"The water's getting really cold," Seth said.
"Too cold," Trask agreed. "Something is wrong."
"It's going to freeze," Mara predicted.
Trask heaved Kendra into the canoe. Tanu boosted Seth. Berrigan dropped the key inside.
"To the island," Trask ordered.
The island did not yet exist. The water level was still too high. Kendra watched as the others frantically stroked toward the center of the room. As the tip of the island came into view, a fragile skin of ice formed on the surface of the water. Tearing through the film of ice, Mara reached the island first, followed by Berrigan. The water level continued to drop, revealing more of the island. Elise scrambled onto the slick, black rock. Trask and Tanu followed, their bodies crashing through the thickening crust of ice until they lunged out of the freezing water.
As the surface became solid, the water level stopped dropping. The ice pinned Vincent. His head, shoulders, and arms stuck out of the frozen surface just a couple of yards shy of the island. As he tried to boost himself up, chuckling and gasping, the ice around him shattered. He disappeared completely under the water, and before he came up, the surface had refrozen.
Below Kendra, the canoe cracked, squeezed by the swelling ice. Mara sprawled forward onto the ice, over the place where Vincent had gone under, hatchet in hand, Berrigan gripping her ankles. The ice held her without cracking. She hacked at the surface, chopping chips of ice free.
After a moment she paused. Moving to one side, she wiped away stray wedges of ice and stared down. "It keeps freezing deeper and deeper," she reported. "Vincent is panicking. He keeps pushing off the ice to avoid getting trapped, which is driving him farther from the surface. There must be more than four feet of ice between us already. I can barely see him. Now I can't."
Kendra and Seth climbed out of the canoe onto the solid ice. Tanu, Trask, Berrigan, and Elise joined Mara in attacking the ice, using knives and swords. Seth drew his sword and chiseled at the ice as well.
Kendra had lost her sword. As the others diligently burrowed, she monitored their pathetic progress in shock, trying not to dwell upon the unseen tragedy happening below her feet. Was Vincent already encased in ice, trapped motionless? Was he conscious? Was he frantically diving deeper, seeking to escape the inevitable as his breath ran out? Were they even digging in the right spot? After passing out of sight, he could have moved off in any direction.
"This is like trying to dig through concrete," Seth growled in frustration.
"The ice seems unnaturally hard," Mara grunted, swinging the hatchet with urgent determination.
Kendra sank to her knees, feeling the cold of the ice through her wet pants. Minutes passed. Kendra shivered. Did the others really believe they would rescue Vincent? He was gone. Hopelessly gone. It wasn't fair, or nice, but it was true.
Scanning the room, Kendra noticed a new passage where one had not existed before. Despite the tragedy, all she could think was that they had to hurry and move on before Torina and the zombies showed up and Vincent's sacrifice was wasted. She felt numbly detached, watching the others scrape up ice shavings. With hysteria gnawing at her numbness, she wanted to stay detached.
At last Trask stood. They had barely carved their way two feet down. "Rescuing Vincent is a lost cause," he sighed.
"A new tunnel has opened," Elise said softly.
"We had better move on," Trask advised reluctantly. "None of us would want the mission to fail in a vain attempt to retrieve our corpse."
"I should have moved faster," Mara hissed, still chopping with her hatchet, eyes fixed on the slowly growing crater in the ice. "He was above the ice. He had almost made it. If I had reached for him an instant sooner--"
"You may well have plunged through the ice with him," Trask finished. "It happened too quickly and caught all of us off balance. I should have boosted him into the canoe with Kendra and Seth."
"Which might have swamped the canoe," Tanu said. "We could have lost all three."
"If we're not going to dig, we need to get going," Elise warned. "This trap cost us a lot of time."
"She has a point," Berrigan agreed, looking around as if he mistrusted the walls and ceiling. "This is a deadly place. The sooner we move on, the better."
Tanu hustled over to the canoe and retrieved the key. Peeling her wet pants away from the hard ice, Kendra arose and crossed the room with the others to the new passage. Her soaked clothes shifted and clung as she moved. Tiny bumps erupted on her skin.
The air in the passage felt warmer than the air in the icy room. Trask led the way, crossbow in one hand, sword in the other. The passage narrowed until they had to proceed once again in single file. Kendra clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.
The passage was rarely level, sloping up or down. After they had advanced for some distance, the corridor forked. Trask called a halt.
"This could be trouble," Elise said from the back.
"What do we do?" Trask asked.
"Experiment," Mara answered.
"Anybody have a sense of which turn to make?" Trask asked.
"Not yet," Mara said. She was studying the walls and peering down the corridors.
"Then I'll choose the right," Trask said, leading them forward. The passage wound until they reached a dead end. When they returned down the passage, they met with a second dead end. Doubling back, they paused at a wider area where the passage diverged in three directions.
"This is going to be bad," Elise moaned.
"A magically shifting maze full of branching passageways," Seth muttered. "Not exactly a time saver."
"We could get lost in here forever," Berrigan cautioned.
"I could scout ahead," Mara said. "I could run."
"If you found a way through, there might be no way to return to us," Trask warned.
"Then we should all run," Mara said. "Let me guide us. It may take some trial and error, but I can figure this out. I have a fairly good sense for where we are inside the Dreamstone.
As I get a feel for these tunnels, I believe I can lead us through."
"Any other ideas?" Trask asked.
"I could leave markers at the intersections," Elise offered.
Mara shook her head. "That might encourage our pursuers. I certainly won't forget any intersections. Trust me. Staying oriented is my biggest strength. I was born for this."
Nobody spoke for a moment. "You take the lead," Trask decided. He faced the others. "Holler if the pace gets too rough."