The attackers flew away from the fallen solder and smashed into the walls of the cave. Without wasting a moment, Amanda rushed up to him and scanned around looking for an
escape. She felt a draft of cold air passing across the cavern that showed her the way. She took up Percy’s sword in one hand, grabbed his collar with the other, and dragged him towards the source of the breeze.
After no more than a handful of steps, she paused to catch her breath. A glimmer of light from the entrance behind her sparkled on the blinking red eyes of the underground dwellers in front of her.
“Stay back!” she warned, waving the sword back and forth. The top of her head scraped on the ceiling and dirt sprinkled down on them, some of it ran down her neck, through her open collar, tickling her as it tumbled down her back.
Claustrophobia is a terrible feeling and until that moment Amanda didn’t know that she suffered from it. She felt the walls closing in around her and her pulse began to quicken. She had an overwhelming urge to flee. But after a moment of panic, she forced it down. She felt down in the darkness and found Percy’s collar again. She pulled with all her might; the muscles in her arms and legs burning from the strain. The wounded warrior groaned in pain and that fueled her resolve. After what felt like a kilometer, but in reality, was dozens of steps she emerged from the cave and passed through the bushes that hid it from view.
Amanda dragged Percy away from the entrance as far as her strength would allow. The creatures cautiously crept out of the cave and fanned out on both sides. Each member of the group stared intently at the wounded solider and the wizard. The whale song, at the end of her perception was slipping in and out of her control like the answer to a question that you’re sure you know but can’t quite recall. With trembling hands, she drew up the sword and waved it back and forth.
“Leave us alone,” she said. It was as much a plea as a command.
“Leave me and run.” said Percy weakly.
“Not hardly. We’re in this together,” she said.
The largest member of the troop came forward. He wore a string of colored stones around his neck. He held his palms open.
“Our apologies, Eminence,” it said as it knelt down in genuflection.
“Eminence?” replied Amanda.
“You command the magic. We not know. We beg forgiveness,” said the creature.
“Why did you kidnap me?” she snapped.
“I am Knorr, chieftain of the Beech Leaf Lake g’nolls. We have hidden under this hill to hide from those that come in the night. They steal our children and take them to work the mines. We thought that with a human hostage, we could bargain to be left alone.”
“I am Amanda. Is that why you attacked?” she asked.
Before he could reply, a bloom of red spread around a black arrow protruding from the chest of the g’noll standing him next to him.
“Hide!” shouted Knoor.
Suddenly, from every direction roughly dressed men armed with bows and staves and carrying nets rushed into the clearing.
The g’nolls scrambled about in the fury of the onslaught. As the men threw nets over the smaller g’nolls while their comrades fought off Knorr and his warriors.
“No!” shouted Amanda. She grabbed the arm of one of the men.
“Look here, a pinkling wench.” He grabbed her roughly, knocking Percy’s sword from her hand.
Amanda squeezed up her left hand tight with her thumb sticking out and jabbed him in the eye as hard as she could. He released her arm giving her a chance to step back and load up a
side-kick that she delivered like a bad report card to the outside of his knee. As he buckled, she brought up her knee, striking him
in the face and shattering his nose. Rough hands picked her up from behind, she flailed in the air but the man’s iron grip held
her fast.
Laughing, the man mocked his fallen friend.
“Flattened by a little girl, meybe we should take her on and sell you to the traders.”
“Put me down!” screamed Amanda.
“Not likely, you fight like a wildcat and I’m not wanting to get scratched.”
From high above the crowd Amanda watched the disjointed scenes of the furry creatures being herded by the bully-men. Several of them were down and bleeding, many of the smaller ones had nets thrown over them.
The she recalled a protest she’d be to where she witnessed the culling of seals and anger welled up in her. The song in her head shrieked like a wounded beast and Amanda cried out.
“Release me!”
The hold around her waist came away and she fell to the ground with a thud. Winded, she scrambled to her feet while trying to catch her breath. The man, surprised that he’d dropped her lunged at her.
“GET BACK!” she screamed. A pulse of bright light like an exploding camera flash burst forth from her hands and the man hurtled across the clearing, his head striking a tree with the dull thud of a melon falling onto the supermarket floor.
Another man rushed her; his staff high in the air.
“STOP!” she shouted. The force of her words threw him backwards where he crashed into a cluster of men who were fighting with Knoor and his warriors. The g’nolls took advantage of the distraction and fell up on the men with renewed vigor, biting and clawing like trapped animals. With the magic seemingly on their side, they fought against the interlopers with the desperation of a six-on-five in the dying minutes of a hockey game.
Amanda glanced down at Percy lying on the dirt, blood streaming from his wounds uncertain what to do next. An
intuition, like the feeling that someone is staring at you, made her look up. From far side of the clearing was a giant of a man with a dirty black beard, wearing a filthy mended shirt that hung to his knees. He was pointing his bow directly at her, an ugly iron tipped arrow knocked, the bow drawn back to the limit of his strength.
