by Logan Joss
‘What? Where? I can’t see anything.’
‘Over there, in between the boulders. Can’t you see it?’
Trevor strained his eyes to look, but all he could see was a pile of rocks. Then something caught his eye. A slight movement in amongst the boulders. No, it was the boulders that were moving.
‘Wow, what is that?’ Trevor whispered.
‘I’ve never seen one before but I think it’s a roc’ore,’ Mèlli said excitedly. ‘My parents used to tell me stories about them when I was little. They were thought to live only in high mountains in Eÿranea in the east. I can’t believe we’re seeing one.’
The pile of boulders began to tumble forwards and then rise up until Trevor could see that they were not boulders at all but were, in fact, the roc’ore itself. It stood to its full height—an immense creature that would have dwarfed many of the trees in the forest below. With slow, deliberate movements it made its way to the river’s edge, seeming to take great care where it placed its feet. Crouching down with slow deliberation, it took huge handfuls of water and lifted them to its rocky mouth, paying the two boys no attention at all as they drifted past on the raft. They watched it in wonderment until the curve of the river took them out of sight.
‘Wild swrenburl berries and a roc’ore all in one day—it doesn’t get better than this,’ Mèlli said, still gazing back down the river trying to get one last glimpse of the elusive creature.
‘And just think, if we hadn’t stopped, we could have missed it,’ Trevor added in whispered awe.
‘If this isn’t cause for celebration, I don’t know what is.’ Mèlli picked up another swrenburl berry and deftly peeled it before handing it to Trevor and preparing one for himself.
It wasn’t until he was halfway through the third berry that Trevor began to feel a sense of lightness, of freedom, as if the weight of the world was no longer on his shoulders.
‘You know, Mèlli, I really didn’t like you when we first met. And it wasn’t because you were obnoxious and mean, and it wasn’t even because you lied about everything—it was that silly thing you wear across your chest.’ Trevor prodded the pouch still hanging under Mèlli’s clothes.
‘Trevor, I think you’re—’
‘No, no, no, let me finish. But after everything we’ve been through together, do you know what? I really, really like you.’
‘I really like you too Trevor,’ Mèlli said, laughing at him.
‘What you laughing at? I’m trying to tell you that I like you, despite—’
‘I think you’re drunk, Trevor.’
‘Drunk? But how can I…’ Trevor looked down at the last mouthful of fruit in his hand, realizing that Mèlli was right. ‘You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?’ He noticed that Mèlli had barely touched his third fruit.
‘You’re right, I’m sorry. But I just couldn’t resist.’
‘Well if I’m drunk, you should be drunk as well,’ Trevor said, putting the last piece of swrenburl berry in his mouth. ‘Come on, eat up.’
Feeling a little guilty, Mèlli ate his last fruit quicker than he should have done.
‘I meant it though,’ Trevor continued. ‘I think you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. And I understand why you acted the way you did. You’ve had such terrible things happen in your life—having your parents taken away from you all at once, watching them being murdered. I don’t know how you managed to carry on.’ Trevor rested his elbows on his knees and hid his face in his hands. ‘I don’t deserve a friend like you. Not after what I’ve done.’
‘What do you mean, after what you’ve done?’ Mèlli edged a little closer.
‘Those dreams. Those nightmares. It’s because of what I did.’
‘Tell me, Trevor, what did you do? I’m sure it can’t be that bad.’
’It’s not. If you think killing someone isn’t bad.’ Trevor wrapped his arms around his head and curled up tightly to hide the pain.
Mèlli hesitated for a moment before placing an uncertain hand on his shoulder. ‘You can’t mean that. You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s the swrenburl berries. I’m sorry, I should never have…’
Trevor shifted away from Mèlli and lifted his head up slightly. ‘Oh, I know what I’m saying. My father’s dead. And it’s because of me. It may not have been my hand that killed him, but it might as well have been.’
‘Trevor, tell me. Tell me what happened.’
