by Keeley Smith
They walked along a crumbling footpath, the clay like ground wasn’t holding up well. Stephen wasn’t sure why the path was crumbling, he didn’t want to think about the fact that the path was still high up in this godforsaken place and that if it crumbled then they would have one heck of a fall.
He had, however, noticed that they were slowly making their way down. The next concern was, what was down there?
The lack of the sun’s lovely heat and the stale, dusty air was really starting to show in their moods and unfortunately, because they were the only ones in this place, they were taking it out on each other. It was hardly surprising really. They were hungry, thirsty and tired.
He remembered that he’d snacked just before running from the farm, running before his father used his fist to wallop him at the side of the head for not mucking out the horse. That snack had been a packet of crisps and a banana. Thinking about food made his stomach complain.
Thrust as the leader of this quest meant his mood was not the best, in his opinion he had double the responsibility. He’d been rather terse with Deyna and had instantly regretted it moments later when he caught the sparkle of tears shimmer in her eyes. Since doing so, he’d made an effort to try and keep spirits high, but that was impossible when faced with this kind of situation. How were you supposed to keep people happy when they could turn a corner at any moment and face yet another creature that wanted to kill them?
And the most annoying thing was, he didn’t even know why these creatures wanted to kill them. He didn’t know who was controlling them but obviously this person wanted to hurt them. He didn’t know why they were suddenly the target of this sick puppet show. Because that’s what they were.
Puppets.
He just didn’t know who the puppet master was, yet.
He walked up front with Lester. They hadn’t spoken to each other but this didn’t bother him, he was content with Lester acting as his light. Phillip, an absolute genius, had saved a sconce when they’d run from the room of doom. The light had been extinguished in their haste to jump out of the room but, with a little spark of magic from Lester, Phillip and Deyna now had a light of their own. That had made them happy for the whole of five minutes until they remembered where they were and why they needed the extra light.
Stephen stopped, his feet positioned ready to run. He could hear something, the shock of hearing anything other than their footsteps put him on alert, plus this sounded different to the bats, angrier. If that were bats then there would be millions of them by the sound of that roar, and he knew they didn’t have the energy to run or fight them off. They wouldn’t stand a chance.
The others slowed behind him, already braced for the next attack. He knew they held their breaths, he knew this because he did the exact same thing. Exhaling whilst his hand touched the barrel of the gun that was secured at his waist, he rounded the corner with Lester.
A river coursed a path through the clay, the water crashed in the tight limitations of the bed until it raged over the edge of the cliff face. He ran without caring what may be launched at him. It was water. He felt his mouth go dry at the sight of cold water.
He heard the excited cries of joy from his two friends and felt the ground vibrate with their heavy feet as they followed him. His hands had barely touched the water before he felt the icy sting that only came when touching Lester. He whipped around and glared at Lester whose eyes were wide as they stared at him in shock.
“Lester, what’s wrong with you?”
“You mustn’t, it might not be drinkable.”
Stephen snatched his hand away and looked down at the water.
The water didn’t look bad. He wasn’t sure what bad water should look like, but it wasn’t green with mould, and fish weren’t floating to the surface. He didn’t know if fish would be present in this place, there were probably piranha’s waiting instead. He couldn’t understand what a river and waterfall was doing here in the first place.
When he thought back, the room hadn’t looked dangerous to begin with. It wasn’t until the wall had started moving towards them that he realised. He wasn’t going to ask the whys or the hows because he knew Lester wouldn’t reveal anything to him, but at this moment in time he was going to trust the ghost. Lester was all they had.
He kicked his foot against the hard ground in frustration. Deyna and Phillip looked at him with faces that held disappointment. The river was sent to test them, it had to be and damn it, it tested them. He tried to swallow but his tongue stuck itself to the roof of his mouth, he couldn’t even develop the spit he needed to wash away the dust that latched onto his throat.
“How are we meant to drink?” Phillip stormed. The anger in his voice barely covered the whine.
“I don’t know...” Lester stammered.
Lester did genuinely look stumped.
“Well, Lester,” Stephen sighed. He didn’t even have the energy to shout. “Ghosts may not need food and water but we do. We need to ea-”
A large screech silenced his complaints. Stephen looked up into the ebony soup above them. Lester instantly shot up and began circling them, shielding them, whilst looking around to see what the danger was. Phillip held the sconce at arm’s length as he also turned searching for the culprit of the noise. What the hell was it?
