As they inch their way along the tunnel, the boat continuously scrapes the sides and ceiling of the tunnel. Water periodically sloshes into the boat from where it hits the sides, and the bottom has already filled with two inches of water. When Jiron mentions it to James, he tells him the added water isn’t that bad, that it will enable them to ride lower in the water and hopefully not scrape so much.
It seems they’ve been a long time within the tunnel before James finds what he’s looking for. Suddenly, the light from the orb reveals a gap in the ceiling above them. When the gap reaches the middle of the boat, James releases the magic and the orb appears back with the others, signaling them to hold fast.
The boat abruptly stops its forward progress and James takes the orb as he inspects the cavity in the rock above. It’s about two foot in diameter and several more feet deep. The light from the orb shows it is just a vertical opening with no place to set the box and crystals.
He feels Jiron tap him as he shouts to be heard over the sound of the rushing water, “You better hurry, not sure how long they’ll be able to hold us here!” Lying on his back, he has one of the oars pressed to the side of the tunnel in an attempt to hold them steady.
“I know,” he hollers back. Picturing in his mind what he wants to do, he lets the magic flow as chips of rock begin to fall from one side of the top of the cavity, three feet above the rushing water. A hole begins to form as more and more of the rock is broken away. It takes a couple minutes to clear a spot large enough and level enough for the box.
“Hand me the box,” he hollers to Jiron who takes it out of the pack and gives it to him. Setting the box within the just cleared opening, he checks a final time to make sure all is as it should be with the spells and the crystals. When everything checks out fine, he takes the warning crystal and the defensive one out of his pouch and sets them next to the box within the cavity. He activates their spells and then removes two small spikes and a small hammer from his pouch. Then taking the pack, he wedges it into the cavity next to the box, effectively blocking the opening.
Using his small hammer, he pounds one spike through the pack into the bottom of the opening, and another through the pack into the top of the opening, thereby preventing anything from inadvertently falling out.
“Ready?” he asks Jiron as he comes out of the cavity and lies back into the bottom of the boat.
Jiron removes the stabilizing oar from against the wall and flips himself over until he’s lying on his stomach. Glancing to Jiron he nods.
When he gets the nod, he cancels the orb signaling the others to let them go, and they’re suddenly rocketed through the tunnel. Lying on their stomachs with their heads facing the bow and holding onto a bench for dear life, each prays to survive this wild ride.
The boat continuously strikes not only the ceiling but the walls as well, the continuous jolting makes James nervous. His eyes suddenly widen as a crack appears in the side of the boat near him as one of the boards begins to splinter. He looks in horror at the crack and when the boat again strikes the side of the tunnel, the crack widens as the board beneath it breaks as well.
From up ahead, he can hear the sound of the water begin to change. Another strike against the side and he hears a crack from the rear of the boat and suddenly his feet are drenched as water fills the boat rapidly.
“James!” cries out Jiron as the sound ahead of them gains in volume.
“Just hold on!” he cries. “This is going to be rough!”
Suddenly, they’re airborne as they’re propelled over the waterfall. James holds his breath in anticipation of striking the water. When they do, the boat completely disintegrates.
A piece of the destroyed boat stabs him in the arm as he’s thrown into the water. The iciness of it takes his breath away as he breaks the surface, gasping for air. The pain in his arm is tremendous and when he feels with his other hand, finds a piece of wood has completely passed through and is sticking an inch out both sides.
“James!” he hears in the dark, his orb having disappeared when he hit the water and broke concentration.
“Over here!” he hollers as he treads water. Another orb springs into being and he sees Jiron swimming toward him. Not far off is half of the boat floating upside down in the water. He starts swimming as best he can with one arm toward it.
Jiron sees what he’s making for and angles his way over to reach it. He reaches the remnant of the boat first and takes hold of the side as he begins bringing it to James. When he meets up with him, he holds it steady as James works himself up onto it. “What happened to you?” he asks when he sees the piece of wood sticking out of his arm.
