Chapter Seventeen
Snape whirled around and threw floo powder into the empty fireplace and spoke, "Remus, would you come to Dumbledore's office immediately."
They watched the green flames churn and Remus Lupin emerge.
"You must prove yourself. What is the sign?" Snape asked.
"Why? What's happened?" Remus asked, staring at their faces. "That bad is it? 'No. 12 Grimmauld place'." He spoke the words proving his identity.
Snape nodded, "Neville Longbottom is missing. Albus thinks the imposter has reappeared."
"In the castle?" Lupin asked in shock.
"Never left," Snape said, turning back to Dumbledore. "I'm going after him. You need to stay here so there is no confusion in case he is posing as you again." Snape was talking to Lupin but looking at Dumbledore. "Albus, where is the Source? You must tell me."
Dumbledore sat serenely looking at the three standing men before him. "I cannot tell you Severus and it would do me no good to try and explain even if I could."
"Will he leave the castle with the boy, Professor?" Remus asked.
They seemed to have forgotten that Harry was standing with them when he interrupted them. "It's my job to go after him." Dumbledore looked at him, but he couldn't read the expression. Harry touched his scar and said, "It's Voldemort. He's here and he has Neville." He couldn't describe to them how he knew, since they understood part of what was happening with him, but not all.
Remus gaped at him and Snape turned to him and asked, "Here in Hogwarts?"
"Yes, Professor, he's found a way in," Harry answered. "He can't get into my mind but he is trying." Harry rubbed the scar, it was burning; a very old and familiar feeling, but something he could now control.
They all looked at Dumbledore. He nodded. "He may be here but he will not find the Source, you do not have to worry about that. Still you must find, Neville. The boy is Uncorrupted."
Harry once again heard the word and frowned. It meant something to Dumbledore that it didn't mean to the any of them. Snape frowned and Lupin watched the old man as if waiting for him to explain. Dumbledore stood and Snape immediately had his hand under an arm to steady him. Harry wondered at his sudden frailty and then something struck him that was odd about the office.
"Professor?" Harry began and realized all three of them were looking at him expectantly. "Sorry, Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes, Harry?" Dumbledore nodded, looking at him curiously, as if he too were waiting for something to happen.
"There has been some transfer of power hasn't there?" Harry walked to him slowly. He spoke softly directing his focus and concentration towards the blue eyes. "Fawkes is gone. You used him to generate some kind of power. Now Neville has it and that's why you call him the Uncorrupted. It hasn't anything to do with whether he's a good person or not, does it? It has to do with the power you transferred. It is the power that is uncorrupted."
Dumbledore did the most amazing thing that Harry had ever seen; he grinned, the biggest, widest grin Harry had ever seen. He had his back to the other two and they didn't see the expression as it was directed at Harry. And then, most amazing of all, he winked.
Harry began to nod. "Okay," he drew out the word and glanced at the other two. They were both looking perplexed as much as he must look Harry wasn't sure he even knew what he was happening, if he was guessing correctly or Dumbledore was just acting oddly.
Dumbledore reached out and touched Harry on the arm. He then turned, waved a hand and Lupin and Snape froze in place. Harry watched as Dumbledore straightened and seemed to regain his old vigor before Harry's eyes.
"Professor, do you have a time stopper?" Harry had been given a ring that Hermione had stolen from the Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries. He was aware they existed and understood their powers and had even used one himself. For that reason, he wasn't surprised at what the headmaster had just done. What did surprise him was when Dumbledore turned back to him shaking his head and still smiling.
"No, Harry, I have no time stopper. That," he waved a hand at the two men at his back, "That is a dusty old piece of magic. However, it will give us a moment to converse in private." He patted him on the shoulder. "You are very clever Harry, the first to make the connection about the transfer of power. So I will reveal something to you." He walked to his desk skirting around the two frozen figures. "I know you will go and find Neville and perhaps face Voldemort. I cannot tell you if you will defeat him or not, that is beyond my vision. But I will offer you two pieces of advice. You have heard this before, but I will say it again. You must not kill anyone unless it is Voldemort." Dumbledore fished for something in his desk and withdrew the large book Harry had gotten from Hermione. He waved a hand over the book and it flipped open to the map. Once again a wave of his hand detached the map and it flew to Harry, all without use of a wand. "To kill another would only make Voldemort more powerful. He feeds on it and it gives him strength."
