by Victor Kloss
Ben accepted one cautiously. This was an island in the Unseen Kingdoms, after all, and Suktar’s home base in particular, but it certainly looked like a fig. He bit into it, and grinned as the sweet stickiness exploded in his mouth.
“Grab what you can,” he instructed everyone. “And if you see anything else edible, collect that, too, but don’t let it slow you down. We need to catch up to Dagmar.” At least they wouldn’t starve.
By the time Natalie and Josh re-joined them, Ben and the others had collected not only figs but oranges, almonds, and apricots. And just as Natalie was handing Ben his full waterskin he spied a tall, slender tree with white bark, finger-sized green leaves, and clusters of red fruit like apples but larger.
“Look!” he said.
Natalie followed his gesture. When she turned back, she was beaming. “I love pomegranates!” In an instant she had scaled the tree like a monkey and was back down on the ground, carrying an entire armload of them.
Ben noticed Charlie wasn’t smiling anymore and was looking around with a frown on his face. “What’s up?” he asked.
Charlie gave a start, and shrugged. “I just imagined the dark elf homeland would be more, well, you know, dark. Grim. Lifeless. But it looks like any another beautiful place in the mountains, with plenty of fruit and spring water.”
Ben had been thinking the same thing. “Yeah, I had that thought, but it’s not a book we’re in, is it? It’s not Mordor in The Lord of the Rings or the Blight in The Wheel of Time. It’s just another part of the world — that happens to be run by a proper nutjob.”
Charlie grinned at Ben’s mention of two of his favourite books. Ben hadn’t read them, but Charlie had talked about them enough that he may as well have. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”
Between the food and the water everyone was in a very good mood when they topped another rise and spotted a short, stocky figure sitting on a downed tree trunk, waiting for them. The sunlight filtering down through the forest canopy sparkled on her silver boots.
“Took you long enough,” was all Dagmar said as they joined her, but she allowed herself a small smile as Charlie handed her a full waterskin and Abigail offered her a handful of fruits. “Been busy, I see.”
“So have you,” Ben replied, delighted that the entire group was now back together again. “We lost sight of you completely. If not for the trail you left behind, we’d never have made it out!”
She frowned. “I had no control over how fast I was going,” she explained, rising to her feet. “But I did insist the boots leave that path for you to follow. I’m glad it worked.”
“It did, and now we’re safely out of there,” Charlie agreed. “Where to now?”
For an instant Dagmar stared off into the distance. Then she pointed. “We go that way,” she answered.
The group set out again. They were still maintaining a healthy pace, but Ben didn’t see any reason to run anymore. He also decided, once the sun fell below the horizon, that they really needed to get some sleep. All of them.
“I agree,” Dagmar said. “We’ve been marching for days now, seems like. But we should sleep in shifts, even so.”
That made sense, so Ben organised them into three watches. He, Charlie and Josh took the first shift; then Natalie and Dagmar followed by Abigail and Krobeg. Ben managed to stay awake by pacing around their little makeshift campsite, but the second Natalie took over he lay down and was asleep almost instantly.
*
When he woke up the next morning, Ben felt more refreshed than he could remember being in a long time. Everything seemed brighter, more positive. Amazing what a good night’s sleep could do.
Still, he worried about how long this was taking them. They had no idea how the war was going back home or what Suktar had planned. He didn’t dare ask Abigail to check again, not after what happened before
“How much longer do you think it will take for us to get there?” he asked Dagmar once they had all nibbled fruit and had some water, and started on their way again.
She shrugged. “No idea,” she admitted. “The boots tell me the direction, not the distance.” She glanced up at Ben. “We will get there as soon as we can,” she assured him. “No sense worrying about it.”
Ben wasn’t very satisfied with that answer. He didn’t have a choice but to accept it.
By midday the forest had thinned a bit, the ground becoming rockier again. Ben hoped they weren’t about to run into more mountains — or more tunnels! — but they didn’t seem to be ascending. Appearances were deceiving, however, because when they eventually emerged from the trees he saw they were standing atop a steep cliff, and there was only a thin rope bridge linking it to the equally severe slab of rock on the other side.
“Let me guess — we have to cross that,” Charlie said. “Splendid. That thing looks like a bad action movie just waiting to happen.”
“We do need to get to the other side,” Dagmar agreed. She frowned, studying the frayed ropes and worn boards of the bridge. “Best if we go one at a time.”
“I’ll go first,” Ben offered. He figured that’s what a leader should do, but as he stepped up to the bridge, he had to gulp and force himself to keep moving. Then, just as he reached the thick wooden post anchoring the bridge at their end, he made the mistake of looking down.
The rock here fell away as if it had been sliced clear by a massive blade, almost perfectly flat and smooth. The corners near his feet looked sharp enough to cut with. And down below Ben thought he could make out a thin silver ribbon. A river? If so, it was either no wider than his little finger or a really long way down.
He gulped and forced his eyes back up and across, to the far side of the ravine. “You can do this,” he told himself as he forced his foot off the rock and onto the first plank. “You can do this. One foot in front of the other, and don’t look down!” His hands clamped onto the ropes on either side in a death grip, and he slowly, carefully made his way step by step, not looking at anything except that other side.
