"The Tower only responds to the Master's will, and to the gods."
"I remember, when I took the Test," Dalamar mused. "I learned that there were caverns deep under the Tower. Several of them extending beyond the periphery of Wayreth. It was said that Fistandantilus created them, as bolt holes and secret ways. One of them, the Nether Path, was supposed to provide a secret entrance into the forest. Do you know what they said about it?"
"I've heard of the Nether Path," Jenna acknowledged. She scowled thoughtfully. "But I always thought it was just a legend."
"Well, perhaps. But the legend claims that the Nether Path exists as a hidden cave. The mouth of the cave should be near to the path into Wayreth. When the forest opens to allow someone in, the Nether Path is always nearby. And according to the legend, the cave will always linger for some time, even after the forest has done its business and disappeared."
"Hmmm, interesting. But how does that help us? What kind of cave is it? There are hundreds of caves in these parts." She stroked her chin and looked around thoughtfully.
"Not right around here. I'd say, let's try the ravine," Dalamar said with a sudden eagerness. "Down there is where I'd look for a cave."
Both made their way over to the rocky rim. The gorge here was nearly forty feet deep, only half that distance across, giving it the look of a deep and savage wound in the surface of the world. The floor was littered with large rocks, with murky pools of water collecting on the low spots between.
Jenna quickly cast a spell, featherfall, and stepped off the rim of the gorge to float gently downward, coming to rest on a large, flat-topped boulder. Dalamar muttered a curse-that enchantment was not in the slender tome Palin had given him-and instead was forced to pick his way slowly, and carefully, down the cracked and broken slope. Halfway down, a rock broke free and he almost fell, scraping his knee as he jammed his leg.
"Careful!" Jenna snapped, looking up in annoyance and ducking out of the way of the debris.
The dark elf was in a thoroughly foul mood when, a minute later, he reached the bottom and found the Red Robe on the other side of a steeply angled fallen boulder. "See anything promising?" he asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"There's an overhang just past those rocks. I can't see all the way inside from here. And there are quite a few shadowy niches under these big boulders scattered down here-we'll have to check all of them out."
An hour later, they gave up. They had found holes, niches, and many small caves, but nothing that promised entrance to Wayreth Forest.
"Out of the gorge, then, and back into the woods?" Jenna asked. Her face was streaked with grime, and tangles of her hair clung to her cheeks and shoulders. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, leaving a streak of mud.
"Yes, that is our only option," Dalamar agreed. "But we should hurry. Sooner or later the Nether Path-if it even exists-will vanish."
Fortunately, the ravine became a little shallower as they progressed along the bed, and they found a tumble of rocks forming a makeshift stairway leading back up to the forest floor, on the opposite rim. For the rest of the afternoon, they plodded through the pines. Darkness settled around them, deepening the gloom until Dalamar found it necessary to cast a spell of continual light on the top of a tall, straight pole he had been using as a walking stick, and with this to light the way, the two wizards continued.
The forest began to close in, becoming a vast, smothering presence, lit only by Dalamar's staff, which danced and bobbed with his long strides. Caves were harder and harder to detect, but neither wanted to give up the search. The dark elf found himself pointing his staff and staring at the light-less depths of the forest, willing some rise or depression in the ground, some limestone irregularity that might give them some hope of success.
Just when he was ready to quit, however, he was startled to hear Jenna give a cry and point toward an irregular surface ahead of them. They came to a stop between two fir trees, with the light from Dalamar's staff washing across the lichen-encrusted face of a low, broken bluff.
"We're close!" he said with certainty.
"Don't be too sure!"Jenna warned, using one arm to lean against the nearest tree trunk. "All these rocks and caves begin to look the same."
"The ones in the ravine were limestone," Dalamar said. "But this is older. See how the face is pocked and broken all along here? And those lichens-they suggest nothing has been disturbed here for ages."
"Well, now what?" the lady asked, squinting.
"Water," the dark elf said, thinking aloud. "We have to find where water flowed out of here-that's our best bet for finding a cave."
Resolutely he started forward, still holding the light high. The top of the bluff loomed out of sight. Huge slabs of rock had tumbled from the crest in eons past, forming an irregular surface, but the dark elf began to climb the nearest steeply canted slab, noting the thick crust of treacherous lichens underfoot.
Jenna was forced to cast her own light spell, using one of the stone pendants on her necklace as a source, before hurrying to keep up. Dalamar climbed over to the next rock, working his way around an outcrop at the base of the bluff. His next step brought him to a halt. Before him were two looming shoulders of limestone, swallowed by a black void of indeterminate depth.
"This is it!" he declared.
"Are you sure?"
"Don't you feel it?" the elf asked.
Jenna paused for a moment, her eyes closed, her nostrils flaring with a long, slow breath. "Yes," she replied. "I believe 1 do."
Overhead rose a stone mantle that revealed smooth, water-scoured walls. The ground underfoot here had been swept clean by some force that had washed rocks, brush, and any other debris out of the way.
"Careful," Jenna hissed, coming up behind to touch the dark elf on the shoulder. "Do you smell something?"
Halting, Dalamar sniffed, wincing at the acrid, distinctive scent that was heavy in the tunnel. "Yes," he said bitterly, "I do." There was no mistaking the stench: chlorine gas, a stench that had only one source on all of Krynn.
"This might be the route into Wayreth," Jenna noted. "But it seems we'll have to get past a green dragon to go there."
"The smell is strong. That suggests to me that the dragon is fairly mature. But the cavern isn't large enough to admit a truly ancient serpent," Dalamar remarked. He studied the mouth of the cave, overlooking it from a curving hillside no more than an arrow's flight away from the dark entry. He and Jenna had climbed up here to study their objective, and to hatch a plan.
"I agree-a mere newt wouldn't leave such an aura," concurred the Red Robe enchantress. "Should we explore the entrance? Maybe there is room to sneak past?"
"No," Dalamar retorted. "I'll simply kill the beast, and then we won't have to worry."
"Do you have the spells for that?" Jenna asked skeptically.
"I can burn the wyrm to a crisp," the dark elf replied. "That should take care of it. But I have to be careful, if it's tight quarters, not to burn us up at the same time."
"Good idea. I'll be right behind you… as far as possible."
"Or should we pinch this snake between fire and ice?" the dark elf offered.
"That might work better." Jenna looked into the cave thoughtfully. "I wonder how old the nuisance is?"
Dalamar shrugged. "Hundreds of years, probably."
Jenna shook her head with a grimace. "There was a time when I might have been reluctant to slay such an ancient creature-merely because it stood in my path. Now, I'm ready to cement our partnership with a kill."