Ten times they thought they had reached the ground, ten times they missed, their senses betrayed them. Definitely, if there was no deep water at the end of the vertical path, there would be no chance for her. And perhaps not even in that case there would be, perhaps from this height the water was little different from reinforced concrete.


    They would have thrown something before starting down, try to hear a noise at the end of the fall, but they feared that if she was at the bottom whatever they threw would fall onto her, besides, they intended to go down no matter what.


    Mim was still first in the descent, now with more distance between one and the other, as Beleg''s arms required more rest. With his gaze still fixed on the rock ahead he felt his feet failing to find rock, something that had happened before in the jagged fissure.


    He continued down, supported now only by the herculean strength of his hands, until the candle over his eyes revealed the gap that prevented him from resting his feet. It was a wide crevice, the crevice in the great crack, capable of holding a dwarf, if he was willing to crawl.


    “Wait!” he ordered, though not too loudly, he wasn''t going to tempt the possibility of a collapse with the vibration in his voice.


    “What is it?” replied Beleg, at last closing the distance.


    “It''s just that there''s a gap here... lean now on the rock with your feet and rest your arms for a minute, if you go down any lower you''ll have to support yourself with your hands only” stated the red-haired man.


    “... Okay, I''ll stand for a minute” replied the other, trying not to make his relief at the rest too obvious.


    “There''s no point in her... well, she shouldn''t be here, but I''m going to try to lie down inside, if only to rest” as he said this and swayed a bit to step into the opening in the rock.


    “Ok” said the other, “as you say” Beleg replied, not wanting to argue.


    Now with his legs steady he gave a final swing with his arms, to transfer the weight of his torso inside. With great skill he released the rope, and held tightly to the ceiling of the crevice. Now, by bending down a little, he could support his hips and rest at last.


    A small ripple formed in the rope by his oscillation and continued to descend until it was lost in the depth; how much was left to reach the bottom, they did not know. Now Mim took advantage of the scarce space to lay her back, only then did he realize that this horizontal opening reached much further. In fact, he had no idea where it ended.


    Meanwhile, Beleg wondered if the rope would be enough or if this risk was rather for nothing. “Tell me something, I don''t see you from here friend” he commented, coughing a little, "can you hear me, friend?".


    “Yeah, sorry... it''s just that... you haven''t heard anything since we arrived, have you?” the construction craftsman replied at last.


    “No, nothing but you and the air currents, which make little noise anymore” returned Beleg. “Yes... I think the air current in this hole carries sounds, maybe a voice” reiterated the red-haired man.


    After a few seconds of tense silence Beleg spoke again “I think I''m going to keep going down, let me rest in that hole of yours for a while” he waited a moment for the other''s response, but there was none.


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    “Are you there?” he started again, "Shhhhhhhhhh" he heard instantly. Making the psychological effort to look down, Beleg could see Mim''s feet resting in the void, the rest of him being inside the opening.


    “There are two blue gems in here, I see them glittering at the bottom of this hole” explained the mason at last, ‘And?’ wondered the other, “I don''t know, we could pick them up... they don''t look like ordinary stones to me, very pure opals perhaps, WAIT, I''ve seen them get bigger! Oh no, no, closer rather. Dang it, help, pull my legs, for heaven''s sake!”


    Saying “I''m coming, I''m coming, I''m coming!” was all Beleg had time for before he watched his companion''s feet disappear into the narrow cavern. When he saw it and heard the quickly stifled scream of the trapped Mim, he could not but begin to doubt whether climbing down the rope and coming face to face with the horrible hole would be a wise move.


    Fear had left him paralyzed, so much so that now he was glad no one could see him, no one could judge him for flinching. But what explanations would he give if he went back now, alone. Would it be acceptable to say -we went for a walk, the three of us, but the others are dead, good night-, I think not.


    He gathered his strength and began to tackle the two-meter descent to the wolf''s mouth, now with his paws well away from the rock, circling the rope and narrowing his ankles.


    “Holy gods don''t let my father or grandfather see me like this,” he thought, but didn''t say, not wanting to tempt whatever had kidnapped his sidekick now. When he finally got a good look inside, he felt a guilty relief. There was nothing and no one. There were only a few drag marks on the gravel where Mim had been lying a moment ago.


    Nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard.


    He now faced a major dilemma. He had gone down to save someone accompanied and now he had to risk his life in one direction or another, alone. Below, he could only see the abyss continue, with a rope that, descending, merged with the blackness of the hole, representing little hope. Above, there was barely a glimmer of light left, because, at several points, the crevice where they had plunged narrowed, leaving even less to be seen where it was now.


    Then there was the abyssal horizon in front of his face, where the man he had considered murdering not too long ago had disappeared. The decision was clear, unlike the black hole where Beleg lay.


    He took the slightest impulse and supported himself with his legs as Mim had done previously. In no time he also had his arms firmly inside the narrow crevice, soon after he leaned his body, head in, on the floor of the crevice, but in his case head down, to crawl well inside.


    “She''s dead” he affirmed inwardly “she must have cracked her head open at the bottom of the chasm, I know it."


    There was never any hope, only the panic of the moment, "I''ve accepted it, now the only worthy thing to do is to try to redeem my sin.”


    “Damn it, why didn''t they seal this monstrous hole and why were we so stupid” he continued his internal monologue, buying time while deciding whether he had the courage for real or not.


    Finally, Beleg was able to quiet his thinking mind and his rational one, which was telling him to get the hell out before it was too late. There was no room there to extend his arms, as after a good yawn, only to crawl inside with slight shoulder movements. Something had pulled Mim by the head, surely, leading him into some deep burrow in this subterranean hell.


    Before, when the world had not lost its head and hope, the crust of the earth, the level just below the surface, had been the realm of his race, shared of course with a considerable number of cousins, invited by bona fide dwarves, and enemies, who plagued the caverns and built their own citadels beneath the mountain. Below was the realm of other creatures, overwhelmingly unknown to even the most learned of the giblets, or any other known people.


    There was talk of devils, there was talk of other dwarves, brethren who lived far deeper, there was talk of enemies, driven out once upon a time by wrathful ancestors.


    “Perhaps I will even return having solved part of the mystery” thought Beleg, now with calmer nerves despite the situation, "they will surely make a statue of me".