“It’s the branch from the Whitgami,” Rayne murmured. He moved forward and lifted up his flashlight, moving it across the wide swath of fast-moving, dark water.
“What? Isn’t that the river we crossed to enter Brightspire?” Eno asked.
“Yes, while we were doing research in the library, I encountered some old stories that a branch of the Whitgami River ran under the city of Brightspire, but I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting anything quite this large.”
“What now? Cross it?” Drayce inquired.
Caelan joined Rayne at the water’s edge, cautious of the slick rocks and helped illuminate as much of the other side of the river as they could. Their lights just barely reached the other bank, but nothing beyond that.
“There’s no proof that Safa and any soldiers with her crossed it,” Eno said. He moved along the edge to the west. “There are a couple of scrapes here along the rocks. I think they followed the water.”
Rayne turned toward Caelan. “Are you getting any sense of the godstone?”
He shook his head, his teeth clenched at the reminder of the pinpricks. He drew more of Tula’s power about him like a protective cloak. “Nothing distinct. It’s all one big cloud.”
“The God of Wisdom has been down in the caves a long time, his energy soaking into the rocks and then the soil.” Rayne grunted. “It’s no wonder you can feel him throughout the entire city.”
Kaes and Caris had both been underground, but the Wind Stone had an opening to the world through the lighthouse, while Caris had been out in the middle of nowhere on the Isle of Stone. No one was around to notice the presence of her power until Caelan showed up.
“Let’s follow the river and see where it leads us,” Caelan decided, motioning for Eno to continue in the direction he was heading. “And keep your distance from the water.”
“Why? Did you see something?” Drayce asked, moving several feet away from the riverbank.
“No.” Caelan left it at that. It wasn’t so much that he saw anything moving with the black waves, but a feeling that rose up in his chest. From the stairs to the cave, there had been a sense that they were utterly alone in the world. But the moment they reached the edge of the river, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. And whatever it was, that thing was very excited to have them there.
Excited in a teeth and claws kind of way.
Caelan lifted his watch up to the beam from his flashlight to find they’d been walking for close to a few hours. He was beginning to think they should have packed more provisions. He wasn’t sure how long they’d walked through Mount Langbo before encountering the Death Stone, but this was already feeling longer. They had to have crossed all of Brightspire by now and be nearing the edge of Shallow Glass Lake. Unless they were now under the lake…
A shiver ran through Caelan, and he shoved the thought aside. He did not want to be under the lake. He didn’t want to be underground and in the fucking dark any longer. Rolling his shoulders, he tried to loosen the muscles that felt impossibly tight. His entire body was a spring that had been coiled too tight for too long. He was ready to snap if they didn’t find the godstone or even Safa soon.
“Stop!” Eno commanded in a harsh whisper. “Cover your flashlights!”
Caelan immediate placed his hand over the light with his left hand while holding his right out to his side, ready to summon his sword.
But the cave didn’t turn pitch black as he’d expected. A faint glow of light flickered past the next bend in the cave and gilded the black waves of the river. They were close to their destination at last, or at the very least, where Safa had stopped with her soldiers.
“Slowly. Eno and Adrian lights only,” Caelan commanded. It made it a little harder to move in the darkness, but he didn’t want them giving away their approach too soon.
They hurried off, trying to keep their steps as quiet as possible while hoping the sound of the water covered their movements. Eno remained in the lead with Adrian nearly on his heels. Drayce and Rayne closed ranks on either side of Caelan, ready to protect him.
“What the…” Adrian exhaled as they reached the turn and peered around the ridge of rocks shielding them from view.
Caelan inched closer and stared at the scene before them, but he had nothing more intelligent to add. He’d expected to see more cave with maybe torches and a giant canary-yellow godstone in the center.
What he got was a small town.
Torches and bowls filled with oil flickered brightly, pushing back the darkness to reveal an old wooden bridge that spanned the river. On the other side of the bank, there were wooden buildings that looked more like crumbling warehouses. There were a handful of smaller buildings, all crudely made and appearing as if they’d been down in the cave for several decades at the very least.
The only thing that appeared relatively new or even maintained was the large dock on the river. The sturdy creation had two motorized pontoon boats tied to it along with a sizable fishing boat.
How…how was this even possible?
Clearly the prime minister’s office wasn’t the only entrance to the caves, but where did the river lead? Did it climb to the surface past the Shallow Glass Lake to what…reach the ocean?
This didn’t make any sense.
Caelan let his eyes skim over the town again, only to have them finally snag on what he’d been searching for. The Light Stone.