Chapter 15: Trapdoor

In a somewhat dark and slightly cramped place with rocky but sturdy rectangular walls, a young teenager sitting with a rough countenance on the soft ground could be heard conversing with a group of other individuals.

"Have you laid out all the necessary procedures for today's plan?" he asked softly.

It would have taken only his presence to do the trick if it weren't for his voice. His aura alone was enough to command anyone to do his bidding. He wasn't the type of person who could be trifled with easily, much less be dominated in a fight, which he was plenty good at doing.

Responding to his voice was the harsh tone of a particular gentleman. A simple glance at his frame told a lot about how much he'd been through over the years.

"Yes, master," the smoothness in his voice was almost non-existent, at least when compared to the one he'd been following orders from.

Shifting his gaze from a female individual he kept his eyes on to the person who just spoke, the person called 'master' replied serenely and with a gentle smile.

"No need to call me that. I'm a slave just like all of you, remember?" he said as he stood up slowly.

"Sorry, master," the same person parroted as if it were a bad habit.

But the young man had gotten used to this and paid it no mind as he kept the same smile.

Dusting off a few of the piled-up rubble and dirt on his clothes, he silently followed it up with a few steps. His back was turned from the others.

Today was supposed to be a momentous day-- to determine whether they would leave as freedmen or die fighting.

"It's been a tough ride. I won't pretend when I say there is a possibility of at least one of you dying. This is an unfortunate risk we must take if we want to pay them back as harshly as they whipped us," the man said, the stillness in his voice unwavering.

He turned again to face the other individuals and spoke more vigorously than before, the light from a nearby torch underlining his face.

Long, flowing hair, eyes as brown as dirt, and a tan skin-- he looked to be of Native American descent. He brought a healthy complexion, blemished with scattered bits of mud and soil.

"So long as one of us lives to remember, it will have been worth the endeavor," he said as he inched closer to the group, his steps as silent as a mouse.

"Now, I'm assuming all of you are ready, yes? Does everyone know what they're supposed to do today? If you do not remember what you're assigned, please don't be afraid to speak up. I will gladly remind you."

The young man was waiting for someone to say something, hoping to clear up any confusion.

Finally, as no one uttered a word, he could only presume that everyone had memorized every detail regarding the plan. Though he had no idea what they were capable of, he nevertheless placed his faith in them.

Those who had any reason to live, and those whose will empowered them... Only with the desire to seize control of their lives could they accept such an outrageous plan.

And no one there was unwilling to accept the consequences. Even if it took someone to help them acquire that iron will, they'd do whatever it took to earn their rightful freedom given a chance.

Satisfied with the lack of uncertainty, the young man nodded in approval.

"Looks like everyone knows what they're doing. It's only a matter of time before--"

"Son, wait."

A familiar individual interrupted, their voice solemn and firm. It belonged to none other than the one the young man had been eyeing earlier.

"I want to ask you again. Are you sure this is the right choice? That what we're doing is truly just?"

"Yes, mother. I believe nothing could convince me otherwise."

"Good. Then I will protect you with all my being," his mother said gladly.

"Thank you, mother. But you don't have to worry about me. I'll protect you as well."

The young man shifted his gaze to look at four other faces, none of them saying anything. They were each in agreement over their brother's idea and were very confident in him, just as the others were.

His past reputation and ability to develop such a scheme proved to everyone that he was someone worth following.

Walking to her son, the young man's mother swiftly nudged forward and hugged him before grasping the torch that lit their area.

She spared no time to look back and did not hesitate to stroll through the tunnel until she could eventually be seen no longer.

Like a domino effect, the others followed suit, most inching towards the young man before clasping his hand. Some of them did no such thing, only nodding towards him, but this didn't change anything, as each of them held a deep respect for the person who helped them when all hope seemed lost.

The young man did not ask them to do such things but was nevertheless prepared for it when the person following his mother did something similar. Noticing that his siblings still had yet to go, the young man gestured for them to come.