“Piece of the boat got me when we hit the water back there,” he explains. Legs still submerged in the water, he at last has a secure hold on the boat with his good arm and isn’t likely to sink again into the water.
“Let me look at it,” Jiron tells him. James winces in pain as he inspects where his left arm near the shoulder has been punctured. “Doesn’t look like it hit the bone, just went through the muscle.” He looks James in the eye and says, “You know it needs to come out. If you move around too much with it in there it’s going to do more damage to the muscle.”
“Okay, do it,” he says as he grits his teeth.
Jiron takes the piece of wood and slides it back out the way it had come in. James cries out from the pain and almost slips off the overturned boat before Jiron grabs him and steadies him.
When the piece of wood is out, he throws it into the water and then tears off a piece of James’ shirt which he ties tightly around the wound to prevent anymore blood loss. “You should be fine, it came out cleanly,” he tells him.
James can only nod as he becomes nauseous from the pain. Now weak and shaky, it’s all he can do just to hang onto the boat with his one good arm.
“How do we get out of here?” Jiron asks. The light from James’ orb doesn’t illuminate very far and all he sees is water.
“If we move away from the waterfall behind us,” he explains, “we’ll eventually come to where the water leaves the cavern and flows to the river outside.”
“How far is that?” he asks.
“I don’t remember exactly,” he replies.
“Just hold on and we’ll get there,” he tells him.
Nodding, James holds on tighter as Jiron begins kicking with his feet, moving them further away from the crashing of the waterfall.
When they’ve progressed enough that the sound of the waterfall begins to diminish behind them, Jiron hears the sound of teeth chattering beside him. Glancing over to James, he can see that he’s shivering badly from being in the cold water. “You okay?”
“N-n-n-o-oo,” he says, trying to control his chattering teeth. “J-just c-c-c-old.”
Cold himself, he’s even more worried about his friend. He at least has the benefit of moving to keep his body temperature up. “Kick your feet,” he suggests. “That might help keep you a little warmer.”
Shortly, splashing can be heard from where James begins kicking his feet. Suddenly, he cries out as he loses his one armed grip on the remnants of the boat and slides into the water.
Jiron lets go of the boat and quickly moves to help him keep afloat. James feels cold to the touch as he assists him in getting up on the boat again. Holding the boat with one hand, he uses the other to pull James back up to where he can again grab and hold on.
“Sorry,” he apologizes to James. “You just hold on while I try to get us out of here.”
James tries to respond but the dunking in the water has left him so cold, he can’t even talk.
Jiron begins swimming even harder, he needs to get James out of the cold water before he dies. From up ahead, the orb’s light reveals a small island. Not very big, but large enough to accommodate them and allow James to get out of the water. Turning the boat slightly, he moves them in the right direction. The boat runs aground as it comes next to the island. Grabbing hold of James, he helps him get to his feet and onto the island.
James is pointing back to the boat and says, “B-b-b-b…”
“Get the boat?” Jiron asks. When he sees James nodding vigorously, he glances back and sees the remnants of the boat beginning to slip away from the island. Moving quickly, he takes hold of it and pulls it up onto the island next to them.
Coming over to James he sees him lying there shivering. “F-f-f…”
“Fire?” he asks. “You want me to make a fire?”
James nods his head.
Looking around the island all he finds to burn is the boat and they’ll need that when they leave the underground lake. “There’s nothing to burn but the boat,” he tells him.
Shaking his head, James says, “S-s-spark!”
“Spark?” he asks and James again nods his head.
Not completely understanding, he takes out his flint and begins striking it against a rock. After the third time when sparks appear, a flame roars to life out of thin air. Hair smoking from where the fire had connected with his face, he falls backward in startlement.
Getting himself back together, he sees James has his eyes closed and is inching his way toward the fire. “How’d you do that?” he asks.
James gives a slight shake of his head and keeps his eyes closed. When he’s close to where the fire is burning, he stops and begins warming up.