Then, all at once, his foot found itself on solid ground again, and his hands were resting on the top of two more thick posts. He’d done it!
Ben took a second to catch his breath and compose himself before he turned around to see the rest of the group staring at him.
“Piece of cake,” he called out, though the way his voice broke betrayed him a little. “Come on, who’s next?”
“You ready, Charlie?” Natalie asked, stepping up to the bridge. “First me, then you, right?” And, without waiting for an answer, she headed across.
Natalie had always been the most graceful of them. She strolled across the rope bridge like it was nothing, her light steps barely swaying it at all. When she reached the other side, though, Ben noticed that her hands were trembling.
“Did anyone see?” she whispered to him, and he smiled.
“Not a one,” he promised.
She was all smiles and confidence again as she faced the others. “Okay, Charlie,” she called. “Your turn!”
Charlie looked a lot less happy about this as he approached the rope. “Did I happen to mention I’m not that keen on heights?”
He stood there for a bit, looking at the bridge, and then squeezed his eyes shut. Taking a deep breath, he started walking rapidly while keeping his eyes straight ahead. Ben decided not to point out that Charlie probably weighed as much as him and Natalie together, and wasn’t exactly known for his agility. Instead he cheered his best friend on as Charlie started out, walking hesitantly but quickly.
He made it halfway before he looked down.
“Oh,” Ben heard Charlie gasp. “Oh dear.” He’d gone deathly pale. And he stopped right there in the middle, the bridge swaying beneath him and the ropes twisting this way and that.
“Charlie!” Ben wanted to scream, but forced himself to keep his tone calm. No sense spooking his friend even further. “This is no time for a nap, Charlie, come on! We’re waiting!”
Charlie nodded vigorously and f
orced his eyes open. As Ben had hoped, the silly joke made Charlie glance up and focus on him and Natalie rather than the ravine beneath his feet. “What? Oh, yeah. Right.”
And, as Ben watched, holding his breath, Charlie started moving again.
“You had me worried there,” Ben told him after his best friend had crossed safely and was standing beside him. “Seriously, don’t do that again.”
Charlie shuddered. “Don’t make me do that again and it’s a deal,” he promised.
Josh was next, and he was already a third of the way across when Natalie gasped and gripped Ben’s arm. “I heard something!” she whispered.
“What kind of something?” Ben asked, turning to scan the trees that started up again just beyond the ravine. “Guards, animals, what?”
“No,” she hissed, her grip tightening and forcing him to look back at the bridge. “Ropes!”
Ben squinted, studying the bridge and after a moment, he saw what she meant. One of the ropes was starting to fray, and a strand had already snapped free. That must have been what she heard. “Hurry it up, Josh,” he called out, but the other boy just waved him off.
“I’m going as fast as I can!” Josh snapped, his eyes on the planks ahead of him.
Which is why he didn’t see the way that one rope was unravelling faster and faster.
“Run!” Charlie shouted suddenly. “Now!”
Sensing the urgency in Charlie’s voice, Josh threw caution aside and broke into a sprint. As his foot touched down there was a loud twang and the one rope snapped completely. That left only the one guide rope, and the two holding the planks on either side. But it put extra stress on all three of those, and Ben could already see them starting to go as well. “Hurry!” he urged.
Josh was running flat out now, his feet slamming down hard with each step and shaking the entire bridge. He had made it roughly two-thirds of the way across when the plank rope below that guide rope also gave way, followed immediately by the second guide rope — and the entire bridge plummeted into the ravine, taking him with it.
“JOSH!” Ben raced to the edge, gripping the post so he could lean out and see. When his brain registered what he was looking at, he was able to breathe again.
Half of the bridge was dangling against their side of the ravine, still held by that single rope — and Josh was clutching onto it for dear life.
“Hang on!” Natalie called. “We’ll get you out of there!” She turned and glanced at Ben and Charlie. “Okay,” she said quickly, her eyes wide. “How do we get him out of there?”
“I’ve got a rope,” Charlie offered, digging it out of his pack. So did Ben and Natalie, in fact. The problem, Ben realised at once, was two-fold: how could they secure the rope so it would hold Josh’s weight, and then they pull him up once they had? If Josh had been gripping those guide ropes the way Ben had when he’d crossed, surely his arms were already starting to feel weak? There was no way he’d be able to pull himself up.
Natalie was already shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s going to work,” she said. “But we’ve got to do something! If he falls—” She didn’t have to finish that statement.
Ben stared at the ground. If only they could reach through and grab him that way, he thought. That would be a lot safer than dragging him up the side.
And then he realised that maybe they could.
“I’ve got an idea,” he told his friends, drawing his spellshooter and pointing it at the ground. “Get that rope ready.”
Then, summoning up the spell he wanted, he concentrated and fired.
Immediately the ground at his feet began to crack. First, it was small fissures, but then those ran together and formed a large split, going deeper and deeper. Ben concentrated, shaping the crack, forcing it out towards the side just to the left of where the shattered rope bridge hung.
