CHAPTER TEN—SPIRAL PATTERN

“Now,” Ali said, feeling at the spiral-chiseled door. “How do we get in?”

“I can hardly see a thing,” Shiro said.

“I know,” Ali grunted, pushing on the door. “It’s not moving.”

They should have brought some torches up here, but the water would have wetted them, so they’d be useless anyway.

“Let me help,” Shiro offered. He moved up beside Ali and together the two men pushed, grunting as their sandals scraped against the rocks below them.

“It’s useless,” Ali said. He gestured impatiently to the door. “It won’t budge.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Shiro said. “No one has been in this dungeon. At least not for a long time.”

What if we can’t get in?

Ali unsheathed his belt knife, stuck it between the door and the surrounding stone, which was chiseled to a smooth lintel-shape all around in a circular fashion, as the door was also round.

“Hmm,” Ali noised. “I see no way to get in. No levers. Look about.”

Shiro did as the other adventurer instructed, feeling about the moss-covered wall for anything he might push or pull. There was nothing.

“There’s nothing!” Ali yelled as if the door had done him some personal wrong.

“Be patient,” Shiro said. “We have only just arrived. There is a way. We will find it.”

“And if we don’t we will climb to the top of this godsforsaken waterfall and dig down until we hit the dungeon!”

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Shiro couldn’t help but chuckle at the other man’s frustration.

“What are you laughing at?”

“We will find a way in.”

He made an exasperated sound, shoving his hand toward the door, as if he had told the door to go take a walk in the desert after having an argument with it.

Shiro moved back to the door, looked at it carefully. It has a spiral art to it, and not in a completely symmetrical fashion, there were holes in the door. He bent down, tried to get a look through them. They ended in blackness.

“Anything?”

“No.”

But there was no way to tell if those holes went through the door.

Wait, he thought, and licked his finger. This might work.

“Well?”

“There is no air coming from these holes. They do not go through, I think.”

“We didn’t bring any digging equipment—well, nothing big enough for this.”

Shiro backed away, put his fists on his hips. He glanced about, just now realizing how bright this outer cave was. It should be much darker, but the waters reflected off the walls from the puddles, the light shining in clearly not enough to give them room to see by, and yet they could see somewhat.

“It’s the water,” Ali said, as if he had been reading Shiro’s thoughts. “Magic! This dungeon is suffused with it.” He nodded, quite self-assured. “Many treasures lie beyond. We must find a way in, if it takes us ten years!”

“I don’t have ten years.”

“All the better,” Ali insisted. “So… what do you suppose those holes in the door are for?”

Shiro regarded them. The door’s spiral formation was not perfect. In fact, it seemed to suggest a direction. He sucked in a lung full of air.

Hai! That’s it!

“What is it, my friend?”

“The holes,” Shiro said, bending down and touching them with his fingers. And this pattern. We need something to put in these holes, so we can turn the door.”

“Roll it, you mean?”

“Hai.”

“There are a lot of trees outside. We could fashion some posts and shove them in?”

“This, I think will work.”

Ali grinned.

Shiro smirked, feeling somewhat self-satisfied.

“Yes! Let’s go!” Ali said, beckoning Shiro after him.

Together the two men climbed back down the waterfall and went hunting for suitable branches that would serve their purposes.

Most of the trees were far too large, but in the foothills leading up to the ravine and the oasis, there were small saplings growing near the rocks in the water holes that looked like they would serve the right purpose.

Shiro called Ali, who wasn’t far. He arrived, nodded. “Yes, these are perfect.” He took his small axe that he had unstrapped from his saddle and started hacking them down. Shiro assisted by cutting the branches off and smoothing out the boughs so they would fit. They could whittle the wood some more with their knives later.