Fear the Drowning Deep(77)
“I’m coming!” The ceiling of the cave rose after a few steps, allowing me room to stand. The stench of decay was as disorienting as the lack of light outside the narrow halo of my lantern. My foot grazed a cluster of barnacles, and my stomach squirmed.
“Just my foul luck.” As I stumbled down the narrow passage, frantic breathing filled my ears. “Liss?”
“Bridey! Right here!” A hand swiped at my leg from the shadows, causing me to miss a step. I flapped my arms, the lantern bobbing wildly, but my feet found purchase in a pile of something soft, like rotten logs.
“W-watch your step,” Liss stammered. “There are bones in the corners.”
“Bones?” I leaped back, splashing myself with chill water.
“Get me out of here!” Liss wailed, her cry echoing off the cavern walls.
“Take my hand.” I reached out, trying to take in the state of her. Liss sobbed harder as my fingers closed over her wrist. “Can you walk? I’ve got a boat at the entrance, but we need to hurry. The storm is getting worse.”
Liss sniffled. “I think my leg is broken. The beast—” She shuddered. “When I first heard your voice, I thought it was back. Making me imagine things again.”
I remembered what Morag had told me. “Serpents are powerful illusionists.” But my sister’s hand clutching mine was too warm and familiar to be a trick. I pressed my fingers into her wrist to find her pulse, reassured by its faint rhythm.
Manannán had conjuring powers just like the serpent. It was rumored he could make one man appear as one hundred to any enemies who dared approach the Isle. Perhaps, if I asked nicely, he would aid me in confusing the serpent long enough for me to toss the poison into its mouth. Or perhaps he’d send me the magical red javelin he kept at the prow of his boat to spear his attackers.
Another cry from Liss drew me back to the present moment. “Listen, you’ll have to try walking if you want to get out of here. I don’t think I can carry you. Use your good leg and lean on me as much as you need to, all right?”
We crept along the short passage, occasionally banging into the walls or stepping on shells despite the lantern’s aid. When a fainter shade of darkness appeared ahead of us, I shouldered most of Liss’s weight and hurried to the mouth of the cave. The boat was right where I’d left it, paddles and all.
With a groan, I heaved Liss over the side and scrambled in behind her.
The rain, which had been a nuisance before, now felt wonderfully refreshing. I collapsed on the boat floor beside the bucket of crabs, giggling, while my ashen-faced sister stared. The greenish rainwater now reached halfway up the outside of the poison jar, signaling the loss of more precious time. But I had rescued Liss, and we were free of the dark, decaying-bone cave. That was plenty of cause for giddiness.
“Let’s go,” I said, reining in my giggles at last. I reached for the paddles, my gaze falling on Liss’s outstretched legs. Her skirt hung in tatters, and one of her legs bent at an unnatural angle. Needlelike punctures surrounded the break in her left leg, and the rain had washed away traces of old blood. She must have used scraps of her skirt to staunch the bleeding.
I swallowed hard, fighting a wave of nausea. No doubt Liss could feel how serious the wound was, and there was no point in alarming her more by mentioning it.
“Hang on, Liss.” I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “We’ll send for a doctor as soon as we’re back on land.”
Liss nodded, her face pale and pinched as she toyed with a string around her neck. Her Bollan Cross.
“I was on the way to Martyn’s, and I saw him in the waves. He was shouting for help,” Liss said, apparently taking no notice of my struggle to push the boat back into the water.
“I swam out to rescue him because it looked like something was trying to pull him under. And when I got to the spot where the water turns from green to blue, he vanished.” Her eyes were unfocused, her breathing labored. “The serpent grabbed me, and that’s when it—”
I thought she might faint, but she pressed her lips together and drew a breath through her nose. When she continued her story, her voice was steady. “It broke my leg. Then it dragged me to that awful cave. And even though it took me underwater, I could still breathe.” She closed her fist around the small bone on the end of her necklace. “This thing is really magic, isn’t it?”
I forced a smile, hoping to comfort her. “It must be. Pray you never need it again.” As I eased the boat back into the misty sea, water continued to rise in the hull. It crept partway up my calves, demanding not to be ignored.
“See that bucket?” I jerked my head toward it, unable to take my hands from the paddles as the waves surged higher. “I need you to dump those crabs in the ocean and start scooping the water out of the boat.”
“I can’t reach it.” Liss’s eyes shone with tears.
Of course she couldn’t, not with her broken leg. I hooked my right leg around the bucket, drawing it closer, then kicked it toward Liss. “How about now?”
The sound of angry pincers, followed by a gigantic splash, was a welcome reply, signaling that Liss had grabbed the bucket at last.
The farther from the shallows I paddled, the faster the wind rushed around us. Water crashed against the prow, sending a furious spray into our faces. It was all I could do to keep from losing one of the paddles, but at least I put a safe distance between us and the rocky shore.