The passage grew narrower until they all had to turn sideways to proceed. Then suddenly it widened into a spacious cavern. Warren halted and motioned for the others to do likewise.
"Chokepods?" Dougan asked.
"You won't believe how many," Warren said. "Come forward slowly. Don't fully emerge from the cover of the passageway."
The others crept forward until they all had a view of the congested cavern. Thousands of bulbs floated in the air.
Mottled with shades of cinnamon, brown, and black, they were mostly spherical, though the tops looked a bit pinched. Their texture was fibrous, like cornhusks. The smallest were the size of softballs, the largest more like beach balls. All remained in constant motion, drifting lazily until they floated close together, in which case they gently repelled one another.
"What are they?" Kendra asked.
"If you touch them, they burst, releasing a highly toxic gas," Dougan explained. "The gas can get into your system through respiration or even just contact with your skin. You'll die almost instantly, and the toxin will gradually liquefy you. Eventually your remains will vaporize into fumes that can be absorbed by other chokepods."
"If one of us touches even a small chokepod, everyone in the cavern will perish, and it will be unsafe to enter for hours," Warren said.
Kendra tried to imagine weaving across the room. The chokepods floated from a foot or two above the floor to up near the ceiling, never quite brushing up against the walls. There was space between them, but not much, and the constant drifting meant that gaps big enough to accommodate a person were constantly opening and closing.
"Where are we trying to go?" Kendra asked.
"There are several false passageways around the perimeter of the room," Dougan said. "But the true way forward is through a hole in the center."
Kendra saw a raised area in the center of the cavern. Surrounded by rocks, the hole was not visible. It was a good hiding place for the passage, especially since the chokepods were most densely gathered in the middle of the room.
"Tammy explained that the key is to stay low," Warren related. "The chokepods never strike the ground, nor the ceiling, nor the walls, nor the stalagmites, nor the stalactites, nor each other. She said the chokepods rarely dip low enough to touch a person lying flat on the floor of the cavern. So we'll squirm forward, staying near stalagmites wherever possible."
"Can you manage this, Neil?" Dougan asked.
Neil nodded stoically. "I'll try first," Warren said. "You all back away into the corridor. I'll cry out a warning if I brush up against a chokepod and pollute the cavern. If I do, fall back to the chasm and wait. Otherwise, I'll call out once I'm safely in the hole."
The others retreated deeper into the narrow passageway, fending off the darkness with two flashlights. "You'll go next, Kendra," Dougan informed her.
"Shouldn't Gavin go next?" Kendra suggested. "If all else fails, he and Warren could go on ahead and retrieve the artifact. Then you, Dougan, so you can help them, then me and Neil."
"Makes sense," Neil agreed.
"Except I'm the biggest, and therefore most likely to touch a chokepod even lying prone," Dougan said. "Gavin next, then Kendra, then me, then Neil."
They waited in silence. From behind, Kendra heard a distant roar, faint as the last rebound of an echo. "Did you hear that?" Kendra whispered to Gavin.
"Yeah," he whispered back, squeezing her hand consolingly.
Even in a dark cave surrounded by the likelihood of death, Kendra could not help wondering if maybe there were romantic overtones to the gesture. She left her hand in his, enjoying the contact, thinking of the contrast between his stuttering speech and the confidence with which he had protected her on the mesa.
"I'm clear," Warren finally hollered.
"Guess I'm up," Gavin said. "I'll take the staff, Kendra. And the spear, Neil-it might trip you up in there. S-see you guys on the other side." Handing Kendra her flashlight, he raised his voice. "Warren, can you light the way for me?"
"Sure," Warren replied.
He slipped out of sight down the passageway. It seemed much less time had elapsed than Warren had taken before Gavin called out, "Kendra's turn!"
Mouth dry, palms wet, Kendra crept forward. Where the passageway ended, she stared into the cavern, watching chokepods dreamily rise and fall and drift laterally in every possible combination. She could see Warren's head in the center of the room. He held a flashlight.
"Kendra," Warren said, "I'll be your spotter. Just squirm on your belly and follow the beam of my flashlight. Let me tell you how to move. I have the advantage of being able to see your whole body all at once, along with all of the chokepods near you. It worked well with Gavin."
"But if I pop a pod, you'll die with me."
"If you burst a chokepod, and the gas doesn't get me, your grandfather will. Come on."
Kendra prostrated herself and wormed forward. The floor of the cavern was neither smooth nor particularly jagged. She slithered along slowly, using her knees and elbows and wiggling her waist, grateful to have Warren's flashlight beam to follow. She kept her eyes down, hardly aware of the bulbs bobbing above her like grotesque balloons.
She was more than halfway to the center of the cavern when she heard a sharp intake of breath from Warren. "Lie flat, Kendra, flat as you can!" She laid her cheek against the stone, exhaling the air from her lungs, willing herself to sink into the rock. "On my command, roll onto your back to your left. Think about which way left is for you; don't roll right. Ready, almost, almost, now!"
Kendra rolled to her left onto her back, keeping her body as close to the ground as possible. Although she wanted to close her eyes, she could not help looking.
Chokepods crowded all around her. She watched a huge pod dip low beside her, inches from the cavern floor, precisely where she had been, before bobbing up just high enough to clear her waist.
"Keep still," Warren ordered, voice taut.
Although the huge chokepod did not touch any of the others, its passage stirred the surrounding pods in new directions. A pair of chokepods the size of basketballs nearly collided directly above Kendra's nose, so close to her face that she expected both of them to brush against her skin and rupture. Instead, they drifted apart, missing her by a fraction of an inch.
Trembling, Kendra slowly inhaled, watching the cluster of chokepods above her leisurely disperse. A tear leaked from the corner of one eye.
"Well done, Kendra," Warren said, sounding relieved. "Roll to your left again and keep following the beam of my flashlight."
"Now?" Kendra asked.
"Sure."
She rolled over and inched forward, trying to calm her breathing. "Scramble forward quickly," Warren instructed. "You've reached a clear area."
Her elbows ached as she propelled herself rapidly across the cavern floor. The flashlight beam guided her right, then left.
"Slow down," Warren said. "Wait, stop, back up a little."
Kendra glanced up and saw a chokepod the size of a volleyball falling toward her head at a diagonal. It was definitely on a collision course!
"Don't roll!" Warren warned. "They're on both sides! Blow at it!"
Puckering her lips, Kendra emptied her lungs at the oncoming chokepod. The stream of her breath sent the dappled bulb veering off course.
"Lie flat!" Warren commanded.
This time she did close her eyes, waiting in the darkness for a chokepod to kiss her skin and burst.
"Okay," Warren said. "Almost there, Kendra. Squirm forward."
She opened her eyes and followed the beam to the rocky barrier at the edge of the hole. Warren was so close! He had her wait, and then scuttle over the rocks when the air was momentarily clear. Then he was helping her take hold of iron rungs bolted into the stone wall of the hole. Surprised to be alive, quivering in shock, she descended the rungs to where Gavin stood waiting.
"Sounded like you had some close calls," Gavin said.
"I hated it," Kendra admitted. "I thought I was a goner. I had to blow one away." "I b-b-blew three," Gavin said. "I got cocky and tried to hurry. Almost cost me. Maybe you should sit down."
Kendra plopped down with her back to the wall and drew her knees up to her chest. She still could not believe she had survived. A couple of times the chokepods had come unbearably close. She bowed her head, striving to steady herself. The adventure was not over yet.
Before she knew it, Dougan had descended the rungs and stood beside Gavin. "Could have gone my whole life without that experience." He sounded shaken. "I've been in some tight spots, but death has never felt so near."
Kendra felt relieved that she was not the only person who had found the experience of scooting across the cavern floor traumatizing.
"Isn't the dragon our next major problem?" Gavin asked.
"According to Tammy," Dougan affirmed. "She's been right this far."
That was when they heard an explosion, followed by Neil's strangled voice crying, "Run!"
An instant later, Warren slapped to the ground at the base of the ladder. "Go, go, go," he urged, yanking Kendra to her feet. They charged recklessly down the uneven passageway, rounding several corners before they slowed.
