The Curious Quests of Brigadier Ffellowes (8 page)

             
"Remembering his warnings, I turned and looked back the other way. Here, the rock floor leveled off, as if we stood at the top of a slope; but here were no lights. Yet I had the feeling that the tunnel did not end near us at all but ran on for
unguessable
distances through the heart of the hills.

             
"Raising a finger to his lips, James led off down the
gentle slope, his huge blade at the ready. I came behind in equal silence, listening as hard as I was able. Down here, out of the sound of the storm, the silence seemed muffled, but also echoing, so that the faint scuff of our feet rang abnormally loud in my ears. The faint throbbing beat we had heard on the surface had fallen silent as we had come down the ladder, but now it resumed again, louder and louder as we progressed. Then it halted once more, and the silence closed in upon us. We were now some few paces past the
second lantern, still descending, and in the remote distance was the glowworm flicker of yet another light.

             
"All at once, on our left, there loomed up the opening of a huge passage, whose arch was far larger than the one we trod. We listened tensely, but I could hear nothing at first except the faint sound of dripping water some way off in the distance. Concentrating hard, I began to hear something else, or thought that I did. It was a sliding sound, as if something like wet hose were being dragged over a rock. It stopped, and I could only hear the drip of moisture again, but from James' taut face I fancied I had not been mistaken.

             
" 'If we go on,' he whispered, 'we will have things behind us as well as before. Be twice vigilant.' He turned and moved off again, with me still in his wake.

             
"As we reached the third of the lights, a distance I estimated of some
hundred
of yards, I began to be conscious of yet another sound. This was a faint roaring, more of a vibration to be felt, rather than something caught by one's ears. It was not loud, but constant, as if it were coming through the rocks all around us, and it, too, seemed to emanate from in front, the direction in which we were advancing. James heard it also and turned to face me.

             
" 'We are almost under the sea face,' he whispered in my ear. 'You hear the ocean as it strikes the cliff. There may be a chance still. I had hoped for this.'

             
"What he hoped for escaped me. This whole episode had taken on the quality of a waking dream in which I felt
myself a spectator as well as an actor. I could do nothing except follow and await events, in some world of which I knew nothing, except that it, and James as well, had taken over control of my actions, shaping them to suit themselves.

             
"We had passed the last light long since, but now ahead of us we saw something new. The tunnel took a sharp bend to the right, and the rock floor no longer sloped at all. From around this bend came a lurid glare, far stronger than the lantern gleam. As we halted to watch, the throbbing boom we had first heard burst out once more, but this time far closer. If it were not some sort of drum, then I had never heard one.

             
"James motioned me on and led the way cautiously. As we approached, I saw the mouth of still another tunnel opening on our left, just before the bend. It had been hidden from us as we approached by a shallow buttress or stone, which thrust from the tunnel wall. We listened as before, but could hear nothing. But from its mouth came a vile reek, a stench of decay which turned the stomach. It was the awful smell which had so sickened the people at the Avalon House, and I felt sure this was its origin. We moved slowly past the hole and more slowly still to the turn of the passage. Reaching this, we halted and peered around it
.
I dropped to one knee, with James over me so that we offered as little of a target as possible to any observer.

             
"What we saw was this: we were staring into a cave or vault, which arched to a high point in the center. It was roughly oval in shape, but appeared to be man-made rather than natural, for its proportions seemed shaped and fairly symmetrical, if rough. It was perhaps three hundred feet in circumference.

             
"Around the walls were dark alcoves at regular intervals, and between the alcoves rough stone benches had been hacked out of the wall material itself. In the center was a great rectangular block of smooth black stone, unadorned
but polished to a glossy sheen, from which the evil light glanced back and glimmered on the walls about
.
The light itself came from a fire which had been lit just in front of the block itself and on our side. It seemed to be of ordinary logs, but the flame burned with a greenish glow and not the orange of a normal blaze. Smoke swirled about the place, but most of it was carried upward as if by some draught, and I thought there must be a chimney of some sort up above in the viewless center, out of our sight
.
Between us and the fire, with his back to us, stood a man.

             
"He seemed to wear a long dark robe and was bareheaded. In the light of the fire I could just see that the robe had reddish symbols or shapes of some sort on its back, but what they were I could not make out
.
The figure rose to its full height, arms extended over its head, and made some signs in the smoky air. The drum beat sounded louder as if in answer. But where was the drum?

             
"The sound seemed to come from off to my right someplace. I could not see into the black pits of the alcoves, which the firelight did not reach, and the drumbeat apparently came from one of these.

             
"Now the figure which postured before us began to chant, a long singsong, in some speech unknown to me. The voice was high and strident, and the sound cut through the drum song and seemed to reach a long way as if carrying to
unguessable
reaches of space and time. The drumming halted for a second and then resumed, louder and more menacing than before.

             
"James lowered his head to where I crouched. 'Watch here, as I have told you. I must face what comes alone. Your task is to ward my back, unless I call. God give us strength, and His Son as well!'

             
"He rose, head erect, and while I watched in awe, he marched straight down into that ghastly chamber, his boots ringing on the rock, his sword loose in his great right hand.

