Her only concern was returning to the others and getting them as far away from these woods as possible. Soon she saw the small glade ahead of her. As she entered the weeping willow barrier, a blood-curdling howl pierced the silence of the night.
“Up!” shouted Ariel. “Now!” Sawyer, Jane, and Geoff leapt to their feet.
“Do you think we can make a stand here?” asked Sawyer, clutching the elven dagger Ariel had given him.
“No! We do not stand a chance against such a beast,” said Ariel as she motioned for them to follow her. “We dare not stay a moment longer!”
Sawyer, Jane, and Geoff dashed from their sanctuary, close behind Ariel. “We will try to lose it at the Restless Serpent River!” said Ariel.
Chapter Ten
Stormblade
Sawyer heard the sounds of rushing, churning water getting closer as they followed Ariel through the forest. Jane and Geoff ran close behind Ariel, while he brought up the rear. He carried the elven dagger Ariel had given him, holding it tightly. Behind them, he thought he heard faint snarling sounds drawing nearer.
“Quickly!” shouted Ariel, motioning to the others. “Run faster!”
“How close is it?” asked Geoff as he ran, nearly tripping over a tree root as he spoke.
“Very close! Run!” said Ariel.
“I think it’s coming!” cried Sawyer as he looked over his shoulder.
Up ahead, Ariel had stopped at a ledge. When the rest of them caught up, Sawyer realized what he had heard. The rushing water was a huge waterfall crashing nearly a hundred feet below. Further downstream were dangerous looking rapids. His heart sank and his stomach churned as a wave of dizziness fell over him.
“We have to jump,” said Ariel. “Hurry.”
“Jump down there?” asked Jane. “In the dark? Are you crazy? We could be crushed on rocks or something.”
Ariel looked at Jane and pointed back toward the weeping willow glade they had just fled.
“Or you could stay here and be ripped to shreds.”
Jane and Geoff stepped closer to the edge and looked down. Sawyer maintained his distance several feet away from the edge. “There has to be another way,” said Jane. “Can’t we just climb down?”
“I don’t think so,” said Geoff. “It’s too dark to see where to climb.”
Sawyer swallowed. Geoff’s remark was not what he wanted to hear. His palms were moist. He wiped them on his jeans and looked for another route to escape the werewolf.
“Be sure to jump outward as far as you can,” said Ariel as she pointed to a dark pool of water at the base of the waterfall, “and keep your arms close to your body.”
Jane stepped onto the ledge and looked down again.
“This is the only way?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Ariel, who was growing more anxious. “You will be fine. Jump.”
A beastly howl rose from behind them. The werewolf was close. And by the sound of it; moving fast.
“Go!” said Ariel.
Jane jumped off the ledge and screamed as she fell, landing in the middle of the pool below.
“Geoff, go!” said Ariel.
Geoff stepped onto the ledge and jumped.
A deep, ferocious snarl erupted behind Sawyer. He spun around and saw the black shape of the werewolf charging.
“Sawyer! Go!” said Ariel, who had also seen the werewolf.
Sawyer swallowed again.
“You go! I’ll be right behind you!” he said.
“Sawyer, you must jump now!” yelled Ariel.
“I know! Go! I’ll jump after you!”
Ariel turned back to the ledge and jumped, leaving Sawyer alone.
Sawyer shivered as he grasped the cold, wet metal of the dagger’s hilt. He watched as the werewolf continued to rush him, its yellow eyes flashing as it bared its sharp fangs.
Down below he could hear the others calling his name. He saw the werewolf rear up on its hind legs and lunge for him. It was so close Sawyer could detect its musty, earthy smell. He started to scream, and without even thinking, he turned and jumped off the ledge. The werewolf’s large clawed hand just missing him by inches.
Sawyer continued to scream as he fell. He thought he saw the others swimming to the other side of the river. He hit the water with a loud smack, the force of the impact causing him to lose his grip on the dagger. Since he had rushed his jump at the last moment, he had not jumped as far out from the ledge as the others. He landed much closer to the edge of the pool and was immediately swept toward the rapids by the current.
The cold rushing water turned Sawyer over and over until he was able to regain his orientation and right himself. The only sound he heard now was the roaring of the water all around him. The current tossed him about as he struggled to remain afloat. He was heading straight for a mass of tangled tree roots protruding from an overgrown bank.
Seeing his chance, Sawyer grabbed a handful of roots, slowing his momentum. He caught his breath as he came to a stop in the cold water. He looked upstream, but didn’t see the others. He heard a loud sucking sound in the bank behind him. It reminded him of the sound water makes as it drains from the bathtub. Suddenly the current pulled him to the darkest part of the bank.
Sawyer noticed a large half-submerged hole in the bank. Water was flowing into the hole so fast that he was swept into it before he could react. Water sprayed him as he fell twenty feet into another pool. He struck the bottom, scraping his back on a rock. Sawyer grimaced. The water was waist-deep and frigid. He found his footing and stood up. He took a few deep breaths and immediately regretted doing so.
“Ugh! What is that smell?” Sawyer held his nose. “Smells like rotting leaves and dead fish.”
