Sicovering an Antique Rug

The sun was assuming its ‘late afternoon’ position as we entered the skeletal courtyard, and I stopped to appreciate the way it gilded the shifting leaves of the deciduous trees. The four adults of our party led us into a hallowed cemetery, but I took my leave to go investigating along the sunlit hilltops crowned with the remnants of the sandy citadel, layers of walls an ancient labyrinth that must once have been covered in tapestries and Persian rugs. I climbed over falling fortresses, through gaps in the ramparts, and wonderingly crept through open arenas to discover I was now atop a hundred foot wall, dangling over a small cliff.

Eagerly, I took the hard way across what might have been a bridge or tunnel, to reach an isolated area with what looked like stairs and a door. Halfway there, I realized I had taken the wrong path. My road ended in a solid, living wall, sustaining green life in its fissures, even two hundred feet up. My path picked up about thirty feet to the left of me, the only way to reach it by scaling the wall. I would have to climb over, drop down about twenty feet, or go back the way I had come.

A gust pulled my hair upwards, and I thought of the spirits of the castle’s gatekeepers. In my imagination, they urged me on, too.  I reached for a handhold, feeling like a brave soldier or an escaping prisoner. The floor dropped from under me as I went, and I  was suddenly very aware how far away the stones were. I grasped the jutting roots and dug my pink sneakered toe into the missing chunks. I felt a bead of Spain-kissed sweat trickle down my back as I made my attack, or retreat.

Solid ground greeted me with a crunch, and I was now on a narrow strip of rock, with the tiny door I had seen below, and a rectangular gap in the wall at my knees. Iron barred and pitch dark inside, I decided it was a prison cell. Apparently, I had escaped the wrong way, and having reached my destination, found myself quite trapped.

I tried the door. It opened, much to my surprise. And inside was stored several baskets full of dust, an old broken loom, and an ancient, antique rug.