was back in the currents, clinging to Ali. Using all the strength in my body, I kicked to the surface. Around us, the river had turned into white foam. No up and no down. Just spinning, just froth.
It was too late.
No matter what I did, we were going to go over the edge. I felt Ali’s fingers tighten on mine, and I wrapped my arm more tightly around her. The sound of the water and the sound of thunderclaps deafened me as we were swept over the lip and dropped into an abyss.
Something like fear hammered on the inside of my skull.
Weightless, I couldn’t see anything but bubbles as we twisted around and around, falling. I gripped Ali as tightly as she was holding me.
We plunged faster through the water until we hit the bottom in a deafening crush of spray and churning water.
The impact was bruising. We were immediately thrust under, darkness closing around us. I spun upside down, disoriented, kicking and fighting, trying to make my way to the surface.
At last, I broke free, but the river had torn Ali from my grasp.
My thoughts went nearly blank with panic, and I craned my neck to look for her silver hair. But I saw only churning foam, and the river was still carrying me. Slick stone arched above me as the current pulled me into a cavern. Narrowing rapidly, the river became a thunderous torrent.
I tried to call Ali to me, forgetting for a moment that I had no voice.
Worse came as the cave walls closed in and darkness descended. I could barely tell up from down, much less left from right. Kicking and thrashing took all my energy as I fought to stay at the surface.
It was only when the water began to slow that I could swim out of the main current, and found myself drifting in an eddy. I dove under the water again, kicking my legs, swimming toward what I hoped was a shallower part of the underground river.
It was pitch black. I growled in frustration, and the noise echoed eerily in the darkness.
At last, my foot touched the bottom. Slimy river stones. I tried to stand, nearly slipping. I growled again, louder this time, but I heard no answer.
A sharp ache was splitting my chest open, but I wouldn’t admit to myself that I’d lost her.
And yet, apart from the sound of lapping water, only silence greeted me.
Chapter 34
Ali
I floated in the darkness, my Night Elf eyes adjusting. The rapids had slowed, and the water expanded into an underground lake. Here, a gray stone ceiling arched twenty feet above my head. Pockmarked with dark holes and crevices, it looked like the moon seen from Earth. I wondered what sort of geologic processes had created its strange appearance.
I shivered in the icy water, my teeth chattering. I needed to find some place warm and dry. Fatigue seared my muscles.
As if on cue, I spotted a dark shape a hundred yards away, sitting on a rocky island in the cavern. As I swam toward it, I smelled the familiar scent of sage and wood smoke. Relief flooded me. Marroc was alive, which meant we could find a way out of here together.
“Marroc?” I called out. “I’m over here!”
I swam as fast as my aching muscles would allow. As I neared the island, I saw him standing on the shoreline. Tall, with his impossibly broad shoulders, he stood silhouetted against the inky darkness of the shadowy cavern. Despite his distinctly large shape, immediately I knew it wasn’t Marroc. The scent of wood smoke had faded now.
My stomach clenched. This man had the golden hair of a High Elf.
“Who are you?” I asked, swimming in place.
He crossed to the water, almost gliding over the stones. He was beautiful. Honeyed hair, golden, luminous skin, and eyes as blue as shadows in an ice cave. His body seemed to emit light. “I’m here for you, Ali.”
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
He didn’t answer that question.
Why would a High Elf be here? He didn’t look wet, his hair drifting gently in a subterranean breeze.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“You must be freezing.” He held out a hand to me. “Come join me. I have dry clothes. I can warm you up.”
He looked familiar, I realized. The golden hair, the luminous skin, the long silver robes. I’d seen him before. At first, I thought it must have been at the Citadel. Was he one of the elves who’d