The Battle for Duncragglin (8 page)

“This might be it!” he called.

Annie crowded in behind him. “Can you see how far it goes?”

“Not yet.”

Stooping, they entered a long narrow cave. Craig wormed his way ahead of Annie. A narrow stream trickled beside them. Something blue flashed in the water and Alex reached down to fish it out. It was a rope. He pulled it up and found it led deep into the cave.

“What's that doing here?” Craig asked.

“It seems we're not the first ones to go this way.” Alex trained his light on the rope and examined it closely. “It's not slimy, so it can't have been here very long.”

They had to be going the right way.
This must lead somewhere – why else would there be a rope? And where else could
it lead but into the caves?
Hearts pounding, they followed it deeper underground. The cave became smaller, and they walked hunched over to keep from hitting their heads.

The stream ended, and the cave became no more than a fissure. Alex squirmed out of his pack and crawled into the fissure, pulling his pack behind him. His knees were immediately soaked from crawling over wet seaweed and twigs. The confined space made him nervous. If there was an earth tremor and the rock was to shift, even just a bit…. Alex shook his head to dispel the thought and continued crawling ever deeper into the darkness ahead.

The rock sloped slightly upward, and Alex wriggled into a cave not much bigger than the space under a dining-room table. Dead end. He felt relieved. That meant they would be turning back. He had had enough of squirming about through tiny cracks under tonnes of rock.

“Budge over,” Craig said. He and Annie squeezed in beside Alex.

Alex kneeled on a plank, thankful to get his knees off the rock. It had worn engravings carved into its side. Alex examined it closely and saw it was the very same board he had found during their picnic at the ruins – the one he had wedged between some rocks.

“How'd that get here?” Craig asked.

Alex shrugged. “Pushed in by the tide, I guess.” He picked up a short stick, but it was so slimy, he quickly tossed it away and wiped his hand on his trousers.

“What was that?” Annie retrieved it and gingerly lifted it with two fingers. She wrinkled her nose. “It looks like the leg bone of a small animal.”

“Like what, a sheep?” Craig asked.

“Maybe.”

“How about a dog?”

Annie gave out a tiny squeal and dropped it.
Could it be
…?
No.
She persuaded herself that it couldn't be Tig's, that it was just some old bone that had floated in with the tide.

Craig flashed his beam about the ceiling. He spotted a narrow shaft at one end. “Look,” he called out excitedly, “we could fit through there.”

Alex squirmed over to peer up the shaft. It led straight up, farther than his light could reach. “No way!”

“It'll be easy,” Craig said, pushing his pack out of the way. “Watch me.”

Alex looked doubtfully over to Annie. She shrugged. “You should see him where we practice rock-climbing,” she said. “He climbs farther and faster than Willie.”

“And higher too. Give me a boost, will you?”

“Wait a second.” Annie unzipped the top of Willie's pack. “Not without Willie's harness and gear.”

“But it's an easy climb –”

“No, it isn't, and you know it. Besides, we need to use the gear to help Alex up – he's never done this before.”

Annie helped Craig into the harness, adjusting his waist and leg straps until they were snug. She took great care to attach the rope to his harness with a proper double figure-eight knot.

“And don't forget to hammer in a piton every few yards,” Annie said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Craig stretched his arms. “I'm ready. Help me up.”

Alex interlocked his fingers, his hands wobbling as they took on Craig's weight. Craig stepped onto his shoulder and, one painful thrust later, his weight was gone, replaced by a shower of dirt and pebbles.

Annie put her headlamp down on end so that its beam shot up the shaft. She fed out the rope, keeping a tight grip should Craig fall.

Alex ventured a quick look. “How's it going, Craig?” he called.

“Okay so far” drifted down from above.

Bits of dirt and stone clattered around the headlamp. Alex was thinking he should move it when a large stone suddenly fell from the shaft and shattered its lens.

“One down,” he said glumly.

“It's okay.” Annie calmly brushed aside the broken glass. “We still have three torches and two headlamps.”

