This is a continuation of a story begun in the post “Chapter 1. Part 1.” If you enjoy it, please like and share it with others!
CHAPTER 21: BEACHES AND BARRIERS
We were all quiet as we packed up the backpack, having correctly matched blood types, and we headed back toward the river in relative silence. A question popped in my mind as we walked.
“Chak, what was that little red box anyway? You never really said?”
He laughed. “That’s cause I don’t really know. The Higher-ups told us that when we met real resistance we’d know we were coming close to Mendrax’s realm. It’s funny, I was thinking the real resistance was the fight with the Umbra, then I thought it was the kidnapping, but now I realize it was that smoke with its repelling effect. The Higher-ups have that sort of sense of humor with their instructions. It was so literal the whole time, but I was thinking figuratively for most of it. Just another little example of how they know better than me, huh?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said quietly. It sort of made sense, but part of me just thought they were being unnecessarily confusing. Why leave that ambiguity there? If they were going to be literal, then why not actually be literal? Why not just tell Chak that when he smelled the worst thing imaginable and came across a red box spewing orange smoke then he’d be getting close to Mendrax’s realm?
We walked on and approached the river at the same spot we had left it. It was smooth and glassy, just the way I like it. We loaded up the boat and began floating downstream once more. I could definitely sense a stillness among the group that hadn’t been there before. I couldn’t tell if this stillness was a result of our little fight or the fact that we were nearing our journey’s end.
I tried to start conversations inside the boat, but no one was in a talking mood. After an hour or so I gave up, and we floated downstream silently. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I heard a choir singing quietly in the distant wood. Every time I tried to focus on the music it faded into silence, and just when my focus was turned away from it, the melody would creep back into my ears. The end of the song approached, and a sweet high soprano held out the last note of the tune; it hesitated before disappearing.
I glanced around at the group and none of them seemed to hear it, but I did notice Pathena close her eyes and let out a soft sigh as the note sailed away. As soon as it did, we struck sand. The river had come to an abrupt end. It didn’t let out anywhere. It just stopped and lapped onto a wide beach. I wondered for a moment where all the water went but didn’t have time to consider the thought as I was hustled out of the boat. It was slipped into the backpack and we grouped up on the beach.
It was a long beach that sloped upward as you went away from the water. Light, loose sand covered the slope and our feet sank a few inches into it every time we took a step. There was a sparse tree line about three hundred yards away from the beach, flecked with rather young pine saplings. It was an odd sight to see the white sandy beach dotted with green pine needles. There were also little black holes in the sand that would normally belong to sand crabs. I peered down at one of the holes near me and as I kicked a little sand into it a small animal did come out, but it wasn’t a crab.
It was a squirrel. Much smaller than a normal squirrel, this one was about the size of a walnut and was monstrously fast. It darted out of its hole and looked up at me. The sight of it startled me and I jumped back. It started yelling and shaking its fists in my direction. I don’t know if it was the translator in my ear or the squirrel was speaking a human language, but I could understand its tiny squeaks and screeches.
“What’s the big idea, huh? I don’t go kicking bricks into your house! This is a grave injustice. I’ll take you to court. I will! I’ll do it!”
All of these words were delivered in the cutest little high-pitched voice you could imagine, and though you could tell he was yelling at the top of his lungs it was actually quite soft. In spite of myself, I let out a little laugh. He let out a little, “Hmph!” and darted back into his hole.
I turned back to the group, which was staring at me with a look of are you done now? on their faces. I apologized and rejoined the conversation. Chak began speaking.
“Dudes and dades, Umbra and beetles, men and women, it’s been a pleasure travelling with you. Whatever happens now, know that I hold you all in the highest respect. Except for you Skreech, I find you detestable.
“Here on out we have no real instructions from the Higher-ups except to get in and plant that seed by any means necessary. Nicholas, all we know is that the garden is in the center of the realm. Whatever happens to us, get it there. Flye and Plink, you’re with Nicholas. Everyone else is on diversion patrol. If it comes to fighting, keep the fighting away from Nicholas. I don’t know what we may face ahead of us, but face it we must. Let’s do it with our heads held high and the pride of the Syllogy in our hearts. For the Higher-ups!” He shouted the last sentence and with his right hand briefly covered his eyes then his right ear then tapped his chest twice.
“For the Higher-ups!” the whole group yelled, and copied the hand motion.
“Right. Get ready to go. Flye, I need to talk with you a moment,” said Chak. He handed Skreech to Plink, motioned Flye away from the group and began talking with her quietly. I tried to listen in on what they were saying, but it was no use. They were speaking too quietly. Moments later they rejoined the group.
“Right. Let’s be off!” Chak said at last.
With that, we marched up the sloped beach and into the pine trees. The sand didn’t stop. It made the walk taxing to have your foot sink down at every step. The trees became steadily larger and denser as we walked, and before long we were in a real pine forest. The small squirrels could be seen darting between trees every now and then, and they disappeared into small holes in the sand at the base of the trees. We trudged along through the sand, the sun still high in the sky.
