I swallowed nervously.
Caroline looked at me as the mist completely enveloped our little clearing.
I blinked and took a few slow breaths, then turned to look at the animals. The two horses were still munching hungrily on the long, lush grass. It was a brilliant green and nearly as tall as my knees. We had been running very low on hay cubes, and they’d been hungry. I watched them for a long minute. They were completely content to eat this grass. Their ears did not even swivel much: They sensed no danger.
I look over at the camel. He was lying on his haunches, also munching grass contentedly, eyes closed in lazy abandon.
“The animals seem unconcerned,” I said quietly. I turned back to Caroline. “I’m not sure what to make of this.”
“Me neither. It is strange, and a bit spooky, though,” her voice was nearly a whisper. The mist dampened all noise and tended to make you feel hushed and calm.
A bird called in the trees somewhere.
“There are parrots in here.” I strained my ears. An answering bird called from the opposite direction, then fell silent. It was a comforting sound, but I wasn’t sure why.
We were soon bedded down for the night, surrounded by the silent mist.
Chapter Nine
Deeper In
Nightmarish fear brought me out of a deep sleep – that and the wet chewing sound I heard nearby. I opened my eyes to pitch dark, and the chewing sound stopped. Breathing hard, I looked around wildly. Silence met my ears.
The night sky was moonless, the mist overhead hiding any stars that might have been visible beyond. I blinked my eyes rapidly and sat up.
“Carrie?” I looked around. I could barely see my hand in front of my eyes. It was like a blanket of blindness lay over the land and our campsite.
Wiping my hand over my eyes to check if anything was obscuring my vision, I found nothing, nothing but a terrible lack of any illumination. I took deep breaths to calm down. The fire had gone out completely, it seemed.
I should be able to hear the animals, I thought. Straining, I listened for any sound, but it was as if I was alone on the planet.
This isn’t right. Have I gone blind? No, I could see my own hand, if I put it right in front of my face, close enough to touch my nose. But I could not see anything farther out than a few inches.
I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my vision.
Suddenly, I was aware of a distant sound. It was the wet chewing that had woken me up. But farther away than before.
Standing up, I tried to step toward the sound, and tripped.
“Oh!” I fell hard against a log, and pain, bright and keen, exploded in my head. I clutched my shin, grimacing.
I noticed the wet chewing sound had become louder again, and I looked out wildly, trying to see what it was.
A form was taking shape in the clearing about nine feet in front of me. As I blinked furiously, a figure seemed to solidify, as if a black mist was clearing and I could see again.
I jumped and screamed. The wet chewing I’d heard was a small devil crouched atop the body of Caroline, feeding on the entrails it had pulled from her gut. Carrie’s face was turned toward me, her eyes, wide and dead, her mouth opened in silent surprise.
I scrambled backward, horrified, and the demon stopped its chewing and slowly turned toward me, and I saw its red-rimmed eyes focus. Fear, cold and breathless, crawled up my spine.
“Miss,” a whispered voice, barely audible, came from behind me.
At the same time, I felt a slight touch on my bare foot.
I jumped violently at the surprise. Turning, I saw Caroline crouched under a bush, her frightened face drained of color, her hand outstretched, touching my ankle.
“God!” I let out a small scream. Whirling around, I looked and saw again the demon eating a dead Caroline in the clearing, and now it was staring at me as it chewed, and it chuckled evilly. Dread raced through me and my hair stood on end.
“Miss, that’s not me,” came the whisper again.
Faster than I’ve ever moved, I flattened myself to the ground and crab walked under the bush to Caroline, who was huddled there.
“Carrie!” I whispered. My eyes flew wildly back to the demon with an exact copy of Caroline, then back to the Caroline next to me. “What?!?”
My spine ran cold, freezing cold, as the Caroline next to me under the bush began to change. Blood ran out of her eye sockets as I watched, filled with horror.
“OH, GODS!”
“Princess?”
I screamed again.
