With a sudden cry of surprise, Doc found the boundary of the wormhole as his cane and left leg plunged through the thin crust of the cast, and he began to fall through into the hole beneath, which could extend into the earth to any depth before the cast deposits began again.
Within a matter of seconds, Jak had reached Doc. He slowed when he was a few feet from the older man, scanning the earth around for signs of where the wormhole began. Doc’s descent had been slowed by the fact that he was relatively light, and although the cast couldn’t support his weight, particularly after his prodding had broken through it in one spot, it was still porous and damp enough for the earth to hold together, and thick enough to stop him falling straight through.
The line delineating where the hole ended was indicated by the damper earth of the cast, which had begun to be sucked in at the sides. So it was easy for Jak to pick out—even in the fading light—just where the solid ground ended and the thin crust of earth cast began.
Dean came up beside the albino, and following his line of view, took in what Jak could see.
“Hang on, Doc,” he called. “Don’t move too much, it’ll disturb the surface.”
“While I thank you for your sage and timely advice, I think I may just have been able to work that out for myself,” Doc returned with more than a hint of sarcasm. “However, I fear that before too long I may not be able to help moving, particularly in a downward direction at a rapid rate.”
“Okay, Doc—just hang on,” Dean repeated as he turned to Jak. “Well?”
The albino looked from the old man to the edge of the circle, sizing it up rapidly. “Follow,” he snapped, running around the hole until he came to the point where the prone Doc was nearest to the edge of the cast circle.
The other members of the recce party had by now joined them, but stood back to let Jak take control.
Pointing across and gesturing, Jak told Dean, “Crawl across, spread weight. Take Doc then try pull back. Take my legs and pull fucking hard.”
Dean nodded shortly, and Jak dropped to his belly, edging across the cast surface toward Doc, using his arms and legs to spread his weight over as much of the surface as possible and not disturb the crust any more than was necessary.
“Jak, dear boy, so glad to see you,” Doc breathed as the albino approached.
“Take each hand, try come with me,” Jak said by way of acknowledgment, offering his outstretched hands to Doc, who gladly took them, placing his sword stick—extracted from the cast during his initial struggles—between his teeth. It had been with him throughout his dangers, and he was damned if he would yield it so easily.
Jak felt Doc’s grip on his wrist clamp into place, the older man’s fingers like iron, despite his apparent frailties. In return, the albino closed his hands around Doc’s forearms, his own grip tightening and digging into the stringy sinews of the older man. Jak began to shuffle backward, using his feet to try to gain purchase without digging too far into the crust and breaking it any more than it had been broken already.
On the edge of the circle, Dean also dropped to his belly and reached out to grab Jak’s ankles as they came within range. He steeled himself, knowing that once he grabbed hold he had to cling on for dear life and be prepared for the sudden shock and pull downward should the crust give way beneath Jak and Doc.
Jak’s ankles met with Dean’s hands, and the young Cawdor grasped tightly, beginning to flex his biceps and pull backward, adding his own momentum to the backward motion of the albino.
Doc felt the crust yield around him, its spongy grip giving way as he wriggled and tried to haul himself forward with the help of the pull that Jak was exerting. Slowly, with an almost infinite care that had to be balanced with the inevitable moment when time would give out and the crust would just collapse from its own decay, the albino hunter and Doc began to move across the surface of the cast, Jak’s ankles and half of his calves now over the edge of the cast and back on solid ground.