Jiron comes close to the wonderfully warm flame as he thaws himself out. He had begun to be about as cold as James and even felt his teeth start chattering.
They sit around the flame for several minutes before James’ teeth stop chattering and he opens his eyes. Sitting up, he scoots a little closer to the fire.
“Better?” Jiron asks him.
“A little,” he replies, the warmth from the flame has calmed his chattering jaw. “But I can’t keep this up too much longer.”
Jiron just looks at him questioningly.
“I’m using pure oxygen to sustain the fire,” he explains. “Remember back in Councilman Rillian’s office when I had used up all the oxygen and we couldn’t breathe? Well the same thing is happening here. Since this cave is enclosed, it’s not going to have an unlimited supply. It should have plenty for awhile, but once we’re warmed up a bit, I’ll have to stop. Then we’ll need to get out, fast.”
“I hear you,” Jiron says. “Just where is the exit from here.”
Pointing back to the sound of the waterfall they sailed over, he says, “We came from that way and if I remember right, the way out is further away from it, past this island.”
“It’s going to be another cold swim,” he says.
“I know,” he admits. “But if we have a brief respite here to warm ourselves, we’ll make it.”
They sit in quiet as they bask in the warm glow of the fire. James finds that even his clothes are beginning to dry. When he finally feels warm through and through, he looks with trepidation at the water and says, “Shall we?”
“Best to get it over with,” says Jiron. “It’s not going to get any warmer.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” agrees James.
Canceling the flame, they’re once more reduced to just having the light from the orb to guide them. The coldness of the cave again begins to suck the warmth from their bodies even before they get into the water.
They push the remnant of the boat back out into the water and that first step into its icy grip takes James’ breath away. Jiron holds the boat steady while James gets as far up onto it as possible before pushing it further out into the water. Then keeping a firm grip on it, he kicks with his feet and propels them away from the island, maintaining a direction which will keep the sound of the waterfall behind them.
The coldness of the water sucks the warmth from them rapidly. “If you get rid of the orb, maybe we’ll be able to see the light shining in through the exit.”
“I doubt if there’ll be any,” explains James. “It was almost dark when we first entered the old keep. And what with the rain, it’s unlikely there would be any moonlight.”
“That’s right,” he says.
“I’ll try though.” Suddenly, the orb disappears and they’re thrown into complete and utter darkness. The sound of the now distant waterfall and the splashing of Jiron’s feet lends an eeriness to the dark. Giving their eyes a chance to adjust to the dark, they look around but no light is forthcoming.
After being in the dark for ten minutes, James again creates the orb. His teeth are beginning to chatter, though not nearly as bad as the last time. If they don’t get out of this water, they’ll both be in trouble from hypothermia.
“There!” Jiron exclaims.”
“What?” asks James. “Where?”
“Over to our right,” he says. “I saw a light?”
James looks in that direction and says, “I don’t see anything.”
“I tell you I saw something,” he insists. “It was just a momentary flash, but it was there.”
“Then let’s check it out,” says James.
Kicking to angle their boar toward where he saw the flash, he propels them with renewed vigor at the prospect of being out of the water.
“There! I saw it too,” cries out James in gladness.
As they come closer, other flashes become apparent as well. Once they’re close enough for the light from the orb to illuminate the area, they discover the source of the flashes are several gems embedded in the side of the cavern.
“Gems!” exclaims Jiron.
Red, green and yellow stones of varying sizes sparkle in the orb’s light. “There must be a fortune here!” James says.
A slight rock outcropping from the wall runs along the water’s edge, allowing them to leave the water and follow it as they continue to hunt for the exit. It extends past the limit of the orb’s light in both directions. It isn’t very flat or stable looking, but it’s still better than being in the frigid water.
Jiron moves them close to the ledge and then helps James onto it before climbing up himself. A large red gem sparkles in the orb’s light near him. Taking out his knife, he pries out the gem and holds it up to the light. Glancing to James he says, “This might be the end of your worries about coins for the Ranch.”