"The second is this," he said returning to his former position just in front of him, "I must hurry because these two will be a trifle upset," he glanced over his shoulder. "On your search there will be many things that will help you." He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and threw his arms wide. "Hogwarts is a very unusual place. Trust her and she will take care of you." He thrust his face close to Harry's, "Follow Severus' advice as well. He has told you to control your emotions. What he meant was… focus your emotions. You know you must not use your wand." Dumbledore smiled as if he was having a very good time at a party. "Now I will give you three minutes head-start before I…" he twirled his hand in front of Harry's eyes. "It is the best that I can do. If I have failed I hope you can forgive me. Now go Harry!"
Harry knew what he meant. Three minutes before you unfreeze them, he thought.
He was out the door and down the spiral staircase, taking two steps at a time. Harry was even more surprised because he found Hermione and Ron standing at the foot of the staircase.
"What?" he began. They were at his side immediately.
"Dumbledore sent out a school-wide alarm, Harry," Ron said. "We're going with you."
"That's right, Harry," Hermione said looking grim. "We think there has been a massive infiltration. Voldemort and some of his Death Eaters are in Hogwarts. We've been drilling for this. As soon as we get word from the couriers…"
Harry gaped at her and stuttered, "Drilling? Couriers?"
Ron nodded, "In Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, Lupin has been drilling the classes in case Hogwarts was invaded, he just didn't know Dumbledore had another idea in mind. All of the exits are guarded, even the tunnels to the Shrieking Shack and the one behind the one-eyed witch."
"The First, Second and Third Years' are in the Great Hall. Everyone else has taken their positions," Hermione said.
Harry glanced back at the staircase. Lupin and Snape would be behind him in seconds. "That's all really great, but I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. And what do you mean by positions?" He started off down the hall alone. He had no idea where he was going and intended on searching the most obvious places first. Jonas had trained him and he hoped he could put some of that to use by tracking Neville down.
"We have a network for communicating with one another," Ron said grabbing hold of his robe and leading him down a different corridor. We know the vampire is with him. He's already being diverted towards the north tower. Seamus and Dean are taking care of him."
"What!" Harry stopped cold, full of apprehension and Hermione joined Ron in taking his arm.
"Neville was last in the greenhouses with Professor Sprout," Hermione said. "We've had someone watching him for months."
"You have?" Harry was astounded. "Who organized all of this? Who…" he stammered.
"The D.A., Harry," Ron said matter-of-factly.
"Listen, Kaldensky is really dangerous..." Harry referred to the vampire he'd met the previous summer.
"Yes, well Seamus and Dean have had special instructions," Hermione said.
"Who…?" Harry once again stopped and looked at them in bewilderment. "Where am I going?"
They walked past several people rushing past who shot meaningful glances at the two at his side. "Where are they going?" he asked, spinning his head around to follow them.
"They have their jobs," Hermione said, jerking him forward. "Oh, and Nadya is being protected. We sent Dante as soon as we got Dumbledore's warning. Jolie and Gregor will be guarding her."
"There are messengers all over the castle. Their jobs are to observe and send information to us, but not to intervene. There are Death Eaters and the imposter, which we think is Voldemort this time. We could be wrong about that though." Ron was guiding Harry's feet in a familiar direction. Harry's head was swiveling back and forth as each one spoke.
"We should have a starting point within minutes," Hermione said and opened the door to the Room of Requirement. Harry walked in and stopped in amazement. Ginny Weasley stood like a choir director in the middle of the room. The Marauder's map was stretched out on a long table and several people were watching it and giving her the locations of people throughout the castle.
At another table over another part of the room were a dozen quill pens standing at attention, en pointe, over blank parchment.
"What's this?" Harry asked.
"I got the idea from Rita Skeeter," Hermione said glancing over. Harry raised his eyebrows. "You remember her of course? Well we've developed a rather strange relationship. Anyway to make the story short, she taught me this enchantment. You write the name of the person your sending a message to. When you write on your parchment, the message is transferred to the other person's immediately. People all over the castle can send instant messages. Look here's one coming in now." She pointed to a quill that had dropped down to the blank parchment and was scribbling without the need of any human hands. Padma Patil circled the long table and read the message.
