They crawled on until after a while he heard a bump, then the King Zog swore.
“What’s wrong?” Rishaan asked.
“It’s a dead end,” said the King, and they sat there in silence.
Rishaan felt around, and then the king lit his lighter to get a few seconds of weak light. “Look,” he said, “behind you!”
Behind Rishaan, against one wall, was a ladder leading up to a shaft.
“I will go first,” said the king, and he pressed past Rishaan. “The things you have to do when you are king,” he muttered.
He twisted himself so he could get up into the shaft and started climbing. It was a long climb; both Rishaan and the king had felt that the tunnel had been leading them in a downward slope.
Dust fell down as the king climbed, covering Rishaan, but Rishaan followed him anyway. He did not want to stay do
