Chapter 31 / The Buried City
"I thought you said I wouldn't have to get wet," Anna muttered disdainfully as she sidestepped a large puddle. The interior of the narrow passageway they were traversing dripped water from the ceiling, gathering in tiny pools of water or running over top of the rocky ground in rivulets.
"I'm sorry, Anna," Elsa apologized honestly as she paused and looked backwards towards Anna.
She jumped over a small stream and landed squarely on a patch of dry rock, "it's okay, Elsa." Anna placed one of her hands on Elsa's, "jeez would you stop apologizing for everything?"
"Sorry," Elsa muttered again, then stopped when she was arrested by Anna's quirky gaze. "Not sorry," she corrected.
Anna nodded in satisfaction then fell in step behind Elsa as they continued deeper underground. They proceeded carefully, sticking to dry patches and sidestepping puddles and streams as they lit the way before them with their flashlights. The passageway expanded further out around them as they rounded a wide bend and came upon a large, sealed door made of stone.
"Oh! Oh! I know this one!" Anna said as she skipped up the door. She laid a palm flat against the seam and lowered her voice to a deep register. "Speak friend, and enter."
Elsa paused next to Anna and placed her hands at her hips as she stared at her in confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Come on! It's from Lord of the Rings! When they get to the mines of Moria?" Anna asked, as she rounded on Elsa. "You have seen Lord of the Rings haven't you?"
Elsa shook her head and shrugged slightly. Anna scoffed and visibly recoiled, regarding Elsa as if she had said something horribly offensive.
"You've never seen Lord of the Rings?"
"No."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"WHAT?!"
Elsa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "let's focus on getting through this door first, then you can lecture me."
Anna scoffed again and turned away as she shook her head. "Never seen Lord of the Rings, how can someone from my own family say something so horrible?" she muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, Elsa scanned the doorway. "There must be a way to open this," she paused when she spotted two small openings carved into the wall on either side of the door. "Ah, here we go."
The opening was small and square in shape, just large enough to allow someone to fit their arm through. Inside there appeared to be a lever. Elsa tentatively reached in and grasped the lever and was about to give it a pull when Anna stopped her.
"Elsa, wait!"
"What is it this time?"
"Just… be careful."
"It's a lever, Anna. What's the worst that could possibly happen?"
"Maybe lose your arm?"
"Why would you say that to me now?!"
"I don't know! Why haven't you seen Lord of the Rings?!"
Elsa rolled her eyes, then exhaled deeply. "Well… here goes nothing," she said as she pulled on the lever.
Nothing happened, and Elsa withdrew her arm easily as she stepped back.
"Huh," Anna scratched her head.
"Maybe it's something we both have to do at the same time?" Elsa suggested as she pointed towards the mechanism closest to Anna.
Anna shrugged and stuck her arm in confidently, assured that no harm would come to her after Elsa had done the same without any issue. "Worth a shot, ready?"
Elsa approached her lever and assumed the same position. "On three. One..."
"Wait, wait," Anna waved her free hand around. "Is it one, two, three, go? Or are we going on three?"
"Going on three," Elsa sighed. "Now can we do this?"
"I just want to make sure," Anna muttered as she faced the wall in front of her. "Alright, let's do this."
"One...two...three!"
They both pulled their lever at the same time. Seconds later, a loud rumbling followed by the grating of stone on stone echoed loudly as the ancient stone doors slid apart and permitted entry.
Anna bounced up and down in excitement next to Elsa as they waited for the doors to fully open. After another moment, the rumbling settled and the passageway continued on before them.
"After you, mademoiselle," Anna bowed and gestured for Elsa to proceed.
They rounded another corner and just as they did Elsa stopped dead in her tracks at the edge of a tall cliff, halted by the sudden drop as well as the sight before her.
"Careful here, An- whoa!" Elsa warned before Anna stumbled into her from behind.
"Gotcha!" Anna said as she caught Elsa by her waist and pulled her back. She peered over her shoulder down to the drop below. "Guess we're even now, huh?"
"Even? You nearly pushed me over!" Elsa said, then looked down to see that Anna's hands were still around her waist. She cleared her throat nervously as she flushed with embarrassment. "Um, Anna you can let go of me now."
"Hmm? Oh! Right," Anna chuckled as she released her hold on Elsa and backed away. Then, she took the opportunity to gaze at the massive cave formation before them.
They were standing upon the ledge of a tall cliff, overlooking a sprawling underground city. Far ahead of them, a waterfall spat out of the cave walls and emptied into a rushing river far below. Situated on either side of the river were all manner of buildings, criss-crossed every which way by wide streets and narrow alleys. The ground was uneven, and stone houses were nestled all around dips and rises or even partially embedded in the walls as they rose up and away from the city. Inns and storefronts surrounded market squares that were dotted throughout, as were chapels and other places of worship. Sporadically placed throughout the city were three massive stone pillars that stretched up from the ground all the way to the ceiling, supporting its immense weight. Deep cracks and crevasses in the surface of the ceiling let in pale shafts of moonlight from outside, illuminating the city as the light rays bounced off of reflective surfaces placed all over.
"Oh, I'm so making you watch Lord of the Rings after all this," Anna breathed as she took in the empty, ancient city.
By her side, Elsa's eyes were wide as saucers as she drank in the seemingly impossible phenomenon. "It's incredible," she whispered.
"A city on an ocean of sand… hmm, more like under," Anna quipped. "How do you think they built all this?"
