THE PRINCESS OF ÉLEVÉ

The Draken and the Fins

After walking for several hours, Yuri and Calypso emerged from the passageway, and found themselves on the side of a huge body of water. It stretched as far as their eyes could see in all directions, to the left and right, and straight ahead. Far across in the distance, Yuri saw the shore rise sharply to towering cliffs that ringed the lake. It must be very deep, he realized. The soft breeze caused small waves to ripple across the water to the shore he was standing on. It was silent except for the lapping of the water. "So peaceful and lovely," he murmured. "Idyllic, even."

Yuri noticed two small boats on the shore, moored next to them. He also observed another tunnel nearby, almost obscured by brambles, on the edge.

"Calypso, this seems to go on and on. What is it?"

"A huge lake that replaced the mountain thousands of years ago – way before our time."

"What happened to the mountain?"

"It blew up. Water slowly filled in the hole. Now it's surrounded by the remains of the mountain. We've been close to it from the start of our journey."

Yuri looked around and up at the steep cliffs rising rapidly everywhere from the shore. They seemed to go up almost vertically for nearly one kilometer to a ridge that ringed it. He muttered to himself.

"It's a caldera. It must've been a violent mega explosion. I wish Archie were here. This is just like Yellowstone. A giant caldera waiting to explode." He turned back to Calypso. "How big is the lake? Do you know?"

"Over a hundred kilometers long, I think," she replied.

"And half again as wide?"

"Almost. But it's narrow here. And there's an island in the middle."

"What do we do now? Do we have to cross it?"

"I'm afraid so. It'd take too long to go around it. I'm pretty sure we cross here. I wish Pre were with us."

"Well, he's not. Maybe he'll find us, but who knows when we'll see Archie and Pre again. Meanwhile we're on our own." He moved toward the two boats on the shoreline. "I'm glad someone left a couple of boats nearby."

"There are boats like these all around. It's a long tradition – they're for anyone to use."

"It's like our tradition back home. When we ran out of oil, people had to start using bicycles. A group got the idea of leaving bicycles everywhere for anyone to use." While he was talking, Yuri beckoned to Calypso to get into one of the boats. She moved toward the nearest one. "Calypso, seeing these boats reminds me of the riddle."

"What riddle?"

"The one Archie found in the tablets. Pirates capture a ship and line up all the passengers. The pirate chief will toss overboard some of them at random."

"Oh, but I thought only Pre and the princess knew the riddle. What is it?" Yuri remembered some of its details.

"There are five hundred passengers lined up from bow to stern. The pirate chief puts his mate at the bow and tells the captain he can pick any other spot except the first one. The pirate chief has the numbers two to seven in a tankard and says he'll pick one of the numbers at random. If it's a two he'll throw overboard every other one and stop. The rest will live. The higher the number, the more times he goes through the line to toss people over."

"I don't understand. What if the pirate picks three?"

"He throws over every third person and then goes back and throws over every second one of those still left in line."