The Long Barrow by C. Henshaw




T h e L o n g B a r r o w


by C.Henshaw


The sun beats down. It's not so high in the sky - you'd think it would cool off as it goes down, but no. It gets hotter. The ground has stored up the heat and is now releasing it, convecting all around you, angling off the rocks, soaking into your clothes, your skin. It goes up into the sky, but the pressure of air sends it back down again, so you have heat from above, heat from below.

Sweat drips down your nose and splashes onto the hard soil as you trowel rocks aside. You are alone. The others are all at the 'business end' of the long barrow - striving inch by inch to reveal the bones of the structure - and, eventually the bones they expect to find inside. Brown, flaking, stained human bones. It's no big deal to you. You've seen them before.

But you are not at all happy that THIER end is the shady side (now that the sun is on its way down and out). Why they stuck you over here, where there's obviously nothing of interest... you can't even SEE the long barrow for god's sake. It shouldn't surprise you - you don't have a fancy master's degree, so you get stuck in places like this.

You wipe more sweat out of your eyes.

Rocky hollow
You are in a depression filled with hard earth and stones. The top 10 inches of soil have been bulldozed away, but didn't make the digging any easier. You can't see the long barrow you are supposed to be excavating - you can't even hear the others. You can just about see the tops of the hills surrounding the narrow valley in the middle of nowhere in Wiltshire. Also here is a hammer, a pick-axe, your backpack, a galvanized bucket and a metal shovel.

> get all
You take the hammer, the pick-axe, your backpack, the galvanized bucket and the metal shovel.

> x backpack
Dusty, beat-up, ragged - this backpack has been with you since your gap-year. Inside your backpack is some twine, some metal spikes, a measuring tape, a level and a torch.

> get torch
You take the torch from your backpack.

> turn torch on
You turn on your torch.

> dig with pick-axe
You dig with the pick-axe. More stones. More hard dirt.

> dig with pick-axe
You dig with the pick-axe. More stones. More hard dirt.

> dig with pick-axe
You dig with the pick-axe. More stones. More hard dirt.

As you dig, you find a flat stone jammed tight in the ground. Levering it out, you just catch a glimpse of darkness underneath it when suddenly, you find your feet giving way beneath you, and with a shower of dirt and rock, tumble into darkness, crashing painfully onto a hard surface.

Your possessions are scattered around you where you dropped them as you fell.
Round chamber
In the swirling dust, stirred up by the infall of earth you created, the sun slants in, showing you a round underground chamber of some sort, just a bit taller than you are. You feel quite vindicated - thought they'd stick you out of sight and mind, eh? Heh, heh. Except for an oblong depression in the middle, the floor is flat and hard, packed earth. Niches in the walls contain piles of long bones. Yep, they're human. One one side of you is dry dusty earth, scraped vertical by ancient ancestor-worshippers. On the other is bare rock. Your orientation is excellent, and you know that's the direction the long barrow is in. There's a pile of rocks by one of the niches. A wall of bricks covers part of the earthen wall. Held together with ancient, crumbly mortor, these bricks must be much, much later than the chamber and its bones. They are soft and friable to the touch.

> get all
You take the trowel, the hammer, the pick-axe, your backpack, the galvanized bucket, the large brush, the metal shovel and the torch.

> w
You move west.
Tunnel
You are in a narrow tunnel. You can stand, just. It slants down slightly, and has a bare sandstone floors and walls. The ceiling is hard packed earth.You can go west. Suddenly, the tunnel exit to the round chamber collapses in on itself. You have a mouth full of dust.

The atmosphere in this blocked off tunnel feels dank and musty. It seems there is no air shaft in this place, or if there was it is blocked.

> w
You go west
Tunnel
You are in a narrow tunnel. You can stand, just. It slants down slightly, and has a bare sandstone floors and walls. The ceiling is hard packed earth. There is dark patch in the ceiling, which is softer than the surrounding earth.You can go east and west.

> dig dark patch
You dig at the dark, soft patch in the ceiling. Aha, an air shaft! A warm rush of air flows though and you begin to breath more easily.

> w
You move west.
Large carved room
The tunnel has opened up into a large room with earthen walls, ceiling and floor. Intricate carvings decorate all the surfaces - labyrinths, mythical beasts, stick humans, handprints. It's an awesome sight. Ahead of you, to the west, is a blank slab of sandstone, similar to the one that fell at the other end of the tunnel.

> dig under rock
You dig under the slab of rock to destablise it.

> wedge spike behind rock
You wedge the spikes behind the rock, tapping them in with the hammer until there is a small gap between the slab of rock and the wall.

> tie twine around slab
You loop the twine behind the rock from one side to the other.

> pull twine
You give a might heave on the twine. The rock budges, just a mite. You heave again, and it crashes down, sending rock chips flying. Slowly, through the dust, you can see a hole, light and warmth streaming through.
Surprised faces greet you as you stumble from the hole you made in the 'business end' of the long barrow. 'Why, hello,' you say. 'Fancy running into you guys!' The looks of dismay on the other assistant's faces are priceless. You dust yourself down and proceed at a leisurely pace, past the shocked onlookers, to the director's tent.

That'll show 'em (and maybe even bag you a raise).

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