“I doubt if there’ll be any,” explains James. “It was almost dark when we first entered the old keep. And what with the rain, it’s unlikely there would be any moonlight.”
“That’s right,” he says.
“I’ll try though.” Suddenly, the orb disappears and they’re thrown into complete and utter darkness. The sound of the now distant waterfall and the splashing of Jiron’s feet lends an eeriness to the dark. Giving their eyes a chance to adjust to the dark, they look around but no light is forthcoming.
After being in the dark for ten minutes, James again creates the orb. His teeth are beginning to chatter, though not nearly as bad as the last time. If they don’t get out of this water, they’ll both be in trouble from hypothermia.
“There!” Jiron exclaims.”
“What?” asks James. “Where?”
“Over to our right,” he says. “I saw a light?”
James looks in that direction and says, “I don’t see anything.”
“I tell you I saw something,” he insists. “It was just a momentary flash, but it was there.”
“Then let’s check it out,” says James.
Kicking to angle their boar toward where he saw the flash, he propels them with renewed vigor at the prospect of being out of the water.
“There! I saw it too,” cries out James in gladness.
As they come closer, other flashes become apparent as well. Once they’re close enough for the light from the orb to illuminate the area, they discover the source of the flashes are several gems embedded in the side of the cavern.
“Gems!” exclaims Jiron.
Red, green and yellow stones of varying sizes sparkle in the orb’s light. “There must be a fortune here!” James says.
A slight rock outcropping from the wall runs along the water’s edge, allowing them to leave the water and follow it as they continue to hunt for the exit. It extends past the limit of the orb’s light in both directions. It isn’t very flat or stable looking, but it’s still better than being in the frigid water.
Jiron moves them close to the ledge and then helps James onto it before climbing up himself. A large red gem sparkles in the orb’s light near him. Taking out his knife, he pries out the gem and holds it up to the light. Glancing to James he says, “This might be the end of your worries about coins for the Ranch.”
Giving his friend a smile, he says, “I think you’re right. Let’s take some and get them appraised. If they’re worth a lot, we’ll come back from time to time and harvest more.”
“Wonder how many are here?” Jiron asks. He then proceeds to remove several more of varying size and color, each looking to be worth quite a bit.
“Don’t know,” admits James. Looking around at all the flashes of light outside the orb’s radius, he adds, “It looks like hundreds, maybe thousands.” A serious shiver hits him and he says, “But we need to get out of here.”
“I agree,” says Jiron. The boat has begun to float away from the wall. “Should we get back in the water or try to make it along the wall?”
The thought of going back into that iciness is more than he can bear. “I say wall,” he decides.
“Then let’s go,” says Jiron. “Which way?”
Pointing to their right, he says, “I think it would be down that way, though I’m not completely sure.”
Shrugging, Jiron says, “One way’s as good as another.” He leads the way as they carefully move along the uneven outcropping of rock. The footing is treacherous, sometimes there is very little for them to cling to and at times have to step into the water in order to continue onward.
James is finding it more difficult since he doesn’t have the use of his left arm to maintain a grip on the wall during the worst areas. But with Jiron’s help, he’s able to make it.
During one rather difficult spot, James suddenly smells the scent of the forest. “We must be getting close,” he tells Jiron. “I smell pine trees.”
“I do too,” agrees Jiron as he helps him over a steep section of stone jutting up before them. Just after that, they start feeling a faint breeze, and a few more yards further down, they find the opening where the water is flowing out of the cavern.
They’ll have to wade into the flowing water in order to pass through the opening. The water is moving quickly from the cave and hidden rocks under its surface make for unstable footing. Taking it carefully, Jiron helps James as they make their way down from the outcropping of rock and into the water.
Passing out of the cave into the undergrowth beyond, they notice a slight rise in temperature. Still not warm by any means, it’s still preferable to that which was within the cave. The rain is still coming down and if anything, has actually increased since earlier in the day.
“We need to find some shelter,” James says to Jiron. “Or at least a large tree to stay under.”
The orb doesn’t give them much light to see by, the rain and trees preventing its light from extending any great distance. James is reticent to increase its brilliance, he doesn’t want to attract the attention of someone who might be in the area.
Once past the cave mouth, they climb out of the water and trudge their way through the bushes and small trees lining the edge of the water. With relief they come across a good sized tree which has a relatively dry space beneath its overhanging branches.
Thankfully, they enter the protective space it provides and then set about gathering what firewood they can. Most of it is wet, but with the help of James’ magic, they manage to get the wood burning. Jiron sets other damp pieces nearby to dry before being added to the fire.
“Good to be out of there!” says James.
Nodding, Jiron agrees. “Let me look at that arm of yours again,” he says. As James holds out his arm, he unties the bandage and examines it. “It’s a little red around the opening and some blood is still oozing out. I think I got all the wood out, won’t really know for a day or two.”
“I hope you did,” James says as Jiron secures the bandage tight around the wound once more. Infections are one of the things he hopes to avoid. Wounds which turn septic in this world could mean the loss of a limb if not outright fatal.
What rations that were in their belt pouches have been ruined by their trip through the water. Their packs were lost when the boat had disintegrated and are now probably at the bottom of that lake. James had kept his water bottle in his pack so all they have is the one on Jiron’s belt, which isn’t very big. But that’s the least of their concerns right now.
“How long should we stay here?” Jiron asks him.
“I’m not really sure,” he says. “We could probably make it along the river as it continues through the ravine in the daylight. But once we reach the far side, we’ll need to move at night. The Empire will most likely have patrols in the area looking for spies and infiltrators trying to sneak through.”
“Why don’t you get some sleep,” suggests Jiron. “I’ll watch the fire and wake you sometime past midnight.”
“Okay,” he says. “But make sure you do wake me. I don’t want you to be too tired tomorrow because you wanted to allow me to sleep.”
“I will,” he assures him.
Really too tired to argue very much, James lies down and is soon asleep.
True to his word, Jiron wakes him up for his shift and gets some sleep. By the time the dark of night begins to turn into the grey of morning, James wakes him up and they get on their way.
The rain is still coming down though has tapered off a bit since last night. The cloud cover remains absolute with not even a trace of blue breaking its way through. They follow the stream as it continues down to where it joins with the main river making its way into Madoc.
The main river is flowing quickly, having been swelled by the rain of the last two days. Walking is easier here as the water has periodically overflowed its banks and washed away smaller vegetation leaving a few large trees which had been able to withstand the rushing water.