or sleeping, whether he was walking in his sleep or dreaming that he was walking. He drifted in and out of unconsciousness so often that he lost all sense of the passage of time. He had no idea how long they had been going when, just as they crested a rise in the trail, the steep slopes that had been flanking them for so long opened up into a deep valley covered with thousands of points of light.

Reiner frowned sleepily. The lights looked like stars, but stars were only in the sky. Perhaps it was a lake.

"Torches." Oskar said.

Reiner shook his head to get rid of the fog that seemed to cloud his brain. They were indeed torches.

He stepped back into the shadows, his heart pounding, and looked out over the valley. The others did the same. As if they had been waiting for a command, the clouds opened and both moons illuminated the scene.

The curved sides of the valley were made of rust-colored stone and covered with terraces like giant staircases. At every level there were holes in the slopes and rickety structures standing precariously on the terraces: small huts, wooden water troughs, scaffolding, except where the terraces had collapsed and fallen away to form a mound at the bottom of the valley. The far side of the valley was bounded with a thick crenellated stone wall, on the other side of which the group could only glimpse a confusion of low buildings built around what looked like a gigantic cave whose entrance glowed with orange light. But what drew everyone's eyes was what lay in front of the wall: a large encampment of leather tents and campfires, wagons and horses, and laughing, drinking, fighting barbarians.

Nordics.

"May the father protect us." Oskar whimpered. Reiner covered the gunner's mouth with one hand because he had suddenly noticed a stone-built watchtower leaning out of the valley less than twenty paces away. Oskar grunted a protest, and Reiner pointed to the tower. No torches were visible, but Reiner was sure he made out a huge silhouette moving above the battlements. He motioned to the rest of the group to move back. When they were out of sight, Reiner slumped against the rock slope and closed his eyes. The others gathered around him. He rubbed his face with his hands.

"Well, we're in a fix, that's for sure."

"Caught like rats." Oskar said in a trembling voice.

"Barbarians ahead of us." Ulf whined.

"Barbarians behind us." added Pavel.

Reiner chuckled mirthlessly. "I guess, Erich, this is the moment when you tell me: I told you so." There was no response. He looked up but did not see the blond gentleman.

"Where is Erich?"

The others looked around. Erich was not with them. Reiner furrowed his brow.

"Did anyone hear him back up?"

They all shook their heads.

"Did any of you stick a knife in his back?"

There was silence.

"I won't hold it against you if you did, but I want to know."

More shaking of heads and further denials answered him.

"Then where has he gone?"

"Maybe he's taking a piss." Gustaf muttered.

"That one doesn't pee." Said Hals. "He's perfect."

"He's probably found some hole to hide in back there in the dark." Pavel suggested. "And he didn't see fit to tell us. He'll sneak off in the opposite direction to the Norsemen when they've passed."

"Yes." Giano said. "Stupid youngster. All he wants is to go with Ulburt."

"For all the great good that will do him." Franz said.

"Well, let's not worry about him anymore." Reiner decided. "He's made his decision. We have to make ours. This place, whatever it is, is obviously the destination place for the guys behind us."

"It's a mine." Ulf explained. "An iron mine." The others raised their eyes at him.

"By the mercy of the Mother!" Franz exclaimed. "The slaves. They bring them here to work in the mine."

"And mine iron for weapons and armor." Ulf added.

"Bad news for civilized nations." Hals commented.

"But good news for us." Said Reiner. "At least I hope so." He turned to look at Ulf. "Ulf, those holes in the slopes are bocamins, right?"

"Yes."

"Then they'll be deep enough to hide inside."

"I think so."

"In that case, here's the plan. We sneak past the tower down one of those terraces, crawl into a hole, and wait until tomorrow night. By then, the enemy troops coming after us will have made camp, and we can get back out and away from these damned mountains without anyone noticing."

"When you say so it sounds so easy." Gustaf interjected. "What if they see us when we pass near the tower? What if another detachment comes up the trail tomorrow morning at dawn?"

"I'll take any suggestions." Reiner said. Gustaf grunted but said nothing.

The group cautiously made their way back to the edge of the valley and, pausing just inside the shadow of the canyon slopes, looked up at the tower. The guard appeared and disappeared at regular intervals as he paced along the top of the tower.

"Now?" asked Franz as the guard walked away again. Reiner looked up at the sky and saw another group of clouds approaching from the northeast.

"Just a moment."

The clouds hid the moon again and darkness covered the valley.

"Now."

The men tiptoed quickly forward to the nearest of the terraces that connected with the path down the hill. There was a collapsed hut at the near end. They clustered behind it and waited, listening for the guard to call a halt. He did not.

