The City of Stone
Princess Beatrice began to examine the interior of the cave. The cave and the tunnel appeared to be hewn out of the same black rock as the exterior cliffs of the Black Mountain. She had been considering what to use to light her way into the tunnel when the boulder rolled closed of its own accord with the same slow, grinding groan, and shut out the sun.
‘Oh,’ said the princess, staring into the unrelieved darkness.
Gradually, as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, the darkness seemed to lessen. Princess Beatrice saw that there were small lights on the walls of the cave which she realised were glow-worms. Then she saw that along the floor of the cave there was also a trail of curious black glass-like stones that seemed to glow with a kind of reflective light. The
