| "It's over," Kat said, relieved. "And I still have the half of sword. The mask is gone; it was crushed underfoot by the altar." "What a horrible passageway," Clara said, nearly out of breath. "I am sticky with blood and sweat. We must get out of here, before we are attacked again." Salem looked through the doorway. "Wait, I see something," he said, pointing into the dimness of the room. Kat and Clara joined him as he pointed a red finger at what turned out to be a river. "A river runs under the mountain?" Kat said. She approached the edge of the water and looked down. It was only a few inches deep and very clear. "It's only a little stream. Maybe it will lead us out of here?" "Let's all walk in it for now," Clara suggested. "It looks kind of refreshing." Kat, Clara, and Salem all stepped into the crystal-clear waters. The water was cool and cleansed their feet of the bloodstains. They walked together in the narrow stream of rock for a while; it seemed as though the mountain acted as an insulator from the cold, allowing the river to run freely. As they walked, Clara suddenly slipped on a smooth patch of rock and fell down. "I have you, Clara," Kat said, grabbing her arm to help her up. However, she, too, fell down on the same patch. Even Salem fell down on it; none of them were able to walk. "How can you walk on this rock?" Salem asked. He looked around himself; it seemed as though the stream had consumed all walking space. "We must--are we moving?" Kat, Clara, and Salem looked about as they sat in the shallow water rushing all around them; indeed, they were drifting. Both girls struggled to rise, but the wet rock was too slippery. "I can't seem to stand up," Clara said, becoming nervous. "Don't panic," Kat said. "I'll think of something." Salem's eyes widened. "You don't have time for that!" he shouted, pointing a few feet ahead. The girls looked ahead and saw that the stream suddenly dropped off, maintaining a rather intimidating slope. There was no time to prepare for the dangerous slide ahead. "Hold on!" Kat said, quickly reaching behind her and grabbing onto one of Clara's ankles, and sheathing her sword as fast as possible. Clara clutched Salem's leg as well, her sword already sheathed. "We're going down!" Kat and Clara cried out as they went over the edge, and Salem cried out with them, sliding down the steep slope, carried along smoothly by the water and smooth rock. The long decent contained dozens of turns and falls; the adventurers often found themselves being thrown into the walls during sharp turns, continuously fearing the next obstacle. The sliding lasted a great deal of time; ten minutes after the start of their decent, Kat, Clara, and Salem no longer feared the winding stream. But after another ten minute spell of twists and turns, the environment of the stream suddenly became considerably more treacherous. Still maintaining the death grip on each other's legs, the group was suddenly thrown over an edge of the stream's rocky bottom, sending them all tumbling onto another one some six feet downward. The slopes also increased; one long stretch of river with a very steep angle and a turn at the bottom flipped Kat, Clara, and Salem onto their bellies. After an agonizing half-hour or so of sliding through a mountain stream, the adventurers -- now bleeding a little more -- reached the end of the stream...rather abruptly. Kat, Clara, and Salem suddenly noticed daylight and were thrown face first into a much deeper river of water, with a small cave surrounding it. They sank a few feet before surfacing. Kat and Clara came up first, with Salem right behind, still holding the bag of equipment. "Is everyone all right?" Kat asked. Clara wiped her face. "I'm fine," she said. "Thank goodness that's over." "Indeed," Kat said. "Now, let's find out where we are." "Wait!" Salem cried. "We're still drifting! Grab onto to each other again!" Kat and Clara soon became aware that the exit of the stream was now much further away from them than it originally was. Completely unaware, neither of the three of them were able to hold hands or other limbs; it was too late. With another chorus of screams, the travelers were tossed over a short waterfall not more than 15 feet high, throwing them into a still pool of water. All three of them realized that they were in shallow water, only but a few feet deep. They all stood up at once, dazed and horrified at the trip they had just endured. They were now hopelessly lost, unable to discover where they had been going on their way down the treacherous mountain stream. Back to Stories Back to "TAOK&C" Back to Home |