“Hang on everyone!” I said, getting the feeling that something big was coming.
Everyone dug their heels in and gripped onto each other. Drok and Rollar gripped onto Fang and the direbear, anchoring themselves to the massive undead beasts. Each of the barbarians held one of my shoulders, while I held fast to my women.
Then it came … a deep, whooshing roar, and a rush of air against our faces. With that sudden gust of wind came a black wave of water, smashing against us in the dark with cold force. Had we not all been braced for impact, it would have scattered us and thrown us around the tunnel like a gust of wind picking up dry leaves and flinging them around. For two or three seconds, we were underwater, then with a great, heaving suck, the water withdrew, leaving us drenched but safe.
“Now I see why regular torches wouldn’t have been any use down here,” Layna remarked.
“And I can see why only one man ever made it through this black hell alive,” Rollar muttered darkly. “If I’d have been down here myself, that wave would have bowled me over, extinguished my torch, and left me totally disoriented in this inky darkness. It’s only by sheer luck that a man could get himself out of this horrid maze alive.”
“Good luck, or a good nose for dead cave trolls,” I said. “Come on, let’s keep moving.”
We arrived at yet another fork. Again, I followed the ethereal black scent of the dead cave trolls to pick a tunnel. Once more, shortly after entering the new tunnel, I sensed an ocean wave rushing in. We braced ourselves, using the heavy undead beasts as anchors, and again we were drenched but safe.
After almost two hours of wandering through endless forks in the tunnels and their oncoming waves, we reached what seemed the end of the labyrinth: a large cavern with a black pool of water in the center. We walked into the cavern, relieved to be out of the maze of tunnels, and came to stand around the edge of the pool. With the cavern illuminated by the bright violet glow of the enchanted dagger, the pool looked like a giant vat of ink. There was no way to tell how deep it was, how many tunnels branched off it, or how far one would have to swim to reach the end of it.
“How the hell are we going to get through this, Lord Vance?” Rollar asked, staring at the pool with anxious eyes.
“Relax, Rollar,” I replied. “It’s all under control.”
“You said you had a way for us to get through this five-minute underwater section in a minute.” Layna raised one of her finely arched eyebrows in a skeptical manner. “Perhaps it’s time to tell us exactly how you plan to do this. I, for one, absolutely hate swimming.”
“Don’t worry, you’re not going to have to do any swimming,” I said. “All you’ll have to do is hang on.”
“Hang on to what?” Layna asked.
I snapped my fingers, and a number of shark fins slipped up out of the black water. My undead sharks had been with the ship this whole time, and while we’d been navigating our way through the labyrinth, I’d sent out a signal to them to seek me out. When I called out to my undead creatures, they would cross oceans, deserts, impassable mountain ranges, and hell itself to get to me. My undead sharks had navigated the underwater caves, drawn irresistibly to me like iron filings to a lodestone.
“Ah!” Rollar beamed out a delighted grin. “I’d forgotten about these creatures! How are we to hang on to them underwater, though, Lord Vance?”
“Just stab ‘em with your daggers and hang on to the dagger hilts,” I said. “Oh, and hold your breath too. I’ll go first, since I have to find the way. Once I’ve done that, my sharks will know the way. They’ll pull you through the underwater tunnel as fast as arrows shot from a huntsman’s bow.”
I would have preferred to send a shark on its own to scout a way through the underwater caves, but that was impossible. While their sense of smell was extraordinary when it came to detecting scents underwater, they couldn’t pick up on any scents outside of the water. Only personally was I able to follow the ghostly black trail that led to the dead cave trolls. I hadn’t tried holding my breath for a long time. Could I hold it long enough for my shark to swim its way to the end of the route? There was only one way to find out.
“I’m heading under,” I said to my party members. “Here, take this.” I handed the glowing purple dagger to Rollar; he and the party needed to keep it so that they would have a light source. I, meanwhile, would be continuing the rest of the journey in complete darkness.
“When will we know when you’ve reached the end, and when your sharks are ready to take us?” Friya asked.
I snapped my fingers again, and all but one of the sharks slipped down under the water. “When the sharks’ fins break the surface again, you’ll know that I’ve made it and that it’s time for you all to go. Watch how it’s done now … and I’ll see you on the other side.”
I drew Grave Oath, held the blade between my teeth, and then jumped into the water and swam over to the remaining shark.
“Here goes nothing,” I whispered to myself.
Then, focusing my spirit on the ethereal black trail of the scent of dead cave trolls, I filled my lungs with air, dived under the shark, and slammed Grave Oath into its underbelly. The blade did little damage to the undead beast. Anchored to its body in this manner, I was ready to set off.
I