Trevor stared at the river ahead of them and his eyes glazed over as if his thoughts were a million miles away. ‘In the evenings I used to go for walks with my father,’ he said after a while. ‘I liked it because it was just me and him. We used to talk about all sorts of things. He told me about the stars and all this science stuff I didn’t really understand. But it was ours, you know?’ He looked at Mèlli, who just nodded encouragingly.
‘But one night when we went for a walk he was just quiet, which was weird. Then after a while, he stopped me and said that Mr Matthews from the corner shop told him that me and my friend James had been shoplifting. It was only the once and it was only for a silly dare. But Mr Matthews told my dad that if he saw us doing it again he’d call the police. Anyway, Dad started going off on one about how I would ruin my life doing such silly things. I tried to explain to him, but he didn’t want to listen. He was treating me like I was the sort of kid who was always in trouble. He told me that I wasn’t allowed to hang out with James anymore. But James was my best friend and he wasn’t bad. But he said if I didn’t stop, he’d write a letter to the school, telling them I’m not allowed to associate with him.
‘So I got angry and ran off down the street. He was chasing after me, telling me to stop. Without thinking, I ran straight out into a busy road. He must have been right behind me. I made it to the central reservation and when I turned around he was lying in the road in front of a car. I froze to the spot and all these people came to help him but he was dead by the time the ambulance arrived.’ Trevor looked directly at Mèlli, his eyes pleading with him to know the truth. ‘See, I did kill him.’
Mèlli knelt down in front of Trevor and took his face in his hands. ‘No, Trevor, it wasn’t your fault, it was an accident. You couldn’t have known what would happen.’
Trevor stood shakily and stepped around Mèlli towards the shelter. Standing with his back to him, he said, ‘It should have been me, not him.’
Mèlli got up and grasped Trevor, turning him around so that they were facing each other. ‘You listen to me, Trevor Pondsbury. You’re the kindest, bravest, most selfless person I’ve ever met. And even if you had…’
Without another word, Mèlli pulled Trevor’s face towards him and kissed him firmly on the lips.
27
The Spider And The Fly
TREVOR GRABBED MÈLLI around his shoulders and forcibly pushed him away. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he said as Mèlli tumbled to the deck, landing heavily.
Mèlli held out a hand in front of him. ‘It’s not what you think—’ he started to say, but was interrupted by a loud boom from behind them, followed by two plumes of water erupting from the river as it was struck on either side of the raft by something heavy.
Alarmed, Trevor turned and ducked into the entrance of the shelter. Peering cautiously over the top, he saw the gleaming black hull of a galleon, its red sails like a blaze of fire in the sunlight. It hung in the air, just close enough for Trevor to make out the shape of a man standing at its bow.
‘Why are they firing at us?’ Trevor said, confused and scared. ‘Is it Nirikö?’
‘No. It’s him,’ said Mèlli, his face pale and full of hatred. ‘The man who killed my parents. He’s come to finish the job. I’d recognize that galleon anywhere.’
‘What d’we do?’ Trevor said, turning to Mèlli in panic.
Mèlli sprang into action, grabbing the wooden pole to steer the raft. ‘Help me! Get the other one! We need to get the raft into that gorge there. The galleon won’t be able to follow us.’
Ahead of them, the valley narrowed and forked into two; the left fork was a steep-walled canyon that was not wide enough for a large vessel to enter.
‘But the river goes that way,’ Trevor said, pointing to the right, where the river continued its steady upwards climb.
‘Yes, but if we go that way we’ll be like sitting lullocks,’ Mèlli said.
Trevor just looked confused.
‘We’ll be totally exposed. We’ve got to go down there.’
The boys struggled with the long poles, pushing as hard as they could against rocks or anything they could find, to steer the raft in the direction that Mèlli had indicated. All the while the galleon edged closer.
The flow was starting to speed up now, as the water was tugged downhill into the gorge. As they reached the bottleneck of the canyon, it increased still further, sucking the raft between the sheer black cliffs. It was hard to stay upright as the turbulent water tossed the raft from side to side, making Trevor’s stomach lurch and forcing him to his knees. Mèlli managed somehow to keep his footing and tried not to worry about his friend, who he noticed had turned a pale shade of green.
