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The Mission Begins

Page 10

by Kevin J. Fitzgerald


  Michaels walked until at last, as she made her way out of the large iron gates of the park, she muttered the literal meaning of “theopnuestos” to herself: “God breathed,” she said, and started down the deserted side street.

  After a few more moments, she muttered the original word to herself again. “Inspiration.”

  CHAPTER 14

  “Into the Forest”

  “The Forest of Ballivor.”

  Perhaps Rolo tried to sound dramatic, or dreamy. But, the simple, matter-of-fact tone of his voice seemed to capture what all of them felt. There was no romantic, or ethereal, quality to this journey of theirs. They were beyond that. These travelers were hungry, tired, cold, and farther away from home than any of them had ever been before. They stood at the edge of the forest and quietly regarded the awesome height of the trees. They peered cautiously between the trunks and into the shadowy innards of the dense wooded glade.

  This was indeed the Forest of Ballivor, as had been prophesied by Agabus.

  But as they stood regarding the woods, they each sensed that they were nowhere near where they had originally been intended to enter. In fact, because of their diversion into the haybales (and subsequent adventure), they had completely lost track of which direction the Emunah now lie.

  Paladin had heard of this forest long ago, but never anticipated he would one day stand at its entrance—let alone venture into it on some crazy quest. Frenjoo was, in fact, the only one of the three who had ever actually seen the forest before. But even that had been ages ago when he had been just a young squirrel, and from quite a distance. It had simply been pointed out to him while on a school outing.

  The travelers looked at the forest, and felt much smaller and insignificant than the night before when they had felt so safe and “in control” of things snuggled safely inside their hay-den. The trees marched up to the nearby slope of the foothills like soldiers snapped to attention, then blurred away into a green haze that covered the neighboring mountains. A few pockets of lingering mist clung here and there on the side of the nearest mountain, looking like scattered sheep grazing in the late-morning sun. While none of them said it, they were all thinking it: They had fully expected to find Spirit waiting for them at the edge of the forest with directions as to which way to go. But by the time they crossed the small field and had come to the edge of the forest, the white Dove was nowhere to be seen. This dampened their mood dramatically, and now they were all quite sullen. As long as the prospect of finding Spirit waiting for them at the edge of the forest was in their minds, their attitudes had been positive. Indeed, at times they had almost been running playfully through the field! But, again, with no sign of Spirit anywhere . . .

  Rolo strolled away and plopped down onto a nearby root.

  Frenjoo was distracted, removing all sorts of unwanted particles the previous night’s stay in the hay-den had left in his tail (it was a convenient way for him to expend some nervous energy). Frenjoo felt quite guilty, you see, in that he had been the one who had spotted the white Dove to begin with. Now his conscience played tricks on him, whispering all kinds of irritating suggestions:

  What if it hadn’t been Spirit, and just a normal white Dove?

  Why couldn’t he just learn to keep his mouth shut?

  And so on.

  Only Paladin stood looking into the depths of the forest, thinking. He recalled the way Agabus had so cryptically described the route they would travel just a few, short nights ago: “Finally, you will come to the Forest of Ballivor. Once on the other side . . . you will pass into the Poisoned Glen, for nothing grows there.” Paladin could still hear the wise old goat’s voice clearly. He wondered what all the Utergei were doing right now. Paladin raised his gaze to the dark boughs of the trees overhead, and then to the forest itself. It’s true he would have liked to know for sure if the white Dove they had seen (for they had all seen it) was, in fact, Spirit. It would have been a little more comfortable knowing that. So, he looked into the forest, waiting desperately to see a flicker of white in the branches overhead to fuel them on. But when he did not see it, his heart sank. Still, according to Agabus, venturing into this forest was their chosen path anyway—whether the Dove they had seen was Spirit or not.

