by James Erith
She scoured the floor and noticed the sheets of paper and the thick writing implement and two abandoned pieces of paper nearby. Moving over she examined them.
Flowers?
Then it dawned on her. The riddle. The riddle said they needed to send a rose - wasn’t that it?
Gaia suddenly understood what they’d been trying to achieve.
She scoured the room and saw a strange shape hanging high up in the cave as, beneath her, the old man fumbled for his stick.
Gaia dipped two legs into her maghole. Perhaps, she thought, the infinite wisdom of the universe still had other ideas.
43 ARCHIE GETS STUCK
Just as Old Man Wood shut his eyes, the clear idea of a fresh-air spell zipped into his mind, and, with one last effort, he blew on his strange stick and uttered the words: ‘Vooosh swisshes woozoom-sh.’
Moments later the group stirred.
Isabella sucked the atom wide material back into her hands and breathed deeply.
Archie yawned. ‘Aw. My head hurts.’
‘Mine too,’ Daisy said. ‘How long do you think we were out?’
‘Not long. To be honest, I’m slightly amazed we’re still here. I wonder what made the gas disappear?’
The others had no answer.
They sat up.
‘What’s it up to now?’ Archie said.
‘Looking for something,’ Daisy said, squinting at the pedestal.
‘For what?’
‘A bag of nuts? A hot date? How should I know,’ she said. ‘Don’t ask stupid questions.’
The beast barked and sprang from one leg to the other then changed into a huge snake, which slithered around the plinth swinging its head to and fro, like a pendulum.
In a flash it was a small lizard running over and through the cracks and then it changed into a vast brontosaurus, its body over-spilling the plinth, its elongated neck bending on itself, blowing air into the smaller nooks and crannies.
On the ground, just in front of the plinth, the air whipped up a small cloud of dust. A paper dart briefly fluttered up and floated down.
‘There!’ Archie exclaimed. ‘Your paper plane! I thought they’d all been burned…’
A whoosh of flame raged from the beast’s mouth.
‘Oh.’
‘Terrific.’ Isabella said, kicking out at the side of the tunnel. A pile of gravelly earth dropped out. ‘Back to where we started. Old Man Wood. Have you got the pen and paper?
‘They were burned too. The only things left are your dreadful pictures.’
‘Can you make more?’
Old Man Wood prepared his branchwand but Archie stepped in.
‘There’s no point, we don’t have the postcard to trace around,’ he reminded them.
As if reading their minds, the monster blew a burst of fire into the chamber.
Daisy ignored it and stepped inside the chamber, scanning the ceiling. She thought she’d seen a tiny flicker, like a bat … or a large spider? She stared at it for some time and then scratched her chin with her less painful hand. ‘I may be very much mistaken,’ she said, ‘but I have a feeling your postcard’s hanging from a rock in the ceiling directly above the plinth.’
‘It can’t be. I fell over.’
‘It’s a paper-plane, Arch. It could have soared up into the sky—’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. On a thermal, like vultures,’ Isabella added. ‘The hot air could easily have made it rise. It’s not impossible with its aerodynamic shape. You did make it properly, didn’t you?’
Archie looked slightly injured. ‘Yeah.’
‘If it is,’ Daisy said, her full gaze upon it, ‘it’s caught in something, like a spiders web.’ And then, as she zoomed-in even further, she added. ‘And there’s a kind of weird-looking spider on it, trying to cut it out—’
‘Which means it might fall at any second,’ Archie said. ‘And, if it goes, it’s our—’
‘Very last chance,’ Daisy finished off for him.
Isabella brushed her foot over the floor. ‘Another distraction?’
‘Yup, looks like it.’
‘The postcard’s wobbling,’ Daisy exclaimed. ‘Do something. NOW!’
Archie marched out into the open.
‘No! Archie!’ Isabella shrieked. ‘You damn fool.’
‘Oi!’ Archie yelled towards the plinth. ‘Why don’t you and I have a little chat.’
Cold laughter reverberated as an echo through their heads.