"McGonagall's gone to the staff lounge," she announced, after reading the writing on the paper.
"Do you have someone standing by in case she leaves?" Ginny asked glancing up at Harry.
Padma answered, "Yes. Michael Corner is assigned to her."
"Where is Lisa Turner stationed?" Ginny asked.
"She and Stewart Ackerley are with Group C," Padma pointed to the map.
"Hello, Harry," Ginny said, she guided a lamp with her wand, It was suspended over the table and moved at once to the area she was studying. She didn't look up and seemed distracted by the work she was doing.
Hermione pulled him around the room. Still astonished by what he was seeing, he managed to turn to slow her down, "If you have all of this organized, do you know where Neville is?"
She pulled him to the table where Ginny stepped aside and he could see the map.
Ginny pointed, looking worried. "He's here. He seems to be alone, although he's in a very strange place. I thought we had him covered but something must have happened and I haven't any idea how he got down into the lower levels of the castle."
Harry studied the Marauder's map. There wasn't any notation that Tom Riddle was in the castle. He did, however, notice Lucius Malfoy was present, as was Anotonin Dolohov, Rebastan and Redolphus Lestrange, Mulciber and Augustus Rookwood, Nott and Vincent Crabbe; all Death Eaters. He had encountered them before when he and the others were in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.
"My god, he's brought them all!" Harry gasped. "Do these people, the other students, do they know what they're facing?!"
Ron nodded and answered, "They know, Harry."
"But Voldemort," Harry said and saw Ginny jump nervously out of the corner of his eye, "he's not shown on the map and I know he's nearby. My scar is hurting. How do you know where he's at? How did they all get in?"
"Here," Ginny pointed to a line that went off the edge of the map. "We don't know where that goes. We do know Dumbledore arranged for the secret tunnel under the Shrieking Shack to be unguarded and they all entered there. They keep watch on all exits out of Hogwarts."
He let them in! he thought in astonishment. Dumbledore let them all in and arranged this! He must think I'm ready to take Voldemort on.
He studied the map before him and then pulled the almost forgotten map from his robe. Ginny squealed in excitement when he waved his wand and it unfolded to cover the entire table. A duplicate suddenly appeared written on a blank wall before them, projected by a type of prism spinning on the table beside Ginny. They all studied it.
"Merlin's Beard, Harry," Ginny said. "It s a tunnel of some kind."
"What are these?" Hermione was following the map, studying some strange lines and went around the table to find the legend for it. "Harry!" she looked up, gasping with surprise. "It's an underground railroad!"
"Really!" Harry joined her and studied the marks that signified a railroad. They looked at each other in surprise." There's a line running to Gringott's, too! Why didn't anyone know about this before?"
Laura Madley burst through the door. She was a fourth year Hufflepuff student. "Draco Malfoy went to confront his father! They're in quadrant four," she huffed in excitement, and as an aside she said, "Hello, Harry."
Ginny rushed around to the side of the map that Harry thought was probably 'quadrant four'.
"Ginny!" Harry rushed to her side and commanded, "Find Snape. Send someone to him and tell him Draco's in trouble. He was in Dumbledore's office. Do it right away!" Harry was frantically shoving the Hogwarts' map aside to search the Marauder's map.
Ginny sent the Madley girl out the door to intercept Snape.
"I'm going down there," Harry decided. He pointed to the entrance to the railroad tunnel. The only name which appeared to be in the vicinity was Neville's and it didn't seem as if he were in danger although he was in a strange place. However, Harry knew it was his job to protect Neville, especially with the castle overrun by the Dark Lord's people.
"We're coming with you," Ron said. Hermione nodded.
Harry looked at them for a moment and waved his wand over the map to fold it. "Bring this. Ginny you can follow us on the Marauder's map. If anything goes wrong send word to Dumbledore."
They left the room and hurried down the hall. Day had turned to night and lamps were flaring in the halls.
"I have to tell you both something," Harry said as they hurried along. "Both Snape and Dumbledore told me I mustn't kill anyone other than Voldemort. They said to do so would make Voldemort even stronger."
"It's good we're along then, Harry," Ron said and raced ahead a little. "It's best if we stay in front of you."
Hermione nodded and also moved ahead.