Above him he could see the hole he had just fallen through. The moonlight shone down into the cavern, allowing Sawyer to see most of his surroundings when his eyes adjusted.
“Yeah,” said Sawyer. “This is kinda spooky.”
A large moss-covered boulder sat half-submerged in the water, partially obscuring Sawyer’s view of the rest of the natural oblong-shaped cavern. Overhead was a tangle of tree roots and earth. The walls were stone and earth with moist vines settled in among the rocks.
Sawyer noticed his breath as he exhaled; the temperature was much cooler here. He waded in the waist-deep water, staying close to the walls for support. He walked to the boulder, which was almost beneath the hole he fell through. It was wet, with sickly, scrubby, half-rotten vegetation covering it.
The fetid, decaying smell was much stronger near the boulder. Sawyer coughed and covered his nose and mouth with his shirt collar.
“Oh man! What stinks? Maybe this big rock landed on something and killed it.”
Sawyer walked around the boulder, looking for a way to climb on top of it.
“Here we go,” said Sawyer as he brushed away a bit of moss and found some handholds. He climbed the boulder, which was ten feet high above the water. He stood and cupped his hands around his mouth.
“Ariel!”
He waited, but heard no answer.
“Ariel! Jane! Geoff!”
He frowned and lowered his arms.
“They probably can’t hear me over the sound the water. I hope they got away from the werewolf.”
Sawyer shivered. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold cavern or the beast from which he had just escaped.
“Jane!” he called again. Still no answer. Sawyer sighed and turned around, nearly slipping off the boulder.
In the far corner of the cavern something glinted in the moonlight. Something beneath the surface of the water.
“What’s that?” he said aloud.
Sawyer climbed down from the boulder and stepped back into the chilly dark water. He waded his way to the
other side of the cavern. C’mon, where are you? Flash again, he thought. Sawyer realized he was blocking the moonlight with his body, so he stepped to one side, placing his back against the rocky wall.
Then he saw the something glint again.
“That’s something metal down there,” said Sawyer.
He was startled by a low gurgling sound followed by what sounded like something growling underwater. He whirled and looked around, but the only object nearby was the smelly boulder.
“Okay, enough of this,” he said out loud. “I’m scaring myself. Don’t be a wuss, Sawyer.”
There was another glimmer and sparkle in the water, then another. The dark, swirling water made it difficult to see, but Sawyer was able to glimpse a silvery metallic surface partially buried in the mud and rock.
“What are you?” Sawyer muttered as he made his way to the object. “Another key like Geoff’s? Are you our ticket home?”
The object glittered, almost like an arc of electricity. Sawyer took a deep breath and plunged into the cold water. He saw the glimmer again and he swam closer. It was right in front of him. It wasn’t a key. It looked like a metal handle or grip protruding from the muddy bottom of the pool. He reached out and grasped it. A tingling sensation pulsed through his body, but he didn’t feel any pain. He pulled at the object and tried to wriggle it back and forth, but it didn’t budge.
Sawyer grasped the handle with his other hand and pulled, but the object barely moved. He gathered his strength and pulled again, but his hand slipped and sank into the soft deposit, disturbing the sediment and further obscuring his view. A few seconds later, the murky water cleared. Sawyer’s slip of the hand had unearthed a human skull. Startled, the last of his breath escaped his lungs and mouth. He rose up out of the water and stepped backward, gasping for air and coughing.
As Sawyer caught his breath, he looked down at the grinning face of the skull in the object’s flickering light. He shivered again. Holy crap! Someone died here! Then he saw what the object was—the grip and pommel of a sword.
“Whoa…,” he said. “Look at you.”
He stepped closer and positioned his feet so he could use his legs to help pull the sword free.
In the darkness behind Sawyer, the boulder he had just climbed upon shuddered and rolled slightly to one side. A huge, slime-covered clawed hand rose up out of the water and grasped a stone on the edge of the stream. A massive misshapen head with a twisted nose slowly rose from the dark water and turned toward Sawyer.
Its dull, sunken black eyes opened as the creature focused on Sawyer. It stood up, rising to a height of over twelve feet. It had abnormally long slime-covered arms the size of tree trunks ending in long, slender fingers. It also had a grotesquely hunched back. It raised its head and sniffed the air to catch Sawyer’s scent. Sawyer was so busy trying to pull the sword out of the mud and rock that he didn’t hear it approaching.
The creature started to salivate uncontrollably. It opened its quivering mouth, revealing an uneven set of jagged gray teeth. Long, putrid strands of saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth and knobby chin. It reached out with its clawed hands and moved toward Sawyer.
The sword was slowly rising from its watery prison. It tingled in Sawyer’s hands as he exerted himself one last time and pulled the blade free from the debris in the bottom of the stream. Then an electrical arc ran along its length, briefly lighting the cavern.
“Oh wow,” said Sawyer, mesmerized.
The sword reminded him of the ancient ceremonial swords that adorned the walls in Geoff’s house. The blade was over four feet in length and showed no signs of rust or pitting. In the pommel was a dark blue oval sapphire the size of a plum. The sword hardly weighed anything, yet its blade was straight and sharp. Another electrical discharge escaped from the sapphire, running the entire length of the blade and illuminating the room again.
