SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,40

wanted to fly in the face of him – until I suddenly realized that he was absolutely right. I didn’t want to bet on how my face looked now, but »stupid« might have been a better description than »astonished«.

We now were in the middle of the corridor, which spanned a broad curve behind us. The torches indicated an arched chain of lights, containing of single and shrinking dabs of brightness. The way ahead of us led straight line, whereas there seemed to be a crossing corridor on its right end. While Giovanni and I were still busy helplessly staring at each other, in the following three events took place almost simultaneously. After the previous confusion they literally took the cake, and I want to go to the trouble of describe them, numerating in the local language.

Numero uno. »Do you maybe have a useful idea how we get out of his damn maze?« I wanted to know from Giovanni whose visible composure began to bother me.

»Why don’t we simply go back and see if the theosophists have calmed down? Maybe they will fork out some five-course meal, relieved coz the end of the world hasn’t come yet. My empty stomach actually has been sending SOS for the last couple of hours ...«

This very moment, a shadow appeared at the end of the tunnel. Coming from a cross connection, he blew up to a scary silhouette on the wall. Giovanni and I stopped talking immediately, and although we both knew that the now dancing light of the torch was able to convulse a figure to an unrecognizable silhouette, we both shuddered. Now we could also hear footsteps which left no doubt that the figure would show up in short. My neighbor swallowed audibly, which obviously wasn’t caused by hunger. And as for me, I probably produced a whole symphony of sounds, which were owed to sheer terror. The relentlessly approaching black ghost got smaller, but this didn’t calm our nerves, which were tense like piano strings at all.

Eventually the shadow guy turned the corner – and hey, it was an old buddy! But not really one who made the strings ease. Without really noticing us the hooded man rushed towards us. I could only guess why he was still on the site. Probably he hadn’t dared to leave his hideout before the chaos calmed down to some degree. In his dark dress and with the chrome saber in his hand he looked even more terrifying at close quarters than he had on the platform in the vault. His flowing dress made nightmarish dragging sounds when he walked, and in the red-rimmed observation slits nervously swaying, azure blue eyes were glowing. When he finally did notice us, it only took him a moment of shock from which he recovered very quickly, just like he was annoyed en passant of trash at the roadside. Then he just kept resolutely walking towards us.

»I changed my mind in the matter of these exorcists’ placidity«, Giovanni whispered at me. »Let’s buzz off – this guy doesn’t look kosher to me!«

I couldn’t agree more. As if someone had turned our dash key, we doubled back simultaneously and beat it.

Numero due. A repeating, muffled hammering sound reached our ears, from afar and yet oddly close, in short intervals, yeah, almost sounding like a muffled up kettledrum. Of course we weren’t in the mood to stand still and look for the source of this strange sound. Bam! ... Bam! ... Bam! ... it resounded from somewhere again and again, while we ran over the boasted pavers with the hooded guy upon our heels. My current condition must have busted all panic scales. Yet I tried to use the rest of my ratio to find the cause of the sound. I felt a barely noticeable vibration underneath my paws and thought that the ongoing hammering was moving upwards from downstairs. Giovanni probably felt the same. As if there was another catacomb underneath us from where the drumbeat was issuing from. I would have loved to follow this hint some more, if there hadn’t been a weird guy with a saber chasing me – and also hadn’t something even more incredible come amiss ...

Numero tre. We had just reached the end of the corridor when suddenly two men turned around the corner. Nothing unusual one might think, as somewhere the batmen from the catacomb must have found a hideout in their confusion. Way off the mark though! No tailcoats, no capes, no