The Star of Morcyth_ Book Five of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [178]
“What are you doing?” Uther asks him.
“Seeing if there’s a breeze,” he replies. After remaining motionless for a minute he shakes his head. “If there is one I can’t tell.” He turns to James and says, “It’s up to you.” When he hesitates, Jiron adds, “They already know we’re here.”
“True,” he agrees. In front of him a translucent bubble springs into existence.
“What’s that going to do?” the miner asks in wonder. Sure he’s heard of magic but seeing it up close kind of unnerves him, first the orb and now this.
“It will lead us to the way out,” replies James.
As if floating on a breeze, the bubble begins floating to the right around the lake. Fifer and Qyrll help Jiron to stand and they all begin following the bubble. Those helping Jiron along are unable to keep up, so James has Miko stay with them with one of the orbs while he, Jorry and Uther move ahead keep the orb within sight. The miner stays back with Jiron’s group.
The cavern is rather large, stalactites and stalagmites decorate the scene with many colors. Small creatures, blind and translucent, scurry out of the way as the light from James’ orb reveals them. From several places, other cascades of water flow from crevices and fissures in the walls to the lake.
Continuing its dance upon an unseen wind, the bubble floats on. It comes to an opening to their right, a dark gaping maw which extends further into the mountain. Rather than entering the opening, the bubble continues on past. James pauses but a moment to look within but the light from his orb reveals nothing.
They continue following the bubble for another ten minutes when a noise can be heard coming from up ahead. At first it sounds like the growl of some wild beast but then James realizes it’s the sound of water. The water of the lake is no longer placid but ripples as small waves course across its surface.
The further they go, the louder the sound becomes and the movement of the water along the shore becomes more pronounced, the waves coming with more frequency. Suddenly the source of the sound they’ve been hearing appears before them and James stops in stunned silence.
Illuminated by the light from the orb is a massive vortex at the end of the lake. Swirling and churning, the water is being sucked down as if through a giant funnel. “Oh my god,” he says as he realizes the bubble is moving to hover over the center of the maelstrom.
“You can’t be serious,” Uther says in disbelief next to him. He glances back to the others advancing toward them. “Oh Miko…” he says in voice loud enough to carry over the sound of the water being sucked into the maelstrom.
The others come close and when they can see why they’ve stopped, various expletives, not all of them polite issue forth.
Jorry glances to see Miko’s face frozen in extreme nervousness. “You ready for a bath?” he asks.
He looks at him and stiffens his backbone as he says, “No problem.” Then to James he asks, “Is that the way we have to go?”
“It looks like it,” he says.
“It must lead to the lake,” Qyrll says. “We may not survive it.”
“There is no other way,” James tells him. Glancing at the others, he says, “The bubble showed us the way out. It wouldn’t have led us here if we couldn’t survive.” He sees the doubts in everyone’s eyes, especially Jiron’s. How in the world will he be able to make it with his leg the way it is?
“So what do we do?” the miner asks.
“Get in the water and let it suck us down,” James tells him. Even though he knows it’s the only way, he’s not too keen on the idea either.
“But it’s freezing,” the miner says. “We’re not going to last too long in such cold water.”
“Anyone have a better idea?” asks James. “This is the way out whether we like it or not.” He stands there a moment while everyone digests that.
Jiron hobbles forward and says, “I’ll go first.”
“I don’t think so,” Uther says to him. “If anyone is going to be the sacrificial lamb, it better be someone