Elsa shrugged. "Maybe this cave already existed and they just started a settlement here, expanding as necessary. This whole place must be fed by an underground spring, there's no way they could have survived out here without all this water. It must have taken them a really long time to-"
"Jeez, Elsa, it was a rhetorical question," Anna grinned. "Come on, let's go take a closer look!" she said as she bounced away.
The path they followed hugged the side of a tall rock-face to one side, and ended in a sheer dropped on the other. It was wide enough to allow two people to walk abreast comfortably with one another, though Elsa and Anna still preferred to walk single file closest to the wall.
"I suppose railings weren't invented yet," Elsa remarked as they sidled along.
"Clearly, this place wasn't built to code," Anna added from ahead. She stopped and gazed upwards at the remains of the staircase before them.
The path led upwards to a landing embedded in the wall, but the staircase and the ground underneath it had collapsed long ago, forming a long gap above a sharp drop. What remained was a tall, flat surface pockmarked with cracks and holes that could serve as convenient handholds and climbing grips.
"Clearly," Elsa said as she stood next to Anna and arrived at the same conclusion. They would have to jump and climb up.
"You're the oldest, you go first," Anna stated then took a few steps back from the ledge.
"So courteous," Elsa muttered sarcastically.
She retreated a few paces then inhaled and exhaled in rapid succession before sprinting forwards and leaping over the gap. She reached upwards with her hands and caught a solid edge of rock jutting out from the wall, then dug her feet in as she launched herself upwards and climbed the rest of the way up to the landing with ease.
"Alright, come on!" Elsa yelled down to Anna.
Below, Anna was already sprinting forward and crossed the gap easily. She made her way upwards, setting one of her hands on a loose stone. As she hoisted her weight upwards, the stone chipped and fell away from the wall.
"Crap!" she exclaimed, hanging from her other hand as she regained her footing on the wall.
"Anna!" Elsa knelt down and reached for her sister.
"It's okay! I've got it totally under contr- oh shit!" Anna yelped as another rock came loose in her grasp and tumbled down.
She started a small rock-slide wherever she attempted to find purchase as more stones loosened and fell away. A large crack formed just above her as a section of the wall groaned and buckled beneath her weight.
"Crap, crap, crap! Not good!" Anna exclaimed as she clambered upwards.
She found her footing and rose to a standing position just as the wedge of the wall pulled away and began to crumble downwards.
"Jump! Take my hand!" Elsa yelled, reaching as far out as she could.
Anna leapt off the falling piece in time and caught Elsa's hand. As she hung in empty space, she looked below her as the rock and stone shattered against the slope and splintered into dust. Elsa lifted Anna up and fell backwards, pulling her as far back from the edge as possible. Together, they laid on their backs, catching their breath.
"That was…" Elsa panted.
"Wicked!" Anna exclaimed. She rose to her feet first and held out her hand to help Elsa up.
Elsa looked sidelong over the gap and sighed, accepting Anna's hand as she stood up. "Let's try not to do that again shall we?"
Anna nodded enthusiastically, and then glanced over the edge, "guess we aren't going back this way then."
"Let's keep moving," Elsa said.
Moving forward, they passed through a long series of earthen hallways and corridors until they reached a low, partially caved in section. Elsa and Anna crouched as they moved slowly, careful not to disturb the rubble that diverted them into a sort of crawl-space tunnel. They shuffled along on hands and knees until they reached a portion that appeared to run beneath another hallway, covered by a thick metal grate.
"Maybe we can get up through here?" Anna suggested.
"Help me lift it," Elsa said as she squatted and placed her hands on the metal grate and started to push upwards.
Anna copied her movement and attempted to lift the obstruction. Together they both strained and grunted with effort as they tried to lift the metal grate, though it was to no use.
"It's no use, we're gonna need a blowtorch to get through this," Anna panted from the exertion.
Elsa sank back to her knees and exhaled. "It keeps going that way, maybe we can find another way ou-"
Just then, the sound of a metal door rang out as it slammed against stone, and two distant voices became audible.
"Quiet!" Anna hissed as she pressed herself against the shadows. Elsa did the same as the two fell silent and hid themselves from sight.
"That one sounded close by! There will be nothing to find if it is all buried beneath rubble!" shouted one voice as the pair drew closer.
"My men have been a bit careless with the dynamite, I admit. But if we had gone at it with picks and shovels, we'd be here for weeks. We don't have time to be careful, not with the competition we have now" the other voice replied.
"Yes… that meddlesome pair, damn them! For all we know, they could have already found the grail by now and gotten away with it!"
Two familiar figures rounded a corner and were pacing along the length of the hallway to where the sisters were hiding just beneath. Hans walked forward at a brisk pace while Weselton had to nearly jog just to match his speed due to his height.
Elsa and Anna glanced at one another, sharing the same look of recognition and revulsion.
Hans waved a hand through the air and shook his head. "There's no way they could have beaten us here, and my men are on full alert. If they were here already, we'd know about it," he said.
"That damn family… first their irksome parents and now this? They've been a thorn in my side far too long!"
"Would you relax? We've made it into the city, and my men are searching it top to bottom as we speak. We'll find your precious artifact."
"Good. With any luck we can make this city their tomb as well," Weselton snarled.
Shortly afterward, Hans and Weselton passed out of sight and beyond earshot. Elsa and Anna released the breath they were holding and turned to each other.
"That was close," Elsa sighed. "Weselton's out for blood."
"He's welcome to try, the little weasel," Anna spat.
"At least it sounds like they still don't know where exactly to start looking, so that should buy us some more time."
"Right, we better keep moving," Anna stated
Alone again, the pair started their way down the crawlspace and delved deeper into the bowels of the buried city.