He beckoned them and they started forward.
The passage began to rise gently, then more steeply. Soon the floor became cut into steps, and they were climbing.
After a while Zoltan spoke again. "We may be in here for some time, and it would probably be best if we conserve our batteries. As leader and guide, I shall keep mine on. Napoleon, as last man, keep yours on. Hilda, you and Illya can switch yours off for the time being."
The darkness moved in a little closer as two of the lights went out, and the little group moved on.
They seemed to be plodding along, sometimes on the level and sometimes on a slope, never moving. Rough rock walls appeared ahead of them, moved slowly by, and vanished again into the pitch blackness behind them. Napoleon had started off counting paces, but soon lost track. He felt as though they had come into the very heart of the mountain down this tunnel, and it seemed endless. Perhaps it connected with the Bucharest subway system, he thought whimsically—or came out somewhere in northern Greece. No, they'd come too far for that; they must be approaching Athens now....A scrap of an old poem came back to him about a group of people claiming to have come from northern Germany to Transylvania underground; he was beginning to believe it. This must be an extension of the same tunnel....
And then there was a break in the wall ahead, and Zoltan motioned them to a stop. "We're now under the castle," he said softly. "There are many interconnecting passages, and they twist most confusingly, so stay close to me."
"Better than that," said Hilda, pulling something out of her pocket. "It's not a ball of twine, but a piece of chalk to blaze our trail through this labyrinth ought to come in handy."
"Clever girl," said Zoltan. "I am afraid I must admit I don't remember all these passages quite as well as I thought I did. Come along now, and we will make our way on up into the basement."
Napoleon pondered that statement for the next few minutes, and followed without thinking too much about Zoltan's bobbing light ahead of him, flickering as it was shadowed and obscured by the moving black silhouettes of Hilda and Illya. His own light illuminated the floor about his own feet and Illya's, and his attention was focused on that when he almost bumped into his partner.
He looked up, startled. Illya had stopped and was looking around. They were alone.
"Which way did they go?" Illya asked.
"I thought you were following Hilda," Napoleon said doubtfully.
Illya cleared his throat embarrassedly. "Well, I was. But I let my attention wonder, and when I looked up...she wasn't there. I'm afraid they were about fifteen feet ahead of us when I looked last—they must have turned into a side passage."
"Well, they can't be very far away." Napoleon raised his voice a little. "Hilda," he called softly. "Hilda?"
"Not so loud," Illya cautioned. "Remember, there may be someone asleep upstairs."
"I wouldn't mind that," Napoleon said drily. "I'm only worried about someone being awake."
He cupped his hands and called again, "Hilda! Zoltan!" in a penetrating stage whisper. There was no answer.
He shrugged. "What do we do now? Do you remember the last three turns we took?"
"We could wait here and hope to be found; it's more sensible than wandering about and getting ourselves even more lost."
Napoleon considered this. "Somehow," he admitted, "I don't feel quite as sensible as I did a few hours ago. I think we should cast about—carefully, of course—and look for Zoltan's chalk marks. When we find them, we can follow right along to wherever they are, and we won't be lost any more."
"Unless they are lost too."
Napoleon looked at him. "Optimist. Maybe your vampire got them."
Illya looked at him. "Under the circumstances," he said, "that's not especially funny."
"Sorry. Come on—let's get going. They couldn't have left us too far back. Let's start looking for likely places."
They started backtracking slowly, both lights scanning the walls for chalk marks. There were none. But eventually a passage opened off to their right—a wide stone-walled passage, which looked tall enough to stand up in.
They paused, and shot their lights around it. "Looks reasonable," said Napoleon. "They couldn't have left us much before here, and I don't see anything else that looks at all likely."
Illya nodded. "Let's give it a try. After all, we can't be any more lost than we are already."
"Oh, yes we can," said Napoleon cheerfully.
Illya considered the implications of the remark and scowled. "I've told you, Napoleon, that's not funny." He paused. "Perhaps it is. Try it on me again when we are out of here and my sense of humor has recovered somewhat."
They started off down the hall, rock ceiling arching overhead, rock floor underfoot, spots of light sweeping back and forth ahead of them, and darkness pressing close behind.
Chapter 10: "The Coffin Is Empty."
Their footsteps echoed weirdly around them as they moved through the silent tunnels. At first Napoleon called Hilda's name, or Zoltan's, but each time his voice awoke whispering echoes that went muttering off into the distance. Finally he just watched for reasonable places to turn, and turned there, checking each time for chalk marks.
At last there was one. It was a neat blue chalk "X" just below eye-level, and just above a short arrow pointing to the left. Napoleon heaved a sigh of relief. "There we are," he said to his partner. "They must have come this way. Now we can hurry along and catch them."
"I hope so," said Illya. "This place is beginning to get on my nerves."
There were no marks at the next three intersections, but the fourth had another "X" and an arrow pointing to the right. They took the turn unhesitatingly. There were no intersections and no marks for several minutes, and the tunnel rose higher. Then it turned left and right as it climbed until Napoleon began to get dizzy.
Finally he paused. "I thought of bringing a compass when we left the inn," he said. "But then I said to myself, 'No, we'll have a trustworthy native guide.' And I didn't bring it."
"Next time you'll know better," said Illya.
"Probably not," said Napoleon. "I'm just too trusting, I guess."
They continued climbing. At last a passage opened to their left, and a few feet farther another opened to their right. Neither one had any mark on it. The passage climbed higher. After a while another pair of passages opened, and the right-hand one had an arrow chalked on its wall pointing into their passage. It was in white chalk.
Illya looked at it, and then said softly, "Napoleon..."
"What?"
"We've been following blue chalk marks."
"So?"
"I think...I'm not positive, but I think Hilda gave Zoltan a stick of white chalk."
"Do you think we found them now?"
"I don't know. Apparently these tunnels have been used by other people at other times, and some of them also used chalk. I think it was dreadfully inconsiderate of them not to have washed the walls down after they finished with them."
"So we may have been following some long-dead resident who liked to sneak down to the village without his wife finding out," said Napoleon with a shrug. "Since the tunnel's heading up, we're more likely to come out in the castle than out on a hillside; and as I recall, the original purpose of this expedition was to get inside the castle."