The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Alan Garner

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СКАЧАТЬ Susan: “that thing’ll be through in a second.” She put no trust in the flimsy latch, which was rattling furiously beneath the scrabbling of claws. But as she spoke they heard another sound; footsteps rapidly drawing near to the other door! And then the latch did give way, and the hound was in the room.

      Colin seized a kitchen chair. “Get behind me,” he whispered.

      At the sound of his voice the brute froze, but only for an instant: it had found its bearings.

      “Can we reach a window?” Colin dared not take his eyes off the hound as it advanced upon them.

      “No.”

      “Is there another way out?”

      “No.”

      He was parrying the lunges and snappings with the chair, but it was heavy, and his arms ached.

      “There’s a broom cupboard, or something, behind us, and the door’s ajar.”

      “What good will that do?”

      “I don’t know: but Grimnir may not notice us, or the dog may attack him, or … oh, anything’s better than this!”

      “Is it big enough?”

      “It goes up to the ceiling.”

      “Right: get in.”

      Susan stepped inside and held the door open for Colin as he backed towards it. The hound was biting at the chair legs and trying to paw them down. Wood crunched and splinters flew, and the chair drooped in Colin’s hands, but he was there. He hurled the chair at the snarling head, and fell backwards into the cupboard. Susan had a vision of a red tongue lolling out of a gaping mouth, and of fangs flashing white, inches from her face, before she slammed the door; and, at the same moment, she heard the kitchen door being flung open. Then she fainted.

      Or, at least, she thought she had fainted. Her stomach turned over, her head reeled, and she seemed to be falling into the bottomless dark. But had she fainted? Colin bumped against her in struggling to right himself: she could feel that. And the back of the cupboard was pressing into her. She pinched herself. No, she had not fainted.

      Colin and Susan stood rigidly side by side, nerving themselves for the moment when the door would be opened. But the room seemed unnaturally still: not a sound could they hear.

      “What’s up?” whispered Colin. “It’s too quiet out there.”

      “Shh!”

      “I can’t see a keyhole anywhere, can you? There should be one somewhere.” He bent forward to feel.

      “Ouch!!”

      Colin let out a yell of surprise and pain, and this time Susan nearly did faint.

      “Sue! There’s no door!”

      “Wh-what?”

      “No door! It’s something that feels like smooth rock going past very quickly, and I’ve skinned my hand on it. That’s why my ears have been popping! We’re in a lift!”

      Even as he spoke, the floor seemed to press against their feet, and a chill, damp air blew upon their faces, and they were aware of a silence so profound that they could hear their hearts beating.

      “Where on earth are we?” said Colin.

      “It’s probably more like where in earth are we!”

      Susan knelt on the floor of the cupboard and stretched out her hand to where the door had been. Nothing. She reached down, and touched wet rock.

      “Well, there’s a floor. Let’s have our bike lamps out and see what sort of place this is.”

      They took off their knapsacks and rummaged around among the lemonade and sandwiches.

      By the light of the lamps they saw that they were at the mouth of a tunnel that stretched away into the darkness.

      “Now what do we do?”

      “We can’t go back, can we, even if we wanted to?”

      “No,” said Susan, “but I don’t like the look of this.”

      “Neither do I, but we haven’t really much choice; come on.”

      They shouldered their packs and started off along the tunnel, but seconds later a slight noise brought them whirling round, their hearts in their mouths.

      “That’s torn it!” said Colin, gazing up at the shaft, into which the cupboard was disappearing. “They’ll be on to us in no time now.”

       CHAPTER 10

       PLANKSHAFT

      The children went as fast as they could, stumbling over the uneven floor, and bruising themselves against the walls. The air was musty, and within a minute they were gasping as though they had run a mile, but on they sped, with two thoughts in their heads – to escape from whatever was following them, and to find Cadellin or Fenodyree. If only this were Fundindelve!

      The passage twisted bewilderingly, and when Susan pulled up without notice or warning, Colin could not avoid running into her, and down they sprawled, though they managed to keep hold of their lamps. There was no need to ask questions. The tunnel ended in a shaft that dropped beyond the range of their light. And hanging from a spike driven into the rock was a rope-ladder. It was wet, and covered with patches of white mould that glistened pallidly, but it looked as thought it would bear the children’s weight. The urgency of their plight killed all fear: they dared not hesitate. Both hands were needed for the climb, so they tucked the lamps inside their windcheaters, and went down in darkness.

      The rope was slippery, and it took all their willpower to descend at an even pace. They did this by moving down rung by rung together, Colin setting the pace by counting. “One – two – three – four – five – six – seven.” He was ten rungs higher than his sister, and the urge to increase the rate was very strong; he tried not to think of what might happen if Grimnir reached the top of the ladder while they were still on it. “A hundred and forty – and one – two – three – four – five.”

      “I’m at the bottom!” called Susan. “And it’s wet!”

      The end of the ladder dangled a few inches above an island of sand that lay at the foot of the shaft, and from here four ways led off, none very inviting. Two were silted up, and two were flooded. Colin chose the shallower of the flooded tunnels, along which stray lumps of rock served as unreliable stepping-stones, and for a few yards the children made dry, if cumbersome, progress. Then Colin, in helping Susan over a particularly wide stretch of water, saw the end of the ladder begin to dance wildly about in the air. Someone obviously had started to descend.

      The brown water splashed roof-high as Colin and Susan took to their heels, skidding over slimy, unseen rocks. But the tunnel sloped upwards, and to their relief, they left the water СКАЧАТЬ