Captain Black Shadow

by Janina Franck

  Everyone nodded. Griffin felt sick. Why was he always chosen for the dangerous parts?

  “But for now, we should take a long break, sleep, and eat,” she added.

  None of the others appeared to have any problems with Selene’s decision. Not happy with his role in this ordeal, he gave in, said nothing, and curled up on the ground after nibbling on a crust of bread.

  “The compass should be somewhere down that crater,” Selene briefed her crew. “We think there will be a tunnel opening on the way down that should lead to a chamber. It’s there that the compass was supposedly left by the last cloudcaptain. Balthasar and Ference did a lot of research on this. The documents are old and not always reliable, but this may be the genuine article. In any case, we don’t exactly have another lead. We’ll climb down with this rope. Once we’re in the tunnel, you can use it to let down provisions in the basket. We’re going to need them.”

  “Mow!”

  “You barely weigh anything Aestiva, you’re fine. You can come down in the basket. We have torches that we can light down there. Any more questions?”

  Griffin shuffled his feet. Yes, he thought. Do I really have to go? But he said nothing. Selene had chosen him. She knew more about this than him, and she seemed set on having him come along for whatever reason.

  Selene fastened the rope around her waist and to her belt before walking to the edge, the rest of the rope held tightly by Ryo, Maco and Joe. She sat down, her feet dangling over the pit. Then, once she had found a foothold, she turned and climbed down. With each step she took, the others let a little more rope follow.

  Griffin watched the procedure anxiously, a queasiness unsettling his insides. After what felt like an eternity, the others pulled the rope back, without Selene attached.

  “Your turn, bud!” Ryo said.

  Griffin tied the rope around his waist in the same manner as Selene and stood at the edge, feeling nauseous.

  “It’ll be fine,” Ryo promised. “We’ll make sure you won’t fall. Just keep your body as close to the wall as you can, and never put weight on a new ledge until you’ve tested it.”

  Griffin nodded. He didn’t want to go. He did not want to go down there at all. What if the rope slipped through his friends’ hands? What if it snapped? He would fall right into the fiery, liquid rock. But Selene had done it and she expected him to follow. Why him? Why not Ryo or Maco?

  He accepted his fate reluctantly and began his descent. He heeded Ryo’s advice and took it slow, constantly looking out for the opening in the wall Selene had mentioned. Farther and farther down he went. The temperature rose, and the eye of fiery magma grew. Griffin was painfully aware of the fact that, should he slip, make even one wrong move, and the rope snapped, he was dead.

  The crater was wide and the walls almost vertical. There were a lot of jagged edges, and the occasional step, but Griffin still slipped off a few times. Luckily, the rope by which his friends were holding him saved him from falling and allowed him to recover his grip.

  “Over here,” Selene shouted. Griffin looked over. She was waving to him from a few feet to his left.

  Somehow, he managed to maneuver over to the entrance and get inside. He took off the rope and watched it disappear back toward the small blue dot above them. Selene was already holding two lit torches. Without a word, she handed one of them to Griffin. After some minutes, the rope came down again with a basket. Selene reached out to take it. The moment she opened it to inspect the contents, Aestiva jumped out. Then she untied the rope and gave it a quick tug, to tell the others to take it back up.

  Without further delay, Griffin and Aestiva followed Selene into the dark of a long, winding tunnel. The flickering flames drew dancing shadows on the walls. They made Griffin feel watched, hunted. He kept as close as he could to the other two. They gave him at least a slight sense of security in this blackness. It wasn’t like the forest. There, everything had been glowing, filling the world with light. Griffin wasn’t used to the darkness anymore. They were travelling downward, the air growing cooler with every step.

  After walking in absolute silence for several hours, with no change in scenery around them, they reached a fork. Two seemingly identical tunnels led into further darkness. Griffin feared they might have to take a chance with one of them, but Selene inspected the walls of both entrances, looking for something. Whatever it was, she found it.

