Becoming P.T. Lyfantod - 58
A serial fantasy novel
What follows is Part 58 of Becoming P.T. Lyfantod
If you missed Part 1, start there:
Crouching down, I felt around for the edge of the grate. I slipped the fingers of one hand through the bars, braced against the floor with the other, and pulled. The grate was heavy. Almost too heavy. Almost.
“I think we’re meant to go down.”
Doom.
I closed my eyes and let the grate fall.
“What do you mean, down?” Tom yelled.
“The grate,” I said. “It moves. I think… whatever we’re looking for, it’s down there.”
There was a pause.
“I’m coming down,” Iain said.
“Iain—” Merry began.
“I know. Be careful.”
“Don’t expect me to pull you up if you fall, Lloyd.”
“Please.” I could hear Iain maneuvering himself over the edge. The drum boomed, and when it faded, I was greeted by the sound of Iain’s trainers sliding down the wall and hitting the grate with a heavy clang.
“You can reach?” I said incredulously.
“Course I can. I’m tall.” Iain picked his way over to my narrow ledge, and a moment later his questing hand nearly poked me in the eye.
“Hey!” I swatted the hand away.
“There you are.” He moved off. I guessed he was sizing up the space.
From across the pit there was more movement. “I’m coming down too,” Tom said, right before a very loud clang.
“Did you jump?” Merry cried.
“It’s fine. It’s not that far.” He came over, hands out, as I discovered when one of them knocked my shoulder.
“Ow! Would you two stop hitting me?”
Iain called up from the other end of the ledge. “All right, you two. Come down as well. If P.T.’s right, we all need to be over here before we raise the grate.”
“I’m coming,” Merry said. From the sound of it, she was already halfway down. There was another clang, and then she cried out.
“What happened?” Iain demanded.
“Mer?” said Tom.
Merry hissed through her teeth. “It’s fine…” she sounded more angry than anything. “I turned my ankle.”
“I’m coming.” Tom stepped onto the grate.
“I can walk,” Merry said. And a second later, “—And mind where you put your hands!”
“Stu?” Iain called.
“Be right there,” Stuart’s voice was strained. I could hear him moving. And a good deal of labored breathing. The telltale slip-sliding of shoes. A pained grunt. And then… silence.
“Uh, Stu?”
“I’m—here…”
Merry realized what’d happened first. “Stuart. You have to let go.”
“I’m trying,” Stuart croaked. “My fingers aren’t listening. I—” There was a yelp and a crash.
“Christ, Jenkins! Try not to bring the whole thing down!”
“Sorry…”
Soon we were all safely on the ledge. Tom, Iain and I raised the grate. There must have been a hinge on the other side, because it came up smoothly with the three of us working together. Merry knelt and felt around inside the hole.
“There’s a ladder, going down. I don’t like it, but…”
“Why does it feel more and more like we’re in a horror film?” muttered Tom.
“You can always go back,” suggested Iain.
Tom said nothing.
“So who’s going first?” asked Merry.
“I’ll go,” I said. “But if something happens…”
“We’ll make sure you have a lovely service,” said Iain.
“Thanks,” I laughed weakly. “Though you could consider coming after me as well.” Merry made space and I climbed down to test the first rung. It was wet and smooth, but set firmly into the wall. “At least it can’t get any darker…” I swallowed, and sent first one foot then the other in search of lower steps.
“All right, Mer goes next. Then Jenkins, and then me,” said Tom. “Lloyd’s got a big enough back to prop this thing up with.”
“Shouldn’t we… wait?” asked Stuart. “To see what’s at the bottom?”
“He has a point,” said Merry. “P.T., find anything?”
“Nothing yet…” I’d only gone a couple of meters.
“Just go,” Iain grunted. “This thing is heavier than it looks.”
“Um. We can’t see it,” Merry said.
“Oh… Right. In any case—”
“I’m going.” I heard Merry climb onto the rungs above me. Down, down…
“Stu, you next.”
“Yeah, okay…”
“P.T., still going?” Merry asked from a few meters up.
“Still going,” I replied. “Just try not to step on my fingers. Or my head…”
I tried to focus on my hands and feet. Steady. Careful. Down, down. Toward what, I didn’t know. I winced and clung to the wall when the grate clanged shut above. Iain’s sigh of relief floated down to my ears. Almost as soon as I recovered, my foot splashed down in shallow water. “I’ve found the bottom!” I called, stepping gingerly off the ladder, finding the wall with one hand and exploring the open air with the other. My own plashing steps were soon joined by others.
There was a soft metallic scraping. “Oh,” Merry said. “I’ve found one of Tom’s coins.”
“Give it here, then.”
“All right. Everyone here?” Iain asked as he arrived at the bottom. We chorused confirmation.
“Hey,” Stuart’s voice was unexpectedly light. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I said.
“The drumming—it’s stopped!”
And he was right. That awful pounding had gone on so long I’d started to anticipate it. Now, as silence stretched, I hardly knew what to do with it.
“D’you think that means we’re finished?” Stuart asked hopefully.
“I don’t know,” I said, as my seeking hands revealed a corner. “I think I’ve found a d—whoa…”
“What is it?” asked Iain.
“This place is… big.” Stepping forward, the effect was both jarring and immediate. Until now, the walls had been close. I could hear them around me, though I couldn’t see. The moment I’d passed through that door, I could feel them stretching away.
“How do you mean?” asked Merry.
“Holy—” Iain breathed.
I put an arm out to stop him as I felt him start to move past me. “Hold on. Tom, do you have that coin?”
“Yeah… Why?”
“I want you to throw it. As hard as you can, in any direction.”
A pregnant pause. “Fine.”
I could almost see the swing of his arm from the whoosh of his sleeve, and I counted. Ten seconds passed. Twenty.
“Uh—did you throw it?” asked Iain.
Tom swallowed audibly. “As hard as I could.”
“We’ll have to mind where we walk,” I murmured. “Because I think we may be on the verge of a bottomless pit…”
