Into Tordon

by Z. F. Kingbolt

  Beth raced to follow before he could leave her in darkness. ‘Wait! You have the only torch!’ Rubble covered the stone staircase too, having fallen from a cracked ceiling. ‘We’re supposed to work as one, remember?’

  Zane leapt over a giant root grown across the steps. As she clambered after him, a breeze chilled her wet clothes again. Where was that wind coming from?

  A few steps further and they reached a small landing.

  A narrow passage led off to one side—the source of the breeze. Zane continued up the stairs.

  ‘What about this passage?’ Beth called from the landing.

  ‘I’d rather get out!’ he called back.

  ‘But the nest!’

  The ground trembled again and Beth stepped into the side passage, hoping it would hold stronger than the cracked ceiling over the stairway. Signs of recent rock falls were everywhere and it all looked so ancient and crumbling.

  The rumblings grew louder, more violent too.

  She crouched, shielding her head with her arms.

  An ear-splitting explosion cracked through the air and Zane screamed. Rocks tumbled down the stairs, some even hitting her where she huddled, nearly knocking her off her feet. Dust clouding the air made her cough.

  Then the quake ceased as abruptly as it began. A few pebbles skittered and settled while Beth coughed and spat dirt, wary of the complete stillness. She checked her arms and legs: bruised, but nothing broken. ‘Zane?’

  The blackness absorbed her call. No answer.

  She groped her way onto the landing, her stomach churning at the thought of him crushed under tonnes of rock. ‘Zane?’

  Light flickered through swirling dust further up the steps. Then a moan. ‘Beth?’

  ‘Zane!’ she cried.

  A stone slab scraped and shifted, and Zane’s head appeared. He slowly scrambled out and clambered down toward her, still bearing the torch which flared again as he moved. She’d never been so glad to see him. ‘Are you okay?’

  He paused to rub his shoulder and winced. ‘I’m black and blue, but fine—considering. You?’

  ‘Good enough.’

  With a crunching sound, the rocks behind Zane collapsed further. Beth flinched as he leapt over the last section, landing beside her.

  ‘I guess that way’s blocked now?’ she asked.

  He nodded shakily. ‘No civilisation that way.’ A large gash ran down his neck.

  ‘Here, let me carry that for a while,’ she said, taking the torch. ‘You’re hurt.’

  He felt his neck and surprise crossed his face at the blood on his fingers. ‘I’ve had worse.’

  ‘True,’ Beth smiled, remembering his chest. ‘Ready?’ After waiting for him to nod, she headed through the rubble-free side passage and into a tall oval chamber. Two more passages continued out from its opposite end.

  ‘This place is a labyrinth,’ Zane muttered.

  As their torchlight danced across the chamber walls, carvings appeared in the rock, seeming to twitch and move as the light flickered. Beth shifted the flame closer to the images, searching for any clue about a nest.

  High up were engravings of dragons flying amid a moon and stars; at head height were birds, bats and insects; lower down, three-headed monkeys poked their faces between trees; then a river flowed around giant frogs with long tongues catching fish.

  Lowest, on the bottom of the wall, an impossibly long snake coiled through a cave system. It reached from one end of the oval chamber to the other, its scales forming a decorative mural. Screaming men and women were visible through a cut-out section of its stomach.

  ‘Whoever made these,’ Zane said, running his hand along the carvings, ‘must’ve worshipped these creatures. Look at the detail.’ Each creature had been carved down to the lines of pain on the people’s faces. ‘Can’t see anything about a nest, though.’

  ‘No,’ sighed Beth. She switched her attention to the opposite wall.

  There, a thick circular slab was carved deep. Rays of rippling lines and triangular segments spread from a central hollow towards the slab’s outer edges. It looked like a sun.

  ‘Now we’re talking,’ Zane said, bracing his hands on each side of the stone slab. He pushed and pushed. It didn’t budge.

  Beth set the torch down and they each shoved at a side.

  Nothing moved except more dust. They tried digging their fingers into the deep crack around the slab and pulling, pressing each ray then pressing them in patterns, then trying to turn the disc around—all with no result.

  Zane scratched the back of his head. ‘What are we missing?’

