“And why not?” replied Sir Eggmond, acting as though he was totally taken by surprise.
“Because, if something so terrible could happen to them, there is nothing to say that we won’t be next!” she mumbled.
“Oh dear, Polly. Don’t make a crisis out of a drama!” Sir Eggmond snorted.
“What?” shrieked Polly, unable to believe her ears. “You think I’m overreacting? Is that what you’re saying? You’re really unbelievable. I can’t believe I agreed to come with…”
“Polly, be a dear and calm down. There will always be casualties of war, but does an army give up and go home when a few of their men are sadly injured?”
“No,” replied Polly. “But…”
“No buts. You’re absolutely correct. The wounded are always given every bit of help that is on hand, and then the regiment regroup and move on with more determination than ever to take hold and capture the land. Have you not watched all the old war films?”
Polly nodded, not because she wanted to, but because she had lost the argument. He was right. In all the old war movies the remaining soldiers never gave up. They just heroically pushed on.
“Good. Then you know this to be true. I’m sure that both boys will be back on their feet in no time at all. And Justin Kase will be filling his backpack with even more ‘just in case’ items he believes he needs for forthcoming adventures. Just you wait and see.”
Polly broke out into a smile as she pictured her friend finally unable to close his bag due to severe overspill.
“Right then, let’s get our lunch organized, and then we can move on.”
As they munched on their sandwiches washed down with warm, sweet tea, Polly noticed an eagle flying through the air above them.
“Oh, Aazi, I wish you could see just how beautiful and majestic this bird is as it flies through the air and swoops down. It is so powerful, yet graceful.”
“Yes, and of all the birds on our planet, the eagle is the only one that soars into the sunlight rays, flying effortlessly on the wind’s currents as it basks in the heavens, totally at peace with its Creator,” Sir Eggmond-all knowingly chipped in. “We could learn a lot from these creatures if we took the time to study them. Right then, my little chicken dippers, drink up, for we must move on before it gets dark,” Sir Eggmond said rather briskly as he took the empty mugs from out of their hands. “Go and grab your things, and let’s press on.”
With their thick ropes once again attached to Sir Eggmond’s waist, they began to climb further toward the mountain peak. Polly deliberately chose not to put her blindfold back on and hoped that Sir Eggmond would not notice.
As they scaled the mountain, Polly could not resist the urge to look down to check on Aazi, who was at the end of her rope. Suddenly, icy fear gripped her, causing her heart to race faster. She began to feel blind panic as she could no longer see land, only ice peaks and then more ice peaks, as well as thick cotton wool clouds that were moving through the heavens at great speed. Polly shut her eyes tightly, and between the tiny whimpers that were now escaping past her purplish-blue lips she prayed that this nightmare climb would come to an end fast. The wind howled mercilessly and a ferocious ice storm blew up, but still they kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds.
“We just need to get over this precipice, and then we will call it a day,” Sir Eggmond shouted down to them before pointing ahead, waving a pickax in his outstretched hand.
On hearing this, Polly felt a surge of relief run through her pushed-to-the-limit young body, for she was seriously convinced that she was on the verge of cracking up. The last bit of the climb really took its toll on Polly, and as she followed behind Sir Eggmond, placing her feet in all the little contraptions he had hammered into the mountain face, she felt all her energy ebb away.
“I can’t do it. I can’t go any further!” she cried out loud.
“Yes, you can, Polly. Just breathe deeply into your oxygen mask. Go on; that’s it. Take a deep breath. Come on; just a few feet. You’re almost there,” Sir Eggmond encouragingly shouted back down in her direction.
Polly then turned again to see how Aazi was progressing, and was very relieved to see that he was faithfully following on with his head bowed low as he felt his way up the mountain. Finally, her fingers touched the jagged edge of the precipice, and Sir Eggmond firmly grabbed hold of her arms and hauled her to safety.
“Well done, Polly. You’ve made it!” he cried, giving her a rather hefty slap on the back.
