Jiron takes the piece of wood and slides it back out the way it had come in. James cries out from the pain and almost slips off the overturned boat before Jiron grabs him and steadies him.
When the piece of wood is out, he throws it into the water and then tears off a piece of James’ shirt which he ties tightly around the wound to prevent anymore blood loss. “You should be fine, it came out cleanly,” he tells him.
James can only nod as he becomes nauseous from the pain. Now weak and shaky, it’s all he can do just to hang onto the boat with his one good arm.
“How do we get out of here?” Jiron asks. The light from James’ orb doesn’t illuminate very far and all he sees is water.
“If we move away from the waterfall behind us,” he explains, “we’ll eventually come to where the water leaves the cavern and flows to the river outside.”
“How far is that?” he asks.
“I don’t remember exactly,” he replies.
“Just hold on and we’ll get there,” he tells him.
Nodding, James holds on tighter as Jiron begins kicking with his feet, moving them further away from the crashing of the waterfall.
When they’ve progressed enough that the sound of the waterfall begins to diminish behind them, Jiron hears the sound of teeth chattering beside him. Glancing over to James, he can see that he’s shivering badly from being in the cold water. “You okay?”
“N-n-n-o-oo,” he says, trying to control his chattering teeth. “J-just c-c-c-old.”
Cold himself, he’s even more worried about his friend. He at least has the benefit of moving to keep his body temperature up. “Kick your feet,” he suggests. “That might help keep you a little warmer.”
Shortly, splashing can be heard from where James begins kicking his feet. Suddenly, he cries out as he loses his one armed grip on the remnants of the boat and slides into the water.
Jiron lets go of the boat and quickly moves to help him keep afloat. James feels cold to the touch as he assists him in getting up on the boat again. Holding the boat with one hand, he uses the other to pull James back up to where he can again grab and hold on.
“Sorry,” he apologizes to James. “You just hold on while I try to get us out of here.”
James tries to respond but the dunking in the water has left him so cold, he can’t even talk.
Jiron begins swimming even harder, he needs to get James out of the cold water before he dies. From up ahead, the orb’s light reveals a small island. Not very big, but large enough to accommodate them and allow James to get out of the water. Turning the boat slightly, he moves them in the right direction. The boat runs aground as it comes next to the island. Grabbing hold of James, he helps him get to his feet and onto the island.
James is pointing back to the boat and says, “B-b-b-b…”
“Get the boat?” Jiron asks. When he sees James nodding vigorously, he glances back and sees the remnants of the boat beginning to slip away from the island. Moving quickly, he takes hold of it and pulls it up onto the island next to them.
Coming over to James he sees him lying there shivering. “F-f-f…”
“Fire?” he asks. “You want me to make a fire?”
James nods his head.
Looking around the island all he finds to burn is the boat and they’ll need that when they leave the underground lake. “There’s nothing to burn but the boat,” he tells him.
Shaking his head, James says, “S-s-spark!”
“Spark?” he asks and James again nods his head.
Not completely understanding, he takes out his flint and begins striking it against a rock. After the third time when sparks appear, a flame roars to life out of thin air. Hair smoking from where the fire had connected with his face, he falls backward in startlement.
Getting himself back together, he sees James has his eyes closed and is inching his way toward the fire. “How’d you do that?” he asks.
James gives a slight shake of his head and keeps his eyes closed. When he’s close to where the fire is burning, he stops and begins warming up.
Jiron comes close to the wonderfully warm flame as he thaws himself out. He had begun to be about as cold as James and even felt his teeth start chattering.
They sit around the flame for several minutes before James’ teeth stop chattering and he opens his eyes. Sitting up, he scoots a little closer to the fire.
“Better?” Jiron asks him.
“A little,” he replies, the warmth from the flame has calmed his chattering jaw. “But I can’t keep this up too much longer.”
Jiron just looks at him questioningly.
“I’m using pure oxygen to sustain the fire,” he explains. “Remember back in Councilman Rillian’s office when I had used up all the oxygen and we couldn’t breathe? Well the same thing is happening here. Since this cave is enclosed, it’s not going to have an unlimited supply. It should have plenty for awhile, but once we’re warmed up a bit, I’ll have to stop. Then we’ll need to get out, fast.”
“I hear you,” Jiron says. “Just where is the exit from here.”
Pointing back to the sound of the waterfall they sailed over, he says, “We came from that way and if I remember right, the way out is further away from it, past this island.”
“It’s going to be another cold swim,” he says.
“I know,” he admits. “But if we have a brief respite here to warm ourselves, we’ll make it.”
They sit in quiet as they bask in the warm glow of the fire. James finds that even his clothes are beginning to dry. When he finally feels warm through and through, he looks with trepidation at the water and says, “Shall we?”
“Best to get it over with,” says Jiron. “It’s not going to get any warmer.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” agrees James.
Canceling the flame, they’re once more reduced to just having the light from the orb to guide them. The coldness of the cave again begins to suck the warmth from their bodies even before they get into the water.
They push the remnant of the boat back out into the water and that first step into its icy grip takes James’ breath away. Jiron holds the boat steady while James gets as far up onto it as possible before pushing it further out into the water. Then keeping a firm grip on it, he kicks with his feet and propels them away from the island, maintaining a direction which will keep the sound of the waterfall behind them.
The coldness of the water sucks the warmth from them rapidly. “If you get rid of the orb, maybe we’ll be able to see the light shining in through the exit.”
“I doubt if there’ll be any,” explains James. “It was almost dark when we first entered the old keep. And what with the rain, it’s unlikely there would be any moonlight.”
“That’s right,” he says.
“I’ll try though.” Suddenly, the orb disappears and they’re thrown into complete and utter darkness. The sound of the now distant waterfall and the splashing of Jiron’s feet lends an eeriness to the dark. Giving their eyes a chance to adjust to the dark, they look around but no light is forthcoming.
After being in the dark for ten minutes, James again creates the orb. His teeth are beginning to chatter, though not nearly as bad as the last time. If they don’t get out of this water, they’ll both be in trouble from hypothermia.
“There!” Jiron exclaims.”
“What?” asks James. “Where?”
“Over to our right,” he says. “I saw a light?”
James looks in that direction and says, “I don’t see anything.”
“I tell you I saw something,” he insists. “It was just a momentary flash, but it was there.”
“Then let’s check it out,” says James.
Kicking to angle their boar toward where he saw the flash, he propels them with renewed vigor at the prospect of being out of the water.
“There! I saw it too,” cries out James in gladness.
