Venom and Song (5 page)
“Oars?” Tommy asked as they boarded.
“Yes,” Grimwarden replied. “Only for when we need to maneuver more than the remote tiller can manage. Or for the return trip. We will be riding with the current straight through.”
“Cool!” said Jett. “How fast will we go?”
“Fast enough,” said Brynn.
“Everyone in!” Grimwarden commanded, untethering lines and pushing their particular cavesurfer into the water. “I know it goes without saying, but keep your torchcells lit. Your life depends on them.”
The entire war band made ready, pushing their crafts into the same still pool protected from the main artery's rapids by a natural jetty of sandstone. Jett stepped aboard with a steadying hand from Brynn, and sat beside Johnny and Jimmy in the aft. He watched Tommy, Kat, and Kiri Lee get seated with Goldarrow and Grimwarden in the lead surfer.
“Sentinel Brynn?”
“Yes, Jimmy?”
“Sittin' by yurself, are yu?”
“I suppose so,” she replied. “We'd best put one of you up here to balance theâ”
“No need,” said Mr. Wallace, stepping agilely into the craft and sitting beside Brynn.
“Excellent,” said Brynn. “Very good of you.”
“It's the very least I could do,” he replied.
The cavesurfers lived up to their name, carving through the currents with ease. The watercrafts weaved between the massive columns of the main hall, circling under the chandelier and positioning the boats so that they could dart out into the central stream of the river. Grimwarden's craft went first, followed by Brynn and the others. As the current whisked them out of the hall, each pilot lowered a torch to two different spots at the front of his or her craft. This ignited the cavesurfer's torchcells, pockets set like eyes in the front. The fire burned in the hollows of two crystal spheres that protected the flame from spray and intensified the light cast.
Each cavesurfer's captain maneuvered the craft around rocks, over small plateaus, and into side passages. The forks and splits in the path were many, and Grimwarden made numerous turns, all very controlled, very confident. In fact, the first twenty minutes of the ride were quite relaxing, the teens thought. Goldarrow and Grimwarden chatted in the aft with Kat beside them; more to the point, Goldarrow chatted . . . Grimwarden just nodded . . . a lot.
To Kat's growing aggravation, Kiri Lee fell asleep with her head on Tommy's shoulder.
“Hey,” said Tommy, looking at Kat. “What's eating you?”
“What . . . why? Nothing.”
“You look mad.”
“Just tired,” she said.
“Oh,” he replied. For a few moments, the cavesurfer grew very quiet. Then Tommy asked, “Hey, can you read someone's mind while she's sleeping?”
Kat crossed her arms. “Why?”
“I was wondering what Kiri Lee's dreaming about.”
There was an awkward silence before Kat answered. “You don't want to know.” Kat's rigid posture made it clear that she did not welcome any further questions.
The currents picked up speed. Kat was staring straight ahead when she saw something shimmering in the distance. At first, she thought it was the torchlight dancing off yet another fork in the stream. But as the craft advanced, she realized that the hall itself was suddenly coming to an end. No hole. No little passage leading left or right. It was a solid wall. But the current kept moving.
“Um, Grimwarden?”
“Yes, Kat?” The Guardmaster's hand was steady on the tiller.
“Um . . . I think we're in trouble.”
“What? Why?” His voice was still oddly unconcerned.
“Up ahead. There's just a solid wall. And we're heading”âshe paused to look againâ“straight for it!”
He turned his head and winked. “I suggest you hold on to something.”
“What?!”
“Now would be a good time.”
Kat screamed, Tommy yelled, and Kiri Lee woke up. Each one clutched the nearest edge or railing as the surfer surged forward. The wall loomed just a few feet ahead, and the sound of the rapids grew to a deafening roar. All at once the craft tilted forward and plummeted. Grimwarden saw the look of exhilaration in Goldarrow's eyes and grinned. Tommy, Kat, and Kiri Lee held on as the craft plunged headlong down a tunnel, the ceiling not more than five feet above head level. Here the rapids turned into a water chute, the cavesurfer picking up unimaginable speed, the torchcells struggling just to stay alive.
“Lean left!” Grimwarden shouted.
Kat and the others clung to the sides and pitched their weight as the cavesurfer banked to port, making a wide, sweeping turn in the channel. Just ahead, the river careened up the side of the tunnel, where it had formed a glossy finish on the stone wall. Grimwarden's cave-surfer shot high along the wall, fishtailing slightly before pitching back into the center of the chute as the turn straightened out. It was then they all heard a long cry from the cavesurfer right behind them.
“Wooohooo! ”
Jett screamed. “Oh, BABY!” This was better than any dirt bike track he had ever ridden! He was dying to grab the helm himself and try some crazy trick, but he remembered he didn't really know the directions. That and he would have to contend with Brynn, an Elf it seemed best not to trifle with.
After more than four hours of navigating the relentless rapids, the entire flotilla of Elves finally came upon calmer waters. The current was still there, ever-present and irresistible, but the waterscape leveled out to a smooth sheet of black. Grimwarden, Brynn, Anna, Regis, and a few other surfer pilots navigated their crafts closer together in the wide and much more peaceful area.