  Paladin looked at his two companions: Rolo, looking dejected, sat nearby, muttering and turning his beret over in his hands; Frenjoo busied himself with the task of grooming, and appeared to Paladin as if he tried to occupy his time with anything, as long as it kept him from looking into the forest in front of them.

  “We’d better get started,” Paladin said.

  Instantly, Frenjoo stopped grooming. But he didn’t look up.

  Rolo, on the other hand, looked first at Paladin then rose, put on his beret, and walked into the forest past the rabbit.

  The guinea pig said nothing as he went, but Paladin was glad to see that he agreed. The last thing Paladin wanted right now was an argument with Rolo; he didn’t think their spirits could take it. Besides, Paladin imagined Rolo had probably been having similar thoughts to his own as he sat on the root nearby—perhaps even recalling Agabus’ words himself.

  “Frenjoo?” Paladin held out a hand.

  “Shouldn’t we-Shouldn’t we wait?” Frenjoo asked hesitantly. “It’ll be dark soon.”

  “It’s a day-and-a-half journey, Frenjoo,” Paladin said, “We’re going to spend some night time in the forest no matter how you look at it. So, we might as well get started today. The sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll be through.”

  Frenjoo looked at Paladin and licked his lips nervously.

  “Come on, Frenjoo,” Paladin said. He stepped closer and put a paw on Frenjoo’s shoulder. “We still have several hours of daylight left. Time is wasting.”

  Suddenly, a small voice called from the forest, “Here! It’s not that bad!” It was Rolo. He stood a short distance into the forest, waving at them. Paladin saw that he had already procured a stick from the ground and was using it as a walking stick. Paladin was relieved to see that the guinea pig’s mood was improving.

  Smiling, Paladin looked at Frenjoo. “There,” he said reassuringly. “You see? Let’s get moving.”

  Slowly, taking small steps at first, Frenjoo inched his way to the forest.

  Paladin was not sure why, of all of them, Frenjoo was so nervous. After all, a squirrel would be the one most familiar with this type of terrain, not a rabbit or a guinea pig. Paladin followed Frenjoo, and as he stepped out of the warmth of the sunlight into the great shade of the trees the temperature dropped dramatically. The morning sun hadn’t done much to drive away the night’s chill from within the forest. Paladin wondered if anything ever did. As the three companions disappeared into the Forest of Ballivor—Rolo in front, followed closely by Frenjoo and Paladin—Paladin clung to the hope that the white Dove they had seen had been Spirit, leading them.

  It was all he had at this point—like a beacon. After all they had been through (and would most likely encounter along the road ahead), Paladin found that he was quite willing to take some things on faith.

  The temperature dropped further as the party made their way up the gradual slope of the foothills. Paws tread softly upon the damp floor of pine needles beneath. As the ground rose so, too, did their spirits. Scents filled the forest, and so did all kinds of sounds that were unfamiliar to a rabbit such as Paladin. Foreign, yet not completely alien (for rabbits hardly ever venture into the woods).

  A few of hours in, they happened upon a small stream bubbling and gurgling over some rocks, flowing down from somewhere higher in the mountains. The water was clear and crisp and cold, and each of them had a good, long drink. This quickly turned into a bath as well. It was refreshing and invigorating after the misadventures of early morning, and they all felt cleaner, having passed the night lying upon hay.

  They journeyed on. A few hours later, they broke their climb for a brief lunch. There was little talking amongst them, as they were quite famished and very nearly out of breath (which i
s a horrible combination, by the way!). The air grew thin as the elevation rose—something they were not used to—and they each had to work harder to continue on. They ate quickly; most of their time was spent resting. After this respite, Rolo got them going again. At first, the idea seemed dreadful and begged a few groans from the other two. Once they were underway again, however, Paladin started to feel better. Indeed, he even started to think he might like the idea of adventures!

