"So what are you looking for?" The heat from the flame rose with the oily black smoke. It stung his palms faintly through their thick calluses. Kup drew his hand back, holding the lamp as far from the flame as he could and lifting it above his shoulder so it would light the steps before Kraft.
"To be honest, I don't know."
Kraft descended the spiral passage at an unhurried pace. Its first stretch was built from small stone bricks, with arches supporting the narrow space in the earth. Anyone tall had to walk down the middle and remember to duck, or risk bumping their head.
A little seepage trickled through the gaps between the bricks, gathering into drops that hung from the damp, curved ceiling. The muddy water had a yellowish tinge, and in the scant light, it looked like slowly pulsing egg sacs.
This load-bearing stretch of brickwork went down three or four dozen steps. It was plain and utilitarian, without a single inscription or carved pattern to suggest any artistic intent.
At the bottom, a large brick carved with a Holy Emblem was embedded in the wall, polished smooth by moisture and countless touches. Beyond it, a wider, square passage replaced the brick-arched tunnel.
It wasn't that they'd suddenly mastered cement and could bond stone bricks directly together. "Excavated" might be a better word than "built." The passage had cut through the deep earth and continued into the bedrock.
The geometric rock walls still bore straight cut marks, running vertically and horizontally, dipping in or jutting out in sections. They revealed what the place had once been: a quarry.
Farther on, the passage grew wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Square chambers had been hollowed out on either side, perhaps once used for