The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur (бесплатные полные книги .TXT) 📗

the current running through the sink-hole seemed merely to enhance the

silence. In it they could hear their own breathing.

Nahoot spoke at last. "The fuel in the generator. It must be running

low. I did not see any reserves-'

They thought about what would happen when the small fuel tank ran dry.

They thought about the darkness to come.

Suddenly von Schiller screamed, "You have to go out through the shaft to

fetch help. I order you to do it., Nahoot stared at him in disbelief.

"It's over a hundred yards back through the tunnel to the outside, and

the river is in flood."

Von Schiller sprang to his feet and stood over Nahoot threateningly.

"The monk escaped that way. It's the only way. You must swim through the

tunnel and reach Helm and Nogo. Helm will know what to do. He will make

a plan to get me out of here."

"You are mad." Nahoot backed away from him, but'von Schiller followed

him.

"I order you to do id'

"You crazy old man!" Nahoot tried to scramble to his feet, but von

Schiller swung the heavy golden flail, a sudden unexpected blow in

Nahoot's face that knocked him over backwards, splitting his lips and

breaking off two of his front teeth.

"You are rnad!" he wailed. "You can't do this-' but von Schiller swung

again and again, lacerating his face and Is of the whip cutting

shoulders, the heavy golden tai through the thin cotton of his shirt.

"I will kill you," von Schiller screamed, raining blows on him. "If you

don't obey me I will kill you."

"Stop!, Nahoot whined. "No, please, stop. I will do it, only stop."

He crawled away from von Schiller, dragging himself along the floor of

the tunnel until he sat waist-deep in the water.

AZT',, "Give me time to prepare he pleaded.

"Go now!" Von Schiller menaced him, lifting the whip high. "Very likely

you will find air trapped in the tunnel.

You will find your way through. Go!'

Nahoot scooped a double handful of water and dashed it into his own

face, washing away the blood that poured from one of the deep cuts in

his cheek.

"I have to take off my clothes, my shoes," he whimpered, pleading for

time, but von Schiller would not allow him to leave the water.

Do it where you are standing, he ordered, brandishing the heavy whip. In

his other hand he held the heavy golden crook. Nahoot realized that a

blow from that weapon cou Id crack his skull.

Standing knee-deep "at the water's edge, Nahoot hopped on one foot as he

pulled off his shoes. Then, slowly and reluctantly, he stripped to his

underpants. His shoulders were deeply scored by the lash of the flail,

fresh blood welling up and slithering like scarlet serpents down his

back.

"He knew that he had to placate this crazy old madman.

He would duck under the surface and swim a short way down the tunnel,

hold on to the side wall down there for as long as his breath lasted,

and then swim back again.

"Go!" von Schiller shouted at him. "You are wasting time. Don't think

that I will let you get out of this,, Nah6ot waded deeper into the shaft

until the water covered his chest. He paused there for a few minutes as

he drew a series of deep breaths. Then at last he held his breath and

ducked below the surfAce. Von Schiller stood waiting at the edge of the

pool, staring down into it but unable to see anything beneath the black

and ominous surface. In the lamplight Nahoot's blood stained the

surface.

A minute passed slowly, and then suddenly there was a heavy swirl

beneath the waters, and a human arm rose through the dark surface, hand

and fingers extended as though in supplication. Then slowly it sank out

of sight again.

Von Schiller craned forward, "GuddabW he called

"I -. "What are you playing at?" angrily  There was another swirl below

the water, and something flashed like a mirror in the depths.

"Guddabi !'von Schiller's voice rose petulantly.

Almost as if in response to the summons, Nahoot's head broke out through

the surface. His skin was.waxen yellow, drained of all blood, and his

mouth gaped open in a dreadful, silent scream. The water around him

boiled as though a shoal of great fish were feeding below. As von

Schiller stared in incomprehension, a dark tide rose up around Nahoot's

head and stained the surface a rose-petal red. For a moment von Schiller

did not realize that it was Nahoot's blood.

T

Then he saw the long, sinuous shapes darting and twisting beneath the

surface, surrounding Nahoot, feeding upon his flesh. Nahoot lifted his

hand again and extended it towards von Schiller, pleadingly. The arm was

halfdevoured, mutilated by deep half-moon wounds where the flesh had

been bitten away in chunks.

Von Schiller screamed in horror, backing away from the pool. Nahoot's

eyes were huge and dark and accusing.

He stared at von Schiller and a wild cawing sound that was not human

issued from his straining throat.

Even as von Schiller watched, one of the giant tropical ee Is thrust its

head through the surface and its teeth gleamed like broken glass as it

gaped wide, and then locked its jaws on to Nahoot's throat. Nahoot made

no effort to tear the creature away. He was too far gone. He stated at

von Schiller all the while that the eel, twisting and rolling into a

gleaming ball of slimy coils, still hung from his throat.

Slowly Nahoot's head sank below the surface again.

For long minutes the pool was agitated by the movements in its depth and

the occasional gleam of one of the serpentine fish. Then gradually the

surface settled as still and serene as a sheet of black glass.

Von Schiller turned and ran, back up the incline shaft, past the landing

on which the generator still puttered quietly, blindly trying to get as

far away as he could from that dreadful pool. He did not know where he

was going, but followed any passageway that opened in front of him.

At the foot of the central stairway he ran into the corner Of the wall

and stunned himself, falling to the agate tiles and lying there

blubbering as a large purple lump rose on his forehead.

After a while he dragged himself to his feet and lurched up the stairs.

He was confused and disorientated, his mind starting to break up -in

delirium, driven over the edge of

652 it's sanity by horror and fear. He fell again, and crawled along the

tunnel on his hands and knees to the next corner of . Only the was he

able to regain his feet to the maz  stagger onwards.

The steep shaft leading down into Taita's gas trap opened under his feet

without him seeing it. He fell down the steps, jarring and bruising his

legs and chest. Then he was on his feet again, reeling across the store

room past the ranks of amphorae, up the far staircase and into the

painted arcade that led to the torrib of Pharaoh Mamose.

He had tottered dowh half the length of it, dishevelled and wild'eyed

and demented, when suddenly the lights dimmed for a moment, fading to a

yellow glow. Then they brightened again as the generator sucked the last

drops of fuel from the bottom of the tank. Von Schiller stopped in the

centre of the arcade and looked up at the lights with despair. He knew

what was coming. For another few minutes the bulbs burned on, bright and

cheerfully, and then again they dimmed and faded.