Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [157]
“Damn it!”
“Everyone, this way!” came Kee Keema’s cry. He stood holding a slab of rock from falling. “We can take shelter here!”
“The ceiling’s coming down!”
Wataru looked up at Kutz’s warning cry. A giant, jagged hole had opened above the underground lake. He could see the stars.
“An exit!” Wataru shouted, as he ran to help Kee Keema.
“And just in the nick of time,” said Kutz, dodging a chunk of rock. “But how do we get up there?!”
“This wall is solid enough to climb…I think,” Trone said, evaluating the situation. They were on the west side of the lake, directly opposite from the way they had entered. There were no large protrusions, but plenty of cracks and crevices that would make suitable handholds.
“I’ll climb to the top and lower a rope to you.” Trone loosened the rope around his waist and made a loop with it. “You’ll have to leave your weapons. Make yourselves as light as possible.”
“Wait, I’ll go!” Wataru said, snatching the rope from Trone’s hand. “I’m lighter than you!”
“Don’t be silly…”
“No, if I fall, you can catch me!”
Wataru leapt on top of the flat slab of rock Kee Keema was holding up, and jumped from there to the wall. He had seen a movie where Jackie Chan had climbed a wall like this. He heard that he really did it—no stuntmen. Well, Jackie Chan is human, Wataru figured. If he can do it, so can I!
Wataru began to climb. His mind went blank. No fear. Pure concentration.
And then he was there, only another two yards to the star-filled hole in the ceiling.
Just then, a particularly large jolt hit the cavern, and Wataru’s center of gravity shifted. His hands, then both his feet, detached from the wall. And just like that, he was cast into space. Below him beckoned the underground lake. He was falling, with the rocks, falling down…
Then something soft and slender wrapped around him. Wataru was floating in midair.
“Grab on!” said a girl’s voice. An arm covered in silky white fur hooked around his waist.
Meena! She was hanging from the hole in the ceiling with a rope tied around her waist. Both of her arms were gripping Wataru tightly. She carried another coil of rope on her back.
“Up my rope! To the top!”
Wataru grabbed the rope at her waist and pulled himself up hand over hand, clambering toward the hole.
Another shock came just as he reached the edge, but Wataru held on and crawled out through the hole. Looking down, he saw Meena hanging just below the level of the ceiling. She was trying to control her swaying motion while lowering the rope on her back. Wataru quickly looked around. He was on the western edge of the chapel ruins. Everywhere he looked things seemed wrong—tilted. The rocky crags around him were crumbling and sloping dangerously. The rope supporting Meena was attached to a rocky projection some distance away. Wataru turned to the hole and held the rope as firmly as he could to help Meena steady herself.
Meena moved her arms in a graceful motion, lowering the rope to Trone and the others. Afterward, she deftly spun in midair, getting a foothold on the edge of the ceiling hole, and flipping up to stand by Wataru’s side.
“Pull! Pull now!”
“Right!”
First Kutz, then Trone came clambering up the rope. By the time they reached the top, it was apparent that the whole place was sinking.
Kee Keema!
“Quickly! Quickly!”
The rope swung over to where Kee Keema stood, and he latched onto it with his powerful arms. He proceeded to dash up the rope. He was the fastest of all of them, but Wataru was still afraid for his safety. Please don’t let him fall!
“Hraah!”
With a triumphant roar, Kee Keema shot out of the hole. The ground