‘We need to make sure the raft doesn’t hit the walls. You take this side, I’ll do the same on the other.’ He hopped gracefully across the raft as Trevor nodded his assent, resisting the urge to vomit.
Despite their valiant efforts, they were no match for the strength of the flowing water and the raft scraped worryingly against the canyon walls. Yet, to Mèlli’s surprise, it didn’t seem to be damaged by this constant battering and on closer inspection, he saw that the canyon was made of smooth volcanic glass.
‘It’s okay, Trevor. Save your energy,’ he said. ‘The walls are obsidian. They’re smooth.’
It wasn’t long before the river started to level out and slow a little, and the raft and its passengers survived unscathed, settling down into the gentler flow of a wider, more restful portion of the river.
‘Thank goodness for that,’ Trevor groaned, before leaning urgently over the side of the raft and vomiting profusely, the thick liquid creating a pink slick in the crystal clear waters. He flopped back and lay there, breathing deeply. ‘Everything’s spinning,’ he complained.
‘Don’t worry, it’s not you,’ Mèlli said. ‘We’re caught in an eddy. I’m afraid I’ll need your help again.’
Trevor rolled over onto his front and eased himself up onto his knees, but as soon as he caught sight of the spinning canyon walls, he immediately threw himself back down, covering his head with his hands. ‘I can’t,’ he groaned.
Mèlli rolled his eyes and said, ‘I’ll do it myself then.’ He reached out the pole and tested the river bed in several spots before finding a shallow area. Using all his strength, he managed to free the raft from the spinning water and pushed them out onto a calm, shallow pool at the mouth of a cave. He scanned the skies above and saw no sign of the pursuing galleon. ‘We can hide in here until nightfall,’ he said, pushing the raft into the cave.
Trevor lifted his head gingerly and saw that the spinning had stopped. Mèlli ducked into the shelter and rummaged around before re-emerging with a small firestone lantern. He opened a compartment in its base, took out the firestone inside and dropped it through the top of the lantern to land on the fixed stone beneath. The cave was immediately lit by a metallic glow.
‘Looks like it goes quite far back,’ Mèlli said, waving the lantern in front of him.
‘It’s cold,’ Trevor complained.
‘Yes, but it’s safe.’
Leaving Trevor to recover, he hung the lantern above the entrance to the shelter and used one of the poles to punt the raft deeper into the cave. The walls were smooth and gleaming in the light of the lantern and their hard surface caused the gentle, lapping sounds of the water to reverberate musically.
Further in, the cave opened out into a large cavern with a high ceiling. In its center a long shard of obsidian hung down like a giant stalactite, which Mèlli saw just in time to avoid, pushing off from it and sending the raft gently to one side of the cavern. A flat, raised platform ran along the edge on this side, and Mèlli could tell that they were not the first visitors to this cave.
‘Trevor, come and look at this!’
Now that Trevor’s nausea had passed, he managed to stand and stagger over to Mèlli. ‘What are they?’ he said, following the boy’s gaze to the cavern wall.
The etchings on the walls depicted strange-looking creatures. The first looked like a sitting lioness with huge, raised wings like those of an eagle. But her face, to Trevor’s eye, looked human.
‘That one looks like a horse,’ he said, noticing another picture, ‘but its body is way too long. That’s the sort of thing Ruth would draw.’
The third etching was of a dragon surrounded by small figures that looked like children. It seemed to be playing games with them, which Trevor thought was strange. There were others too, a fantastic assortment of creatures was carved with great detail across this entire wall of the cavern.
‘They’re ancient creatures that used to inhabit Ëlamár,’ Mèlli explained.
‘Used to?’ Trevor seemed disappointed. ‘We have things like these on Earth as well, but I don’t think they were ever real.’
‘Oh these were real, but no-one really knows what happened to most of them. My mother had books on them. One of them told of how these creatures were wise beings that shared their wisdom with the rulers of the continents. There’s scripture going back millennia showing them in the cities, alongside the people.’
