Chapter 5 -- To The Temple

"Damnit!" Sydney hissed as her flashlight cut out.

"Problem?" Bridgit asked gently walking over.

"My damned flashlight."

Bridgit took it from her hands and gave it a gentle shake. The bulb sputtered a few times before coming back on. "Here." She handed it back to Sydney and vanished farther into the cave.

Sydney stared after her with a frown for a few seconds before returning her attention to the cave paintings. Nigel stood a few yards away examining another set. "Anything, Nigel?" she asked.

"No, Syd. They just look like random pictures." Nigel frowned and shrugged helplessly. Normally, you would expect cave-paintings to tell some kind of story. These paintings were just there. Their only purpose seemed decorative, which was odd for the era they seemed to come from. Purely decorative art was a fairly new development.

"Guys!" Bridgit called from the alcove she had vanished into. "Come here!"

Sydney and Nigel came running, only to be stopped in their tracks. Bridgit was standing in front of a carved staircase. Thousands of years of neglect had left the stairs broken and uneven, but they had obviously once been perfectly uniform. They vanished deep into the cave, still leading steeply downwards at the point where they were swallowed by the darkness.

"Nigel!" Sydney called, shining her flashlight down the staircase,  "Come here. I think this may be it."

Nigel nodded and hurried back into the front of the cave. He reappeared a few moments later, camera in one hand, flashlight in the other. "How far down do you think they go?" he asked Sydney.

She shook her head. "No idea. What I don't understand is why the temple wouldn't be better hidden."

"What do you mean?" Bridgit asked, staring down the stairs.

"Well, it just doesn't make a lot of sense that it would be in a cave that was easily visible from the outside and so heavily decorated at the mouth that it was obviously special and then that it would be right down a flight of stairs." She frowned. "There are probably traps."

"Why would there be?" Bridgit asked. "You think anyone could find this place if Cerridwyn didn't want them to? The temple's meant to be easy to find. At least, it is for us."

Sydney and Nigel stared at her.

"Do you mean to say that others might not be able to find it so easily?" Nigel asked, frowning.

Bridgit nodded. "That is precisely what I mean, Nigel."

"But... it makes no sense!" he protested. Relics and the places they were kept were always well-hidden. It was how they survived for so long. And, of course, the concept of a site being selectively easy to find was absolutely absurd.

"It makes perfect sense." Bridgit smiled at him. "If you only accept the existence of powers greater than yourself."

Nigel sighed and stared at Sydney for support. "Syd?"

She shrugged uncertainly. "Nigel, I don't..." She sighed. "Okay. Well, obviously we need to explore the rest of this level before we do or decide anything else." She looked at Bridgit. "That could take time. A few hours, at least."

Bridgit sighed and nodded. "You're the expert. But can I go and have a look?"

"I don't think that would be wise, Bridgit..." Nigel said softly. "It might not be safe."

She nodded. "Very well, then. I think I need some fresh air, anyway."

"What?" Nigel asked, frowning. He took a deep breath, but the air in the cave seemed fine to him.

"You know. Sixteen percent oxygen, 80 of nitrogen." Bridgit shook her head and walked away.

Nigel stared after her. "You know, that's as close to impatience as I've ever seen her come, Syd."

Sydney shrugged. "She's so close she can taste it, and we tell her she has to wait. That can't be easy for her." She bent down and ran her fingers over the stone stairs. "Nigel, does this look like writing to you?" she asked.

He knelt next to her and shined his flashlight on the carvings, nodding. "Yeah, I think so."

"Can you read it?"

"Some of it. This word is temple. This phrase here warns no one to enter unbidden." He shrugged. "They're probably some kind of magical wards, set up by the people who built the temple."

"To keep out intruders?" Sydney asked, handing him the camera.

He nodded and took the camera, snapping pictures as he spoke. "Although, the message seems to be that if you come with good intentions, no harm will befall you. Which is odd. Most temple-curses are more... equivocal."

She nodded. "Maybe this temple served as a sanctuary of some sort?" she suggested.

He nodded agreement. "It's likely, I think. People would have sought out the priests of Cerridwyn for advice, prayer, healing... oh, all kinds of things. You wouldn't want them to be afraid to enter the temple just because they didn't have a formal invitation."

"Can you translate any more?"

