IN THE TIME WE HAVE, Chapter 8
"GO!" barked Lara, shoving Elsie toward the passageway. The blonde needed no persuading - she sprinted down the narrow stone-lined corridor in a near panic, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the Englishwoman was following. She plunged ahead, desperate for the promise of light beckoning at the entrance.
Elsie's heart filled with dread as they approached the entryway – even taking into account for the corridor's gradual slope, the glow from outside should've been visible by now.
No…
She slid to a stop as the beam from her flashlight fell upon the back of the massive capstone, now resolutely sealing the entrance.
"FUCK!"
She spun around as Lara skidded to a stop, the archeologist's brown eyes wide with alarm.
"Lia Fáil!"
The boulder did as boulders generally do, and remained stubbornly unmoving.
"This isn't good," breathed the brunette.
"Gee, you think?!"
The two women scanned the walls and ceiling with their torches – there wasn't so much as a gap in which to try and pry a slab loose. And even if there had been, the tunnel's construction was entirely interlocked, such that successfully removing any one stone would cause the structure to collapse, there being nothing beyond but tons of packed earth. At least there was no sign of life – or death - approaching from the direction of the chamber, Elsie noted with relief.
"Please tell me you have some trick up your sleeve to get us out of here," pleaded the blonde.
She was now arriving at a very grim theory as to how Forrestal might've perished: slow starvation. Elsie was no stranger to it - she'd very nearly succumbed to its deadly embrace as a misguided coping mechanism during the agony of her youth. But if they found no escape, it would now be imposed as a permanent condition of her imprisonment. As it would with Lara.
"Wait here," said the brunette. "I'm going to go back – "
"We don't split up!" said the American, aghast. "Cripes Lara, haven't you watched enough horror movies?"
"You saw that thing in there – "
"We stick together!" proclaimed the blonde.
Lara clenched her jaw. Elsie gave the brunette a look of determination, hoping that her underlying terror didn't seep through too noticeably.
"This is not a good idea," said the archaeologist. "We don't know what we're dealing with…"
Elsie pulled out her pocketknife. "If you die at the hands of that thing," she lamented, "What chance do you think I'm going to have?"
"Elsie – "
The American caressed the brunette's cheek. "I know you're trying to keep me out of harm's way," she said. "And I appreciate that, really. But there's no point here…we go together, okay?"
Lara sighed. Elsie knew she'd won the point, the dubious prize a potential confrontation with the horrifying creature in the central chamber. She tried consoling herself that if they could find no way out of their predicament, a quick death would be infinitely preferable to the alternative.
The two friends slowly made their way down the corridor, stopping at intervals to listen for any movement up ahead.
Lara re-entered the chamber with her climbing axe at the ready; Elsie followed closely, holding her pocketknife with something less than full confidence.
There was no sign of the 'Skeleton King', which both relieved and worried the blonde. Lara moved slowly along the left wall, the American virtually on her heels.
Elsie cringed as they crept; every step they took seemed to reverberate loudly in the tomblike silence.
Lara stopped. Her torch was aimed at the skeletal figure on the far wall, who was once again seated on his stone throne atop the dais directly behind the stone.
"I think…he's reset," said the brunette softly.
"What do you mean, 'reset'?"
The archaeologist cautiously approached the seated figure, holding her axe aloft in a strike position. She waved a hand before its empty sockets.
Nothing.
Lara relaxed visibly. "It reacted to your touching the stone," she stated as she hitched her axe to her belt. "Let's not try that again, shall we?"
Elsie edged slightly closer, her nervousness lingering but comforted by her companion's self-assuredness. "You mean…it's like a guardian?"
"It would seem so."
Elsie ran her hands back through her hair. "But…what makes it move?" she asked, feeling utterly confounded. "Fuck, this is impossible…"
"I told you, Elsie," said Lara gently, "There are powers out there beyond our understanding…I'm so sorry you had to experience this…"
The American flopped down heavily against the wall. "Yeah…well…looks like we're going to be the next permanent addition to this archaeological find," she said dispiritedly.
The Englishwoman slid down to the floor next to her companion. "Hey, we'll get out of this," she said soothingly, stroking the blonde's hair. "This isn't exactly my first pickle…"
"Try telling that to him," said Elsie, waving her hand in the direction of the long-deceased Forrestal. She drew up her legs and wrapped her arms around her knees, burying her face in her limbs. "I really don't want to die here, Lara...Mom won't even know what happened to me…she…she'll…"
"Elsie…I kind of need you right now," said Lara.
The American looked up to her friend, surprised.
"Me…but…what can I do?" choked the blonde.
"We need to figure something out," explained the brunette. "And sooner than later, before our torches run down."
The realization hit Elsie: aside from their flashlights, they had no other source of illumination - once their batteries were depleted, the two women would be forever plunged in permanent, unrelenting darkness. A blackness that would bring with it unrelenting terrors for the blonde.
She shuddered at the thought. "Shit…"
Lara gave her a sympathetic look – the Englishwoman understood all too well.
