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He notices Illan already has a long piece of rope and is securing one end to the rear of the boat. “I think I see what you’re planning to do. You’ve been planning this long?” he asks.

“Ever since I found that,” he says, pointing to the box carrying the Fire. To Uther and Jorry he says, “Take the other eye ring and hammer it securely into the stone on this side.

“Okay,” Uther says as Jorry takes the eye ring and sledge hammer over to within three feet of the edge of the chasm. Soon, hammering can be heard coming from both sides as they put the eye rings into the stone.

Seeing that Fifer has the end of the rope secured to the bow of the boat, he tells him to cross over to the other side. By the time he arrives there, the hammering has stopped. “Now,” he hollers over to the other side, “slip the rope through the eye of the eye ring.” When they’ve accomplished that, he has them stand to one side as they grasp the rope. He sees that Illan already has the rope that’s tied to the rear of the boat threaded through the eye ring on this side.

With Jiron, Fifer and Yern on one side and Illan, Uther and Jorry on the other, he has them firmly grasp the rope and take in the slack. “Now, when I holler ‘GO!’ I want you on the far side to pull slowly and steady while those on this side maintain the tension on the rope as the boat goes over. Use the eye rings for leverage and it shouldn’t be too difficult. Everyone understands?”

Once he gets the affirmatives from those on both sides, he yells, “GO!”

Jiron’s side begins to slowly pull the boat toward them while Illan’s on this side continues to maintain the tension. Inch by inch, the boat moves toward the edge of the chasm. If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what I’ll do.

Suddenly, the prow of the boat clears the edge and soon the rest of it follows. He can see the strain of those on his side as they try to maintain a steady rhythm of hand over hand and still keep a firm grip.

He watches as the boat slowly makes its way across the chasm. When it’s a third of the way across, he hollers, “Doing good!”

Halfway across and the two teams still maintain the tension, though the boat has dipped a little into the chasm. The team on the other side continues to steadily reel in the boat.

Two-thirds of the way, and everything is still moving steady. It has dipped still further into the chasm, but continues making its way across. Finally, the bow comes to within a foot of the other side. Yern lets go of the rope as he steps to the edge and reaches out to help get it up over the lip of the chasm. Pulling with the help of those behind him, the boat finally slides onto the other side.

James can hear a groan of relief as the men on his side release the rope. Hollering over to the other side, he says, “Pull the rope the rest of the way across.” Jiron waves back at him as he goes to the boat and begins reeling in the rope that is tied to its rear.

“Just need to get the rest of us across now,” he says to Illan.

“You go first,” he tells James. “Then I’ll send them across one at a time.”

“Very well,” he says. Shouldering his pack, he moves to the bridge and works his way across to the other side. “You guys alright?” he asks Jiron and the others when he gets there.

“Arms are sore, but otherwise fine,” Fifer tells him.

Jiron’s there, rubbing his shoulder, the one that had been hit by the crossbow back in Lythylla. “Shoulder hurt?” he asks as he comes over to him.

“A little,” he admits with a grin. “Too much strain I guess. It’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

“We’ll have a break when everyone else gets over here,” he tells him. Over on the bridge, Jorry is making his way across while Uther and Illan stand on the other side waiting their turn. One by one they make their way across until they’re all together once more.

“Let’s take a few minutes to rest and have a bite to eat,” he suggests.

“Good idea,” Jorry and Uther say at the same time which makes the others start laughing.

As they break out their rations, Yern asks, “What’s up ahead?”

“Up ahead is another small passage which opens up on a vast