The Lazarus Trap (43 page)

He took another look around his prison, then planted the candle on the ledge. He forced himself forward, working against a current that grew stronger with each thunderous wave. His breath was a heaving bellows fueled by fear.

He submerged and checked out the opening with his hands. The tunnel's confines made him gag. The next booming rush of water was strong enough to dislodge his hold and push him back ten feet. He came up into utter dark and realized the tide had surged over the ledge, extinguishing his candle.

The blackness was suffocating now. He breathed deep. Over and over. He pushed away the fear as best he could. When the current began sucking back, he went down, extending one arm above his head and clenching the other by his side. Even so, he had to jam himself in.

He clawed his way forward. There was just enough room for him to crawl slightly with wrist and elbow and knee and ankle. He scrabbled inch by inch, jamming back with his feet, scraping with his toes, reaching forward with his one hand. He stared bug-eyed at nothing.

Midway through he became jammed so tight he could not move at all. Not an inch. The harder he struggled the tighter he was trapped. He could not move either forward or back. Taylor opened his mouth and screamed his frantic fury. He broke free because the expelled breath shrank him just enough.

Only now his lungs were heaving great reflexive lunges for air. His entire body burned with the need to breathe.

He became wedged tight a second time. Then his forward hand felt the sharp-edged stone border. The tunnel's end was just ahead. He ripped and twisted and finally caught a fraction of a ledge with his toes. He pried himself forward two more inches. He took a firmer grip on the ledge and hauled with all his might. One leg of his trousers ripped as he scrambled out.

His arms reached together toward the silver illumination overhead. He kicked and swam with his back arched like a bow, his mouth already opened to take the breath he had to have
now
.

He exploded into the air, flying up so hard he emerged almost to his waist. He shouted gulping gasps of breath. The fortress was a looming shadow cut from the stars.

Perhaps he saw a human silhouetted on the ramparts. He could not be sure. When his vision fully cleared, the image was gone. The old place was said to house an army of ghosts.