Roman Ice

by Dave Bartell

“Darwin,” said Zac.

  “Yeah,” replied Darwin, seeming calm.

  “I’m above and behind you. I replaced the anchor that fell out and put in another one. Here’s what we will do,” said Zac explaining the steps to Darwin as Eyrún moved along the shelf. She added anchors to reduce the stress on the rope stretching down to Darwin. When she finished, Zac extended over the ledge and attached a rope to Darwin’s harness, then crafted a Z-pulley, a climber’s equivalent of a block and tackle. Zac pulled himself back onto the ledge.

  “Okay, Darwin?” asked Zac.

  “Yes. Tell me when,” said Darwin

  Zac winched Darwin up. Following the plan, Darwin transferred his hands to the rescue rope as the Y-harness relaxed its tension.

  “Anytime you are ready, unclip the Y-harness from the double rope. I’ve got your full weight. You won’t slip. The belay brakes will stop any movement.”

  “What do I do with it?” asked Darwin. His hand paused over the carabiner clipped to the Y-harness.

  “Just let it hang off you.”

  Darwin unclipped one carabiner and fought the tension in the ropes as he tried to unclip the other carabiner.

  “Eyrún, let out some slack,” called Zac.

  “Got it,” she said and released her belay. The double rope relaxed, and Darwin unclipped the second carabiner. He swung more freely.

  “I don’t like this,” he said.

  “Here we go,” said Zac and gave three hard pulls to bring Darwin’s head level with the ledge. “Now ease your hands onto the ledge. I’ll bring the rest of your body up.” Darwin used his fingers to pull his upper body across the ledge as Zac raised him. Once his waist cleared the broken edge, he swung his legs onto the flat surface and lay on his belly. He closed his eyes and lay still while trying to ease his breathing. He opened his eyes and watched his left fingers play with some pebbles on the shelf.

  “How you doing?” asked Zac.

  “Never been better,” he said, coughing up dust.

  “Good. Then let’s get the hell out of this room,” said Zac

  72

  Eyrún came straight across after Zac reattached the double rope and retrieved the gear as she passed leaving only one anchor in the three o’clock tube. She almost ran the last couple meters straight to Darwin, who was sitting against the tube wall. “Are you okay?” she asked, sliding in next to him.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Just exhausted. I think I need to sleep.”

  “You can’t,” she said to him. “Zac, did we move the medical kit to this side?”

  “I think so,” said Zac as he coiled up the ropes.

  “Let me look at your head,” Eyrún said to Darwin.

  “We’ve got to find them,” said Darwin in a faraway voice.

  “We will,” she said holding his shoulders until he relaxed, then placed her hands on his cheeks and told him to look straight at her.

  “What?” asked Darwin.

  “I want to see if you have a concussion.”

  “I’m fine, just a little headache.”

  “That’s the point. Everyone says they’re fine.”

  “And you’re a doctor?” teased Darwin.

  “No, but my grandfather’s a doctor. He showed me a lot of things when I thought I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

  “What haven’t you done?”

  “Not much. Shush. Be still,” said Eyrún.

  She tipped her light up toward the ceiling and looked at his eyes, then reached around and switched off his light. His pupils dilated as the light dimmed. She slowly moved her light down and his pupils contracted. Good sign. She unsnapped the chin strap on his helmet and lifted it. Darwin winced. His hair, sticky with blood, pulled at his scalp. Blood trickled down his left temple. “Sorry,” she said. She smoothed his hair away from the wound. Poor guy. He sighed at her touch.

  “The cut’s not deep and the scar won’t be visible under your hair. But you need to rest,” she said.

  “I’m okay,” he said and tried to stand. His head rolled, and he collapsed. Eyrún broke his fall, but was off balance herself and they both tumbled to the floor.

  “Darwin!”

  “Ooo… I guess I wasn’t ready to stand up.”

  “No, you weren’t, dumb-ass.”

  “I’m sorry. Are you hurt?” asked Darwin.

  “I banged my hip. Here, lean on me,” she said, brushing off and sitting next to him. Oh God. How are we going to get out?

