paddles.
Smhee took out a dagger and began ripping the skins. Masha helped him until only
one boat was left undamaged.
He said, ‘There must be entrances cut into the stone sections dividing the caves
we just came through. I’ll wager they’re on the left-hand side as you come in.
Anyone swimming in would naturally keep to the right wall and so wouldn’t see
the archways. The ledges where the crabs nest must also be on the left. Remember
that when we come back. But I’d better find out for sure. We want , to know
exactly how to get out when the time comes.’
He set his torch in a socket in the front of the boat and pushed the boat down
the slope and into the water. While Masha held the narrow craft steady, he got
into it. She stood on the shore, feeling lonely with all that darkness behind
her while she watched him by the light of the brand. Within a few minutes he
came back, grinning.
‘I was right! There’s an opening cut into the stone division. It’s just high
enough for a boat to pass through if you duck down.’
They dragged the boat back up onto the ledge. The cave ended about a hundred
feet from the water. To the right was a U-shaped entrance. By its side were
piles of torches and flint and steel and punk boxes. Smhee lit two, gave one to
Masha, and then returned to the edge of the ledge to extinguish his little one.
‘I think the mage has put all his magic spiders inside the caves,’ he said.
‘They’d require too much energy to maintain on the outside. The further away
they are from him, the more energy he has to use to maintain them. The energy