             
"The figure in front of that grim altar, if that was what it was, whirled as it caught the sound, holding out its hands as if to hold off danger. And a strange sight he was.

             
"It was Lord Lionel, of course. What we had thought was a robe, was a long cloak, fastened about his neck with a jeweled clasp. Under it he wore a shirt of some coarse stuff that looked like frieze, and below that again a kilt of dark material, falling to just above his knees. On his legs were cross-garters, and his feet bore soft leather shoes,
laceless
and reaching to the ankles. He might have been garbed to play Hamlet on the stage, even to the curved dagger thrust into a gem-studded belt
.

             
"But there was no playacting here. Even I, who loathed the man, had to admit he looked magnificent
.
It was as if these were his true clothes, the ones for which he had been born. His lank hair was bound back by a fillet of dull purple, and under it his eyes blazed in his chalk-white face. I read surprise, but that faded and was replaced by the raging hatred I had seen before, the fury of a
demon unleashed. As he glared, the drum faltered and fell silent, and once more I heard about us the muffled roar of the Western Ocean. There was an atmosphere of waiting. I felt a wave of cold, alien and charged with malice, coming from the right of the room where the unseen drummer must lurk in the shadow of one of the niches.

             
"It was James who broke the silence. He took three more steps, which placed him to the left of the fire, forcing his brother to turn also and giving to me full view of both their profiles. The Earl's was calm, with the brooding calm of majesty which I had earlier noted. His strange garb in no way detracted from his towering good looks, and I felt that any clothes would have meant nothing. He was what he was now, and clothes were extraneous.

             
" 'I have come to end it,' his voice rumbled out. 'I know why you are here and what you have summoned. The Hunter has been sent back to the hills, from whence only your
vile arts could have roused him. Your servants, the spawn of ancient and black sorcery in the dolmens and monoliths of the lost, sunken lands of Brittany, lie dead over your head. I know, too, who seeks to be free, with his night wandering and frightening of the countryside. I know, too, how he is to be freed and what a price you will pay for it. Not even a thing like you, with your years of foreign delving into that which should have been long forgot, I say, not even you can fully know what it would cost you, and the world as well, if what sleeps here would once more come into full life!'

             
"The hatred left Lionel's face for a moment to be replaced by wonder. It was a shock to hear his despised brother, I think, whom he had held in such contempt for years, challenging him on his own ground and, yes, with such a wealth of apparent knowledge. Then his face hardened.

             
" 'You think to defy me?' he shouted incredulously, 'me, with that stupid sword? You break in here, to this place of the most ancient mystery in the isles, the cavern of the Dark Prince, where lies his tomb? You bring that cretin in the door to attack me, who have sought for knowledge of this place the world over? It is you who are mad! In the name of the Lost One who lies here, I defy you! You have a sword, have you! Well, look on this then, you whom all the world call my brother! Look on the ax of him who lies here, laid in his tomb by the faithful, when he was cheated of his rights by the Christ-worshipers in that last battle, when dying he took with him the enemy of all his hopes!' He rattled out a string of uncouth syllables, and once more that horrid drum began to pulse from its hiding place.

             
"Lionel had crouched at the base of the great ebon block, which I had thought an altar but which now appeared in its true light. It was a mighty catafalque. I could barely make out the faint, time-scored line of the massive lid.

             
"When Lionel rose, he had thrown off his cloak and in his left hand carried a great ax, double-headed, with lunate
curves, its somber blades giving back no more light than the tomb at whose marge it had lain. On his right forearm hung a small round shield, of apparently the same metal with a spiked boss in the center. A grim and dangerous figure he looked as he circled the black, basalt-hued block and moved in, seeking an opening. I strained to join in, for the shield gave him a deadly advantage, and James had no such defense.

             
"But I had been given a charge, and I knew I could not yield to impulse. As the drumming
rose in volume, I stole a glance over my shoulder to the tunnel at my back. It was well I did.

             
"Something as pale as white bone was creeping up on me, indistinct in the fire's murky light I caught a glimpse of long thin arms, the fingers ending in huge claws, a face like a starved baboon's skull, all bone and yellowed fangs, with two eyes of opaque flame,
pupilless
and blinking. That I had turned at the last moment was luck, if anything was due to luck on that mad night I think even the dim glow of the evil fire slowed the monster down, for whatever cavern it had stolen from must have been utterly without light.

             
"As it snarled hideously and rose from a crouch, I turned and lunged straight at that countenance of hell, between the orbs of pale phosphorescence it used for eyes.

             
"The blade bent, as the good steel struck something hard, and a shock ran up my stiffened arm to my shoulder. Even as I struck, I heard the clash of steel behind me and knew that James fought his enemy even as I.

             
"The foulness in front of me screamed, a high whining note which hurt my eardrums, and drew back in a scuttling lope, deeper into the dark of the tunnel. I thought I had struck its skull and knew that I had hurt but not killed it. I, too, drew back to the entrance of the huge cavern. I could not win a fight with that lurker in the shadows without light of my own; protecting James' back came first in any case.