Darkwalker on Moonshae - Douglas Niles [64]
“I almost met…” His voice trailed off and he looked up, as if suddenly remembering his surroundings. He shook his head and remained silent.
Not certain whether he wanted Daryth to say more or not, Tristan led the group as they carefully picked their way around the hole that had caught Robyn unaware. She carefully probed the ground before them with her cudgel, and they soon waded through the large chamber into the shallower water of the tunnel.
As they continued through the long tunnel, the prince noticed that the floor had begun to slope a bit. The water flowed around their feet toward the large chamber behind them. Then, for several minutes the water level decreased steadily, until soon it had dropped to a small stream running down a gutter in the center of the tunnel. With some relief, they walked upon dry ground again, and their progress quickened.
Soon they reached an apparent end to the tunnel, as bare dirt walls capped the passage before them and to either side.
“This looks like a dead end,” said Tristan, inspecting the walls with his fingertips. “We might have known that Newt’s solution would have a drawback.”
“Hold on a minute,” cautioned Daryth. “Give me a boost.” Looking up, Tristan saw that they stood below some kind of drainage pipe. About four feet in diameter, the pipe appeared to go straight up, outdistancing the range of the torchlight.
The prince lifted his friend to his shoulders so that the upper half of Daryth’s body extended into the pipe. He grunted in pain as the Calishite climbed to his feet, resting muddy boots against each of the prince’s ears.
“This doesn’t look too bad,” grunted Daryth, his voice echoing from the pipe. In moments he found a handhold, and his feet disappeared into the pipe after him.
“Stand back” he warned, as mud and unidentifiable muck fell from the pipe to splash upon Tristan, who had been looking upward in amazement. The prince ignored the mess on his face, continuing to marvel as Daryth forced his way up the pipe using little more than the sheer sides of the passage as hand and footholds. His progress was slow, but he soon moved into the darkness above.
“Hsst!” The voice filtered down from the pipe. “Come up after me!”
Immediately, an uncoiling rope emerged from the pipe. One end of the rope dropped to the ground at Tristan’s feet.
Pulling the line to test its security, Tristan then climbed hand over hand up into the pipe. For several minutes he strained steadily upward, feeling numbness creep into his shoulders and arms. The passage here darkened to inky blackness.
He almost started to panic, but then he heard a voice from above him say, “It’s all right. Come on up. You’re almost there.” And soon he felt a presence near him, and Daryth’s welcome hands reached out to pull him sideways. With relief he collapsed onto a narrow ledge next to his friend.
Soundlessly Tristan willed his arms to stop trembling. Gradually they obeyed, and he became aware of a very dim light filtering down from above.
Robyn reached them on the ledge by the time his eyes made out the faint outlines of a metal grate low over their heads.
Finally Pawldo ascended, grunting and cursing under his breath the whole way. He reluctantly refrained from any loud objections as he joined the companions on the ledge. As a precautionary measure, they had extinguished all of the torches down below. Thus, they now crouched in near total darkness. Only that faint, eerie glow illuminated the heavy iron grate above them.
“Can you slip through that grate?” Daryth asked, in a faint whisper. Pawldo quickly nodded in understanding, and squirmed easily through the metal bars over their heads. The humans down below could barely make out the shape of their small comrade.
“Now, look for some way to open it,” ordered Daryth, again in an almost inaudible whisper.
Waiting in the dark below, they heard a quiet scurrying on the grate, then nimble fingers located a pair of small catches, and they heard the slight sound of metal