Light in the Darkness

Something cut through his eternal darkness. He didn’t recognize it at first. There had been no light in his life for centuries.

He breathed in slowly. He had not taken a breath in so very long.

He became aware of his body. Had he turned to stone? No, he moved a leg, opened and closed his mouth. Still here. They didn’t kill him after all.

It would take time to come back fully to life. He rested, and he waited.

* * *

Luigi came back to the caravan looking tired and angry, and covered in dirt.

“What happened? Did something go wrong?”

He grunted. “We had a cave-in at the dig. It’s going to take a week or more to get back on track.”

The schedule was already tight. We couldn’t afford to lose a week. Our permits expired in less than two months, and we still had to dig down another ten feet, going slower and slower so we didn’t destroy anything.

I took a cleansing breath, then went into problem-solving mode. “What caused the cave-in? Did we make a mistake?”

Luigi shook his head. “I think we found an old cave system. When we got too close to it, the wall collapsed. There was no cave system marked on any of the maps. But I’m pretty sure I saw a hole in the side of the earthworks as we were pulling everyone out.”

Getting everyone out… “Was anyone injured? Did you get them all out safely?”

“A few cuts and bruises, a lot of screaming, but no major injuries. I think Claire damaged her wrist and her knee. She’s getting them checked out at the local clinic.”

I had visited the local clinic. They meant well, but they weren’t up to dealing with any major medical problems. Still, even if Claire had broken something, they could put a cast on her until we transported her to the city.

“So, what’s the plan, project manager?”

He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. “Letting everyone take the rest of today off to recover. The dust will settle overnight. At first light tomorrow, we examine the damage and put together a plan for reinforcing the dig and getting back to work. Then you and I take a look at the new cave.”

I had packed plenty of gear that could be used for spelunking. Even though we were digging in desert under a blazing sun, we had to be prepared for all contingencies. Luigi and I made an excellent team, with him handling the workforce and me dealing with logistics. We’d been working together since university.

“Well, let’s get the gear ready for an early start, then treat ourselves to a proper dinner!”

* * *

This time he was ready for the light. The sun was rising. He could smell the dust and see a hole high in the wall.

Then he heard a noise. Human noises, and a loud growling he couldn’t place. He smelled the humans outside, and he started to feel hungry. How long since he ate or drank anything? He sniffed around and found a trickle of water running across the ground.

As he drank the water, he could feel it reaching all parts of his body. His limbs started to tingle. His breathing became steadier. His tongue moved in his mouth. I am alive. They walled me in, but they didn’t kill me.

* * *

Within three hours, the team was back at work. Some were reinforcing the scaffolding, some were continuing to dig. Claire was ordered bed rest for the day, but she would be the emergency contact if anything went wrong. An excellent choice for that role, anyway. Her phlegmatic French temperament would keep everyone calm. Luigi and I started to look at the hole in the rock wall and figure out how to investigate safely.

The caving gear was hot and heavy in the desert heat. But once we entered the cave, things would be entirely different. We checked the ropes and the lamps, then I climbed carefully to the hole in the wall. If one of us fell, it had to be me. Luigi would be able to pull me out.

At the hole, I attached the rope to a surface that seemed solid, then shone the lamp around inside.

The cave was huge. Far below me I could see a stream threading through it. But the scale was so great that my lamp only showed a little bit at a time.

“Luigi, bring the big lamp. We’ll never see enough with just headlamps. This place is enormous.”

“Can you clear the lip of the hole so I can climb up? Is the air breathable?”

I breathed in a big lungful of the air. It felt clean and oxygen-rich. Looking around, I saw a ledge a few feet from the cave entrance. “Give me a moment. I’ve found a place I can get to.”

Within a few minutes I was safely on the ledge, and Luigi had joined me. He set up the big lamp so we could plan our next steps.

* * *

The light was very bright now. But he was still hidden at the back of the cave. His eyes followed the two small figures as they stepped into his domain. One to eat and one to keep. Humans would follow the cries of one of their own. This legend had been handed down through generations of his kind. All he had to do now was wait and they would come to him.