Archie ignored it and continued ‘If you give up now and hand over the tablet, I might be prepared to spare you.’
The beast, now a huge dragon, fixed Archie with a cold stare, then it reared up.
‘Incoming, Arch,’ Daisy yelled.
Archie dived out of the way as the bolt of fire flashed past. He picked himself up and dusted himself down. ‘You see, we know your tricks — you’re no match for us.’
‘Another incom—‘
Archie dived again, like a goalkeeper in a penalty shoot-out. He guessed correctly, stood up and faced the dragon.
But the beast morphed into a huge snake and reared up.
You won’t escape this, little human child.
‘Different noise, Archie,’ Daisy said. ‘Don’t know what it means—’
The snake opened its jaws wide showing long, glistening fangs. It leaned over.
‘Poison,’ Isabella screamed. ‘Venom. Don’t let it touch you.’
Daisy scoured the ceiling for the post-dart. She couldn’t see it. Her heartbeat quickened. She ran out into the open. ‘It’s behind you!’ she yelled to the serpent. ‘He’s right. Give up now, or else.’
Isabella shook her head. Idiots!
The beast studied Daisy, its eyes fixing her with a look of extreme hatred.
‘Seriously,’ Daisy said. ‘The thing you’re looking for is behind you.’
‘Behind you!’ Archie copied.
Isabella ran out. It’s like a bleeding pantomime, she thought. ‘It’s behind you!’ she yelled, pointing with her arm.
Momentarily, the snake twisted towards her, wondering if it was a trick.
Then, resuming its position, venom gushed out of its long fangs like a hose.
Daisy heard it coming. ‘Scram,’ she whispered to Archie who dashed to the side as the poison jetted out, fizzling on the ground.
The beast twisted.
‘GAGOG GAGOG BARK GAGOG!’
The noise was so loud it dislodged small rocks and earth from the ceiling.
Then, it shuddered, as if shaking itself dry. Now it howled like a dog, furiously until all three were pushing fingers into their ears.
‘Snakey’s freaking out,’ Archie said, joining the others, ‘something really weird is going on.’
They backed off and crouched down.
A noise like a waterfall grew and grew as if getting nearer.
They scoured the chamber and ran back to Old Man Wood in the entrance.
Suddenly, Daisy squealed. ‘Over there! It’s a … plant.’
‘What?’
‘A climbing, spiky plant, like a rose.’
Tendrils shot up from the water surrounding the plinth on all sides, flashing out so fast that by the time the beast had any idea what was happening it was too late.
It wriggled, then swayed, first one way then the other, but the barbs of the rose covered its scales so rapidly that in no time the beast was coated in a bush of needle-like, thorny creepers.
The beast shrank but tendrils flashed out horizontally directing its growth towards it at astonishing speed. Believing the tablet was at risk, the beast expanded into a huge monster, shrieking and screaming as the tendrils dug deep and rushed up and over its vast body. The more it struggled, they sensed, the thicker and tighter the tendrils became, the more the spurs appeared to work into its flesh, tying the monster up as if it were caught in barbed wire.
And now as they looked up at the plinth they could see white blood flowing down its scales. And,
even from a distance, they could smell its foul odour.
‘COME ON,’ Archie yelled.
In no time, all three together with Old Man Wood were beside the pool.
Without hesitating, Archie splashed through the water, looked up at the thorny tendrils and hesitated. As he reached out to touch the prickly stem, the spikes turned into smooth bark in front of his eyes.
‘Get me up there! Old Man Wood, give me a leg up … higher.’
Old Man Wood waded in and hoisted Archie up to the stone ledge. In one movement Archie pulled himself up.
‘What can you see?’ Daisy yelled.
The snake barked and tried to thrash out.
Archie slipped, almost tumbling into the stream.
‘It’s sitting on the tablet!’ he shouted down. ‘But it’s totally tied up … I think,’ he said, giving the netted beast a light shove. The beast rocked, fractionally. He fell onto his stomach and tried to reach under the scaly bulk to the tablet. He gave up. ‘I’m going to have to push it off!’
‘Then do it!’
