The Fourfold Key

“We’re almost there,” Tom announced, looking out at the desolation in front of them.

They had crossed the river with little trouble with the help of a friendly fisherman, who was more than happy to help someone in need. Hours later, they were nearing the Whirlpool.

The Whirlpool really did wipe out every living thing. Small, dead pine trees still standing upright littered the land they beheld. The saplings had clearly fought hard to grow in that barren place, but had soon succumbed to nature, unable to survive on pure willpower. A strong wind was whipping their clothes. An awful howling and sucking noise got louder and louder as they advanced - clearly the Whirlpool was close by.

“I wonder how far we have to go!” Ruth wondered.

“What!?” Tom asked.

“I said, I wonder how far we have to go to get to the Whirlpool!” she shouted.

“Yes, that works for me!” Tom obviously hadn’t heard correctly.

“Come on!” She waved her arms toward the Whirlpool.

The winds made going a little rough, and occasionally a strong blast would cause them to lose their footing, but they were making progress.

“This isn’t too bad!” Ruth said. She had spoken too soon. It was like they walked through an invisible wall that was holding all the wind in. They took one more step and were immediately engulfed by the wind. It whipped around ferociously and knocked them to the ground. They quickly scrambled back and the roaring winds slackened. They looked at each other. Ruth grabbed the rope hanging on her satchel and knotted it tightly around her waist. She handed the other end to Tom and he did the same. Taking a deep breath, Ruth pushed forward. The wind beat at them with mighty fists, forcing them to the ground. With no other choice, they began to crawl. Soon they were forced to drop their satchels and continue on. The wind was cold, and its icy breath stung her cheeks. Ruth’s eyes grew blurry and tears formed, only to freeze on her face and blow away moments later, and her fingers became numb. Soon, her teeth began to chatter. The colder she got, the harder it became to keep a grip. The ground became rougher. Jagged rocks were scattered everywhere. Ruth’s eyelids grew heavy. Just a little rest, please, she wanted to beg Tom. But she knew that was impossible. There was no way in heck they could rest here. She put her hand down to grab another handhold and cut her hand on a sharp rock. She yelled and brought her hand to her chest, blood pooling into her fist. Being tired and in pain was the worst. Her yell startled Tom and he lost his grip. He tumbled backwards, pulling Ruth with him.

She scrambled for a handhold. They were going too fast. Tom grabbed a large rock and clung to it. Ruth sped past him and was jerked to a stop by the rope. She gritted her teeth. That hurt. A lot. Tom grunted. Slowly, they got back on all fours and continued.

Just when Ruth thought she could go no further, they arrived. A steep cliff appeared out of the mist revealing the Whirlpool. Tom appeared out of the mist behind her and almost fell off the cliff. She scooted closer to Tom.

“What now?”

“Where?” Tom asked.

“WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?”

“Jump in, I suppose.”

“WHAT!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?” She shrieked, scooting away from the edge.

“It’s the only way! It makes sense that the Key would be there, it’s almost impossible to get to.”

“NOT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE!” She wondered how Tom could be so calm about this. But he must have known this was coming. He’d had time to prepare himself.

Tom made no reply. He simply jumped. And with the rope still tied about her waist, Ruth was dragged along with him, screaming all the way.

The howling blackness loomed closer. I’m gonna die, she thought. Me and Tom both. And it’s all his fault. No it’s not, she argued with herself. I’m the one that dragged us into this mess.

The water raged a little higher. Ruth collided with the turbulent blackness with such force the air was knocked from her. The rope around her stomach jerked her one way, and she hit something - probably Tom - full force. A current propelled her one way and her head collided with a rock. Her lungs demanded air. All she could see was bubbles and blackness. The Whirlpool tugged her one way, then another, the currents surrounding her fighting for ownership of her body. Her senses dulled, the pain lessened, and fatigue beckoned, refusing to be ignored. Then suddenly the rope around her waist jerked her up and she was breathing once more. She choked out the water that had filled her lungs, and she tasted wonderful, stale, life-giving air. The small pebbles of the land she had been pulled onto rolled under her, reassuring her that this was not a fantasy due to lack of oxygen. Her chest heaved, taking in as much air as she could. She closed her eyes, and let herself lay there, resting. Whether she lay there for minutes, or hours, or days even she didn’t know. All she knew was that she was alive.

When she opened her eyes again all she saw was darkness. The roaring of the Whirlpool could be heard, but it was muffled and faint. The air smelled stale and slightly tangy. Cool water trickled over her legs, which were still submerged in water.

“Tom?” she whispered. “Tom? Can you hear me?”

Ruth heard movement near her.

“I’m here. Can you see anything?” she heard him say.

“No. Can you?”

“Yes; my eyes were created for the dark. Though I would be able to see better if there was at least a little light. Right now all I can see is shapes and shadows, really.”

“What happened?” Ruth asked. “Shouldn’t we be in the water?” She picked herself up and made her way toward Tom’s voice, feet crunching on the rock.