He shook his head. "Not really. Bridgit might be able to."

"Okay. Go find her, then. I'll be looking at those paintings by the mouth."

He nodded and rose. When he found Bridgit, she was kneeling in front of the fire, muttering to herself, too absorbed in what she was saying to notice Nigel's approach. He did not immediately understand what she was saying, and it took him a moment to realize that it was because she was whispering not in English, but in Irish, and in a dialect that bore about as much resemblance to modern Irish as Old English did to the new. He paused, trying to discern what she was saying and to who.

"But is it truly necessary? Do they have to suffer so?" she muttered in obvious frustration. She paused and stared into the fire. "It's not right, damn!" Shaking her head angrily she kicked at the fire, scattering logs everywhere.

Nigel backed away and approached again, calling, "Bridgit?"

She turned around slowly. "Hi, Nigel."

"Is everything okay out here?"

She nodded warily. "Yeah, why?"

"Oh, I thought I heard you talking to someone."

"But we're the only people here..." she pointed out gently, rising.

"Oh. I just thought I heard... never mind. Say, what happened to the fire?" he asked, gesturing to the scattered logs as though noticing them for the first time.

"Oh, I wasn't feeling very well when I came out. I stumbled and kicked the logs."

"You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" he asked, frowning.

She shook her head. "My boots may never recover, but I'm just fine."

He nodded. "Do you feel up to returning to the cave? We were hoping you could help us translate some writing on the floor near the staircase."

She nodded and followed him back to the cave. Nigel glanced back once or twice, trying to see if she was, perhaps, carrying a phone or other communication device that she had been talking to someone through. She obviously had not been talking to the fire, even if she had been looking right at it. As Bridgit knelt over the inscription, Nigel caught Sydney by the arm and drew her towards the mouth of the cave, gesturing for her to keep quiet.

"What's going on Nigel?" she whispered as he pulled her out of the cave.

"There's something going on with Bridgit, Syd." Nigel sighed. It sounded foolish even as he said it.

"What kind of 'something', Nigel?" Sydney frowned and lowered her voice, glancing back into the cave.

"She was talking to someone out here while we were in the cave together."

Sydney looked around quickly, reaching for her knife. "Where?"

"By the fire. I didn't actually see anyone, but she was carrying on a conversation. About us, I think."

Sydney frowned thoughtfully. "You're sure, Nigel?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I am, Syd."

She sighed and glanced back at the cave to make sure Bridgit was still occupied within. "Do you think we can still trust her, Nigel?" she asked softly.

"I don't know, Syd. I want to trust her, but..."

She nodded. "If she's lying to us, how can we?"

"Exactly." Nigel sighed.

"Well, I don't see what we can do except keep our eyes opened and watch her closely. I doubt confronting her will do us any good."

Nigel nodded. "We should get back inside before she notices we're gone."

Sydney nodded and they went back into the cave. Nigel immediately returned to his earlier examination of the paintings, and Sydney joined Bridgit.

"Any progress?"

She nodded without looking up. Running her fingers over the inscription, she spoke. "Um, 'pass the threshold not unbidden unless thy need be profound, then enter freely and come in peace'. More or less. This says 'mine is the secret that opens the door', which is only half of a longer quote, and this says 'I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal'. That's all and then the last lines say to enter 'in perfect love and perfect trust'."

"Huh..." Sydney shone her flashlight down the stairs once more. "So, that's the way to the temple?"

"It would seem to be, yes." Bridgit nodded. "I say we go down now."

"The temple will still be there when we're done up here." Sydney smiled reassuringly. "What's the rush?"

"I just want to have this done with."

"But why?"

"Why not? I hate waiting, that's all. Now, either the Cauldron is there or it is not, and either way, messing about up here isn't going to change anything."

"Unless there are traps down there that we can gain insight to by looking at the inscriptions up here."

"Your logic is flawed, Professor. If someone cared enough to protect the temple from outsiders with traps, why would they bother to turn around and reveal those traps to those same outsiders with a written warning?"

"You'd be surprised how often it happens." Sydney rose. "We finish up here first."

"Fine." Bridgit shrugged. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"No, not right now." Sydney shook her head. "Unless you want to help me or Nigel to pass the time?"

She nodded slowly. "Tell me what you need."

