The Enchantments: Book 3 - The Key of Sorcen

Chapter 36: Gold

Simeneon had no idea how long she had been falling only that when she did land it was a warm gooey spot that took her breath away. She heard a few moments later Giles land with a large splat and a groan.

The smell coming from the liquid at her hands was disgusting and she had to take in breaths through her mouth to keep herself from throwing up around her. The sounds around were so noisy that she couldn't tell if Giles had said something or not.

"What the heck is this stuff?" Giles yelled with disgust as he brought his hands up into the dim light to try and see what smelt so bad.

Simeneon pulled herself up to a standing position.

"From what I can tell it's... it's..." she brought her hands to her face and sniffed.

"-What!" he screamed

"Uh... it's... oh my gosh..."

"-What!!"

"It's bat guano!" She yelled.

"Guano?"

"Bat poop!!"

With the light being muted she could not see the full effect her words had on him. If she did she would have seen him rubbing his hands vigorously against the untouched parts of his pants trying in vain to get the substance off, but there was just so much of it that he would have driven himself nuts if he didn't stop.

Simeneon could feel the bile start to come up her throat again as she thought of the foot of bat guano below her. She closed her eyes and took in another deep breath as she tried to get the image from her head. By the time she opened her eyes again her vision had adjusted to the dimness but unfortunately not her ears.

The incredible roar was deafening. In front of her stood a large retaining wall and from what she could tell it was about three feet high and wrapped around the large cavern. The room was oval and the ceiling curved to make it look like a giant globe. Around the outside the walls were soaked with a liquid she didn't even want to know about. As she trudged over to the edge of the retaining wall she looked over and saw a most remarkable sight. In the weak light, something far below was moving extremely quickly.

"What is it?" She asked above the noise.

"It's a river. The mountains have many underground rivers rushing through them." He said in her ear.

"Where do they go?" She asked.

"They usually come out in the form of a waterfall after it's detoured throughout the mountain."

"Remind me never to find out." She yelled.

Giles moved away slowly trying to get a glimpse of what was around them. He was fascinated with the structure and for a few moments, he forgot about the filth below his feet. Even though the sound that erupted from the river below and the waste he stood in made things uncomfortable the scope of the cavern was magnificent.

His gaze swept around the exterior of the oval walls staring at the intricate detail of the many glyphs that adorned the rocky surface. They were incredible; he just wished he knew what they meant.

"There's a warning in those words on the wall, I just know it!" He yelled over the noise.

Simeneon seemed to brighten at that, she rushed back to her bag and pulled it from the muck.

"Owwww..." She whispered with disgust then brought her bag over to where Giles was standing.

Giles looked at her curiously.