"We're a bit pressed for time…"
The blonde scrambled to her feet, Lara following suit.
"Time to man-up, right?" said the American, wiping her eyes and giving Lara a nervous smile.
Lara smiled back. "You have more guts than you know, Elsie," she said softly.
"I…don't know about that..."
"Come on," said the brunette, leading her companion near the central stone.
Elsie eyed the seated figure anxiously. Though seemingly oblivious to their presence for the moment, she knew that it could be a very temporary state of affairs.
"The capstone moved on two occasions," postulated Lara. "Once when I pronounced the Stone of Destiny's Gaelic name, and once again when you touched the stone In here. Ideas?"
"I don't think touching this thing again would do much good," opined the blonde, gesturing at the central monolith. "Have to figure that Forrestal dude must've tried that before the end, right?"
"Agreed," said Lara.
"Hang on," said Elsie. "We got all these weapons lined up on these walls, maybe we could we use them for…um…"
"Yes?"
Elsie sighed. "Forget it," she finally said. "I don't know where I was even going with that..."
"Actually…"
The brunette strode to the near wall and unhooked one of the shields. She grasped one of the crossed swords behind and handed it to the blonde.
"This'll do a bit better than your pocketknife," said Lara. "If it should come down to a fight…"
"Let's hope not, okay," replied the American, awkwardly hefting the ancient sword. "Not exactly Xena here…"
Lara turned her attention to the central stone. "You know, it might be a bit of a longshot," she ventured, "But the other effect was the animation of Bones O'Toole over there…"
"Please tell me we're not bringing that thing back to life," said Elsie, horrified.
"I wouldn't call it exactly…alive," mused the brunette. "But I wonder if it's possible to communicate with it."
Elsie gaped at the Englishwoman. "With that thing?"
"If it doesn't work we can run down the hall again," explained Lara. "My guess is that it resets whenever the perceived threat to the stone leaves the central chamber."
"But…would it even understand English?"
"Doubtful," conceded the archaeologist. "I'll try Gaelic…"
"Your rusty Gaelic," amended Elsie. "What if you call him a banana, or insult his mother, or – "
"It's not quite that rusty."
"And what would you tell it, exactly?" continued the blonde. "That we haven't come for the Stone, and we'll leave it be if he'll just let us out, pretty please?"
"It might just be that simple," shrugged Lara. "Anyway, at the moment it's all I have. It can't hurt to try, can it?"
"It might!" answered Elsie. "But…honestly, I got nothing better, so…"
Lara moved to a position between the central stone and the seated figure. "Right then...stand back," she warned.
Elsie scampered to a position behind the pillar, holding the unfamiliar sword before her.
Lara pressed her hand against the stone.
For several moments it seemed as though nothing might happen; finally, the seated figure twitched and slowly began to rise from its seat.
"Nach bhfuil…muid ag iarraidh…an chloch," said Lara. "Is…mian linn ach…a fhágáil."
The figure turned its fleshless skull, its black sockets focusing on the archaeologist.
It stepped off the dais, Elsie noting a dark shadow looming behind its seat. She blinked, unsure if she was witnessing some shadow play from the creature, or –
The figure drew its sword.
"Not good!" cried the blonde, her pulse racing as Lara scrambled back.
"I gceist againn aon dochar!" said the brunette, holding her axe at the ready.
Elsie suddenly became light headed. Colour vanished from her sight, everything became hues of grey, the smell of incense inexplicably permeating her nostrils. Her feet felt as though she were walking barefoot on grass. She found herself approaching Lara from behind, the brunette still addressing the skeletal figure – strangely, Elsie now understood the words, though the archaeologist's voice sounded oddly muffled, as though she were speaking into a pillow.
Elsie tried to bring herself to a halt, but her legs were moving of their own accord. Her sword arm began to raise –
No!
She opened her mouth to warn her friend but found herself unable to articulate, gasping like a fish out of water.
The brunette was oblivious. Elsie desperately tried to lower her sword arm, or even release her grip on the weapon, to no avail. Another step, and the archaeologist was almost within reach.
Elsie frantically fought to cease her forward progress but it was as though her body were being manipulated by invisible strings. Her eyes focused on the back of her companion's slender neck.
Panicking, she channeled every iota of will into a single vocalization.
"LARA!"
The brunette spun around, managing to deflect the sword blow with her axe, and in the same motion hooked the ancient weapon from Elsie's grasp. The clang of metal on stone echoed through the chamber.
Elsie's world spun wildly; the stone floor struck her violently on the side of the head, which strangely inflicted no pain. A moment later she had a sensation of being forcibly moved, bouncing up and down in rapid succession over some distance until finally coming to a rest.
Elsie's voluntary motor functions and self-awareness slowly began to return, along with a painful throbbing from her left temple. She found herself sitting on the floor in the corridor, propped up against the wall.
"La…Lara?"
The brunette was crouched before her, looking down at her companion, brown eyes filled with worry.
"Are you okay?"