  Beth passed the torch slowly around the sun. ‘It looks like Tordon’s Rune of Fire. What if...’ She touched the flame to the central hollow and waited. A trickle of dust settled at their feet. ‘I guess not.’

  Zane narrowed his eyes at the slab. ‘Look, is there a piece missing?’ He pointed at the hollow. ‘Maybe something goes there, like some sort of key?’ He paused. ‘It’s egg-shaped.’

  ‘Which is why we need to find the nest…’

  ‘To get our egg-key for the door!’

  ‘It’s big, though, that hollow,’ said Beth. The size of a football.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Which means the nest we’ve got to find...’

  ‘…is enormous.’ Zane shook his head. ‘I’d hate to think what size of creature could make an egg that big!’

  ‘Dinosaurs don’t exist anymore, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

  ‘They don’t exist on our world. But as I keep saying, we’re not in our world anymore. Shall we try those two passages over there?’ He gestured at the other side of the room. ‘Take the left one, then if we come across any other passages, keep turning left so we’ll know how to retrace our steps?’

  ‘It’s as good a plan as any.’ Holding the torch tight, she led the way.

  The left passage wound gently down and around, the air growing colder and colder until they had to huddle close over the torch for warmth. They passed two more openings on the right before stopping at an arch with a caved-in ceiling. Beth peered over the fallen rocks where a shaft of light glowed faintly. Her heart sank. They were back where they’d begun—across from the burial cave with the mummies. Only, from this side she could see there was a tunnel between their passage and the burial chamber, crossing through the rockfall. It smelt like vinegar. That must have been the smell she couldn’t identify earlier, only it was stronger now.

  ‘Okay,’ she said, trying to stay positive. ‘Let’s go back and try the first passage we find.’

  Zane sighed and turned, but stopped as the rumbling returned, sounding like a distant train approaching an underground station. Beth held onto the passage walls, watching the tops of the sacks in the burial cave swaying again. A scraping sound swelled behind the rock pile, as deafening as a thousand knives being sharpened.

  ‘Something’s coming!’ Zane shouted above the noise. Beth stared at the tunnel, her eyes widening as a cylindrical body of black scales the size of dinner plates slithered past. She slammed a hand over her mouth to stop herself screaming. It was at least a minute before the last of the scales disappeared.

  Zane let out a string of curses before Beth stated the obvious. ‘I guess we’ve just realised whose nest we’re supposed to find.’

  Chapter 13

  Beth gripped the torch tighter as she remembered the mural in the oval chamber—a giant snake that ate people. Great. Going after that snake was the only way to find its nest and their way home, if they didn’t get eaten.

  ‘We’ll have to climb over this rockfall to follow it,’ she whispered, shaking the images from her mind. She pulled herself up, the rocky edges scraping her knees. It was surprisingly easy, since there were multiple footholds and handholds. Hearing no sound of movement behind her, she glanced back down to check on Zane and held out the torch to light his way. ‘Come on, it’s not that high. The forest ridge was higher.’

  He shuddered, but began to climb.

/>   After scrambling up and over the top, Beth jumped down into a smooth rounded tunnel. They stood for a moment peering into the blackness.

  ‘Reckon this might’ve been part of an underground river once,’ said Zane, scuffing the floor with his toe. ‘Dry as a bone now though.’

  ‘I wish I was dry.’ Beth shivered again.

  ‘I wish I had a drink. All this dust is making me thirsty.’ ‘Now that you mention it,’ Beth swallowed, her mouth dry.

  The torch flickered, then dimmed.

  ‘I don’t think this flame will last much longer.’ Beth tried to keep her voice steady.

  ‘Then we’d better hurry,’ Zane said, heading off in the wake of the rumbling snake.

  Beth leapt after him and they started running, past pillars, around bends, and up and down slight slopes. Occasional broken stalagmites and stalactites were smoothed where the snake must have passed many times. All along the tunnel were small pebbles, though when Beth accidentally kicked one it crumbled apart, releasing a vinegar stench into the air. Was that snake poop?

  Trying not to think about it, she kept running until a wall of rock blocked their way. The only way forward was through a dark, low gap at the bottom. There was nowhere else the snake could have gone.

