One of the birds darted in, teeth clacking together as it lunged at Finn. He spun away, pulling his sword and swinging it, taking the head of the bird off. It fell to the floor, but the bird kept coming, like a stone zombie intent on its prey.
One of the scorpions scuttled up Sienna's leg.
"How are you meant to kill a fossil?" Mila said, as she tugged the creature off, threw it to the ground and smashed it with a rock into tiny pieces until the scorpion stopped moving. Sienna picked up her own rock, and they stood back to back, fighting off the creatures together.
Xander took out his map and laid it on the ground. Nothing happened. Asada remained just an illustration on the page. Xander looked confused. "There's something different about this rock. I can't tap into earth magic."
"It's volcanic, made of lava," Finn shouted as he smashed the pommel of his sword down onto a spider, crushing its body to the floor.
Perry put his hand on the rock, trying to sense something that would help them. The birds advanced, bones clicking. The scorpions and spiders stalked across the floor towards them. He didn't have much time.
This rock had been made from fire, so maybe he could unmake it. He put his hand flat on the wall and concentrated on making the rock molten again. It softened and began to burn.
He pulled a ball of molten rock from the wall and threw it at one of the fossil birds. The fiery ball smashed through its head, and its bones began to melt in the flames. The others ducked away from the ash, falling back behind him.
Perry stepped forward and put his hands to the ground. Jets of flame came out of his hands, zoomed across the floor and soon the stone creatures were melting, becoming one with the volcanic rock again.
As the creatures melted into the floor, Perry watched the flames dance closer to his team. The Borderlander rose inside him and for a moment, he wanted to keep it burning.
He shook his head, lifting his hands from the floor as if they suddenly burned. These thoughts came every time he used his Mapwalker power. He had to be careful.
"We need to get going," Perry said. "I can sense there are more of these creatures down here. I can't melt them all."
They continued through the narrow stone passageway, down into the depths of the cave system. The dripping of water intensified and soon they could hear the quiet rush of a stream.
They emerged at the bottom of the cave system into a final chamber carved with images of a goddess. Tiamat of ancient Babylon, goddess of chaos and primordial creation, a sea serpent with curled tail wrapped around a sacrifice.
"The storm god Moloch killed her and the heavens and the earth formed from her slaughtered body." Mila ran her hand over the stone coils. "She's a powerful water goddess, ruling where the salt meets fresh." Mila turned to look into the dark waters flooding part of the chamber and led into the underground waterway. "There must be a reason she's worshipped down here." She pointed. "Look towards the back of the cave."
The coils of a great serpent rose from the water and then sunk back down again. The creature of Tiamat was still here.
Mila walked to the water's edge and put her hand into the water. "This is where the sacrifice would be made to guarantee safe passage. I guess no one is volunteering." She looked around, one eyebrow raised. "I can go into the water. There must be a boat around here somewhere, something you can travel in as I propel you past."
Finn's dark skin seemed suddenly pale. "You didn't tell me we had to cross water."
"Why are you so scared?" Sienna asked.
"The sea and the rivers bleed into Earth-side. If I cross the border …" He shook his head.
"What would happen?" Sienna asked.
"I disappear into the shadow plane, cease to exist, although no one truly knows." Finn shrugged. "Many of us dream of crossing the border and seeing your side of the world, but it's just not possible."
"What if someone were to take you safely across?" Sienna asked.
"Who would do that?" Finn said.
"Here's a boat," Xander shouted from the corner of the cave. "It's old, but it might still be okay."
It was a coracle, a small round boat made of woven reeds and covered in pitch.
"Looks safe enough," Perry said, examining it closely.
Sienna couldn't imagine going too far in the bedraggled craft, but there was no other choice. "I guess we have to try."
They carried the coracle to the water. As they approached, the coils of the giant sea serpent came closer as if sensing their vibrations.
"Are you sure about this?" Sienna looked doubtfully towards the creature.
Mila nodded. "I know water." She gazed out over the darkness. "And I know her." Mila's skin already shimmered and she looked like she wanted to sink into the black.
There wasn't much room in the coracle, and they were all crushed together, Finn's hard body up against Sienna's. As Mila pushed the boat away from the shore, Sienna found herself leaning into him, finding solace in his warmth.
Perry held one of the lamps high as Mila slipped into the water behind them, her body shimmering as she became one with the liquid, disappearing beneath. The boat began to move through the cave system. Sienna looked down to see if she could see her friend, but the water was black and there was nothing but a ripple in their wake.
The great coils of the serpent dipped below the surface of the water and then disappeared. For a moment they looked around waiting for it to emerge but all was quiet, the lapping of water on the rocky sides of the cave system the only sound.
Stalactites hung down from the ceiling, great spikes of rock formed over the years dipping down to almost touch the water. The air smelled of minerals and salt. In some places the ceiling was so low they had to duck down, huddling together as the coracle edges bumped against the rocks. Sienna felt Finn tense at these moments, and she remembered his fear of being lost between worlds. She trailed her fingers in the water and thought of happy times on the beach. The waves were pleasure and freedom to her. How different it was in the Borderlands.
Time passed slowly as they moved through the deep waters of the cave system until finally, there was a shimmer of light in the distance that grew into a shaft of daylight beyond. As they came closer, a tall arch emerged from the darkness, carved from the rock, a portal to the outside. Beyond them, in the distance, blue water stretched to the horizon. Fruit-covered branches hung down over the entrance, and as they pushed through, the air was suddenly bright and filled with birdsong.
Finn reached up and grabbed one of the fruits, plucking it from the branch. "Do you have peaches Earth-side?"
"Of course." Sienna laughed.
Finn used the edge of his sword to cut the warm peach into four and shared it amongst them. Sweetness exploded on Sienna's tongue, a taste of summer. The boat edged towards a shoreline where stones made a tiny beach on the side of an island. The coracle pushed into the shallows and then Mila emerged from the water. She shivered, her skin still shimmering.
"You alright?" Sienna asked.
Mila nodded. "I just need a minute in the sun. It's the main problem with being a warm-blooded creature in a cold-blooded world. I haven't quite got the hang of staying warm while in the water." She looked around. "I wonder where we are. I don't recognize this place."
A path led up from the beach into dense forest. Crooked trees wound around each other, and parasitic plants on the trunks sapped their strength. The interior was an impenetrable dark green.
"We have two choices," Mila said. "We go back in the water, and I see where else I can take us." She turned and pointed to the water, where blue ocean stretched to the horizon. "Or we go up onto this island and see where the hell we are."
A screech came from the forest ahead of them. The sound of flapping wings and then a shadow fell upon the beach. Sienna looked up to see a huge silhouette against the sky, the bird's outstretched wings spanning thirty feet, much wider than any bird she had seen before. Its beak was a sharp hook as big as a scythe, and she could almost feel its gaze upon them, looking down from where it circled above. She wondered whether it could see through the border and how far away they were from its porous edge. It cried again, and there was an answering call in the distance.
Xander leaned back, his hand over his eyes as he focused on the bird. "Argentavis magnificens, extinct on Earth-side," he said with a smile. "We should discuss this at the forest's edge. They're hunters and big enough to carry one of us away."