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SUMMARY: The thirteenth in a 14 part serial short story- a new one every week. I wrote this to be recorded as an audio story- you can hear it at www.williamhrdina.com- but I think it holds up as a regular short story as well, and its finished so it won't disappea

Croucher
Part XIII-"From the Depths"
By William Hrdina

Ryan didn't know how long he'd been kept in the absolute darkness of the hood, but his knees and lower back were throbbing in pain and his head was pounding from the continuous surging of adrenaline and stress.
The first thing loud enough to drown out the sound of his own breathing was a deep rhythmic chant that began suddenly and with no discernable warning. This chanting went on for a long time- the sound of it gradually echoing louder and louder in his mind until he was drunk on it- delirious in its thrall.
Tearing him out of his reverie, someone grabbed Ryan hard by the shoulders and lifted him to his feet- his lower back screaming in protest. The hood was ripped from his head, revealing the surroundings for the first time. It was immediately clear he was in the fissure they'd seen in the cliff- except the space was a great deal larger than it appeared from the outside.
The mouth of the entrance was small, but the walls and ceiling expanded rapidly outward- creating a humongous space. The walls were covered in hundreds of small candelabras, stretching hundreds of feet up into the massive cavern. The wax of centuries clung to the wall so the entire structure was covered in a thin sheet of wax. When Ryan made the mistake of looking more closely, he saw... things- living in the wax. He watched while squirming white things- too big to be maggots- to small to be serpents snaked in and out of holes bored in the wax.
Ryan and Logan were being held apart from the main group, who stood about 20 feet away. There were about thirty people, situated in a half circle around a complex mandala carved into the floor. The people's faces were obscured, hidden by the deep recesses of their black hooded robes. All at once, the chanting, which had paused momentarily, began anew. The circle was facing a second gaping opening on the far side of the cavern. It looked like it led further down into the mountain.
Logan was dealt the same rough treatment as Ryan, dragged to his feet and de-hooded. Once Father and son could see, one of the figures from the circle came over to them. Thomas Moore's appearance was totally different than the way he looked a few hours earlier, but Ryan still recognized Cliff and Dottie's killer from his eyes. His face and head were now shaved bald- there was no sign of his beard or his long, scraggly hair.
"Today you shall be given the privilege to witness a truly rare event. You and your son have wandered into one of the greatest secrets humanity keeps. We've thoroughly looked into the both of you. We realize you weren't looking for this place. There's no evidence your guide John even really understood what he was looking for."
"Why are you telling me this?" Ryan asked.
"Because I want you to understand this isn't personal. But we cannot let anyone know what happens here. I want you to understand why you are going to die when the ceremony is over."
"You can just let us go- you don't have to kill us- we won't say anything."
"It's far too late for that now." Thomas said.
Desperate and panicked, Logan tried to escape.