‘So did they all die?’
Mèlli shrugged. ‘I don’t know, maybe they just all went somewhere else. You know, like the Ëláryians.’
The raft floated on in silence. Trevor was wondering if the myths and legends of Earth may have more truth to them than people believe.
‘Trevor, about what happened…’ Mèlli felt a need to explain. ‘It’s not what you think.’
Trevor ducked his head and shifted nervously. He hadn’t had a chance to process what had happened between them and felt uncomfortable with the prospect of discussing it.
‘What’s that noise?’ he said, suddenly aware of the sound of rushing water coming from ahead.
‘I don’t know, but I don’t like the sound of it. And I think we’re speeding up.’
Trevor rushed to grab the other pole but, without warning, the raft lurched forward. Both boys were thrown flat onto their backs and Trevor lost his pole over the side. The firestone lantern was jolted from its hook, breaking and spilling the stones across the raft, plunging them into darkness. They were moving quickly now, the raft rocking from side to side as it made its way through what had become no more than a narrow tunnel.
Mèlli turned over onto his front and felt for the bindings of the raft, grabbing hold tightly and yelling to Trevor to do the same as they were carried away helplessly into the pitch blackness. Trevor searched frantically to get a hold of the ropes, just as the raft tipped up and plummeted down a near vertical drop. His stomach hung in his mouth for a moment until the raft plunged jarringly into a deep pool at the bottom, drenching the terrified boys with a wave of ice cold water.
For a moment, all was still. The raft righted itself and hung motionless, as if in mid-air, before being whisked away again on a torrent of rushing water. It twisted and turned as it descended further and faster and then, with a splintering crack, the shelter was ripped away as the ceiling of the tunnel dipped lower. They continued to accelerate as the narrow tunnel became steeper and steeper.
‘I don’t think I can hold on for much longer,’ Trevor yelled over the roar of the water.
‘Don’t you dare let go, Trevor. I’m not going to lose you again.’ Mèlli’s reply was stern but desperate, not wanting to convey his own fears as he felt the bindings loosen beneath them.
The corner of the raft caught on a small outcrop of rock, sending it cart-wheeling sideways as the tunnel opened out and split into two ahead of them, the divi
ding wall an axe blade of obsidian. Although they were facing forwards now, the boys were oblivious to the danger as the raft hurtled uncontrollably towards the razor-sharp edge. With a bone cracking wrench, it struck. The impact ripped the raft in two, almost taking Mèlli with it. Somehow, he managed to hold on with one hand, as he was thrown up into the air like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. He wailed with pain as his legs crunched painfully against the solid rock.
If it wasn’t for Trevor’s quick reaction, Mèlli would have been thrown clear of the raft. Instinctively, he reached out and grabbed his friend, pulling him back down close beside him and secured him with an arm across his back.
What was left of the raft skidded around the walls of the tunnel as if it were a toboggan run, going ever downward. And then suddenly they were blinded by light. The tunnel spat them out above a small waterfall and with one last stomach-churning fall they arrived, coughing and spluttering, in the relative calm of a cool mountain lake.
The boys clung to the last remaining logs of the raft, trying to catch their breath. An empty fruit basket bobbed up and down beside them, its contents lost to the churning waters.
‘I can’t believe we survived that. I was sure we were going to die,’ Trevor gasped, looking back towards the mouth of the waterfall.
Mèlli’s face was set in a grimace, trying to counter the pain all over his body. ‘I think I did,’ he joked,
‘Are you hurt badly? Trevor asked with concern while checking himself over for bruises.
‘I think my knee’s pretty bad. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk, but this raft’s not going to get us anywhere now.’
‘I’ll get us to the shore. Maybe we can splint it or something?’
Trevor pulled himself back onto the three logs that were all that remained of their craft and helped Mèlli up in front of him. He scanned their surroundings. On one side of the lake, the sheer obsidian cliffs reached high into the late afternoon sky; on the other, a flat shingle beach bordered onto the edge of a pine forest. ‘Well, at least we’ve lost that galleon.’