Aramis is glad of the darkness when he sees the hole, his cheeks cold in the night breeze as they drain of color. He had imagined a door or a window, not a dark, cramped hole in the earth like the one that still haunts him.

The only thing that fills him with more dread than going down there is the thought of sending Athos and Porthos down alone, and Aramis draws a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Let me go first," he says. "With the light, so you can see what you're swinging at."