Archie shoved. The beast nudged a little. Archie put all of his strength into his next push, jogging the beast further to the edge.
‘It’s coming!’ he said. The huge scales of the serpent moved a fraction more and, with another shove, he inched it further away. At last he saw the edge of the tablet. Success was a couple of mighty shoves away.
‘Can you get it?’ Daisy shouted.
‘Give me a chance!’ Archie said, his face twisted by his efforts. ‘This isn’t exactly easy.’
In frustration, Archie stood up and swung his foot at the belly of the snake as hard as he could. There was a slurping ‘thud’ followed by an ear-shattering BARK.
‘What was that?’ Old Man Wood shouted.
Archie howled. ‘Oh NO! NOOO!’
‘What is it? What’s going on up there?’ Old Man Wood called out.
‘My foot … it’s my foot.’ Archie yelled. He was hopping up and down as if on pogo stick.
‘What about your foot?’ Daisy asked.
‘I kicked the snake a little hard. My foot—’
‘Archie?’
‘It’s … it’s stuck.’
‘Stuck? Where?’ Isabella called out. ‘Archie, what on earth are you doing up there? Can you see the tablet?’
‘Yes,’ he groaned. But I can’t get it out – because I can’t get my foot out. And … oh boy.’
He squealed.
‘Archie!’ Isabella said, ‘speak to us.’
‘I’m trying to move it … nearly there…’
The stone tablet slipped over the edge of the plinth and splashed into the water in front of Daisy.
She grabbed it just before it sank. ‘I’ve got it!’ she shouted. ‘Get out of there!’
‘I told you. I can’t. My foot’s stuck like a vice.’
‘You’ve got to, Arch. NOW!’ Daisy pleaded. ‘Rip it out!’
‘What do you think I’m trying to do?’
Archie howled.
Old Man Wood pulled himself up the plinth until his head popped over and he could see the situation. ‘Push the snake off the plinth - it’s the only way you’ll release it.’
‘But if I push it off, it’ll escape.’
‘Have you got a better idea?’ Isabella yelled back at him.
Archie weighed up his options. Then he started heaving. Slowly the bulk of the beast moved ever closer to the edge of the dais.
‘Aaaarrrggghhh! My leg!’ he screamed, as a slurping, ‘POP’ resonated, as if a cork had been blown out of a champagne bottle.
‘Archie!’ Isabella screamed.
There was no reply. The children held their breath.
‘Archie, are you OK? Archie, answer me!’ Isabella cried. ‘Old Man Wood, DO something.’
Archie’s head appeared over the plinth, a big smile covering his face. ‘I got my leg out, but boy, it stinks.’
44 GUS AWAKENS
Gus hadn’t slept so well in ages.
He yawned and stretched his arms out wide. As he opened his eyes, his memory began to remind him. And as his eyes began adjusting to the dim light falling through a small hole high up in the roof above him, he saw a stony slide angling down towards him.
Smells of animal dung, hides and the tang of urine filled the air. On the far side a brazier flickered splaying soft, orange light.
It came rushing back. The fight. Kemp beaten, lying on the ground, moaning. The pain. He’d waited, told Kemp to run away and get out of there, but then, as if from nowhere, Kemp had smashed him. A stone, a rock. The memories, hazy though they were, began rushing back.
He thought of lovely Sue. Did she think he was dead?
Gus flexed his leg and noticed the tightness in his muscles. Pulling up his trouser leg he fingered the tender, rotund, blue bruises on his shin.
Instinctively, he ran a hand over his body and then his scalp connecting with bruises the size of walnuts and as tender as juicy figs. As he stood up, his head hummed and he blinked as a terrific pain arrived behind his eyes and nausea filled his stomach. Had he been knocked out cold? Even if he had, how had he arrived here, of all places?
With the light from the hole in the roof reflecting in it like a mirror, he noticed a stone basin and a trickle of water dripping into it from the rocks above. He sniffed it, wary of its content and, satisfied, cupped his hands and drank deeply, splashing water over his head. The refreshment revitalizing him better than he’d dared hope. Almost at once the clouds in his head cleared and the pain behind his eyes softened. After another draught, his bruises did not throb as before and his aches weren’t so painful.
