With both legs', Corcoran pushed up against the flowing force of the newly formed waterfall. Swimming with as much strength as he could, we surfaced. As we emerged together, he exploded with an exhalation of breath, gasping for life in his efforts to save me from my own fate.

Fledgling, being some what smaller than Corcoran, swam over. Fledgling reached out and hosted one of my dragging arms', as Corcoran held me on the other side. They swam with speed, to bring me up on to the waters' ledge. Not moving and stiffly cold from the freezing water, Corcoran began to pump the engulfed water from my body. I spattered and coughed heavy amounts of water, leaning over, half on my side, I was sick. I fell back on to a dusty bed of sand that lined the cave's floor. Floating between life and death, Fledgling began to shake my shoulders' gently to prevent me from sleeping, I might never have awakened.

I rolled my eyes' slowly open, to see Cocoran and Fledgling leaning over me, staring at me, frantically, looking for signs' of life. I reached up and pulled at Corcoran's soaking leather strap, that encased ' The Maps' Of Ryon'. I pulled with as much strength as I could physically manage then. I managed to get myself into a seating position, still coughing, with my head down, shaking with the force of violent shock, I couldn't do much, though I knew that time was of the essence. I had no choice but to sit it out.

Fledgling was up on his feet, looking around at the new environment that we found ourselves in, " I haven't been in here before. " He said, as he looked up towards the surrounding cave.
Dripping wet and cold, they hung their heavy clothes', on the rocks' to dry. Corcoran came close to me and lowered himself down next to me , rolling over in the sandy floor to dry himself and keep warm. He stopped, laying flat on his back with exhaustion. Fledgling wasn't far behind him and followed his lead.
44.

Trembling with fear , I turned my head towards the back of me, to see what the others' were doing, not that I could see much. It wasn't the best position for us to be in. The trickles' of water from the embedded cracks', fell upon my head, making me nervous, with an itch. I knew I couldn't stay still for much longer, I tried my best, but the irritation got the better of me and as I reached up to address my itch amongst the rumbling vibrations', the cracks' in the side walls' began to widen and water came dashing in from all around us. The surface that I was resting upon, started to push away at the foot of my hands', to reveal a very deep wide drop. The water pushed me over the new edge and I was dangling with Corcoran and Fledgling beside me.

The water was bitter cold and I couldn't hold my grip for long, with that, we was forced off the edge, slipping into the drop, not knowing our own fate. Screaming as we fell. We didn't fall for long, as we landed, bumping down on to a vertical slope, being roughly plunged forward, with force, into a water pool.

The force of the landing, pushed us into the depths of the water and I found myself struggling to swim up against the current. Not being able to feel the bottom or push up towards the surface, I began to fade away, slowly letting go of life, as the air was being pushed out of my lungs' and with a tight opening of my mouth, I felt a huge amount of water engulf my body.

Corcoran had reached the surface with Fledgling beside him, treading water, Corcoran soon realised, I hadn't made it to the top. With that he inhaled as much air as possible and came after me, my heavy sinking body, drifting deeper. Swimming in haste, to look for me. He was swirling around, almost dazed. Than, with a sudden downward dive, he grabbed the neck of my dress and pulled as hard as he could.

43.

With that he picked up the book, closed its pages, opened his sack and slid the book back inside the safety of his carrier. He picked up the remaining candle, blew out its flicker of light, leaving us in complete darkness. " Begin to move, Elena. " I heard him call in the dark. So I gathered myself up onto my hands and knees and started to move further down into the tunnel with Fledgling and Corcoran not far behind.

" Fledgling, is there anything down here that we should know about?" I called back at him. Fledgling wasn't so eager to speak and in his hesitation, I had the distinct feeling that he was with holding information from me, again.

" Umm. " He hesitated again, sounding slightly guilty, as I heard him take a large gulp at the back of his throat.

" As you get further down toward's the end of the tunnel, you will feel little trickles of running water from both sides of you, don't panic, its nothing to be worried about." He went on to say, as if we was faced with a normal situation.

" MORE WATER" , I shouted , aiming my voice back towards Corcoran. I heard my own echo and realised that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't such a good idea to shout down, into a bed of rocks', after all. We all felt the vibrations' of movement from around us and at that point I felt very vulnerable, indeed.

42.

I looked up at Cororan, as I knew he was more wise then me in his dealings with worldly matters. He kept his lips tightly closed, so I took that as a sign, not to say too much. " I can only read bits of it. " I mumbled with a whisper. At that, Fledgling appeared to be more at ease with the situation he found himself in.

From his posture, I knew that this young boy had more knowledge about historical events of both cities than what he was telling, with that I eased myself back up into a seated position and gave a very heavy sigh of relief. Not giving any indication away that I had misgivings about the sincerity of Fledgling's dealings'.

I closed my eyes' as I lent back against the cold surface of the smooth wall, Corcoran wasn't ready to rest and on that note, he was back in motion.

" We have to keep moving. " He said, " It's not time to rest, the people know we are amongst them. We don't need to waste any more time. They know the routes to these underground tunnels very well and it wont be long before they catch up with us. We mustn't stay here for long, its' better to move while we know most of the people are at rest ".

41.

We sat in the dim light of the candle's flicker, as we fell in silence. For me and Corcoran had heard a very different version of this legend.


