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I stopped walking and waited.
A few seconds passed before a narrow corridor started to appear in the middle of the river, pushing away the water, very slowly.
Lady Cara’s illusion prevented me from seeing the others, but I did not have to witness it to know what was happening. Igraine had explained to us that there would be a rune around here somewhere, hidden by the river by a water elemental to allow others to open the path even when they were away.
Igraine had just pushed it.
And the water corridor would lead us into the secret resistance hideout where we would be meeting the others.
The sound of the river changed, but it was a slight enough change that I would not have noticed it if I hadn’t been watching it part.
When the corridor was wide enough for us to enter one by one, the water stopped moving.
Someone shifted on her feet beside me.
“Keep the illusion on us,” Igraine said to Lady Cara. “I can’t tell for sure if the location is compromised.”
“I will,” Lady Cara replied.
“Follow me,” Igraine said, even though we could not see her.
But there was only one path she could have taken. The narrow corridor leading into the depths of the river was dark. Lady Cara grabbed my arm and I knew she had done the same to Aislinn. We started walking into the darkness.
The passage submerged as we walked, the water closing us off from the night sky. It was dark under the river, but there was only one way to go.
“Turning right!” Igraine said as the entrance filled with water. “We will walk for a bit but it’s close.”
I was walking behind them, I realized as the entrance closed. As though it knew exactly where I was, the water stopped right before it reached me, but we were completely submerged as the entrance closed up.
Her voice echoed off the water walls, irking me a bit in the darkness. Lady Cara’s light crafting made me feel as though I was all alone; her hand clutching my arm was the only evidence contrary to that.
Despite Igraine’s warning, I missed the turn and walked into the water wall before Lady Cara could stop me. But oddly, it did not feel wet at all. It felt like I’d just walked into a regular wall.
I recuperated quickly as Lady Cara dragged me away. I wasn’t even sure if she’d noticed what had happened since no sound came of me crashing into the water wall, which was more painful than I would have hoped. I rubbed my temple as I let Lady Cara direct me.
We took a right and kept walking. After a while, Lady Cara lifted the illusion and the three of them appeared around me at once. Aislinn walked right behind Igraine and I was behind Lady Cara.
The underwater walk was slightly underwhelming. The river was too dark to see anything, and the ground beneath our feet was dry as though water had not touched it for centuries. When we reached a small chamber made of water, Lady Cara released my hand and we paused.
“I can’t see a thing,” I said.
“We can’t risk light,” Igraine replied. “It travels in water and someone might see it.”
“Our voices won’t carry off though,” Aislinn said. “This is a good meeting spot. I never knew it even existed.”
“It’s a last resort since it can only be used at night. The river isn’t deep enough to hide us in sunlight,” Igraine said. “The others should arrive shortly. I sent the message marked as urgent.”
“Will they come?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Igraine replied. “They might be too scared.”
“I don’t understand what changed,” I said.
“Lord Aster knew the identity of a lot of members,” Aislinn explained. “If they have him, they’ll pry it out of him soon.”
“But wasn’t that always a possibility?” I asked, trying to combat the guilt rising in me.
“It was. And we had a plan for it. He should have killed himself upon capture,” Igraine said. “I have no idea why he didn’t.”