“Incredible!” Jett roared. He slapped a high five across the water with Tommy.
“I wish Autumn had been here with us,” said Johnny.
“She already went,” said Grimwarden gently.
Johnny brightened at the thought. “She probably loved every minute. Whenever we went to amusement parks, Autumn was always first in line at all the rides that make people barf.”
“Uhm, speakin' of barf . . . ,” Jimmy said, pointing.
“I don't feel so well.”
They all turned. It was Kiri Lee, and even in the orange torchlight she looked a bit green.
“I think she's gonna toss herâ”
Grimwarden glared at Jimmy. Then he leaned forward and handed a thin orange strip to Kiri Lee. “Nibble on this,” he said. “It's a shoot from a hilthis mint sapling. It will calm your stomach.” He paused a moment, seeing the uncertainty in the young lord's eyes. Then he said, “I use them myself.”
Kiri Lee took a tentative bite. “Mmmm, that's not bad. I like it.” She took another bite. “Wow . . . I think it's helping.”
“Good, good,” Grimwarden said tenderly. Then he faced the whole group. “You'll each need to brace yourselves for this last section. Daladge Falls can be a bit . . . troublesome.”
“I thought what we went through earlier was the falls,” said Tommy.
“That little slide?” said Grimwarden. “Nay. Daladge Falls lay ahead.”
“Is it dangerous?” asked Kiri Lee, looking green again.
“It need not be,” said Grimwarden. “So long as we stay to the left when we go over, and so long as we all remain in our cavesurfers . . . we should be fine.”
“What if we don't?” asked Jett.
Grimwarden worked the tiller to keep their craft moving left in the channel. He exchanged glances with Brynn and Goldarrow. “I will speak plainly to you, young lords. Your pilots are all water-savvy, and the surfers tested and true. But in the unlikely event that you should fall out of the craft, you would perish.”
“Why stay to the left?” asked Kat.
“There is a pocket in the water,” Grimwarden replied. “At the bottom of the falls, near the right-hand wall . . . a whirling pool that will take a craft to the bottom . . . in an instant.”
CAVESURFERS SPREAD across the surface of the underground river like fireflies on the side of a jar. The narrow passage to Daladge Falls had been peaceful enough. But as it widened, the Elves heard the pounding of the falls. It was less a constant roar and more like the percussive crashing of monstrous waves on an island of stone; the song of the falls made the young lords nervous. But they were not alone in their concern.
“Please tell me, Master Jimmy,” said Mr. Wallace, “tell me with your foresight that we're going to survive this fall.”
“I wish I could,” Jimmy replied, squinting so hard that a stack of wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes. “. . . But I cannot see anythin' right now. Not since the battlefield. Think I'm tired.”
“You've done this before, haven't you, Flet Marshall Brynn?” asked Jett.
“Dozens of times,” she replied. All of her passengers relaxed a little. And then she added, “But each time it's different.”
“Great,” said Johnny.
“Tighten the straps around your waist,” Brynn commanded. “We're getting close now.” She leaned forward and plugged each of the torchcells with serrated pegs of crystal. “This'll keep the torches dry for when we go under.”
“When we go under?” Johnny's eyes were as big as baseballs.
“At the bottom of the falls,” Brynn explained, as if it should have been common knowledge. “Our momentum will carry us beneath the surface, but not far. These crafts are buoyant, and we will shoot up like dolphins.”
“Okay,” said Johnny.
“Are you sure you can't see what will happen, Jimmy?” asked Mr. Wallace.
“Not a thing,” Jimmy said. “And I dunno that I want to.”
“Fifty yards,” said Goldarrow. “Hold on tight!”
“Ow! Kiri Lee,” Tommy said, wincing. “Not that tight! I think I'm bleeding.”
“I'm sorry,” Kiri Lee apologized, pushing strands of her straight black hair behind her ear. “The falls, they terrify me.”
Tommy swallowed. “We'll be fine. Grimwarden knows what he's doing.”
Terrified?
Kat thought.
You can walk on air
. She briefly attempted to read Kiri Lee's thoughts, but with no success. Kat didn't think she needed to anyway.
Of course she likes him. And of course he probably likes her. She's perfect. Perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect skin. Not a mutant . . . like me
. Kat looked away from Tommy.
Well, he can have her . . . for all I care
. She stared straight ahead . . . and wished she hadn't.
The walls of the cavern funneled to an opening more than fifty yards wide. There, the underground river rolled over an edge only visible due to the contrast in color between the water and the deep vault of space beyond. Grimwarden's cavesurfer was the first to arrive, and the current drew them relentlessly to the edge. Goldarrow shifted in her seat and glanced often at Grimwarden. If the Guardmaster noticed, he did not let on. He kept his eyes forward and continuously steered toward the left side. “Lean back and HOLD ON!”
The point of the cavesurfer went over the edge. The growl of the falls roared up. Their craft tilted down. And Tommy stared into a massive chute of turbulent water as the craft plunged into the yawning black mouth. Spray and chop pelted the craft and its passengers. Bouncing and careening against water and air currents, Tommy tried to scream, “We're all going to die,” but the violence of the water drowned out his voice.