At the base of the cliffs there were treacherous rocks, and the remains of at least four ships littered the sea. My stomach churned with feelings of foreboding, as I deliberated on the task before me. There were caverns below the castle, obviously well protected by the rocks. I needed to go into those caverns, find a certain room and get out alive in the matter of a few hours.

My plan was this: I would take the smallest rowboat up to the base of the cliffs and find the entrance to the caverns. In the book was a map of the subterranean levels, I hoped that it was accurate. I went down below deck and went to the captain’s quarters. I set the book on the table, opening it to the map pages. I studied the pictures closer, memorizing the landmarks, there were two stone pillars outside the correct entrance.

A week before, I had been in the desert with Ahmed, and tonight I was on a ship on a nameless sea. I had traveled with the next caravan from the oasis to a coastal port. He had left the tribe, leaving his brother in charge until his return. He had not left my side since the afternoon we had found the stone.

He had insisted on coming with me, when I had hired a ship to cross the sea. I had a very hard time finding a skipper and crew, but at last I had found a wizened old sea captain who was willing to attempt the journey.

I didn’t tell him exactly where we were going, but I had certain coordinates that we needed to pass where there was another tear in reality. I hoped they would be rewarded enough when I found the next stone. We had passed through the tear without any of the crew realizing that anything had changed. I had watched the stone disc as the glowing stones had changed and knew that we had arrived in the next world on the journey.

I felt a presence at the doorway, I looked up to Ahmed standing there. My heart leapt in my chest again. There was an incredible connection between us. Even my empath could feel it. Boo would usually curl up in my bag when we were together, I think for fear that we would overload each other. Not that we didn’t do that on a regular basis anyway. I stood back from the table and walked toward him as he came into the room. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I rested my head against his warm chest. When I was with him, I felt complete.

“Is it time?"

I nodded. We went up on deck and readied the rowboat. I had my satchel with me, and my cloak. One of the crew was going to row the boat with me to the entrance of the caverns. We climbed aboard the small boat and were lowered by ropes down to the sea below. I untied the ropes and the sailor with me began to row. The boat was tossed about by the waves, but we were heading the general direction of the cliffs.

The water calmed a bit, and the man’s powerful arms hauled on the oars, propelling us through. We passed by the wrecks of two of the ships. I looked up and the shreds of the sails flapped in the wind. One of the broken ships was partially submerged, but the other was up on top of the rocks. The tide was out which was a good thing, it meant that the cavern’s opening would be would be larger and easier to find.

A wave crashed against the side of our boat and water splashed in over the side. It wasn’t enough to sink us, but a couple more waves like that and we would find ourselves joining the crews of those broken hulks below.

I looked back at the ship. Ahmed stood at the bow watching as I traveled farther from him. I had left Boo there on the ship as well, and hoped that I would make it back quickly. This was the first time I actually felt afraid.

We were close to the cliffs now. I searched the base for any kind of opening. About fifty yards away, there was a shadow, and I pointed it out. The crewman rowed us toward it.

We were almost there when I lurched forward. The bottom of the rowboat scraped against the rocks that were just under the surface of the water. A crack opened up below me and water came pouring in. I could see the sands at the opening and decided we were close enough. I climbed over the side and found myself in waist deep water. My crew mate jumped out as well and we pulled the boat to the shore.

The sands glittered in the moonlight and I could see shells littering the beach. I had stashed some candles in my satchel and I took one of them out. Lighting it with a wooden match, I went into the entrance of the caverns.

From my memory, I followed the passage first downward, then it began rising upward. I came to a place where the hallway split, and I stayed to the right. This way would eventually lead me to the hidden temple room where the next stone would be found.

The walls of the caverns were embedded with many shells and fossils, and there were several sedimentary layers. Each layer was a different colors, from an almost clear white to gold and red and to the darkest black. The flickering of the candle made for strange moving shadows, at least I hoped they were shadows. I didn’t feel like I was alone in here I heard voices echoing down from above me. Cupping the candle’s flame with my hand I pressed my back against the wall. The caverns were clammy and cold, moisture dripped from the ceiling and my cloak became damp very quickly. Damp soon became heavy as well. The voices stopped and I started walking again, treading as quietly as I could. I came to a door with out a knob or handle. In the leather book, there was a description of this door along with an incantation to open it. Softly I whispered the words and the door swung open silently, as if it had been recently oiled.