The main question to ask himself, did he even want to know?
A whoosh sounded before a sudden loud clap. They felt a push of cool air circle around them. Suddenly the sound of flapping wings surrounded them. It was so loud it drowned out the sound of the water surging off the end of the cliff and pounding the ground below.
This wasn’t good. What kind of creature had wings that made this kind of noise?
“Lester, go higher up,” Stephen instructed.
Phillip pushed the sconce higher into the air to try and cast some light above them.
“Stephen!” Lester shouted.
That was their only warning.
Another loud screech echoed around them, Stephen turned and to his horror caught sight of claws the size of his body swooping towards him. The claws were bent, the razor sharp bone was heading straight for him.
He had seconds to think.
He threw himself straight into the cold water. As it encased his body, tidal waves rolled above him from the force of the large wings. Holding his breath, he looked up through the surface to see the shadow of a large bird fly over head. Releasing the air in his lungs, he kicked his legs until his head broke the surface. He gasped and treaded water, looking above him.
The water didn’t burn his skin so it wasn’t chemically unbalanced, that was a good thing at least, but he still didn’t allow the water to enter his mouth. Loud splashes around him confirmed Phillip and Deyna had followed him. This was the only place they could go without being completely vulnerable and in the open. The bird, or birds, must still be around.
They had to be safe in the water. Surely the weight of their body and the water would mean it was impossible to carry them? He assumed the creatures couldn’t grab enough of them to force them out of the water, although the claws were huge so he didn’t know. Lester was their only light source as he floated above them; he assumed that the sconce was long gone now. He strained his eyes trying to see past the darkness.
Stephen finally caught a glimpse of what stalked them. Plural, there was more than one. They were giant birds of prey that swooped and circled around them.
“Are they fricking eagles?” Phillip spluttered.
Stephen couldn’t answer, shock rendering his tongue numb. They looked like eagles.
They had an impressive wingspan, he caught a glimpse of the deep shades of browns of the wings that were tipped with black. They flapped elegantly, one long stroke after another. The unmerciful talons twitched with an eagerness to rip flesh. The razor sharp beak opened as another screech echoed around them.
They were eagles, the
y had to be, but they were like a thousand times bigger than your average eagle.
“Yes, they are eagles! You need to move!” Lester bellowed.
“They don’t seem to go near the water. We are quite safe.”
Stephen was sure of it. The eagles seemed to circle around them.
“Oh, really, then how do you hope to stop yourselves from dropping off the edge of this waterfall!” Lester pointed at the edge as he floated above them.
He looked towards the end that they’d unconsciously drifted towards, the strong current had pushed them whilst they concentrated on the birds up above. The intelligent eagles were simply waiting for them to die as they circled their food and they’d already made themselves easy bait.
“Start swimming!” Stephen barked.
How many obstacles could they possibly face at one time? It was either the choice of being ripped to bits by an eagle, or succumbing to the immense force of the water spewing off the edge of a rather steep cliff.
Stephen pushed his legs to kick against the powerful current. He was fit but even he struggled. He worried for Deyna who was swallowing the water like it was her life source. That answered another question, the water was at least drinkable because she wasn’t melting or screaming in pain.
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye; sharp talons zoomed towards him. He held his breath and tried to push his body down into the water. His body wouldn’t move, it was like he’d been frozen into place. Before he could kick his legs and try to fight against the tremendous force of water, he felt a thud in his left shoulder. He didn’t feel the pain but he knew that something must have entered his body and only the shock of this was holding the pain at bay.
He felt it drag and pull at his body as he felt himself being pulled, the shock was wearing off and he felt the pain start to pulse through his body. He took a deep breath, looked at his friends whose faces were white with shock, and then he was lifted into the dark, cold space above.
He’d been wrong because the eagles could lift them from out of the water. He should have listened to Lester when he’d told them to move, he’d known something. How many times would he tell himself this before the end?
The end of what? He asked himself although he didn’t want to know.
He could hear Deyna screaming, the sound broken up with her choking as she tried to fight against the water. He looked to his left and saw the sharp talons protruding from his chest. They’d pierced his skin like a hot knife in butter. His head spun as sick threatened to erupt from him. He swallowed and held back the groan of pain as his body was pulled higher and higher into the darkness above them.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN