The Heroine of Irlesoph (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter Sixteen: Look High, Reach Low

Zinkah threw her hands up. "Shoot! I dropped mine too!"

Delzri picked his rune up off the sand and brushed it off. "Are Samoo and I the only ones who still have their runes?"

"I dropped mine when the hand hit us because you and Zinkah were arguing." Samoo said calmly.

Delzri sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, we can't go to the coordinates without them."

Delzri explained the spell he was using as he wrote it into the water. He was writing the same spell the Speaker in Archwright had used to see through the runes, except this time he was going to use it to figure out where they were. The spell activated, and through his own rune Delzri could see the other 4. The first was in Samoo's backpack, the next two were covered partially by sand, but the surface of the water was still visible. The last one was dark and not much could be seen, except a small sliver of light in the distance.

"Why did you make us all hold the runes in the first place if the water wasn't even going to kill us anyway?" I asked.

Delzri shrugged, "I thought the location was closer to the shore than it was. That was why I didn't activate any spells to make the book waterproof, and that's why I made you all hold the runes. It would've been quicker if you already had them out."

I looked back. The water was too foggy to be able to see the shore anymore. "Why didn't the water kill me this time?"

Delzri shrugged again, "I don't know. I don't know why you say it even killed you in the first place. Normally, it shouldn't be killing anyone; it's just water."

I narrowed my eyes and thought sincerely. Suddenly, Zinkah gasped and perked up.

"You know what? I bet it was the Queen! She must have put a spell on here to kill us if we got too close."

"We didn't even have all the runes yet. And why would she break the spell now?"

"It must have worn off. A warding spell like that would take a lot of power, especially to cover a volume like this sea." Delzri clarified.

Zinkah hopped with excitement. "And that's why she destroyed an entire city—she was running out of power trying to keep this spell up for so long!"

"That makes a lot of sense." I commented. "As well as to why we didn't die going into the sea."

We all looked into the chasm. A ripping roar was let out by the leviathan which shook the ground beneath us only slightly, which lead me to question just how deep this ravine was.

"How are we going to get the runes back?" I asked, bewildered.

Delzri rolled his eyes in thought. "I can't remember, for the life of me, the tether spell."

"The what?"

"It's a magical tether, in a sense. We would be able to bring whoever goes down there back up."

"Well, what are the alternatives?" Zinkah asked.

Delzri stood again silently in thought. "I guess I could try a teleport spell. For a short time after it's cast it can be broken, bringing them back."

"How long after it's cast?"

Delzri furrowed his brows for a moment. "Thirty seconds."

I had Samoo set me down and so I was standing on my own. Zinkah looked Delzri up and down and seemed concerned herself. "I don't think you should cast the spell."

"Why not?"

"You aren't the one who lost the runes in the first place. I should be the one to have to deal with the consequences with breaking the spell."