The Battle for Duncragglin

by Andrew H. Vanderwal

  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.

  Craig squirmed to settle in.

  “Ready?” Annie asked.

  “Uh-huh,” Alex murmured.

  Craig pretended to snore.

  Annie clicked off the torch and they were plunged into utter darkness. Alex wiggled his fingers before his eyes, but could see nothing.

  The silence was broken by Craig. “I tooted,” he said, giggling.

  “Craig!” Annie exclaimed.

  “Cannae help it.” They heard a rustle and felt a draft.

  Annie gave Craig a whack. “Stop fanning!” she ordered.

  Eventually the giggling died down. They mumbled good night, followed by complete silence. Sleep did not come easy; but, tired as they were, sleep they did.

  Alex awoke and pushed a button on the side of his wrist-watch. It was 6:45 A.M. He had slept all of five and a half hours. They had another four hours before the next low tide four hours to explore.

  Alex found his torch and clicked it on, careful to shine it away from Annie and Craig. He got up, stretched, and followed the twine back to the shaft and the scuba tanks. Nothing had been moved, and the tanks' owners had not returned – yet.

  He set off in a new direction, one that led deeper inland. The chamber ended in a steep slope of fallen rock. Scrambling up the slope, he came to a stone arch that looked like it once might have been the top of a doorway. There was a tiny gap under the arch. Grunting, he wriggled a few rocks to widen the gap.

  “Alex … Alex … where are you?” called a voice from far behind.

  “Over here.” He shone his light back the way he had come.

  Alex saw flashes from Annie's and Craig's lights as they approached. They climbed up the slope to join him. Together, they shone their lights through the opening Alex had made. Beyond was a long tunnel.

  “Let's pack up and check it out,” Alex suggested.


  Returning to where they had slept, they had a small breakfast of biscuits, chocolate, and water, carefully rationed by Annie. “I don't want to be the only one left with food and water once you two have run out,” she said, pointedly resealing her chocolate in plastic and putting it back into her pack. “We're not here to have a pig-out.”

  “Aw.” Craig reluctantly put his chocolate away, having eaten only two squares.

  Eager to get going, they folded the clothes they used for bedding and roughly stuffed them back into their packs. Annie pulled out the baler's twine to unwind behind them.

  The first section of the tunnel was so filled with rubble that they had to crawl over painfully rough rocks. It was a relief when the tunnel became higher and they could walk without fear of hitting their heads.

  Their lights cast dark shadows past outcroppings. Alex often thought he spotted an opening, but each time, it turned out to be no more than a minor recess in the wall.

  The tunnel ended at a rockfall. At first, it seemed like they had come to a dead end, but again they found they were able to clamber over the rocks and continue by squirming on their stomachs. At the peak of the rockfall, they saw that ahead the tunnel opened up into a large cave.

  Overlapping each other's beam to make a stronger light, they saw they were entering a huge, semicircular cavern, with tall pillars that formed gnarly, branchlike arches across its ceiling. The semicircular wall across from them was intricately carved with thousands of animals, depicted in a tangled, junglelike background of vines, limbs, and leaves. In its center was the massive head of a fanged, snake-haired monster, its bottom fangs protruding up like gateposts.

  “It's so beautiful,” Annie breathed.

  Craig tilted his head and eyed the monster-head critically. “Actually, I think it's rather ugly.”

  “Why would anyone build something like this so far underground?” Alex asked.

  “Aliens,” said Craig. “It has to have been aliens.”

  “Maybe this was made by a long-lost civilization of prehistoric people – or maybe by some prehuman advanced civilization,” Annie suggested.

  “Aliens,” Craig said firmly. “And I'll bet they're what've been haunting the castle too….”

  Hushed, they climbed down the rockfall and explored the cavern. Annie examined a cluster of carvings, gently wiping rock dust from the bumpy ridges.

  “What are these things?” she asked.

  Alex looked closely. “One-foot-tall insects that stand on two legs … and carry spears?” he offered.

  “Aliens,” Craig said firmly.

  Alex was beginning to think that Craig's alien theory was the only one that made any sense. He shone his torch higher up the wall and traced over a series of bird carvings. Some of the birds were in flight; others were hopping on the ground.

  He came to a bird with a long thin beak standing poised over what appeared to be a wormhole. It took him a moment to realize where he had seen it before – it was the same bird that was carved on the board he had found on the beach.

  “Hey, guys! Look at me!”

  Alex shone his light in the direction of Craig's voice and spotted his spidery form clinging to the wall. Craig was carefully maneuvering his foot into the head of an ant and reaching for a higher grip on a huge eyelid.

  “Craig! Quit messing about,” Annie said. “It's time we head back.”

  “But this is a great climbing wall!”

  Alex wanted to give it a try. He set his torch on end and slipped off his pack. Gripping the wall as high up as he could, he put his toe into a groove and raised himself up to press flat against the cold stone.

  “You have to be careful,” Craig called down. “Some of the pieces are loose.”

  Alex stepped on a carving and felt it shift. “I see what you mean.” He tried another. It was solid.

  Carefully testing each grip, Alex climbed to the bird with the thin beak. He was convinced it was the same as the one on the board, except it was holding its head up higher. Alex tugged on the top of its head and the bird's whole body swiveled until its thin beak inserted into the wormhole. There, now it looks just like it does on the board.

