Cotton Bear's Castle - Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Ben locked the door to the den quietly and stood there in the darkness for a moment. He wasn’t sure if the staff had seen them enter the room. They could hear bodies on the other side of the door and footsteps approaching. The doorknob wiggled and Ben held his breath. There was a pause and then they could hear the footsteps disappearing down the hallway. They both sighed with relief.

Cotton quietly moved into the room and found a small table light to turn on. Ben looked around the room. It was a beautiful den, with dark, wood paneled walls and elegant furniture. The desk was huge and also made of a dark wood. Behind it sat a large burgundy leather chair that looked fit for a king. There were two large portraits on one wall.

“Wow” stated Ben. “This is really nice.”

Cotton moved across the room to a shelf that held only a few dusty books, some of them quite large. Ben came over and looked at the books. They were all very old and all of them looked very dull. Cotton scanned them and then reached up, grabbed a big leather bound one, and placed it on the desk with a thump. Ben looked at the title: “The Remington English Encyclopaedia of Accounting Terminology and Rules”. He looked at Cotton. Cotton looked back at him and shrugged. “Well, if it was something interesting then people might want to look at it.

Ben nodded. “I suppose that’s true. You won’t ever have a problem with that book”

Cotton flipped open the book’s leather flap, revealing a small dial with numbers on it. He began to spin the dial, as if he was opening a small safe. There was a small click as Cotton landed on the last number. He opened the book and inside was the family dagger. It glowed softly in the dim light, like it had its own source of power. The handle had a carved grip, with a brilliant diamond on the end. Cotton held it up and both he and Ben stared at it in awe.

Cotton looked at Ben. “You can see why I couldn’t leave it behind.”

Ben nodded. Then he cocked his head as he heard something outside the door.

He whispered “We have to get out of here. It won’t be long before they figure out where we went.”

Cotton nodded and tucked the dagger away in his bag. Then he moved towards the portraits on the wall, the images of Cotton’s family members. He stepped up to one of them and began to tilt the frame. When it was nearly on its side he stopped and moved over to the other one and did the same thing in reverse. Ben watched as the two portraits began to get closer. The hands on the figures inside the frames reached out for each other and when the two frames touched it looked as if their hands were touching. There was a soft click from somewhere behind him and Ben turned to look. One of the wood panels had opened. Cotton quickly turned the frames back correctly and then moved over to the wood panel. He opened the panel like a little door and Ben could see that behind it was a small lever. Cotton pulled the lever down and a small door opened behind the desk.

“Well I’ll be…” Ben said. “It looks a little small to walk though.”

“Oh, we won’t be walking.” Cotton said with a glint in his eye. He closed the wood panel and walked over to the little door. He crouched down and looked into the darkness.

“It’s been years since anyone used this. Hope it’s still in one piece” Cotton said and began to enter the small doorway. He went feet first, as if he was about to go down a slide.

He looked over his shoulder at Ben and smiled. “Don’t worry about closing the door behind you, its set on springs and will close tightly by itself.” And with those words Cotton disappeared into the darkness.

Ben followed, moving the same way Cotton had done. He got down on his butt and ducked into the little door. He felt the floor beneath him change. It now felt metal and very slippery. He couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of himself. He shuffled forward a few more inches and then felt nothing in front of his feet. The little door snapped shut behind him and he was plunged into total darkness. He took a deep breath and pushed off.

Down Ben flew in the darkness, the slippery metal slide taking him through the castle walls at top speed. Around corners he zoomed, going this way and that way and then straightening out again before dropping another big distance. He wanted to let out a big whoop but he knew that might attract attention so he didn’t. A few seconds later he saw some light ahead. It was faint but Ben knew his ride was coming to an end. All of a sudden he was there, bursting through a metal vent and falling through the air. Ben reached for his whip, in case he needed it to catch himself but there was no need. Large pieces of canvas, hanging across the room, slowed his fall and scooped him up as he approached the ground. He landed as gently as could be and right on his feet. Standing a few feet away grinning was Cotton Bear.

After composing themselves for a minute, they began to look around and see if the coast was clear. It was so they began walking down a long corridor. Cotton took the lead as the castle was like a maze sometimes and soon Ben found himself in the garage. He surveyed the old cars and other vehicles gathered in the large area.

“Take your pick” Cotton said. “They’re all mine so I guess we can drive whatever one we want.”

Ben looked around. He spotted a nice classic sports car, a beautiful convertible, an old style motorcycle with sidecar attached, and a fancy sedan, but none of them seemed right for their purposes. Then he laid eyes on the truck. It was a big old work truck that didn’t look pretty and looked like it could drive through a brick wall. That’s what they needed to get them through the storm and to track Voltran.

“How’s that one run?” Ben asked as he pointed at the truck.

“Works great.” Cotton replied.

“Then let’s get the keys and get out of here. We’ve got a villain to catch.” Ben replied. Cotton went to get the keys from the key cabinet and Ben went to the large garage doors and began to open them. Outside the storm still raged and when he opened the doors Ben could feel the cold wind on his face and the sting of the rain.

Cotton tossed him the keys. “We need to get to a library. I need to do some research on these papers I found in the lab. I need to know what Voltran’s up to.”

They hopped up onto the truck’s large seats and Ben fired up the engine. It came alive with a roar. He floored the gas pedal and with a screech of tires they headed out into the storm.

end of chapter eight