Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [150]
Nothing—just the tunnel hewn from the rock continuing on into the distance. Wataru stuck his tongue out. See? I’m not scared.
The tunnel had grown narrower, and the ceiling was low over his head. The width of the passage as he walked was irregular—sometimes widening, sometimes narrowing. He finally reached the end, a solid wall of rock, with a hole at the bottom near the floor just large enough for a person to crawl through. The faint white light was coming from the other side.
I don’t like this one bit.
Wataru didn’t fancy going anywhere more cramped than the tunnel he was already in. But if he didn’t go through the hole, this was the end of the road. He looked around but didn’t see any other passageways.
Oh well. Wataru set the lantern down by his feet, and pressing himself to the ground, he peered through the hole. As he expected, the passageway continued on the other side. It seemed to be dimly lit, and he could feel a faint breeze on his cheeks.
Right. Steeling his body, he thrust himself headfirst through the hole. The wall was thin, and he was quickly on the other side.
He took a look around. The place he was standing was significantly different from the previous passageway he came from. A large dome stretched above his head three stories high. The chamber was very wide—about the same size as his schoolyard back home.
Wataru found himself unable to believe that such a large space could exist underground without some visible means of support. He looked around in amazement. On the far end of the chamber, he saw two more tunnels disappearing into the distance. The tunnel on the right seemed larger, and had some long metallic objects lying near it. There was nothing remarkable about the tunnel to the left, except—of course—for that suspicious white light pulsating from its depths.
The sound of a thin trickle of water was coming from somewhere. Wataru felt a sudden thirst in his throat. One thing’s for sure: I’m not drinking any water in this place.
Wait, my lantern! Crouching down, Wataru reached back through the hole he had just crawled through, when, right before his eyes, his lantern was taken away. Something like a long black arm, dried like a mummy’s, reached out and snatched the lantern out of sight. It had happened in an instant.
What was that? What thing has an arm like that? Was that even really an arm?
Was it his duty as a Highlander to crawl back through the hole and investigate? What if that strange arm belonged to some kind of monster? It could even be a thief. A mummy thief! Whatever it is, I have to get that lantern back.
But then again, he was standing in an area that was plainly lit—though Wataru had no idea how. And there was that same white light shining from the corridor on his left. He at least had someplace to go without the lantern. I’ll just keep moving forward. There, I’ve made my decision and I’m sticking to it. It’s not that I’m scared to meet the owner of that nasty, dried-up arm. Really.
Holding his Brave’s Sword before him, Wataru took a few cautious steps toward the middle of the chamber. From here he could see that the metallic objects piled up in front of the right tunnel appeared to be spears—primitive things made of simple metal poles sharpened at one end. Also, he could also see traces of some large platform having been attached to the wall. Here and there along the rock were marks left by some sort of fastenings. In other places he saw the wall was discolored and scorched black with soot—perhaps where torches had been attached. Wataru looked around carefully, tracing the outlines in the rock, finally reaching the conclusion that whatever had once stood there was not entirely unlike an altar one might see in a church in the real world. Maybe this was where Cactus Vira and his followers had worshipped.
Then what are those spears doing there?
Chapter 8
The Dead
Two voices began arguing inside Wataru’s head. One wanted