William never thought he would come here for the second time so soon.
Perhaps after months of torture, things finally turned around. Shortly after leaving, he met a local villager who said he was willing to lead the way down.
Not wanting to be delayed by Kraft's attitude, I was anxious about not being able to enter the treasure house. There may be other reasons, but I couldn't think of so many at the time. It was as if my feet started to move on their own, and they stepped through the long walk again like inertia.
The mountain is solid rock, light a torch at the entrance of the mine, and go straight into it.
By the time he realized that he was a little too impatient, he had already stood at the end of the mining area again, with the slightly stooped old man walking in front.
With the flame of the torch swaying in his hand, William stopped here, subtly thinking whether what he was doing was unreasonable, but he found something. The sailors behind him stopped together, waiting for the captain's instructions.
When he heard the footsteps stop, the old man turned his skinny neck with protruding bony spines, twisted his body, and pointed the clear point of his cloudy eyeballs sunk in the shriveled eye sockets at them. His barrel-shaped chest with distinct ribs stretched out his loose clothes.
, you can see the deep depression that is no different from other local old men, and the loose skin on the front of the neck is sinking, which inexplicably reminds William of a broken sail that was entangled in a broken mast by strong winds.
Considering his age and physical condition, this old man should not and cannot continue to work. He is not familiar with this new mine that has only been used for a few years. However, a surprising force supports this seemingly shaky body.
The body kept climbing up the mountain path that was difficult for young sailors to climb, taking every step accurately in the cave where light and shadow intersected.
"What's wrong? You can't bear to part with two silver coins?" His voice was a bit sharp, like the sharp end of a pickaxe scratching the surface of a mineral crystal. The sour tone seemed to be mocking, or it might just be that the throat was eroded by dust in the harsh breath.
.
This feeling made William very uncomfortable. The age of the guide made it difficult for him to believe that he had worked here. However, he had not tripped over any uneven ground along the way. This was only for an old man with dim eyes.
It may be due to experience.
"Have you really mined here? I heard that this mine has only been in use for a few years."
"No." The stooped old man opened his mouth, and the mouth with few remaining teeth appeared hollow. When William and others felt that they had been fooled, he continued the second half of the sentence, "Because I didn't come here for those stones, but I promise to be better than
Everyone knows it, including those below."
He raised the torch with his wrinkled hands, and the half-extinguished burning material loosened and fell, and sparks wandered on the black soot. "Come on, I know where you want to go, a place where those people will not take you."
The light of the insufficiently used torch gradually dimmed, but the old man had no intention of replacing it. He crossed the deepest trace of human beings here - a small groove where the torch was placed, and headed towards a deeper and more primitive part, as if he didn't care about what was behind him at all.
people.
Several people looked at each other and followed him before he walked away.
The sound of footsteps echoed in the deep red mine tunnel, and the slope became steeper as it went deeper, leading into the interior of the mountain. It reached the point where it was necessary to pay attention to the stability of the footing so as not to lose balance. But the old man was walking on flat ground here, and his speed never slowed down.
When William and the sailors tried hard to keep up with his pace, they rarely noticed that the red color did not deepen with depth, but faded away. When they lit the second torch, they suddenly realized that the descent time had already exceeded the time from the foot of the mountain to the entrance of the cave.
, they left the red iron ore-distributed formation and walked in the cooling-toned passage.
Not only the red color, but also the annoying dust-yellow color that had been accompanying them everywhere for many days was also fading away. The gray and pale dry rock material squeezed out from the cave wall, dominating the ravine and the main body of the low mountain.
color.
The old man put down the crude torch, and the flames on it were completely extinguished, and the entangled burning objects dispersed, leaving only the bare stick.
He didn't prepare a second one from the beginning. After it was extinguished, he still walked straight forward. William followed closely, wanting to help him light the way ahead, but then he found that he didn't need it at all.
The crotch figure stood outside the circle of light, half-body leaning into the darkness, but his steps were more steady than those illuminated by torches, and every step was solid. It was as if the mine tunnel here had stairs specially laid for him, going down step by step, maintaining
At a distance that is just right to be seen but lost at any time, if you take one step slower, you will be out of sight.
Maybe it was because his clothes were a little thin. When the gray-white color began to seep into the cave wall, William felt a kind of soaking coldness. It didn't mean water, but this kind of coldness was like ice water and couldn't be blocked by the clothes. It felt like he was getting wet.
The cloth becomes an accomplice of low temperature, drawing heat away from the body bit by bit.
Just like a torch, they left the southern hills and came to...
They couldn't tell where it was. Even though the Iceberg had arrived at many large and small ports between the center of the Kingdom and the ice fields, this kind of cave had never been seen by William. It belonged alone here, underground in the southern hills covered with thick dust and yellow rocks.
A heterochromatic gray-white rock formation that is more barren than barren.
It first appears in the form of mildew spots, such as when checking the food storage in the cargo hold and touching a cabinet door that was not locked last time. Hard biscuits and bacon grow pinpoint white spots. Inexperienced and careless sailors will close it directly.
Cabinets, and experienced crew members know that when you find the first cluster, it means that there is something completely different deep below the surface.
Downward, the grayish white color spreads, crowding out the yellow rocks at the feet, sides and top of the head, trying to occupy more area. It is not like iron ore blending into the mountain and dissipating, but oil and water layering, with clear boundaries.
A sense of déjà vu came over him, and William traced the weirdest and alien part of his not-so-distant memory. They had just experienced a very similar scene last night - walking along a long, dark road, standing at the boundary between yellow and white.
In front of the strange-colored rocks. But he didn't have much time to stop and think. The old man had no intention of stopping and resting. William could hear his chest pulling like a bellows, breathing deeply.
The steps were carried faster and faster, walking on the yellow and white ground. This transition was extremely short. It felt like I was left behind in just a short while and completely entered the gray and white rock formations.
William pinched his nose and felt that he was getting smaller. He followed the cavity through the strange-smelling flesh, looking for the intact flesh below, but fell into the long white mold. There was nothing he wanted here, and some kind of
The texture is a mixture of dryness and deterioration, resembling loose gray-white bones that have been exposed to the sun for many days. The surface is covered with dust, and there are vaguely striped creatures drilling through the top, creating holes for entry.
He was distracted. In the urgent follow-up, William didn't understand how he had such rich associations. It originated from memories. The rocks of different colors up and down at the end of the mountain road had some kind of symbolism, and they were like this on specific occasions.
..... It is clear and guides people to think in that direction. There are long links in the gray-white part that are neither snakes nor insects, and the strips are winding to connect the two extremes of dusty yellow and gray-white.
"Old Gory! You are Old Gory!" William shouted towards the front.
At the edge of the halo, an old and thin face turned darkly, opening his toothless jaw. The firelight illuminated the mouth and the bottomless cave behind him. The ischemic mucous membrane was as gray as a rock wall. A horn-like echo came from his mouth.
In the throat, or deeper in the cave, there is a sound in a white, hollow place. The vibration is transmitted by the rock wall and the cold current coming from nowhere. It approaches and amplifies to the point where it makes people stand unsteadily. It shakes off the gravel and dust, and extinguishes it.
Torch.
The vibration was winding and long, coming from some kind of huge body that lined the rock formations.