No sooner had the words come forth from his lips when Polly felt a sharp tug on the rope, followed by an almighty cry that came from further down the mountain. Polly froze. She instantly knew that her beloved friend was in deep trouble. She turned her head slowly, too terrified to want to look. She was horrified to see Aazi dangling on the end of the rope, crashing into jagged rocks as he repeatedly swung backwards and forwards. Before she had time to think, there was another sharp tug on the rope and she found herself going headlong over the side of the precipice, held only by the rope strapped around Sir Eggmond’s waist.
“Hang on, both of you!” shouted Sir Eggmond.
Polly didn’t answer, for the fall had completely winded her in spite of her oxygen mask. She was also struggling with the overwhelming pain caused by hitting one rocky crag after another as she swung back and forth, consistently crashing into the mountainside and tearing her flesh.
“Polly, try to reach that large rock,” Sir Eggmond yelled down as he tightly held onto the rope that they were now both swinging from.
Polly felt as though she were clinging on for all her life with each attempt to grab hold of something solid.
Finally she managed to reach the rock that Sir Eggmond had pointed toward. As she grabbed hold, she looked down at Aazi and was horrified to discover that he was still helplessly swinging to and fro, and now had one foot tangled up in the rope. Polly panicked as she observed that the rope was almost severed in one particular spot where the jagged rocks had cut into it.
“Help us! Please help us!” she screamed.
“Polly, you need to keep your head!” Sir Eggmond shouted down at her. “Pull yourself up onto the rock, and then you can help pull Aazi up. Don’t worry, I’ve got you both.”
Polly struggled to obey his last order, for she was not only out of breath, but also clean out of the energy necessary to haul herself up onto the rock. Finally, when she was on the verge of giving up, she found renewed strength and willpower to get up onto the rock and to safety. She instantly felt ecstatic. But this was to be very short lived! As she turned around to help pull Aazi to the safety of the rock, the rope gave way, making a terrifyingly loud snapping noise. Polly could only watch on in complete horror as the little bundle she knew to be her best friend hurtled down the mountain at alarming speed before disappearing completely out of sight. Polly let out a piercing scream.
“Stay where you are, Polly,” ordered Sir Eggmond, “and I will come and get you.”
Polly, who was shaking with fear from head to toe, obeyed his order. In truth, she couldn’t have moved a muscle even if she wanted to, for she was frozen with terror.
“We must now turn back and go in search of Aazis,” said Sir Eggmond with a serious and grim look on his face. How Polly made it down the mountain she will never remember. After Aazi’s fall, everything was just a blur. “I’ve had enough! I truly can’t take any more!” screamed Polly. And as she inched her way down the mountain, her whole life flashed before her. She thought about her beloved Thomas and her younger brother James, and she saw pictures of her dear teachers, Mr. Beloski and Mrs. Bailey, flash before her eyes. She longed with all her heart to be back in the classroom with Mrs. Bailey, giving her an apple, for she missed her so much. Polly found this mental picture show very disconcerting, for she had heard that this only takes place moments before you die.
They had only been on their descent a short time when they came across a bundle lying in the snow.
“There he is!” cried P
olly as she raced over to where his lifeless body lay covered in thick, white snow. Polly then fell to her knees and hugged the bundle. “Oh Aazi! Oh Aazi!” were the only words she uttered as she clutched him tightly to herself.
Sir Eggmond raced over to join them. “Well, blow my nose and rattle my toes, it’s a miracle!” he shouted.
“What’s a miracle, Eggcrunch?” Polly asked angrily as she looked up at him in sheer disbelief, searching his face for an answer.
“Polly, can’t you see that this ledge saved him from falling to his death. That, I do believe, is a miracle!”
Polly felt speechless, for how could this strange man be calling this a miracle when her dear young friend was lying unconscious in her arms, probably about to die!
“Sir Eggmond, this is going to sound really rude, but I’m going to say it anyway. Shut up and go get help!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, “Or it will be you who needs an ambulance.”
Sir Eggmond pretended to be shocked, “Now, now, Polly. That is not the sort of language I would expect to be coming from the mouth of a princess,” he remonstrated.
