Chapter 7: Motherly Worry.
Madame Giry fought against the water that was splashing up, more violently than before against her as she tried harder and harder to pull Erik up, at least till he was sitting. The man was conscious but only barely, something was holding him back, as if he didn't want to be saved. His body was stiff and soaked through from whatever had happened. He nearly felt dead but she could still hear his breathing. She no longer felt the cold as she struggled to pull him, against his will, to try and save his life. She felt an obligation to help him, for it was she who had agreed to start this in the first place. The water was rising faster and faster around them. It would only be a matter of time before it was above the edge of the small path and they would be in very serious trouble.
"Erik, please, you have to listen to me, you have to try and sit up so that your pets can support you," she yelled over all of the noise, "if you can do that then I can get what I need to help you but I can't do this alone." she yelled, "please I am sorry for all of this. I should have never agreed to it in the first place."
The mass of wet cloths and dead weight, that was Erik shifted a little as Madame Giry pushed and pulled at him to move him. She breathed a sigh of relief but only a very small one. Tangae watched her attentively and then finally moved over to where her masters head was. She crawled along the wet ground, soiling her beautiful white and black fir and placing her body behind her masters so that he could lean on her.
"Good," Giry said as she placed a hand on the tigers head, feeling no fear toward the gentle beast, "now stay where you are and don't move until I return to with help, he needs to be out of this cold and wetness if we want to help him at all," she said looking into the cats yellow eyes. It seemed to her like the big feline understood every word and soon the horse had moved in and laid down to try and help support Erik as well. "You see Erik, even though you seem not to want to be save your pet will not let you do this to yourself. They rely on you to take care of them because there is no one else to do it and now they will do everything they can to help you. We will get you out of this and write whatever was made wrong. But for now you need to hang on. I'll be right back," Madame Giry said and ran back the way she had come.
The water splashed up around her feet as she ran though the darkness. Her eyes had adjusted to it and though it was very late in the evening she could not allow herself to feel the fatigue that had started to take over. Her worry had become stronger than any of the signals her body sent up to her. She would not rest until she knew that she had helped the pour man out of the rising water and found out all that she could of what had happened on that dreadful night.
Through the water and the noise she ran until she reached the stairs that lead up into the quiet of the theatre. She breathed deeply but could not allow herself to slow down or to rest. She hiked up the hem of her now soaking dress and began to run. She ran as quickly and as silently as she could. Her ears rang as the sound of the water died away and the stillness of the theatre began to come in around her. Floor after floor she ran and soon she was in the vast blackness that was the theatre but she didn't stop there. Up even further she ran, up through the ballet floors and passed the dormitories till she came to her daughters room. Meg had graduated to a private room in the theatre as some of the older ballerinas do. She banged frantically on the door to her daughters room.
"Mother what is the matter?" Meg gasped as she opened the door to her dripping mother, "where have you been?" she asked.
"No time Meg," her mother said as she flung some of the wet pieces of her clothing on the floor of the small room, "grab your smelling salts and a shall, that's all you be able to handle." she said as she through some more of her wet clothing onto the ground till she was left only with a damp dressing gown. She reached out and took a dry frock from Meg and then rushed for the door again.
"What is the matter," Meg asked frantically as she hurried to put her things into a small purse and ran after her mother.
"You have to keep it secret Meg," Madame Giry said as she held her daughters hand and they ran through the darkness, "I am taking you to the Phantom," she said as they began to head downward through the spiralling column of stairs.
"Is something the matter?" Meg asked as she ran more quickly.
"I believe so," madame Giry said with more of a whisper, "strange things are happening tonight. I believe I may be to blame for it all. The world is unpleased and the water is rising quickly we have to get them out of it," she said and they both fell into silence.
The noise of the rushing water grew louder and louder as they travelled further down the column of steps. At the bottom the water had begun to rise over the lip of the walk way and pooled beneath the bottom step.
"Are we to go into that?" Meg cried as she watched the water rush past her. Her eyes had not yet adapted to the darkness as completely as her mothers.
"We must, stay close to me and run," Madame Giry yelled over the sound and Meg obeyed.
