by S. E. Smith
He sighed when he saw Gem gathering fruit from a tree and placing it into a basket. He gaped, his mouth wide open, when the tree bent over so that she could pluck a piece of fruit that was beyond her reach. At first, he thought he had imagined it, but the tree next to her did the same thing before pointing in his direction.
Ross wiped his damp face with his hands, and he started forward when Gem turned around and smiled at him. She said something to the tree which shook in response. Several pieces of fruit rained down around her. The pieces stopped in mid air before floating over to land in her basket.
“Welcome to the Twilight Zone. I really hope today goes better than the last two!” he muttered.
It was cooler this morning, so he pulled on his jacket. Tucking his sweater under his arm, he worked his way down the path and walked along the edge of the pool. He warily looked up at the trees when they turned as if to look down at him.
“Uh, good morning,” he greeted in an uneasy voice.
She smiled at him. “Good morning,” she said.
“Here, take my sweater. It is a little chilly out. I’ll hold the basket for you,” he offered.
“Thank you,” she said.
He held out his sweater with one hand and reached for the woven basket with the other. He didn’t miss the slight flush on her cheeks when they exchanged items. Clearing his throat, he looked up at the trees.
“So, I take it these are good trees? They aren’t going to – like – try to step on me or smash me into little pieces, are they?” he inquired.
Gem finished pulling his sweater over her head and looked at him with wide, startled eyes before she smiled again. She pulled her hair free of the sweater before she reached out and caressed the trunk of one tree. Ross bit the inside of his cheek to keep from making an asinine remark that was sure to embarrass them both.
“No, these trees have not been bewitched,” she said.
“Cool,” he replied.
He felt strangely tongue-tied. He looked at the trees again before looking at her and then the basket. His stomach rumbled, and he grinned at Gem when she laughed.
“Your stomach was rumbling earlier, and you were smacking your lips. I thought you might be hungry, and the trees were kind enough to share their fruit with me,” she teased.
“I feel like I could eat a horse,” he confessed.
“A horse? Do you eat them where you come from?” she asked with a frown.
Ross shook his head. “No, I don’t eat them. I don’t mind a good steak every once in a while, but that is usually a little more than my budget allows. I pretty much eat seafood – you know, fish, shrimp, crab, scallops – that kind of stuff,” he said.
“Oh. My people mostly eat the harvest given to us from the trees. The forest is filled with an abundance of food that does not require eating meat,” she replied.
“Uh, okay, so you guys are like vegetarians or vegans,” he deduced.
She frowned. “We eat many vegetables. I do not know what a vegan is,” she confessed.
Ross chuckled and shook his head. “Hell if I know either – I just see the stuff in the grocery store and keep on walking. If it is too healthy, there has to be something wrong with it,” he replied.
She stared at him in confusion for a moment before she shook her head. “I do not think I understand that logic,” she said.
Ross reached out and grasped her hand. “Don’t bother trying. So, what do you do with this bounty of whatever it is?” he asked, looking down at the woodsy-looking fruit in the basket.
“I’ll show you,” she replied.
She pulled free and started walking back in the direction of the cave. He feasted his eyes on her retreating figure. She looked cute in his sweater.
“She’d look really good if that was all she was wearing,” he murmured, admiring the sway of her hips.
He started in surprise when he felt a slight sting on his ass. Looking over his shoulder, he caught the tree behind him straightening up and pulling back a thin branch. He scowled at Gem’s woodsy guardian.
“A guy can look, can’t he?” he defended himself.
He ducked his head and hurried after Gem when the tree shook, sending down a shower of small nuts.
Great! I’m in a land where prudish trees live! he thought with a wry smile and a rueful shake of his head. Of course, that didn’t stop him from looking again – or appreciating Gem any less.
Half an hour later, Ross cleaned up the remains of their breakfast and dumped it into the fire. The woody husks quickly burned to a fine ash. Throughout their meal, they had kept their conversation light, trying to avoid thinking about what lay ahead, but that easy, peaceful time had come to an end when the Isle violently shuddered, sending a cascade of small rocks down near the mouth of the cave.
“So, what kind of things are we looking at today? Godzilla? Thanos? The Minions?” Ross asked in a half-joking tone.
Gem looked at him and frowned. “I am not familiar with those things. Are they bad?” she asked.
Ross rubbed the back of his neck and dryly laughed. “Only one of them really. It was a bad joke,” he said with a crooked smile of apology.
She stared at him for a second and nodded. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t know…, ” she replied.
“Nothing to apologize for. Different worlds – jokes don’t always translate the same. I was just wondering if you had any idea what we might encounter today,” he awkwardly finished.
She bit her lip and thought for a moment. “The stones did not show me everything we have encountered so far. I assumed Magna could see what the alien creature had planned, and broke free of its control long enough to convey what she learned to the stones,” she explained.
Ross frowned. “Which traps from yesterday did the stones show?” he asked.
“The tree at the river was the first one and the spider was the second. There were a total of six warnings,” she said.