"Are you all right?" Dougan asked Warren, placing an arm around his shoulders.
"I think so," Warren said. "I saw it coming, too many chokepods converging on Neil. I warned him, then started down just in case, leaving the flashlight propped up on the rocks by the top of the hole. When I heard the chokepod burst, I dropped, and somehow landed without spraining an ankle. I think we're clear." Turning, he punched the wall of the cave hard enough to make his knuckles bleed.
"Y-y-y-y-you did well," Gavin told Warren. "If not for you, I wouldn't have made it through the cavern."
"Me neither," Kendra said.
"We owe you," Dougan agreed.
Warren nodded, shrugging gently away from Dougan. "I owed Neil. He saved my skin. Dangerous place. Bad luck. We should keep moving."
The others followed Warren as the cave began sloping up for the first time. Kendra tried not to think of Neil lying inert in the cavernous room full of bizarre, floating bulbs. She understood what Warren meant about owing him. If not for Neil, she would be dead as well. And now Neil had lost his life.
Gavin shouldered past Kendra and Dougan, grabbing Warren. "Wait," he said in an urgent whisper.
"What is it?" Warren asked.
"I smell dragon," Gavin responded. "Time for me to earn my keep. If I can secure us safe passage, I'll whistle. When you enter the room, don't look at the dragon, especially not into her eyes."
"Her eyes?" Dougan asked.
"Smells female," Gavin said. "No matter what happens, don't even consider attacking her. If things go wrong, run."
Warren moved aside. Gavin walked past him and around a corner. Warren, Dougan, and Kendra waited silently. They did not wait long.
An earsplitting screech rent the air, prompting all three of them to clamp their hands over their ears. A succession of roars and shrieks followed, seemingly too powerful to proceed from any animal. The only creature Kendra had ever heard make sounds at that volume was Bahumat, which was not a cheery thought.
The deafening bellows persisted, making the stone vibrate underfoot. To Kendra, the tumult sounded like a hundred dragons rather than one. Finally the clamor subsided, the silence now seeming much quieter than it had before. They uncovered their ears. A moment later, they heard a high, shrill whistle.
"That's the signal," Dougan said. "Me first. Warren, hang back with Kendra."
Dougan took the lead, while Warren and Kendra trailed at a distance. Soon they saw light up ahead. Dougan switched off his flashlight. They reached the opening of a chamber so vast that Kendra had trouble envisioning how it could fit inside the mesa. The tremendous room reminded her of when Hal had described caverns large enough to contain an entire football stadium. She had assumed he was exaggerating. Apparently not.
The colossal chamber was lit by glowing white stones set in the walls, making Kendra recall the stones inside the inverted tower. The high roof was so far away, Kendra doubted whether even Hugo could throw a rock high enough to reach it. She and Warren watched Dougan, who proceeded farther into the room, surveyed the scene, then waved them forward. The room was wider and longer than it was tall. Some stalagmites rose over forty feet into the air. Although she knew she was not supposed to look, Kendra could not help shifting her gaze to Gavin, who stood fifty yards away, his back to her, arms and feet spread wide, facing a dragon perched above him on an oblong boulder. They appeared to be locked in an intense staring contest, both holding perfectly still.
The dragon gleamed like a new penny, overlapping copper scales encasing her in metallic armor. A tall fin ran from the top of her fierce head to the base of her neck. Not including the whiplike tail and the long, arched neck, the body of the dragon was the size of an elephant. A pair of shiny wings were folded at her sides.
The eyes of the dragon shifted to Kendra. They were bright, like molten gold. The dragon's mouth cracked open in a fang-filled imitation of a smile. "You dare to meet my gaze, little one?" the dragon asked, her silky words ringing like struck metal.
Kendra did not know what to do. She felt foolish for disobeying her instructions. She had been concerned about Gavin, and then the dragon had looked so fascinating. The heat of the stare made her feel cold. Her limbs went numb. What was it Warren had said about dragon tamers? Most people froze when dragons spoke to them. Dragon tamers spoke back.