"Come on, before the clouds pass." Reiner said. They advanced cautiously along the terrace to the first entrance. It was bricked up. Reiner tugged on the boards to test it, but they creaked alarmingly.

"Let's try the next one."

But the next one was bricked up.

"Why would anyone go to this trouble?" asked Reiner, annoyed.

"Landslides," answered Ulf, "or advance cones. You've seen the landslides. It's likely that this slope was too hollowed out and became unstable."

Oskar swallowed hard.

"Unstable?"

The third hole had also been boarded up, but the boards were so badly decayed and warped that they had come loose almost entirely from the nails. A trickle of water was coming out from under the barricade, which had opened a channel on the terrace.

"This looks promising," Reiner said.

He, Hals and Giano set about tearing out the boards as quietly as possible and set them aside. Some were so rotten that they fell apart in their hands.

At last they finished clearing the opening which, framed with wood, appeared before them. It was easy to see why it had been bricked up. Water was dripping from above and it was obvious that it had eroded a good part of the roof. They had tried to shore it up with planks supported by posts, beams and scraps of timber, so many that the entrance looked like a thick forest of thin trees devoid of branches, but the water had also invaded the entire framework and the props were bent and half rotted. The floor of the tunnel was muddy and covered to calf height with loose rocks and dirt that had fallen from above. Reiner didn't like the look of it, but the clouds were beginning to thin. There was no time to look for another hiding place.

"Here we go." He said. "Inside. And have each of you grab a board. We'll have to re-cover the entrance from the inside so they won't notice."

The men went inside, each with a board under his arm, and advanced through the forest of props; Oskar, however, stayed behind, staring in trepidation at the gaping hole.

"Come on, gunner." Reiner said. The gunner shook his head.

"I don't like holes."

Reiner looked up at the sky impatiently.

"Neither do I, but we have to go in."

"I can't" whined Oskar. "I can't."

"You will have to. There is no alternative." Reiner advanced toward Oskar with an outstretched arm. The gunner stepped back.

"No."

Reiner glanced over his shoulder and gritted his teeth.

"Oskar! Stop complicating things!" he whispered, and grabbed Oskar by an elbow.

Oskar stepped back and tapped his heel on a piece of wood that was lying on the floor. The wood swung over the edge of the terrace, and fell to the next level.

Reiner startled and turned his head to look up at the tower. It was too dark to see it, but he thought he heard a guttural voice shouting a question. Reiner lost his patience.

"Damn you, you cowardly fool!" he whispered hoarsely. "Get in there!" He sprang forward, grabbed Oskar by one arm and threw him into the hole.

Instantly he was sorry he had done so, for the gunner collided with the first row of props and threw them all over the place. One broke in half. Upon the fallen Oskar a shower of earth and pebbles rushed down, and the roof creaked ominously.

"May the gods curse him!" Reiner rushed in, grabbed Oskar by the collar of his shirt and dragged him through the props to where the rest of the men had turned at the sound of the noise. The ground was clear there, and the props were fewer in number. He stopped and looked back.

There was a sonorous crack, like a pistol shot, then another. First one prop and then two more curved and fell, then three more.

"Get back!" shouted Reiner. "Get back!"

The men ran into the darkness, and Franz helped drag Oskar into the tunnel.

With a thunderous roar, the roof of the entrance collapsed, deafening them. A cloud of dust, invisible in the total darkness, rose up around them and made them gag and cough. Sharp rocks struck against their shins and ankles.

At last, with a few dull thuds and final crunches, the avalanche ended and the men's coughing and retching subsided to silence. The tunnel was pitch black.

"Are you all here?" asked Reiner. He called them all by name, one by one, and they answered. All except Oskar.

Reiner sighed.

"Somebody turn on a light."

Hals lit a candle and everyone looked around for Oskar. He was still on the ground, hugging his knees and looking from side to side with wild eyes. As the flame flickered, he looked beyond them, toward the mound of rock and mud blocking the entrance. He let out an animal cry and advanced on all fours. As the men watched him, perplexed, he pawed at the rocks.

"Dig! We've got to dig! We've got to get out! There's no air! There's no air!"

The rocks were impossible to move. Oskar pounded on them with his fists, bloodying his hands and shrieking.

The men grimaced and looked away, but Reiner had run out of patience.

"By the son's balls!" he blasphemed, lunging toward him. "Will you shut up?" he spun Oskar around grabbing him by one shoulder and punched him in the jaw with all his might.

His knuckles ached with the impact, but the result that tremendously gratifying. Oskar fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes and lay there, silent at last, unconscious.

Reiner turned to the others as he sucked his knuckles, and they smiled gratefully at him. He tried to think of something witty to say, but could not. Exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed him. His knees almost buckled.

"Well." He said wearily. "I think the day has gone on long enough. Let's make camp."