Hiking up the bottoms of their skirts and splashing as they ran they made there way against the water. The travel was harder now than Madame Giry had earlier felt. It pulled her back toward where she had come and the ground beneath the water had become slippery and treacherous but still they pressed on. The water swirled all around them and grew deeper and deeper by the moment until finally they saw a patch of white in the darkness. The tiger still lay on the floor pushing its masters head above the water and struggling itself.
"Quickly," Madame Giry cried as she rushed to Erik's side, "the smelling salts," she said as she pulled the hood away from his face and revealed the disfigurement to Meg. His eyes were closed, his breathing very shallow and still he looked frightening. Meg hesitated for a moment before she gabbed onto the tiger to steady herself and pulled the small purse free from the ties of her bodice.
Madame Giry quickly passed the open bottle below Erik's nose and prayed out loud that it would work. Meg held her breath and could see the panic in the animals eyes. Suddenly Erik's eyes flew open and he gasped for air.
"Erik,"Madame Giry yelled, "can you here me?"
He breathed deep and shook all over.
"Erik answer me, please," Madame Giry begged, "are you hurt?"
"No," Erik said as he tried to push the woman away from him.
Tangae growled at him. Erik looked strangely at the cat at his side and then to his panicked horse and gave in to the help that had been offered to him, "no, I'm only week," he said forcing his voice.
"Is there an easier way to get you home?" Madame Giry asked. At the sound of the question Cesar stood from where he lay, "clearly I should have asked the horse in the first place," she said a little more lightheartedly as she tried to calm the worry in Meg's face.
"Can you get up onto the horse?" Meg asked as she stooped down to Erik.
"You should ride, my dear," Erik said as he tried to force himself up.
"Clearly not," Meg said as she reached out and grabbed his arm as he began to slip back to the ground.
"Is there an easier way than through this wall?" Madame Giry asked again this time more forcefully to Erik.
"Yes," he said as he leaned against Meg, "through the way I brought you out."
"Back at the stairs," she said to Meg.
"You'll have to ride, Monsieur," Meg said as she supported him, "it would take us to long and the water is growing to strong for you to walk on and will be far to deep for all of us very soon."
"You'll ride with him," Madame Giry said as she looked deep into Meg's eyes, "we can't chance him falling off the horse and being swept down with the wild current.
It wasn't an easy task to get Erik onto Cesar's back. He was drenched through from the water and the ground had become quite slippery. It had risen now up to their knees and though the horse would get them out of the water it would still be a slow trip back to the stairs. With much effort and shoving from Meg, her mother and Tangae, Erik was finally draped over the horses back.
"Quick Meg," Madame Giry said as she pushed Erik further into the saddle, "you'll have to be his balance, I'll be behind you with the Tangae," she said as she rested a tired hand on Tangae's head.
"Are you sure mother?" Meg asked as she stood before the great white steed, "you look terrible and I could make it much easier by foot then you could right now.
"No, you will ride," She said as forcefully as if she was running rehearsal, "quickly child before he loose his balance again."
Meg grabbed hold of the saddle and swung herself up behind the Phantom. She reached around his waist and grabbed at the reigns that he held loosely in his hand, "Alright Monsieur," she said holding him tightly, "off we go."
Madame Giry watched a moment as Meg eased the horse down the passage as close to the wall as she could stay. Erik remained balanced in front of her and yet he sunk low as he road. He looked old and defeated, not at all the fright he had once been. She felt a deep sinking feeling as she watched him. So much of his mystery was lost now and he seemed to have lost far to much to keep himself going. This realisation was terrifying for the old woman, she felt guilty for not leaving him to live out his life and yet she had seen the hope in his eyes when they had met. How could things have all gone so wrong in such a short period of time. The theatre was once again thrown into the magic of the Phantom, only this time he seemed not to be in control of it anymore. Her panic didn't last long, however, the great cat had become impatient. She had grabbed hold of Madame Giry's sleeve and was pulling her after the horse.