“There’s water to my left. We must have landed on some sort of sandbar in the center. I wonder how?”

Ruth picked her way towards Tom. Suddenly the rope around her waist tightened, pulling her back. They both grunted.

“What?” Ruth said. Grasping the rope, she followed it back to a large rock. Making her way around the rock, she came to Tom. “The Whirlpool must travel into an underground river. It pushed me to one side of this island thing and you to the other. We caught on the rock and were pulled onto the sandbar.”

“I bet the Key is on this island. It can’t be in the water. It would rust. Or, at least, any normal key would. Let’s look around. Since you still can’t see we’ll keep the rope on.”

The rope around Ruth’s middle tugged her as Tom began to walk about. Ruth scurried after him, carefully stepping around rocks by feel. They often slipped and fell—due to the fact Ruth couldn’t see and they were tied together.

Roaring water could be heard all around them. “The Whirlpool probably funnels down into this river which is where this island is,” Tom explained.

“We’re like a level underneath the Whirlpool right now?”

“Yes.”

They walked along the edge of the island all the way around. It wasn’t that big, so they were soon back to where they had begun. Ruth’s eyes were still no better, but she was getting used to feeling around with her feet, so she didn’t stumble and trip as much.

They started scouting the entire island. Tom was certain he’d find some way to get out or lead them to the Key. In the center of the island, Tom discovered a rope ladder going up. Ruth quickly untied herself from Tom and was soon scrambling up the old floppy rope ladder by feel. She guessed she was about a third of the way up when she looked down. She could tell Tom wasn’t on the ladder.

“What are you doing? Come on up!” she yelled down to him.

“I—It’s rather tall, don’t you think?” he said nervously. “I don’t think I can go up.”

“Don’t be silly, it’s not that far. You just jumped into the Whirlpool for goodness sake!”

“That’s different. There was water under that. Something to catch me.”

“Well, you have to come up. It’s our only way!”

He said nothing, but after a moment the ladder began to creak and sway in such a way that Ruth knew he was on his way up.

Satisfied, Ruth turned around and began to climb. She called down to check every once in a while to see how Tom was doing. She was almost to the top - she could tell due to how short the rope’s swings to the side were becoming - and he had only made it to the third rung! All of a sudden, she heard a snapping sound above them. The rope was breaking!

“Tom! Get down! It’s breaking!” she screamed.

Ruth knew there was no way she was getting down the ladder in time. Up was her only option. She scrambled up the ladder, not bothering to slow her movement to reduce fraying. She had no idea how many rungs she had left, and climbing blind in the dark wasn’t easy. The rope broke. Desperately, she grabbed for the opening above. Her hand hit solid rock. Frantically, she held on and scrambled up into the opening.

“That was close!” she said, heartbeat slowing. She called to Tom. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine. But how are you going to get up now?”

“I don’t know. I have the rope. If it’s long enough I might be able to throw it up to you.” Tom paused for a moment, then asked if she was ready.

“Ready,” she answered back. “Although I hope you’re a good shot. I won’t be able to do much since I can’t see.”

Tom counted down, “Three, two, one…” Ruth groped wildly in the dark. Her hand connected with the stone Tom had apparently tied to the rope, but it slipped out of her fingers and clattered to the ground.

“It’s long enough. Try again!”

The second throw went right past her outstretched hand, connecting with her face. The third throw missed her entirely. On the fourth throw, Ruth grasped the rope. She felt around and tied it to a stalagmite behind her.

“Okay, come on up!”

After much coaxing, Tom scaled the rope, and soon they were on their way. The ground was sharp and rocky, cutting into Ruth’s ankles when her foot hit an uneven part of the floor. After a while, they came to a dead end.

“What now?” Tom said, feeling around the walls. “Did we go the wrong way? Take a wrong turn?” He pounded the wall in frustration.

“How could we take a wrong turn? This is all one tunnel!” Ruth said, then silenced herself. This reminded her of something… “Tom, I know what to do!”

“What?”

“When I was coming through the tunnel to get to your house the first time, I came to a dead end too. There was a trapdoor above!”

“Right!” he exclaimed and felt along the ceiling of the very low tunnel. After a minute, Tom gave a shout. “Ruth, you were right! I feel the outline of something here!” Tom gave the ceiling a push and the door swung open. He motioned for her to follow and scrambled up. Ruth followed.

The hatch led them into a large cavern. Tom described it for her. A massive lake took up all of the cavern - save a strip of land along the edge where they stood. In the center of the lake was a small island.

“The Key’s there,” Ruth decided.

“What? How do you know?” Tom demanded skeptically.

“Why did you think the Key was in the Whirlpool? Why did you jump in?” She countered. “It’s no different for me to swim across an underground lake.”

“You’re going to swim?” he gasped. “All that way? Ruth, this lake is enormous! You’ll never make it.”

“Now you know how I felt when you told me to jump,” Ruth said. Kicking off her shoes as she went, she sped toward the lake, Tom hot on her heels. She was right on the edge and was about to jump when Tom pulled her roughly back onto the ground.

