For a long moment, no one said a word. Heads turned side to side, all of them looking into the shadows beyond the lantern light.

Farilane got up and brushed off her knees. “Something is different.”

“What?” Kolby asked.

“The waterfall. Don’t you hear it? The sound has changed. The tone of the splash is hollow.” The princess moved past Kolby to the edge and peered down. “The shaft is filling up.”

Both knights moved to the edge and looked down.

“Is that a good thing?” Virgil asked.

“If the water rises high enough, we can swim across,” Kolby said.

Virgil looked back up the narrow corridor. “And if it goes too high, we might drown.”

“Won’t need to swim,” Farilane announced. “There’s a bridge floating on the surface of the water.”

“There is?” Kolby held the lantern out over the drop. “I don’t see—oh, there it is.”

It took surprisingly little time for the shaft to fill and the bridge to appear, bobbing like a long dock.

“This corridor will fill up,” Virgil warned. He glanced back.

Kolby looked concerned, first at the rising water and then at Farilane. He was calculating when he would need to grab her and run for it. The princess’s life was his responsibility, his sole concern. Kolby wouldn’t waste an instant on the survival of either Cedric or Virgil. When events crossed a certain line, no force on Elan would stay his actions.

The moment the bridge became level with the passage, Kolby took a step toward Farilane, then stopped after hearing a rapid series of snaps.

Virgil pointed at the writing on the floor. “The markings have popped up.”

“The bridge is going back down!” Farilane shouted. Without hesitation, she ran onto it.

“Damn it!” Kolby cursed. He handed over the lantern to Cedric. “Stay here in case we need you to punch that name in again.”

Cedric shook his head. “Not a monk. Can’t read. Can’t spell.”

“I can do it,” Virgil said. “I’ll stay with Cedric. Go with her!”

Farilane had leapt out as far as she could onto the bridge, guessing correctly that it was an unstable raft, and her weight—dumped too close to one side—might capsize the whole thing. Seeing the rate of descent, and the far passage rapidly rising beyond her reach, she scrambled through the cold shower of falling water until her weight began to tip the scale. The moment Kolby jumped onto the bridge, his impact nearly catapulted Farilane off. Only a fast drop to her knees and a quick grab of the planks saved her from a swim.

“Stop!” she shouted, holding a palm out toward Kolby as the knight worked his way toward her. “You’ll tip us.”