Polly was so furious at his gung-ho attitude, which she mistook for indifference, that she failed to even notice that he had used the term princess with reference to her.
“Just go away and find that weird contraption of yours, and do something useful like calling the emergency services,” she snapped.
Sir Eggmond quickly moved away, secretly smiling to himself. Having moved some distance from his distraught student, he knelt down in the snow to undo his backpack and look for his contraption to make the emergency call. In no time at all, the helicopter was back with them. Having found a safe place to land, a doctor and his crew jumped out and made their way over to where Polly still knelt in the snow, cradling Aazi. Polly looked up as the team approached, and was surprised to find that she recognized the doctor.
“Dr. Loveheart! Oh boy, am I glad to see you!” she cried, at the same time releasing Aazi from her arms into his.
She then moved over to one side so that the good doctor could take over and examine him. Dr. Loveheart looked most concerned as he took his stethoscope from around his neck and placed it onto Aazi’s tiny chest.
“Well, the good thing is he’s still alive, but I have to warn you, Polly, he is in pretty bad shape. There is no way of telling whether the poor lad will make it.” Polly could not stop the hot tears that immediately sprang to her eyes as Dr. Loveheart went on to give a more formal diagnosis. “Yes, I’m afraid the poor little chap is in a deep coma, and only heaven knows whether he will come out of this one,” he said as he gently squeezed her hand. “I think we’d better pray that the good Lord shines upon him, otherwise his time is up!” Polly began to sob loudly as she tried to take in all that the doctor was saying. “Polly, I know that this is all very hard to swallow, but I’m sure you would prefer me to be truthful, wouldn’t you?”
Polly nodded before attempting to wipe away the fresh tears that were springing like a fountain from her glazed-over eyes.
Sir Eggmond, who was standing over her, chipped in, “Yes, Polly, I have to say, this has been a most peculiar expedition. To lose one student is most sad, but to lose three in one day is, I believe, positively careless of me! I really must go over my safety procedures to make sure something as terrible as this never happens again.”
As Polly listened to Sir Eggmond make light of not one, not two, but three terrible tragedies, she found that she could no longer restrain herself. She leapt to her feet and stood facing him eyeball to eyeball, shaking with unspeakable rage. Her eyes were filled with wild hostility toward him. Finally, Polly opened her mouth to express her absolute outrage, but no words of remonstration would come forth.
“Cat got your tongue, Polly?” Sir Eggmond asked playfully.
Polly, still unable to express her sheer disgust, could only fold her arms and then turn on her heels to storm off and get as far away as possible from this man, whom she was beginning to loathe with all her being.
“Right, we’d better get this young lad to the hospital as quickly as possible,” advised Dr. Loveheart. “Nurse, go and fetch a stretcher, and be sure to be quick.”
Both nurses, who were standing by, turned and raced toward the helicopter to bring back a stretcher. After taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, Polly made her way back over to where the doctor was making Aazi comfortable as he prepared to leave the precipice.
“Can I come with you to the hospital?” Polly asked Dr. Loveheart.
Before the good doctor could reply, Sir Eggmond once again chipped in, “Oh no, no, my dear. You still have a mountain to climb. You can’t possibly turn back now. Remember the army and…”
“Go away and leave me alone!” Polly screamed at Sir Eggmond. “You can forget your stupid mountain Sir Hula Hoop, or Loop the Loop, whatever your real name is. There is no way I’m going anywhere with you ever again!” she thundered.
“Temper, temper, Polly. You really must try harder to control yourself. Besides, I’m not asking you to take me with you. No, remember my previous words of comfort?” he asked, furrowing his brow as he looked her directly between the eyes. “Yes, if you rightly remember, if you cast your mind back, I specifically told you that you are to climb the rest of this mountain alone.”
“Forget it! You’re barking mad,” she retaliated, great exasperation etched all over her face. She then turned her back on him to face Dr. Loveheart. “Please take me with you, Dr. Loveheart,” she pleaded. “I want to stay with Aazi, especially if these are to be his final hours.”
