The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [166]
Wham!
The boat slams against the surface of the water, almost knocking them out of the boat. James tries to regain his breath after it had been knocked out of him from when they hit the water. The boat slowly begins reducing speed as it floats upon the placid water. He looks around and realizes that they are upon an underground lake.
Turning to Miko, James says excitedly, “My god! Was that some ride or what?”
“Yeah,” says Miko miserably. “It was great.”
“Oh come on!” James exclaims. “Where I come from people would pay top dollar to go through that, again and again.”
Miko just looks at him like he’s insane and shakes his head.
His lack of enthusiasm somewhat dampens James’, but he can still feel the thrill of it when they went sailing over the waterfall and landed on the lake. Grabbing the oars, he begins to row in the direction the boat is currently going.
To Miko he says, “Keep a lookout behind me and make sure I don’t run into anything.”
Miko just nods his head and keeps an eye out for anything in the lake ahead of them.
After rowing for a few minutes, Miko points behind James and says, “There’s something in the lake ahead.”
He glances over his shoulder and sees a small island poking out of the surface of the water directly in their path. He turns the boat a little to the right and they sail around the island, which isn’t very large, and continue on their way. For a brief moment he has visions of riddles and rings.
He continues rowing for a little longer before Miko suddenly exclaims excitedly, “James, there’s light coming from up ahead!”
Looking over his shoulder, he can see a small patch of light in the distance ahead of them. He angles the boat toward the light and rows harder. “Maybe it’s the way out?” he says.
“I hope so,” Miko replies. “I want to get out of here!”
Pulling on the oars with renewed vigor, he rows toward the patch of light, which continues to grow as they approach. When they’re closer, they can see that it’s an opening in the cavern wall, allowing a small stream wide enough to accommodate the boat to flow through.
“Should we take it?” James asks, knowing the answer even before he hears it.
“Yes!” exclaims Miko.
James heads for the opening and as they get closer, begins to see trees and bushes on the other side. Excited, Miko gives a whoop and holler as they enter the sunlit world, leaving the underworld behind them.
The stream flows through a tangle of trees and undergrowth, flowing steadily and smoothly. As it turns out, the stream is barely deep enough for the boat to keep from scraping the bottom. Twice, they become stuck when the boat runs aground where the stream becomes too shallow. Using the oars, they push off from the bottom until they are once more in deeper water and the boat is able to float free.
It isn’t far until the trees open up and they realize that they are now at the bottom of the gorge. Through the trees ahead they can see where the stream will be joining the river as it flows on its way into Madoc. Having no more need of the glowing orb, James cancels the spell.
As they join the main river, they look up and can barely make out the road that they had been on earlier in the day, way up the side of the mountain. “Hard to believe that we were way up there just a few hours ago,” Miko says.
James looks at the shadows on the mountain and realizes that they had been in there far longer than a few hours. “I think that we were in there most of the day,” James corrects him. “Gauging by the shadows the sun is casting on the mountain, it’s more likely early evening. We left the way stop just after sunup.”
“Guess that’s why I’m so hungry,” Miko says, looking at James.
“Let’s find a good spot for a brief camp and we’ll see what we can do about that.” He maneuvers the boat to the center of the river and doesn’t worry too much about rowing, except in