another door on the right.
“ Ahhh!”
Back in the other room, Jiron cries out in surprise then the sound of a thud echoes down the hallway. “James!” he cries out.
Racing back down the hallway, he pulls a slug out of his belt and has it ready when he runs into the room. Jiron stands with his shoulder against the door. “What’s wrong?” he asks. Crossing the room quickly, he comes to his side.
“There’s something on the other side of this door,” he says.
Alarmed, James asks, “What is it?”
“A headless torso,” he replies. “Just like one of those we encountered back in the swamp.”
Not even wanting to think of the ramifications if those things are wandering around down here with them, he pulls out the medallion bearing the Star. He holds it before him and says to Jiron, “Open the door.” The last time they encountered these things, the Star had blazed forth and destroyed the undead creatures. “Better to deal with this now than run the risk of it joining with others.”
Nodding, Jiron takes hold of the handle of the door with one hand while he draws a knife with the other. “Ready?” he asks. When he receives an affirmative nod from James, he yanks open the door.
Braced for immediate attack, James is surprised when the door swings wide and reveals nothing but an empty corridor. He glances to the medallion in his hand which has remained quiet, no light emanates from it.
Jiron looks at the empty hallway in surprise, then bolts down it in search of the creature. “It may have moved away,” he exclaims.
James follows after and keeps one eye on Jiron and another on the Star which has remained quiescent.
The hallway doesn’t extend very far before they reach an area where it has collapsed and the way is impassable. “It was here!” Jiron exclaims.
“Are you sure you weren’t imagining it?” asks James.
“No,” insists Jiron. “I opened the door and it reached for me.”
“Well, it’s not here now,” he says.
Jiron moves to the dirt and stone blocking the hallway and feels it to see if it’s real. Finding that it is, he turns back to James with an odd look on his face.
James shrugs. “Could have been a trick of shadows,” he reasons.
“Maybe,” concedes Jiron.
Coming forward he pats him on the shoulder and says, “Come on. There’s another hallway leading from the other door.”
“Alright,” says Jiron as he follows James back to the room and then over to the other door. But it had seemed so real!
They enter the hallway and move down to the door James found before Jiron cried out. The hallway continues further on past the door and into darkness. With Jiron’s recent experience in mind, they both make ready for battle as Jiron opens the door.
Swinging open the door slowly, they brace for attack but only find a hard packed dirt wall on the other side. Shutting the door, Jiron turns and leads the way further down the hallway.
“There’s got to be another way to the surface somewhere,” he mutters as he moves away from the door. James nods behind him in silent agreement.
Further down they come across another door on their right. Only attached by one of its hinges, it sits askew in the middle of the hallway. Dirt that has completely filled the room beyond the door has spilled through and practically obstructs the hallway. Climbing over the mound of dirt, they discover the rest of the hallway is all but destroyed. The floor above had collapsed.
“Damn!” exclaims James from his position on the mound of dirt behind Jiron.
Holding aloft the orb, Jiron inspects the obstruction for a possible way through. “We’re in luck,” he says pointing to the top of the obstruction. “The cave-in opened a way up to the floor above.”
“Be careful,” advises James as Jiron begins working his way up the pile of stone and dirt. He starts to follow when Jiron’s foot dislodges a stone which falls and almost hits him in the head. Deciding to wait until he reaches the top, James holds his position.
When Jiron hollers down that he’s made it, James begins climbing up. The unstable rubble makes climbing difficult, the rocks shift under him and twice he starts sliding back down when they give way. Taking it slow, he finally makes it to the top and finds that they are in another room.
Jiron reaches down a hand and helps him the last bit until he’s standing in the room. The ceiling of the room has collapsed in two places, one of which has left an opening.
Broken stone lies strewn across the floor of the room. A single closed door appears to be the only way out other than the hole in the ceiling.
James considers the hole in the ceiling while Jiron moves to investigate the door. Holding his orb high, he sees there’s an open area beyond the hole in the ceiling. “If we can get up there it would bring us closer to the surface,” he observes.
Jiron pauses at the door and turns to face him. Glancing from the floor to the ceiling he says, “That’s a good twelve feet at least. How would we get up there?”
Shrugging, James replies, “Not sure.”
Turning back to the door, Jiron pulls it open to find what used to be a stairway leading down. But the stairwell has long since collapsed and the way is no longer passable. “This way is blocked,” he says as he turns back to where James is trying to figure a way up to the hole.
“Maybe we should take a short break while we work on how to continue,” suggests Jiron.
Glancing at him, James nods his head. “That might not be such a bad idea.”
Moving over to one side where the rubble isn’t nearly so thick, they clear a space and sit down against the wall. Jiron removes two pieces of dried beef from his belt pouch and hands one to James.
“Thanks,” he says. Taking the beef, he bites off a piece and gazes around the room. “You know, there’re some good sized pieces of stone here,” he states. “Might be possible to make a pile high enough for us to reach the edge of the opening.”
Jiron nods at the idea. “Would be better than backtracking to find another route,” he agrees. Then he asks, “How’s your wrist?”
“Still hurts,” replies James. “Don’t worry, I’ll still help build the pile.” He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Jiron looking at him.
“That’s not what I was meaning,” he says. “Just concerned is all.”
“I know,” James assures him.
They sit and rest until they’ve finished their dried beef and drank a small portion of their depleting water supply. “Ready?” Jiron asks. When James nods his head, they get up and begin to work on building a pile to reach the hole.
At first they work together on the larger chunks of stone to build the base. James’ hand prevents them from using the largest pieces but he’s at least able to assist Jiron in moving some of the medium sized ones.
Stone after stone, they move each to beneath the opening and the pile steadily rises. They even remove the door leading to the clogged stairwell and add it to the growing pile to add stability. When all but the small stones that would be of little use are gathered, Jiron climbs to the top and finds he is still four feet from the opening. The pile of stone isn’t stable enough to allow him to jump that far even with the use of the door. The top stone upon which he stands continuously threatens to slip off the pile at any second.
“Maybe we can work some stones out of the wall where it’s broken,” suggests James.
“Good idea,” replies Jiron as he works his way down from the pile.
James takes out his belt knife and walks over to the wall. Large chunks of stone are imbedded within the dirt. Using his knife, he begins working the stones out from the wall. When they are loose enough, Jiron takes them to the pile.
This process takes well over an hour before Jiron once again climbs the pile in an attempt to reach the hole in the ceiling. Once on the top, he stretches to touch the edge of the opening. His fingers are only six inches away this time. The rocks upon which he stands continue to shift and rock in a most unstable manner. Deciding to risk it, he jumps.