Strangely, she wasn’t afraid. As she heard the twang of the string, the song in her mind roared like her favorite Freddy Mercury crescendo, the one in Bohemian Rhapsody. Time slowed; she could see the arrow coming towards her with no more urgency than a child dawdling on the way to school. As it neared, she held her hand up like a cop in the middle of an intersection, the tip of the arrow touched her palm and stopped. Time resumed and the arrow fell impotently to the ground. The bearded man threw his bow away and screamed “forgive me.” Then he turned and ran off into the woods.
Bloody and beaten, the trappers broke and fled back into the woods, weapons and nets left cast aside like the bits of cars that remain after a violent crash.
Knorr approached and knelt before her.
“I pledge my fealty to you Amanda.”
“No, no pledges. I’m just passing through on my way to the mountains to find my sister.”
Before Amanda could say anymore, Percy groaned weakly and opened his eyes.
Knorr made some motions and spoke to his people in a language of grunts and barks. The chubby g’noll who’d held out the bowl to her came forward, this time with a leather bag in its paws. It approached Percy cautiously making soothing sounds that one would make to a frightened animal. “Igoss will tend his wounds,” said Knorr.
The round g’noll physician worked with surprising efficiency and sewed up the wounds up with strands of gut and then plastered a thick, smelly salve over them before binding
them up with mats of woven grass. Bravely, Percy gritted his
teeth through the entire procedure.
Amanda looked on and managed only the smallest glimpse of his firm muscular chest before Igoss covered him and made him drink a foul-smelling draught that immediately put him to sleep.
Later, she sat with Knoor. The moon had come up and by its silvery light she listened as he described the foul pollution that was spreading from the lake lands across Tarsinia.
Amanda sipped at a broth looking both anxious and concerned.
“You worry about your friend,” said the g’noll chief.
“No
. Well, yes. But that’s not what is bothering me. I need to find my sister and convince Celestra to let her go.”
“But your friend…”
“I know, he can’t come. Will you take him to the castle for me?”
“Yes. But you can’t go on alone. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’m afraid that I don’t have a choice.”
“If you are that determined, then Igoss will go with you.”
“Oh, thank you!” said Amanda.
The next morning, with half of their food and a few meager items stuffed into Percy’s bag, Amanda and Igoss were already an hour away from the camp when the sun crested the horizon.
Escape
Sarah lay tightly against Jasper. She moved to adjust herself, and the small dragon woke.
“How are you feeling,” she asked. The blotches on his skin looked less angry and his breathing sounded better.
“Much better,” he replied. “It feels so good not to have to scratch.”
The dragon purred as she smeared some more lotion on his skin. She scratched his head like she would a cat and he closed his eyes as he soaked up the attention. “This feels very nice. No one has ever done this for me before.”
“Not even your mother?”
“Mother says dragons are supposed to be self-reliant.”
“That’s a shame,” said Sarah. “If you were my friend, I would take care of you.”
She recalled all of the times that her mother had tenderly rubbed camphor on her chest to ease her wheezing and fear that she’d never see her again welled up in her. She suppressed a tear and resolved to herself that she would get home.
Her stomach growled.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“A little,” she replied shyly.
“I’ll see what I can find for you? I’m sure mother had something in mind,” said the small dragon as it scampered away towards the mouth of the cave.
“Promise me you will stay in the cave,” he said.
Reluctantly, Sarah agreed.
Alone in the cave, Sarah took the opportunity to explore. The light from the crack overhead shone down into the back of the cave. She inspected the sides of the cold stone looking for cracks or handholds that she might be able to use to climb up.
In one corner of the cave the walls closed in enough to form a chute that she thought she might be able to climb up by pressing herself between the walls. She managed to get a few
feet above the ground and felt rough roots from the foliage from above. Twice, she managed to grab handfuls but the ends were too thin and they snapped off; causing her to fall.
“Just a little higher, and I’ll be able to reach the thicker roots,” she decided.
She inspected the cave for loose rocks that she might be able to pile up and found nothing she could use. Clearly, the dragons had cleared away anything that she might have been able to use for weapon.
Resigned to climbing she went back to work. She was at her highest point yet when she heard Jasper’s voice.
He called out to her. “You’ll need to come here.”
She ignored him and continued to climb.
“What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
“What does it look like I’m doing, I’m trying to escape.”
“You promised,” he complained.
“I can’t stay here waiting for someone to eat me. Now please will you help me. I only need to reach up a little higher. You can tell everyone that I was gone when you came back.”
“No, I’ll get in trouble. Now come see what I’ve brought you to eat,” he said firmly.
Cautiously, Sarah moved towards the mouth of the cave. The sun had set, but bright moonlight showed her the way.
“Where are the others?”
“Not far,” he replied. “Please, don’t try to run away.”
Sarah sat on a rock just inside the mouth of the cave. The shining full moons cast a brilliant silver light over the land. The small dragon dropped something on the ground in front of her. She picked it up. “I hope you like it,” he said enthusiastically.
It was a fish. “I’m a little girl, not a seal,” she said.