Giving his friend a smile, he says, “I think you’re right. Let’s take some and get them appraised. If they’re worth a lot, we’ll come back from time to time and harvest more.”
“Wonder how many are here?” Jiron asks. He then proceeds to remove several more of varying size and color, each looking to be worth quite a bit.
“Don’t know,” admits James. Looking around at all the flashes of light outside the orb’s radius, he adds, “It looks like hundreds, maybe thousands.” A serious shiver hits him and he says, “But we need to get out of here.”
“I agree,” says Jiron. The boat has begun to float away from the wall. “Should we get back in the water or try to make it along the wall?”
The thought of going back into that iciness is more than he can bear. “I say wall,” he decides.
“Then let’s go,” says Jiron. “Which way?”
Pointing to their right, he says, “I think it would be down that way, though I’m not completely sure.”
Shrugging, Jiron says, “One way’s as good as another.” He leads the way as they carefully move along the uneven outcropping of rock. The footing is treacherous, sometimes there is very little for them to cling to and at times have to step into the water in order to continue onward.
James is finding it more difficult since he doesn’t have the use of his left arm to maintain a grip on the wall during the worst areas. But with Jiron’s help, he’s able to make it.
During one rather difficult spot, James suddenly smells the scent of the forest. “We must be getting close,” he tells Jiron. “I smell pine trees.”
“I do too,” agrees Jiron as he helps him over a steep section of stone jutting up before them. Just after that, they start feeling a faint breeze, and a few more yards further down, they find the opening where the water is flowing out of the cavern.
They’ll have to wade into the flowing water in order to pass through the opening. The water is moving quickly from the cave and hidden rocks under its surface make for unstable footing. Taking it carefully, Jiron helps James as they make their way down from the outcropping of rock and into the water.
Passing out of the cave into the undergrowth beyond, they notice a slight rise in temperature. Still not warm by any means, it’s still preferable to that which was within the cave. The rain is still coming down and if anything, has actually increased since earlier in the day.
“We need to find some shelter,” James says to Jiron. “Or at least a large tree to stay under.”
The orb doesn’t give them much light to see by, the rain and trees preventing its light from extending any great distance. James is reticent to increase its brilliance, he doesn’t want to attract the attention of someone who might be in the area.
Once past the cave mouth, they climb out of the water and trudge their way through the bushes and small trees lining the edge of the water. With relief they come across a good sized tree which has a relatively dry space beneath its overhanging branches.
Thankfully, they enter the protective space it provides and then set about gathering what firewood they can. Most of it is wet, but with the help of James’ magic, they manage to get the wood burning. Jiron sets other damp pieces nearby to dry before being added to the fire.
“Good to be out of there!” says James.
Nodding, Jiron agrees. “Let me look at that arm of yours again,” he says. As James holds out his arm, he unties the bandage and examines it. “It’s a little red around the opening and some blood is still oozing out. I think I got all the wood out, won’t really know for a day or two.”
“I hope you did,” James says as Jiron secures the bandage tight around the wound once more. Infections are one of the things he hopes to avoid. Wounds which turn septic in this world could mean the loss of a limb if not outright fatal.
What rations that were in their belt pouches have been ruined by their trip through the water. Their packs were lost when the boat had disintegrated and are now probably at the bottom of that lake. James had kept his water bottle in his pack so all they have is the one on Jiron’s belt, which isn’t very big. But that’s the least of their concerns right now.
“How long should we stay here?” Jiron asks him.
“I’m not really sure,” he says. “We could probably make it along the river as it continues through the ravine in the daylight. But once we reach the far side, we’ll need to move at night. The Empire will most likely have patrols in the area looking for spies and infiltrators trying to sneak through.”
“Why don’t you get some sleep,” suggests Jiron. “I’ll watch the fire and wake you sometime past midnight.”
“Okay,” he says. “But make sure you do wake me. I don’t want you to be too tired tomorrow because you wanted to allow me to sleep.”
“I will,” he assures him.
Really too tired to argue very much, James lies down and is soon asleep.
True to his word, Jiron wakes him up for his shift and gets some sleep. By the time the dark of night begins to turn into the grey of morning, James wakes him up and they get on their way.
The rain is still coming down though has tapered off a bit since last night. The cloud cover remains absolute with not even a trace of blue breaking its way through. They follow the stream as it continues down to where it joins with the main river making its way into Madoc.
The main river is flowing quickly, having been swelled by the rain of the last two days. Walking is easier here as the water has periodically overflowed its banks and washed away smaller vegetation leaving a few large trees which had been able to withstand the rushing water.
Throughout the rest of the day, they make their way alongside the river, slowly coming to the far side of the pass. Near the end of the day, the mountains begin falling away and the road leading down from the pass becomes more visible above them.
“We better camp soon and cook our dinner before the light fades completely,” suggest Jiron.
“Good idea,” agrees James. “We don’t want to advertise our presence here to those up by the road.”
They find another sheltering tree beneath which Jiron starts a fire while James goes out into the cold water with a sharpened stick to get their dinner. After spearing two large fish in succession, he brings them back to the fire. The pain in his shoulder has worsened due to the strain of catching the fish. It’s definitely easier to catch fish with two good arms rather than one.
He rests his arm and warms himself by the fire while Jiron prepares the fish. “You wouldn’t think it was summer as cold as that water is,” James says.
“Summer’s almost over,” comments Jiron while he readies the fish. Once he has them skewered on sticks, he hands one to James who holds it over the fire to cook. The smell of the cooking fish makes his stomach cramp and he realizes he’s not eaten for awhile.
“The last time Miko and I had come this way,” he tells Jiron, “Cardri had a force up ahead at the end of the pass. They had also begun constructing a defensive barrier, I suppose in the event the Empire proved hostile to them.”
“That should make it interesting for us to get through,” he replies. “Maybe we could make it to the other side?”
Looking at the fast flowing river, James has his doubts about the feasibility of that idea. “I don’t know,” he says, hesitantly. “Let’s see what awaits us further down the river first. We may be able to make it past without having to cross.”
“As you wish,” says Jiron. Taking his fish off the fire, he checks it and finds it not quite done. Replacing it over the flames he sits back and relaxes.
The rest of the evening passes uneventfully. As the sun dips below the horizon and the light begins to fade, they put out their fire so as not to alert anyone to their presence. They again share the watch throughout the night and when the sun begins to rise, they set out for the end of the pass.
The rain had stopped sometime during the night and by midmorning the clouds begin breaking up. James welcomes the sunshine and enjoys the warmth it brings him. Sleeping without a fire on the cold ground had kept him shivering through most of the night.
Above them on the mountainside, the road leading from the pass continues its descent down to the plains on the far side. By midafternoon, it’s close enough for them to be able to make out soldiers traveling upon it. Most are moving toward the Madoc side of the Pass.
Early evening finds them close to the end of the Pass. From ahead of them, the scent of smoke wafts toward them from numerous campfires. “There must be a sizeable force up ahead?” Jiron whispers to James during a short break.
“There were around a hundred there the last time,” he says. “No telling how many there might be now.”
“We should await the coming of night before moving ahead,” suggests Jiron. “We’re just getting too close.”
“I agree,” responds James. They find a good spot to rest while they wait for night. James falls asleep for several hours until Jiron awakens him when it gets completely dark.
“Time to go,” he says to James.
“Right.”
Staying close to the river, they make their way carefully toward the end of the pass. After an hour of trudging along the bank of the river, they begin to see light from several campfires in the distance through the trees ahead of them. “Wait here” Jiron says as he moves forward to reconnoiter.
James waits by the river and watches as Jiron’s shadow merges with the darkness on his way to the camp ahead. After what seems a long time, Jiron returns. “Well?” James asks him.
“It’s not good,” he says. “They built a wooden wall across the entrance to the Pass, and it extends to the edge of the river. There’s no way we can get through on this side without going over or through the barricade.”
“Which would mean alerting them to our presence,” adds James.
“And I don’t think they’ll treat us kindly if we’re discovered sneaking around,” he says. “More than likely, they’ll treat us as spies, probably kill us on the spot.”
“Then it’s the river for us,” James says, not sounding too thrilled about the prospect of another dip into the cold water.
“They have a camp on the other side as well,” he says. “Though there are not as many, probably just enough to keep the Empire from sending small parties around or through the lines.”
“How about the river itself?” he asks.
“They don’t have that blocked off,” he says, “but they do have watchers on the wall stationed close to the river. I think they’re more worried about boats coming up the river than out of the pass.”
“I would think so too,” agrees James. He sits there and thinks awhile, knowing what he’s going to have to do but dreading it. After trying and failing to come up with an alternative plan, he says, “We’ll need to float down the river.”
“There’re plenty of logs on the bank of the river,” states Jiron. “We could tie a few together and use them to keep us afloat.”
“We don’t have enough rope to construct a raft,” counters James.
“I don’t mean a raft,” he explains. “I mean just enough to hang onto while we float in the water. It’ll be cold, but we shouldn’t drown.”
“Might work,” agrees James. “Do we even have any rope?”
Jiron grins as he lifts his shirt and shows him a coil of thin rope that’s wrapped around his waist.
“Where’d you get that?” he asks.
“Back in Trendle,” he tells him. “When I knew we were going to hide the Fire, I got it. Knowing you, I figured it would be needed.” James can sense that he’s grinning at him in the dark.
“Okay, let’s do it,” he says. For the next hour, they comb the bank of the river and locate several logs which will work. Tying four of them together with the rope, they soon have a makeshift raft.
“Ready?” asks Jiron.
“No, but let’s go anyway,” he replies. Helping Jiron push the raft into the water, he follows it in and takes hold with his good arm.
Jiron maneuvers them to the center of the river and they float silently toward the barricade. The number of men stationed in this area has indeed greatly swelled from before. A large encampment with several buildings has sprung up where the original site had been. The wall Jiron mentioned is thirty feet high with a platform running along the top allowing archers an area to stand where they can rain arrows down on attackers.
A thousand men or more are encamped on the side of the river where the road leaves the pass and another couple hundred on the other side. A hundred feet before they reach the wall, a rope spans the river. Sitting next to the river by the main encampment is a ferry which they must use to transfer men and supplies from one camp to the other. “Looks like they mean to stay here awhile,” whispers Jiron.
“I would have to agree with you,” replies James.
Now coming to where the river passes by the wall, they duck down in the water with nothing but their heads above the surface. At the end of the wall is a guard set to keep watch on the river but is currently talking to the man next to him. As fortune would have it, he’s facing the other way, away from the river.
The river takes them past the wall and into Madoc, now Empire territory. Before the encampment behind them completely disappears another one springs into view ahead of them.
A vast army is spread across the plains. Sprawling on both sides of the river, campfires by the hundreds can be seen. Though no wall has sprung up to ward off Cardri’s men, they do have a series of sentries stationed on the Cardri side.
As they approach the Empire’s encampment, a soldier moves to the river and fills his canteen right when they pass. James holds his breath as the makeshift raft sails past without the soldier even noticing them. When the soldier gets back up and returns to the camp, they both breathe a sigh of relief.
The river continues to take them through the encampment, and they see a large series of tents on the pass side. These tents are much grander and on a larger scale than the hundreds of others that dot the landscape. These must be the tents of the commanders of this force.
At the rear of the encampment is a great host of horses, at least five hundred strong. What would they need with such a large force here? It doesn’t make sense, the fighting with Madoc is much further north.
At last, the river takes them past the end of the encampment and they pull themselves more out of the water as they watch the light from the campfires slowly disappear behind them.