“So, what about the mud pit and the human-eating plant? Who did those?” he asked.
She looked at him with a bemused expression. “I suspect my father created those,” she said.
“So, we have four more from the stones and no idea about what else might happen. I have to tell you that I’m not getting a good feeling about this,” he confessed.
She nodded in agreement. “The mud pit surprised me; the plant did not. My father has a gentle soul. He would rather restrain than kill if at all possible. I suspect that you would have fallen through the mud pit to an underground cavern and been lost for days before finding a way out. ”
Gem waved her hands in the air. Ross stepped back when a mist appeared showing what could only be a three-dimensional map of the Isle. He walked around it, studying the Isle’s layout. Along the far cliffs – as far as a person could go on the map, of course – was their final destination, the palace.
“We are here,” Gem said, pointing on the map. Between them and the palace there was a whole lot of ground to cover.
“The palace really isn’t that far, it only appears to be,” she said, contradicting his thoughts on the distance.
“I was just thinking that,” he lied.
“The four other warnings do not specify the location of the traps, but if we go by the order written in the stones and the fact that the river trap and the spider were here and here, then I believe the next one will be here,” she said, pointing to a narrow canyon on the map.
“What did the stone say?” he asked in an uneasy voice as he imagined them walking through a creepy Canyon of Doom.
“‘Take the passage through the rock but beware, for life exists where none should be’,” she recited.
A shiver ran down Ross’s spine. “I don’t like the sound of that. I vote for finding a different way. This has ambush written all over it – narrow passage, lots of rocks, no place to escape…. What if we went this way instead?” he asked.
He pointed toward a section that looked like a miniature desert. They could cross it in a few hours. It
would also cut half a day off the trip.
“The stone was very clear, take the passage through the rock. Remember what happened before when you ventured off the trail?” she pointed out.
“Yeah… the stomping tree. How could I forget that? Okay, we take the passage through the rocks. What happens when we get through it?” he asked with a grimace of distaste as he stared at the map.
“We go through the Field of Fire and then across the lake,” she said.
“How long did it take you to get to the gazebo when that creature attacked?” he asked with a hint of disbelief.
“I created a wind tunnel. It allowed me to travel at a much greater speed. If I created another one, the alien creature would detect the shift in power and be aware that we are near,” she explained.
Ross frowned. “Right, but if you could zap yourself to the palace and bam – wake your folks, then everything would be okay,” he said.
She shook her head. “My parents and I could not defeat it the first time. We need to save the island without the creature realizing I am awake. My father warned that I could not let the alien creature take control of my body,” she softly said.
“Then wouldn’t it have made sense for you to get off the island once I unfroze you? You could have brought in reinforcements to fight the creature,” he exclaimed in exasperation.
“There wasn’t enough time! It would take days, if not weeks, to hunt down Drago, Orion, Nali, and the others! Then more time to get them to agree and return – if they ever agreed. The island is sinking, and we will be lucky if we can get to my parents in time to prevent it from happening,” she groaned with frustration.
“Okay, no time, I get that. But, from the sound of it, the creature is still there, and if you go back, you’ll be in the same danger you were in before. What if – what if I went ahead? I could find your folks and wake them up while you go for help,” he offered.
She was vigorously shaking her head in disagreement. “You would never make it alone. Look at what happened yesterday. If I hadn’t been there – Ross, you could have been killed,” she contended as she waved her hands in agitation.
He reached out and gently grabbed her wrists. Pulling her close, he hugged her tightly. He waited until she relaxed before he spoke.
“I’ve got this, Gem. Now that I know what I’m up against, I’ve got this. Yeah, there might be a little magic, a few monsters, an alien, some people-eating plants, a few trees that want to stomp me…,” his voice faded when she reached up and placed her hand over his mouth.
“I’m going with you. Someone has to watch your back,” she said in a firm voice.
He chuckled, pressed a light kiss to her fingers, and mumbled, “I was hoping you’d talk me out of being an idiot,” he teased.
He tightened his hold on her when the ground shook. They stared at each other for a moment before pulling apart. Ross patted his pockets and looked around to make sure he wouldn’t forget anything while Gem put out the fire.
“Okay, we’d better get this show on the road,” he said, stepping closer to her.
Gem nodded and started to turn away before she twirled on her heel and pressed a brief, hard kiss to his lips. She turned back just as quickly and hurried out of the cave. Ross stood bemused for a moment before he snapped out of his reverie and followed her.
“Focus, Ross. You can’t save the Princess if you go weak in the knees every time she kisses you,” he muttered to himself.
14
Two hours later, Gem followed closely behind Ross. They were making good time and hadn’t encountered any unnatural obstacles, though the tremors were happening more frequently now, so they were finding toppled trees on the path.
The trees became more sparse and widespread as they neared the rocky passage in the canyon. Gem had always loved the canyon. It made her feel a sense of awe and wonder that such a barren place could be so beautiful, colorful, and unique.
