The Morrow Secrets (20 page)

The Groat refused to answer. Esmerelda hit him on the side of his head. He winced and began to slur, his speech befuddled by the drug.
‘It means‒errrrr... the r-route under the m-m-mountains,’ said the Groat moaning and coughing up blood.
He vomited on the floor.
‘What’s the meaning of the riddle?’ demanded Esmerelda, disgusted at the vile creature.
The Groat’s head fell forward and Esmerelda punched him again. ‘Tell me or we’ll finish you off!’
‘You have to go b-b-backwards,’ said the Groat his eyelids flickering open, revealing his blue eyes now dulled with the drug.
‘What do you mean, go backwards?’
The Groat chuckled drunkenly and blood trickled from his fat lips.
‘Come on!’ shouted Ruker pushing her sword into the Groat’s belly.
The Groat moaned in pain and knocked the sword away.
‘The l-l-letters,’ the Groat winced, ‘turn the letters backwards in the TORS.’
Esmerelda’s face lit up as she grasped the meaning. ‘You mean find the locations with the letters, but backwards, as in S-R-O-T?’
The Groat grimaced and nodded.
‘Yesss, follow them in s-s-sequence,’ said the Groat groggily.
‘Which places?’ shouted Esmerelda shaking him.
He slumped forward and she hit him again. He groaned, lifted his head and blood oozed from his neck. The friends crowded round to hear every utterance from the vile creature.
‘First, to Sour Pit Chimneys,’ said the Groat.
‘Then where? Come on, tell us!’ she shouted.
‘Then to... to Ravens’ Stones.’
The Groat slumped forward. Esmerelda lifted his chin and shook him.
‘Old Yawning Edges,’ The Groat chuckled wickedly.
‘Then what?’ asked Esmerelda.
The Groat smiled a sickly, vicious smile that made his fat lips bulge to reveal his sharp carnivorous teeth.
‘Then to the T-T-Throes of Woe,’ he said chuckling malevolently, ‘but you’ll never make it that far.’ He licked his lips and sneered.
‘Tell me about the Throes of Woe? What dangers lurk there?’ demanded Esmerelda becoming frustrated with the Groat’s insinuations.
‘You’ll find out,’ said the Groat curling his lip and snarling.
Ruker suddenly hit the Groat with the butt of her sword and he fell solidly in a heap on the floor.
‘Hey, what did you do that for?’ demanded Benedict.
‘We don’t want him overhearing our plans. Also I really don’t like him,’ said Ruker giving the Groat a kick with her foot. ‘He won’t wake up for a good while.’
‘We’ll take him with us. We can barter with his life if necessary,’ said Esmerelda.
Neeps sat thoughtfully, wiping the blood from his sword. ‘The Groats could have killed us, so why didn’t they?’ asked Neeps. ‘There’s something afoot and no mistake,’ he said nervously.
Ruker nodded at her friend. ‘They outnumbered us for sure. These caves hold many secrets, there’s something here we don’t understand,’ said Ruker, warily.
‘There’s evil. I can feel it in my bones,’ said Neeps. ‘The evil is waiting and biding its time. It’s old and revengeful and it will harm us if it can. Something devilish is going on,’ he said, his words trailing off.
‘We’ve only been to the edge of Sour Pits before, but no further,’ said Ruker, turning to Esmerelda.
‘Aye, and that was bad enough,’ interrupted Neeps. ‘That means we’ll have to go down the Shrunken Butts.’
‘Then the map is no good from here on in,’ she said sadly pushing it into her pack. ‘No wonder I became lost so often.’
Neeps tied his pony tail into a stump at the back of his head and looked nervously into the darkness. The way through the caves had been revealed to them but they still had one pressing problem. They had to find Tyaas and rescue him. Ruker knew the only way to the Sour Pit Chimneys was through a narrow pothole. She braced herself to forewarn the others about the next stage of their perilous journey.
‘We’ll need all our strength to deal with what’s ahead of us. The way to Sour Pit Chimneys is down a narrow, dark pothole, called Shrunken Butts. I’ll go first, roped up and make a series of bolt-points where I‘ll leave small tallow-pots to guide you. Neeps will send down three bags, hiding the rest up here. I’ll wait at the end of each section and manoeuvre the bags through. Then you’ll follow, one by one and Neeps will come last with the Groat. Does anyone have any questions?’
No one spoke. The prospect of descending into the dark pothole was almost too much to bear. Ruker and Neeps prepared the ropes for the long pitch down, tying hitches and knots in several places. Tallitha watched as the Skinks busied themselves organising the equipment. She could tell they were nervous and afraid of what was yet to come. Tallitha twisted her hair in and out of her fingers, while a heavy feeling of dread gnawed away inside her.

When Tyaas woke some hours later his head throbbed and his body ached. He winced as he lifted his hands to his temple and felt something warm and sticky. He licked his fingers and tasted his own salty blood. In the gloomy half-light he crawled towards the edge of the cave and peered over the deep shaft. Down below he could hear the distant sounds of the Groats in the darkness. Then he remembered the eyes of the vile creatures and how they had snatched him from his friends. Tentatively he reached down and touched the smooth sides of the vertical shaft. There was no way up or down without a rope and even then it would be near impossible. Tyaas saw a faint greyish light coming from the gaping entrance at the head of the shaft. He slumped on his back, scared and miserable. Now he was a prisoner of the Groats.