  They had not gone far when they crossed into a part of the wood that seemed much steeper, and more heavily overgrown. Here, the ground rose and dropped sharply, as the sky overhead became blocked by thicker branches. Shadows deepened to an uncomfortable level. Tree limbs creaked and bowed under a winter wind and seemed to call out to them below, as if commenting on their passage. Their progress slowed tremendously. It became difficult to know exactly in which direction they headed. Soon, they were calling out to each other, just to make sure they were all within earshot. They even felt at times that they might be going in circles. No one dared use the word ‘lost’—but the meaning of it became much more real to them. Time slowed, and a growing uneasiness that they might have to spend the night here gnawed at them.

  In reality, it was only a couple of hours when they spotted a steep rise ahead, at the top of which the sunlight shone much brighter. They must be reaching the end of the deep patch of woods at last! Excitement swept over them. They scrambled to the top of the rise, and stepped into a wide open place where the trees were gone from in front of them, but marched away in a sharp line to their right and to their left. In front of them the ground was level, but sloped up slightly, and was covered in small white stones. Atop these stones was a long, flat piece of metal, just about as tall as Rolo.

  “W-w-where are we?” Frenjoo asked quietly and looked around, quite nervous.

  CHAPTER 15

  “Across the Bridge”

  Without answering, the other two stepped forward. Frenjoo followed, until they came right up to the long, flat piece of metal. Paladin sniffed at it. Here, they saw that beyond it, another yard or so away, lay another of these strange pieces of metal. And even further beyond, they noticed that the forest started up again. The three of them looked at each other questioningly.

  “What do you suppose it is?” Frenjoo asked, swallowing hard.

  “Elahs peilo,” Rolo responded, still inspecting it.

  Paladin looked away to the left, and then to the right, feeling as if he had seen something like this before but couldn’t quite place where. To the left, the two long, flat pieces of metal stretched away in a slow, parallel curve that disappeared around a bend of trees. The trees cleared away to allow this, and the pale blue sky overhead was clearly visible, dotted with winter clouds. Running all between the two long, flat pieces of metal—in both directions—were shorter brown pieces that they soon discovered (through sniffing) were wood. These wood strips had a wholly unnatural smell about them. The whole scene had a neat, organized, geometrical look, and was without question the work of the elahs.

  To the right, the same thing was the case. Except for the fact that not too far ahead, the earth actually dropped away from underneath the long, flat metal pieces until they rejoined the other side of a ravine in the distance. Beyond this they saw where, eventually, the two metal pieces and all the wooden cross-pieces disappeared into a dark, gaping hole in the side of a mountain.

  By now, I am sure that you have guessed that what they found was a railroad track. To the right, where the ground dropped away, a railroad bridge extended across a ravine. But you must understand that to these three the whole thing was completely foreign and had a very strange, almost mystical, appearance.

  Without a word, Rolo stepped away from the others and started in the direction of the bridge. The others followed, but as the ravine drew closer they slowed their pace. The ravine was a very wide open and lonely sort of place. They stood at the edge, gazing across at the far side and peering down at the floor far, far below. A breeze tugged at their fur. From somewhere overhead came the faraway call of a single hawk. Frenjoo shuddered at this, but Rolo didn’t move. Paladin let out a single descending whistle, and seemed lost in thought.

  “I deed not realize we had climbed so high,” Rolo said, looking at the other two. “I fear we must be very off course by now from the path we were originally intended to take.”

  “So w-w-what do we do n-n-now?” Frenjoo asked nervously.

  Rolo didn’t get annoyed at this (as he typically might). Partly because he was deep in thought himself, partly because he was getting more used to the Squirrel’s character, but mostly because it was a very good question indeed!

  “I am open to suggestions,” Rolo said, still gazing at the ravine floor below. It was not an extremely high ravine. They could see where a small river ran along the base below. But the steep walls of the ravine stretched out of sight in both directions, giving no sign of another potential place to cross.

