Tales from the vulgar unicorn- Thieves World 02 by Robert Asprin Page B

run into her.
    Their heads cleared the surface. Smhee laughed.
    'Were you as frightened as I? I thought sure a bengil had me!'
    Gasping, she said, 'Never mind. What's over there?'
    'More of the same. Another air-space for perhaps a hundred feet. Then another downcropping.'
    He clung to the stone for a moment. Then he said, 'Have you noticed how fresh the air is? There's a very slight movement of it, too.'
    She had noticed but hadn't thought about it. Her experience with watery caves was nil until now.
    'I'm sure that each of these caves is connected to a hole which brings in fresh air from above,' he said. 'Would the mage have gone to all this trouble unless he meant to use this for escape?'
    He did something. She heard him breathing heavily, and then there was a splash,
    'I pulled myself up the rock and felt around,' he said. 'There is a hole up there to let air from the next cave into this one. And I'll wager that there is a hole in the ceiling. But it must curve so that light doesn't come in. Or maybe it doesn't curve. If it were day above, we might see the hole.'
    He dived; Masha followed him. They swam ahead then, putting their right hands out from side to side to feel the wall. When they came to the next downcropping, they went through beneath it at once.
    At the end of this cave they felt a rock ledge that sloped gently upward. They crawled out onto it. She heard him fumbling around and then he said, 'Don't cry out. I'm lighting a torch.'
    The light nevertheless startled her. It came from the tip of a slender stick of wood in his hand. By its illumination she saw him apply it to the end of a small pine torch. This caught fire, giving them more area of vision. The fire on the stick went out. He put the stick back into the opened belt-bag.
    'We don't want to leave any evidence we've been here,' he said softly. 'I didn't mention that this bag contains many things, including another waterproof bag. But we must hurry. The torch won't last long, and I've got just one more.'
    They stood up and moved ahead. A few feet beyond the original area first illuminated by the torch were some dark bulks. Boats. Twelve of them, with light wood frameworks and skin-coverings. Each could hold three people. By them were paddles.
    Smhee took out a dagger and began ripping the skins. Masha helped him until only one boat was left undamaged.
    He said, 'There must be entrances cut into the stone sections dividing the caves we just came through. I'll wager they're on the left-hand side as you come in. Anyone swimming in would naturally keep to the right wall and so wouldn't see the archways. The ledges where the crabs nest must also be on the left. Remember that when we come back. But I'd better find out for sure. We want , to know exactly how to get out when the time comes.'
    He set his torch in a socket in the front of the boat and pushed the boat down the slope and into the water. While Masha held the narrow craft steady, he got into it. She stood on the shore, feeling lonely with all that darkness behind her while she watched him by the light of the brand. Within a few minutes he came back, grinning.
    'I was right! There's an opening cut into the stone division. It's just high enough for a boat to pass through if you duck down.'
    They dragged the boat back up onto the ledge. The cave ended about a hundred feet from the water. To the right was a U-shaped entrance. By its side were piles of torches and flint and steel and punk boxes. Smhee lit two, gave one to Masha, and then returned to the edge of the ledge to extinguish his little one.
    'I think the mage has put all his magic spiders inside the caves,' he said.
    'They'd require too much energy to maintain on the outside. The further away they are from him, the more energy he has to use to maintain them. The energy required increases according to the square of the distance.'
    Masha didn't ask him what he meant by 'square'.
    'Stick close to me. Not just for your sake. For mine also. As I said,