I stepped inside, raising my candle up above my head and closing the door behind me. I was in a room with doors in each wall. Each door had a strange symbol carved into it, and was inlaid with a metal that looked like brass. I needed the one that looked like an antler with three spikes and a cross at the bottom.

On my right, the door had a circle with several dots inside. The next one, directly across from me had one that looked like some kind of Norse rune. The last door to my left had a triangle symbol. This was not right. I looked at all three doors again. None of them had the right symbol.

Then I turned around. The door that I had just walked through was the door with the right symbol. A chill ran up my spine as I stared at the symbol. I raised my hand and traced the symbol as I spoke the mystical words again. The door opened and I went through.

I stood in a room that was draped in cloth. There were many candles lit, and a shrine was set up in the center. I blew the flame of my candle out, since there was so much light in this room that I didn’t need it anymore. A strange statue stood in the middle of the shrine, it was made of gold and looked like a large serpent coiled up. The head of it was a mass of tentacles. A box similar to the one I possessed sat in front of the statue with a single yellow stone in the center column. There were large gemstones on the altar, and a huge diamond sat in front of the statue. I picked it up and hefted it in my hand. It was very heavy. I collected the rest of the stones and along with the diamond, put them all in the satchel.

Pulling the stone out from the box, I then looked at the side. It had a drawer in it just like mine. Curious, I slid the drawer open. Inside was a disc like mine, but this one appeared to be made of glass. I decided to take it with me. I picked it up and shoved it down in the satchel.

I took my box out and put the stone in the next position on the board. The smoke rose again from it, this time smelling of burnt roses. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly rose, and I heard a noise. Quickly I slid the box back into the satchel. Before I threw it over my shoulder, I pulled out the crystal disc. I went to the door, cautiously peeking around it. The room on the other side was empty. As I stepped into the room, the door on the opposite wall opened, and several men came through. I held up the crystal disc and looked around the room. At the bottom of the wall a couple steps away, there was an opening barely large enough for me to crawl into. The men had pulled out their swords and were coming toward me. I turned and dove at the hole, knowing that to their eyes, it would look like I would crash right into the wall.

Sliding down an incline that was slippery with some kind of black slime, it only took a couple of seconds before I hit a floor. I rolled a few feet, hearing a strange crunching underneath me. I pulled out my flashlight, and sat up shining the light around. At first I thought it was just sea shells, but then I noticed ribs. Then skulls. I jumped up to my feet and pointed the flashlight along the walls.

There was an opening in the corner, not a wall, but where it looked like part of the wall had been broken out. Something very large did that was what went through my mind. I didn’t want to run into whatever it might be.

Crawling through the hole with my light ahead of me, I couldn’t see much but the darkness. There was a flash of white, and then it was gone. My stomach lurched as I realized I was not alone down here. I still heard the shouts of the men above me, anger and surprise in their voices. Well, I was safe from them, but my nerves were jangling like bells. I raised the light up around me. The underground rift that I found myself in was about the length of a football field and rose up several stories. There were long stalactites coming down from the ceiling, dripping down. Many of them had formed pillars over the ages. The walls were wet up to about two feet from the ceiling, probably from when the tide came in. That reminded me that I didn’t have much time to get out of there. I kept moving through the cavern, racking my brain to remember what the book had written in it. I wished now that I hadn’t left it on the ship. I thought of Ahmed, and felt courage flow through me. Several paces through, the cavern narrowed, then I noticed a rope. It was hanging from the ceiling, I shined the light up, and saw the hole. There were knots in the rope, it was used to climb up into the hole. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I put the flashlight in my teeth and jumped up.

At the top, I held the light into the hole. It was barely big enough for me, but I crawled inside anyway. After a few feet, the hole opened up and I could stand. Water dripped from above, hitting me in the head. I reached up to wipe my eyes and when I brought my arm back down, there were six men in the room with me with weapons drawn.

They surrounded me and two of them grabbed my arms. They led me out of the cave and to a long hallway with steps at the end leading upwards. Through twists and turns we continued up until I was sure we were finally above the cliffs and up into the castle. We came to two large doors with guards posted outside. One of my captors spoke to them and they opened the doors. I was roughly shoved inside and stumbled, falling to my knees. I heard the men laughing behind me.

“Who are you,” an echoing voice commanded.

I looked up and saw an elderly man dressed all in black seated on a large black throne. Everything in the room was black. I kept my mouth shut. The man stood with the help of a large staff, and pounding it down on the floor in front of him, demanded again, “Who are you!”