“Princess!!!” A hand was squeezing my arm, shaking it. “Wake up, Princess!”
I opened my eyes to daylight.
“OH!!!”
I blinked rapidly.
There was no eternal darkness, it was daylight. I looked over at the clearing. Khepri was sitting up, drinking water from a cup, her eyebrow raised as she watched Caroline wake me from my nightmare.
I was sweaty and wrapped tight in my bedding, my heart racing a mile a minute.
“Princess, you called out in your sleep. Are you all right?”
I looked at Caroline, and she was fine. She had a concerned look on her face, and her hair was messy, but that was the extent of anything out of place.
“It seemed so real …” I said softly.
She rubbed my arm and gave me a cup of water, which I drank thankfully, hungry for any semblance of normalcy.
God, it had seemed so real.
I trembled for a moment involuntarily.
Deep breaths, I thought. Whew.
Khepri studied me over the rim of her cup. “Are you all right?” She asked.
“I’m fine, just had a bad nightmare.” I calmed my racing heart. Ugh.
“I hate nightmares,” Khepri said sympathetically. “In a place like this, I’m not surprised your dreams have been affected.” She reached down and dipped her tongue into her cup, and as it came back up into her mouth I saw the tip was coated with a dark, thick liquid. What the heck…?
“Well, you’re all right. It’s over. Here,” Caroline handed me a bowl of food.
I took it gratefully, my stomach growling.
Looking down, my eyes met the sight of a bloody mess of organ meat. I gasped and looked up at Caroline. She looked back with blood dripping from her eyes and blood running down from a huge gash in her middle, entrails spilling out.
“Hope you’re hungry,” she said, grinning.
“OHHHH!!!!!” I screamed and flung the bowl away from me, and …
Gasping, I sat up, breathing wildly.
Dawn was just breaking in the clearing.
I looked over at Caroline and Khepri, both asleep in their blankets.
My breathing was harsh and ragged, my eyes wide, and I looked over at the horses. They stood there on the edge of the clearing, looking sleepy. The camel was next to them.
Okay, okay. Nightmare inside a nightmare. I’ve had those before.
I decided to get up. I pulled on my boots and, strapping the scimitar on, I did a thorough check of the animals before stoking up the fire and adding wood. Soon, I had it roaring. The nightmare was fading, for which I was thankful.
I looked around. What a place to find ourselves in, I thought. Water and shade and fruit, along with nightmares.
An involuntary tremor ran through me and I looked wildly about, waiting for a third nested nightmare, but none came.
I settled myself against the warm side of the camel and sharpened my sword while waiting for the others to wake up.
An hour later, we had all eaten fruit and drunk water from the spring, and I was feeling much better. I decided not to tell the others of my nightmares, worried about putting a damper on what looked to be a promising day.
Khepri looked like she’d healed overnight. “Wow, I feel great,” she said as she stood up and stretched.
“Let me see your wounds.” I approached slowly: After the nightmare-within-a-nightmare experience, I was braced for just about anything. Well, just ab
out.
Unwrapping Khepri’s bandages, my eyes were greeted by the sight of healed skin. A faint scar, slightly pink, was the only remnant of her injuries. I blinked my eyes, not trusting them.
“This is …” I found myself mute.
“What is it, Miss?” Caroline came to look.
Khepri bent, her eyes widening. “Wow, just yesterday there was still bleeding around the edges.” She looked up at us, astonished. “What is happening?”
Caroline’s hand pressed against the clean skin where Khepri’s main wound had been. “It’s not even hot.” She looked into Khepri’s eyes, searching for any hint of pain.
Khepri just smiled, raising her eyebrows. “I feel fine, actually.”
The mist swirled in the air, a cool breeze against us, raising goosebumps.
“Well, I guess you don’t need a bandage change,” I pulled the soiled bandages from yesterday from her and threw them in the fire. My neck tingled. What was going on?
