Abi took a few deep breaths to clear away the fog of negativity from her mind.
Not many people knew this about her but Abi actually had an exceptional sense of hearing. She had discovered when she was just a young child that she was able to hear things that other people couldn’t. When she was at school, she would listen to the teacher but then at some point, she would hear sounds of animals running around in the forest and when she concentrated enough, she was able to follow the path of the animal as it ran along in the woods.
This was how she was able to narrowly avoid those sharp metal things that cut her thigh, because she heard the sound of them being triggered so she was able to jump out of the way. She had never really tried to hone this gift because she never needed to but in this situation, she was thankful that she at least had something she could use to her advantage. She knew that if she concentrated enough, she would be able to hear the slightest unusual noises and doing that, she might be able to find a way out of here.
So Abi closed her eyes and focused her senses on her heart until the only thing she could hear was her heartbeat and the sound of her quiet breaths. After a few more minutes, Abi was in that state of meditation and that was when she started to act.
She ripped a small strip of cloth from her dress and wrapped it around her wounded thigh to act as a tourniquet. She then bent down to pick up a handful of small stones from the ground to use as a guide and got up again before she threw a small stone right next to her foot and listened to the sound it made. It released a solid thump. That sound meant safety. It meant that there was nothing under it except for rocks and dirt.
Abi threw another small stone in front of her and heard the sound of rock hitting metal. It seemed that whatever had cut her was on the ground in front of her, blocking her path. The next thing she did was throw a stone as far and as hard as she could in front of her to determine if that was a pathway or a dead end. The stone hit a wall with a thud not too far away from her so she did the same thing again, throwing a stone to her left and then behind her.
The stone didn’t hit anything to her left so she decided that that was the way to go. She turned to the left and threw stones in front of her before she followed it.
She had taken about twenty steps before she heard a different sound to the safe thud. It seemed to be the sound of an arrow being released from a bow and Abi immediately jumped back, causing her to yelp in pain as she twisted her ankle on the same leg that was wounded. In the next second, she felt the wind on her face as the arrow rushed out in front of her before hitting a wall with a loud crack.
Abi’s heart accelerated! She gulped as fear and shock took over for a minute or two before she calmed herself down again. Abi was very afraid. She knew just how perilous this situation was so she couldn’t afford to slip up!
She bent down and grabbed another handful of stones and continued to limp on.
Abi had no idea how long she had been walking for or how far away she was from where she started but she kept going, using the stones like a walking stick, feeling out what could be in front of her. She continued on, limping her way through the dark dungeon going to who knew where. But she was lucky because throughout that time, she only triggered 2 more traps, which she successfully avoided. It seemed to her that some of the traps had already been set off before.
Abi grew tired and her hopes began to dwindle as time passed. She leaned on a wall from fatigue and slid down to the ground. She didn’t know how much longer she could concentrate like that. It took a lot of mental energy to constantly be on alert and to constantly be listening for every little sound. She was mentally exhausted. She had never had to concentrate this much before and Abi’s stamina just wasn’t up to it. Abi tried to shake the fatigue from her body but it didn’t work. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch and all her energy had been used up.
Abi let her body relax and in the next second, she felt thick, warm liquid run down from her nose. From the texture and smell, Abi knew it was blood. She wiped it away using her arm and briefly wondered if this had triggered her illness.
As Abi sat in the darkness, her ears pricked at a very faint sound, one that didn’t seem to be common in the dungeon. This sound had a melodic ring to it. Abi thought her mind was playing tricks with her but once she concentrated again, the sound became more solid. It wasn’t in her imagination!
Abi immediately got up. She knew that sound needed an avenue to travel and it travelled faster on solid material than in air so she pressed her ear to the ground and tried to find where it was coming from. It seemed to be coming from ahead of her.
Finding new hope, she immediately picked up more stone and with more energy, she went through her process again. After a few minutes, she was stopped by a big wall in front of her. ‘No!’ she cried inwardly. She fell into a depression. The sound was coming from straight ahead but she couldn’t go any further. This was it.
Suddenly, she cried out in frustration and threw the rest of the stones hard on the ground. She clenched her hands into tight fists and started hitting the wall in front of her. Rage and frustration and helplessness filled her soul and she released it on the wall in front of her.
But then, in the next second, she heard a loud, grinding noise and immediately went on alert. What was that? It sounded like something massive was moving somewhere to her right, akin to a large, old gate being opened after years of not being in use. It went on for a few seconds until it stopped and everything became silent again.
Abi picked up another stone and threw it to her right, expecting the stone to hit a wall, and when it didn’t Abi was shocked! There was a wall there a few seconds ago! Did a wall really just move by itself?
Not stopping to think about it, she immediately worked her way towards the new path.
