Read Online The Book Of Three by Lloyd Alexander - Free Book Online Page B

Nevertheless, the girl hurried along, her sandals tapping and echoing, the golden light of the bauble casting its rays through shadows that hung like cobwebs.
    They passed a few side galleries which Eilonwy ignored. “We'll go straight to the end of this one,” she announced. “There's bound to be something there.”
    Taran had begun wishing himself back in the chamber. “We shouldn't have come this far,” he said, with a frown. “We should have stayed and found some way to climb out; now you don't even know how long it will be before this passage stops. We might go on tramping for days.”
    Something else troubled him. After all their progress, it seemed the passageway should now follow an upward direction.
    “The tunnel's supposed to bring us out about ground, ”Taran said. “But we haven't stopped going down. We aren't coming out at all; we're only going deeper and deeper.”
    Eilonwy paid no attention to his remarks.
    But she was soon obliged to. Within another few paces, the corridor stopped abruptly, sealed by a wall of boulders.
    “That is what I feared,” cried Taran, dismayed. “We have gone to the end of your tunnel, that you knew so much about, and this is what we find. Now we can only go back; we're lost all our time and we're no better off than when we started.” He turned away while the girl stood looking curiously at the barrier.
    “I can't understand,” said Eilonwy, “why anyone would go to the trouble of building a tunnel and not have it go any place. It must have been a terrible amount of work for whoever it was to dig it all and set in the rocks. Why do you suppose...?”
    “I don't know! And I wish you'd stop wondering about things that can't make any difference to us. I'm going back,” Taran said. “I don't know how I'm going to climb onto that shelf, but I can certainly do it a lot more easily than digging through a wall.”
    “Well,” said Eilonwy, “it is very strange and all. I'm sure I don't know where we are.”
    “I knew we'd end up being lost. I could have told you that.”
    “I didn't say I was lost,” the girl protested. “I only said I didn't know where I was. There's a big difference. When you're lost, you really don't know where you are. When you just don't happen to know where you are at the moment, that's something else. I know I'm underneath Spiral Castle, and that's quite good for a start.”
    “You're splitting hairs,” Taran said. “Lost is lost. You're worse than Dallben.”
    “Who is Dallben?”
    “Dallben is my--- oh, never mind!” His face grim, Taran began retracing his steps.
    Eilonwy hurried to join him. “We could have a look into one of the side passageways,” she called.
    Taran disregarded the suggestion. Nevertheless, approaching the next branching gallery, he slowed his steps and peered briefly into the gloom.
    “Go ahead,” Eilonwy urged. “Let's try this one. It seems as good as any.”
    “Hush!” Taran bent his head and listened intently. From a distance came a faint whispering and rustling. “There's something...”
    “Well, by all means let's find out what,” said Eilonwy, prodding Taran in the back. “Go ahead, will you?”
    Taran took a few cautious steps. The passage here was lower and seemed to slope still further down. With Eilonwy beside him, he continued gingerly, setting each foot carefully, remembering the sudden, sickening fall that had brought him there in the first place. The whispering became a high keening, a wail of torment. It was as though voices had been spun out like threads, twisted taut, ready to snap. An icy current wove through the air, carrying along with it hollow sighs and a swell of dull mutterings. There were other sounds, too; raspings and shriekings, like sword points dragged over stones. Taran felt his hands tremble; he hesitated a moment and gestured for Eilonwy to stay behind him.
    “Give me the light,” he whispered, “and wait for me here.”
    “Do you think it's ghosts?” Eilonwy asked.