We decided to explore the misty forest oasis. We had our waterskins filled and fruit gathered and were on our way before long. Our horses seemed eager to move. Not nervous, just excited. The camel chewed its cud and watched us with lazy eyes. I smiled and patted her neck fondly.
“We should mark our path,” I said, looking around the forest. It was impossible to tell which direction we were going, and the horses and camel did not seem to want to lead us anymore. “Anyone have any ideas?”
Khepri, dismounting from the camel’s basket, withdrew a sharp knife from her boot, and, approaching a tree, sliced into it, making an arrow pointed forward. Turning to us, she smiled, indicating the direction the arrow was pointing, “This is as good a path to take as any.”
I shrugged. We were on our way deeper in.
Chapter Ten
Mind Reader
“Miss, we’ve been walking for hours and there is no end to this forest,” Caroline murmured next to me.
I nodded. Something was going on with this place. Hmmm.
I turned to Khepri, riding behind us in the camel basket.
“Do you know anything about this oasis? I gazed at her face and did not like what I saw.
Khepri seemed reluctant to answer, but finally spoke. “I have heard of it. It is both feared and sought after by my people.”
We all stopped.
She continued: “In fact, if I had been aware of where we were headed, I would have warned you.” Her lips pressed together in a thin, nervous line.
“Oh, gods,” I put my head in my hands.
Caroline came forward. “Khepri, you must tell us everything you know about this place.”
Khepri remained silent.
“Look, healer,” I began grimly. “Not only did we take care of you, and bring you with us, instead of leaving you, wounded and unconscious, in the middle of the sand, we’re in this oasis together. We need to help each other if we are to survive.” I drew my horse level with the camel. “Now, talk.” I stared her down.
After a few moments she began to speak.
“My people call this place Aoudaghost. It is fabled to be a region of both heartache and misery yet containing riches beyond imagining.” She looked sideways and murmured, “My people have a tendency to exaggerate things we yearn for, yet fear.”
I just looked at her.
Caroline and I waited for her to continue.
Khepri sighed and began again. “It is said to be an enormous oasis that looks small from the outside but is nearly endless once you get inside. It is fabled to be full of ripe fruit, plentiful deposits of gold, the sweetest honey you could ever taste, and water that can cure any ill.” She hesitated, looking troubled.
Well, that explained her wounds healing overnight, I thought.
“Go on,” I said.
She sighed. “Must I? Suffice to say it is said to be crawling with venomous beasts.”
“Venomous?” Caroline asked.
“The worst of which is …” Khepri’s voice was cut off by a scream in the distance. A raging scream that sounded like every nightmare in the spirit world. The horses started.
The scream sounded a second time.
“… the giant basilisk.” Khepri whispered, fear in her eyes.
“You’re kidding, right?” I looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“No, oh, no, Miss.” Caroline groaned, as the scream sounded a third time.
I looked worried. Do giant magical snakes scream? I didn’t think so, but I had never read about giant basilisks.
“Okay, listen. Let’s get out of this oasis.” I turned to Khepri. “We can just … leave. Right?”
“Well,” Khepri drifted off to silence and looked worried.
Her voice did not fill me with confidence.
“She said something about the inside being ‘nearly endless,’ Miss.” Caroline whispered.
Oh, great.
“Well, look. I’m not going to just stay in here with this monster.” I paused when another shriek pierced the air. “We’re getting out of here.” I looked at the other two, resolute. “Come on.”
I turned my horse and began back the way we had come, dragging the camel’s rope behind me.
Caroline hurried along beside me, barely controlling her horse. She gave me a worried look.
As we traveled, I thought. “Wait a minute,” I turned my face up to Khepri in the basket. “If this place is so dangerous, why weren’t we attacked last night?”
“I do not know,” she said. “I was told that the stories are exaggerated for children, so maybe …”
“But what were those screams just now?” Caroline said.
No one had any answers.
We hurried back to the clearing, or where we thought the clearing had been.
We couldn’t find it.
