Witches in Training (#2 in the Witches Trilogy) [rewrites ongoing]

Chapter Twenty-Three: Giants' Valley

VINNI

TWO DAYS PREVIOUSLY

Melbourne leads us directly to the rugged Giants' Valley, where, apparently, rocks reign supreme. It is a little less than a canyon, really, soaring high above our heads and casting everything but a thin strip in the middle in shadow. The cool is relieving-it's unusually hot today, and we've been walking/flying for five hours straight. There's endless dirt and rock ahead of us, and it's probably another twelve, fourteen kilometres to the parallel cliff face.

"How long is this range?" Wein asks after we pass our ten thousandth rocky formation that juts out from the cliffside and forces us to make our way around it.

"Let me put it this way. At this speed... it'd take us another week of travelling non-stop to get to the end."

"ARE YOU INSANE?"

"We're not going all the way to the end." Mel rolls her eyes. "Don't worry. Listen, you can hear the river already!"

"What riv-oh." The faint sound of a rushing river enters my ears. "It's hardly anything, it must be tiny."

Mel stops in her tracks, looks at me, and starts laughing like a madwoman. "Vinni, you're hilarious!" She breaks out into peals of laughter. "It's an hour away."

"WHAT?"

"It's a Giants' river! It's huge!"

"Er-how huge, exactly?"

"The waterfall is a bit smaller than Niagara Falls-and the river is twice the size of the Nile."

"WHAT?"

"What?"

"MEL! How do you expect us to get across that?"

"We don't need to! We're meeting someone there."

"Another hour?" I infer hopefully.

"Yep."

"Good!" I switch to flying, which is easier and less energy-expending, but there are so many weird protrusions in the rock face at flying level that I have to swerve like mad. I go up as high as I can, halfway up the canyon, and strain my eyes for a glimpse of the waterfall. I see a white mist coating the horizon and call it down. 

"It's nearer than I thought." Mel yells back up at me. "Not far more!"

Mel's idea of 'not far' is very different from everyone else's. I fly slightly ahead of my friends, eager to see the river. It doesn't disappoint.

The river is a fantastic sight. I've visited both Niagara and the Nile, but the Giants' river tops everything. A huge churning cascade of water bursts out from the rock face, showering me with icy-cold spray, and smashes into a river that I can't see the end of. I seem to remember the entire canyon being kilometres wide, but it's not until it dips down into a rushing, swirling water that I realise how huge the Giants' Valley exactly is. The river fills the whole canyon, fourteen kilometres wide and goodness knows how deep. The roaring sound is deafening, and the air is dense with the water spray. 

My friends appear as I drop down as near as I dare to the water, right at the edge of the mini-cliff that drops into the river. They are all awestruck by the tremendous wonder. The clear white-crested, water races along its magnificent course, winding down the canyon out of sight. The cold spray is refreshing for the eleven girls pouring with sweat and tired out from their journey.

"THIS IS WHERE I ARRANGED TO MEET HIM!" Mel shouts, straining to make herself heard over the deafening thunder of the waterfall.

"WHO?" A few of us yell back.