A cacophony of screams ricocheted across the cavern. Bats--hundreds of bats!

Felderon collapsed to the cold floor over Cylene, covering his head while sharp claws ravaged his naked arms and shoulders. He pulled Cylene into him, letting her nest her head under his neck.

Swarming in a horde, leathery wings spiraled down, battering their backs, exposed necks, everywhere at once.

An ear-splitting screech cut the frenzy through the center. What was it?

Felderon's head reeled and his body coiled in agony, but in fits, the bats dropped from the sky, flopping around on the cavern floor like popping seed kernels. Suddenly, sound ceased. Silence coursed like a wave of solace throughout the cavern and into Felderon's body.

"What was that?"

The old man's voice responded. "I don't like to kill the bats! They are mostly harmless creatures, but you startled them."

"I what?"

"You provoked them."

"I provoked them?"

"Aye. The odor of death is thick upon you."

"Death--?" Felderon shook his head. Of course, death. He grimaced. Two kingdoms worth.

The old man grunted and Felderon climbed to standing before extending his hand to Cylene. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. The death reek is mutual, I'd guess," Cylene said.

"No, the reek of death is peculiar to him! You have no smell, but--."

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"What?" Cylene sniffed the air.

"Plague."

“I--”

"He's just goading us," Felderon whispered.

"But he knows things," Cylene said.

"He's manipulating you, don't give it a--"

Cylene raised a trembling voice. "My mother died of cholera. I can never be rid of the plague of it!"

Felderon bit his tongue and his throat hardened. "Why all the secrets, old man? It seems that you know all of ours!"

Ahead, the barely audible sound of the old man's footfall paused. "Wait."

They froze in place until they heard the old man's low groan of effort. Then came the sound of stone scraping against stone.

Abruptly, a beam of blue light cut across the black cavern. It was only knee high, but the light was significant and it coursed through the entire tunnel.

Felderon gasped, "Why do you block that beam with a bolder? We could be racing through this cavern unimpeded with so much light!"

The old man grunted. "Why should I give the light away to just anyone, unearned? This is my light. Just because the sun is free, does not mean God doesn't own it. He gives it because it pleases him to let the world grow. I reserve this light because it pleases me to keep this cavern my own. Now, on your knees!" The old man crowed.

Felderon dropped to his knees.

A moment later, a shadow fell across the blue ray, and Felderon realized that the man was down on hand and knee, crawling through the cavern ahead of them.

"Come through!" came the command from the far side.

Cylene followed and then Felderon went into the narrow space, which was gratefully short.

On the far side, the blue light was everywhere, and its source, an underground lake, which radiated through the cavern like an enormous lantern.

"It's so beautiful," Cylene whispered.

"It must be some kind of bioluminescence," Felderon took a step toward the water. "Does life thrive in this lake?"

"It is the Pool of Pneumacity," The old man turned his gaze away. "Its danger is not to the body."

"But it is dangerous?"

"It is an emptiness. It fills with what you pour into it."

"What do you mean?" Felderon peered down, into the apparently bottomless cavern of the lake. "I have nothing to pour into it."

"A little closer, and you'll see," the old man said.

"I can see well enough from here."

The old man grunted. "Your vision is clouded--which is better than blindness, but still untrustworthy.”

Felderon glared at the old man. What did he know? "So what vision is trustworthy if you know so much?"

The old man sniffed, but only turned away, muttering nonsense under his breath.

The man was insane. And yet--his eyes must be playing tricks on him. Felderon blinked and shuddered. The Sage of the Sun looked nothing like the old man, but for an instant, he thought he recognized a similar quirk of his mouth