Alex unscrewed the back of the broken headlamp to save the batteries. He crawled back to grab a pack and felt his knees splash into a pool of water. “What the heck?” He twisted to shine his torch back the way they had come. “Annie … look! The tide's coming in. We have to get out of here. Fast!”

Annie looked in horror at the rising water. She quickly turned to call up the shaft. “Craig, come down
now!
CRAIG!”

Instead of a reply, the empty harness dropped from the shaft.

“He can't hear me!” Annie cried. “What should we do? We can't just leave him up there.”

The water was now only inches below the ceiling of the lower cave. They could still get out, but they would have to swim on their backs with their noses up for air.

“You go. I'll stay with Craig.” Alex pulled the harness from Annie's hands. “We'll get out when the tide goes back down.”

Alex struggled into the harness while Annie hastily explained how he was to climb. “When you pass a piton, clip the rope below it to your harness. That way you can't fall any farther than the distance you have climbed since the last time you clipped the rope.”

Alex was confused, but there was no time for questions. Annie gave him a boost. He clambered and found a toehold. The shaft was wide enough for him to press his back against one side and push his feet against the other. He inched up, pushing with his hands while his feet slowly walked up the other side. He pulled down on the rope coming through the pitons. Up a few more feet, he found a piton that Craig had hammered into a crack.
What had Annie said to do?
He clipped the rope to his harness and hoped for the best.

It was not easy to find new toeholds, especially in the uneven light. Although he tested each hold before putting his weight on it, he constantly feared one would give way and plunge him back down the shaft. He tried not to rely on any one so he would have a chance of catching himself if he slipped.

Alex was not convinced that Craig's pitons would hold if his weight snapped against them. He tried to reassure himself by thinking that if Craig's top piton did not hold, there was always the next and then the next. Surely one of them would hold.

Alex could not be sure how far he was climbing, but it seemed like a long way. From far above, Craig's torch shone
down on him, helping him find grips. Dimly, he heard Craig's shouts of encouragement. A few times, he thought he might slip, but each time, he managed to stabilize his hold and shift to a more secure position.

At long last, the top came into view. Alex wriggled over the edge, feeling Craig pull on his harness.

Arms and hands still trembling from exertion, Alex rolled onto his back. A great sense of relief flooded through him. He'd made it! Now all they had to do was wait for the tide to go out … and everything would be alright.

F
lat on his back, gasping from his climb, Alex vaguely heard Craig calling for him to take off his harness. “Annie needs it – hurry!”

Alex waved him away. “Annie's gone back out to let people know where we are,” he said. “The tide is coming in.”

“If she's gone, what's that light then?”

“Light? What light?” Alex rolled onto his stomach and peered over the edge. Something was flashing at them from below.

Alex squirmed out of the harness and lowered it with the rope. Soon the rope started gliding in fits and stops through the pitons.
Could it really be Annie climbing up the shaft?
She was going to leave the cave the moment he had started climbing. But if it wasn't Annie climbing, who or what was it?

Alex cautiously looked down the shaft. The top of the dark form coming up from below had brown hair. If it was a nasty creature from the deep, it sure was doing a good job of disguising itself as Annie.

Suddenly Annie's head and shoulders appeared. She
hoisted herself up and plunked down on the edge. She was soaked.

“I tried to get out,” Annie said, picking miserably at the knot on her harness, “but the water's too high.”

Craig started to take off his sweatshirt. “Here, have this.”

“No need.” Annie pulled up the rope, lifting three packs from the shaft. She zipped one open and raked around. “Good thing I listened to Willie about bringing extra clothes.”

She started unbuttoning her shirt. “Okay, you two, turn around. I need to get changed here.”

Alex obligingly turned his back, using the time to have a look around. Remarkably, the wall near them was straight and the ceiling above them flat. It looked more like they were in the ruins of a man-made chamber than a natural cave.

He shone his light into the far reaches. They were so full of fallen rock, it was hard to see where they went. Spotting something blue, he trained his light on it. There, in a neat coil, was more of that rope they had seen earlier. Alex went to investigate. To his surprise, he found, partially hidden in a hollow next to the rope, several cylinders with gauges and straps.

“Hey, guys. I found scuba tanks.”

