"Well, here we are. The Nai Rub Caves," said Savana in a voice that was meant to sound jaunty but didn't quite make it.
Melissa looked at the yawning black mouth in front of them and gulped. While she hadn't exactly liked the sound of the caves when Savana had described them, she had reasoned that it was manageable and could be dealt with. Now that she was here she wasn't so sure. She turned around in the saddle and looked up at the sky. The sun was sinking steadily toward the horizon, shrouded in a haze of red.
"Better go in," she said, nudging Chesa forward. Harry and Savana followed. Almost immediately they were forced to dismount as the sloping cave ceiling knocked on their heads.
"Tie them up near the entrance," said Savana. "They'll be all right."
Melissa extracted the book and the rings from her belongings and pecked Chesa goodbye. She led the way out of the anterior cave into the tunnels beyond. Ten strides in Savana's globe light showed up a fork branching away in three directions. Savana stopped and seemed to freeze, eyes closed and head slightly cocked. Melissa felt something feather light surround and then brush past her. She realized Savana had sent out a wave of magic to detect the altar's presence, something Melissa's magician senses had been able to detect. Savana opened her eyes and set off down the left hand fork. Melissa and Harry hurried after her, Harry cursing as his head constantly knocked against the outcroppings of rocks.
They soon came to a place where the passage branched off to the right. Savana took them down this passage. Several times they came to these forks and Savana always unhesitantly chose the east most one. As they progressed on the tunnels grew more circuitous and wound down deeper into the earth. Melissa felt the claustrophobia return, but this time much stronger. She felt the panic rising like bile and tried to squash it down. But the awareness of the millions of tons of earth above her head beat it aside and attacked her with a vengeance. She had been dropping back and now she stopped, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. The others were getting further ahead and she needed to catch up with them but her feet had a mind of their own, staying firmly clamped upon the ground. Savana continued on, oblivious, but Harry stopped and turned around.
"What's wrong?" he called. "C'mon!"
Melissa managed a hoarse "I can't move."
Concern clouded Harry's face and he ran back to her. Savana, alerted by the echo of his footfalls, turned around.
"Why have you stopped?" she said. "We won't make the deadline."
The realization that the sun was almost gone broke through Melissa's paralysis. She stumbled forward into Harry.
"What's wrong?" he said, clasping her upper arms.
"I hate confined spaces," she replied. His eyes dawned with realization.
"Oh. Come on. I'll help you." He guided her forward, tugging her arms gently.
Savana watched them advance with a half-smug, half-exasperated smile. "Well, lovebirds, could you please hurry up? It's only a little further."
Melissa brightened at the news and strode forward more confidently. A little more walking and the tiny passageway opened up into a cavernous hall carved into the rock. Melissa and Harry's mouths fell open and even Savana seemed to lose her composure. The roof of the cave curved up into a blackness which Savana's bright globe light couldn't penetrate. The tips of stalactites, formed over thousands of years, penetrated out of the gloom.
Stalagmites as tall as three men rose up thickly from the rock floor like a forest of needles. Melissa, Harry and Savana wound their way carefully through the spires. Against the far wall of the cave, near the center was a curious, unadorned stone table. It was a waist high slab of grey rock and seemed to have sprung up from the floor along with all the stalagmites.
"That's the altar," said Melissa, trying to contain her excitement. She knew she was only minutes away from seeing her father. She fumbled inside her pockets for the book and rings. Savana took them. The globe light floated down close to her head as she read the passage in the book. Then she looked up and silently held out her hand to Melissa. Melissa took it, knowing what she had to do. She reached inside for her well of power and channeled it out of her body into Savana's arm. Savana closed her eyes and half-consciously held out her other hand toward the altar. Melissa waited with mounting excitement and bated breath…then frowned in puzzlement as nothing happened. She jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Harry whispered. "Didn't it work?"
"I don't know," Melissa whispered back. She looked at Savana. The Sachakan had opened her eyes and answered Melissa's questioning look with a shrug.
"I don't know what's wrong," she said. "I did-"
'-a perfect summons," finished a booming voice behind them.
Melissa's body seized up with shock. Harry whirled around, pulling out his dagger with lightning speed.
Savana glared into the far corners of the cavern. "What the heck-?" she muttered on not seeing anything.
"Who's there?" Melissa called out, in a far bolder voice than what she felt.
The voice replied, making her start. "Since you summoned me, you should know."
"Who are you?" Savana said, sounding unnerved. The voice chuckled, a deep, throaty rumble that seemed to emanate from the walls around them.
"Where are you hiding?" exclaimed Harry.
"You can't see me because I don't have a form," came the reply.
"Don't have a form-what're you-" spluttered Harry. It was Melissa who realized what was going on.
"Great," she said wryly. "The King of Spirits has a sense of humour."
