Chapter Four

Inside

    They traveled for two weeks through the broken land. Going continued slowly because of Joeshem’s arm and the rough nature of the land. Joeshem’s arm had healed completely by the end of the two weeks. “Smash,” he said when they stopped for the evening. “My arm sure did heal fast, thanks to Jessie.”

    “Well,” Jessie said modestly, “if Calidar hadn’t found those herbs that I needed, it wouldn’t have.”

    “What was that root called, and what did it do exactly?” asked Rayden.

     “It is called the clothmore root, and it speeds up the mending of the joint.”

    “Oh yes, the clothmore root. I knew it was some funny name like that.”

    “Well,” Mikell said. “I sure am glad that we found this shelter. It looks like it’s going to rain.” He pointed to the rock jetting out of the cliff. Rocks on each side sheltered them. It formed a cave of sorts, just tall enough to stand in.

     “Yes, we were very fortunate to find this place,” Jondreth said. “We had better bed down. I’ll take first watch,” he offered, “then I’ll wake Rayden for second shift.”

     “Sounds good to me,” Rayden said. Everyone but Jondreth lay down to sleep. The night went by without event. At daybreak, they woke and hiked until the noon hour without a break. Then, after only a brief stop for lunch, they were off again. They walked all through the afternoon and made camp at sunset.

    As they were eating dinner, Jondreth’s mind wondered to another time that was now a part of the past. You know, I’ve been thinking,” he said.

    “What about?” asked Rayden.

     “My father would take my brothers and I camping. In fact, my father taught me just about everything that I know about the woods, how to camp, and even how to survive. We would always have so much fun hunting, fishing, and sleeping out under the stars. We learned so very much. My father was a wise man and he taught us not just by word of mouth, but also from his own example. He would tell us stories about his youth, and about the Great King. It was also a time of bonding, and I became very close to my father and brothers during that time. It’s just as we seem to get closer when we talk around the fire.” Jondreth stared at the piece of meat in his hand he had been eating.

    A tear slid out of the corner of his eye. “I miss my family a lot,” Jondreth said.

     “Hey, we all do, it’s understandable.” Then Rayden shared something about his family.

    After that, they all took turns telling something special about each of their own families. They talked long into the night. 

    They got a late start the next day. That morning, as they were walking, they spotted some ravens circling in the sky.

    “Hey, look! Wildlife!” said Derriff. The group of ravens started to grow.

     “Smash, it looks like they are having a gathering.”

     The number of birds continued to grow. They started to circle lower. By now, the number of birds had grown to about 30 or so. After awhile, one of the birds landed a hundred yards in front of them. When they got within ten yards of the bird, it flew up to the other birds. After a few minutes, three birds landed about a hundred yards or so in front of them. Then, when they got close, the birds flew up in the air again. This happened for about an hour. Each time the birds came down, a few more landed. Finally, all the birds landed and stared at them. The group stopped.

     “What do you suppose they are doing?” Derriff asked.

    “I don’t know, maybe they want us to feed them. Yes, maybe,” Jondreth said thoughtfully. The birds continued to stare. “I don’t like it – something’s not right,” he said.

    “Well,” Derriff replied, “I’ll scare them off.” He put an arrow on his bowstring. Suddenly, as Derriff pulled the string back to his cheek, Jondreth knew what was wrong.

     “No! Don’t!”

    It was too late. The arrow flew into the midst of the ravens. A cry came up from one of the birds. It didn’t sound like a bird that got hit by an arrow. It sounded like a beast mortally wounded.

    “That didn’t sound like a raven,” Calidar said as the “birds” flew into the air. As they did, they started to change form.

    “That’s because it’s not a raven.”

    “Then what is it?” asked Calidar.

    “They’re Gnoalzais.”

     “What’s a Gno… never mind. I don’t want to know,” Calidar said.

    The “ravens” looked very different now. Now they looked ugly, almost Jurassic-like. They had long teeth sticking out of their beaks, and wings like bats. One swooped into a dive, coming straight at Jondreth. He drew his sword and held it out in front of him, bracing himself for the impact. The Gnoalzai, unable to pull out of its dive in time, impaled himself on Jondreth’s sword. The impact of the creature threw Jondreth to the ground, which his head hit hard. He sat up groggily. One of the creatures fell from the sky with an arrow in its chest. Jondreth staggered to his feet, only to be knocked aside by Jessie, who pushed him out of the way of a diving Gnoalzai. Derriff shot at the creature, but was knocked down by another beast. The creature dug its teeth into Derriff’s arm. Rayden saw this, and rushed to Derriff’s side. He drove his sword home, and pushed the dead creature off Derriff.

    “Are you okay?” he asked “Oowww,” Derriff moaned.

     “They don’t fight fair. We can’t fly, so they should keep on the ground,” Rayden laughed.

    “At least you still have your humor.” The others were not having as much trouble. Most of the Gnoalzais were circling higher instead of lower, their prey having more fight in them then they cared for, though two Gnoalzais swooped down toward Calidar and Joeshem. Jessie shot one of them out of the sky, and the other flew at Calidar, who was waiting for it. It came straight at him. Just before it reached him, he ducked and swung his sword simultaneously. He clipped its left wing off at the shoulder. The creature fell to the ground just beyond him. He turned and disposed of the beast. The other Gnoalzais, seeing their dead companions, decided that their prey was too difficult to catch, and so they flew off.

     “Whew, that was…fun,” Jondreth said sarcastically as he wrapped up Derriff’s arm.

    “Well at least we won,” Rayden said. Then he looked at his battered companions, “or at least I think we did.” He finished with a smile.

     Everyone laughed. “Well, we need to leave before we attract any more unpleasant guests.