It was now their turn. As the siblings --three of them boys and one a girl-- walked towards their brother, none of them uttered a word like the others. Not unlike their mother, however, they hugged him tightly, which surprised him before he did the same in return.

As the young man stared ahead of the tunnel, he thought about how wonderful it must've been to be blessed with such a family.

The thought of failing them never occurred until now. Staring even deeper into the distance, his expression hardened, and he was suddenly overflowing with confidence.

Before he left, he muttered under his breath, "I definitely won't miss being here," He directed his right hand to cover half his face with a piece of thickly fabricated cloth.

Then, he lifted the hood behind his head to hide his hair. Soon, he disappeared along with the others as his figure faded in the distance.

***

Moments after the town caught ablaze, the nearby townsfolk started panicking rapidly.

The fire that would burn down the whole town, which had previously only been a threat commissioned by a mere slave, was now taking place in reality.

The only ones who took him seriously were the witnesses inside the barn, caring for their horses. There were 20-30 of them, all adults and ready to be used. It was enough to help escort away the townsfolk currently residing within the town.

Before the fire started, the man had seemingly come from nowhere. At first, they assumed that he was a stranger who was up to no good. Ironically, their only mistake was taking him too seriously.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be in here! Who the hell do ya think you are!? Ya got about thirty seconds to tell us what you're doing or else you'll regret ever stepping foot in here!" said a loud and boisterous man.

The person who appeared out of nowhere was someone whose identity was tightly covered, no thanks to his clothes.

It was a rather busy night as quite a few folks were feeding horses inside the barn. They were just as surprised as Arnold when they saw someone appear out of the blue.

"That's strange. I couldn't tell if he was there. And I thought that was my specialty," said Marissa.

"Whoever that person is, it don't matter. Ain't no one getting past us like that again! Hey! You there! Man with hood, wearing all that mysterious stuff and shit. Do us all a favor and listen to my friend Arnold. But don't worry. Even if you don't say a single word, we promise you'll leave here alive and with no more than five of your fingers, hahahahaha!" said a taller man. He was one of the strongest guards in the town after his friend Arnold.

"Well, I'll be damned. He ain't said a word yet. We've got a real quiet one here, don't we?" Arnold said.

"I wouldn't do anything funny to him if I were you," Marissa spoke.

"How come? Don't we all punish any wrongdoers we don't like?" asked the tall man.

"He hasn't done anything wrong, mind you. And I don't know why, but I got a terrible feeling about this. I just hope nothing goes wrong," Marissa said again. The worry in her words was undeniable.

"Ya ain't gotta worry. He won't even know what's coming, so he won't have time to defend himself, I'll tell ya that," the lofty man whispered.

Marissa turned to look at a few people beside her before settling her gaze on someone she trusted the most. Aside from her and two of the three guards inside, no one had been intrusive enough to say or do anything.

"Wylis, keep an eye on us, won't ya?" Marissa asked sternly.

"That's what I was born to do, my lady. Don't worry so much. I'll keep ya as safe as I can."

"Thank you," she said.

Thirty seconds had passed, but the mysterious fellow still did not say anything. Whether he explained himself or not wouldn't have made a difference.

The person named Arnold walked up to him with his hands inside his pockets. Everyone there knew what that signified, as it was a type of trick he loved to pull off on his slaves or anyone he deemed dangerous.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Thirty seconds. I gave ya that much time to explain yourself, and you wasted it. It's such a shame, I tell ya. If ya can't talk, then how about I just... open your mouth for you, yeah? Ain't that right for a quiet fella like you?"

"Wrong."

A simple motion, a single touch. That was all it took for Arnold to drop to the straw-filled floor, his face hitting the ground like a hammer hitting an anvil.

It was maybe a few seconds or a tad more that passed after that. Everyone was so shocked that they almost didn't want to believe it.

By the time they recovered from their stupor, the gangly man, who spent all his time boasting about Arnold and himself, had finally seen what the mysterious fellow could do. He didn't know if Arnold was killed or not, but that was beside the point.

"You fuckin' bastard! No one gets away with-- ukk!"