Later, when all was still, a Groat guard left food and a strange-tasting amber drink. Tyaas quickly ate the pot of sloppy food, trying not to think about the lumpy ingredients floating at the bottom. Almost immediately he yawned and curled up on the cave floor. He dreamt of strange frightening creatures and attempting to escape but making no headway, his feet, too heavy to move, like weighted stone.

The space in the lava tubes was generous compared to the narrow twists and turns of the Shrunken Butts. They lowered themselves into the pothole one by one, following the guide rope and the small yellow chalk marks glowing in the tallow lights. They grasped at the indentations in the rock wall whilst using the rope to guide them down the inky cavity. About halfway down, Benedict began to shake.

‘The thought of what’s below us is terrifying,’ he moaned, ‘I hate the dark,’ he whimpered.
‘Then stop thinking about it and don’t look down. Just keep going,’ said Tallitha inching further down the abysmal hole.
‘I’m stuck,’ he bleated. ‘I can’t move, something’s caught!’
‘What’s going on?’ Ruker whispered hoarsely from the tallow point.
She shone the lantern up the pothole and it alighted on Tallitha’s desperate face peering down the shaft.
‘It’s Benedict,’ she whispered. ‘He says he’s stuck.’
All they could hear was Benedict’s whining in the darkness. Benedict was a complete drain. Tallitha felt the rope tighten around her waist as Esmerelda began her descent.
‘Essie, can you help Benedict? He’s got himself snagged somehow.’
They waited, clinging to the rock face as the boy continued whingeing, while Esmerelda unhooked his jacket. They heard her speak to him, encouraging him to move down the shaft. Then Tallitha felt the rope slacken and she began her descent to the next tallow point.
Slowly they eased their way down the shaft, snagging their clothes on the rocks and gasping as the rope tightened and pulled them up sharply. The pothole echoed to the sound of Ruker’s voice as she guided them through the impossibly tight spaces.
‘OK, move left. That’s it. Now further right and drop down to the next foothold. That’s right,’ she said, urging them round the tight bends.
Even with the blindfold, the Groat had no trouble with the pothole. His rubbery body was made to navigate the tight spaces as he elongated and stretched round the trickiest bends. He was tethered to Neeps and the Groat had to keep stopping so the Skink could catch up with him. Neeps was a skilled knife-thrower, a fact he had shared with the Groat before their descent. Eventually Tallitha and Benedict reached the bottom and eased their way out of the hellhole.
‘That’s the sound of Sour Pit Chimneys,’ said Ruker, gesticulating towards the roaring water.
They crawled along a narrow ledge with the turbulent waterfalls flowing beneath them.
‘It’s vast. Please tell me we don’t have to go down there!’ pleaded Benedict.
‘Yes I’m afraid we do. Some of the shafts are beneath the water. We’ll have to manoeuvre round those without falling down one,’ explained Ruker.
‘Tyaas is somewhere down there,’ said Tallitha despondently. ‘Maybe he’s in one of the northern chimneys? What do you think, Neeps?’
Neeps tuned to the blindfolded Groat and prodded him. ‘We’re standing over the Sour Pits now. Is our friend in the last shaft?’
The Groat grunted.
‘How can we trust him?’ asked Esmerelda suspiciously. ‘He could be lying to us.’
‘We have no choice. If Tyaas isn’t there he knows we’ll kill him, don’t you?’ said Ruker, pushing the Groat with the point of her sword.
They had to find Tyaas before it was too late.
‘I can see why they’re called chimneys,’ said Benedict. ‘The rock formation is impressive.’
‘Oh do shut up, Benedict, you’ve caused enough bother for one day,’ snapped Tallitha. ‘Tyaas is a prisoner somewhere down there. Stop wasting time on stupid geology.’
Whilst the others discussed how to tackle the next stage of the journey, Benedict’s face burned with rage. Ruker roped them up and one by one they climbed down the steep rock- face, apart from Benedict who needed the Skinks to steady him all the way down.
‘Come on Benedict, nearly there,’ said Neeps guiding the shaking boy from one crevasse to the next.
‘Ahhhh, my feet are slipping,’ he shouted.
‘Be calm, we’ve got you,’ insisted Ruker.
Within a short time they were all assembled on the top of the chimney shafts, only then did the enormity of the sieve-like rock structure become apparent. Water rushed in fast-flowing streams at their feet and roared down several of the larger shafts as they made their way towards the northern chimneys above the water level.
‘Be careful, it’s slippery,’ said Neeps, ‘and avoid the streams, they’re deeper than they look.’
They held on to one another, using the stepping-stones over the streams and keeping well away from the steep slippery edges of the shafts.
‘What’s down there?’ asked Tallitha, leaning over the edge of one of the dry chimney shafts. It was sheer, dark, and very deep.
‘Groats,’ said Ruker abruptly. ‘They live down there and come up here to fish.’
‘I don’t want to see any more of those horrible creatures,’ said Tallitha pulling a face.
But already it was too late. From the time Tyaas had been taken, the Groats had been tracking their intruders.

