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"Define 'problem,'" Theo asked.
Alastor stepped to the side and swung his torch out in front so we could all see.
“That problem,” he said.
My lips parted as I gazed out over the colossal cavern in front of us and the yawning chasm that lay less than five feet away. Huge columns rose from down in the abyss in varying heights offering a way across, or at least into the darkness. The cavern was so big, our torches didn’t reach the other side.
“Ohhh…” said Theo, one of the four people without wings. “Yeah, that’s a problem.”
Chapter Twenty-One
CARLISLE
We followed Alastor carefully out of the tunnel onto a narrow ledge that stretched along the wall of the vast cavern we now found ourselves in. The beam of my torch danced over the rough walls and illuminating the precarious ledge we stood on. The space in front of us seemed endless, the far side shrouded in darkness and leaving me to wonder what lay beyond. Not three metres from my feet, the ground dropped away into an abyss so deep, the bottom was out of sight. Massive columns of rough-hewn stone rose up from the depths like sentinels, their flattened tops stretching across the chasm like a highway in the dark. The only sound in the cavern was thedistant rush of water, drifting up from the depths of the abyss. Great. This was just great. Why did I always end up on these missions where there were huge drops into nothingness and death? Small spaces, fine. Monsters, I was good, even magical booby traps. But heights? Shit.
"Those can't be natural," Theo mumbled next to me, squinting at the structures.
"Definitely not," I agreed, pushing away the fear that had set up camp in my stomach at the sight of the chasm in front of us. I directed my torch toward the base of the nearest pillar. The light revealed scars along its surface, clear evidence of ancient craftsmanship. As the columns moved away from us, each one rose higher. "Look," I said, gesturing toward the scrape marks left by primitive tools and then up to the line of columns. "It's a staircase... or what's left of one."
"Great," Theo said, "Now we just need to find the giant who built it."
I glanced at him, the corner of my mouth twitching. "Let's hope he's not home."
"Solomon must've had really long legs to climb these," Theo joked, his voice echoing slightly against the cavern walls as he peered over the edge of the chasm.
"Or a taste for dramatic entrances," I added, shining my torch down into the abyss. But humour turned to contemplation as I considered the tunnel we had just come from and cave beyond. "The serpent that attacked you… I think it must have come from down here."
“What makes you say that?” asked Alastor, stepping back from the edge where he’d been looking over.
"Think about it," I said. "The pool back there, the one where you were attacked by the serpent. Did it not occur to you that it was far too small to support that creature? There was no food,and no other creatures, or their remains when we pumped the water out.”
“I’ll admit to being glad about there only being the one,” said Alastor sardonically.
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t ever get only one creature. It's why the stories about the Loch Ness Monster are so flawed. They aren’t looking for one monster, they should be looking for a family. Same here. Look,” I said, pointing my torch beam back the way we had come. “See how the floor actually slopes downwards? I think that during the wet season, a lot of the surrounding water from the mountains that doesn’t drain into the wadis drains into here, filling the chasm and flooding the tunnel. The water level must've dropped before our slithery friend could swim back out."
"So basically, you’re saying if we’d come back next year, no serpent?" Theo asked. “Well, shit.”
I grinned. “Pretty much. But if you were to somehow get down there…” I shone my torch over the edge without looking at it, keeping my eyes on Theo. “I reckon you’d find a whole family of them ready to welcome you.”
“Urgh,” said Theo. He turned to Alastor. “I vote we stay up here.”
“Agreed,” said Alastor, his gaze now fixed on the columns, his mind now elsewhere. "Carlisle, do you reckon you could jump these gaps?"
I followed his line of sight, measuring distances between the weathered pillars.
No. No, definitely not. I am not going over there. That involves falling and smashing on the bottom of the chasm. Hell no. "Yeah, I think I can," I said. “I’m a little concerned about the state of the platforms though.” Our beams moved over the few closest to us, revealing cracks and crumbling edges.
"Point taken," Alastor said. "We’ll need to set up some kind of safety rope anyway, just in case someone slips or doesn’t make the jump.”
I felt sick. “Let’s get a move on then.”
Alastor turned to the others. “Right guys, we’re going to cross here. Theo, we’ll need the ropes and the bolt drill. Everyone else, I want you in your climbing harnesses.”
Sariel moved from where she was standing with Theo to Alastor’s side looking out over the chasm. My knees felt weak and shaky at the thought of how close they were to the edge, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them as I slipped off my pack and pulled out the harness.
“Two bolts would be safer,” Sariel said softly.
Alastor nodded. “I’ll go first, with the rope tied to my waist, and when I get as far as the rope reaches, I’ll bolt it down.”