The blonde drew herself into a straighter sitting position. "I think so," she said, rubbing the side of her face. She looked at her companion guiltily. "Lara, I'm so sorry...I'd never forgive myself if I'd - "
"That wasn't your doing," interjected the archaeologist. "That thing obviously took control of you somehow…"
Elsie looked at her trembling hands as though they belonged to a stranger, wondering if she could ever trust them again. "I could see everything I was doing," she explained shakily. "But it felt like I wasn't...entirely here...and I just couldn't stop myself..."
"You fought it, Elsie," said the brunette. "You were able to warn me...you did good."
"Did good?" asked the American disbelievingly. "Lara, I nearly killed you!"
"But you didn't," countered the Englishwoman. She put a comforting hand on Elsie's shoulder. "I think had it been almost anyone else…I might not have been so fortunate."
The blonde shuddered. She distinctly recalled every fibre of her being screaming at herself; the prospect of her friend dying at her own hands had strengthened her force of will sufficiently to interrupt the mysterious force controlling her, if just for a second. But it had been too close.
She determined she would not lay her hands on a weapon again. Even if it meant her own death.
She looked down the corridor. "I guess you were right," she said tiredly. "Looks like it's still back there…"
Lara nodded. "It's consistent, at least," stated the brunette.
The American looked to her friend. "Didn't listen to reason, did it?"
"I'd say not," replied Lara solemnly. "I have to confess I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment. I can try to destroy it, but I doubt that would help our situation…if only we had our packs - "
A thought occurred to Elsie. "Lara…there might be another way out," she voiced. "I think there's some sort of recessed alcove behind that skeleton dude. I noticed it when it stepped off its platform - it might be another tunnel…"
Lara grasped the American by the shoulders and looked intently into her eyes. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"There's something there," affirmed the blonde. "It's small, whatever it is, we'd have to crawl, and there's no telling where it might lead…but it's got to be worth a try, no?"
"It's a better alternative than staying here," agreed the brunette. "Are you game for another go?"
Elsie nodded and pushed herself to her feet. "Do we have a plan?"
Lara thought. "I'll hug the wall next to the dais," she said, hefting her axe. "When you touch the stone and it steps forward, I'll strike it from behind - hopefully it'll buy us a few seconds to get through there. And Elsie, we might only have seconds, if that thing should get control of me this time..."
Elsie swallowed at the thought. She knew she'd have no chance in a physical confrontation with the archaeologist, unwilling or not.
"Let's blow this freaking popsicle stand, okay," said the American. Lara leaned forward and touched her brow to her companion's.
"We'll get out of here, Elsie," she whispered. "I promise."
They made their way back to the central chamber, the blonde picking up her dropped flashlight from the floor. As Lara had surmised, the 'Skeleton King' was once again seated upon its dais at the rear of the chamber and seemed to be paying them no mind.
The two women moved cautiously to the rear of the chamber and shone their lights behind the seated figure. Elsie was heartened to see she hadn't imagined it - there definitely was a small crawlspace leading into the darkness, but it had been almost entirely obscured by the seated figure. Where it led, of course, was still a mystery.
Lara grasped a hefty mace from the opposite wall and made her way next the seated figure, hugging the back wall. Elsie moved the central pillar and looked to her friend, her heart racing - terror was something she'd become all too familiar with, but there was no getting used to it. She wondered how her friend managed.
Her eyes met Lara's. The brunette nodded.
Elsie slapped her palm against the stone. Again, a few moments elapsed before the figure slowly started to rise.
"Jeesus," swore the American, her grey eyes wide. "Make it count, Lara…please make it count…"
The figure stepped off the dais and drew its sword. Lara swung.
There was a sickening crunch as the skeletal figure fell forward. Elsie was already moving, jumping out of the reach of an outstretched skeletal hand before joining Lara on the semicircular steps. They got down on hands and knees and scampered into the narrow corridor as quickly as the tight confines permitted, the hard stone bruising their knees and elbows.
The corridor was a virtual copycat of the entryway, only in miniature. They'd barely travelled twenty yards when they came up to a wall of jumbled stonework.
"Shit!" both women swore at once.
Lara squeezed by Elsie and began to hack at the stones with her climbing axe, the blonde keeping a nervous eye down to corridor for any sign of the guardian.
A rumble. "Get back!" cried Lara.
The damaged remains of the wall crumbled into the tunnel. A faint glimmer of light shone ahead.
Lara hacked at a few remaining stones and pulled them out of their ancient nooks. She grabbed Elsie and fairly threw her into the tiny opening. "Go!"
The blonde crawled through rubble, crumbling earth and roots, the gap in the stones barely wide enough to allow her willowy form through even with considerable effort. Finally scampering out into the reassuring light of the forest, she turned around to help extract her companion, the brunette's hips momentarily getting stuck in the narrow opening.
"Shit!"
Elsie grabbed her hand and pulled. "Come on, Tinkerbell – "
A few desperate kicks, and she was through. A moment later both young women found themselves sprawled against the side of the hill, exhausted and filthy.
The two looked at each other, panting hard.
And began to laugh.