  73

  The Scotland Tube

  A half hour later Eyrún guided Darwin to the junction with the ten o’clock tube. Zac had gone ahead with the climbing gear.

  “Pétur!” yelled Eyrún when she saw him.

  “Go. I’m okay,” said Darwin. She ran to Pétur and hugged him so hard they almost went down.

  “Are you okay?” she said, looking him up and down.

  “Yes,” said Pétur.

  She turned and attacked Ian. Her fists swung wild, and he deflected most of the blows.

  “Eyrún stop!” said Pétur.

  “Why!” she spat out.

  “It won’t bring Jón back, and besides, he tried to stop it,” said Pétur.

  “Bullshit! He’s with Karl,” she said.

  “Yes. But he didn’t do it. Karl did,” said Pétur.

  “You can’t believe that!”

  “I can, because I was there. What do you want to do? Kill him?” said Pétur.

  “No,” she said, shoulders slumping. She rubbed her knuckles and looked at her hands dirty with bits of Darwin’s dried blood. God, I’m a mess. Her finger nails were ragged. Dirt covered every other part of her. She looked at Darwin whose appearance was equally grim. The others had dazed expressions, but their faces looked better and their clothes were cleaner. She touched a dark spot on her jacket that appeared when she hugged Pétur. She rubbed her fingers together and looked at them again. “Why are you all wet?”

  Pétur led her and Darwin to the lake while Ian and Zac looked for signs of Karl and Stevie. Darwin watched Pétur, who appeared to move just fine. He relaxed a little, knowing getting out would be hard enough without dealing with serious injury.

  “Oh my god,” said Eyrún when she turned the last bend. “Water! You weren’t kidding when you said a lake.” She knelt and splashed water on her face. “I’m going in,” she said and stripped off her clothes.

  “I’ve been in,” said Pétur “I’ll go sort out supplies. Besides, I’m hungry.”

  “How do we get back?” asked Darwin.

  “There’s only one way,” said Pétur.

  Darwin was slower to get his clothes off. He switched off his headlamp and set a small light by the wall. Eyrún’s head bobbed as she paddled out. He stepped his way out where it was deep enough to swim freely. The cool water tingled his skin as he glided toward her. An alternating current of warmth arose as he thought of their earlier kiss. She dunked her head under and scrubbed her hair. After a few moments, she popped back up and wiped her face.

  “This is so nice,” she said, and floated onto her back.

  Darwin worked the blood and dirt out of his hair and then followed Eyrún as she paddled past the low point in the ceiling to the other side of the lake. It was pitch black. No, no, no—he recoiled from the memory of hanging over the hole in the diamond chamber. He kicked back toward the light. Once closer to shore, Darwin lowered his legs and found the bottom.

  Eyrún floated over. “Are you okay?” she asked reaching out underwater and finding one of his hands. He moved his other hand up, and they intertwined fingers.

  “Yeah. It was just the darkness. It… never mind. I’m okay now,” said Darwin.

  Water dripped down her face. Her eyes were dark in the dim light, but Darwin imagined them blue. She squeezed them closed, and then reopened them.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” he continued.

  “It’s not your fault,” she said.

  Yes it is, he thought and blew out, “Jón…”
/>   “Jón!” She thrust herself backwards. “Those fucking murderers. I don’t believe Ian is innocent for a second. They killed Jón. He was one of their own and they killed him,” she screamed and spun around slamming the water with her fists. Darwin stood transfixed between two Eyrúns. Holy shit. One minute she’s like, wow, and the next, I dunno. She stopped and turned to him as if hearing his thoughts.

  “We need to get Stevie,” he said.

  “In a minute. You go ahead,” she said and swam out again toward the low ceiling.

  Darwin dried off as best he could, and his clothes were gritty as he pulled them on his wet body. She was floating on her back when he looked out at the lake and he turned join Pétur, Zac, and Ian. God knows if they haven’t killed each other while I’ve been in here. What a fucking mess. He kept trying to sort out what had happened during the short walk. Pull it together, man. Pull it together. We need to get Stevie and get out of here. Dammit, Agrippa, you better be right about the cave in Scotland; otherwise we’re screwed.

