Excerpt from
Devil's Lair
:
“I’ll go first,” Marco said.
He moved to the front of the group. The crack in the floor was wide enough to step through. Marco paused at the verge of the abyss, surveyed the entrance, then took the first step. William entered second, bracing against the walls to ease himself down. Nadja went third. Her hair caught the light rising from the Lance.
Giovanni watched them go.
When the others had vanished, their footfalls continued to echo up to the chamber where the poet stood alone. Light dwindled in the lower passage.
You wanted to be another Dante, he chided himself, and took a deep breath to summon his courage.
He peered into the dismal maw and felt a warm draft on his face. The hole in the ground seemed to breathe. He sensed no sulfurous odor, merely the smell of damp stone. The echo of footsteps diminished and died. The only sound remaining was his galloping heartbeat and his panicky breath. It taunted and shamed him.
Giovanni crossed himself, muttering, “
Libera nos a malo,” and followed the others down into Hell.
Devil's Lair by David Wisehart
Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM
