***
Kevan and her group made their way around the lake as far as they could go. Their path ended at a wall, with no other way to get behind the falls but swim. “Anything?” Kevan asked, as she looked at the others lined up beside her.
“Sorry Kevan, looks like we are swimming,” Wren told her.
Leila shrugged her shoulders, saying, “I can’t see any other way.”
“Dammit! I was really hoping to avoid having to get any wetter than what we are already from the mist of the falls.” Her frustration echoed in her voice.
“Well, it looks like we are going for a swim,” Kaitlyn muttered. “Darn and I didn’t bring my bikini.” They all looked at her, as she gave them a quick smile. “It is what it is, so let’s take the plunge, and get it over with. The sooner we do, the sooner we start to get dry,” she informed them, as the backpack slid off her shoulders, landing on the ground with a thud. “How, pray tell, do we get our bags over there, without getting them soaked?” She asked.
“Like this.” Marcus picked up the bag, and just like a disc thrower, he tossed it across the water, and the width of the falls. They all watched it land with a crash onto a rock shelf, and bounce its way part way to the rock wall. Kaitlyn gave him a look, and then gazed back to her pack.
“Well, that solves that problem. I just hope you didn’t just shatter my ipod or blackberry, because if you did, you so owe me new ones.”
“Okay ... Marcus here you go,” Kevan interrupted, as she handed him her backpack.
Kaitlyn stood at the water’s edge watching everybody slide into the chilly water with a gasp, as the cold water sapped the warmth from their bodies.
“This is so not my idea of a good time!” she shouted at Kevan.
“Get in, or I will throw you in,” Marcus growled at her. She looked at him over her shoulder, sticking her tongue out, before she turned back to the water, and gently eased her way in.
“Oh crap, that’s cold!” she yelped, as the waist high water fought her every step.
They forced their way through the churning water, and crossed the short expanse to the rock ledge. Once on the ledge, they edged their way along, and slid in behind the waterfall. The rocks under their feet were slippery and uneven, and more than once, one of them slipped. By the time they were across, and climbing out of the water, they were completely soaked. The howling wind generated by the pounding water chilled them to the bone.
Kevan studied the path in front of them. It was dark and narrow, but thankfully, for a change, it seemed to be straight forward, which surprised her: too good to be true, and all that.
“Well, it seems like it looks clear,” she told them.
“Gods, what is lying in wait for us now?” Kaitlyn moaned, shivering as she came to stand beside Kevan.
“Think positive,” Kevan told her.
“I am, but when you tell me that it is clear, that makes me worry. So far, nothing in this god forsaken quest has been straight forward, so why would this be?” Kaitlyn complained. “What new horror are we about to encounter now?”
“Oh come on, you didn’t honestly think that this would be simple, did you?” Wren questioned the moaning Kaitlyn. “If it was simple, then anyone could have found this book, and according to your own story, this man gave up a hell of a lot for this book. He wouldn’t have left it out so that anyone could find it.”
“Left it out?” Kaitlyn asked, as she was overtaken by a sneeze. “We’ve jumped through a portal into an entirely different world, scaled down a mountain, and now we just waded through freezing cold water, and are about to walk into gods know what. I would say that it wasn’t just left out. I think that we should just leave it where it is; we’re the only ones that know where it is, and if we all swear never to tell ...” Kaitlyn stopped when she saw Kevan’s face. “Not going to happen.”
“Remember something, Kaitlyn; we are here because someone else is looking for it. Someone by the name of Dreyden, and just because he hasn’t found it yet, doesn’t mean that he’s given up. I’ll bet you that while he has been doing other things, he has had people looking for the grimoire, so no, we aren’t going to leave it where it is. We are going to find the goddamn book, and get it someplace safe for all of mankind.”
“Fine,” Kaitlyn pouted.
“It’s close,” Leila told them, as she rubbed her head, trying to ease the headache pounding behind her eyes.
“You okay?” Kevan asked, seeing the tired look on her face.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she told her. “It’s just that the feelings coming from the grimoire aren’t the friendliest I’ve ever encountered.”
“Can you ...” Leila was interrupted by a scream of terror. Looking up, they saw the flailing body fall from the side of the mountain. The screams followed it down, and Marcus forced them to turn away, not wanting them to see. The sound of the body hitting the ground, cutting off the scream, swamped them all with a shudder of revulsion, knowing that it could have just as easily been one of them.
“Move,” Marcus ordered, pushing them into action, getting them out of the line of sight, and well in behind the waterfall. They headed further down the path, wondering if this had been a mistake, when trail began to widen out, and then they entered a large open cavern. The thunder of the waterfall was quelled to a mild roar, and they could actually hear themselves, without having to scream at each other.
“Holy shit,” Kevan gasped, as her eyes traveled upward, and they took in all that surrounded them. “It’s massive.”
“That would be an understatement,” Leila agreed, as her voice echoed around them.
“We need some light,” Wren stated, just as the rasping sound had them all looking around to see light flare to life. Marcus looked up when he sensed them watching him.
“You said that you needed light,” he explained. “I gave you light.” He handed Ronan the lit torch, and he reached for another one that was sitting on the wall.
With light, the cavern revealed dry but dusty rock. A few stone shelves held cobweb covered old boxes, decayed with dry rot.
“What is this place?” Kevan wondered aloud.
“I never even knew that it existed, and I grew up not far from here,” Ronan admitted, as he moved towards the boxes.
“Well, it was obviously used by someone,” Kevan pointed out. “Leonard knew about it; how else would he have hidden the grimoire somewhere around here?” She looked to Leila. “Is it here?”
“In this room, no,” Leila said. “But it’s close.” She paused, listening to something that the rest of them couldn’t hear. “He found the information in the History of Elden, which is stored in the Repository. They used this as a hiding place for the people of Arathorn, during the first Earo’s wars. They hid the women, children and elders here to protect them from the invaders.” Leila looked up with a smile on her face. “I can hear it.”
“Hear it?” Wren questioned.
“The repository. The entire time we have been here, I haven’t been able to hear it clearly at all. The only thing coming through was the grimoire, but now I can hear them both.”
“Gods, you are so lucky,” Kaitlyn whined, looking at Leila longingly. “I can’t wait until we see this Repository thing; it sounds so cool.” Kevan shook her head, laughing at Kaitlyn’s look.
“Well, we don’t need to worry about her anymore, do we?” Marcus drawled. Kevan nodded her agreement, and then moved towards the back of the cavern to see what she could find.
“Find anything?” Marcus asked, as he continued his exploration of his side of the cavern.
“Oh, nothing much, just a tunnel that leads off the back of the cavern,” Kevan bubbled with excitement.
“Where does it head?” he wanted to know.
“I am guessing it goes further into the mountain,” Kevan told them. “Are we ready to carry on?” Kevan could read indecision on a few faces. “Oh don’t g
ive me those looks, it’s not like we have a whole lot of choice,” Kevan informed them. “Stay here and wait for the guards to show up, go back and encounter the guards, or move ahead to possible escape. Personally, I would prefer to stay as far away from those King’s Guards as possible.”
“Oh yeah,” Kaitlyn weakly cheered. “Let the adventure continue.” She joined Kevan at the back, standing at the entrance of the new tunnel. “I’m so excited, let’s see what’s at the end of the dark scary tunnel.”
“That’s enough, Kaitlyn,” Marcus warned.
“Party pooper!” Kaitlyn shot at him, just as a sphere of light came rolling past her into the tunnel, making her scream. “What the fuck is that?
They all looked to Joseph. “It’s a light sphere,” he stated the obvious.
“You couldn’t have done something like that before?” Kevan asked, as she moved to put her torch down.
“No, I could not. Whatever is affecting Elden’s magic doesn’t hold true in here. I suddenly have access to all my magic again.”
“So outside, magic no good, inside, magic good?” Kevan asked.
“Very simplified explanation, but yes,” Joseph told them. “Try it. See if you can grab onto your magic and do something,” he told Kevan. She nodded, sliding her eyes closed, pulling into herself. She reached down to the pulsing beams of energy within her. For some reason, they seemed brighter and stronger than before. She opened her eyes, lifted her palm, and focused her thought on creating a ball of light in her palm. It came more easily than she could ever recall before, she thought, as a ball flared to life in her hand. It shimmered and flickered for a moment, then it settled down, strong and steady, burning just above her palm. A smile jumped to her lips, as she looked to Joseph.
“Very good,” he told her. It was a simple trick, but she had had trouble with it since he started training her.
“It’s weird; it came so easily, I barely had to look for the power threads. They were there, shining really brightly, like they were waiting for me.”
He took a step back with a look of surprise. “What did I say?” Kevan wanted to know.
“Nothing, just, that is the way it is supposed to be,” he explained. “The way it was before things got messed up.”
“What got messed up?” Kaitlyn questioned.
“Nothing,” Marcus growled. “If the magic lesson is over, we should get carry on.”
“You know, you really are a grouch,” Kaitlyn told him, as she grabbed her bag, hoisting it onto her back.
“I’m impatient for this to be over, so that we can get home, that is all,” Marcus told her. “Kevan, you have the light, you go first. Ronan, if you would bring up the rear?” He nodded his agreement, but Kevan stopped, looking to Joseph.
“You said that your magic’s working better. Can you sense anything that we should be aware of?” she asked him.
“I am a sorcerer, not a psychic. I don’t sense things,” he told them with a disgusted tone in his voice.
“Oh, get the stick out of your ass, Sherlock,” Kaitlyn tossed at him. “She was just asking.” Marcus coughed, to try to conceal his laughter at the look that passed over Joseph’s face.
“Come on, time’s a wasting,” Kevan told them, as she walked into the entrance of the tunnel.