Corcoran never mentioned the stone at the centre of the city to Fledgling and I decided to follow in his lead. On that, Corcoran opened the book to reveal a picture of the inner city. I slid up against the inner wall of the very small space that we was wedged between, as Corcoran placed the book down between himself and Fledgling. I leaned over Fledglings knees and bent down to have a very close look at what was at hand.

I could see the outlines of the chambers that we had previously been in, the center chamber, the entrance to the water shaft, the route to the work chamber, had all been marked. I Followed my finger around the lines that had been drawn on the pages' and came upon the section of rock that we had found ourselves lodge in. Though there wasn't any sign or indication of an entrance into the rocks, the map clearly showed another section of the city on the opposite side of the rock face.

A very intricate complexed vision started to form in my mind, I could see maze after maze, a fixed route straight into the center of the city. Fledgling, with his slight twitching movement , seemed uncomfortable, as I was leaning over him. " Can you read what is written in that book. " He remarked, with a stony undertone....

40.

Feeling tired as I reached the top, I had friendly hands waiting for me, they pulled me into the crack of what they were crouching in, either side, squashed next to the smooth outlines of the embedded walls. I had to scrapper over their knees, to reach the other side. Exhausted and out of breathe, I was laying face down with knees bent and arms resting on the solid surface that the rocks had provided for us. Eyes closed shut, I knew I couldn't stay there forever, so with my remaining strength, I lifted my body up into a half crouching, seated position.


Cororan reached into his sack and pulled out a small wax candle, lit it and with his hand he gently dripped the melting wax upon the smooth surface.We looked at each other almost laughing in dismay. Cororan ever concentrating on the task at hand, reached into his sack again and pulled out, ' The Maps of Ryon '. Fledgling looked at the book and gasped in aspiration at what he saw. " The Maps Of Ryon ", he said. As his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Myself and Corcoran looked at each other in a side ward glance, with a silent knowledge.Corcoran spoke first. " You know this book ", he said.

" Sure I know this book, it is the most famous legend of this city. The book of all wisdom's, the maps of all worlds, it needs to be returned to its rightful place. As so the life of the city can be opened and all the inhabitants can be freed into the upper part of the next world, the world of Abdon."

39.

He brought us to the far edge of the inner cave, as he looked up towards the top, " Up there," he pointed.

There before me was a barely visible, very small crack, that lined the rock face. " I have been up there before, I know the route well. " He said. As I stood there, looking in almost freight at how small the space was, not only that, the climb itself didn't look very attractive. I pondered over the situation for a few minutes, before Fledgling had taken it upon himself to scour the rocks. With that of another beep breathe, I began to follow him up, with Corcoran not far behind.

As we climbed higher, the rocks began to crumble away beneath our footing and the icy water that dripped down from the spaces between the tightly wedged rocks, didn't help our quest to reach the small entrance, into, what appeared to be, the unknown. The climb itself was uncomfortable and I started to become more aware of the increasing height, as we was reaching our destination.

Fingers freezing from the icy water, my grip wasn't as tight as it should have been, and I had to take a rest on a boulder that was wedge out from the higher part of the climb. After some time, Corcoran and Fledgling had already reached the crack and was awaiting me to catch up with them, barely able to see them from where I was sitting I gathered myself together, to continue.

38.

I gently reached down and stared straight into the boys' face, " What is your name ?" I asked, as he stared back at me. " My name is fledgling, I was given that name after my family disappeared from the field maze set in the center of town. They just vanished as the story has it, that's all I know." He said , depleted, with a slight sense of grief. " You cant' send me back to the treachery of working in there, amongst those criminals". He said, as he looked down towards the cave bedded, rock floor, with slight disappointment in his posture.

" Right, " I said, as I looked at Corcoran, " Your coming with us, do you know another way out of here ?, is there another exist ?, I asked the young boy in haste, as we stood there in the darkened light, of the cave's grove.

" I do. " He said excitedly, looking towards his own images of inner freedom. " Follow me, I will lead you to the most deepest part of the city, that will lead us to the path of the upper world." He said, with increasing excitement.


So he tock me by the hand, I pulled him back and said " We are not looking for a way out yet, we are looking for something that is hidden in the depths of the city, something so important that the whole of the upper world depends upon it." With that he continued to pull at my hand, so myself and Corcoran followed him, in gentle stead.

The path of the cave was very Sharp and the rocks pushed in towards the skin of our feet, hard and cold, we could feel the slashes of our skin as we followed the young boy along his path....

37.

Approaching the young boy that we faced earlier, we looked at each other, as I reached out to tap him on his shoulder. The young boy stirred in his sleep, as he began to open his eyes', he looked up at us from beneath his rough sheet, blanket. We grabbed his arm and pulled as hard as we could and made a dash for the far exit, back through the path that we had taken. We had to be quick as not to wake the co workers.

Me, Corcoran and the young boy faced each other, in the darkened cave that we had left earlier. Phoenix wasn't in sight.

Corcoran spoke first, "We need to know what you are working on, down here."

The boy looked up at both of us with his hard dusty, tired eyes, " I only know the pieces I work with fit into a much larger object, I really don't know any more than that.

In deep disappointment we looked at each other, what was we to do now ?...

" Go back, ordered Corcoran, we have to leave now ".

The boy looked unhappy with the decision and started to shake his head furiously, " I don't wish to stay here, I was enslaved from the upper part of Ryon, after I was caught stealing from a wealthier inhabitant, I wish to be free."...

36.