The shock of ice cold water soaking through her clothes made Marguerite feel more awake than she had in days. With a splash the two explorers had landed in a great big whirl pool half a mile down a deep hole in the ground, where they had been standing just moments before.
It had all happened so fast that Marguerite was in shock initially. Looking up, she could only see the tops of the trees that surrounded the clearing, shading the deep crevice below from light. Squinting through the dim light she could make out the outline of Roxton's head and shoulders bobbing in the water near the edge of the pool.
"Roxton?" she cried, her voice harsh with emotion and fear.
"Marguerite, are you alright?" He asked her, with concern masking every syllable. Marguerite was just about to respond when the current became stronger and she found herself being pulled towards the centre of the pool.
"Argh!" With all the determination she could muster, Marguerite tried to swim to Roxton. Yet, the current only became stronger the harder she fought against it.
"Marguerite!" He cried, as he tried to swim toward her. Roxton would gladly lay down his life for this woman, any day, no matter what and they were both well aware of this. But it seemed that no matter how fiercely he fought the current to get to her, that she was pulled further and further away from him, toward the centre of the pool.
"Here Marguerite, grab my hand!" he yelled. Yet he could not reach her as she was pulled into the centre of the pool. Fear lined the features of Marguerite's beautiful face as she cried out once more. Panic engulfed Roxton as the brunette was pulled beneath the surface of the water.
"MARGUERITE!" He cried in anguish as she vanished out of sight. Then before he could utter another syllable, he too was pulled beneath the surface.
The pressure of the water as it pushed the two explorers under was unbearable, compressing the air from their lungs as they tumbled deeper and deeper into the dark abyss. It seemed to go on forever, as if time had stopped altogether in this underwater world they had tumbled into. Then suddenly the pressure vanished.
They were still underwater, yet they could now see one another as daylight filtered through the water from above. Instinctively they both swam toward the surface, Marguerite, breaking through the water first, followed shortly after by Roxton.
They both bobbed on the surface of the water and began treading water to keep themselves afloat. Marguerite was gasping desperately for breath, making up for their temporary loss of oxygen. Roxton glanced worriedly at her and then scanned his surroundings. In front of them all he could see was a vast ocean, stretching on for miles. Yet in the opposite direction he could just make out a shore line. However, closer to them (about four miles in the distance) and adjoined to the shore in the distance was what appeared to be a very tall, sheer cliff face.
He turned his attention on Marguerite, who looked panic stricken and exhausted at the same time. Her hair, now wet after being under water, clung to her clothes and face. She was still struggling for breath, but the urgency had gone, which contented Roxton some what. Her expression however, was unfathomable.
"Marguerite," he said swimming closer to her "are you alright?"
"Fine," she replied in a quiet voice that worried the handsome hunter "but how are we going to get out of here? And, where are we?"
He could hear the panic rising in her voice and see it in the whites of her eyes.
"It seems as if we've been swept out to the middle of the ocean. I can't tell whereabouts we are, but my guess is that the shore over there must be some unexplored corner of the plateau." Hearing her exasperated sigh, he continued "Look the cliff face will be too dangerous for us to attempt to climb. The shore's our best bet."
Then as he turned their bodies in the correct direction, he was stunned by the look of pessimism on Marguerite's face.
"Is that supposed to be funny Roxton? The shore is miles away, we will never make it that far." She said bitterly.
Feeling anger and survival instincts rising in his throat, he replied vehemently
"Well what do you propose then? We just wait here until we run out of energy and drown? Or perhaps a great big fish will come and eat us for lunch? Or even better…" But he cut off when he caught a glance at the look on her face.
"Let's just get on with it then, John." She replied, too exhausted to bicker.
They set off towards the shore, side by side. However, the tension between them was like two North poles of a magnet forced together.
Ten minutes later they still seemed no closer to the shore and it began to feel as if they were wading through treacle. Each stroke became more difficult than the last, their energy waning rapidly as time ticked by. Placing a hand on Marguerite's upper arm, Roxton signalled for them to stop, too out of breath to speak. Both of the explorers took a respite from their struggle, gasping for breath. However, from the moment they stopped the water began to pull them backwards, towards the place where they had started.