Harry wasn't sure how he felt. Everything was happening very fast and he still had no idea what he would do if he came face-to-face with Voldemort. But he recalled how he had felt when he was doing his training, thinking about how good it was to have his friends with him. They had faced dangers together, time and again.
They were on the seventh floor and racing down the staircase, through a tapestry which was a shortcut and onto a narrower staircase. Unexpectedly, Harry almost ran into the back of Ron and Hermione. Standing with his leg sunk almost to the knee was Walden Macnair, a Death Eater. He had worked for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures and was to have been the one to execute Buckbeak. He later revealed his true loyalties to Voldemort and had fought them in the Department of Mysteries. They all recognized him immediately. He looked up at them with an ugly sneer and raised his wand.
"Oh no you don't! EXPELLIARMUS, Ron shouted. The man's wand flew through the air.
Hermione was just as quick. With a very intricate whirl of her wand she shouted SAXIFICUM. The man suddenly began turning very white and from his bald head with a tuff of hair to the leg that was slowly sinking into the step, he turned to stone. They moved gingerly down the stairs past him and she mumbled, "Serves you right. See how it feels to be petrified!" Hermione took a wide step around the stone figure and Ron and Harry followed.
They were in a corridor and heard running steps behind them. "Behind here," Harry grabbed the tapestry and slid in. Hermione and Ron followed. They watched from the crack. Two figures were running down the dark corridor, their wands were extended. From the other end of the hall Harry could hear someone shout, "Hello there, what d'ya think yer doin?" It was Filch. Harry peeked out of the tapestry. Filch was in his dressing gown and wearing a long gray flannel nightshirt.
"No, no, Filch! You stupid git, you're going to get yourself killed," Harry hissed through gritted teeth. Ron and Hermione were covered by the tapestry and couldn't see what was happening.
"STUPIFY," one of the Death Eaters shouted. The green spark hit Filch dead center and he fell backwards unconscious. One mumbled something to the other and they continued down the hall.
"It's safe now I think," Harry said and slipped out from behind the tapestry. Hermione and Ron joined him. Just as they did, a paper airplane came zooming down the hall and hovered just above their head. "What's this?"
"Ron copied it from the Ministry of Magic headquarters. They send their interoffice memos this way," Hermione whispered, jumping a little to catch the plane. She unfolded it. "It's from Ginny. She says Neville is at the entrance to the tunnel. He's stopped moving. We've got to go down past the kitchens and there's a small entryway to the lower levels there. It seems there are storage rooms for food and supplies to be delivered, some loading docks. Come on. I'll lead the way." She started down the hall her robes billowing out behind her.
Ron was next to her, with his wand extended, checking passageways as they came to them. Harry was at their backs turning periodically to make sure no one followed. The hallway to the kitchens was familiar to them since they had visited Dobby and Winky, their house elf friends.
"This way," Hermione said and veered around a corner running full tilt into or through the Hufflepuff ghost, the fat friar. "Ooh, that felt terrible!" she gasped as she emerged on the other side. They turned to the ghost who smiled and pointed the way.
"Are the ghosts helping too?" Harry asked, as they hurried down the dark hall. He was trying not to run up on the heels of his friends as they moved through the dark.
Ron whispered, "Yes. It was all Hermione's doing, Harry. She just won't take credit for it."
Harry was impressed.
"It wasn't my idea at all, Harry. Remember the Sorting Hat song in our 5th year?" she said, slowing down to peer around a corner.
Harry and Ron stopped. Although they couldn't see each other, they both said together, "No!"
"Oh, you two," she sounded exasperated. "That was when Delores Umbridge was here. The Sorting hat said we had to be united to fight the foe from without. For our Hogwarts is in danger…From external foes… And we must unite inside her… Or we'll crumble within… and so on. Don't you remember?"
Once again, "No."
"Okay, it's clear, the hall is empty," she said and moved ahead of them. Harry had just a second to reflect once again at Hermione's incredible mind.
They began a long descent into darkness on a wooden staircase that seemed to descend into a dark pit. Without anything but a dim sort of light shining from below, Harry could barely make out a cavernous room. There footsteps seemed to echo ominously.
A hooded figure was standing on the stairs and his wand suddenly shone with a brilliant light. It half blinded them for a moment. "Stop," the voice said.