  “Well,” Paladin said, stepping forward and looking down the ravine. “We could always go back the way we came, and try to steer a little further to the left. That’s going to eat up a lot of our time and, from the looks of it, we’re eventually going to hit this ravine anyway. As far as I can see,” he looked first to the right, and then to the left, “this is the only place we’re going to be able to cross over. Unless we want to scale down this wall, and then climb back up the other side.”

  Rolo sighed heavily.

  “W-w-what are you saying, Paladin?” Frenjoo wrung his tail something awful!

  “Well,” Paladin said, “my suggestion is that we cross here.” He stepped back from the edge of the precipice and looked at the other two.

  What followed was a short conversation, pock-marked here and there with long, deliberating silences—and even a few outbursts of passionate opposition—in which they once again rehearsed all their options a few more times. It was really more a case of convincing Frenjoo than anything—allaying his fears, waiting patiently for him to come around to the idea. During this time it was Paladin, not Rolo, who grew steadily anxious. He kept looking at the railroad tracks, following them across the ravine and into the dark tunnel on the far side. Something lingered in the back of his mind, something elusive that told him they needed to keep going, to hurry. Though he didn’t know what it was.

  Eventually, they hopped up onto the tracks and started across the bridge. It was an older trestle bridge that jutted from the floor of the gorge like a great steel spider’s web. They moved slowly. The further they went from the side of the ravine, the more their apprehension grew. It was not only the underlying unease about traveling along something made by the elahs; it was also the exposure of traveling out from underneath the safety of the trees, or within the tall grasses of yesterday’s field. Out here, the wind whipped greedily at their coats, as though trying to tug them over the side. Every now and then, they would hear the lone cry of a hawk overhead.

  Rolo led the way. They were about halfway across when he cried, “Don’t look down!” Of course, as one might expect, the moment he said this Paladin and Frenjoo both looked down. Paladin’s paw unloosed a pebble, and the two of them watched it plummet far below and out of sight towards the ravine floor below. Frenjoo felt a lump rise in his throat, and the sides of his vision swam out of focus. He let out a small moan, dropped to his knees, and clutched one of the steel rails of the tracks. Paladin paused and went back to him; Rolo turned to see. After a few uncomfortable moments, the party got going again. From then on, their progress was even slower. Frenjoo refused to let go of the rail as he went, much like a nervous swimmer clinging to the edge of the pool.

  This seemed to take an eternity, and made Paladin more nervous than ever (though he tried to not let Frenjoo know it). When he wasn’t speaking words of encouragement to the squirrel, Paladin looked in front of them and behind quickly. His ears were high; his nose worked furiously. The rabbit sensed something, but couldn’t quite tell what it was. The gap between Ro
lo and the other two grew. Ahead, Paladin saw the guinea pig stepping off the tracks onto the other side of the ravine, waving back at them. As Paladin and Frenjoo reached the three-quarter mark of the way across, Paladin began to relax a bit more.

  And that was when they heard the scream: a loud, high-pitched wailing that rose and fell as though a battle cry.

  It was not an organic sound. It was a sound made by something completely lifeless—yet it was a scream nonetheless.

  From out of the gaping hole in the side of the mountain ahead a huge, one-eyed steel beast emerged to challenge their approach. It was like a great snake, or tarantula, lumbering out of its hole.

  Paladin and Frenjoo froze.

  Rolo jumped back from the track just in time, his tiny ears covered and his tiny shape dwarfed by the massive oncoming object.

  “Train,” Paladin muttered, suddenly remembering the elusive word he had tried to recall—and what exactly it meant. To punctuate his thought, the lumbering steel beast belched another of its great, terrifying cries.

  Beside him Frenjoo was shivering; a whimpering heap.

  From faraway in front, looking tiny and lost next to the steady onslaught of the train, Rolo waved them back frantically.

  Paladin rose onto his hind legs and measured the distance between them and then train. Then, looking back, he measured the distance they had already come. He did this a few more times. Then, grabbing Frenjoo by the neck, Paladin lifted the squirrel forcefully and shouted, “Run!”

 

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