"Are you two making a mess again—" Harkin began, storming out of the room he'd been tending to, back onto the landing of the second floor. When he saw the trapdoor opening, he quickly went quiet. "No one told me nothing about that…" he said, picking his way down the stairs for a better look.
As Pash starred in the darkness of the cellar, his eyes had trouble adjusting. A stone wall arose right underneath where Pash stood and a rusting iron ladder clung to it, looking rather brittle and untrustworthy.
"Good thing you found it, lad," Harkin said, patting him on the shoulder. "If we'd gone slow on the rest of the stuff only to miss the basement out, the bastards would drag us back here while we're half asleep."
"Looks kind of miserable down there," Ermos said, wrinkling his nose.
"Brilliant. Then you can head down there, can't you?" Harkin grinned, immediately making Ermos regret that he'd spoken up at all.