“Tom!” she cried angrily.

“You can’t go in there,” he insisted.

“Yes. I can,” she said.

“No. You can’t. When you kicked off your shoes one of them landed in the lake.”

“And your point is?”

“When it landed in the water, it sizzled and disappeared. You can’t go in there. It’ll kill you.”

“Oh.” That was all she could think of to say. She’d almost accidentally killed herself!

Tom let that sink in before saying, “I do agree with you; we do need to get to that island. But swimming is not the answer.”

“Okay, so, we have to get there somehow, but how?”

“The roof,” Tom said.

“Huh?”

“The roof. When we came in, I saw the tunnel kept going above us. I’ll bet you it goes straight to the island.”

Ruth put her one shoe back on and they hurried back to the tunnel, Tom in the lead. I wonder if I might be able to alternate the shoe between both my feet...She reached up to the tunnel, feeling around at the small, cramped space.

“Come on, Ruth. What’s taking you so long?”

“The tunnel’s…really…small. Don’t you think?”

“Well, I suppose. Why?”

“No reason…” she squeaked. “I’m just not a big fan of small spaces.”

She took a deep breath and slithered up the tunnel after Tom.

This might be the worst thing that’s happened to me here so far. “Please tell me we’re almost there,” she begged Tom.

“How should I know?” he demanded. “I can’t see the end.”

“This is awful,” she moaned.

“Don’t blame me. Your idea was to jump into an acidic lake. I’m fairly certain this was the better of the two options.”

“I dunno about that—”

“Aaaah!”

Ruth heard a scrabbling in front of her. Reaching forward, she found that Tom was gone! “Tom? Tom!” She scrambled forward only to fall through the floor herself—there was a hole on the floor of the tunnel!

Ruth screamed. Free-falling in the dark? Not fun. Not fun at all. Fortunately, it wasn’t that big of a fall. Unfortunately, Ruth landed hard on her wrist. “Owww,” she groaned. “Tom? Where are you?”

“Here.” His voice came from her left. “I think I’m alright. Are you—oh, my leg! That’s a lot of blood.”

“Are you okay? I hit my wrist when I landed, but I think I’ll be fine.”

“Yes, the bleeding’s already stopping.”

“It’s colder over here,” Ruth noted, squinting.

“I think…Yes! It is! We’re on the island! Now to see if your assumption is correct.”

The sound of loosened rocks echoed off the walls of the cavernous room, causing a fluttering sound above them.

“W - what was that?” Ruth asked, imagining all kinds of horrifying creatures. Her mind flashed back to her memory of the Leer Gnat. In a world that could create something like that, who knew what else was in store for her…

“Oh. Nothing,” Tom said, doing his best to sound casual.

She pressed further. “Seriously, what is it?”

“I…shouldn’t tell you.”

“Which is another way of saying you don’t know what it is.”

“I do know what it is!”

“What, then?” she challenged.

“Bats,” he said, a quaver in his voice.

“Really? You’re scared of bats?” she asked incredulously. “Only little girls in storybooks are afraid of bats.”

“Who said I was afraid of bats?” Tom demanded. If she could see him, she was sure he would be blushing.

“You are, aren’t you?” she asked, giggling.

“I’m not admitting to anything, and we’re wasting time here.” He took her hand and she stumbled after him. She walked over the sharp, noisy rocks, hearing the dull clatter with each step. She never expected to hear the loud clank of metal on stone. She jumped in surprise, falling to the hard ground.

“What’s wrong?” Tom questioned.

“The—the Key! I just kicked it! It’s here somewhere! On the ground! Quick, help me find it!”

She dropped to her knees and began to scrabble around in the dirt and mud for the precious artifact.

“I got it!” Tom cried triumphantly. “The third Key!”

Ruth scrambled over to him, snatching up the Key, and feeling it all over with her fingers. The smooth, cool gold was soothing to the touch. She beamed, and handed the Key back to Tom. Then looked around the spooky cavern. They would celebrate later. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” This place was giving her the creeps; it reminded her of the island that Golem lived on in The Hobbit.

They scurried towards the place where they had fallen. Suddenly Tom stopped, and Ruth raced straight into him.

“Ruth?” he said. “I think that Key was rigged. There was a string attached to it that I just broke.”

“Whoops.”

Right on cue, a thunderous roar came from above them. A huge rush of water flooded the cavern almost instantly. Ruth and Tom were swept up in the current and carried off in separate directions.

Ruth shut her eyes, bracing herself for the burning pain she was sure would follow. When it didn’t come, Ruth cracked open her eyes. The water that came from above must not have been poisoned! It must have diluted the acid. It only stings a little, she thought excitedly.

The water battered her, smashing her mercilessly against the stalagmites and stalactites. She was certain that Tom was suffering a similar fate. The water pushed her under. She struggled to resurface, but her head hit a ceiling. There’s no air, she realized. I’m going to drown in this awful place!