The Pit

Port placed his foot down on the narrow stone ridge, expecting it to hold firm. The scattering of grit beneath it had the opposite idea, shifting viciously under his weight. His sturdy boot shot away, his leg following as if they had both conspired to abandon him. His heart raced, and every muscle in his body screamed to drag his wayward limb back into alignment. They failed. It was the rope around his waist that saved him, snapping tight and preventing a deadly plunge into the abyss below. He hung there for a moment, suspended at an unnatural angle, staring into the endless dark below.

“Woah…thanks, Ward…” Port panted as he was yanked back onto the rocky lip.

“No worries little brother! Told you the rope was a good idea!” Ward taunted in the told-you-so banter of their youth.

Port dropped onto his backside, sucking in air through his nose and exhaling slowly. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the pit’s wall, trying to calm his racing pulse and battle the adrenaline coursing through him.

“Come on you pansy! You were never going to fall. I had you! Just make sure you do the same if its me next time.” Ward said, striding past him as far as the short rope would allow. Port noticed Ward’s furtive check of the knot around his own waist; he was rarely as confident as he pretended to be. His older brother nudged a stone over the edge with the tip of his boot, peering over as far as he dared. There was no sound of it landing.

“How far down do you think it is?” he asked.

“Best not to think about it. We should focus on the path ahead. Watch your footing; after all these years there could be anything waiting for us. Obstructions and pitfalls, just like those little stones that had it in for me.”

“Not to mention whatever booby traps that old coot left for us!” Ward added. “Come on, lets get moving, that massive diamond won’t wait at the bottom forever!”

“Well…it kinda will…” Port muttered under his breath.

Still, he stood, and they continued along the narrow pass in single file, the wall on one side and an unending drop on the other.

Port wasn’t afraid of the trenches of spikes or arrows firing from pinholes that his brother was suggesting. The endless sinkhole that they called ‘The Pit’ was constrained only by the imagination of the wizard who created it. So instead he scanned the way ahead, watching for anything…magical. Why the old timer had strutted into town that day remained a mystery. He remembered the event well, despite being only twelve at the time. Who could forget a wizard of old creating a giant sinkhole in the central square with a flick of his wrist. Port recalled being afraid, the shaking ground under his feet and the vibrations through his chest as the earth caved in on itself, dropping an open column through the stone that descended beyond sight. When the magic wielder hurled a sparkling diamond the size of a watermelon into the hole and declared the first to retrieve it would know unimaginable wealth for the rest of their days, Port’s fear had given way to a fluttering excitement. His reaction echoed in every other person present, who had turned from their terror in greedy curiosity. 

“We can go back you know?” Ward’s voice pulling Port from the memory. “We haven’t gone very far; we could be back home by this evening.” His serious tone revealed genuine concern, a rarity from his brother..

“Go home to what?” Port replied. “Mother and Father are gone. Everyone knows if merchants like them don’t dock on schedule, there’s no point in hoping. Without them we have nothing. There’s no work, Ward. You know this is our only option to become anything more than poor farmhands.”

Ward dropped his gaze, examining the thin sliver of ground beneath him.

“Yeah I know…alright then. Let’s get that diamond and get out of here. So what if no one’s succeeded in all this time! They ain’t as smart as what we are!”

Port rolled his eyes and gestured forward and they continued their descent, following the wall of the pit along the spiralling path downward.

When they reached a wide set of stone stairs that stopped half way down in a clean cut, they both paused. Suspicious of the abrupt change in terrain and dead end, Port tossed a stone that clattered down the man-made structure. Nothing happened. Ward threw another, its clacks against the stone echoing from some unseen surface in the distance. When it dropped out of sight over the edge he shrugged and hopped both feet at once onto the first step. In reaction, a huge, second staircase swung out of the darkness below and connected with a dusty thud. Port leapt onto the step alongside his brother, surprised at his split second reaction to join him rather than retreat from the danger. They exchanged glances as Ward shrugged again and hopped down onto the next step. Another staircase flew at them from the side, thudding into place with barely a recoil of the stone under their feet. Now they had two directions to choose from. They tested the remaining steps, each one summoning or removing yet another staircase. Which one to take was anyone’s guess and so they chose at random. Every step on subsequent sets had the same effect. It was like a constantly moving maze of pieces and all Port knew for sure, was that as long as they kept moving down, they were going in the right direction.