The creature snarled and shielded its eyes from the sudden burst of light. Sawyer heard the snarl and whirled around in time to see the hideous creature closing in on him.
He screamed and tried to back away, but he slipped and stumbled in the muck. He held the sword up with both hands to fend off the creature. As he did so, the blade began to flash and sparkle with energy discharges.
The creature lunged at him, but missed as Sawyer ducked under its outstretched arms and dove into the water. Two powerful kicks later and Sawyer found himself behind it. He rose out of the water with a sputtering gasp and quickly turned to face the creature as it swung around and lashed out with a clawed hand. Sawyer felt a searing pain in his left shoulder as the claw ripped through his shirt and scratched him. The force of the blow sent Sawyer sprawling backward.
The back of Sawyer’s head struck a submerged stone and almost knocked him unconscious. He grimaced as he struggled to regain his footing on the slippery bottom of the stream, his vision blurry and his head spinning. The creature’s cold black eyes glared first at Sawyer, then the sparkling sword. It growled and moved toward Sawyer.
Sawyer screamed and ducked his head and closed his eyes, bracing for the impact of the oncoming attack. As he lifted his arms to protect himself, he raised the sword up toward the creature. It lunged at Sawyer, the blade piercing its eye as it pounced. Sawyer felt the creature shudder as it howled in pain and then stood twitching and quivering as small arcs of electricity rolled over its body for several seconds. Then it fell backward in the pool and died.
Sawyer opened his eyes and looked at the body of the creature lying half-submerged in the water. Its clawed hands rose from the water and still looked as if they were grasping for something. Sawyer wiped his face. His hand shook so much he could barely control it. He blinked several times, not sure what had just happened.
Sawyer crept over to the body. Its clawed hand was larger than Sawyer’s head. The pommel and crossguard of the sword remained above the dark water. The sword remained stuck in its eye. Sawyer nudged the creature with his foot to be sure it was dead. Satisfied, he removed the sword. It no longer sparked with energy.
“All out of juice, huh?”
Sawyer glanced about again. There was no way to climb out. He found a relatively dry niche in the wall and curled up in it. He thought for a hours, but still had no idea how he was going to escape.
He sighed and wrapped his arms around himself to keep the chill away. As he did so he noticed he could see better. The cavern was starting to become brighter. He looked at the hole from which he fell. The sun’s first rays were shining through the opening. The added light also brightened his spirits a little. He walked to the sunlit area beneath the hole and tilted his head back, letting the sun warm him.
“Help! Ariel! Jane! Geoff! Help!”
He listened, but didn’t hear anything but the water flowing into the cavern. He cupped his hands around his mouth again and called to the others. He continued calling for help for over an hour before he heard a response. It was Geoff.
“Sawyer! Where are you?”
”Geoff! I’m down here in this hole! Are Jane and Ariel with you?!”
“No, but they’re close! Hang on, I’ll get them!”
Several minutes later, Geoff returned with Jane and Ariel.
“Sawyer,” called Jane. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah! I’m okay,” he said as he gripped the sword.
“Stay where you are,” said Ariel. “We will come to you.”
Sawyer heard two loud splashes in the river above, and a minute later Ariel appeared at the opening with Jane.
“There you are,” said Ariel. “We feared the worst.”
“Hey, guys,” said Sawyer. “I found a sword and got attacked by a monster.”
He pointed at the creature’s carcass with the sword.
“Oh my god!” exclaimed Jane as she finally noticed the large claws protruding from the
water.
“What is that thing?” she asked.
“Dunno,” said Sawyer. “But it’s dead now.”
Ariel looked at the body. At first she didn’t seem to recognize it, but a moment later she did and raised her eyebrows.
“You killed that creature?” she asked.
“Yeah. It attacked me and I stabbed it with this sword,” said Sawyer.
“Come. Take hold of this tree root,” said Ariel.
No sooner had she finished her sentence than a long, thick root snaked its way down into the hole and wrapped around Sawyer’s waist.
“Oh no, Sawyer!” cried Jane as Sawyer emerged. “You’re hurt!”
Sawyer looked at Jane and saw she was pointing at his injured left shoulder. He was still bleeding. The cold water had numbed him so much he barely felt any pain.
“Oh,” said Sawyer. “Yeah, it scratched me. I’ll be fine. It’s not bad.”
The current buffeted Jane and threatened to sweep her away. She held onto the tree root with one hand and lifted Sawyer’s shirt collar to look at his wound with the other.
“No, Sawyer. This is serious. You’re bleeding a lot.”
“Nah. It looks worse than it really is,” he said.
He was lifted out of the water, along with Ariel and Jane. The tree roots gently deposited them on the ground before returning to their normal sedentary state.
“Thanks. That was cool,” said Sawyer, looking at Ariel.
“We were afraid the werewolf got you,” said Geoff. “We’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” said Jane, “and didn’t get eaten or anything.”
Wizard's Key (The Darkwolf Saga Book 1) Page 12
