Chapter 10
"When I say now," he said, "Close the fumarole you were jumping from."
She nodded and walked over to the foot brake, standing next to it. Martin walked up the sandy hill he'd ascended earlier, followed a pathway behind the ledge that had just collapsed, and picked his way across a plateau filled with several thorny vines (and an already closed fumarole). He squeezed through a crack and followed a natural rock bridge down to a pair of fumaroles. Carefully, he opened one of them. If the pressure got too great… well…
"Go ahead Alena!" he shouted, "Close the fumarole!"
The gaseous output from the fumarole he'd just opened increased, indicating that hers was shut and his was the only one open. A few moments later, Alena joined him at the only active fumarole.
"Okay, this is going to be tricky," he explained, "I'm going to demonstrate. Just watch, alright?"
He stepped onto the fumarole, and was instantly lifted into the air by the propulsion. He guided himself carefully over a rockslide and landed hard on his rear on the other side.
"Nothing to it!" he called back. Ow…
A few moments later, he caught Alena from mid-air as she hurtled over the wall as though shot from a catapult. Was I really moving that fast? She looked up at him, and he noticed the slight blush gracing her features.
"Is it just me," she asked, "Or are you catching me an awful lot?"
Martin hastily set her down, backing away from her and looking at their surroundings to hide the faint tinge of pink that had seeped into his face. Stop acting like a teenager, Livan!
They were in some kind of oasis. A pair of waterfalls cascaded down, shielding a pair of caves from the harsh desert sun. The water then ran through a river and plunged down an even steeper waterfall.
Martin's eyes narrowed as he spotted a flash of light from off to one side. A greenish-blue light was hovering above the water just before the large waterfall. He hung his coat on a thorny branch and waded out into the water.
The sparkling light was orbiting above an icon identical to the one that had appeared back on the hub-island. He reached out to touch it, and felt the book at his hip vibrate. He'd check that later. What surprised him was that the light was now gone.
Martin shook his head and climbed from the water. A pair of boomerang-shaped lobsters eyed him with mild interest, but made no move to attack him. Martin returned their glare, but also refused to strike them.
"Alena?" he asked, suddenly realizing she was gone. Crap! Did she go over the falls?!
A few moments of searching revealed Alena hiding in one of the caves. She had jumped into the cave and pushed a basket-like object out into the water, making a bridge. Martin still had to jump to cross a larger gap, but it was nothing. If Martin was grateful for anything at that moment, it was his long legs.
"What are you doing?" he asked, startling Alena as she pressed a button atop some kind of wood construction. Apparently it was a light, seeing as a dim fire began to glow inside, steadily becoming brighter until it lit the cave they were in.
The only other area of interest was a thin passageway, but it was far too dark to see. Martin wished he had a flashlight, but turned his attention to something he'd noticed as he walked toward the glowing light.
It was another Age Book.