    They walked for a few miles until they found a stream. They cleaned their wounds and rested there for the rest of the day.

     “The sun is about to set,” Jondreth said. “We will leave just as soon as it gets dark.”

     The seven of them had nearly fully recovered from their battle earlier that day.

    “We’re going to have to travel by night. We’re deep in the heart of enemy’s country now.”

    They walked all that night and covered thirty miles. They made camp by a small stream and cooked their “dinner,” though it was actually breakfast time. After they ate, they hid themselves in the bushes and waited for sunset, when they would set out again.

    “Well,” Mikell said, “I’ll take the first watch, is that alright?” “That’s fine with to me,” Jondreth yawned. “Is that alright with you Rayden?” He heard no reply. He turned toward Rayden, who had already fallen asleep. “I guess that means yes.” Jondreth and Mikell chuckled. “Well, wake me up in four hours,” Jondreth said.

     “Yes sir, I will.” Mikell saluted him. The day passed uneventfully. That night, they started as soon as it was completely dark. They had traveled for an hour when they saw the light of a campfire.

    “Everyone quiet,” Jondreth whispered. They snuck forward a little more. They saw two scouts sitting around a fire.

     “We need to hear what they’re saying,” Rayden whispered.

     “How about if I go and listen to them,” Jessie said.

    “That could be dangerous,” Jondreth said.

    “Naw, I’ll be fine,” Jessie said.

    “I guess you could,” Jondreth hesitated, “sure, go ahead, but be careful.”

     “I’m always careful.” Jessie smiled, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

    Jessie crawled up to within twenty feet of the fire just as the first scout was saying, “These hills are boring. I don’t see why we have to just sit here. It’s cold, wet, and I just don’t like it.”

     “Neither do I,” said the second scout, “but we can’t do anything about it.” They went on talking for a little while about this and that.

     “Well,” the first scout said, “I’m getting sick of losing sleep all the time for no reason, I’m hitting the hay. Let the other scouts guard.”

     “I’m with you,” The second scout said. With that, the scouts fell asleep. Jessie crawled back to the group. He told them what he had heard.

     “So, there are others,” Jondreth said. “That means that they are expecting us. Did you see any horses?”

    “No, there weren’t any.”

    “I wonder how they were able to reach here, and how can they get back quickly if they spot someone.”

     “Maybe there’s an entrance around here!” Rayden said. “Then, if they spot someone, they could pop into a tunnel and tell a guard that someone is coming! Why don’t we look for the entrance?”

    They scouted around above the camp. After a two-hour long search, they found it. They had turned a natural cave into the entrance of the tunnel.

    “There will probably be guard’s up ahead,” Jondreth cautioned.

     His prediction turned out to be true. Around the next corner, they saw a fire. Some guards were sitting around it, looking rather drowsy. Jondreth and his friends snuck up to the party. A brief scuffle ensued. Jondreth’s band quickly overpowered the sleepy sentries. After they finished with the guards, they kept moving. The tunnel was dark, damp, and musty smelling, with long stalactites hanging down from the ceiling. The tunnel slowly snaked its way upward, as they would eventually discover, all the way up to the top of the mountain.

    They made camp right on the spot, and set up a double watch. Those not guarding instantly fell asleep. The ongreys must not have been expecting them to show up for a few more days, and none came by. After they had rested, they continued up the tunnel. There was a little river running down the tunnel from which they could drink. Halfway through the day, they came to a wall that stretched from one side of the cavern to the other.

     “How are we going to get past that?” asked Rayden.

    “Well,” Jessie said, “why don’t we swim up the river?”

     “That’s a great idea!” Jondreth said.

     They all slipped into the water. It was warm and only chest deep.

     “Walk until we get to the torchlight, and then swim up to the wall. Then take a deep breath and swim as far upstream as possible,” Jessie said.

     They started upstream. When they got within seeing distance of the wall, they swam underwater up to it. They made it to the barrier without a problem. The torchlight only reached 15 or 20 feet on that side of the wall. The water was not going too fast, so it was not difficult. The wall went down a foot or so into the water and then it ended, so they swam under the wall and surfaced on the other side. When they surfaced, they found a problem. The light lit up the area, and only the far side of the river held any shadows, such as they were. This went on for several hundred feet.

    “What we are going to have to do is swim under the water over to the other side. Then we will have to crawl in the water as close to the opposite shore as possible. Let’s go before someone sees us.”

    They swam over to the far side of the river, and crawled up the river. The river got narrower, and the water, swifter. They could see the guards sitting around their fires. They were all quiet and still, just staring at the fires.

     “That’s funny,” Jondreth thought, “they were talking, and laughing just a minute ago. I could hear them easily enough from the other side of the wall.”

    Suddenly, Jondreth heard a splash. Rayden had grabbed a rock to pull himself up the river, which was flowing quite fast now, and the rock broke loose. Rayden had grabbed for another rock, and had made quite a bit of racket. Jondreth looked over at the fires, fully expecting to see the whole garrison running toward the river, or at least send a guard come and check on the noise, but no. They where all still looking at their fires. The band kept on going and finally crawled out of the river past a bend in the tunnel.

    “I thought they had us there! Did you see the way that they were staring at the fire? It was like they all fell asleep with their eyes open,” Jondreth said.

     “Yeah,” Rayden replied, “I was just thinking tha…”

     “Shhhh! Listen.” Jessie was standing with his head cocked.

    “What is it?” asked Rayden.

    “Can’t you hear?” They all listened. The sound of talking and laugher drifted up toward them.

    “That doesn’t make sense,” Rayden said, “they were silent just a minute ago.”

     “Well…” Jessie said, “maybe we aren’t in this alone.”

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