CHAPTER 2 THE SMALL CELL

Nothing seemed to be broken. Other than some soreness on his lower back he felt alright. It was completely dark except for the slit of blue sky which reminded Kidu he had left Timlan behind again.

“Timlan!” he called. His throat was dry.

“I'm here,” the boy said from his side. “I've been here for about an hour now. I'm glad you're not dead. Well thanks to me I checked on you, and although you did wake a couple of times you went straight away back to sleep. I hope you had a nice nap. I've been sitting here in the dark on the look out for who knows what could be living down here in these tunnels.”

“Tunnels?”

“That’s right,” Timlan answered. “I took a quick glance up and down. We fell into this old tunnel. Any idea where this might lead?”

Kidu sat up. “I think I'm fine.”

Timlan stood up. “Glad to hear it. Do we climb back up?”

“It looks to be an old passageway beneath the Small Cell,” Kidu said. “The Kiennese must have dug it over a hundred years ago.”

“Oh, something you actually don't know,” Timlan said.

“You didn't happen to pack fuel for a torch, did you?” Kidu asked.

“Now why would I pack that for a two hour hike?” Timlan asked in return.

“Well we’re not going to climb up,” Kidu examined the walls. “It makes sense. The guards would have come up this way to the Small Cell. A tunnel always leads in and it leads out. Let's go this way.”

“But that's deeper into the mountain. And we can barely see.”

“That's why I brought a stick,” Kidu said, feeling for the cane he tucked into his belt.

Timlan laughed. “You did not mean for that to happen.”

Kidu felt his way ahead with the stick in front of him. The walls of the tunnel barely fit two men side by side, and not high enough for someone his height. Kidu ran his fingers against the cold wall. He could feel the rough chisel marks against the stone. “You shouldn’t laugh. You might wake the rats.”

They continued down the dark tunnel. Kidu’s eyes began to adjust to detect a slight light dancing ahead. He stopped and Timlan bumped into him. Shushing the boy, he pointed ahead at the flickering light at the end of the tunnel. They crept forward. Timlan kicked a stick and it rattled across the dirt floor, knocking against the stone wall. Kidu glared at the boy but it was too dark for his glare to show. He bent down and picked up the stick. It was thick, light and dry.

“It’s a bone,” Kidu whispered. “From a man’s leg. This is the part that connects to the hip, and this part the knee.”

Kidu noticed the flickering light changed. A shadow passed across it. The noise must have awoken a rat after all. As they neared the end of the tunnel he saw that the light was coming from above. Against the wall was a rope ladder leading upwards to what he thought must have been the Small Cell. The light was from a fire from some room above.

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“Like I was telling you earlier,” Kidu said, he voice rising, making sure he could be heard by whatever was around the ledge, “it’s just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other.” A shadow passed over the flame again from above.

“What is it?” Timlan whispered.

Kidu tossed the stick he had been holding and tucked the bone into his belt by his hip. He felt on the sturdiness of the rope ladder. “What’s the next exam you’re looking to take?”

Timlan stared at him. “Um I suppose the Earth Chapter exams? It’s…the history that I struggle with.”

Kidu motioned with his hands for Timlan to keep speaking. Timlan began to understand.”

“I am getting overwhelmed at the moment with all the kingdoms and the peoples and cultures I need to memorize,” Timlan continued. “I’m decent enough with Kiennese history already. I really quite enjoy studying about the Neredunian nomads. I hope the Earth Chapter exams are as easy as the Leaf Chapter ones. I passed the written portion of the Leaf exams without any errors.”

“You’re a natural note taker, that’s why.”

“A natural recorder of history, Master Rengu said I’d be,” the boy corrected him. “You only have one Chapter left, I don’t know why you don’t just take your studies seriously and pass the last exam. Then you’d be a Peer. What order did you pass your exams?”

“Fire, Air, Earth, and Leaf.”

“Martial arts, poetry, history, and healing,” Timlan said. “Sounds exactly your priorities. All that’s left is spirituality. I don’t get it. Most monks pass the Water exam first or second. What’s taking you so long?”

Kidu put his foot onto the rope ladder and began making his way up toward the flickering light. "Is it a race to see how fast you can climb the ranks toward being a Peer? Pengmou didn't become one until he was well past forty."

Timlan chuckled. "I don't think it's a race for anyone but you. Are you really going to climb up that hole?"

Kidu ignored the question and continued climbing up the ladder. The tunnel leading up was narrow but he could see the opening from above and where the light of flame came from.

“What do you think is up there?”

“The meaning of life,” Kidu said.

“You said people wouldn't know what to do if they found the meaning of life. If it’s not about finding the meaning of life, what is it all about?” Timlan asked.

“I'll tell you later,” Kidu said as he neared the opening at the end of the tunnel he was climbing. "This is only a hole. Don't tell me you're frightened of a hole in the middle of nowhere. And no need to worry, I'm just poking my head in there just to be sure, and then we'll be on our way."

Kidu removed the bone from his belt and hung his cap on one end. He put his finger to his lips to quiet his confused companion as he poked the end of the stick with the cap into the hole above. He bobbed it up and down as if it were his own head nodding. “Yes, I agree,” he said.

He stood there bobbing his cap on the bone, watching the light illuminate the fur edges of the cap. Timlan shrugged.

Then something from the darkness within the cave struck the cap, knocking the bone out of Kidu’s hand. Kidu reached up grabbed whatever it was. It was some sort of club, knotted and dark. He yanked it down, pulling the hidden assailant tumbling down the tunnel to the ground below.

Kidu leapt off the rope ladder and landed next to a small gray bundle of bound cloth and dirty fur that laid on the space by Kidu's feet. It resembled a dozen cats tied together as the bundle scrambled to get onto his feet. The bundle turned out to be a wrinkled, grey and balding man with flat strands of white hair hanging from his temple and the back of his head. He shrieked at Kidu, exposing the gaps in this mouth where half his teeth were missing.

The shriek startled Kidu enough for him to let go of the club. The old man swung in a wide circle, barely missing Kidu as he stepped back. The old man growled, spittle hanging from his dry lips. The leg bone that Kidu had earlier flew in from behind the old man and softly bopped him on the head and ricocheted back.

The old man turned toward Timlan and sneered. Veins bulged in his sinewy neck and shoulders.

“Um, Kidu?”

The old man advanced toward Timlan, his club dragging on the ground. With each step, he hissed.

Timlan backpedaled until he slipped and fell on his seat. The old man was almost standing above him. He raised his knotty club into the air for a swift blow, and Timlan covered his head with his arms. At the apex of the swing, Kidu’s hand grasped the end of the club and it failed to budge from the young monk’s firm grip.

“Enough of this,” Kidu snapped.

Timlan breathed heavily. He had never been in a fight before and his heart was pounding. “I don’t think he understands you.”

The old man used both hands to pull at the club but it still wouldn’t budge.

“Is my friend right?” Kidu asked. “Do you Ben understand me?”

The old man hissed at Kidu. “Death will be here before the day is over.”