Hours passed. Progress was slow. When yet another staircase appeared out of the darkness, sporting a half crushed skeleton over its leading edge, Port recoiled in horror. Ward however, took it in stride,

“Well, at least we know this ones new and we’re getting somewhere” he shrugged. “Just don’t get between the pieces like this poor sod.”

Port looked up at the shrinking circle of sky above them, he could just make out the pinpricks of stars forming on the paling disc. The darkening of their surroundings suggested that their first day in the pit was coming to an end.

“We should rest up” he said “Fresher minds will get us further tomorrow”

They dropped their packs, whose contents clanked as they hit the ground. They'd packed everything they had thought might be useful, which meant they were excessively heavy. Port sat down and leaned against the pit wall, the current staircase conveniently at the edge of the hole. They ate and drank from their rations in silence until Ward broke the quiet.

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Why did he do it? Why put this here? Is it some kind of test? Is there a secret waiting for us when we get that diamond? Or is it all just for his own amusement?

“We’ve had this conversation so many times. No one knows, Ward. There’s no point guessing. Hopefully, we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Geez, be like that then. I was just trying to make conversation! Just, don’t let me roll off the edge while I sleep, alright? You feel that rope tightening you drag me back up yeah?”

“Sure. Get some sleep.” Port said, bundling up along one of the steps as best as he could.

Port woke from a fitful sleep, disorientated and taking a moment to remember why his back ached. He blinked away fatigue and and saw the pit illuminated anew. Grabbing his brother’s shirt, he shook him awake. 

“Ward, wake up! Do you see that?” Not waiting for a reply he stood, gazing down at a solid path across the middle of the pit below, leading to an opening in the opposite wall. Darkness obscuring what lay within. 

“Look! If we can just cross the next stairway, we’re home free! We were so close last night but couldn’t see it without the light. Let’s go, come on!”

After some experimentation to get the right combination of steps, Port led his drowsy older brother directly across the chasm and into the unknown.

Darkness hit them as soon as they entered. A complete and unbroken pitch black. The pair pulled lanterns from their packs and lit them, illuminating at most a few metres ahead.

“Stay close little brother” Ward said, grasping Port’s wrist. “We go slow; step where I step and we’ll find our way”

They spent what Port guessed was the rest of that day inching through the caverns in total darkness. Dead end after dead end sapped his mental fortitude, and when a dim doorway of light greeted them after another corner, Port was too confused to believe it was real.

“Almost there! You see it!?” Ward yelled, pulling Port into a run.

“Slow down!” Port warned. But the eagerness of his brother, desperate to escape the oppressive blackness, was unstoppable. Both of their eyes, unaccustomed to the light, misjudged the distance and they crashed through the opening, falling over a sheer drop.

Port’s scream was cut short when he landed on something soft and springy. It gave slightly under his weight and bounced like an enormous fishing net. Struggling to stand, he found it difficult to find purchase on the strange fabric. He tugged on the rope at his waist and found Ward just ahead, equally struggling to regain his footing. The light stung his eyes; he squinted against it, waiting for his pupils to adjust. Raising a hand to shield them, he saw that they were back in the main pit. Looking down, they were suspended above the open maw of the hole, visible through the gaps in the net.

Lucky this was here or we’d be toast

Port blinked away the last of the pain from his eyes and looked toward his older brother. Just beyond Ward’s prone form, a set of blinking eyes caught his attention…and there were far more than two. He looked to either side and saw enormous, thick legs pressed against the walls of the chasm. Black, hairy and many.

A giant spider? How original.

Without a word, Port pulled free the machete strapped to his pack and sliced a hole in the web below his feet. As he fell the rope between them pulled taught and dragged Ward down with him into a free fall.

What felt like an eternity in the air was closer to a few seconds before they splashed into an underground lake that spanned the width of the pit in one direction, but only half in the other. Port burst to the surface, gasping for air, surprised he hadn’t inhaled water in the landing.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” Ward roared at him from where he tread water nearby.

“YOU’RE WELCOME” Port snapped back “What were you thinking charging ahead like that? You dropped us straight into that creatures web!”

“Errr…Port? Best get ready for another drop, because we’re going over…!”

He followed Ward’s gaze to the centre of the lake, realising too late that they had been slowly drifting toward the edge. The unmistakable sound of falling water crashing into something below sent a spike of panic through him, but no amount of thrashing against the current could stop him from surging over the edge and cascading downward.

