by Willow Rose
Her mother looked at her with great worry in her eyes.
“You must hurry, Sara. I don’t think we have much time.”
This time Sara woke up on her own with a scream. Manolo, who was keeping guard over the cave, jumped from where he sat and ran to her.
“What is wrong?” He asked.
Sara, trying to catch her breath, looked at him with terrified eyes.
“He is dying. We don’t have long.”
Manolo stood up and looked outside the cave.
“The sun is almost down now. We might be able to start climbing down the last few miles to the bottom in an hour.
“Is it still far?”
“I think we can reach the marshland by midnight. But if we are to make it, we have to move fast.”
Sara nodded and got up. She was determined to make it.
Outside, big puddles of water had gathered on the ground and the mountain stream flowed swiftly and noisily and bigger than ever.
“A lot of water has fallen while I was asleep,” Sara said.
Manolo nodded.
“Yes, at times it was as if there was no way to distinguish between sky and earth. I thought it would never stop. And I feared that our cave would flood, but it kept dry.”
Sara stuck her head out.
“And the rain has almost stopped,” she said stretching her hand outside and feeling a few raindrops falling on it.
“Just like the snow on the other side of the mountain.”
“Strange.”
“Strange indeed,” Manolo said.
They watched from the cave as the light from the sun slowly retreated for the darkness of the night and soon the moon was shining along with the stars on its side. They had become their companions, showing them the way by shining in front of them.
And so they did this night as well.
The two travelers hurried on for they had still a mile or two ahead before they would reach the valley with the marshland. They still had to get past the old witch’s army of creatures.
They followed the path along the stream until it ended at a creek bed. They had no other choice than to continue walking in the cold water.
Sara trembled as she stuck her bare feet in the water carrying her shoes in her bag. Manolo went ahead and found that the water was no deeper than to his waist. They walked with great care, for the rocks in the crystal clear water were green and slippery and footing was treacherous. Sara shuddered with disgust when her foot touched the slimy green algae under her feet.
As Manolo led Sara up on dry land on the other side of the creek, they heard a soft sound. It was a swish followed by a plop as if a fish had jumped out of the water. They turned around but saw nothing.
Sara now pressed on at a great pace. Since her last dream, she had regained her strength and was determined that she was not going to let her brother die. Manolo followed as quickly as he could. A mile ahead they came upon some singing trees, which were extremely rare. Each tree had the exact same shape, same leaves and same bark, but all of them had their own unique song. They made soft music that hadn’t seen its like anywhere in the world. Many travelers before ours had been spellbound by their beautiful songs, but not Manolo and Sara. For they were too much in a hurry. (And furthermore. the trees were sleeping, since it was in the middle of the night.)
“We are almost there,” Sara yelled at the sight of the great trees with their enormous roots. “Just a little farther down.”
“Wait for me,” Manolo shouted.
As he caught up with her they both were running. The surroundings became flat as they reached the foot of the mountain. Following the stream they were now led into the valley. Here they stopped and had something to eat. Manolo caught a big fish in the stream and cooked it over a small fire.
The night was full of sounds, animals and creatures hiding in the darkness. As they ate they heard the sound from the water once again. A swish and then a plop. They stared at the dark water but still saw nothing and thought nothing more of it—not until they got up and were getting ready to move on. Manolo went to get some water to put out the fire. He reached his small cup down into the water when all of a sudden something grabbed his wrist. It was slimy and wrapped itself around his arm and started pulling.
“Help, Sara!” he yelled.
Sara ran to see what was happening and that was when the animal’s head came out of the water. It hissed and showed its long and pointy teeth. Sara ran back to the fireplace and picked up the knife Manolo had used to cut the fish. She hurried back and stabbed it into the animal’s slimy tentacle. It hissed and let go of Manolo as three other arms came out of the water trying to grab their feet and hands. The dark water seemed to be boiling under it. Sara pushed Manolo away and leaped backwards so the tentacles could no longer reach her. The horror rooted them to the ground as they watched the animal sink back into the water. Still letting its groping arms search for something to drag down with it in the darkness.
“What was that?” asked Sara.
“I don't know,” Manolo said.
“Like an octopus or something?”
Manolo shook his head.
“I am not sure we will ever know. Remember we are in Sensisaron’s valley now. There is no telling what kind of creatures she has created to greet us.”
After only a brief rest shaking off the horror that had met them in the water, they started on their way again. In front of them, the marshland of La Tierra Muerta rose with its big silent darkness.
Manolo looked anxiously at the distant mountain—the Torre Cerredo on the other side of the valley. Sara looked up at the dark sky, fearing to see crows or other birdlike animals hovering over them with bright unfriendly eyes as they had done in The Wild Witches Valley.
They walked for hours, and as they did, they noticed that the land became drier and more barren. The moon put a cold and gray light on the stagnant marshland.
