Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (25 page)

From where the secret door is located, they
hear a soft grinding noise as the door slowly begins to open. To
Jorry, James says, “Take that piece of wood you brought down here
and lay it in the doorway to keep it open. You’ll need it open if
you are to come back this way.”

Jorry picks up the wood and goes over to the
door where he wedges it in to prevent the door from closing.

James waits a minute for the door to begin
to close, but the piece of wood successfully keeps it open. “Good,”
he says. “Through there is a narrow passage which should be wide
enough to carry the boat through sideways. After that is a cavern
with ample room.”

“Okay boys,” Illan tells the others, “You’ve
got the boat.”

Yern, Fifer, Uther and Jorry all take a side
and lift the boat off the ground. Jiron moves into the passage with
James right behind. “There’s a bundle of old torches here,” he
hollers back to Illan. “Grab a couple to use on your way back.”

“Good idea,” he says.

With a groan, the four guys flip the boat on
its side as they move to the opening in the wall. It’s quite a
tight fit, but they manage to maneuver the boat through the opening
and shuffle with it down the passage. From the rear, light flares
up indicating Illan has found the bundle of torches and has lit
one.

When they at last exit the narrow passageway
and are in the cavern, they flip the boat back upright again.
Moving the boat through the stalagmites rising from the floor and
the pools of water is much easier than it had been getting it
through the narrow passage.

Jiron, who had been scouting ahead with one
of James’ orbs of light, comes back. “There’s a broken down bridge
ahead, spanning a very deep chasm,” he tells them.

“I know,” says James. “That’s the way we’ve
got to go.”

“How in the world are we to get that boat
across?” he asks.

“What do you mean?” interrupts Uther from
where he’s carrying the boat. “What bridge?”

“You’ll see,” replies Jiron.

Shortly, the light from James’ orb
illuminates the beginning of the rickety bridge hanging
precariously across the chasm.

The guys carrying the boat stop and set it
on the ground. “It’ll never hold us carrying the boat across,”
states Fifer. “It’ll collapse!”

“I never said we’d be carrying it over,” he
tells them.

“Then just how do you propose to get it over
there? Magic?” asks Uther.

Shaking his head, he says, “No, I’ll need
all I have for a little bit later on. Somewhere in one of the packs
are three large eye rings. We need two of them now.” They rummage
through the packs and produce the two eye rings.

James takes out the long rope from within
his own backpack. After making sure it’s long enough, he hands one
end of it to Fifer. Taking the other end, he gives it to Jiron and
says, “Take this over to the other side.”

Nodding, he ties the rope around his waist
before beginning to cross the bridge. As he makes his way over,
James turns to Yern and says, “You take one of the eye rings and
sledge hammer over across the bridge after he’s cleared the other
side. Then you and Jiron need to hammer it into the stone
securely.”

To Fifer he says, “Tie the other end of the
rope to the forward section of the boat.”

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 cavern,” he explains between bites. “That’s
where it gets interesting.”

“You mean, more interesting than what we
just went through?” asks Jorry.

Nodding, James finishes a mouthful of food
before continuing. “At the end of the passage, a narrow stairway
leading down has been carved out of the rock. It descends for
several hundred feet before coming to a stone platform next to an
underground river.”

“Is that where you’ll be needing the boat?”
asks Illan.

“That’s right,” he tells them. “You’re going
to hold the rope against the rushing of the water, preventing Jiron
and me from being sucked along with the torrent. I’ll hide the box
somewhere in the tunnel, and when I’m done, you just release the
rope and let us go.”

“Isn’t that going to be dangerous?” Fifer
asks.

“Some,” he admits. “But Miko and I came
through here earlier this summer and survived.”

He can see those around him have their
doubts about his plan, but he can’t think of anywhere that would be
as good a place to hide it as here. Who would even think to look in
such a place?

“You all must swear to keep the secret of
where this is hidden all the way to your graves,” he says. Looking
from one to another, they nod saying they’ll never tell. “I’d hate
to think what would happen should this ever be found.”

“You can trust us,” Illan says. Glancing at
the others, he says, “Right?”

“Sure.” “Right.” “You can count on us.”