Harry couldn't see who it was and turned back up the stairs to check their only escape. He estimated they were still fifty feet above the floor. When he turned he was surprised to find the way was blocked. What! There was an impenetrable stone wall on the staircase where they had just come from. How did that get here? he wondered. Is this what Dumbledore meant about Hogwarts helping me? If so then it's hardly helping, it just got us trapped.
"Stay where you are," the voice said. Twenty or so feet below them was a figure crumpled on the floor. Harry could make out the face in the glow of the light it was Zacharias Smith, a boy that had caused him some grief during their training in the D.A. group. Hermione and Ron stood in front of him. The person waved his wand, pointed it at Ron and Harry heard the words IMPERIO. "Guide me to the Potter boy."
The Death Eater was using the Imperius Curse, one of the Unforgivable Curses. Ron slowly turned, his wand pointed towards the ground and his other hand coming up to point at Harry. The Death Eaters wand wavered towards Harry and he knew what was coming next.
"Hermione, duck!" he shouted as the Death Eater shouted simultaneously, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"No, Harry!" She jumped in front of him pushing his wand away.
The green light flashed and as it did the staircase split in half. Their portion swung left and the one with the Death Eater on it swung right. Out-of balance, the man teetered at the edge of the stair and then the steps smoothed into a flat plane much like the stairs leading to the girls dormitory in Gryffindor tower whenever a boy tried to enter the girl's room. This time the Death Eater slipped and fell into the darkness below them still holding his wand. The light from it illuminated a very large room and also allowed them to see when his body when it hit the ground below. After that, the wand went out and they were in pitch blackness.
Harry and Hermione almost immediately lit their own wands. The staircase swung back to its' original position while they hung on to the rail. Harry stood motionless for a few minutes staring down at the small figure below them. He then looked at Hermione. "What do you think you were doing?" he gasped.
She was white-faced, and mumbled, "You couldn't kill him, remember? You aren't suppose to kill anybody."
"But you almost…" he couldn't go on feeling himself choked with emotion.
Ron had come out of the Imperious spell when the Death Eater hit the ground. He also looked shaken. "I'm so…sorry, Harry. I couldn't shake it off." He gulped and they stood motionless with the feeble light reflecting on their faces.
"It's all right, Ron," Harry managed. "We've got to push on. Come on let's go. Check and see if he's dead." Harry pushed ahead of them.
He made it to the bottom of the stairs, at first feeling each step to make sure it was solid. He was very accustomed to staircases moving in the upper part of the castle but he had never seen one split in two as this one had done. Nor had he ever experienced a solid wall forming on a staircase. It felt very much like the castle was driving him towards some destination, not allowing him to retrace his steps. He felt sure it had something to do with Neville and he wanted to hurry.
He brushed the thoughts about the castle from his mind until he bent over the body. He recognized the face as he slowly rolled the body towards them. It was Antonin Dolohov, one of Voldemort's trusted Death Eaters. Normally the fall would not have killed the wizard, even though it was a long distance to the floor. However, Harry knew why the Death Eater had died when he rested his hand on a wet, sticky hole in the man's middle. Out in the middle of the floor, covered in crates and boxes was a metal stake. Harry had unwittingly pulled the man off of it, where it had skewered him when he landed.
Hermione turned away and Harry stood and wiped his hands on his robes. "We've got to move on." He held his wand up and studied the vastness of the room. There were a dozen doors exiting the room. He walked around the bottom of the stair and studied the ground. It was hardened earth, but faintly visible in a upper layer of talcum dust he saw the Dolohov's footprints and another set of prints moving away from the stair. "This way."
This time Hermione and Ron followed him.
They moved through a very ancient archway down through a curved tunnel going ever deeper into the heart of the castle. They exited the tunnel into a dark room. Harry held his light up to inspect it and was amazed. The faint light shone on hundreds upon hundreds of weapons of every description lining the walls and stored on shelving. There were crossbows, and bows with quivers for arrows; plus a thousand arrows piled like firewood along the walls. Harry saw every fashion of sword or rapier all neatly hanging, their metal still shining through the muck and filth of centuries.
"Where the bloody hell are we?" Ron said.
"In the armory," Harry answered. "I saw it on the map. Oh, the map!" He withdrew it from his robes and hurriedly turned it out on the floor. "Quick help me find the armory. I recall it being over here." Three heads bent over the paper spread on the floor.