“I would, Polly, but I have to say that there is simply no room on the helicopter for all of us. After the stretcher has been placed inside there are only four spaces left. You need to understand that it simply isn’t possible.”
“Well, Doctor, if there is space for four of us, surely that means there is enough room for me,” she said, looking very puzzled. “For you and your two nurses make three, and that leaves one available space. Am I right?”
“Yes, you’re absolutely correct, Polly,” said Dr. Loveheart with a gentle smile.
“Well, then, what’s the problem? For surely that means I can take up the extra space and come back with you?”
“Ahh,” said the good doctor, looking slightly embarrassed. “Well, I don’t know how to tell you this, Polly, but that extra seat is already booked.”
“Already booked!” repeated a very stunned Polly.
“Yes, my dear, already booked,” Dr. Loveheart replied, looking and feeling most awkward.
“Booked by whom?” quizzed Polly.
“By him,” said the doctor, sheepishly directing his eyes in Sir Eggmond’s direction.
“Yes, by me, my dear,” chipped in Sir Eggmond brightly as he strode forward to own up. “Yes, by my own admission, I took the liberty of reserving myself the last space on the helicopter when you rather rudely dismissed me to go and make an emergency call ‘on my weird contraption,’ to use your terminology.”
Polly could only stare at him in sheer disbelief. “You mean you reserved yourself a seat on the rescue helicopter as if it were some theater booking, and intended to leave me out here all alone on the mountainside to die?” she said, shaking her head to make sure she was not dreaming.
“Come now, Polly, don’t be such a spoilsport,” he said, giving Dr. Loveheart a sneaky and mischievous wink. “Surely you don’t think I would leave you out here all alone to be eaten by hungry wolves and bears. Oh no! You have shown yourself to be a most excellent mountain climber who needs no further tuition, and therefore I can see no further reason to be here.”
Polly stood with her jaw dropped in a most unladylike manner as she struggled to take in his words.
“And just to further encourage you, if you look to your left, Polly, you will see the snow-capped peak of Piadora. Come on, Polly, be a good sport and look over to where I’m pointing,” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Yes, you need to set off
as quickly as possible. The sun has almost gone down, and I believe darkness will be upon you before you can say ‘peek-a-boo.’”
Taking a deep breath, Polly then placed her hands over her ears as an act of defiance as she refused point blank to follow his outstretched arm and look in the direction he was asking her to.
Finally, she found the words she was looking for.
“I cannot believe that you could be so utterly selfish and heartless, Sir Eggmond. For you know full well that I have hardly had any practice at mountain climbing, and from what I have experienced out here with you, I would go as far as to say that you are an utter fraud who deserves to be locked up for the rest of your life! Yes, and if they had any sense, they would throw away the key and leave you to rot,” she announced as she bent down to gather up some stray rolls of bandage, which Dr. Loveheart had failed to put back in his medicine case.
“My, my! We really are going for the jugular, aren’t we, Polly?”
Poor Polly was by this point so seething with frustration that she promptly used the bandages to bombard the unsuspecting Sir Eggmond. “Go on; leave me, you heartless rogue! You were no friend at all, and I never want to set eyes upon you again!” she yelled at him as he tried to duck the bandages that were coming his way at great speed.
“My, we’re in a right tizzy, aren’t we?” said Sir Eggmond with a grin as he continued to duck and dive as he moved nearer to the open door of the helicopter to avoid the unrolling bandages that Polly was using as missiles.
He then quickly climbed in to join the medical team, who were quite understandably very anxious to leave as soon as possible.
“Well, Polly, I hope everything works out for you!” he shouted from his seat as he waved her good-bye.
Polly responded to this gesture by turning her back and ignoring him completely. As the blades of the helicopter began to turn full circle and the machine lifted off the ground, Sir Eggmond continued to wave down at Polly before turning to Dr. Loveheart to make further comment.
“I think she’s feeling a trifle upset at the moment, but we must not worry ourselves. As the saying goes, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going,’ and this young lady has remarkable tenacity. Just you wait and see!”
Polly Brown Page 65