  “That way,” she said with absolute certainty, pointing at the left tunnel.

  “Are you sure?” Griffin asked doubtfully.

  Selene shot him a piercing glare.

  “Yes. Ference told me about this tunnel.”

  Griffin had his doubts about the credibility of Ference’s words in general, but since Selene had decided, he deemed it wiser not to say anything else. Without arguing, he followed his captain down the left path. Unlike before, the tunnel now seemed to lead back up and as it did, it grew warmer. Again, they walked for several hours, until they reached a dead end. It seemed like someone had intentionally blocked the passage with a stone slab that had a small hole at the side, through which golden light was streaming. Selene looked through and nodded with satisfaction.

  “Aestiva,” she smiled. “It’s your turn. You should be able to get through this hole. On the other side there should be some kind of mechanism somewhere. You need to activate it. It should open up this thing for us.’”

  Aestiva licked Griffin’s cheek once more, then proceeded through the hole without further hesitation. After a few minutes, a sudden rumble went through their surroundings, followed by grinding and screeching. Griffin’s first thought was of the volcano erupting and them being doomed down here, where the lava would go first. But then, the stone slab slid into the ceiling and opened up a view like Griffin had never expected to see.

  It was a room, no, a cavern, stretching farther than Griffin would have believed possible. The floor was made of polished volcanic rock, and in the middle was a sort of altar. But the walls… It was a hemisphere of some clear substance, separating the chamber from magma. All around them, the molten rock flowed in swirls of orange and gold. And in it… there were creatures. Beings that looked like sea creatures – whales, sharks, giant squids – swam as black shadows through the magma. It was a magnificent sight that left Griffin without breath, speech, or even thought. There was only this divine beauty of something that should not – could not – be.

  After several minutes of stupefied awe, Griffin managed to pull himself together.

  “How…. How is this possible?” he whispered.

  Selene shook her head, just as mesmerized as he was.

  “I don’t know. But someone went to great trouble to arrange this.”

  Slowly and reverently, she crossed the chamber to the altar. She paused to contemplate for a moment.

  “Stay outside,” she ordered the other two. Aestiva jumped onto Griffin’s shoulder. Anxiously, they watched as Selene first licked her lips, and then carefully picked up something from the altar. She paused again, surveying the chamber critically. Then, her shoulders relaxed, and she joined them in the tunnel.

  “It could’ve been a trap,” Griffin noted.

  Selene nodded.

  “Yes. It could have. But it wasn’t.”

  She held out her open hand, in which lay a compass. It looked old, and the bronze ornaments on the black material had absorbed the glow of the light, which had shone upon it for who knew how long. There was an oval spot free from ornaments, a little hole to attach something. None of the cardinal directions were painted on the face, and the bronze needle rotated in random directions at various intervals.

  Griffin didn’t have to ask if that was it. One look at Selene’s glowing face told him everything he needed to know. They were one step closer to travelling through the Veil. Now it was time to go back and rejoin their friends.

  “Let’s take a break,” Selene said, sitting down.

  “Huh?”

  “I said,
let’s take a break. We need our strength if we want to be able to make it all the way back in one go. And aside from that, we’ll have light here.”

  Griffin could well understand Selene’s reasoning, so they ate and went to rest. As he dozed off, Griffin thought about the creatures in the volcano. Did anyone else know about them? Did Ference know? Both he and Balthasar would kill to be able to study them; that much Griffin was sure of. For how long had they existed? Could they live in water? No answers came to him. Instead, sleep found him and brought him restful dreams for the first time on Ignya.

  When they arrived back at the entrance to the tunnel, the rope was waiting for them. Selene tugged at it twice to see if it was holding and to let the others know they were coming back up. Then, she fastened the basket to it. Aestiva jumped in and after a moment, it was pulled up. When the rope came down again, she sent Griffin ahead. Climbing up was a lot more effort, but less frightening because he constantly felt the tugging of the rope almost pulling him up. When he reached the peak, he was greeted by a phenomenally beautiful sunset. But it was nothing compared to the chamber engulfed in golden light.