The others quickly joined him, Annie still buttoning her shirt. There appeared to be a full set of gear for two divers.

Alex cupped his hands to his mouth. “Hello,” he called loudly.

“Hello, hello, hello …” came echoing back.

“Anyone here?”

“Anyone here, here, here …” The echo slowly died away.

They listened breathlessly, but there was no answering call. If one or two people
were
here, they were far away either that, or they were keeping very quiet.

Alex tried to shake off his feeling of dread. He shone his light on the rock basin containing the tanks. “This looks like it could have been a bathtub,” he said. “Do you think this chamber was once a bathroom?”

Craig trained his light back to the opening of the shaft. “I hope not,” he said, “because if it was, do you know what we climbed up?”

“The toilet?” Alex offered.

“Yes!” Craig hooted. “Move your backside, please – we're coming through!”

Alex chuckled. “Dodge any missiles on your way up?”

Annie put her hands to her head. “I can't believe it,” she moaned. “Here we are, stuck in the worst of predicaments, and all you guys do is mess about….” She flung herself down and wrapped her arms about her knees. “Oh, what was I thinking, coming here with you two!”

Alex shuffled his feet uneasily. “But, Annie,” he began. “No one said it would be easy. We can't just fall apart at the slightest bit of trouble.”

Annie jerked her head up. “What? Here we are, trapped deep underground, with no way out except at the next low tide – and you think we're in just the
slightest
bit of trouble?”

“But, everything is going according to plan.” Alex spread his arms. “We
actually
found a way underground. We've got to explore now, not leave. If we find any sign that your mother or my parents have been here, we can go back and get a search party.”

“I did not
plan
to get
trapped.”
Tears trickled down Annie's face. “Everyone's going to blame me for this because I'm the oldest. I'm always the person who should have known better.”

“Well, maybe there's another way out,” Alex said, hoping to calm her down. He shone his light toward the far end of the chamber. “Come; let's have a look over this way. Maybe it leads to the outer edge of the cliffs.”

Annie was hesitant, but at least it was something to do. She pulled out her compass and confirmed that the direction Alex indicated was east. Unrolling twine behind them, they climbed over the rubble. Around a corner, they found an entrance to a small cave. They became more and more convinced that the caves were not natural formations.

Each cave led to another until they came to a dead end. They searched the walls for an exit out to the cliffs.

Annie gasped. “Oh, my God … blood!”

Her wavering torch was lighting a rectangular rock recessed in an alcove. “HEL” was scrawled across it in burgundy-brown letters.

Alex bent to examine the letters closely. “Oh, it's nothing,” he said, struggling to keep calm. “Someone was just going to write ‘HELL,’ but didn't finish – sort of like graffiti.”

“Graffiti, down here?” Annie shook her head. “No, I think it says ‘HELP.’” She traced her fingers over faint scratches on the rock. “It looks like someone tried very hard to get out past this rock, but didn't succeed.”

Horrified, Alex spotted a fingernail – a
complete
fingernail, ripped in its entirety from a finger. Someone would have wanted to get out very badly to be clawing at the rock with
bare hands.
But what is there to be so afraid of? And where is that person now?

A shiver ran down Alex's spine. It felt as if the temperature had dropped. He stepped on the fingernail, not wanting the others to see it.

Craig tugged Annie's sleeve. “Let's go back,” he said quietly.

They retraced their steps, carefully winding the twine back onto its spool. Alex was very tired. All he wanted to do was lie down and curl up with a nice soft pillow. A protective alcove suddenly looked terribly inviting. He stopped.

“Do you know what, Annie? I think we should clear a bit of the floor in there and get some sleep. We'll feel a lot better if we do.”

“Good idea.” Annie dropped her pack. “When we wake up, the tide will be on its way out. Also, we won't need our lights when we're sleeping, and we
do
need to save the batteries.”

The prospect of having no light was not a nice thought. They extinguished all but one torch as they prepared their beds. Alex lay on his extra jersey and did his best to fluff up the end of his rucksack for a pillow. It was better than nothing – but not by much. He pulled his thin silver emergency blanket up to his chin, thankful that the cave wasn't cold.