Cascade Rock

Part 5

They stepped across the ancient stone to the arched opening and peered in with trepidation. The cavity within the monolith dropped steeply away from the threshold in a flight of narrow steps; but far from disappearing into inky shadows, a soft multifaceted light illuminated the passage. Unlike flame, it glowed unwavering––they had never seen anything like it. Darl grunted.

"Looks like we didn't need that lamp you were so huffy about," he said.

Ven bristled; his brother's careless attitude toward so uncanny a development chaffed him.

"Where's it coming from?" Ven muttered.

"One way to find out," Darl said, stooping his neck slightly under the archway.

Ven followed him into the pale, eerie light. After fewer than two dozen steps, they reached a landing and the passage curved left. A carpet of moss grew in multicolored, jigsaw patches on the walls and ceiling of the narrow passage.

"Huh," Darl intoned, stroking a blue-tinted patch that clung between a yellow one and a red one. "It's like...peat. Only..."

"...It glows," Ven finished for him. "Like...I don't know what."

The brothers looked hard at each other. Ven's chest felt heavy with uncertainty. What terrible magic did this place possess? Was some horror luring them deeper into this dungeon with promise of light in a dark place?

The chamber boomed suddenly with Darl's deep laughter. Ven scowled, wide-eyed at him.

"What is wrong with you?"

"You should see your face," Darl panted. "You're so scared. The moss scared you. You're scared of a plant!"

"I'm not scared of a plant you oaf."

"Shhh!" Darl hissed. "Did you hear that?"

They both fell silent.

Darl looked over his shoulder down the passageway, then leaned into his brother. "I think I heard the plant say it wants your blood."

Ven shoved his brute of a brother fruitlessly. "Just keep moving."

The hall echoed again with Darl's laughter.

"Go on," Ven prodded, "Since you're so unconcerned about this."

Darl breathed a long, satisfied breath. He turned and trudged on. "Come on."

Their way sloped down. It turned left again at a right angle and continued to descend into the eerie half-light.

"Wait," Ven said as his brother moved on. "What's that? Buried in the moss on the ceiling?"

Darl looked up. Several sharp points protrude from a bulge of peat overhead. He reached out and fingered the tips.

"Sharpened wood stakes," he said. "Some sort of trap."

"Check the floor for a trigger."

They found a cord of woven reeds running across the passage near the floor.

"Should we trigger it?" Darl said.

"What? Why? Just step over."

"What if we forget it's here?"

Ven peeled a slash of moss from the wall, then another bisecting it to form an 'X.'

"There," he said. "I've marked the spot."

They stepped over the tripwire and continued on, eyes darting nervously about for more traps. Ahead they saw another landing. A passage lay open to the left of the landing; blue light shone from within.