After wading through the shallow water above the raging waterfalls, they reached the head of the northern chimney. The scale of the shaft was breathtaking, broad and wide across its cavernous mouth and endless into the black bottomless silence. Calling out to Tyaas was out of the question.

‘Let me abseil down!’ said Tallitha excitedly. ‘It isn’t far to the first cave entrance. Look there,’ she said pointing down the shaft.
‘It’s much too risky,’ said Ruker.
‘I’m the smallest and it does make sense,’ insisted Tallitha.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Esmerelda, ‘it’s so dangerous. What if you fall?’
‘Essie, I have to find my brother.’
Esmerelda didn’t argue further. She knew what it was like to have lost someone.
‘Come on, I’ll be fine. I can do it.’
Ruker relented. There was no other way of reaching the boy.
‘OK, we’ll winch you from this rock and hold you with our combined strength.’
Neeps held the Groat with the knife at his throat while Esmerelda and Ruker made the abseil point firm and secured Tallitha to the winching tackle.
‘Wish me luck!’
Tallitha leant back over the vast drop below as the others counterbalanced her weight.
‘Pull on the rope three times if you find him and four if you don’t. We’ll signal with two pulls when we’ve received the information. If there’s danger and we want you to stay put we’ll pull five times,’ said Ruker. ‘Ready. OK?’
‘Easy-peasy, piece of cake,’ said Tallitha full of bravado.
‘Be careful, please be careful,’ said Esmerelda nervously.
The drop below was cavernous and certain death awaited Tallitha if she slipped or if she got stuck. She knew they had no rescue plan for that. As the travellers held their lanterns over the fathomless drop, with a bounce and a smile Tallitha stepped from the edge, fearless and determined to find her brother. The chimney wall was smooth and relatively easy to abseil down as long as she didn’t think about the drop below. Tallitha soon got into a repetitive rhythm‒land, bounce and jump‒land, bounce and jump‒as the others held the rope and watched her disappear into the sooty-blackness.
Tallitha’s heart raced furiously as she bumped down the chimney wall.
‘Errrgh! Errrgh! Don’t look down, don’t look down,’ she said to herself as she abseiled further into the pit. Desperate grunting noises emanated from deep within her throat as she landed momentarily and then pushed off again over the abyss. Her arm muscles ached and her thighs trembled but she kept up the gruelling pace.
‘Errgh, errgh‒just a bit further,’ she whispered to herself, ‘then it’ll be over.’
The further down she went, the darker it became, with only flashes of light from the lanterns above to guide her. The intermittent beams made jagged patterns down the chimney wall, momentarily revealing the cave entrances within her reach. Tallitha had to be as fast as lightning to absorb sufficient information as the beam of light struck the rock face to guide her on the descent. She had a split-second of light, then she had to spring further down the black shaft – land, bounce and jump...
At last a cave entrance came into view and with a determined manoeuvre she landed nimbly inside the small round space. Her hands were sore from rope burns and her legs buckled underneath her as she slumped to the floor. Slowly her eyes became accustomed to the darkness and she peered nervously around the space. But it was empty. Tyaas was nowhere to be seen. Downhearted she walked to the edge and looked up at the others but it was pitch-black apart from the occasional beam of light flashing in the heavy darkness. She tugged on the rope four times. At the top of the shaft Ruker and Neeps looked despondently at each other and pulled twice more on the rope.
But Tallitha was not about to give up. She had noticed another cave just below her. She spat on her palms, rubbing her stinging hands together and steeled herself for another perilous decent. Once again she stepped out over the abyss and began abseiling down the chimney shaft.
‘What’s she doing?’ asked Neeps as he felt a huge tug on the rope.
‘I don’t know,’ said Ruker anxiously turning to Esmerelda, who threw her hands up in despair.
Far below Tallitha repeated her rhythm of land, bounce and jump. But once again the next cave was empty. She pulled on the rope four times. This time her heart sank.
‘What’s happening?’ demanded Esmerelda, looking warily over the edge.
‘She’s pulled on the rope again. She hasn’t found Tyaas,’ explained Ruker, running her hand desperately through her hair.
Ruker grabbed the Groat. ‘OK you loathsome creature, what’s going on?’
The Groat clamped his mouth tightly shut.
‘Where’s Tyaas? What have they done with him?’
Neeps pushed the edge of his knife into the Groat’s neck, nicking the skin so that the blood slowly began to trickle down his throat.
‘He’s no use to us, let me finish him off!’ said Neeps angrily with his knife poised to slice the Groat’s neck.
But before Ruker could answer, there was a series of high pitched screams and the fat Groat smirked. Esmerelda grabbed Ruker and pointed towards the cavern roof. Twinkling above them was an array of purple-blue lights. Ruker raced to the chimney shaft and pulled on the rope five times.