Mike Shevdon - Sixty-One Nails

She led again and I followed with Ben bringing up the rear while he held his light for me as I manoeuvred the ladder around the tight corners of the stairway. He was right; it was a good size for tight places.

We reached the ledge along the edge of the river. The foam from the weir sloughed off and drifted luminously downstream. The river was higher and louder than it had been when we had been here before, the new rain swelling the flow.

With Ben holding one end of the ladder and me holding the other, we made our way slowly along the slimy walkway, scraping against the bricks as we edged our way along. With the ladder to carry, it took longer to reach the anvil, though I could feel the brooding presence ahead in the dark, waiting for us.

We knew we had arrived when the muted roar of the waterfall meant that we had to shout to each other. Blackbird flicked her torch around the arches and the gantry, shining it into nooks and crannies as Ben and I carried the ladder along the bank.

"We're on our own," she shouted to me. "There's no sign that anyone's been here and the iron door looks untouched."

It was good news. Part of me had been expecting Raffmir and his friend to be waiting for us, guarding the iron door. Perhaps we could get away with finishing this before anyone found out what we were doing.

Blackbird climbed up onto the gantry while Ben and I manhandled the ladder and the toolbox up behind her. Then we crossed over the gantry above the underground river and Ben climbed down so I could pass things down to him. I followed them down and we clustered around the place where the iron door was mounted high in the wall. Blackbird held the torch while I extracted the nail from where it was safely stored in my pocket.

"How does this work then?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you try it first? I'd rather not touch the door if I can possibly help it." The memory of my chance contact with the iron gates at Australia House was still sharp in my mind. I had no wish to be thrown backwards into the churning water under the falls.

I carefully dropped the nail into the middle of his palm.

"Which way round does it go?"

"We don't know. Try it head end first. If it won't go in that way then try it the other way."

He reached up high and pressed the square end of the head into the lock. It went in a short way and stopped. He tried twisting it but nothing happened. The hole was just the right size for the head, though, making me think we were on the right track.

"Try the other way around," I told him.

He pulled out the nail and turned it point first. It slipped into the lock almost up to the head.

"There's some sort of spring mechanism." He showed me, pressing the nail in so the end of the head was flush with the door. As he relaxed his finger the nail sprang out again. The door stayed resolutely shut.

"It fits perfect," said Ben, "But nothing's happening."

"I think it needs a Fey hand," Blackbird said. "It would make sense as a fail-safe. The nail was entrusted to humanity, but humans wouldn't be allowed to open the door without one of the Feyre present."

"Well, I'd better do it then."

I was taller than Ben and I could reach unaided. Just in case, though, I fished into my pocket and extracted the Dead Knife. It was still wrapped in the towelling Claire had given me. If I was thrown backwards it wouldn't do to lose one knife while trying to replace the other. I gave it to Blackbird for safe keeping and she slipped it into her bag.

She stepped back and Ben made room for me. I steeled myself and reached up. Ben had left the nail in the lock and the head protruded about half an inch from the surface of the door. I put my forefinger on the end of the nail and it shimmered into blackness. I pushed it slowly in towards the door, being as careful as I could not to touch the surface of the iron. A hair's breadth away, there was still some give in the spring. I had to take a chance and touch the door.

I pressed the nail home. As my finger touched the surface of the door, the surface shimmered in the centre. A disk about the size of a large coin fell into blackness. The disk pushed inwards. There was a heavy clunk in the door and it stopped.

I carefully pulled out my finger and there was a further clunk as the crack around the door grew darker. I pulled the nail free from the lock and the heavy door swung open slowly. Moving backwards out of the way, I could see it opened into a deep cavity set into the wall. I couldn't see much inside despite Ben's attempt to shine his torch up into it, but I could feel the dark emanations coming from whatever was inside. Ben reached up and put his arm into the space.

"There's something here. Hang on a sec."

He got closer to the wall and reached up again, this time grasping something, stepping up on tiptoe to reach. I took the opportunity to step back and slip the nail back into my trouser pocket, keeping it safe.

"Whoever put it up here was a taller man than me or he had steps to climb on," said Ben.

"Shall I get the ladders?" I asked him.

"It's fine. I can manage."

He dragged the toolbox over and stood on it to give him the height he needed. Neither Blackbird nor I offering to help since we could both feel the vibrations from whatever was contained there. It had the same malevolent nature as the anvil and although that was a promising sign given what we were looking for, it didn't make it any easier for us to bear.

There was a scraping noise, audible even over the rushing water, and Ben used both hands to draw down a huge hammer. Blackbird and I both stepped back from it.

"It's a big 'un, isn't it?" Ben said, hefting it down to the floor. "It's much bigger than I'd have thought it needed to be. Are you sure it's the right one?"

"Oh yes." Blackbird was standing back, hand braced against the wall. I backed away towards the ladder up to the gantry. The cloying rankness of it pressed against me, like a weight on my chest.

"I might need a hand getting it over onto the island." He scanned the darkness between him and the island.

"We're not going to be much help to you there, I'm afraid, Ben. I don't really want to be any nearer to it than this and I think Rabbit's too close already."

I turned and scrambled back to the gantry ladder just to get away from the thing. Ben had said it would be tuned, but if it was then it was tuned to a note so sour, so off, it made my spine cringe to hear it.

I heard Ben behind me, asking Blackbird how he was supposed to get the hammer over to the anvil.

As I reached the top of the ladder I could see that getting the hammer across was going to be the least of our problems. Far down the tunnel above the falls a familiar flickering light was dancing across the vaulted roof.

"We have company!" I shouted down to them. "They're coming down the tunnels. Use the ladders and get over to the island. I don't think they'll be able to touch you near the anvil."

"Who is it?" he shouted.

"Not friends, that's for certain. Just get there as fast as you can. Blackbird and I will try to delay them, but start work on the knife as soon as you can."

"It's not quick work," he called up to me.

"Never mind. The hammer and the anvil will hold them off. They won't be able to touch you." I hoped it was the truth but uncertainty rankled in my throat as I said it.

He grabbed the ladders and began sliding them out to make a walkway across to the island.

Blackbird climbed up to the gantry after me. I stepped over to offer her a hand up.

"They've come," I told her. "They're coming down the tunnels. I can see the light of the gallowfyre reflecting off the walls."

We watched the growing light and the outlines of two dark figures making their way swiftly along the ledge at the side of the dark water.