And Krakovitch had agreed: ‘Yes, I sense it too. But I only sense it — I don’t fear it. There’s no warning to bar me from this place. I’m sure that there was a great evil here, but it’s gone now, extinct, utterly lifeless.’
Quint had nodded, sighed his relief. ‘That’s my feeling, too: still here, but no longer active. It’s been too long. There was nothing to sustain it.’
Then they had stared at each other, both of them thinking the identical thought. Finally Krakovitch had given it voice. ‘Dare we try to find it, perhaps disturb it?’
For a moment Quint had known fear, but then he’d answered, ‘If I don’t at least discover what it was like — at the end, I mean — then I’ll wonder about it for the rest of my life. And since we’re both agreed that it’s harmless now..
And so they had called up Gulharov and Volkonsky to the place where they stood, and all four of them had set to work. At first the going was easy and they used makeshift implements and their bare hands to clear away masses of loose dirt and rubble. Soon they’d revealed the inner core of an ancient stone staircase, with the steps winding on the outside. The stone had been scorched black with fire and was scarred by jagged cracks as from great heat. Apparently Thibor’s plan had worked: the spiral stairwell leading downstairs had been blocked by blazing debris, burying the vampire women and the unfortunate Ehrig alive. Yes, and the burrowing proto-thing too. All of them, buried alive — or undead. But a thousand years is a long time, in which even the undead might truly die.
Then Volkonsky had got his massive arms around a great block of fractured rock and eased it upwards from the rubble which seemed to completely choke the stairwell. Suddenly it had come loose, at which Gulharov had added his own not inconsiderable muscle to the task. Together they’d heaved the block up and over the rim of the excavation — at which the debris at their feet had sighed and settled down a little, and a blast of foul air had rushed up into their faces!
They’d jumped back, startled, but still there had been no threat in it, no sense of impending danger. After a moment, taking Gulharov’s arm to steady himself, the big Russian foreman had stepped down from the already uncovered stone steps onto the now dubious surface of the material blocking the descent. Still clinging to Gulharov he’d stamped first one foot, then the other —and at once gone down with a cry of alarm up to his waist in the stuff as it suddenly shifted and gave way under him!
Then the earth had seemed to rumble and shudder a little; Volkonsky had clung to Gulharov for dear life; Quint and Krakovitch had thrown themselves flat and reached down from above to grab hold of the ganger under his armpits. But he’d been quite safe, for already his feet had found purchase on unseen steps below.
And as they’d all four watched in astonishment, so the choking debris around Volkonsky’s thighs had settled down, collapsing in upon itself, sinking like quicksand into the hollow depths of the stairwell. Hollow, yes! The stairs had not been completely choked but merely plugged, and now the plug had been removed.
‘Now it’s our turn,’ Quint had said when the dust had settled and they could breathe freely. ‘You and me, Felix. We can’t let Mikhail go down there ahead of us, for he has no idea what he’s up against. If there is still an element of danger attached to it, we should be the first ones down there.’
They’d climbed down beside Volkonsky, paused and looked at each other. ‘We’re unarmed,’ Krakovitch had pointed out.
Up above, Sergei Gulharov had produced an automatic pistol, passed it down to them. Volkonsky saw it, laughed. He spoke to Krakovitch who smiled.
Quint asked, ‘What did he say?’
‘He said, why do we need a gun if we’re seeking treasure?’ Krakovitch answered.
‘Tell him we’re scared of spiders!’ said Quint; and taking the gun, he had started down the littered steps. What good bullets would be if the vampires were still extant he couldn’t have said, but at least the feel of the weapon in his hand was a comfort.