“Let us go a little farther yet,” suggested Ecgbryt. “It may descend yet again. There is nothing lost if we be wrong.”
“Nothing but time,” said Swi?gar. “And that is something in limited supply. It may go farther down yet, but another path may be better. I think we should return to the cavern.”
“And do what? Try another tunnel?” Ecgbryt responded, his voice rising. “Which of those was more promising than this?”
“Perhaps,” said Swi?gar uncomfortably, “we could go a small way into each one-a short distance and follow the one most likely.”
“But time presses, Swi?gar,” Ecgbryt said in a mocking tone. “We will get nowhere by traveling short distances. Who’s to know that the tunnels don’t all meet up farther on down? Let us press on.”
Swi?gar didn’t move; he just glowered at Ecgbryt. “Wisdom dictates that we stop and consider before-”
“Oh yes, wise Swi?gar and his dictates!”
“You speak out of turn, bro?or!”
“Then kindly inform each of us when our turn arrives, so we may speak then!”
Daniel and Freya stood along one wall, gripping their lanterns and watching the knights argue with wide eyes. Daniel looked at the gnomes and would have laughed if he weren’t so afraid. Almost a hundred wide and fearful eyes were looking at the knights like frightened islanders would look at a hurricane.
Swi?gar’s jaw clenched. “Have your say,” he growled.
“We have barely even started down this route,” Ecgbryt said, his voice steady. “The lad is right, let us just follow it a little farther.”
There was a heavy silence as the knights glared at each other. “I agree with Swi?gar,” Freya announced. “I think we should-”
She stopped abruptly when Ecgbryt turned his face on her, his eyes blazing angrily.
“I do too,” said Daniel, stepping forward to stand beside Freya.
“But I agree more with Ecgbryt,” he said, turning to Swi?gar.
“Anyhow, I don’t see why we have to have it just one way. Let’s just go a little farther and if it still doesn’t look good, then we can turn back. That way we’re all satisfied, yeah?”
Ecgbryt dipped his eyes and looked away. Swi?gar stroked his beard, and Freya moved a trembling hand across her hot face.
“We can still have it both ways, it’s just that we can’t know if this tunnel is right if we turn back now.”
Swi?gar gave a curt nod. “Very well,” he conceded, turning to the gnomes. “You are welcome to join us, but you are not bound.”
All of the tiny eyes stared, blinking. “Ah, yes,” said the chief nervously. “We would gladly join you, but if it’s all the same . . . we won’t. Still,” he said, trying to sound hearty. Raising his hands, he declared, “May your legs move merrily along your . . . what-you-may-call-it, and may your feet never want for . . . thingy. And all that. Right. Okay,” he said, turning. “Come along, lads.”
The gnomes turned quickly and bustled off back up the tunnel, carrying their lantern with them.
4
As the travelers resumed their journey in sullen silence, they soon noticed the texture of the walls change from a crumbly black surface to a soft, lumpy white one.
“It looks like chalk,” said Freya.
“Aye, so it is,” answered Swi?gar. This was the first exchange in some time, and it died in silence.
“What’s happening up there?” Daniel asked. “Does the tunnel just end?”
“It might just be a turn or something,” Freya said.
Because of the white walls, the light cast by the lamps was brighter and went farther, but it still was only a few more steps until they saw that the tunnel did, in fact, come to a dead end.
“Well, that’s that,” said Daniel under his breath. “Now we know.” He turned and tried to avoid Swi?gar’s eye.
“Wait, look,” said Freya. “That edge up there. Look, there’s something on the other side.”
“The girl’s right,” Ecgbryt said, stepping towards what looked like a depression in the wall. Once his torch shone across it, however, it was revealed to be a hole large enough for him to put first his torch and then his head through it. Standing on his toes and pulling himself up with his free hand, he examined the opening for a moment before pulling himself out.
“It appears to lead to the floor of another chamber,” he reported. “I see a lot of walls and entrances. I think we should investigate it.”
Swi?gar said nothing but stood pulling at his beard doubtfully.
“Take a look for yourself at least,” Ecgbryt suggested.
Swi?gar stepped forward and examined the hole in the same way. “Very well,” he agreed reluctantly, “let one of us go first, and then the ??elingas.”
Ecgbryt was lofting his gear and weaponry through the hole before Swi?gar had even finished talking. With difficulty, and some widening of the chalk hole, Ecgbryt pushed through and was able to reach down to pull Daniel and Freya up as well.
Looking around, they saw that they were in the corner of what looked to be a grid-like construction of tunnels-or rather, one wide-open space that was supported by many thick columns of white rock.
“I believe this may be a mine. Much of the island is rich in good quality chalk such as this.”
Daniel considered. “A mine? But I thought that we were going through the Wild Caves-not anything made by men.”
Swi?gar nodded. “And so we have been until now. These caves were not made by Britons, though, but by the men of Rome, and possibly the Celts before them.”
“Still,” said Freya, “we can’t be that far from the surface, can we?”
“We will have to see. But my fear is that we are straying from our true course.”
“So little faith have you, Swi?gar?” said Ecgbryt. “You must trust more to fortune-it has been on our side yet.”
Swi?gar’s face went slightly dark and then cleared again.
“Nevertheless,” he said, “if you don’t think it mocking fate, I would like to mark our exit.”
Ecgbryt shrugged and hoisted his pack. Using the butt of his spear to scrape into the soft stone, Swi?gar made large Xs on the walls above the hole. They gathered their things and started exploring the new tunnels.
They walked for some time but arrived nowhere. Each section of the tunnel was the same as the last, a short corridor leading to a perpendicular crossroads, always carved out of white, powdery rock. Eventually their path ended in a wall so they turned and walked along that for a while. When that ended after a short distance, so they went in another direction. Freya’s eyes were starting to water from the dust clouding up from their steps and from the endless repetition.
Eventually they decided to stop at a crossroads and rest. The light from the torches did not reflect off any wall down either end, as far as they could see. Frustrated, they sat together, not saying a word or even looking at each other. Daniel finished massaging his feet and very carefully put his socks back on. He drank some water and lay back on the cold floor, willing his muscles to relax.
It was as he closed his eyes and let his mind drift that he felt something on the back of his head-a dull vibration that came from the ground: a kind of pounding and scraping.
He opened his eyes. None of the others were doing anything to create the strange sensation he was feeling. He strained his ears to listen, trying to separate sounds away from each other, then realised that he wasn’t listening to one sound but to lots of the same sound. The feeling of dread swept over him.
“Everyone, quiet,” he whispered. “I think it’s yfelgopes!”
All held their breath. Swi?gar and Ecgbryt stood, quietly drawing their weapons.
Soon they heard the sound of footsteps-many footsteps. A flickering light grew around them. Daniel stood up and took a few steps down the tunnel. He guessed what the source of the light was before he saw it-it was another lamp. In the deep blue glow they glimpsed a shape, which they quickly recognised.