Her mother used to tell her when she was a child that the Goddess had made the Isle of the Elementals by mixing the sands of time with the ocean, leaving this chasm of exposed sandstone as a reminder of their origins. The brilliantly colored sediment running through rocks sparkled when the sun hit them a certain way. The walls were smooth and beautiful, and natural bridges crisscrossed the canyon in many places. Small pools of water from rainfall often gathered in the shadowed craters.
She hissed in surprise when she felt a sudden frigid blast of air, and she rubbed her hands on the sweater she was wearing to warm them. The path opened up as they cleared the last stand of trees, and she could see the entrance to the canyon ahead.
“Damn, but it’s cold,” Ross commented, zipping up his jacket.
“Yes,” she replied in concern.
She stepped up next to him and warily studied the canyon’s entrance. The canyon should be warm this time of year. Based on the position of the sun, winter was still several months away.
“It should not be cold. This is not normal,” she said.
“Great, okay. Listen, wait here. I’ll be back in a second,” he said.
“I – alright,” she replied.
Gem watched in confusion as Ross retraced their steps back into the forest. She impatiently waited, growing more concerned as the minutes ticked by. She shivered when another frigid burst of air from the canyon swirled around her. It took a split second to register that it wasn’t the wind surrounding her, but an icy hand. With her arms trapped against her sides, she couldn’t break free. Before she could dissolve, the chill seeped through her clothing and to her skin, and she knew she was being frozen again, this time into ice.
“Ross!” she cried out before her throat froze, and the fine crystals imprisoned her in their icy grasp.
Ross searched for the fallen tree they had passed a few minutes earlier. He grunted in satisfaction when he found it. Wading through the tall ferns, he reached down and pulled a large piece of bark from the trunk.
He weighed it in his hands. It was thick and heavy but manageable. Now he needed a way to hold and control it with one hand like a shield.
He made a handle with a limber green branch along with some vines, courtesy of the trees that had heard his unconscious muttering for the items during his search. He held the shield up, swung it around, and took a few steps as if he were battling an invisible foe.
“Okay, that should work. A bit clumsy but better than nothing,” he said and looked up at the large tree with a wide grin. “You wouldn’t happen to have a lance hidden among your branches, would you?”
The tree shook in response. Ross hadn’t really expected a reply, so when it came, he uttered a startled list of his favorite go-to words that would have made his mother wash his mouth out with soap if she were still alive. He barely jumped back when a six-foot branch impaled itself in the ground less than a foot away from him. The branch was at least three inches thick, straight, and devoid of leaves. It also had a very, very sharp point, which he discovered when he pulled it out of the ground. He studied his new weapon for a second and looked up at the tree with a wary expression.
“Uh, thanks. This is perfect,” he said.
The tree shook again. This time, leaves fell around him like a gentle summer rain. His laugh was cut short when he heard Gem’s loud cry of distress. All humor disappeared, and he turned around.
“Gem!” he shouted.
Taking off at a run, Ross held his new shield and lance tightly against his body. He burst through the opening in time to see an enormous creature which was the icy white-blue color of a glacier. It stood at least twenty feet tall and it was carrying an unconscious Gem into the canyon. A second creature of equal size stood near the curve in the canyon.
Ross sprinted forward, clenched his jaw in determination, and focused on Gem. He was almost to the mouth of the canyon when the creature standing near the entrance raised a large icy club and struck the ground. Ross cried out in outrage when a wall of ice shot up from the ground.
He hit the wall and bounc
ed backward, almost falling on his ass. Dropping his shield, he lifted the lance and held it with both hands. He struck the ice wall over and over, but every crack he made in the ice sealed up before he could make another.
Tossing the lance aside, he beat on the wall of ice in frustration. His heart pounded frantically in despair as he watched the creatures walk away. He raised his fist and struck the ice again.
“No, damn you! I swear if you hurt her… Gem… Damn it, no!” he shouted in frustration.
His breath fogged the ice, and he impatiently rubbed the sleeve of his jacket against it. He watched with growing hopelessness as the creatures disappeared around a curve in the canyon. He let his hands slide down the ice wall and dropped them to his side when he could no longer see Gem.
“Gem – what have I done? I promised…,” his voice faded, and he bowed his head in grief.
Once again, he had failed to protect the person he loved. Tears burned his eyes as he thought of his mother – his life – Gem. He took a shuddering breath and looked down at his handmade shield. It looked small and insignificant now – a child’s toy in the face of magic. He had been stupid to think he could be a match for such creatures. He was an idiot to believe that he could ever be anyone’s hero. He was a loser – just like his father – just like everyone back home thought.
He stepped back and studied the ice wall. It was at least twelve inches thick. The walls of rock on each side were flat and also covered in ice, making it impossible to climb. He clenched his hands into fists.
He’d done some mountain climbing when he was in high school. He’d also spent a good deal of time climbing around on a rocking boat. If there was a way up and over that damn block of ice, he would find it. He would not give up.
With grim determination, he pulled a couple of vines free and tied the shield and lance to his back. He would need a weapon when he made it over to the other side.