Alderley 1: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

Author:Alan Garner
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy
Published: 2010-10-09T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13: “Where No Svart Will Ever Tread”

Durathyor grunted, and picked up a lump of stone and tossed it into the hole. It glanced off the smooth cliff and rocketed out of sight past a bend in the shaft. For an age the hollow crashing of its fall was heard, then silence, and, when all but Fenodyree had judged that that was the end, a single, final, thump.

“We must go down there?” whispered Susan. “And before our courage fails. Durathror, will Valham aid us here?”

“Nay, cousin; the magic is mine alone; and I could not take you, for she was made for elves and finds

my unburdened weight a trial.”

“It is as I thought. Will you stay here, then, lest svarts roll boulders on our heads?”

“That I can do, and will.”

“Good. Colin, Susan, follow me; step where I step; do not hurry. So we shall come safe to the end.” Fenodyree began to climb down the oblique first pitch of the shaft, jamming himself into the angle between the two rock faces. Loose stones rattled down before him, and only the biggest sounded the end of their fall.

“There is room for you both here,” he called from the bend; “come singly, Colin first.” Colin lowered himself over the edge into the gully, and worked his way down to within a yard of Fenodyree.

“That is near enough,” said the dwarf. “Susan!”

“Yes.”

“Stop when you are as close to your brother as he is to me: we must not crowd each other.”

“Right.” It was unpleasant to crowd there helplessly while a river of stones bounced off head, shoulders, and knuckles; but Susan was not long about it. “This is the problem,” said Fenodyree when the clatter of debris had faded away. “The shaft is like a bent knee, and we are in the crook, therefore the slope down which we can climb is on the opposite side from us. It is steeper, too. But I think I see a way. Across there, about five feet down, is a ledge. If we jump from here and grasp the ledge we shall be well on our road. “We shall be if we miss!” said Susan. “The deed is nothing. It is the thought that breeds fear; and we achieve little by lingering.” And Fenodyree jumped. His fingers snatched for the rock, caught it, and he lay against the sloping wall of the shaft, and did not speak or move. At first the children thought he was unconscious, but they were soon to find for themselves how easy it was to be winded in such a fall. “It is a good hold,” said Fenodyree. He eased himself a couple of feet from the ledge, and took up a secure position astride a corner of the shaft.

“Throw me your light.”

“But what if you drop it?” said Colin.

“I shall not drop it.”

Colin let the lamp fall, and the dwarf caught it in both hands.

“Now jump: you cannot miss.”

Can’t I? thought Colin.

He had a brief impression of blackness stretching under

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