On the Wings of the Storm

Chapter 17

Not far was a relative concept, I discovered, as Wuffa led us further and further into the belly of the mountain. No sound penetrated this deep into the rock. The scrape of our boots on stone, the soft hissing of the flame of my lamp, a murmured word of warning every now and again seemed unnaturally loud in the silence. At least we followed a definite path and there were even stone steps every now and again, so it would be easy to find the way back. Perhaps the passage led to caves that had fallen into disuse? Although Aeffe and Leofe, when questioned, could not recall ever hearing of such.

Just as I was about to call a halt and turn back, Wuffa, in the lead, gave an exclamation. "I recognize this. We're almost there!"

We crowded round him, to find that the path ended against a sheer rock face, but in the ground at our feet gaped a square opening, clearly manmade. I slid my bag from my shoulder and knelt down next to it. When I lifted the lamp, I could make out the outline of steps leading down. Next to the opening lay a big stone slab, looking like a part of an enormous trapdoor.

"Come on," Wuffa said, and started down the steps.

I held him back. "Wait! I do not like the look of this."

Clearly the stone was meant to block the opening, although it would take several strong men to move it into place. Thinking hard, I slid my fingers along the smooth wood of my bow. Why close off this passage? To hide something away? Or keep something out?

"Where does this lead?" I asked Wuffa.

"It goes down quite a bit and then opens out onto a large cave. That's where the accident happened." He gave me a puppy look. "It's not far now."

Not far! Whatever had possessed these boys to leave the safety of the caves and go exploring so deep into the darkness? My brothers had done a few stupid things when they were younger – Amrothos running away with the ambition to become a corsair sprang to mind – but they'd usually had their reasons. However convoluted.

I fixed Wuffa with a stern eye. "What were you doing down there anyway?"

The boy shifted from one leg to the other. "Just exploring..."

"Exploring what?"

He lowered his head. "We were looking for treasure," he muttered. "Helm's treasure."

"That old tale!" Aeffe exclaimed behind me. When I looked at her questioningly, she explained. "Some people hold that Helm Hammerhand hid part of the king's treasure in these caves during the Long Winter and that it's still around somewhere. But we know that his sister-son, Fréaláf King, moved it all back to Edoras."

Wuffa jutted his chin out stubbornly. "Then why have a trapdoor like this in the middle of the mountain?" he asked, echoing my thoughts. "It has to be hiding something."

Aeffe bent down and brushed the dust away from the slab. "Actually it looks a lot like the stones blocking the secret exits at the back of the caverns."

Secret exits! That was news to me. None of the plans I had studied had shown any other way in apart from the main doors.

"What secret exits?" I asked. "You never mentioned them before."

She shrugged. "Nobody but the family is supposed to know their location. Anyway, Father had both of them blocked up, because he was afraid the enemy might use them to gain entrance to the caves. But with orcs crawling all over the mountainside they would be useless now anyway."

We exchanged an uneasy glance. My first impulse was to turn back and tell Éomer about our find as quickly as possible. Surely he would know what to do. Then I saw Wuffa's stricken face. What if this meant that help for his brother came too late? I stared down at the steps, which disappeared into the darkness. As if somebody had told me as much, I knew that nothing good awaited us. But I could not possibly leave a child to face what horrors lurked down there on his own.