  Selene emerged only a few minutes after him.

  “Did you find it?” Ryo asked excitedly.

  Selene merely held up the compass in response. Ryo couldn’t help but force Maco to do a little happy dance with him.

  “Let’s go home,” Selene said, smiling.

  “I fear there may be trouble,” Joe cut in. He pointed toward a shadow rushing toward them through the sky. Ayalon.

  The emerald dragon landed clumsily, almost crashing. Selene rushed to his side.

  He remained crouched to the ground, panting heavily, wide-eyed and trembling.

  “They took her,” he roared. “They took them all!”

  CHAPTER 18

  Griffin felt the blood leave his face and an ice-cold grip take hold of him.

  “Who?” Selene pressed through her lips. Griffin saw the fire gleaming in her eyes, the fury she was holding back, saving it for those who deserved it. Her jaw was pushed forward, her lips only two thin lines. She was trembling with anger, though she tried to suppress it.

  “The Marine. They followed us from Gyan and took her over! They captured everyone–” The dragon’s voice faltered.

  Captured. Not killed. Griffin thought he saw Selene relax just a tiny bit. It was obvious that she was racing through every possibility in her mind. What could they do? They needed to save their friends and get the Bat back. But how? They didn’t even have a ship to leave Ignya. Ayalon wouldn’t be able to carry all of them the entire distance to the next island.

  “Which port?” Selene finally asked.

  “Quienlav, I think.”

  Selene cursed. Even Ryo seemed shocked by the words she used. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself.

  “Alright.” She exhaled. “This is what we do. Ayalon, you need to bring Joe to Gyan.” She turned to Joe. “You need to find someone who has a ship, boat, raft – whatever is available. Use the pretense of still being nobility and already having a crew. Promise them however much is necessary.” She pulled some coins out of a pouch on her belt and handed them to him. “You want to make course for Quienlav for personal reasons. Wait on Gyan for three days. If we don’t make it there in time, come back here with the ship to pick us up. But first, Ayalon, you need to bring the rest of us back down to the tunnel.”

  Nobody argued. Selene had a plan; they were going to follow it. It was all they could do. If they didn’t, they would have no hope left. Griffin wondered how Selene intended to get to Gyan without a ship. She probably wouldn’t ask them to swim there, would she? No, not even Selene would entertain an idea that crazy.

  Once Ayalon had carried them down and left with Joe, Selene guided the group down the tunnel. Griffin wondered if there was something in the golden chamber that would help them. Why else was Selene bringing them there? But when they reached the fork, she took the right tunnel. Unlike the other one, it continued downward. A little way farther ahead, Griffin noticed the sound of rushing water. It started as something like wind in the distance, but the farther they walked, the louder and clearer the sound became. Eventually, the tunnel opened into a spacious cave. In the torchlight, Griffin could see a pool of water. A river streamed out from it, flowing through a large opening on the far side of the cave. It was warm here, warmer than in the golden chamber, but not quite as unbearably hot as at the entrance to the tunnels.

  Selene walked toward the water while the rest of the group fanned out. Griffin moved along the cave wall. The stone beneath their feet had turned to sand somewhere along the way. A little farther ahead, Griffin saw something glinting in the light of his torch. He hurried toward it and noticed someone sitting leaning against the wall, a brooch on their jacket catching the light.

  How could anyone be down here? That meant there must be a second exit, which Selene was probably trying to find. Griffin jogged toward the person, excited to have found somebody who could help them. He stopped just short of the figure, wondering how to ask. They didn’t move. Griffin took another step forward, hoping to get their attention. A hat, just as shabby and old as their clothes, obscured their face.

  “Excuse me,” he said politely.

  The person seemed to be asleep, their chin sunk down to their chest.