***

"I told you there would be nothing up here about traps..." Bridgit grumbled as they finally prepared to descend the staircase.

"It was worth the delay..." Nigel reassured her. "You never know, after all, and you can't be too careful."

"Sure you can..." Bridgit muttered in Irish, picking up a coil of rope and passing it to Sydney. "Let's do this, then."

Sydney nodded and secured the rope to a stalagmite, then tied the end around her waist. Another length of rope had already been tied to another stalagmite and thrown down the staircase. "I'll go first, then you, Bridget, with Nigel bringing up the rear."

Bridgit nodded. "I'd leave your knife behind, Professor."

"I beg your pardon?" Sydney asked.

"It says to enter in peace." Bridgit grinned and winked at her. "Wouldn't want the gods misinterpreting your intentions."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "They're gods. I don't think they'll have a problem with that."

"As you say." Bridgit grinned and wrapped her hands around the rope. "Let's off, then."

"Watch your step..." Nigel whispered to her. "This staircase is ancient, and we don't know if it's survived intact."

Looking nervous, she nodded. "Yeah. Got it, Nigel."

"Ready, guys?" Sydney asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Syd." Nigel nodded. "We're ready."

"Good. Keep your eyes on the ground, and watch where you put your feet." Having said this, Sydney began cautiously down the steps. "Nigel, are you counting?" Sydney asked quietly as she stepped over a loose stone.

"Yeah, Syd. Eighteen so far. Nineteen."

"Watch out for loose stones. You don't want to trip."

"Do you see the bottom yet, Syd?" Nigel asked.

Sydney paused and shone her light down the staircase. "No, not yet. Just more stairs, probably hundreds of them." She began walking again.

"Is it just me," Nigel asked after several minutes, "or is it getting warmer?"

"Yeah, Nigel, I think it is. It would be just our luck to walk into the only active volcano in Ireland..." Sydney muttered, shaking her head. Of course, it was nowhere near that warm, just warmer than the fifty-odd degrees that the upper level of the cave had been. She sighed, starting to get fatigued and frustrated by the fact. "How many steps, Nigel?"

"Two-hundred and seventy-one, Syd. Should we take a rest here?"

She shook her head. "No. We can rest when we get to the bottom. It can't be much farther now."

"Depends on how deep the lake is..." Bridgit contributed, running her hands over the smooth, dry wall. "Did you notice the wall?"

"What about it?" Sydney asked.

"It's dry."

"Hey, you're right..." Sydney frowned.

Nigel shook his head. "A cave directly under a lake should not be dry. The builders must have constructed the stairs in a direction away from the lake to keep the moisture from seeping in..." He stopped. "What direction are we facing?"

"Good luck figuring that out." Sydney handed him her compass. "It hasn't been working since we reached the lake."

"Iron deposits in the mountains?" Nigel asked.

"I guess so." Sydney shrugged.

Nigel looked over his shoulder and up the stairs. "Yeah, it looks like the staircase has a slight curve to it. It probably spirals around and then under the lake."

"Or maybe the temple isn't under the lake at all..." Sydney suggested.

"Oh, it is." Bridgit nodded confidently.

"How can you be so sure?" Sydney asked.

"It's a holy site. They wouldn't want to build a temple near their holy site if they could possibly build it right on top of the place. Or right under..."

"I think she's right, Syd." Nigel nodded thoughtfully. "And they wouldn't have needed to make the stair-case so steep if they were building it anywhere other than under the lake." He shrugged. "Of course, legend would have it that the gods themselves built the place, so I'm not sure if the normal rationale even applies."

"Well," Bridgit said softly, "if the gods did build it, then there's no reason for it to be anywhere but under the lake. The lake was sacred to Cerridwyn, so it stands that her own temple would be under the lake."

"Why wouldn't she just build a temple with a nice view of the lake?" Sydney asked.

"You can ask her when we reach the temple..." Bridgit suggested. "The stairs probably weren't even added until later, when the upper cave was found by the priests."

"Well, you may be getting a little ahead of yourself with that supposition, Bridgit..." Nigel suggested gently.

She shrugged, smiling faintly. "If you say so. You're the expert, after all."

"How many steps, Nigel?" Sydney called after several minutes of silence.

"Five-hundred and ninety-eight, Syd."

Sydney shook her head in disgust. "Are we there yet?"