  74

  Farther Up the Scotland Tube

  As Stevie woke up, she winced at her aching neck. She tasted iron and remembered being hit in the face. She bounced hard and was jostled from side to side. She was on the ATV. She couldn’t move her hands. Something hard dug into each wrist. They were tied together and wrapped around someone who smelled of dirt and sweat. Karl. She tugged backward and worked herself upright using the ATV’s rocking motion.

  “Where are we?” she yelled over the machine.

  No answer.

  She yanked back on her hands to illicit a response.

  Nothing.

  “Son of a bitch,” she muttered into Karl’s back.

  She adjusted herself and found it least painful to lean on him. The ATV shuddered as its engine coughed, then stopped. Karl cut the zip ties and her wrists popped free. Wait, she told herself as Karl dismounted. He folded a knife and put it in his pants pocket. She lunged when he looked up the tube. Her left ankle refused to move. Karl smiled as if to say, nice try.

  “You asshole,” she blurted. “Cut me off this thing.”

  He cut the zip ties holding her ankles on the footrests. She got off and stumbled and fell. Her ankles and feet were numb and her leg muscles cramped from being in a forced position. She swore and threw a rock at Karl hitting him in the back.

  He shouldered a pack and tossed her a smaller one. She let it drop.

  “It’s your water and food. I’m not sharing,” said Karl.

  She stood and picked up the pack. “Where are we going,” she demanded.

  “Out of here. Now move,” he said.

  “No.”

  He flashed forward and lifted her in a fireman’s carry. She pounded on his side and tried to bite him. Her body bounced up and down as he walked.

  “Okay! Okay! Put me down. I’ll walk,” she yelled. He dropped her. She broke the fall with her arms, but banged her knee on a sharp rock. It tore her pant leg and blood seeped in to fabric.

  “You hurt me,” she said inspecting the cut. He removed a short rope from a carabiner on his belt and worked a loop in one end like a collar.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped and backed away from him. “I’ll follow. You don’t need to do that.”

  “You lead,” he said and stepped aside.

  “Give me a second,” she said and pretended to work on her knee as she tore a piece from her top and put it next to a rock. She limped ahead of him. The pain in her knee screamed for attention.

  “Faster,” he commanded.

  “My knee hurts.”

  “You want me to carry you?”

  “No!” she said and walked faster. The pain receded as she led the way into blackness. He matched her pace, driving her ahead.

  75

  Darwin awoke to total darkness. Except for snoring and his numb ass, his five senses told him nothing of the immediate surroundings. He looked at his watch. Four and a half hours. Not much sleep. They had been awake for twenty-four hours and needed rest before setting out after Karl and Stevie. The stress of the explosion and injuries compounded their fatigue. Eyrún woke with a gasp.

  “What is it?” asked Darwin.

  “Nightmare. Did I scream?” she said.

  “No. You jumped is all,” he said, smoothing her hair. The rest of them woke at the sounds of their conversation and began their routines.

  “Yum coconut, my favorite,” said Zac tearing the wrapper off a food bar.

  “It’s all we have left,” said Pétur.

  “Like I said, my favorite.”

  “Can someone cut these?” said Ian holding out his zip-tied wrists. Zac cut the plastic strips. Ian rubbed his wrists and stretched his legs.

  “What’s the plan, Darwin?” asked Eyrún.

  “It’s not clear, but Agrippa wrote that they continued up a steep cave that took them outside in a few hours,” said Darwin. “They came out from the side of a mountain and the surrounding terrain was all mountains. Nothing else, so they returned to the lava tube and walked two or three days to the diamond chamber.”

  “Where do you think they came out?” asked Pétur.

  “Scotland or the Outer Hebrides. Most likely Scotland as the Hebrides would give them some view of the ocean,” said Darwin.

  “Does Karl know this?” asked Eyrún.

  “Dunno,” said Darwin.

