“That’s bull. Just because those two freaks—” Simon stabbed a finger in the direction Eleriss and Jakatra had disappeared, “—believe that doesn’t mean it’s true. I bet those soldiers in town have some nice grenades or nukes that could take a monster down no problem.”
Somehow I doubted nukes got checked out of the armory along with rifles. “Look, I’m not committing suicide. Pull out the rope, will you? I’ll tie one end around my ankle, and you two keep the other end. Give me a couple of minutes to hunt around, and then pull me back.”
Temi raised a hand, no doubt intending to object.
“There’s not much time,” I said. “Once the water rises in here, you won’t be able to get the leverage to pull me back.” Not to mention that the water would eventually rise to the ceiling in the alcove chamber, leaving no air for someone stuck inside. I shuddered.
“The damned sword was probably swept away in the first ten seconds,” Simon muttered, but he pulled the rope out of his pack. He unraveled it and didn’t say anything else as I tied it around my waist—I’d decided against my ankle, as I didn’t want anything to get in the way of my kicks.
“Once I go under, pull me back if I don’t pop up for air in a minute.” At one point, I’d been able to swim seventy-five yards under water before coming up for air, but I hadn’t tried that in years.
“I’ll be counting,” Simon said.
I nodded and, after checking the rope for a third time, pushed away from the tunnel. I floated along the top until I neared the waterfall. The glow from Jakatra’s sword had disappeared to the right of it, on the opposite side of the chamber from the alcoves, perhaps by the big alcove.
I took a deep breath and plunged below the surface, kicking to reach the bottom quickly. The beams from Temi and Simon’s flashlights didn’t penetrate the surface, and it was blacker than pitch down there. I struggled against panic and an urge to spin around and swim back to the tunnel as fast as I could.
My knuckles mashed against rough stone. I hoped I’d found the floor instead of a wall. In the darkness, who could tell? I tried to use the bumps and dips in the floor to brace myself against the current even as I swept one arm from left to right ahead of me, hoping to chance across the sword, preferably the hilt instead of the blade. I couldn’t tell if I’d managed to veer into that big alcove or not. I could tell that the current was sweeping me farther from the tunnel despite my efforts to halt my progress.
The rope tightened about my waist, the slack entirely gone, before I ran out of air. Temi and Simon hauled me back the way I’d come. I didn’t fight it. If I was out of slack, I’d probably drifted too far anyway.
“No luck,” I said when I popped up next to them, pushing wet hair out of my eyes.
“This is madness,” Simon said. “The odds of you finding it, if it’s even there still...”
“I know, but let me try a couple more times. I’d feel like a jerk if more people got killed and I knew I hadn’t done everything I could to get that sword.”
“Go ahead.” Temi shook the rope. “We’ll pull you back.”
I paddled back into the chamber, almost crashing into the closest stalactite even though I knew it was there. A couple of flashlight beams didn’t illuminate much in a water-filled cave. I felt my way along the wall toward the larger alcove again. I couldn’t touch the bottom with my feet any more. One or two more tries, and we’d have to give this up.
Once more, I took a deep breath and groped my way to the bottom, alternating stroking with patting about on the stone floor. This time, I made it into the alcove and found the current tugged at me less in there. I covered a lot of ground in the seconds I was under, but didn’t find anything. I kept my eyes open, but they couldn’t pick out anything in the darkness that stretched on all sides. Too bad that dumb sword couldn’t flash a few times when it—
My fingers brushed metal. That had to be it. I patted along it, seeking the hilt.
A thunderous crack filled my ears.
I yanked my arms and legs in, tucking for protection. Splashes and bangs surrounded me—rocks falling into the water and thudding to the floor. One struck my back and I yelped, losing precious air as a cascade of bubbles escaped my mouth. It sounded like the whole place was caving in. The instinct to flee straight back to the tunnel nearly hurled me in that direction, but I groped about for the sword again. I couldn’t leave the stupid thing when I was this close.
There. This time I found the hilt. I had to shake something heavy off the blade to pull it free, but as soon as I had it, I pushed off the bottom, angling toward the exit. I was halted with a jarring jerk less than two feet up. What the—?