Through the Mud Trench

Stomping past the fern beds, I charged straight into deeper uncharted territory! The ground dropped away into a slimy sunken culvert walled with slick river stones and choked by tangled wild ivy. Down in the murk, half-buried under rotting leaves, rested an abandoned cast-iron valve key wedged over a rusty drain grate. Instinct took over—I threw my weight straight across the crossbar, stomping my boots into the thick, squelching silt. With a grinding, metallic creak, the bar budged half an inch, opening a black slit where murky runoff began swirling down with a deep gurgle!