The scritch-scratch of spider feet on stone sounded from outside the door.
“No offence, Captain,” Kim said, “but I’ve been in this situation already. It’s lost its appeal for me.”
“And for me,” Banks replied, “but I don’t intend to stay around to experience it for any longer. We’re going out that way.”
He motioned to the gap in the wall. Maggie spoke up.
“You’ve made up your mind?”
The scratching got louder outside in the hallway and Banks smiled thinly.
“It’s not as if we’ve got much choice. I’ll go first, with Brock and Davies. Maggie, you and Kim in the center and the others will bring up the rear. We only move as a unit and we get out of the town the first chance we get. It’ll be dusk soon enough and yon chopper will be waiting for our call, and might not wait if we don’t, so we have to move fast and quiet. Are we all clear?”
Nobody argued.
He swung his rifle over his shoulder, stepped over to the gap in the wall, and hauled himself up and through to the other side.
— 18 —
Maggie went first after the three soldiers to show Kim how easy it was and waited on the far side to help the other woman through. Kim gasped aloud when she saw a piece of the rock carvings that were illuminated by the light on Davies’ weapon.
“God, it’s beautiful.”
Maggie could only agree but they didn’t have time to stop and look, for Wiggins was already coming through the gap above them.
“Move over, ladies,” he said. “You wouldn’t want me falling on top of you. Though I might enjoy it.”
“You should be so lucky,” Maggie replied and moved away quickly, leading Kim with her towards the doorway, where Captain Banks already stood, shining his light out into the chamber beyond.
“Looks clear,” he said. He waited until Hynd and Wilkins came through, then went ahead down the steps out of the chamber. Maggie felt Kim’s hand find hers in the gloom, she gave it a squeeze that she hoped was reassuring, then followed the gun lights out into the wider cavern.
The place stank, an acrid taste akin to burnt rubber and fine gray ash coated the floor, crisp as fresh snow on a cold day underfoot. Black scars on the walls showed where the burning had been at its most severe. The air felt stiflingly warm, as if the rocks had retained heat and were still radiating it. As they followed Banks, Maggie had an eye open for any more carvings and fresh find of significance but this chamber looked to be mostly a natural cavern in the hill with little sign of any working beyond the steps and doorway they’d just left.
Banks and the two privates, Davies and Brock, led the group directly up the center of the space, heading for a darker opening that could be seen to the north. They all soon had to step gingerly through the burnt remains of spiders, twenty at least of them, lying in heaps of ash and burned legs tangled willy-nilly together in their death throes. The smell was worse here, harsh in the nose and tickling at the back of the throat when she switched to mouth breathing. Despite holding a hand over her lips and trying to breathe shallowly, Maggie had to fight off a gag reflex. It got even worse when an incautious step meant her foot went down and into, the main body of a large spider, releasing a moist farting sound and an assault of acridity that choked her. She moved on quickly, fighting off an urge to scrape her shoe clean on the leg of her trousers, for that would only ensure the stench stayed with her all the longer.
Fortunately, the dead spiders were all concentrated in one area toward the center of the chamber. In the space of half a dozen quick steps, they were able to move through and past them, to join Banks and the two privates as they reached the shadowed exit at the north end. A welcome breeze came from the passageway ahead, colder air, mostly clear of the stench of burning and Maggie took a grateful lungful as the captain called them all together into a huddle.
“That was the easy bit,” he said, keeping his voice low. “The earlier burning cleared the way for us. If we’re lucky, the buggers have fucked off completely. But we can’t count on that. We don’t know what’s ahead of us, so stay close, don’t stray, and no shooting unless I order it. Sarge? Pass me one of the gas canisters. I’ll take point. And if I say run, don’t hang about. Understood?”
Everybody assented and Banks led the way into the dark opening.
The passageway narrowed quickly inside the entrance, so much so that after a dozen steps they had to move single file, although Kim would not let go of her grip on Maggie’s hand. Maggie led her, like mother leading child, forward in the gloom, following the light of Bank’s gun light ahead. After ten more paces, they came to a flight of worn stone steps, leading steeply downward. Banks stopped them again and they grouped tight in single file at the top of the stairwell.
“Bugger. I’d hoped to be going up into the city, not down into the hill. If anybody sees a passageway that feels fresher, shout. And if this one goes down too far, or if there are spiders ahead of us, be prepared to turn back fast. This is no place to make a stand.”
Without another word, he led them down.
Maggie had to take care with her footing, for although the gun lights illuminated the way ahead, she could barely see her ankles in the dark when she looked down. Fortunately, the steps were dry and worn enough by feet over the centuries that her feet naturally found the grooves and ruts that made descending simpler. She tripped at one point and put a hand out to steady herself, surprised to find the rock cool, cold to the touch.
The going was of necessity slower now, for they were all taking care despite the relatively easy going; none of them wanted to take a tumble down into the black depths. The only sound was the pad of their feet on stone and their breathing. The whole descent took on an air of anticipation, Maggie’s fight or flight response kicking in hard at the thought of what might be waiting ahead for them. If there had been any sudden loud sound, she might well have screamed; she certainly felt ready for it.
But Banks’ fears of going too far down into the hill proved unfounded as they only went down twenty steps before the passageway opened out again into another chamber. Given the echoes raised ahead of her, Maggie guessed that this one was of similar size to the one at the top of the stairs. Banks waved his light around and once again Kim gasped loudly.
This was a natural chamber, or rather, it had been at one time. The squad’s gun lights showed her enough to see that it had been worked into a long alleyway with evenly spaced eight feet tall cells hewn into the rock. Each cell was guarded by twin, intricately carved, pillars and each, at least the ones not covered liberally in spider web, contained hefty primitive double-stacked sarcophagi, four to a cell. They weren’t close enough to make out detail but even from the bottom of the steps, Maggie could tell that these were Roman period pieces, of similar age to the mosaic they’d found on the floor in their dig. More than that, they looked like they had lain here undisturbed since being put in place, with only the spiders for company.
“Do you see this?” Kim whispered, as if unsure whether she was awake or dreaming.
“I see it,” Maggie replied. “I’m not sure I believe it.”
Banks called for quiet. He had his gun light pointed straight ahead down the center of the room, trying to penetrate the darkness. From what Maggie could see, the rows of cells continued away into the distance in a long alley. Banks motioned that Davies should keep an eye left and for Brock to cover the right, then led them, slowly, forward.