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Ayashe’s scream faded away into the
darkness. Amy lunged toward where
the girl had been and almost dropped over the edge of the pit that had swallowed
the Dene girl.
“Ayashe!” she shouted into the
darkness.
For a few seconds there was no sound and then
a faint reply came from below.
“I’m here.
I’m OK, I think.”
Amy gave a sigh of
relief. She called down into
the darkness again. “Where
are you?”
“I’m
floating. I fell into a pool
of water. I don’t think
I fell very far, but I can’t get out.”
“Move around,” Amy
shouted. “See if you can
find something you can climb onto.”
From below came a series of vague
splashes. Amy listened
intently. If Ayashe couldn’t
find a way out she had no idea what to
do. It made no sense for her
to join the girl in the watery pit, but the thought of just leaving her there
was not conscionable.
To her relief a few seconds later she got
a positive reply. “The water
gets shallower farther in.
It’s sort of like a tunnel.
I’m going to follow it and see where it
goes.”
“Thank god,” Amy
breathed. Then she shouted into
the darkness. “Be
careful. You might fall into
another hole.”
“Don’t worry,” Ayashe’s
voice floated up from the darkness.
It was obvious that she was already moving
away. “I’ll go
slowly.”
Amy
smiled. She had a bit of a special
bond with the Dene girl born of the fact that they were both highly skilled
markswomen. They had immediately
connected when they discovered that neither could conclusively outshoot the
other. After that she had gotten
to know the girl better and discovered that beneath her shy exterior there
was the heart of a warrior. After
all, she had taken on highly trained German soldiers when coming to the aid
of Larra and Melissa and had acquitted herself
well. That had been a very gutsy
act for a fifteen-year-old girl and she had further proven her courage by
deciding to leave her northern home and plunge into Larra’s
world.
“I’ve found a way out, I
think.” Ayashe’s voice
jolted her back to the present.
“Should I come down?” Amy
asked.
There was a long silence, then a slow
answer. “I think it will
be alright. But hang onto your
rifle, I dropped mine.”
Amy edged
forward. “I need to have
my head examined,” she muttered.
She was dropping into a dark water-filled hole with no idea of whether
or not there was a way out. If
the cave Ayashe was in was a dead end they would both be trapped, but she
could not just leave the girl in the dark by
herself.
She slung her rifle crosswise across her chest
and took a deep breath. Then
she dropped over the edge.
The shock of the cold water didn’t bother
her much. She was already soaked
through. But the depth of the
water alarmed her. Weighed down
by the weight of her rifle and clothing, she thought that she was never going
to reach the surface. But she
kicked hard and pulled with her arms, finally reaching air just as she thought
her lungs would burst. In pitch
darkness she waited for Ayashe to call and almost immediately the girl’s
voice sounded from her left.
She swam in that direction and found solid
ground under her feet. Gasping
for breath she waded out of the pool and groped before her in the
darkness. She felt something
soft and recognized Ayashe’s hand.
The girl pulled her from the pool and Amy found herself on a rocky
ledge.
“I don’t know where this goes,”
Ayashe said, referring to the cave, “but I followed it for about fifty
steps before coming back. The
rock is quite smooth. I think
that in the past water flowed through here, creating a
tunnel.”
Amy nodded, although in the complete blackness
there was no way that Ayashe could see
her. What impressed her was the
fact that Ayashe had spoken more than one
sentence. The girl was normally
quite laconic and Amy had rarely heard her speak more than a few
words. Except on one
occasion. Shortly after they
had first met, she got into a chat with the girl about the merits of certain
firearms; the case being Ayashe’s preference for her
However, this was not the time to engage in
conversation. They had to find
a way out of the watery cave they had stumbled into and there was only one
way to do that. Together the
two women felt their way through the
darkness. Wet and cold, only
the movement of their bodies kept them warm, but it was slow
going. They were forced to feel
every step of the way in order to make sure that they did not once again
plummet into a hole. To make
doubly sure one woman walked ahead of the other while the other kept a grip
on her belt.
They walked for over an hour or something
like it. In the utter darkness
there was no way to accurately keep track of
time. And then there was a glimmer
of light. Both women’s hopes
rose, but they kept their discipline.
There was no point in rushing toward the light source if it meant
a deadly fall. They held themselves
in check and were rewarded when they entered a dimly lit
cavern.
The light came from high above them, but it
was enough for them to take stock of where they
were. They stood at the bottom
of an immense cavern. Around
them the huge space echoed with the sound of dripping
water.
“How far do you think it is?” Amy
asked looking toward the distant light source.
“About two hundred feet at least,”
Ayashe answered. “And I
don’t think we have much daylight left.”
Amy knew what she
meant. It had been late afternoon
when they had taken refuge behind the
waterfall. If they started climbing
and were caught in the darkness they wouldn’t be able to continue or
to climb back down. They would
have to wait for morning.
Cold and wet, spending the night in the dark
cave was not an inviting prospect, but they didn’t have much
choice. The best they could do
was try to find the driest spot possible and try to survive the
night. If they were lucky maybe
it wouldn’t get too cold.
Neither woman slept that
night. They spent the night perched
on a ledge just above the water, huddled together, and shivering from the
cold. As daylight entered the
cave they were almost too cold to move, but they forced themselves to get
on with the task.
Amy went first, taking her time and testing
every hand and foot hold.
Fortunately the climb was hard
work. It took their mind off
the cold and soon had them sweating from
exertion. By
With mutual gasps of relief Amy and Ayashe
spilled out onto a broad terrace.
Below them the rainforest stretched as far as they could see in every
direction, but their eyes focused on just one
point. A mile or so away smoke
rose into the air. They knew
what that meant. It was the place
where they had set up camp and which the Japanese now
occupied. They rested for a few
minutes and then resolutely set out toward the
camp. If their companions were
still alive there was a good chance that the Japanese had taken them
prisoner. They would have to
do something about that.
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