“It’s all I have,” said Jasper dejectedly.
Her stomach growled again. She was very hungry. “It’s ok. It’ll be like sushi. Can you help me cut it into little pieces?”
Eagerly the small dragon used one of his razor-sharp claws and slashed the belly of the fish open exposing the innards.
He held them out for her.
“Ewww. People don’t eat the guts.”
“Really? That’s my favorite part,” he said and slurped them all down.
The dragon next handed her the head. Sarah squished up her face and shook her head “No.”
The dragon gulped down the head and crunched the skull bone with delight.
Lastly, he offered her a thin slice of meat off of the fishes back. She took the meat and bit into it tentatively. “Needs soya sauce. But it’s ok.” Together they finished the fish although Jasper felt guilty that he’d hogged all the bones and the tail.
Sarah burped. “Thank you,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
Suddenly the ground quivered as the two green dragons landed together with a thump. “What smells so good?” asked Jade.
“Yes, smells so good,” repeated Esmeralda.
Jade sniffed the little girl and touched her face with the tip of her tongue. “Fishy,” she said.
“Yes, fishy,” said the other hungrily as she licked Sarah’s fishy fingers.
“We’ll have to roll you in fish guts before we eat you,” growled Jade.
“Yes, fish guts,” grunted Esmeralda.
“No eating the prisoner!” shouted Jasper bravely.
“Be careful, you smell fishy too little brother,” said Jade as she sniffed him.
“Yes, be careful,” repeated Esmeralda.
The twin dragons laughed together and began to move closer to the small dragon and the little girl. Jasper tugged Sarah away from the mouth of the cave.
“Now stay in there!” roared Jade as the two dragons flapped their wings and took flight.
“Will they really eat me?” asked Sarah.
“They’re not supposed to. But they are dragons, so they might.”
“Then I have to escape. I’m not going to wait here to be eaten.”
“How?”
Sarah looked up and then pointed up at the hole at the top of the cave where the moonlight was now streaming through.
“We can’t,” complained Jasper. “We’ll get in trouble.”
“I think that you’re already in trouble. Your sisters are mad at you, and I know Uncle Everett will be furious. If you help me, I’m sure that he’ll be grateful.”
The small dragon sighed. “Here, let me help you.” Jasper crouched down, and Sarah stood on his back. She reached up until she could feel the thicker roots dangling down the walls. She pulled with all her might like she was climbing the ropes in gymnastics class and after a few moments she was on the edge looking down. “C’mon, we have to hurry,” she whispered down the hole to her reluctant accomplice.
Clues
Igoss and Amanda left the woods at mid-day. They reached a small stream that was a little more than knee deep. Amanda stepped cautiously from rock to rock until she reached the far bank that rose steeply on the other side. She looked up at the daunting face of loose earth. Igoss scrambled across through the water not caring if he got wet. He shook like a dog when he arrived next to Amanda.
“Hey!” she shrieked as his wetness splattered her.
“Come…”
“You can talk!?”
“Most us can. Knoor prefer we bark like animals. Leave talking to him. Him feel superior.”
Amanda chuckled at his comment and followed the g’noll a short-ways until they reached a patch of bright candy apple colored bushes.
Igoss examined the sky. “Danger,” he warned.
Amanda looked around and could
see circling, above the plain that spread out before them, creatures that looked like small dragons.
“More dragons?” said Amanda with a sigh.
“Dragonettes,” replied Igoss. He held his paws close together to indicate that they were smaller than dragons. “They eat us, if they catch us.”
“This way,” he moved towards some very fragrant bushes. He parted them with his paws.
“Wait,” he said.
Like a gopher, Igoss started to paw at the soft earth and in moments he disappeared from sight. Amanda found a bit of shade and sat down to wait. It wasn’t long before he reappeared and emerged from the bushes. He scattered the loose earth around and to anyone passing by, they would have never known that there had been a large pile of earth.
“Come,” he said.
He parted the bushes again and this time, hidden behind them, was the entrance to a tunnel large enough for Amanda to crawl into.
“Come…” He scampered through the opening.
The memory of being underground cause her to hesitate and she looked at the dark opening unable to take the first step.
Igoss reemerged from the hole and held out his paw. “Come!” he said with more urgency than he had before.
Amanda knelt down and cautiously entered the tiny tunnel. After a moment her eyes adjusted and she could see a dim light, like a guiding star in the distance. The floor of the passage was firm and cool to the touch. It was a nice break from the relentless heat of the day.
Further and further down the passageway she crawled. It was subtle at first but as she crept onward, she could feel the passage shrinking. Eventually the floor the gap became so tight she was forced to lay flat and slither along like a snake.
Amanda could feel her heart rate rising. She tried to control her breathing but a sudden suffocating fear overcame her. Perhaps it was a moment of inattention but her arm became got stuck underneath her and she felt trapped. Unable to move forward or backwards she started to scream and her heart began to race even faster. Dirt collapsed down around her and she screamed again.
Amanda Applewood and the Return of the False King: An Everworld Book Page 14