During the fall, he was convinced they were dead. When his feet slammed into the solid water below, he braced for the impact, sure he’d break both legs. Even when his brother hauled him onto the stone shore, he coughed violently, feeling as if he were still drowning. It was only when he sat upright, looked around and saw they were safe that he thumped his brother in the arm with a balled fist and unleashed a string of colourful insults.

“But thank you for dragging me out” he added, grudgingly.

The following days were monotonous by comparison. The path returned to a winding trail that skirted the edge of the void, as if the danger had been replaced by a gruelling test of endurance. The silent sameness eroded Ports sanity. Looking up revealed the same view as looking down; the identical path twisting into darkness, the light of the world above long gone. If it weren’t for Ward, he thought he might have thrown himself off the edge several times, just for something to change. Their conversation inevitably dwindled and in the quiet gaps, Port began to see diamonds in every stone, only to find simple rock when he reached out. He caught spiders in the corner of his eye, retreating into crevices that didn’t exist. He heard voices on the stale winds that gusted from below. They passed several remains of other adventurers, some of which laughed as he stepped over them, only to revert to their inanimate form when he looked directly at them. Most looked to have fallen from above, only one seemed to have actually travelled this far willingly. He held the hilt of a knife, plunged into his own chest.

Port trudged on, winding downward, using nonsense conversations and reminiscing with his brother to try and keep them both going. All they had to do was keep moving. They slept on the path, ate on the path, they never left the path. Until finally, Port bumped into his brothers back.

“What are you doing? Keep moving!” he said, shoving Ward forward another step.

“We’re here…” he mumbled.

Port looked up, to see the path simply end. Far below stretched a flat surface in all directions. Bare dirt and stone reaching out into the darkness. Could this really be the bottom of the pit?

“Quick get the ropes out!” Port said, the new terrain shaking him from his mindless apathy, catapulting him into action.

“There’s nothing to tie them to little brother, I think we are supposed to jump…”

“That’s a long way down” Port replied, peering over the edge.

“I can make it. I can try to cushion your fall. Make sure to bend your legs and roll and you’ll be fine”

“Wait…Ward are you sure..” Port was cut off when his brother simply leapt over the edge without another word. His mouth dropped open, wordless at Ward’s recklessness. Only when the rope around his waist began to pull did the situation register in his mind, his stomach lurching as he was yanked forward off his feet and into open air.

When his legs hit the ground, he instinctively bent and rolled as he had been reminded to do. That didn’t mean the sharp pain that shot through his bones or the desperate, painful gasps for air that followed being winded were any less unpleasant. He groaned and didn’t move, laying still until he had checked himself over and risked sitting upright.

“You DAMN FOOL!” He roared at Ward, who was still lying on the ground laughing to himself.

“I knew you’d never have the nerve to jump little brother. Better to just leap and avoid all that anxiety! We’re here aren’t we?”

 Port looked around the dark expanse, solid earth beneath them for the first time in an age. He pulled out a lantern and lit it, shining the light ahead. Leading Ward behind him, who was taking longer to find his feet, he walked out onto the empty plain. They strode directly for the centre, where they found a dais, raised on a platform surrounded by steps. It was empty.

“Where is it…” Ward muttered “We came all this way…I WANT MY DIAMOND OLD MAN!”

“Relax” Port said, hold a hand up to his brother. “Let’s look around, It’s got to be here somewhere. We’d know if someone had retrieved it.”

They circled the dais, stepping over more bodies and bones that must have fallen from above attempting the descent. Ward had been right about one thing, they had made it where others failed. They spiralled outward, checking the entire area with the small cast of light from the lantern. From the heavy sighs and curses muttered under his breath, Ward’s frustrations were growing. Port felt his own not far behind. On the verge of rage, he finally saw it. A glinting in the light, up against one of the edge walls of the pit. They both rushed forward and stopped dead in recognition, the sparkle of a cut diamond, half hidden by the rotten clothes of the dead man holding it. 

Ward yanked it free, placing his foot against the chest of the poor soul who strove to keep his prize even in death. He had to use two hands to hold it up and they both marvelled at the colossal jewel. It refracted the lantern light in endless patterns and shone as if from within.

“We did it little brother! We’re rich!” Ward yelled and then hollered a woop of joy upward, so loud that it could have been heard on the surface.

A huge smile broke out across Port’s face, yet he found himself unable to truly celebrate. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. Unable to place the feeling, he looked down at the long dead person that had withheld their reward. That was when it dawned on him.

“Ward. How do we get out?”