That was when the black sky suddenly cracked. Out of it grew a large mass of red. It soon turned into a cloud of something red. Sara stood still and stared with eyes wide open at the red mass that was heading in her direction and began diving towards them. Suddenly, the red mass became a storm of giant red birds.
“What is that?” Manolo asked just before the first bird hit him in the stomach. The punch threw him to the ground.
The air was filled with wild red birds flapping their wings and screaming in their ears.
“Get away while you can,” Sara was sure she heard them scream. “Get away from here.”
Sara waved her arms wildly at them.
“Go away!” she screamed at them. “Get away from us.”
The birds kept attacking them with their long beaks and ripping their hair with their claws.
“Help!” Sara cried still waving her arms.
Then she heard a sound, and something caused one of the red birds to fall to the ground, bleeding from its neck.
They were no longer alone. Out of the dark sky came an eagle with wings so big that one of them alone could cover Sara’s entire body. With its big claws it grabbed the red birds and threw them to the ground. Some of the red birds started attacking the eagle with their beaks, but they could do no harm to the mighty bird.
A few minutes later they were all gone.
The big eagle landed in front of Sara, and that was when she realized that it had the size of a human. It bowed its head.
“Thank you so much for your help,” Sara said.
“You are welcome. This is a very dangerous place for humans. You’d better turn around. Now, if you will excuse me I am late,” it said just before it lifted its mighty wings and soared into the air.
Then it was gone.
16
CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
Manolo woke Sara. She found herself lying on the ground under tall gray-skinned trees in a quiet corner of the marshland close to the mountain stream that now had turned into a river. They had slept the whole day away, hiding from the witch and her army that all
owed her to rule the whole valley.
It seemed that the closer they got to the castle, the darker the sky became. The beautiful orange sunsets that they had once enjoyed over the mountaintops had become rare and all day the sky was overcast and gray. Not a breeze stirred; just a sultry and lifeless air remained.
When the last remaining daylight was gone, they started again. It wasn’t that either of them was eager to get to the castle and stand face to face with the old witch that used to be a fortuneteller. But they had to hurry because time was running out. Both knew within their hearts that it would be a tough fight to get to the crystal ball, a fight in which they might lose their lives.
Manolo led them across the valley preparing Sara for what might come, giving her strength against any weariness that she might feel.
Sara insisted that they start as soon as the sun set and move on until the first light of day struck, taking as few breaks as possible. She felt in her heart that time was pressing and her brother had no more than a few days left to live.
Nonetheless, they saw no sign of the army. The dark hours of the night passed without incident. As they walked, the landscape slowly changed. The trees thinned till there were no more. To their left, they saw long formless slopes stretching up towards the sky. The mountain sides were bare and lifeless, as if a fire had passed over them leaving nothing living behind, not even a broken tree or a bush to relieve the emptiness. The land was desolate.
There were no signs of any living things, not even birds in the sky. Except for the sounds, that is. Once in a while they would hear whistling and piping but no one was ever seen. Once the travelers heard the rush and whine of big wings over their heads but looking up they would see nothing.
Sara would shiver at the look of the emptiness and think back at the big forests they used to camp in, the gentle sun where she played with Moeselman’s dogs, the big ocean that they had traveled along last year before her brother got sick, and the wide beaches she had loved so much.
As they walked through the dead marshland there was little talk among them and no laughter. Both of them were busy with their own thoughts and worries.
At night the heavy clouds from the day had disappeared. It was silent and windless. The thin crescent of the moon looked down at them, glimmering in the river, and the sky was clear above.
When the morning came, they camped by the river bank. They thought they spotted the castle in the distance. The clouds around it were heavy as if to hide it from them, but Sara was certain she could see something, like a black tower.
“We are getting closer,” Manolo said as they ate. “Sensisaron’s army can’t be far away now.”
As usual they took turns sleeping and Sara had the first watch. It was always a couple of eventless hours fighting the urge to give into the strong exhaustion she was feeling. Her eyelids would drop down a few times but by her will she would stay awake.
This day, there were many birds on the cliffs and on the rocks and all day, high in the air, flocks of big birds circled, black against the pale sky.
Later, when Sara had slept and the sun was about to set over the valley, the birds had gone, but high up in the air just before the light disappeared she spotted one single great bird.
“What is it?” Manolo asked.
“An eagle.”
He looked at her.
“Could it be the same eagle we met the other night?”
“I don’t know. I hope so.”
The third night of their travel came and they knew that, with the speed they had, it would most likely be their last before they would finally reach the castle at the foot of Torre Cerredo.
The sky had gone dark and Sara could no longer see the great eagle that had circled over them earlier. But she did sense that many animals were out this night. Even though they didn’t see any of them at first, they could hear them. They were both prepared for the army of creatures that would soon appear.
