Wizard Dawning (The Battle Wizard Saga, No. 1) by C. M. Lance

said.
    "No, I'm good at visualizing maps. After I study one for a little while, I'm good to go." She smiled over at him and then jerked her eyes back just in time to swerve around a particularly large gully cutting across the rutted dirt road. "Almost there, thank God. That one would have ripped out the undercarriage if I hit it."
    A few minutes later she slowed and pulled off next to a sagging metal gate. No signs indicated where they were.
    Sig looked at the skeptically. "Through there? Do you think it will open? That's a pretty big lock."
    She reached into the console, pulled out, and brandished a large key. "That's what this if for and my big strong boy is here to open the gate. Here." She handed him the key. After fiddling with the lock for a moment before it released, Sig was able to lift the gate and swing it to the side, enough for her to pull the car through. Beyond the gate, the track became two ruts separated by brown weeds rising two feet into the air.
    He looked quizzically down the trail. "Can this sports car get down that path? This is where my truck would come in handy."
    "Get in. It's supposed to be clear enough."
    He stepped into the car and she slowly picked her way through the weeds accompanied by the steady crunch of gravel.
    The rutted trail wound down a hill, switching back twice until they reached a cliff of jumbled boulders ascending eighty feet in the air. She stopped, shut of the car, and turned to Sig. "We're here."
    "Wherever here is." He got out and looked up the pile of boulders and around at the brush growing up to the base of the boulders, leaving only enough room for the car path to end.
    "See that trail winding up through the boulders?" She asked. "Uncle told me that it leads to the cave entrance. Come on, grab your stuff and let's check it out." She popped the trunk and pulled out a picnic basket and a blanket. "I've got mine."
    Sig smiled and grabbed the cooler and gym bag. "Let's go."
    She threw the blanket over her shoulder, and then grabbed his arm by the bicep and pulled it close to her chest. "It looks rough. Don't let me fall."
    He tensed his arm, said, "Hang on," and followed the narrow winding trail up between the boulders.
    They slipped and hopped around boulders taller than Sig. Finally, behind a particularly huge boulder, a dark opening yawned in the side of the hill.

 
    Sig stared at the opening. A feeling like first time he entered an amusement park overwhelmed him. The joy of adventure beckoned from an opening six feet wide and about five feet tall.
    "This is so neat! I feel like an explorer." He flashed Madeline a broad smile, dug a flashlight out of the gym bag, and peered into the opening.
    As the light played around he saw that the opening grew taller. A few feet in, he stood erect with inches to spare. He turned and Madeline held out his gym bag and cooler. "Forget something?" She said with a smile.
    He took them with a bashful grin and Madeline returned outside to retrieve the picnic hamper and blanket while he looped and fastened his first rope around a medium sized boulder.
    He picked up the gym bag. "Let's see what we can find."
    "Don't you want your cooler," she asked.
    Before he replied, she cocked her head and held up the palm of her hand.
    A distant plink sounded to break the silence.
    Sig's eyes expanded. "Your uncle said something about an underwater lake."
    "Yes, at least that part sounds right. I don't see any stalactites though."
    "Those are caused by water seepage through the limestone. I bet there are some near the lake." Excitement laced his voice. "I'll come back for the cooler."
    He lead the way over and around boulders, sometimes bending almost double to get past low roofed areas, paying out rope as he went.
    Sometimes he remembered to come back and help Madeline over particularly tough stretches, but his enthusiasm kept him moving forward past others. Sometimes she called him back so he could shine the flashlight over the rock strewn floor. "You know