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She landed in the dark river with a splash. The water was colder than she had expected—significantly more so than the sunny bank where she had taken her dip earlier that morning. Bates easily yanked her back up to the surface.
He grinned at her as she spluttered—the utter cad.
“I was perfectly capable of getting into the water myself,” Ellie protested darkly.
“Where’s the fun in that?” he replied. “Come on.”
Without waiting for a further reply, he pushed through the river toward the narrow opening of the tunnel.
The water rose to Ellie’s chin, forcing her to use her arms to pull herself forward.
“Shouldn’t we at least have taken off our boots?” she protested as she joined him under the arch that held the petroglyph.
“Not unless you wanna risk cutting your foot open,” Bates replied. “Here—there’s a step up and it gets a bit shallower.”
He reached down to grip her arm and half-hauled her the rest of the way into the tunnel. Ellie scrambled up the wet, slippery slope and awkwardly regained her footing. The water now only came as high as her ribcage. The current had softened.
Bates stood close to her. Water dripped down his face from his soaked hair. The limited halo of the lamp cast an intimate circle of pale light around them.
“Are you ready for this?” His tone was oddly serious.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ellie retorted.
“Never mind.” He shook his head a bit grimly and led them on.
Black walls rose up to either side, glistening with moisture. The ground beneath Ellie’s feet gradually shallowed until she was wading through water that sloshed at her thighs.
The space around her opened up into a larger cavern dominated by a still, silent pool. The glow of the lantern penetrated only so far, leaving the extent of the space cloaked in shadows. The water she stood in was achingly clear. Little eddies of crayfish darted around her boots and minnows wriggled as they investigated the cuffs of her borrowed trousers.
The lake was punctuated by the smooth pillars of stalagmites, some of which rose to meld with the ceiling roughly twenty feet overhead. To her left, a rippling bridal veil of layered limestone descended almost all the way to the ground, the immense bulk of it impossibly suspended in the air.
The space looked like a fairy Atlantis emerging from the silent waters.
Ellie’s breath rose with excitement.
“Which way should we go?” she asked.
Bates frowned as he examined the bed of the lake.
“How about we follow the breadcrumbs?” he replied.
“Breadcrumbs?” Ellie echoed, confused.
Bates pointed down through the water to where little flakes of some dark material rested on the sand under the surface. They formed a path that led toward the nearer shore.
Ellie dropped to a crouch for a better look.
“Are those… charcoal deposits?” she asked wonderingly.
“Pine torches, probably,” Bates replied. “They flake off little pieces as they burn.”
Alarm burst through her.
“Bates, we are standing on part of the archaeological record!” she burst out.
“How else do you propose we get around?” he replied, cocking an eyebrow at her as he strode forward. “Watch out for spiders.”
He sounded as though the notion actually intimidated him.