  “Excuse me,” he said, a little louder, tapping the person on the shoulder.

  Their arm fell off.

  With a shriek, Griffin stumbled backward, accidentally knocking the person over. Their face was stuck in an eternal, emotionless white grin. Empty holes stared back at Griffin accusingly. He took a deep breath. A skeleton. Someone who had spent their last moments in this place. Why? How had they gotten here?

  Beneath Griffin’s hands, the sand felt a lot harder. He managed to unlock his gaze from the skeleton to look down. Wood. There was wood beneath him. A raft?

  He called the others over.

  Ryo clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Well done, bud!”

  They cleared off the sand, revealing a large raft with vertical boards at the sides, acting as protection against the water. After inspecting it thoroughly, Selene instructed them all to get a little rest. Griffin wondered where the underground river would bring them.

  “Everyone, get on,” Selene ordered. “Tie yourselves together and make sure not to touch the water. It’s scalding hot.”

  This was their only chance. This underground river might lead them into the sea and hopefully closer to Gyan. However, they wouldn’t be able to return here the same way, so if this ended up being a dead end, then it was over for them. Much like it had been for the skeletal owner of the raft. Selene had glanced at the remains, shrugged and not paid them any more attention. But Griffin felt like it kept staring at him. Watching his every move. Constantly judging him. He was glad to be leaving it behind, he thought, as he helped push the raft into the water. He jumped on, joining the others while Ryo gave it one last push before hauling himself on board as well, careful not to fall in.

  Almost instantly, the raft picked up speed. Before Griffin was even sure what was going on, they were already in the tunnel, the walls racing past them. Their torches went out, leaving them in complete darkness. They could only guess what was happening by the way the raft was tilting and jostling. At first, it went in a straight line, not down, not up, just level. But a little later, they started to go in spirals, making it difficult for Griffin to hold on. Only the rope tying him to the others ensured that he didn’t fall off. Occasionally, Selene would call out to confirm everyone was present… and conscious.

  Griffin was soaked. By now the water was cooler, though still quite hot. The raft swayed heavily. Griffin feared they might even capsize if it got any worse. They all lay as still as they could on the raft, holding on with all their might, but after hours without breaks, they were all aching and exhausted. How much longer could they endure it? How long would they have
to? Where did this river lead?

  Griffin was surprised at the water’s taste. It was sweet, not salty like the ocean. Genuinely sweet. Sweeter than just the absence of salt.

  And then the raft was carried… Griffin couldn’t tell. Was it up? Down? Sideways? Or maybe they weren’t moving at all? He couldn’t tell after having been thrown around in the dark for hours.

  “What’s going on?” Ryo asked. “Why have we stopped?”

  “We’re waiting,” Selene replied curtly.

  “For what?”

  “For the geyser to erupt.”

  “Oh.”

  Griffin had heard of geysers. People believed that they were the way water came into the world. They were sup-posed to be huge fountains of hot water shooting suddenly through the ground from seemingly out of nowhere.

  Waiting for a geyser… Selene wanted to shoot them up into the sky using a hot spray of water? But how?

  Griffin didn’t have to wait long to find out. It was Maco who noticed the rise in temperature first. Then, they could hear the water boiling, and suddenly, they were being pressed against the raft, proceeding skyward through the darkness with tremendous velocity. Griffin could only pray that there was no rock ceiling for them to crash into. Panicked, he pressed his eyes shut, even though it made no difference.

  He awoke half-immersed in water, half stranded on some kind of sticky ground. He had a headache, a number of burns from the scalding water, and a growling stomach, but otherwise he seemed to be alright. Carefully, he looked around. He was lying on the shore of a lake, a peaceful, rural place he didn’t recognize. Nearby were parts of the raft that had shattered into pieces, and his friends, who also seemed to be unhurt, give or take a few scald marks. Selene, Maco, and Aestiva were awake, and about to pull Ryo out of the water.