Arthur kept going until we reached the back wall of the cellar. It had a strange indent in it, as if it had once been the beginning of a passage, but the doorway had been blocked with the same sort of stone as the walls.

"Here," he said, lighting it up and then reaching out to run his hand along it. "It was through here and then down even further."

I gulped, not sure how much further down I wanted to go. I was getting the impression that this was only going to get less safe. We still had the crowbar, but I didn't think it was going to be much good against a stone wall, and I was pretty sure that anything that could blow this up could also bring the whole building above down on us.

Arthur seemed to be as stumped as me as he ran his hands over it, pushing at bricks as if he expected some of them to give. He then pulled at a bunch, but still nothing.

"Do you think it has some kind of secret entrance?" I asked, wondering if his confidence was based on actual memories of this place in some way.

"No. It doesn't. It's most definitely a wall. But..." he trailed off and didn't explain any more, his hands stopping on a brick he had both pushed and pulled already. "All walls have a weak spot. And if the weak spot can be dealt with, we can use a little brains, a little brawn and a little magic, to get the job done."

I lifted an eyebrow, but at this point, when Arthur mentioned magic, I knew better than to argue with him or try to suggest that he didn't know what he was doing.

As he placed his hand flat on the brick, he closed his eyes and seemed to mumble something. All his previous magic tricks had been fast and not seemed to need anything but a physical gesture. This appeared to be another level above and way beyond a trick. The brick seemed to glow and shiver, the mortar that held it in place with the other stone blocks shaking and crumbling as if someone was blasting it with sound at the right frequency, or nature was decaying it at the speed of thousands and thousands of years in no time at all.

Slowly Arthur began to wriggle the stone with his hand, pushing it back and forth until it was loose enough that he could pull it out.

He tossed it to one side and then shone the light through. A tunnel lay beyond, the walls no longer stone, but the floor the some stone work. Steps showed a relatively sharp descent and wooden posts and beams here and there held a roof up. This was the way forward. A small passage that wound its way even further down.

"Can you break more of this up with that crowbar of yours?" Arthur asked, motioning to the opening, to see if it could be made wider.

I frowned, but given all he'd just done to get us through the wall, I couldn't exactly say no to trying. Despite my fears, as soon as I hooked the crowbar around one of the stones and started to try and pull on it, his magic kicked in a little again and the mortar quickly broke up under the combined effort and the stone block slid out.

With both of us working together, we swiftly made the opening wider, bringing it down and making sure we would both fit through it. It wasn't going to be easy to get through, because we were very strategic about the blocks, Arthur pointing to them, one at a time, but there was eventually a gap big enough that I thought I could shed my jacket and wriggle through.

Arthur let out a strange noise as I pulled the last stone out and seemed to sag to one side. At the same time he almost dropped the torch, the light dipping. I rushed to his side to support him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, not sure what else to say when he straightened back up.

"I will be. I just used a little too much magic on these. This sort of thing is taxing."

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"That I can believe. Do you need to sit down for a moment?"

He shook his head and tried to get himself back upright, but I wasn't sure I bought the bravado act. I also knew, from getting up close and personal to stop him falling over that even though I could fit through the gap we'd made so far, he couldn't.

I encouraged him to back up a bit and this time I hit at the bricks with the crowbar, using the hooked end a little like a sledge hammer and aiming for the mortar. It didn't seem to work at first, but I slowly chipped away at the grey stuff holding the stones in place and kept hitting the stones now and then.

Eventually one of them shifted, pushing across the gap and giving way. I lifted it out and tossed it to the side before I got working on another. It was hard work and it made my arms ache, but eventually I got another row of stone blocks out of the way and I knew we had a hole wide enough for the both of us.

It wasn't going to be easy to get through it. It was from my eye level down to the middle of my torso, and I was going to have trouble sticking the landing on the other side, but before I could go through, Arthur reached out and grabbed my arm.

"This is my quest, remember. And my danger. I should go first."

"Actually, this time I should go first. I'm smaller and it will be easier and faster for me to come back if something is wrong than you. Plus, you have the strength to pull me back through if I get stuck or there's danger on the other side." I felt smug as I pointed out logic I knew he couldn't refute and made my way to the opening again.

"All right, but please be careful. I would hate for anything to happen to you when you have been so kind to me."

"That I can understand, but I'm no damsel in distress and never will be. Protect me if it's in your nature and I miss something, but don't ever think I need coddling." I pulled myself through the hole, using my arms and the rough bricks on the other side to get purchase.

Arthur didn't respond, either happy to be put in his place, or giving me the same courtesy to not distract me as I did something dangerous. For a few seconds, I had no light and was climbing through to the unknown darkness, but Arthur was soon there, shining the light above me and giving me at least a little to work with.

I had to wriggle a fair bit to get through, and I was sure it was the most unladylike thing I had done all day, but eventually I was on the ground on the other side, my hands dirty and my clothes covered in mortar dust.

As I stood up and waited for Arthur to try and follow, I wondered if he would get stuck. Despite how big I had made the gap, it hadn't felt big enough when my feet had been off the ground on one side and my hands had barely had purchase on the other.

Despite my fears, Arthur handed me the light, trading it back so he could make his way through as well. At the same point I had struggled, Arthur slowed as well, but I reached out a hand and very carefully braced myself so he could use me as a better source of leverage and pull through.

He picked up speed and almost face planted the ground, only my grip on his arm and a quick twist from him seeing him landing on his hip instead. He winced, but got to his feet pretty swiftly.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, shining the light on him so he could see if he needed to.

"Only my pride and maybe a fresh bruise. Nothing that will do any major harm to either my ego or my body." He smiled as he spoke and dusted himself off a little as I had.

"Shall we go see what's down this tunnel?" he asked, the light making his eyes sparkle with excitement.