Dem quickly realized he had been completely wrong.
Within a few yards of entering the tunnel, the underground river became much narrower, deeper, and faster.
Dem couldn’t touch the bottom with his feet. His free hand struggled to feel the ceiling, but only succeeded for a moment every few seconds.
Grabbing anything, to stop himself from moving helplessly along with the water, became impossible.
Suddenly, plenty of air appeared above him, and the river slowed a little.
Surfacing and spitting water, he took a deep breath and beheld a sandy shore on the left side of the river.
Since Dem had grown up without ever seeing a river, lake, or ocean, only an instinctive dog-paddle allowed him to move toward the shore. Meanwhile, the river was determined to pull him into the next tunnel, again filled to the ceiling with water.
Swim out now! a little voice seemed to whisper loudly and urgently in Dem’s mind.
He paddled with all his might, and felt sand under his feet at the far end of the little beach, just before the river plunged into darkness again. But each step he tried to take gained little, until desperation made him drop onto his hands and knees.
Finally, he crawled, inch by inch, up the sand with the water still trying to undermine each step and pull him into the next flooded tunnel.
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 53
Dem lay on the sand, breathed, and lost track of time.
Less than a minute after he arrived, Tir broke the surface and sputtered.
Without thinking, Dem jumped to his feet and dashed to the downstream end of the beach. “Swim out! I’ll try to grab you, but you’ve got to get out of the current!”
He saw Tir frantically dog-paddling, felt the sand under his feet become unstable, and reached out as far as he could. “Yes! Just a little more! Reach!”
Tir’s free hand met his, she struggled to get firm sand under her knees, and was finally able to crawl out of the water.
Brother and sister hardly had time to exchange any more words before Fen and Bel appeared, holding onto each other with one hand, clutching glow-stones with the other. As soon as they surfaced, they seemed to recognize the shore and their two companions, but fear showed on their faces and they couldn’t make any progress swimming.
“Let go of each other and SWIM!” Tir screamed.
Dem moved to the far end of the beach again to try and grab them.
The pair in the water were slow to release their holds on each other, and a second passed before they did. During that second, they remained powerless to move toward the beach, and the river had its way.
Dem reached out as far as he could, but the couple was swept into the far tunnel without any chance of stopping.
Tir was tempted to cry, but events were moving too quickly. Jin appeared in the water.
Dem stayed at the far end of the beach. “Swim out NOW!” he yelled.
“Come on, Jin, you can do it!” Tir screamed, determined to not lose another one.
Jin was strong for her small size, and quickly sized up the situation and began paddling fiercely. She made the beach without needing help from Dem.
Tik broke the surface and shook the water from his face.
“SWIM OUT!” the three on the beach yelled.
Tik seemed clumsy in the water, and began coughing while he tried to
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 54
swim.
Dem knew it would be close, so he took one more step into the water.
Tik’s dog-paddle was weak at first, then he managed to get his legs onto the surface and kicked wildly.
“Reach!” Dem yelled just as Tik approached the end of the open water and was in danger of being swept downstream.
Their hands met, Dem held his ground, Tik struggled to get his knees under him, and he finally felt enough firm sand to begin crawling up the beach.
They all flopped onto the sand and just breathed for a long minute.
Eventually, Jin found her voice. “Where’s Fen and Bel?”