“What in the world …?” I murmured when I knew we should have already arrived at last night’s campsite. The trail we were on, some kind of animal trail, was now bordered by thick foliage on either side. We had to ride single file.
Several colorful parrots flew overhead, as if following us, squawking and scolding.
“The stories say the oasis changes when you’re inside it,” Khepri said. “It is said to be a living thing.”
“A what?!” I said in disbelief.
Whatever animal had screamed before now let out more screams, which sounded more distant. Answering roars followed the scream, then a shriek.
“That sounds farther away, what do you think?” Caroline said.
We agreed.
But it was ahead of us and off to our left now. Did we keep going in this direction and chance meeting these creatures?
The thing screamed again.
“That sounds as if it’s down in a valley,” I said. Thinking a moment, I searched the trees around us. “Aha!” I spotted a palm tree slanted low enough to climb.
I had loved climbing trees when I was a child. I wondered if I still could.
A few minutes later I had my answer.
“Come on, you two.” I said in a stage whisper from twenty feet up, not wanting to alert any predators to my position.
Khepri and Caroline tied the animals to the tree and climbed up beside me.
We all looked out.
I was right, the forest dipped into a gentle valley, overrun with ivy and trees. We had been on one edge of it, maybe ten feet from the slope. Maybe a quarter-mile away, we could see the other edge, and we watched, spellbound, as an enormous animal screamed a challenge to an unseen opponent.
“What is that?” I whispered.
“I think that is the giant basilisk,” Khepri answered.
The snake was enormous, easily sixty feet long. Its coils rose higher than a man’s reach. It was fighting … something, we could not see.
It screamed and hissed, then reared back and struck at something in the trees.
As far away as it was, the battle was fierce, and I shivered.
“Is that blood?” Caroline asked in a whisper.
“Mhmm,
” I answered. A chill went through me. I did not want to remain in the area with that thing.
“Let’s climb down, before we’re spotted.” I motioned for them to go first. While I was waiting for room to descend, I scanned the forest for an alternate path away from the ferocious battle on the other side of the small valley. I saw nothing but thick, dense trees and bushes covered in vines of ivy.
After we had all climbed down, we mounted again and hurried farther down the path.
We rode another few miles in silence, each of us lost in thought.
Khepri made a sound and waved her hand in the air.
“Here, look here.” She was leaning out of the right side of the basket and pointing. She must have spotted something from her higher vantage point.
“What do you see?” I asked.
“A clearing. Stop.” Khepri said.
We all stopped, the camel pushing at the back of my head as it did. I touched my hair and it came away with camel drool.
Yuck.
I sighed.
Dropping to the ground from my horse, I used my scimitar to cut a path past the trees and bushes. Ten feet off the animal path we’d been on was, indeed, a clearing.
“Come on,” I called to Caroline.
We gathered in the glade and made camp and assessed our situation as we ate.
I wracked my brain for ideas but could come up with nothing. How do you beat a maze that’s ever changing? A forest that won’t let you leave? I felt defeated.
After a while, Khepri spoke up, “I think I remember what to do.”
We looked at her. She stared back.
“Well?” I asked.
“We have to summon the beast that rules the oasis and ask it to lead the way out. If not, travelers are said to be trapped forever.”
“What beast rules the oasis?” Caroline asked.
“The chimera.” She pronounced it “kym-ra” in her deep northern Alkebulan accent.
Our second night in this place was unsettling. Knowing it contained beasts that would cheerfully swallow us whole was not exactly calming. I had hoped we would be sheltered in the oasis from the manticores roaming the desert, with cover and possible defense.
We had actually bedded down in a low hollow, the rock wall behind us providing at least some shelter from the fog and elements. As the sun had set, a light rain had started, and we’d gathered close together against the rock to stay dry. Luckily, it only lasted a few minutes, or we’d have had trouble keeping the firewood that we’d gathered dry.
The Pirates of Moonlit Bay Page 6