"One-thousand was a number that had special meaning to most ancient groups, wasn't it, Syd?" Nigel asked.

Sydney nodded. "Yeah. It usually signified an almost unknowably large amount of something. You think that's the intent with this staircase, Nigel? A thousand stairs?"

He shrugged. "I suppose it's possible. Maybe it's symbolic of having to go to great lengths to contact the goddess, or of eternity itself..."

"Could be, Nigel." She nodded. "Bridgit, it didn't happen to say anywhere in your book how many stairs there were?"

"No, it didn't. There was the passage about packing your good boots..."

"There was?" Nigel asked, surprised.

Sydney shook her head and kept walking. She stopped abruptly as she nearly tripped over a large stone, tied to the end of the rope. "We're out of lead-rope, guys." She shone her light down the staircase. "And no end in sight."

"What now?" Bridgit asked softly.

"Easy." Sydney untied the rope from her waist and gave it a series of sharp tugs until the tight rope slackened in her hands. After several minutes, she had hauled the other end of the rope into view. "We just start over."

"Without a safety?" Nigel asked softly.

"The lead-rope's going to have to be it." Sydney shrugged.

"What if it's not long enough?" Nigel asked.

"Well, among other things, it'll mean that your theory about the number of stairs was wrong..." Sydney tied the two ropes together. "In which case we very well may be here for eternity." She picked up the stone that she had tied to the end of the lead-rope and secured it to the new end before throwing it down the stairs. When the clattering had stopped, she wrapped her hands tightly around the rope and started down again. "How many stairs, Nigel?"

"Seven-hundred and thirty, Syd..." Nigel sighed. They walked on in silence for a while until Nigel said aloud, "Nine ninety-five..." He stopped abruptly and shone his light down the staircase. "Syd, stop!" he shouted, pushing past Bridgit who had flattened herself against the wall at the sound of his shout.

Sydney looked up, startled. She had been almost sleepwalking, not really paying attention to where she was going until Nigel's shout pulled her back into reality. And an awareness of what had made him shout. Her hands tightened spasmodically on the rope as she beheld the black nothingness beneath her. One more step and she would have plunged straight into it without even realizing it. She felt Nigel's hands tighten painfully on her shoulder and upper arm and jerk her back from the brink. They fell into an ungainly pile near Bridgit's feet.

"Oh my God..." Sydney muttered, untangling herself from Nigel, who looked more panicked than she felt, which was pretty panicked.

"Syd, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Nigel asked anxiously, reaching out and tenderly touching her face. He pulled his hand away self-consciously. "Are you okay?" he repeated.

She nodded weakly. Her worst injury seemed to be the bruise that Nigel had inflicted when he had grabbed her arm. "And after I told you guys to watch where you put your feet..." She shook her head. "Are you okay, Nigel?"

He nodded shakily and crawled to the brink. He shone his light down. The stone floor was easily twenty feet below. She might not have been killed in the fall, but her injuries would have been fatal, that far from civilization. He rejoined them several steps away from the gulf. Bridgit smiled gently at him and took a canteen from Sydney's hands, forcing it into his. His throat was dry, so he took a long gulp... and nearly choked on the whiskey that the canteen held instead of water. As he recovered, Sydney retrieved the canteen and took several more sips.

"Thanks, Bridgit..." she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

Bridgit nodded and handed Nigel another canteen. "I'm sorry, Nigel. I thought you heard me tell Sydney that it was whiskey. This one's just water."

Nigel accepted it gratefully. "It's okay. Thanks."

"I think this would be as good a time as any to take that rest..." Bridgit muttered. She climbed several stairs before sprawling and the ground and closing her eyes. She promptly began snoring.

Sydney eyed her in surprise for a minute, helping herself to another sip from the canteen. She approached Nigel and offered him the canteen.

"Thanks, Syd." He accepted it with a weak smile. "Not that we should be drinking on the job..."

"Nigel, I think in this case we can make an exception." Sydney sighed and glanced thoughtfully at him as he handed her the canteen. "Thanks, Nigel."

He shrugged. "It's almost empty..."

Sydney smiled. "No, Nigel, I mean 'thanks for saving my life'."

"Oh..." He blushed and bowed his head. "Well, you'd have done the same for me. Have, in fact."