When everyone is through having a small bite
to eat, they shoulder their packs and the four again lift the boat.
With Jiron in the lead, they cross the remainder of the cavern
until they come to the narrow passage.

Flipping the boat again on its side, they
carry it into the passage. The floor of the passage is slick with
slime, water runs along the bottom in the same direction they’re
going. At the end of the passage, the roar of a waterfall can be
heard from somewhere in the distance.

Jiron goes to the edge and says, “I’ll go
down and help with the boat as you lower it down.”

“Good idea,” agrees James.

Nodding, Jiron takes the stairs and soon all
that can be seen is the glowing of the orb as it descends into the
darkness below. As the men with the boat approach the end of the
passage, they suddenly hear Jiron’s voice holler from below.
“James! You need to see this!”

“Wait here,” he tells the others before he
descends the stairs to see what Jiron is talking about.

Before he reaches the bottom, he sees Jiron
still standing on the stairs. His breath catches in his throat when
he sees what it is that Jiron is talking about. There is no longer
a stone platform. The water level has risen from the rains and now
has completely covered the platform.

“What are we to do now?” Jiron asks over the
thunderous roar of the waterfall.

James stares at the water a moment then
throws the orb toward where he and Miko had left through the tunnel
on the boat last time. The orb arcs through the air and before it
hits the water, they can see the opening where the water is rushing
out.

There’s barely enough room for the boat, in
fact, there may not be enough at all.

“What do you think?” he asks Jiron. “Can we
make it through in the boat?”

“Man, I don’t know,” he says shaking his
head. “It could be possible. Depends on how much our weight will
cause the boat to sink into the water.”

From up above, they hear Illan holler,
“What’s wrong?”

“We better go up and tell them,” James says.
Jiron nods his head and they begin to climb back up. Once up there,
they explain the situation to Illan and the others.

“Do you still mean to go through with this?”
he asks.

“I have to,” he stresses. “This is more
important than I can say.”

“Alright, what do you want us to do?” he
asks.

“Fifer, you and Yern make your way down to
the water lever,” he explains. “Take the last eye ring and a sledge
hammer. As close to the top of the water as you can, pound in the
eye ring then return here.”

“You got it,” he says as they get the
equipment and head down the stairs. Jiron hands Fifer his glowing
orb for light before they go. They watch as the orb makes its way
down into the darkness. Soon, the sound of them pounding the eye
ring into the stone wall can be heard. Shortly after the sound
stops, they return back up to the others.

“All done,” Fifer tells them as he hands the
orb back to Jiron.

“Thanks,” he says. “Now, to get the boat
down there.” He thinks for a bit before continuing. “We’ll lower
the boat gently until it rests upon the water. Then well put the
rope tied to the stern through the eye ring. The rest of you will
have to remain on the stairs holding it while Jiron and I get
in.”

“Once we’re in, slowly let out the slack in
the rope until we’re within the tunnel and I give you a signal to
hold it still. At that point, I will be placing the box within its
hiding spot.”

“What’s the signal?” Uther asks.

“I’ll make one of my orbs appear,” he
explains. “When the orb disappears, that’ll be the signal to let
the rope go. After that, you make your way back out. Make sure you
allow the secret door to close, no sense announcing to anyone
coming in there that it’s there.”

“Alright,” Illan says. “How long will it
take you to make it back to The Ranch?”

Shrugging, he says, “I can’t even begin to
guess on that. But if we’re not back in a couple weeks, start
worrying.”

Illan just nods.

“Everyone ready?” he asks.

When everyone nods their head, he has Jiron
move to the bottom of the stairs to aid the boat in reaching the
water safely.

Once they get his holler saying he’s ready,
they start lowering the boat over the edge. It seems like they’re
lowering it forever before tension in the rope slackens and they
hear Jiron holler up that it’s on the water.

“Secure it to the eye ring while we come
down!” he hollers down to him.

“Okay!” they hear back in a second. “Come on
down.”

They make their way down to where Jiron
stands on the step just above the water, the boat resting on the
surface near him. The rope attached to the front of the boat is
secured to the eye ring.

Giving Jiron the rope tied to the back, he
waits while Jiron switches the rope securing the boat to the eye
ring. When he’s finished, the boat is now pointing in the correct
direction.