Fantom chapter 3, part 2.

    Slowly they climbed down into the hill, Patrick leading, Ruth bringing up the rear.  The steps weren’t too bad after all, but as the lights showed only yet more steps below them she felt that the staircase would never end.  She could just see the others below her, and heard their feet echoing on the stone.  It began to feel cool and damp after the warm breeze of the hilltop.  Ruth began to relax a little as the steps continued to be regular and solid, but, although she was normally fine with caves, something still didn’t feel quite right.
   At last she heard the others in front of her reach the bottom of the stairs and the light grew as the cave opened out.  She sighed with relief as her feet touched the solid stone floor.  Looking up, the shaft didn’t seem so deep after all, though she was glad no one had started climbing down behind her, all the same.  
   She turned her attention to the cavern.  It was quite impressive, even in the sinister glow of a few small electric bulbs.  Stalagtites clung tight to the ceiling while stalagmites reached up from the floor.  In a few places they met in a glistening greyish column.  Stones glittered as water trickled over them from a crack in the cave wall, meeting in a pool at one side of the cave before disappearing into another crack in the rock.  
   “I wonder if this is why the folly was built in the first place?” Ruth said.  “To mark the entrance to this place?”
   “I wonder where the stream comes out?” Adam said.
   “Probably joins up with the rest of the caves at Poole’s Cavern,” Tom said.  “This can’t be far from there.”
   “You are both correct,” said a voice behind them.  They turned round, surprised to find anyone else there.
   A figure stepped forward from the shadows.  A tall woman, wearing a long dress and heels that Ruth thought were completely impractical for climbing around in caves.  It was, to her astonishment, the festival adjudicator.  
   “Sorry,” Tom said, “We didn’t realise there was anyone else here.”
   “But I knew you would come here,” the woman said.  She stepped towards them, a long dark cloak swooping about her.  Ruth noticed that she was now between them and the stairs, and began to feel that something was wrong.
   “I knew,” the adjudicator continued.  “Didn’t I, Patrick?”
   The others turned to look at Patrick, who had shrunk back towards the cave wall.  
   “I asked him to bring you here, because I want you to do something for me,” the woman continued.  Ruth heard a noise behind them and looked round to see two dark figures.  She could not be sure in the half-light, but it looked very much like they were carrying guns.  
   She wants the TTC!  The thought flashed through Ruth’s mind and she could see the others thinking the same.  They had brought the TTC with them to Buxton, parking it as- they had hoped- an unobtrusive green door in between an antiques shop and a pet shop.  When they had walked past later, though, they had been rather surprised to see that the door had labelled itself ‘Gilbert & Sullivan.’  Presumably the TTC could pick up the local atmosphere and adjust to camouflage itself better, although in this case it hadn’t quite worked perfectly.  
   Now they wished they had left it safely in York.  How had she found out about it- had Patrick told her?  Had he betrayed them, let something slip in talking to her?  It would explain why he had been so quiet and subdued since talking to her.
   “I know you have the Thespis score,” the adjudicator said.  “Don’t try to deny it.  And I know you’ve been learning it- your friend here was most helpful.”  Patrick shrank further into his corner from their accusing glances.  “So you had better co-operate.  I want you to sing Thespis.”
   They stared at her.  That was all she wanted?  “What, here?  Now?” Tom asked.
   “Yes.”  The adjudicator nodded to one of the dark figures.  He spread a rug over a rocky shelf and the adjudicator sat down.  
   “I know you know the music,” she said.  “I know you’ve got a recording of the piano parts on your music player, Adam.  There are speakers on that rock next to the lights.  Plug it in, and get started.”  The singers looked at each other, confused and uncertain.  They drew together.  “What can we do?” asked Agnes.
  “Can we do anything except co-operate?” Ruth said.  They could all see now that the guards really were carrying guns.  
   “I suppose not,” Adam said.  “But why does she want us to sing down here?  She must be mad!”
   “Shh!” Tom whispered.  “She’ll hear.”  The cave echoed strangely.  
   “What did you tell her about the TTC and Thespis for?” Agnes asked Patrick indignantly.
   “She knew already,” he said, as if pleading to be believed.  “I don’t know how, but she did.  She came up to me and asked about it, and then said...asked me to bring you here.  That’s all I know, really!”
   “Then why didn’t you tell us?” Tom said.  “Why did you just do what she said?”   
   “Come on!” the adjudicator snapped.  Her guards took a step closer.    “Get on with it.  I’m not going to wait all day!”
   “We’d better do what she says,” Adam said.  He plugged his music player into the speakers, and they began, rather self consciously, to sing.

The story continues...