The canoe shot on like a fleet black ghost. Suddenly the river ended in
a great whirlpool just ahead and the cavern spread away on the right,
its extent shrouded in shifting haze rising from pools of many colors.
Slowing the canoe into a cluster of stalagma, Toka tied it secure and
stepped ashore. Slithering dangerously on the warm muck, he ran between
boiling pools and swallowing slime holes, Rok and Old Ledo at his heels.
The mucky way led uphill and the haze began eddying into thin strands
to reveal a glistening black wall ridged with colorful columns.
Peering from behind one that towered away into the shifting haze, Toka
considered the huge opening at the summit of this mucky slope.