Gus stretched and strode around the empty, still room, wondering what it was. Had Isabella and Daisy and Archie been here? Had Sue been here with hundreds of animals? And, had each one made the journey down the chute before marching off down the one corridor. If so, why?
Removing a sconce from the wall, he inspected the ground with the light.
Hoof and paw prints, deer and rabbit imprints, birds’ talons and webbed feet. And then he noticed a large cat print. A lion?
For a minute the image of every animal in a zoo slipped into his mind. In here? Really?
He followed the direction of the prints near the entrance further down the chamber. Passing the corridor, he noticed a mixture of hooves, paws and claws and then he saw what had previously rankled him. Shoe prints, as clear as anything. Boots, three or four types by design, imprinted like clay-moulds into the muddy surface.
Gus set off, his brain whirring. His long strides turned into a jog, which, as his blood began to pump, turned into a run. But while the corridor was a blur of every hoof and print he could imagine, there was no sign of footprints. Had they been carried? Had they left?
At every corner, Gus slowed, peering round to see what, if anything, lay in wait for him on the other side.
Several turns later he approached another bend. A darker colour stained the floor. He touched the silky liquid and, when he put it up to the firelight, the colour was a deep red. Almost black.
Blood.
He turned. Carcasses lay heaped to the side, necks split, guts spilling.
Gus reeled. He held his nose and made a cursory examination of the bodies. Necks slashed by a sharp blade. A huge claw, or sharp teeth?
He tiptoed through. What kind of person, or beast could kill on such a scale, with such brutality?
He studied the patterns of hooves and paws in the floor. A footprint, then half a footprint.
At the next turn smaller animals, rabbits, weasels, rats and mice, almost unrecognizable with their guts shredded, their fluffy coats ripped, their remains stuck to the walls and ceiling. Further on, blood-soaked feathers, some downy, some long in all shapes and sizes followed a similar pattern.
Whatever had done this monstrous deed, he realised, wasn’t to be messed around with.
Two more turns and he found himself staring at a corridor, which led towards a green field, with b
lue sky and trees in full leaf.
Hoof marks followed the path. But, the more he studied it, the more the scene didn’t add up. The outside world didn’t look like that and Gus had been out there long enough to know it. The world he remembered was beaten up, scarred, full of smashed trees, landslips and water and fog.
As he hunted around, looking for clues, he spied a large outdoor coat. He held it up as memories of the ghost rushed in. He swayed, recalling his journey through the spirit. The memory knocked him with a sense of awe and, equally, revulsion.
Gus understood that the only person a coat of this size might belong to was Old Man Wood. But why had the old man discarded it? Why leave it here of all places amongst the blood and the carnage? Had he died?
Gus rifled through the pockets: one small apple and a jar containing white sugar grains. He twisted off the lid and sniffed. Sugar?
Gus pushed the jar back into the pocket and rubbed the apple on his jeans, shining the peel. He bit into it, savouring the curious mix of sour and sweetness. Immediately, his body fizzed as a curious sense of vitality rushed through his frame.
He looked out into the chamber in front of him and took another bite. Time, he thought, to investigate.
45 ALTERNATIVE TUNNELING
‘Jump!’ Old Man Wood cried. ‘NOW!’
Archie threw himself off the podium bombing into the pool below. As he rubbed the white gunk off his leg he said, ‘Bells use your speed, take the tablet to safety, we’ll follow.’
‘I can’t!’ she replied.
‘Go!’ he said, staring at his already swollen foot. ‘I won’t make it all the way back.’
Isabella shook her head. ‘No, Archie. We do this together. You know it, and I know it.’
Now that Archie had moved the beast to the edge of the dias, the huge rambling rose that towered into the air creaked like the branches of a tree in a storm. Nervously, they stumbled towards the exit on the far side of the chamber, diametrically opposite to the one they’d arrived in.
Old Man Wood supported Archie on one side and Daisy on the other, holding her arm.