She had to bite her lip to keep from gasping with shock.
He gave her a few hurried instructions and said, ‘May Weda Krizhtawn smile upon
us!’ And he was gone.
10
She took a deep breath while she was considering getting out of the pool and
running like a lizard chased by a fox to the river and swimming across it. But
instead she dived, and as Smhee had told her to do, swam close to the ceiling of
rock. She was blind here even with her eyes open, and, though she thought mostly
about drowning, she had room to think about the crabs. | Presently, when her
lungs were about to burst and her head I rang and the violent urge to get air
was about to make her breathe, I her flailing hand was grasped by something.
The next instant, she was pulled into air.
There was darkness all about. Her gaspings mingled with Smhee’s.
He said, between the wheezings, ‘There’s plenty of air-space between the water
and the ceiling. I dived down and came up as fast as I could out of the water,
and I couldn’t touch the rock above.’
After they’d recovered their wind, he said, ‘You tread water while I go back. I
want to see how far back this space goes.’
She didn’t have to wait long. She heard his swimming – she hoped it was his and
not something else – and she called out softly when he was near.
He stopped and said, ‘There’s plenty of air until just before the tunnel or cave
reaches the pool. Then you have to dive under a downthrust ledge of rock. I
didn’t go back out, of course, not with that creature out there. But I’m sure my
estimate of distance is right.’