  A low rumbling started faintly, with a deep vibration. It grew louder and louder until it shook the cavern walls.

  Sure the cave was collapsing, Alex tried to scamper down the wall, but slipped and fell. He could not see the ground to prepare for impact and hit hard. He quickly rolled onto his stomach and covered the back of his head with his hands.

  Slowly, the rumbling diminished.

  “Alex … look!” Annie called.

  Alex dragged himself up. Dumbfounded, he saw that the huge snake-haired monster-head had lowered into the ground, its top a sloping ramp leading into a dark interior.

  “Wow!” Craig exclaimed. “What happened?”

  “Maybe we triggered it to move when we twisted the carvings,” Alex said. “It could be that they work like a key or a secret combination.”

  Annie shivered and peered into the darkness, her arms wrapped tightly about herself. “What's in there?”

  “Treasure?” Craig suggested eagerly.

  “Craig, don't.” Annie reached for him, but missed. Craig had scampered up the ramp.

  Alex held his breath, but the ramp remained motionless. He let out a sigh. “Wait here, I'll get him.”

  Gingerly Alex stepped onto the top of the head. He jiggled his weight, cautiously at first, then harder. The head did not budge. Slowly Alex climbed up the slope into the black depths. The space above him became smaller. By the time he reached Craig, the ceiling was so low he had to crawl.

  Craig was carefully checking crevices. “There has to be treasure in here somewhere,” he said.

  Alex held up his hand for silence. A low rumbling had started up again. Suddenly, the floor dropped. Annie screamed.

  Alex threw a terrified glance back at Annie and saw that the entrance behind them was closing fast. The ramp was tipping like a seesaw, with the end behind Alex and Craig rising up to close off the way they came. With a thundering boom, it came to a halt tipped the opposite way from where it started. Before them was a new opening.

  Terrified, Alex scrambled off the ramp, stopping just in time to keep from falling off an edge. Panting hard, he clutched his shaking flashlight with two hands. Taking deep breaths, he forced his breathing to slow. It's alright, he told himself. He wasn't squished under falling rock; Craig was next to him, also unhurt. Things could be worse.

  He took stock of their surroundings. Below was nothing but blackness as far as his beam could reach. Above, a dim watery reflection of his light shone back at them, as if from far away. They were trapped, perched on a ledge high up the side of a large circular shaft.

  “This must be where the aliens launch their spaceships,” Craig said quietly.

  Alex had to admit, it did look as if they were inside the barrel of a cannon big enough to blast a spaceship into outer space.

  Climbing back up the ramp, they found it came to a dead end above what they knew was the head. They jumped up and down and stomped on it, but could not get it to go back down.

  “Annie!” Alex shouted into a narrow crack where the block met the rock wall. “Annie, can you hear me?” He listened carefully, shouting her name again and again, but there was no reply.

  “I hope she's okay.” Craig's voice quavered.

  “I'm sure she is.” Alex was about to add that it was him and Craig who were not okay, but he bit his tongue. “She can't hear us – that's all. The rock is too thick.”

  “How will we get out of here?” Craig sounded close to tears.

  Alex did not know. He tried to stay calm, but his heart was thumping and there was a ringing in his ears. He knew that if the ramp did not lower back down, they were in a bad situation. Their packs were on the other side with Annie, and they could last only so long without food and water.

  A thought struck him. “The ramp started moving after we shifted some of the carvings on
the wall,” he said. “Let's try that on this side.”

  To their dismay, they found that the wall of the shaft had no carvings. Craig attempted to climb it, but its surface was too smooth.

  Alex shone his light along the ledge. At one end was an abrupt drop-off. At the other, it narrowed until it was no more than a ridge on the side of the shaft.

  They were stuck.

  Dismayed, Alex pressed his head against the wall. All the climbing gear was with Annie. It was impossible to scale the wall without it. One slip and they would plunge into the blackness below, falling, falling for who knows how long before … Alex did not want to think about it. This could be where so many missing people met their end. Down below might be his parents' bones. Would he become a grinning skeleton, perched here on the ledge, or be reunited with his parents in a splintered pile of bones below?

  “Let's see where this leads,” Craig called.

  Craig's light was below the drop-off at the end of the ledge. Alex was incredulous that he would be climbing down the wall. He was about to shout for Craig to climb back up when he noticed that the end of the ledge was not an abrupt drop after all. Below were a series of narrow stone slabs that stuck out from the wall, forming steep steps.

  From far below, Craig waved for him to follow.

  Alex inched his way down the steps, hardly daring to breathe for fear of losing his balance. At one awful point, the steps came to the tiniest of landings before doubling back in the other direction. By the time he reached Craig, Alex's legs were trembling uncontrollably.

  Craig sat with his back to the wall. Before him was a narrow arch that crossed the center of the shaft. At its top was a small circular platform.

  “Isn't an arch always stronger than it looks?” Craig asked hopefully.

  “Forget it – I'm not crossing that thing.”

  Alex pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and flung it over the edge. They leaned forward, listening. Alex held his breath, counting silently. At fifteen, he stopped, having heard nothing.

  Craig pulled back. “It can't be bottomless … can it?”

  Alex held up his hand. “Listen.”

  From far below, they faintly heard what sounded like moaning. Alex felt his neck hairs rising. It was similar to what he had heard when he'd gone searching for Vanessa.