With a fast and precise strike, the man who ran towards the fellow dropped to the ground and lost consciousness, not unlike his friend Arnold.

Turning to look at the other people inside the barn as he took the key from the one he had struck down, the figure spoke blankly.

"Don't worry. They're not dead. I didn't come here to kill anyone. I just have something I want to say to the rest of you."

Hearing his voice for the first time was strange. It sounded a little too young for him to have easily beaten Arnold and his buddy. It was a voice that may have even belonged to a teenager. That said, it was also an utterly unfamiliar voice.

Following a brief pause, one of the people finally asked. It was Marissa. There were only a few other men alongside her, but she had ordered them to back off before they could fight him.

"What is it you wish to convey?" Marissa asked calmly.

"But Lady Marissa! He's a criminal! Don't tell me you--"

"Shut it, Wylis! Did ya not see what he just did? Are you stupid enough to fight him head-on without a weapon?" she said, nearly screaming at her subordinate.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It's just..."

"Just tell us what you want already. We don't got much, but we do got plenty of gold if that's what yer lookin' for," Marissa said.

She had been in plenty of similar situations before and knew what it was like to have to negotiate. Though her instincts were telling her to run, she knew from his words that what he wanted took priority.

As the people around her stayed away from the hooded man, he spoke again.

"I don't want your gold. I'm just here to warn you about a fire. And trust me when I say it's going to devour the whole town."

As soon as he said those words, one of the people ran up to the hooded man again. The one who charged at him was armed with an even more dangerous axe than the tall man's. He'd been purposefully silent the whole time until he heard about how the thief was going to burn the town

"You son of a bitch! You don't threaten to burn our home and get to live afterward!"

"Wait, don't--"

Marissa tried to warn the guard that ran up to him, but before he could swing, he suddenly fell to the floor in the middle of his sprint.

"Whoever charges at me, I won't hesitate to stop..."

Silence ensued once more.

They had even more reason to believe in him, especially after he took out one of their strongest guards.

But the silence was quickly broken.

"...I want you all to take these unconscious men out of the barn, tell everyone that a fire is coming, and leave no one behind. There is nothing you can do to stop it since it will likely spread all over the buildings. You don't have enough water that you can get ahold of right now to put it out, and there is no reason to try. I'll give you all an hour to evacuate," the hooded man said casually.

"Fine. We'll do as you ask... but on one condition." Marissa said.

"Oh? Tell me about it," responded the mysterious fellow.

"We'll do everything you said as long as you tell me why you're doing all of this in return," said Marissa.

"How strange. You really are an interesting one, aren't you?" the fellow chuckled.

But before he could explain himself, Marissa suddenly asked him a bunch of questions.

"You said an unstoppable fire will burn our whole town to shreds, right? But why? Why would ya even bother asking someone to save them? Why not tell them yourself? No, even if ya did things for a different reason, why then should you not just kill everyone inside their houses? Unless you mean to tell me your intention was--"

"I'll keep this simple for you, Marissa. I am an outsider. And no, I am not following anyone's orders in case you're wondering. I just don't think it's right to punish everyone by burning them to their deaths."

Upon hearing his words, Marissa's eyes lit up in shock. It was as if she had finally connected the dots to a problem she didn't know needed solving.

"D-Do you mean to tell me that you're--"

"I'm not here to tell you everything about me. Just do as I say and get out of here while you still can," the figure interrupted.

"Fair enough. In that case... Men. Let's bring those three out of here."

"Yes, ma'am," said Wylis.

The witnesses carried the three unconscious men away from the barn while Marissa stared at the fellow with sharp eyes.

However, as soon as she stepped out of the barn, the front door quickly closed itself on them, and as the other witnesses were outside, she tried opening the door to no avail. It could only be unlocked from the inside unless she had a key, and as Marissa thought about this, she could only curse about how it had been designed.

She thought of cutting down the wood the barn door was made of with one of the unconscious men's axes, but she quickly realized it would've been impractical. Marissa needed to do something before that.

