Then I heard a neigh, a dull thud, and an angry roar that followed. When I opened my eyes again, I saw a horse and the fleeing bear. Apparently, the horse had caught the bear by the snout. On the horse’s back sat my uncle and my cousin Dante. My uncle dismounted and helped me up. My leg was hurting terribly. "We’ll have time for questions later, we must hurry now, the bear won’t stay far for long," my uncle said. Too confused to even form a clear thought, I climbed onto the horse with my uncle’s help. We rode for a while. We stopped in front of a huge tree with snow-covered branches and roots. Between the roots, there was a large gap. My uncle dismounted and reached for something that hadn’t caught my attention until then: a handle. He called Dante for help, and both of them worked on the handle until a trapdoor rose from the snow between the roots. It was enormous, so big that two horses could stand side by side on it. Beneath the trapdoor stretched a dark abyss, a wide, steadily descending path led downward into the darkness.