Days passed as Kal led the camel from one tunnel to the next through what felt like a never-ending labyrinth. They had only three candles left for the lantern. They rationed their food and water and were still running low. Dead newts littered every path, but Kal didn’t dare eat them.
Every crossroads was an argument over which way to go. Priestess Jazlyn seemed to think she should lead. There were times when they reached a dead end or the tunnels got too narrow or low that they had to backtrack and find another route. When any of this happened on one of Kal’s chosen routes, the priestess lectured him. When it happened on one of hers, Kal said nothing. This was his caravan to lead, his camel, and his supplies purchased with Armanian coin. But the woman outranked him, as did Prince Ulrik, who always took her side. So Kal practiced silence.
Burk did not. “I should have stayed in Kaptar.”
Kal wished he would have. The boy complained more than Jazlyn lectured.
“See that?” Grayson yelled. “See the blue?”
Kal followed Grayson’s pointed finger down a tunnel. “What did you see?”
“A glowing blue light. In the tunnel.”
Kal saw no such thing. They continued through the musty darkness. The tangy smell of soil overpowered his senses. No matter how much care anyone took, the taste of dirt invaded every breath, every meal.
Kal helped the camel maneuver the wagon around a sharp bend, and the tunnel opened to the shores of an underground lake that glimmered in the lantern light before stretching into darkness. There was no way to tell how big it was. Kal stared, listening. No rivers.
“It’s stagnant,” he said. “Not part of the ream.”
“Maybe not from this side,” Jazlyn said.
Before Kal could respond, an earthquake shook the ground. Dirt sprinkled on their heads. Clumps followed. Inolah screamed.
“Under the wagon!” Jazlyn commanded. “The tunnel is caving in!”
Kal stepped toward the wagon, but his boot sank into spongy soil. He held his lantern to the ground, where it met water and hissed out. Water? “Stay in the wagon!” he yelled. “We’re sinking!”
There was no time. The ground turned to sinksand and the lake advanced, a formidable opponent Kal could not fight. It swelled around him, surprisingly warm, and sucked him into the darkness. Poison! Terror gripped him, but there was nothing he could do but swim. His clothing stuck to his body, making him heavy, but no tingle of poison affected his skin.
The rumbling stopped. All was silent but for splashing. He could see nothing. “Ho, up? Who’s out there?”
“It’s hot!” Grayson yelled. “Like a bath.”
“It stinks,” Burk said.
The camel brayed, clearly unhappy.
“Us four are still in the wagon!” Jhorn called. “My lantern went out. I’m searching for the flint.”
“Rustian is here as well,” Onika said.
“Qoatch?” Priestess Jazlyn called.
“Here.”
A green ball of light flamed to Kal’s left. Priestess Jazlyn floated out of the water, holding the light in one palm.
Kal treaded water, speechless. The light shone over the heads of Ulrik, Burk, and Grayson, who was already shimmying up the side of the wagon. The camel, still harnessed to the front, was struggling. Her stamina amazed Kal. He swam toward her, trying to keep clear of her kicking legs. The knots attaching the harness to the wagon were too tight, so Kal drew the knife from his belt and severed them. The camel swam away. Kal wanted to call her back, but he feared she might capsize the wagon.
Kal moved down the side of the wagon. Inolah and Grayson were pulling Ulrik in. Qoatch and Burk were already inside. The witch was still floating above the water, holding her light orb.
Qoatch and Ulrik lifted Kal in next. “Is this wagon going to hold us all?” he asked Jhorn.
“It should,” Jhorn said. “Most poured-stone skiffs this size hold twenty grown men.”
“If we have trouble, I will help.” Jazlyn floated into the wagon, rocking it when she landed. Kal had to turn away from the brightness of her orb.
“We don’t need your magic here, witch,” Jhorn said.
“Very well.” The light went out. The instant blackness made Kal’s arms prickle. He blinked and found he could see.
“Look what you’ve done,” Ulrik said. “Priestess, please bring back the light.”
“She already has,” Burk said.
“That is not me,” Jazlyn said.
The lake gleamed with colored lights. Beneath the ripples drifted swaths of blue, pink, and yellow. Kal found a close one. Green. It was some kind of worm, flat and ruffled.
“The blue ones are bugs!” Grayson yelled, which brought Kal’s focus to the nearest speck of blue. Indeed, the blue lights were round and flitted about in the water.
“We are drifting,” Jhorn said.
Kal could feel it—could see it by the way the glowing bugs and worms seemed to shift past each other. “Wish we had some longpoles.”
A debate ensued over what to do next. Ulrik wanted Jazlyn to use her orb to illuminate the cavern so they could look for exits. Qoatch said his lady needed to purge and rest. Jazlyn said she had enough strength to maintain a light orb. Jhorn wanted someone to get out and swim, to tow the wagon until they found the wall, which they could then follow to an exit. Onika said the answer would come if they were patient.
Patience, it seemed, was not something Priestess Jazlyn was used to practicing. She conjured her green orb, which showed that they were nearing the opening of a tunnel. The wagon picked up speed as it swept toward the river hole.
Kal spotted the camel swimming off on their right. He whistled, but the camel ignored him.
“Kal, watch your head!” Inolah shouted.
Kal looked up. At the mouth of the tunnel, dripstones hung low from the ceiling. He ducked into a crouch.
They sailed silently and swiftly into the tunnel. A sharp turn made the wagon smack a rock wall. Kal winced, hoping poured stone could take a beating. Priestess Jazlyn’s light dimmed. Her face had started to thin. She should listen to her eunuch.
The light went out completely, and the eunuch attended to the woman like a devoted son.
“Is she well?” Ulrik’s voice. Worried. A second devotee.
“She has been pushing herself too fast, too often,” Qoatch said. “She must rest.”
She had plenty of time to. Their wagon boat continued to sail along in the darkness, occasionally knocking against the sides of the tunnel. Jhorn managed to work his flint and light his small lantern. Soon they had a small glow of light with them again.
After a while, the tunnel spat them out into a larger river. Kal grabbed the side of the wagon to keep himself from falling on Onika. Again he worried whether there might be poison in the water. The glow of Jhorn’s lantern was enough that Kal could see they had entered a massive underground river. It must have been fifty paces across, three times as wide as any river he’d ever seen. The cavern stretched above some three or four levels high. The walls on either side were jagged, like canyon cracks. River holes emptied more water into the main.
“What happened to the camel?” Ferro asked.
Kal didn’t have time to worry about the camel. He tried to figure where they might be. This river had to run into the Eversea. Three days—five at the most—he guessed, and they would reach the end. He only hoped the river did not let out at the top of a cliff.