"John…" Marguerite glanced at him uneasily.
"What the…" Was all the hunter said, as he looked around them and saw that all the water within a 5 metre radius of where they had started was being drawn back to that very spot. From above, it looked like a current was drawing the edges of a circle towards its centre, whilst the rest of the ocean remained completely unaffected by the apparent phenomenon.
The two explorers turned to face each other in exasperation.
"John, what are we going to do?"
"We should try again, perhaps the tide has died down", he said, with as much conviction as he could muster. With an uneasy nod of assent from Marguerite the two explorers set off again. Yet, as they began to reach the same point again they could feel the current pulling them back. Yet this time while Roxton fought even harder, Marguerite, completely exhausted, let the water overpower her. Roxton however, noticing her surrender, threw out his arm to grab hers and pull her close to him.
Staring deep into her eyes, he vowed vehemently "We are not going to die today!" He then continued to fight the current, pulling Marguerite behind him. But yet again, their efforts came to nothing, and they clung to each other as they were drawn back.
Defeat lined every feature of Marguerite's face. She was exhausted, and her sodden wet clothes were making it increasingly difficult to stay afloat. She gazed unseeingly into the distance. The sky was beginning to darken and inhabit its usual evening chill. At the beginning of the day Marguerite had imagined spending the evening reading on the balcony, basking in the last rays of sunlight as dusk settled over the Plateau. Not in her wildest imagination had she thought she'd spend the evening shivering in the middle of the ocean, God only knows where waiting to drown. She had always had faith in Roxton, yet this time she knew there was no way out, no way to save them. And she was sorry for this, sorry for what could have been, yet now would never be.
Roxton felt numb as he was overcome with defeat. He had failed the woman he cared about more than anything in the world. He watched her as she tread water, desperately trying to stay afloat. She was shivering now, her lips taking on a slight blue tint. He could see how every movement of her body was a trial. She had appeared terribly exhausted even before they were plunged to this God forsaken corner of the Plateau. Darkness had now fallen and the moon had appeared, a great and ominous glow in the night sky.
Her desperation growing and panic rising, Marguerite said in a shaking voice "Roxton, we're going to die aren't we?"
"We don't know that Marguerite. Someone might come for us, a boat or..or…"
"Don't Roxton…" she replied, shaking her head slowy, becoming more morose by the second, "This is where it ends." At that, the corners of her mouth turned down. In a gesture of comfort, for he could do no more, the hunter took one of her hands in his as they continued to tread water.
"I'm sorry Marguerite, for everything. I shouldn't have been so insistent with you earlier..." But when she didn't reply he noticed that her eyes had begun to drift shut, and her body stop fighting as the water began to pull her down.
"Marguerite! Marguerite! Don't you do this to me, fight!" He yelled gruffly as he struggled to keep her above the surface of the water. Pulling her close he found that she was still breathing, yet barely conscious. Her eyelids fluttered slightly revealing her bewitching silvery eyes, yet all she did is moan lightly in her struggle to stay conscious. At that point the water began to pull her in, down beneath the surface. Roxton, seeing this nerving phenomenon grabbed her around the waist, and used his legs to kick them away from that part of the water. However, the current drawing them downward just became even stronger, ripping Marguerite from his arms and taking her deep into the murky water below.
"Marguerite! NO!" Taking a deep breath he dove down after her, letting the water pull him down now. Searching desperately for his beloved, he caught a glimpse of her ivory blouse nearing a dark crevice at the bottom of the sea bed, at least 50 metres down. In his haste to reach her, what he didn't notice however, was the way the sea bed was not lined with plants and sand, but vast expanses of shimmering grey rock.
He pushed himself to swim faster and fight the exhaustion which threatened to overwhelm him. However, he was quickly running out of oxygen and the current was still drawing him down. By this point his lungs were burning for oxygen, yet all he could think about was Marguerite: she can't die alone. So he fought until stars began to cloud his vision and the whole world turned black.