Sydney grinned. "'Shucks, ma'am, 't weren't nothing'."

"Well, it wasn't!" Nigel whispered emphatically. "It shouldn't have had to happen at all, you know..." He glanced apologetically at Sydney.

"I know, Nigel, and I'm sorry. I was tired. I wasn't paying attention."

"That's not like you, Syd."

"I haven't been feeling great lately, Nigel, that's all."

"Well, it's not like you to go on a Hunt when you're not up to it, either, Syd."

Sydney bowed her head. "I know, Nigel..."

"Syd..." Nigel reached out and took her chin in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "I am not criticizing you. I'm just worried and I want to know what's wrong." He sighed and dropped his hands. "You usually tell me these things, Syd, without my having to ask."

Sydney smiled sadly at him. "I want to tell you, Nigel, I just can't right now."

Nigel nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be here when you're ready, Syd."

Her smile became less sad. "I know you will, Nigel." She glanced at Bridgit who had pulled herself into a little ball and was still snoring softly.

"What do we do now?" Nigel asked.

"Wake Bridgit up, I guess."

"Syd, you know what I mean."

She nodded. "It's only twenty-five or thirty feet down. We can rappel that easily."

"And how do we get back up once we have?"

"There has to be a way up, Nigel. That drop wasn't caused by a rockslide or a cave-in; someone placed it there. But that someone had to be able to get out, as well."

"So, you think we should go on?" Nigel asked.

"It's either that or go back, get rock-climbing equipment, come back up here and start all over. We'd lose a week or more, Nigel!"

"A week isn't that long, Syd..." Nigel pointed out reasonably.

Sydney stared at him for a moment. "Maybe a week doesn't seem like a long time to you, but it does to me. I want to get back home."

"Then we'll just leave, Syd."

"No!" she hissed, shaking her head. "I'm not walking away from this, Nigel."

"But why?" he protested, confused. "What's so special about this one?"

"If this is for real, it's as big as the Holy Grail, Nigel..." Sydney shook her head.

"And if it's not..."

"Then we've wasted our time. But if we walk away, we'll never know."

Nigel sighed. "If you're sure, Syd."

She nodded. "I am, Nigel."

He sighed and rose. "Fine, but, when we get back, I want you to tell me what's going on with you."

"When we get back, I will..." Sydney promised. "Wake Bridgit."

Nigel nodded and knelt next to the young woman, giving her a gentle shake. "Bridgit, wake up."

She jumped up with a startled yelp at his touch. She glanced around anxiously until she saw him. "Oh, hi." She smiled. "What's up?"

"Can you rappel?"

"I guess so, yeah." She shrugged. "How hard can it be, right?"

Nigel nodded uncomfortably. "Right. Well, you can go between me and Syd so that if anything goes wrong..."

"I'm covered on both sides." She nodded. "Thanks, Nigel."

Sydney was standing on the edge of the cliff. "Which one of us goes first?" she asked Nigel.

"That's up to you, Syd."

She nodded. "I'll go. Give me your pack."

He handed it to her and she tossed it over the edge. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped her hands around the rope and turned her back to the cliff.

"Syd, you do know what you're doing?" Nigel asked softly, trying to remember if they had ever been forced to rappel down a cliff together.

"Sure I do, Nigel." She nodded and stepped off.

Wincing, Nigel leaned over the edge to watch her descent. She grinned up at him and pushed off from the wall. Her smile faded as she realized that the wall was giving way under the pressure of her foot, causing her to lose what little balance she had. The look on her face as she lost her grip on the rope was one of pure surprise. She did not even look frightened. Nigel and Bridgit both clearly heard the sound of bones breaking as she landed.

"Sydney!" Nigel shouted, grabbing onto the rope and sliding down. His hands were raw and bloody from rope-burn when he reached the bottom, and he was fairly sure that he had broken his ankle, but he dropped to the ground next to the unmoving Sydney and felt for a pulse. "Sydney?" he whispered in her ear, doing his best to clean the blood from her face, but only adding to it with the blood pouring from his hands. "Can you hear me, Syd?"

Her eyes fluttered and she looked up at him. "Ouch..." she groaned softly. "What... what happened?" she gasped, trying to sit up.

Nigel gently restrained her. "No, don't move, Syd. You took a little tumble, that's all. You're going to be just fine…"