* * *

“Claire, we’re in the cave now, starting on our way down. Don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to contact you. It’s a huge cave. We have the big lights and we still can’t see the extent of it. If you don’t hear from us after two hours, please have someone come to the cave mouth and check on us.”

Claire’s cool voice came back to us, clear as a bell. “Bonne chance! Don’t do anything I would not do!”

We made our way down carefully, securing the ropes as we went. I could smell the fresh water, and something else, like old smoke. Was that from the collapse? I shone the light around. There was a rocky floor with the stream lazily running through it. Very tall rock walls. And the cave stretched away past where the light could reach.

“Do you think we should follow it, or leave it for today?” Luigi rarely forced decisions on anyone, even me. He always consulted the team for our opinions.

“Let’s take some pictures here and then walk along to see if we find the end. If it’s too big, we can leave some materials down here and come back tomorrow. We still have a dig to manage.”

100 meters into the cave, we didn’t see any change. The quality of the sound changed, though. There was less echo, as though there might be some softer ground ahead. The strange smell grew stronger. There was something almost animal about it. It started to bother me – a prickling feeling up the back of neck.

“OK, I’m done. Can we head back?”

I was expecting Luigi to argue, but he seemed all too ready to turn back as well. We returned to the point of entry, dropped our exploration gear, and climbed out.

“Claire, we’re out of the cave. We have some great pictures, and there’s plenty more to explore.”

“I was just about to check with you. You were gone for nearly two hours. Welcome back.” She sounded relieved. I felt guilty – I didn’t think we were off the air for so long.

Luigi took off his caving gear and scratched his head. “Why would there be ancient buildings so close to a massive cave? Didn’t they know it was there? Or maybe we’ll find relics there when we go back. This could be a bigger find than the dig itself.”

* * *

The humans were gone, but they would be back. They had left some belongings in the cave. He edged forward and sniffed at what they had left. Nothing to eat. He was starting to feel the depth of his hunger caused by not eating for more than a thousand years. He wondered about destroying these things, but he needed to be patient. The humans didn’t know he was there. They needed to be confident to walk right into his lair. This time they would not escape.

* * *

We had studied the pictures we took yesterday. The cave did not look natural. The bare rock seemed somehow too bare, too smooth, to be created by accident. We thought it might have been hollowed out for some religious purpose. This could make the find more significant than our original dig.

This time we brought a small team with us. Claire, our strongest spelunker, was once again coordinating from her tent, resting her leg and her wrist. It would have been good to bring her along, but her injuries wouldn’t allow that. Moustapha and Yuri had some experience, and they had both strength and knowledge for whatever we might encounter.

One at a time, we climbed to the opening and down to the floor of the cave. The walkie talkies continued to reach Claire at this point, but faded a few steps into the main cave. Yuri set up a video camera so he could record the whole incursion. Moustapha and I carried the heavy lights. We ventured through the cave in a close group.

Yuri talked as he walked, giving extra information to match the video. “There is a strange smell here, getting stronger. A mixture of animal and ashes. Perhaps something died here. You can hear the acoustics change as we go deeper. Not the harsh echo of the rock faces any more.”

Moustapha was constantly shining the lights in different directions, illuminating the walls and ridges for Yuri’s camera. “Look!” he said suddenly. “Up there, can you see movement?”

We all looked but didn’t see anything. “Maybe it’ll show up when we review the video recording. Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”

Then we heard a noise like thunder. I knew at once we were all going to die.

* * *

The humans had ventured past the point of no return. He moved slowly towards them, his tail twitching. They saw it, but too late. He hissed in satisfaction. A heavy claw reached out and raked them all back to him. Four. He would eat the three largest, then use the fourth as bait to bring more in. This was how he always hunted.

He snapped up the three in a few seconds, crunching their bones and swallowing them. The fourth, the smallest, was trapped in his claws. That one struggled, shouting and howling. He didn’t like that, but he knew how to stop it. He opened his huge mouth, and spit fire across the cave. Humans had always feared the fire.