Minutes and hours passed as they walked and still nothing happened. Sara had just turned to Manolo to talk to him, when a dark shape, hardly visible, moved in front of them.
Two red eyes shone like lamps of rubies. It lifted its head and gazed upon Sara. Manolo, who had not made fire during their night-travel in order to not draw any attention to them, now blew fire into his hands and held the flame up high.
The animal hissed and the dark long shape turned into a big wolf the size of a horse. It growled at them and showed its teeth. Sara stepped backwards.
And then the strangest thing happened. It spoke to them.
“Put out the light,” it said.
Sara looked at Manolo. He was waving the fire at the wolf making sounds to try and make it go away.
Sara put a hand on his shoulder and went forward.
“Why do you want us to put out the fire?” she asked feeling a little stupid for talking to a big and dangerous animal.
Sara heard the creature's voice in her head.
“Do you want the whole valley to see you?”
“No.”
“Good. Then put it out.”
She looked at Manolo.
“You better do it. Put out the fire. We don’t want to be seen.”
Manolo looked at her strangely, but then he saw she was being serious and he clapped his hands and suffocated the fire.
“Now what?” Sara asked.
“Now if you will excuse me, I am running late.”
In the dark, the red eyes blinked a few times, and then they were gone. As if they were never there.
Both Sara’s and Manolo’s hearts were pounding.
“Where did it go?” Manolo asked.
“It said it was late… or something like that.”
“Like the eagle said.”
“Yeah, come to think of it he did say that too,” Sara said.
“The question is, late for what?”
“There you are.”
The voice came from some animal in front of them. It was only a few minutes after the meeting with the wolf, that something else had jumped right in front of them. It came closer, and in the shining light from the moon and stars in the clear night, they now saw a big brown mole. It was the size of Sara, and had friendly brown eyes that sat close to one another over the bridge of its snout.
“If it wasn’t for my splendid night vision, I would hardly have seen you in the dark,” he said.
Sara and Manolo stared at the mole in front of them.
“It seems to have been looking for us,” she whispered to Manolo.
Then she asked the mole: “Who are you?”
“Well I am Marland the Mole, of course,” he answered.
“And you know who we are?”
“You are the great sorceress that is going to deliver us from the spell.”
Sara looked at Manolo.
“I am what?”
The mole took a couple of steps towards them gesticulating with his arms while he explained.
“You are the sorceress that the prophesy says will come and free us from the spell of the red ruby ring.”
Sara was confused and Marland the Mole saw it on her face.
“Listen. There is no time to waste. They are all waiting for you,” he said and started running. “Come on!”
Sara looked at Manolo.
“Should we just follow it?”
“How do we know that it is not a trap?” he asked.
Sara smiled and started running.
“Someone once told me that sometimes you just have to have a little trust,” she yelled.
They followed the mole into a small mountain pass. As they got there, more animals seemed to emerge from all over the place. There were long-legged deer, rabbits, a family of beavers, some smaller birds, mice and then there was a flock of stranger animals that Sara had never seen before. A big hedgehog walking on two legs with the face and the beak of a crow, a weasel no bigger than a mouse but with hooves like a hind that made it fall all the time. There was a bat with the face and tail of a ca
t hanging head down from a branch in a tree, then there was a big frog that had a pair of white wings, a groundhog with lion feet, a lizard with horns, and then there was the giant wolf they had met earlier and the eagle who now bowed its head and bid them welcome.
All stared at Sara and Manolo as the mole brought them in and asked them to sit in the circle that the animals and creatures had shaped.
“I have found them,” Marland finally spoke. He pointed at Sara. “She is the great sorceress that will free us from the spell.”
There was a lot of talking and murmuring among the animals
“But she is only a child,” said the big wolf with the red eyes. “Surely there must be some mistake.”
Again the creatures murmured.
“Hold it!” the mole yelled. “This is her. This is the sorceress from the prophesy, I just know it in my heart. She is the only one that can break the spell.”
A silence grew strong among the creatures. Then the wolf stepped forward.
“Then tell me, Marland the Mole, just how will the little girl lead us to victory?”
“By the pureness of her heart,” Marland said. “Remember the scripture. ‘Only one with the purest heart can break the spell. Only a white sorceress with powers greater than the black witch can do it. For in the presence of pure good, evil must stand defeat’.”
The wolf looked at the other creatures.
“If it is so, then we must begin our preparations immediately.”
“Every night at the exact same time, when the moon is highest in the sky for nearly three hundred years, the creatures of this valley gathered like this, hoping that this night would be the one where you would show up,” the mole said when they were alone. “And now, finally, the time has come. We shall strike our attack tomorrow night.”
“Why at night?” Sara asked.
The mole sighed and looked to the ground.
“Because it is only at night that we have a will of our own. As soon as the daylight breaks we only answer to the will of the ring.”