The water moved them along quickly. Madame Giry had lost sighed of Meg and the Phantom in the darkness of the underground river and had almost last herself to the moving water but Tangae held tight to her sleeve and after a while she held tight to the tigers wet fir. Soon they came to the stairs. The water had risen high over the first few steps and the horse was no where to be seen. Madame Giry was beginning to feel the fatigue as she started to climb up the steps. The wetness was sinking in to her skin. She was chilled right through but had to carry on upward. Away from the rising water and into the silence. She vowed to herself that she would not rest until she saw that the Phantom was safe.
Above, Cesar walked on. His pace had quickened once his hooves were free of the rushing water. The climb up the steps had become harder on Meg. The weight of the man in the saddle leaned heavily on her and she felt herself slipping back further on the horse but she held tight and persevered, not allowing herself to be defeated that easily. Finally he stopped in mid climb and looked at a bare patch of the brick wall.
"Why have you stopped?" Meg asked as she tugged at the reigns and brought herself back up into a comfortable position on his back.
"The door is there," Erik said almost in a whisper, "twenty seven brick up on the right side of the step. This step on which Cesar stands, you'll find a loose brick, push it and the door will appear," he added heavily as he struggled still to breath.
"Shall I wait for the others, Monsieur?" she asked still holding tightly to his waist and listening to him struggle to breath.
"They are coming," He said, "find the brick and they will be with us to carry on." he said and forced himself to sit as straight as he could, "I'll be fine," he said but it was taking all of the strength that he had left to keep himself there.
Meg hoped down from behind him and crouched down on the cold steps of the column. She counted the bricks and soon found the one that he had mentioned. Behind her she could hear footsteps in the passage and held her breath. Her mother appeared with the cat below and she pressed the brick. A grinding sound followed and the wall began to move. Meg hurried back to the horse and pulled herself back up behind the Phantom, taking hold of him again as his strength had begun to fail him. She held him up and watched as the cat bounded into the passage before them.
"Will the door close behind us?" she asked Erik.
"No," he said softly, "the brick has to be pushed back into place.
"Mother, you'll have to do it," Meg said as Cesar began to move into the passage, "you can see the protruding brick just push it back when we are all safely in the passage.
Madame Giry followed silently and did as she was told. The grinding noise returned and the door closed behind them. Suddenly they were plunged into a blacker darkness then before. Their eyes didn't adjust to the darkness, there was nothing to lead them on.
"Take hold of Tangae," Erik said as he struggled to look at Madame Giry, "she'll lead you through the darkness. Cesar will take hold of her tail and we'll be lead by her to where we need to go."
The blackness before them and all around them was total. One could not see anything before them. It felt like they weren't travelling at all but merely floating in the darkness. But they were moving along the passage. Slowly but surely they went on. The passage seemed to climb up, though there were no stairs it still rose. They were all silent as they carried on. The only sound in the darkness was the forced breathing of the Phantom.
Finally the ground levelled out and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Some noise had also returned like the sweet, musical sound of bird.
"It is not yet morning is it?" Meg asked as she saw the light and heard the birds.
"No," Erik said, "its just another world."
Meg fell silent again as they walked toward the light a sudden fear came over her and yet it was an excited fear. Were they really coming upon a place that so many had searched for and no one had ever found. It was a wonder to think that the Phantom could create and entire would below the ground and yet she was afraid to see what he kept there. Would it be a world of torture and hatred or was it a peaceful place. The light and the sounds seemed promising enough but looks can sometimes be deceiving. It became bright and brighter every moment and the cat and the horse moved quicker and quicker. Madame Giry had begun to run with the animals as the went on.
Erik was growing heavier again. His head drooped down and his body sagged as Meg held tightly onto him. He could feel himself fading away again. His clothing had become so heavy, he wanted to shed every bit of it and just lay in the warm light of his own place. Sleep was calling to him a restful happy sleep. He had felt that he wanted only to let the water swallow him up only hours before but now the kindness he had been feeling from these two women and the love of his pet made him want to carry on. A welcome fatigue had come over him, one that would almost be restful away from the worry and yet it seemed so far away. There before him was the light and the sounds of his safety and a trust had developed between him and the woman who held him to the horse. They were coming nearer to the light now soon he would be safe. He saw before him the green of his underground world and then his mind faded back to darkness as he passed out in Meg's arms.