I looked up at him, and said, “My name is Dira.”

“For what purpose are you here?” he asked in a slightly more conciliatory tone.

“I was lost, I didn’t know where I was,” I replied, hoping that the man would believe me. His eyebrow rose at me, he said, “Lost, were you?” He walked imperiously across the stage that the throne sat on, keeping a glaring eye on me. To the other men he said, “Take her to the tower. I will speak to her more later.”

I was led to another staircase that curved around and around to the right. I was almost dizzy by the time we arrived at the topmost door. It was unlocked and I felt a hand on my back, pushing me inside. There was a window in the opposite wall, I ran across to it and looked out. I could see the ship with all the lanterns twinkling on the deck. My heart filled with longing to be back there, safe with Ahmed. How was I going to get out of here? I was several stories up, I didn’t think I could climb down, the walls were too smooth. I glanced around the room. There was a bed, a chair and nothing else that I could see. I still had my satchel, but I didn’t dare use the stone to move on, I had no idea if I could get back to this world, and to Ahmed. At this point in my life, there was no way I would risk that. I dug through my satchel pulling everything out. There might be something in here that I could use. I took out the crystal, took another look around the room. This time, there were a few things lying in the room that had possibilities. Next to the door, cut into the wall was a hole. I reached into the hole. There was a key inside and I picked it up. There was also a glowing stone in the floor. I put the crystal away and tried to pull the stone out of place. It shifted, but it was too awkward to lift. I put the key in the keyhole and tried to turn it. I guess it was too good to be true. I put the key back into my satchel and tried the stone again.

I could barely get my fingers underneath it, but when I did, I found that it was actually very thin. I slid it over just far enough that I could get under and lifted up. I pulled the stone out of the way and looked inside. There was a rope coiled up inside, a long one. Taking it out, I quickly tied it to the leg of the bed.

I looked down below the window. There was a ledge past the castle wall that extended out about twenty feet. After that was the cliff. I threw the other end of the rope out the window. Making sure I had everything I came in with, I began the descent down the outer wall. At the bottom there was grass. I had ten foot drop from the end of the rope to the ground, so I let go and fell. Walking along the edge of the cliff, I found a steep path, I would have to climb some of the way, but I thought I shouldn’t have too much trouble. I started down and made it almost two thirds of the way down before I ran into trouble. The end of the path dropped off to the sheer part of the cliff. I looked down at the beach and saw the rowboat floating. The tide had risen and the beach was covered with water. I retraced my steps back up the path, until I found another place where I would have more climbing, but there was no straight drop. At the bottom I jumped into the water. It came to my shoulders when I stood, so I swam over to the boat and scrambled aboard. The man I had left here was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed the oars and pulled the boat around. It was hard work, pushing against the tide but I had to get back. I rowed because my life depended on it. A strange thought occurred to me as I got closer to the ship, the rowboat had been damaged on the way to the caverns. How had it been fixed? Or was it even the same boat?

There was shouting as I bumped up against the ship, and several of the crew held lanterns over the side for light. I found the ropes that had lowered the boat down and got them tied tightly so that I could be pulled up.

Ahmed stood there, and I had never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life. As I got out of the boat, he wrapped his arms around me and held me as if he was never going to let go. Boo had been sitting on his shoulder and scurried up to my neck and curled up so tight I almost choked.

He led me back to our quarters and had one of the men bring in hot water for me to bathe. I undressed and climbed into the big brass tub. I was so sick of being damp and cold, I longed to be back in the desert. I soaked until the water was cold and got out and dried off. I climbed straight into bed, and Ahmed stripped down and curled up around me.

The next morning, I told the captain to turn back to our home port. I still needed to talk about what the rest of my journey was going to be like. I didn’t know how far Ahmed wanted to go with me, if this was just it or if he was going to follow it through with me.

When we arrived at the port, I gave all of the smaller stones to the captain so that he could pay the men. They were very happy with their score for such an uneventful voyage. Ahmed and I had talked long into the night and he wanted to stay with me. I wasn’t sure if we would ever make it back to his home world, but the knowledge that he wanted me enough to stay with me and possibly never go back to his home, meant something incredible to me. I didn’t know how well he would handle a woman like me, I was pretty sure that the women in his society were basically submissive and “knew” their place. But the fact that he was willing to try was enough for me.