"Shit! He took the key with him!" she spat.

Turning to look at the other men who were unaffected, she wasted no time getting straight to business.

"While that man is locked in there, I want some of you to guard this barn on both sides. I suggest bringing something better than a single axe! I'll gather everyone here to break open the doors before the fire spreads and devours all the buildings!"

"Ma'am, what if he's saying that just to scare us? Are you sure we can trust his threats? How can only one man start a fire that big?" Wylis questioned her.

Marissa responded with an incomparably serious face, "I've seen plenty of things in life, so I know what is or isn't possible, but we can't just sit around and do nothing! Listen to me, Wylis. I need you to go to the weapons storage and stock up on as many weapons as possible! I'll go and tell my family to come with me to the barn. We're all getting out of here!"

"I..."

Looking at the ma'am's eyes that spelled out just how potentially dangerous this situation was, Wylis stared for a while. Eventually, he settled on the logical decision of fully trusting her judgment. There was no reason he could think of to continue doubting her.

"Understood!" Wylis shouted, a firm resolve filling his voice.

"Okay, good! We can't let everyone in this town die! Come on, let's go!"

As Marissa ran towards the distance, the other guards stopped to look at each other before one of them ran to their house.

"I'll get some crossbows! The lady Marissa will warn everyone while we guard the barn. Wait here and keep an eye out."

Though there was no fire for now, they could tell how dire their current predicament was. Even if the man inside the barn was lying about the fire, they had every reason to be wary of him.

Just as Marissa was seconds away from her house, she took a second to catch her breath before hurriedly walking the rest of her way there.

Then, she thought out loud.

"So that person was "him." How ironic."

***

After locking the barn doors and being left alone with the horses, the masked fellow took a deep breath.

"Did she just figure out who I was? Damn. I should not have said anything. Even now, Edward is still right about me..." the figure mumbled.

"In any case, I can only hope that everyone is safely evacuated," he muttered with a subtle doubt in his words.

"Now, to carry out the final part of the plan."

The hooded man then walked into an empty room and lowered his head to stare at a pile of straw. Hidden beneath the layer of straw was a hatch that looked as if it had always belonged there.

It was a trapdoor that, apart from a select few people, had never once been discovered by anyone living in the town. But it was not the only one lying around, as plenty of them were hidden somewhere in town.

Perhaps the only reason such 'contrivances' were never discovered was that they weren't any ordinary inventions. They were made of robust, nearly impenetrable material and were hidden in places away from the mind-- places the townsfolk wouldn't think to look.

Whoever placed them down made sure they could never be found so easily. Even on the off-chance they were, such doors were made practically impossible to open.

That is unless someone were to unlock them from within the tunnel, which was astonishingly easier in comparison. They could also lock it just as effortlessly inside, preventing anyone from opening it on the outside.

The tunnel was built like an underground sewer system, assumed to have been devised by the town's founder and former owner, who kept it a secret amongst the townsfolk. The only other person who could've known about such things was a man who claimed to have been the founder's slave some years ago.

As luck would have it, they were able to make use of it before it could be exploited by anyone else. They'd even been able to open most of the doors already! However, the only way it was possible for anyone to potentially unlock all of them would be through the tunnel's main entrance, which happened to take place in the barn. It was the only one that was left unlocked.

But opening unlocked trapdoors wasn't as simple as it sounded. Because they were made of a unique type of metal, it took either a special tool that could lift open the trapdoors or a ridiculous amount of strength that a mere human couldn't match.

But the young man wasn't just any human...

"Huuakk!"

Struggling to lift open the hatch, the young man could only grimace over how hard it was to have to do this consistently. Spending the whole week plotting the town's downfall was made much harder, no thanks to the contraption in front of him.

"Damn door. Just opening you is harder than anything I've ever done as a mercenary."

As he opened the door upwards, the young man eventually calmed down. Finally, this was the moment.

"I can't wait to light this place up. You all will pay dearly soon enough..."

The hooded young man stepped into the tunnel in a pit of darkness, closing the trapdoor along the way.