"Yes, here it is," Hermione's keen eyes spotted the marked room. "Oh yuck, Harry, we've got to go through the catacombs, the crypt, to reach the rail entrance." She pointed and ran her hand along the line.
Harry nodded, saying, "I understand Hermione, but there's no other way." After one more glance at the map he got his bearings and pointed the way. "We have to hurry."
They quickly moved on. The air became stale and difficult to breath. Harry followed the trail of footprints until the tampered earth gave way to rough hewn stone and then smooth stone. We're almost there, he thought. The first crypt was empty. It was an intricately carved hollow along the wall and had words written in ancient runes inscribed over the arch.
"Don't let go of me, Ron," Hermione whimpered. "If I see a body or...or a skeleton, I'm probably going to scream."
Harry glanced back at her. "Don't," he whispered firmly. She nodded.
Harry would have been surprised if he had seen them from a bird's eye view. They were in a large room with many aisles, each holding hundreds of hollowed out alcoves; some with bones, mummified corpses and human remains.
They were in the middle, the faint light from his wand shone in a small circle in the dark. Harry rushed past the niches towards a doorway carved in the stone of the cave. Just before passing through he noticed the crests of the four houses carved into the stone.
"Hurry," he urged. "We've got to hurry. Neville is alone down here."
They moved on. His wand light, combined with Ron and Hermione's, illuminated the next room. All three stopped in astonishment.
Sitting as if had just been polished from stem to stern and ready to fill with students, was the Hogwarts Express. Harry could even smell the faint odor of oil and grease. Brass and metal gleamed. Their wands reflected back the scarlet colors of the coaches and made it seem even larger then normal. It looked like it could start up on its own , turn on its own headlamp and be ready to board. All three of them stepped forward automatically and then Harry halted suddenly and stretched out his arms to stop Ron and Hermione.
"Careful. Perfect place to hide," he said. He was trying to remember all of the things Jonas and Snape had taught him and recognized that this was looking very much like the perfect way to trap someone. Nodding his head, he pointed Hermione one way and Ron the other. "Search it. I'll go this way," he whispered. They moved away quietly, putting out their wands with murmured NOX.
Harry walked towards the middle of the train bending to look under and then quietly opening a compartment door. He listened as hard as he could and waited. This will take too much time, he thought. Still, it's the perfect place to hide.
He turned and jumped to the ground on the opposite side. He let his feet follow another set of tracks running parallel to the Express. While Hermione and Ron searched the Hogwarts Express, he followed the natural curvature of the line. We're close, he thought. The entrance should just be around the bend and that's where Neville is. I can't take a chance and call out to him I just have to see what's up ahead.
He walked cautiously in the deep blackness of the cavernous room. Every rustle of his cloak, every pebble he crunched down on seemed to resound like a canon through the room. Holding his breath, wand out, he stepped around the bend. A dim light from some unknown source revealed several sets of tracks. A figure was sitting in a small carriage, not unlike the ones the Goblin's used at Gringott's bank to shepherd people back and forth to their vaults.
Here, there were a number of carriages lined up in a row on the tracks, like a children's park ride. Harry could see Neville sitting alone, his knees bunched up in the tiny cart. Harry walked slowly towards the cart, searching the room with his eyes, listening to every sound.
Please, please be alive, he thought. Neville's body wasn't moving. He moved off of the track using the darkness to conceal himself so he could come upon Neville from the side. He would still be able to retreat into the darkness if he needed to. There were still no sounds or movements near the boy. Harry circled until he could face Neville with the opening to the tunnel at his back.
As he approached from the front, he could see Neville's face and his eyes. He's alive, Harry said to himself.
Neville was staring at him, fear etched in his face. His lips were firmly pressed together and he was huffing through his wide-splayed nostrils. He had a binding and gagging spell on him. He raised his wand to remove the spell and the cart started forward with a burst of speed which sent Neville's upper torso lurching back.
Harry was not quick enough. The cart was through the opening and out of site before he'd taken his next breath. "DAMN!" Harry swore and jumped into the next cart. It shot forward the moment he tucked his body into the abnormally small space. He was immediately sailing through the dark tunnel, praying it was large enough to accommodate his head. It was a trap, he thought, as the little cart hurled itself around a corner and down into plunged into a bottomless black hole.
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