The Sorcerer's Ring: Book 05 - A Vow of Glory (28 page)

Everyone
nodded, seeming content, and they all went back to paddling.

"Assuming
we all live to see tomorrow," Indra said ominously, as they all fell back
into silence, the only sound in the world that of the lapping of the water
beneath their oars.

*

They paddled
so long that Thor felt his arms would fall off his body. The second sun sank
low in the sky, and just as Thor felt he couldn’t lift the paddle one more
time, the wide body of water shrank into a narrow channel. Land came into view
on either side of them—a vast, desolate land made of a black, craggy soil,
stretching as far as the eye could see. It looked like endless fields of upturned
dirt, and it felt as if they had come to a place where nothing lived—as if they
had come to the very end of the earth.

"The
Wastelands," Indra said softly, ominously. "The falls aren’t far
now.”

Thor
began to hear the distant sound of running water, growing stronger, as the
current, too, grew stronger, pulling them down what was becoming a river. Soon
they all lifted their paddles, no longer needing to use them, as the water carried
them its way.

There
came a bend in the river, and as they turned, the sound of rushing water grew
louder; Thor’s heart sank as in the distance he spied foaming water, a
drop-off. He could begin to feel the spray, the moisture in the air, even from
here. Indra was right: waterfalls.

They
all looked at each other ominously.

“Looks
like you’re wrong again,” Reece said, turning to Drake.

"You
better be right about this map," Elden said threateningly.

"Those
falls will kill us!" O'Connor cried.

“How
deep is the drop?” Conval asked.

Now
they all looked to Indra for answers.

"I
don’t know," she answered. "But if we survive it, I assure you, the
falls will be the least of our problems.”

The
current became too fast, the noise and the spray stronger, and Thor and the
others clutched the sides of the boat firmly.

"We
have to turn around!" Conven said, trying to back-paddle..

"It’s
too late!" Thor yelled. "The current is too strong! Brace
yourselves!”

The boat
rushed downstream, faster and faster, and Thor’s eyes opened wide as the falls
came into view. It was a wall of white water, gushing down. Beside Thor, Krohn
started to whine, and Thor reached around with one arm and held him tight.

"It's
okay, Krohn,” he said. “Just stay close. And if you fall in the water, swim
back to us.”

Krohn
whined again, as if in response, and a moment later, Thor’s stomach began to
drop as their boat was beginning to tip over the edge.

Thor
looked down over the edge and saw a tremendous drop, at least fifty feet. It
was a wall of white water, and there was no time left to react.

The
boat went over the edge and as one they all screamed, plummeting straight down through
the air.

Thor found
himself immersed in a wall of water, falling from the boat, flying through the
air, flailing. He became lost in a world of rushing water, as he was flipped
end over end, water washing all over him.

He
plunged beneath the water for he did not know how long. His lungs were bursting
as water shot up his nose, tumbling end over end, his face stung by the impact
of the fall.

When
he was finally sure his lungs were going to burst, the water cast him up; he
emerged, flailing, taking huge breaths, somewhere downriver. He was
disoriented, water in his eyes and ears and nose, and as he struggled to open
his eyes amidst the roaring, gushing current, all he saw was more water.

The
current sucked him down, submerging him again and again, until finally it began
to slow, and he surfaced, several seconds later, gasping for air and able to
stay afloat.

Thor
treaded water, looking all around for his friends. One by one they began to
surface, bobbing their heads, gasping for air, flailing, as the current carried
them downstream. Thor also spotted Indra pop up, Elden swimming over and grabbing
her. Thor looked everywhere, frantic, for Krohn, but could not find him.

"KROHN!"
Thor screamed.

He
turned every which way, and for a moment, far downstream, he saw his head
surface, then go under again. He saw a look of fear in Krohn's face which he
had never seen before; it was a look of helplessness.

Their
boat surfaced not too far from them, beaten up but somehow still intact, and
all the Legion began to swim for it. But Thor swam off by himself in the other
direction, heading for where he had last spotted Krohn.

"Swim
for the boat!" Reece yelled to him.

But
Thor ignored him; he had to get to Krohn, especially as he was about to enter a
section of the current which would force him off in a different direction.

"Get
back!" O'Connor screamed. "Don't go that way!”

But
Thor swam with all he had, fighting the current.

"KROHN!"
he screamed again.

Images
flashed through Thor’s mind of the time he had first found Krohn, of his being
a tiny pup, of the bond that they had. The thought of losing him pained Thor
beyond what he could imagine.

Suddenly,
Thor saw one of Krohn’s paws surface, before going down again. Thor dove down,
beneath the water, and swam; as he opened his eyes beneath the surface of the
crystal-blue waters, he spotted Krohn, sinking towards the bottom.

Thor
dove deeper, his ears bursting from the pressure, then grabbed Krohn and swam
to the surface, dragging him.

As they
surfaced, Thor took a deep breath and Krohn did, too. Krohn whimpered, treading
water against the current, and Thor turned and kicked, trying with all he had to
distance them from the fork. He wasn’t making as much headway as he would have
liked.

Thor
felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see Reece; he kicked, and together
they made headway, fighting the current and making it towards the boat.

As
they reached it, Thor hoisted Krohn up on board; he stood on all fours, grateful
to be out of the water, and shook like crazy, then coughed out water, again and
again. Thor and Reece held onto the rim of the boat and it carried them both
downstream.

Thor
turned and looked back, up at the falls; from here, they looked impossibly
high, like a mountain. He could not believe they had survived the fall. They
were just lucky there were no rocks at the bottom, and that at its base was a
deep pool of water.

As
they hung on, floating quickly, Thor and Reece turned to each other at the same
time, still dazed, and suddenly burst out laughing.

"We
survived, old friend," Reece said, unbelieving.

Thor
shook his head.

"Somehow,
we did,” he answered.

Thor and
Reece pulled themselves back up onto the boat, and as the current took them all
downstream, they spotted their paddle floating in the water. They directed the
boat over to them and each reached down and snatched them up. Thor was finally
beginning to feel a sense of control again.

As the
river bend turned, though, Thor's relief turned to anxiety. A whole new land
spread out before them, and Thor realized immediately that everything Indra had
warned of had been true. He realized they had made a big mistake in coming here.

The
underworld was the darkest, most desolate and gloomy land Thor had ever seen.
The river cut through its countryside, comprised of a volcanic, black dirt, in
which there grew endless fields of stubby, black trees, leafless, their dead
branches twisted into ominous shapes, covered in thorns. It looked like a forest
that had been burned and never grew back, and it felt as if nothing had ever
lived here to begin with. Nothing good, anyway.

Even
the sky here had a pallor of gloom unlike any Thor had ever seen. A dark grey
had replaced the bright blue, and black clouds rolled amidst it, threatening a
storm. The sun, too, hung lower, and a gloomy twilight replaced the afternoon light.
Thor felt as if they had left afternoon and arrived in twilight, as if they were
being carried into a land where despair ruled.

There
arose strange noises all around them, like a bird’s song mixed with a wail, and
Thor looked over and spotted flocks of enormous blackbirds perched on the
branches. They resembled ravens but were four times the size, and they had eyes
in their heads and on their chests. Instead of wings they had claws, and they
shook these furiously as they leaned back and stuck out their chests, creating
the strange noises.

They
all watched the boat as it went, and Thor felt as if any moment the whole flock
might pounce on them. In some ways, having their creepy eyes watch their every
move was worse.

Beside
him, Krohn snarled.

“And
what of your map now?" Elden asked the three brothers derisively.

The
three brothers all sat in the rear of the boat, and now they all look shell-shocked,
unsure of themselves.

"I
still have it," Drake said, holding it up. “It's wet, but it reads. I held
onto it with my life.”

"Why
did your map make no mention of the falls?” Reece pressed.

"It's
not a topographical map," Drake sneered. "It's drawn by a prisoner to
point us to the Sword.”

“Or to
our deaths,” O’Connor said.

“Did
you ever consider it could be a trap?” Conven asked.

"I
think someone is playing us all for a fool,” Conval added.

"So
what do you propose we do now?" Durs said back. "Turn back and climb
those falls and start again?”

They
all glanced back, and knew that was an impossibility.

"We
have no choice,” Dross said. “We stick to the map.”

The
boat settled back into a gloomy silence.

"It
seems everything you’ve said has been right so far,” Thor said to Indra. “Tell
us more about this underworld we travel in.”

Indra
looked about warily; she did not look happy to be here. She was silent for a
long time before she spoke.

"It
is fabled to be one of the seven realms of hell," she said, staring out at
the gloomy landscape. "Legend has it that when hell had no more room, the
Devils were given six more realms. It was forged during the early days of the
Empire. Before Andronicus—before even his ancestors. It is a place where even
Empire troops will not go.

“This
river that cuts through it connects two different Empire lands. It is a
shortcut of sorts. Yet no one is foolish enough to actually use it. People will
take the long way, however long it takes.”

They
fell back into silence as they all paddled on the twisting, narrow river, as
the sky fell into a deeper twilight. It was like paddling into somebody’s
nightmare.

There
came a sudden splashing, and Thor looked over and saw a set of glowing eyes
surface from the water—then disappear.

"Did
you see that?" O'Connor asked.

They
all examined the water, as all around them it became filled with small
splashing noises, and sets of glowing yellow eyes popped up everywhere.

As
Thor leaned down to get a better look, suddenly a reptile jumped up from the
water, the size of a large fish, with huge glowing eyes, and long, crocodile
like jaws. The jaws must have been two feet long, and it snapped right at Thor.

Thor
leaned back, at the last second, just before the jaws cut him in half.

Krohn
snarled at the creature, but then pulled back himself as another one of these
creatures leapt out of the air and snapped at him. Thor lifted his paddle and
smashed the reptiles as they leapt out of the water all around them. The others
did the same, beating them back, as they circled the boat.

One of
them leapt into the air and managed to sink its teeth into Conval’s arm.

"Get
it off!” he shrieked, clawing at it.

Conven
hurried over, grabbed its jaws and managed to pry them off his twin brother’s
arm, then threw the thing back into the water. Luckily he got it off quickly
enough to leave his brother with only a minor wound.

"There's
thousands of these things!" O'Connor yelled out, as he dodged one which
leapt through the air right past him. "We can’t hold them back forever!”

Thor
realized he was right; they were overwhelmed by these creatures and it was only
a matter of time until they did some serious damage; there was no way they
could fend them all off. It was as if they had navigated into a den of piranhas.

But
then all of the creatures suddenly turned and took off, submerging underwater
and darting away at full speed.

"What
are they doing?” Elden asked.

"It
looks like they're running from us,” O'Connor said.

"Or
from something else," Indra said ominously.

Thor
realized, with a pit in his stomach, that she was right. All of those creatures
wouldn't dart away like that unless they were scared, unless they were running
from something. Something much bigger than they.