When it finally burst through the cliff wall, he was pleased to see that Josh was dangling right beside it.
“Toss him that rope!” Ben ordered. “Through the crack!” Then he leaned over the side. “Josh, get ready to catch!”
Charlie did as instructed, and the rope end leaped forwards — and nearly hit Josh in the head.
“Hey!” he managed to yelp, but reached out and caught the rope before it could fall away. “Got it!”
“Okay,” Ben shouted down. “We’re going to pull you into this gap. When we do, let go of the bridge.”
“If you say so.” He could hear the fear in the other boy’s voice, but Josh didn’t hesitate. With all three of them tugging on the rope, they were able to swing him into the fissure Ben had created, and as soon as his feet had cleared the edge Josh released the remnants of the rope bridge. He fell — but only a few feet, landing on solid rock.
From there it was simply a matter of hauling on the rope as Josh began to pull his way up and out of the crack. When he finally emerged beside them, sweaty and dusty, they enveloped him in a hug. Ben felt Josh’s body shaking slightly and led him to a nearby rock to sit down. After a few moments, Joshua looked up at them.
“Guys… thanks. There was a minute there I thought it was all over.” He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
Ben clapped him on the back, and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “We wouldn’t let that happen! Besides, who will have my back against the big bad guy when we finally get to his hiding place?” Joshua smiled and shook his head. “No matter what comes of this, I know I’ve got friends that I can trust, literally, with my life.”
They sat there for a few minutes, letting the adrenaline fade. Finally Charlie pushed out his cheeks, picked up a small stick and threw it towards the canyon.
“I don’t suppose anybody packed an extra bridge?” He asked feebly.
Ben got up and walked to the edge of the canyon, looking across at the others. He could hardly make out their faces from here. Peering in both directions it was clear there was definitely no way to cross any place close.
He punched his hand into his fist, a burst of frustration hitting him as the immediate urgency faded. “Just what we didn’t need!”
Turning back to the others, he was determined to solve this situation.
“Charlie, I need you to try to remember the geographical region around here. There has to be a way we can….”
Out of nowhere a bright glowing orb flew into the middle of them with a soft bang. Ben threw himself onto Natalie and Charlie, and they came crashing down.
Suddenly a voice came out of the orb.
“Ben, I know exactly where we are. It will take us two days to get to the next bridge.”
It was Dagmar’s voice, coming from the orb! Ben scrambled up, and they closed in on the floating bright light.
“Stay there if you can, but I won’t be surprised if you have to move on. That area is dangerous because of the wildlife and the patrolling dark elves.”
Ben had heard of spells like this but never seen them. They were used as messengers, for political purposes and in times of war.
“Don’t worry about us,” Dagmar’s voice continued. “The boots are leading us in a westerly direction. If you have to move, head towards the setting sun and you should be on course. We’ll be going in the same general direction, and we can meet up in a small city that is a few days away. Good luck.”
The orb dimmed, then went out entirely and dropped to the ground. Ben bent down and picked it up. It was warm to the touch.
Before he could decide to stay or go, he heard another sound in the distance. Charlie had obviously heard it too: an echoing roar.
“Ben, much as I hate to say this, it sounds like we should get moving straight away. No time like the present, and all that.”
Ben sighed. There wasn’t anything he could do. He nodded, waved to his three distant companions, and then turned to the three standing around him.
“Right,” he declared. “I guess we’d better go.”
For the first time the party was truly separated, and Ben was all too aware that their
guide, as well as their strongest warrior, were on the other side of that deep ravine.
— Chapter Twenty-One —
Pigs and Wolves
“This side feels different,” Charlie commented as they trudged along. They had been walking for only a short while, perhaps an hour, but they had long since lost sight of the ravine and the mountains behind it, as well as their friends, but Ben tried not to dwell on that.
“Yeah, I guess,” he answered, not paying all that much attention as he pushed a branch away from his face. Then he jumped back as part of the branch rose up, hissing and flicking a long, thin, forked tongue at him. “Ah! There are a lot more snakes, that’s for sure” he complained, ducking carefully beneath the branch and its agitated denizen.
“That’s part of what I mean, though,” Charlie continued. Normally he would have been completely panicked about the snake, but he was clearly in scholarly mode, and when that happened Ben often thought his best friend could walk through a battlefield without even a hint of worry. “Snakes like that are more appropriate to a much cooler forest, one where the trees lose their leaves yearly. Look around you.” He gestured to some of the trees they were passing. “Oak, elm, birch, fir, pine, or at least close enough.”
Surprisingly, it was Josh who replied. “Yeah, all the ones on the far side were more Mediterranean, weren’t they?” the taller boy asked. “All those fruits we picked, those were the sort of thing you’d find in Greece, maybe? Now it’s more like we’re at home in England.”
Ben paused and considered their surroundings. What the others had said was true. The trees here were taller, heavier, and darker than they had been on the far side, clumped together more closely and with a thicker canopy that blocked out all but stray patches of sunlight. The ground was littered with pine needles, and the air smelled like Christmas.