  “Yes. He broke into Darwin’s hotel room and copied things,” said Ian.

  Eyrún turned on him. “Why should we NOT throw you down the hole right now?”

  “There’s an idea. We don’t have enough zip ties to last the journey. It would save valuable supplies,” said Zac.

  “Because I know the kinds of traps Karl will set,” said Ian.

  “Then why didn’t you see what he was doing in the diamond room,” Eyrún yelled at him.

  “I...”

  “Best if you shut… the… fuck… up,” said Zac popping the P like a champagne cork.

  76

  London

  “Ollie! Your phone is ringing,” yelled Darwin’s mom, Carmen.

  “Answer it, please. I’m up to my elbows in dirt,” replied Olivier.

  “Hello?”

  “Carmen! Thank God you answered. Is Olivier there?” said Emelio.

  “Emelio? Is everything all right?” she said drying off her hands on a kitchen towel. She walked to the back garden. Olivier wiped his hands on his pants.

  “Who is it?” he asked.

  “Your dad,” she mouthed as the voice from the mobile rattled on.

  “Yes. No. I mean I’m fine. Where’s Olivier?” said Emelio.

  “Papa?” said Olivier putting the phone on speaker so that Carmen could listen.

  “Olivier. Good. You’re there. Listen Darwin’s in trouble.”

  “What? Where?” Carmen interjected. Olivier held up his other hand. She scrunched her eyebrows, but stopped talking.

  “He’s in the lava tube. And Darwin’s friend learned about Robert. He’s a criminal, and he thinks Robert’s people intend to do something bad while in the tube.”

  “Bad. How? Slow down Papa. You’re not making sense.”

  “Sorry. Darwin’s friend is a priest he met in Clermont-Ferrand where he found the lava tube—”

  “What! When did this happen? He never told us?” Olivier turned to his wife. “Did you know about this?”

  She shrugged.

  “Never mind, Papa. Sorry for interrupting,” said Olivier. “You said Darwin’s in trouble?”

  Emelio told them about the expedition from Iceland to Scotland and the secret, hurried start a couple weeks ago. He finished by sharing the details—that Robert was wanted for war crimes in Zimbabwe.

  “Can’t someone go in after them?” asked Carmen putting a hand to her mouth.

  “The Icelandic authorities have closed off the tube entrance,” said Emelio.

  “How the hell did Darwin connect with these people?” demanded Olivier.

  “Not s
ure. He just said there were competing interests, and he had to go or they would miss out. But he said there was an escape plan,” said Emelio.

  “The waterfall?” said Olivier.

  “It’s the only thing I can think of,” said Emelio.

  “Shit. Where are you now?”

  “About to board a flight to Paris that connects to London. I land in Heathrow about three-thirty,” said Emelio.

  “Do you want us to pick you up?” asked Olivier.

  “That would be nice,” said Emelio.

  “What was all that about?” Carmen stood in front of Olivier. “Escape plan? Waterfall? And what does it have to do with Darwin?”

  “Give me a moment,” said Olivier. He turned and looked out at the garden. The first crop of tomatoes filled a colander. A child squealed, and a dog barked somewhere over the back fence. His memory drifted back to a summer some thirty years earlier.

  He had found a portion of a scroll in the British Museum that depicted a party of Roman explorers who travelled in northern Caledonia. It was difficult to make out, but it talked of climbing out of a deep tunnel along an underground waterfall and emerging on a mountain side. The scroll listed the smell of fresh air and warmth of the sun as “glorious.” It continued on, “… this is not our goal. We marked the shaft location…” but it disintegrated at this point. Olivier could not figure out if the author meant a mine or some other tunnel. It mentioned no destination. To the north, Scotland broke up into the Hebrides Islands within a dozen kilometers. To the south, the Romans had mines.

  Olivier traveled to Scotland along with a university dig project where he befriended some local cavers who claimed to know every cave for 200 kilometers and were excited about finding a cave in a deep tunnel. They found nothing by September when Olivier was due back at university. His Scottish caving friends promised to tell him if they ever turned up a cave that matched the scroll’s description.