  Zane peered under the rock. ‘Maybe we missed something?’

  ‘Are you claustrophobic as well?’

  ‘Of course not. What’s scary about small spaces?’ But his lips were pressed together and he began pacing.

  ‘The snake must have flattened itself to get through, see?’ She grabbed a thin black sheet from under the rocks. ‘Here’s one of its scales. They’re everywhere under there.’ She shone the torch through, then lay flat and wriggled beneath the rock. ‘Come on,’ she called back, ‘I think I see a way out.’

  She finally heard him shuffle after her. The gap was wider than it looked and high enough to pull herself through by her elbows. She refused to think of the tonnes of rock above, or of the torch dimming to an orange glow, making the rocks ahead burn like embers. All that mattered was following that snake. As long as it didn’t come back the same way!

  Panic tightened her chest at the thought of crawling into a snake’s mouth without knowing. Then the rock above abruptly gave way to emptiness.

  An unknown light source caused hundreds of stalactites to glow orange in the ceiling of a vast cavern. Below was a lake, the mirrored points of the stalactites glimmering in its surface. It was large, its watery surface spanning the width of the cavern—from a huge rock pile on Beth’s left all the way over to a sheer cavern wall on her right. On the opposite shore she could make out several dark openings. There was no way across except by swimming.

  ‘Zane,’ she hissed, shining the torch into the gap. ‘I’m out.’

  ‘Where’s the snake?’ he asked before standing up. ‘Can’t see it.’

  He stood beside her and looked around. ‘Could be in any one of those.’ He pointed at the dark openings across the lake. ‘Or in there.’ He gestured at the lake itself, although its surface was flat and free of ripples. ‘Great, there goes our light.’ He took the fading torch from Beth’s hand. Coughing, he hurled it into the lake where it splashed and briefly sizzled.

  ‘Don’t announce we’re here!’ she squeaked.

  Zane winced. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Shush, I get enough of that at home.’ She let her eyes adjust, then looked again at the distant light. It seemed to be coming from behind the rock pile on the left of the lake. ‘Perhaps there’s another torch over there?’

  ‘Could be.’ Zane crouched at the lake’s edge and scooped water into his mouth with his hand. ‘It’s good.’

  Beth knelt and drank too, tasting cold limey water while watching the lake for ripples.

  Zane finally raised his head and wiped his mouth, eyeing the rock pile. ‘You know, if we climb along that rock edge we might not have to get wet again.’

  Beth felt water slosh in her belly as she rose and studied the rocks. It might be possible. ‘I like the way you think, 007.’

  He laughed and clambered onto a long stony shelf at the bottom of the rock pile. Slime coated the shelf’s surface, while higher up the rocks it looked dried and easier to navigate, so they climbed higher and continued around.

  Massive tree roots, thicker than Beth’s waist, draped down from the ceiling too, offering something to grab onto. Once they neared the glow, they hauled themselves even higher and stared across a relatively flat top. The glow was coming from a pit deep inside the middle, a few metres away. They crawled up and over to the pit.

  ‘Whoa, check it out.’ Zane pointed down.

  The pit was about the height of a room, circular with a dirt floor covered in enormous eggs—so many Beth couldn’t count them—and nesting in their centre blazed a fiery orb the size of a football, unbearably bright and completely out of reach.

  ‘Well, great,’ Zane said. ‘We’ve found the nest. Now I guess we have to work as one to raid it.’

  ‘That’s not our only problem. Look.’ Individual eggs were shifting, fine cracks tracing their shells. ‘Some are hatching. Mum’s probably gone looking for something to feed them.’ She shuddered as she again remembered the mural in the oval chamber.

  Zane glanced sideways at her. ‘Well…’ He looked away again. ‘Nah. You won’t like it.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘Because you’re gonna have to trust me and I know you won’t do that.’

  ‘Just tell me.’

  ‘Okay. So I tie these roots around you, hook them over that one running across this ledge and lower you down. You grab the glowing egg thing, I haul you up, then we’re out of here.’

  ‘That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard. A root will never take my weight. And you don’t have the strength to lift me.’

