Glowly's Arc

Chapter 16 of 16

Taker's head broke the surface. Water streamed off his red scales. "I found it," he said. "The doorway holds. But the crocodile guards it close." He hauled himself onto the stone and shook his wings. "Now we try the real dive. You lure. I go past in the dark." Glowly nodded. Her plan was simple and cruel. She would raise her glowing blade at the surface. The crocodile would climb toward the light it could reach. While it climbed, Taker would slip below into the black and reach the doorway. But she saw the flaw at once. She could not watch him from above. She could not tell when he reached the deep doorway. If she pulled the crocodile up too soon, it might turn back down and find him. Too late, and the beast would already guard the door. "I need a signal," she said. "I can't see you down there." Nova crouched at the edge. Her chalky hands twisted together. "I can throw fire straight down," she said. "But the fire is what taught the beast to guard. If I light the deep, it stays deep." Then the small blue dragon stirred. The wolf pup pushed against Glowly's leg and whined. Glowly looked at the pup. Its smoky fur trailed thin lines into the dark. She remembered the dragon's heat, how warmth drove the crocodile up. "Heat drives it up," she said. She turned to the dragon. "You breathe heat at the surface here, on my mark. Not fire in the deep. Heat where the beast can reach it." The dragon flexed its wings. Taker studied her. "And the timing?" Glowly gripped her blade, runes dark for now. "You tug the rope when you reach the door. I feel it. I light the blade and the dragon breathes. The crocodile rises. You slip past below." She tied her rope to Taker's wrist. He tested the knot with one claw. "Good," he said. "Blind, but with a hand to speak through." He slid into the water. The rope paid out through Glowly's fists, hand over hand. She counted. The pup pressed close. The dragon crouched, throat swelling. Nova held her scorched stone ready as a last resort. The rope jerked twice. Sharp. Glowly's heart slammed. She lit the runes high and bright. "Now!" The dragon loosed a wave of heat across the surface. The water hissed. Below, the long shape turned and climbed toward the blade, jaws working. The rope kept sliding, steady and fast. Taker was going down past it, into the door. The crocodile broke the surface, snapping at the light. Glowly held her ground and kept the blade high. The rope went slack. Then it pulled hard, once, from deep and to the side. Taker had reached the doorway. He was inside. The crocodile thrashed at the surface, fooled, far from its post. The way to the relic stood open at last, and Glowly held the line that led to it.