She followed him in the darkness until he said, ‘Here’s another downthrust.’
She felt where he indicated. The stone did not go more than six inches before
ceasing.
‘Does the rope or your boots bother you any?’ he said. ‘If they’re too heavy,
get rid of them.’
‘I’m all right.’
‘Good. I’ll be back soon – if things are as I think they are.’ She started to
call to him to wait for her, but it was too late. She clung to the rough stone
with her fingertips, moving her legs now and then. The silence was oppressive;
it rang in her ears. And once she gasped when something touched her thigh.
The rope and boots did drag her down, and she was thinking of at least getting
rid of the rope when something struck her belly. She grabbed it with one hand to
keep it from biting her and with the other reached for her dagger. She went
under water of course, and then she realized that she wasn’t being attacked.
Smhee, diving back, had run into her.
Their heads cleared the surface. Smhee laughed.
‘Were you as frightened as I? I thought sure a bengil had me!’
Gasping, she said, ‘Never mind. What’s over there?’
‘More of the same. Another air-space for perhaps a hundred feet. Then another
downcropping.’
He clung to the stone for a moment. Then he said, ‘Have you noticed how fresh
the air is? There’s a very slight movement of it, too.’
She had noticed but hadn’t thought about it. Her experience with watery caves
was nil until now.
‘I’m sure that each of these caves is connected to a hole which brings in fresh
air from above,’ he said. ‘Would the mage have gone to all this trouble unless