  ‘You got another idea?’

  She searched the cavern, then glanced back at Zane who flexed his arm muscles. ‘Come on, I’ve been to survival camp. I can hold you. Trust me!’

  She paused, but there really was no other way. ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’

  ‘You’re small and light…’

  ‘I said, I’ll do it,’ she snapped, already regretting her decision. ‘What about your chest?’ She gestured at his neck. ‘And that cut from the rockfall?’

  ‘I’m fine. I won’t drop you, I promise. However much I like adventure, I really want to get out of this one.’

  ‘Okay,’ she said suddenly. ‘Let’s hurry.’

  ‘Great. Grab that, would you?’ He pointed to a sharp rock, then started to pull down two vine-like roots from the ceiling. After cutting them with the rock’s sharp edge, he twisted them into a rope. ‘Arms up,’ he said, securing them around her chest and checking the knot was tight. Then he threw the free ends over a thick root crossing the back of the pit, wrapped them around his wrists and tugged.

  The harness bit into her ribs.

  ‘Put your full weight on it,’ he said.

  She took her feet off the rocky ground, steadying herself by holding onto a root overhead. Zane leaned back and pulled, making her jerk forward. The root slipped and splinters dug in under her arms. ‘Ouch!’

  ‘You okay?’

  Small scratches, but no major damage. ‘Yeah. Let’s get on with it.’ She sat on the pit’s edge and slowly lowered herself down until she was hanging by her hands. ‘Have you got me?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Right, I’m letting go.’

  The harness tightened. Zane braced his feet against a large rock and leaned back, lowering Beth hand over hand. She descended in a series of jerks. With each one, the harness dug further under her arms and made it difficult to breathe.

  As she neared the bottom of the pit, the eggs rustled and her ears strained for another sound. Was that a splash in the distance? Didn’t it take two snakes to make eggs?

  Her toes touched the eggs, their rubbery shells taking some of her weight and helping her to stop swaying. She stretched her fingertips toward the glow
ing orb. ‘Just a bit further!’ Another jerk. ‘Stop!’

  That was definitely a rumble in the distance, like a train—one she did not want to catch.

  No time to think about that.

  She braced her stomach and leant sideways so the roots supported her chest and shoulders. A crack parted an egg not three feet from her nose, sending up a sulphurous smell. A shiny black snake slid out, thick as her arm. It disappeared from view and then cold scales oozed over her ankle. Her heart thudded—why, oh why, was she down here doing this? She held her breath and seized the orb with both hands. It was warm. ‘Up! Now, now, now!’

  The rope rose, cutting further into her armpits. The coldness oozing over her ankle dropped off.

  She pulled her knees to her waist and three jerks had her high above the eggs. The rumbling through the cavern was unmistakable now. The walls of the nest trembled. Eggshells beneath her split. This quake was worse than those before.

  Zane cried out, his hold slipping and she plunged back into the pit.

  ‘Zane!’

  ‘Aaah!’

  She jolted to a stop, her feet mere centimetres above the cracking eggs as Zane found his hold again. She gripped the rope over her head with one arm and with the other clutched the hot orb. Her sides burned from all the traction. Zane grunted, but she also started to rise again. ‘Please don’t give up, Zane.’

  This time, the nest spun as the rope twisted her round and round. Below, the nest boiled with newborn snakes. There was nothing she could do but squeeze her eyes shut and trust Zane to pull her out.

  ‘Beth!’ Zane cried.

  She opened her eyes. The top of the pit was within reach now, and beyond it was Zane’s face twisted in pain. She threw one arm over the edge, pushed the orb on top and crawled up.

  Sweat beaded Zane’s forehead as he pulled in the harness. Waves crashed at the edge of the lake. Dirt showered from the ceiling. ‘There are two of them,’ Zane whispered, helping her out of the root-harness. ‘They’re fighting. Quick!’

  ‘Thank you for not letting go,’ Beth said once she was free, throwing her arms around his neck. She gave him a brief squeeze. His body stiffened, but as she dropped her arms, she spied relief in his face. ‘Let’s go.’ Cradling the orb, she led the way.