Bone Ladder

“Well, that is the last one,” Clayton said, standing back from the broken seal, staring into the hole. He looked deeply troubled. “I wonder what they did.”

Anna summoned a deep breath of determination. “There’s only one way to find out.” Kneeling in front of the ruined painting, Anna stuck her head through the hole in the plaster seal. As she did the apparition floated up alongside her. He stabbed his left arm through her head, his outstretched hand filling the space behind the seal in a dimming pale blue light.

“Stylus, why are you getting dimmer?”

“I told you, this form takes a lot of concentration. I’m starting to feel lightheaded.”

Behind the seal the hewn rock extended about a foot, creating a ledge before emptying into the void of the vertical shaft beyond it. A small calcified platform composed entirely of human bones hooked itself onto the ledge, ribs mainly, with multiple conjoined long bones as cross beams for additional support. The platform extended out into the shaft several feet.

Descending vertically down to the platform was a ladder, its uprights composed of femurs and tibias, fused together by a large nodule of calcification. Horizontal humeri and ulnae created rungs, held to the uprights by similar calcifications.

It looked crude and unsafe.

On the rock ledge in front of the bony platform was a single discarded ulna.

The spirit stuck his head out beside Anna.

“Hate it when there are parts left over.”

“What do you see?” Clayton asked.

“There’s a small bony platform to stand on with a leg bone ladder leading up. It’s our way out of here, but for safety, it looks rather suspicious.”

“I will go first,” Clayton offered.

“No, I’ll go first,” Anna replied. “We need to see if it can support my weight first.”

“What about the commander?”

“I’ll go up first. You follow. Once you’re safe, I’ll come back down with the pall and put it on him so he can climb up.”

“You sure make a lot of effort for someone not worth it.”

“I’m not going to decide who lives and who dies.”

Stepping through the hole in the seal Anna slowly edged forward toward the platform. At the edge of the stone she looked over, staring down into the void below. No point in asking how far down it was. Putting one shoe onto the bony platform she tested it, applying more and more of her weight until it felt safe enough to step onto it with both feet. No sounds of stress. It seemed solid enough.

Now for the more concerning structure. Anna tilted her head back to rest against the base of her neck, eyes tracking the spindly ladder as it rose from the platform straight up, up, up, disappearing into the darkness beyond the apparition’s glow. She gulped.

“May I suggest-”

“-no necro suggestions.”

Anna stepped up to the ladder, placing her hands on the rung in front of her. At one time it was a person. Someone who lived, loved, hoped, and eventually, passed. She gripped the smooth, pale bone for a long time, closing her eyes, feeling the emotional weight of the climb. “Thank you,” she whispered to the humerus.

After testing the human rung with her full weight, then giving the whole ladder a pull towards her to see if it was wobbly, Anna began the climb, envisioning the rungs as just wooden dowels rather than considering their reality. Slowly she ascended, one hand, one foot a time. Climbing in heels made the task all the more challenging.

As she made her way up, the spirit solemnly floated beside her, his dim pale blue light sufficient, the gentle hue making the bones appear a little less morbid.

“You’re… not… saying much,” Anna said, pausing in her progress, breathing heavily. She wrapped her arms around a femur for support, needing to rest.

“I want you to concentrate on this.”

No snide remark or haughty tone. Instead, the stylus sounded… normal. Concerned even?

“Why?”

“I am not kind. Don’t mistake me for protecting my interests as goodwill.”

SNAP!

The sound rang out loudly throughout the vertical shaft.

Anna felt a rung give out from underneath her foot. She quickly scrambled up to safety, her forearms burning with exhaustion.

“What was that?!”

“Granny, probably,” the apparition replied. “Though a lot of bones are rather dry and brittle with age. I wouldn’t test this ladder for too long.”

“Clayton!” Anna shouted down. “The ladder won’t last long. As soon as I get to the top, you need to hurry up as fast as you can!”

“Ok!” he called out below from behind the broken seal.

Anna resumed her climb, urging her spent arms to keep going despite their protests.

At the top of the ladder, Anna stumbled onto the ground from exhaustion, panting, appreciating the relief of completing the climb and escaping the catacombs. She took only a few seconds rest before crawling over to the edge on her hands and knees. “You’re up! No stopping!”

“On it!”

Anna turned to the apparition. He was now easily seen through, his light dimmer yet. His face – her face – appeared deeply taxed by the strain of the necessary concentration. “Give him light,” Anna directed, pointing down.

She reconsidered her tone after hearing it.

“Please.”

The sheer spirit wordlessly floated down, no reply. Maybe even words were too much at this point for him.

As Clayton began his climb, Anna swept her eyes around. First light had begun to arrive. It appeared she was in a forest of some kind. Loose leaves rustled across the ground, carried by a soft wind. There was no telling how far the demolished entrance was from the vertical shaft. The other hunters could be close by or far away. Anna looked for something to defend herself with, just in case. She settled on prying an exposed stone from the ground, a crude hand club.

By the time Clayton had finished his climb, twilight had progressed to dawn. Sunrise would be soon.

The young man came up over the edge, crawling only a few feet before he bent his face and kissed the ground. “Best dirt ever.”

“How was the ladder?” Anna pressed.

“Not good. Several rungs broke on the way up. The whole thing creaked deeply.”

“Do you think it can handle three more trips?”

“Maybe? … Wait.” He paused. “You can not be serious about going back down!”

“We’re not leaving him.”

“He is the heaviest of the three of us,” Clayton reasoned. “He could break it on the way up and trap you down there.”

“I have necromancy if worst case.”

“Which we both know you will not use. Do not think you can distract me with that as a viable alternative. You should not go down.”

Anna shook her head.

Clayton moved such to block the way, still on his knees, arms spread wide. “No.”

“I’m going.”

“No.”