The Curious Quests of Brigadier Ffellowes by Sterling E. Lanier Page B

"It was over in seconds. James took the one on the right with a great sweeping blow, a blow which shore through his ax shaft like paper and drove deep into the fellow's chest. He crumpled up like a felled tree.
     
                  "The other swung his huge maul, or hammer, at my head, a swing that would have spattered my brains to pulp had it landed. I ducked under it, though I felt the air move in my hair, and extending my body, left hand on the ground, drove the Ferrara p oint straight through his heart. He stood for one instant, his face contorted, then fell transfixed to lie by his mate. I wrenched loose the blade and stood up. James was facing me, a look of stern approval on his face. 'A good stroke,' he said briefly. 'Now follow, once more. The last test is to come and it will be far more dangerous than what has gone before. Be silent and keep watch, especially to the rear. We go into the dark, the true dark now, to speak with the master of these creatures.'
     
                  "We were both damp with our exertions and the wind - driven spray, up-welling from far below. But I felt no sensation of cold as I walked behind James in the direction of the fortress. Instead, I felt, despite the storm and the bleak surroundings, a sense of high resolve, almost of exhilaration. I felt myself part of a crusade, and yet certainly a stranger one never existed, consisting of two Englishmen in dinner clothes, armed with swords unused for many centuries!
     
                  "We crossed the bare wet rock around the site, and James headed unerringly for the spot where I had seen the cavity and its protruding ladder the previous day.
     
                  "In the flashes of moonlight we had no trouble picking our way over the rubble and soon the black cavity lay before us. The ladder was still in place.
     
                  " 'Listen,' said my friend, pausing above the opening, one hand uplifted. Faintly, above the great noise of the wind and the raging sea, I seemed to hear a far-off throbbing, a beating pulse, as if from some mighty drum deep in the earth. I had no need to ask whence it came.
     
                  " 'He is there. Still he works his crimes, still conspires with things that never see the light of day. So be it. He has found that which should not have been disturbed until the end of time. And from it he gains power even now. If we wait longer, matters will grow worse.'
     
                  "We two stood now in the lee of a broken wall, whose vast slabs cut off some of the gale. His face was grave, as he seemed to muse on things beyond my comprehension, leaning on the pommel of that giant sword.
     
                  "Then he looked up at me, strangely as if in doubt, not of me, I thought, but of something else, perhaps even of himself. 'We must go down. But my strength is less in the shadows under the earth, and his will be more. Let us go now, before I weaken further, from doubt and lack of faith. I will go first. Remember, have an eye to the rear and to the sides!'
     
                  "With no more ado he seized the first rungs of the ladder and began to go down. I waited and, when I could no longer see his hands, began my own descent, gripping the sword with two fingers and using the rest to cling to the ladder.
     
                  "The ladder was a long one, perhaps twenty feet . When my shoes touched rock, I was glad to stand up and look about James was next to me, peering down the long tunnel in which we now stood. For there was light. Ten paces off, set in a niche in the wall of undressed stone, a kerosene lantern burnt with a dim glow. It was as if the light were changed down here in some way, for the color was odd, a pale light, like marsh fire in a summer bog. Far down the long shallow slope of the tunnel, another spot of similar hue shone in the distance.
     
                  "Remembering