Eventually we came to a stone wall, beautifully laid with river rounded stones, and an ornate decorative railing along the top. It was about five feet high and just sat in the middle of the wood stretching out of sight in either direction.
The Umbili in the group all exchanged meaningful looks.
“We’re here,” said Chak seriously.
“This is it?” I asked. “This is the edge of Mendrax’s realm?”
“Yes. I believe so,” said Chak.
“So, what do we do? Just hop the wall?” I said.
“No. Mendrax will have made it much more difficult than that,” said Plink, walking toward the wall to examine it.
“So what are we gonna do?”
“We could throw Skreech over the wall and see what happens,” laughed Thrump.
Flye frowned at him.
“Sorry,” he said. “But actually, that’s an idea. How about we do a little interrogation?”
Thrump walked over to Skreech and grabbed him by the neck, raising him off of his feet. Chak let go of the little leash they had fashioned for him.
“Here’s the deal Skreech, every lie you tell means another finger you no longer get to call your own. Understand? Here’s your first question. Is it safe to hop over this wall?”
Skreech looked left and right to see if anyone would be on his side. He glanced over at his sister for support, but she was staring at her feet. His face fell when he realized that he was alone. He then composed himself and smiled. “Of course it is!” he said in as light-hearted a tone as he could muster.
Thrump frowned and tossed a pine cone over the wall. The moment it passed the plane of the wall it lit in a blue flame. There was a bright flash and the pine cone was no more. “Wrong answer,” he said. He grabbed ahold of Skreech’s right pinky and bent it straight backward. There was a loud crack and Skreech was obviously in great pain because he was howling loudly. As he did, Thrump lifted Skreech up to the wall, forced his hurt hand into a fist except for his limp pinky, and thrust the pinky into the invisible barrier. Another bright flash of blue flame, some more screeches of pain, and he was back on the ground cradling a singed pinky stump. He sat there sobbing.
“Let’s try this again. Is it safe to hop over this wall?” said Thrump calmly.
“No,” sobbed Skreech. “No it’s not.”
“Very good. Question two: How do we get into Mendrax’s realm?”
“You can’t,” cried Skreech. “You won’t be able to do it.”
“You are a slow learner,” said Thrump. He repeated the process for Skreech’s left pinky. Moments later he was sitting on the ground again, sobbing uncontrollably now.
“I wasn’t lying!” yelled Skreech. “There’s only one way past this barrier. It’s through a gate in the wall about two miles down. It’s heavily guarded. You won’t be able get in,” he shouted through the pain. It was the only way he was able to get the words out.
Thrump punched him hard in the face and he fell backward.
“While you might have been telling the truth about the way in, I didn’t ask for your opinion. Try to stick to the facts from now on, eh? Last question: What’s guarding the gate and how do we get past it?”
“Why don’t you go find out for yourself?” Skreech screamed.
“Answering questions with other questions is ill advised at this point in the game. Are you sure you don’t want to change your answer?” said Thrump.
“I really don’t know. I don’t. I don’t know I don’t.” Thrump grabbed Skreech’s right hand preparing to rip off his fourth finger. Skreech began yelling, high and fast.
“No I really don’t. I don’t. I don’t! Mendrax always sent someone to accompany us to the gate and say something to the guard dogs. He never let us hear. The gate would open and we would walk through just fine. He didn’t tell us how to get through by ourselves. I promise. I promise. I promise. Please don’t! Please don’t break my other fingers! Please don’t! I need them! Please! Stop!”
“STOP!” there was a pause in the action as we all looked for the source of the new voice. It was Flye.
“Stop it Thrump. He’s telling the truth. I just saw it. I just looked forward and he’s telling the truth. There is a gate and we need to go and talk to the guard dogs.”
“I can also vouch for his story,” said Doctor Lee confidently. “The wall wasn’t fully built when I first came to this place, but there was a gate that we entered through. I can lead us to it.”
“Why didn’t you speak up earlier Doc?” asked Thrump.
“I wasn’t sure if Mendrax had changed things since I left,” he said. “These trees weren’t here when last I came and the wall was under construction. I needed to hear what Skreech had to say to see how much I still knew about the realm.”
“Fair enough,” said Thrump releasing Skreech who fell to the ground whimpering.
This was a side of Thrump I always knew he was capable of but had never seen. He was truly scary for those few moments, and the thought crossed my mind that he must not have always been so even keeled. He must have worked hard to control his temper and emotions. He was also obviously tired of the half measures and ready to be done with this whole journey.
We made our way down the wall with Dr. Lee leading the way. Trekking through the sand did not help the already hot tempers. All of a sudden, Dr. Lee stopped. He hovered in the air a moment before zipping around to face Chak.
“I’m having a thought Chak. The gate as I remember is right around the bend up there, but I was considering the possible advantages of setting up a camp site back toward the beach a bit and embarking on the infiltration early tomorrow morning. Mendrax, as you know, is a bit of a night owl. He’s not a morning dude. I believe the best time of day to truly take his realm by surprise would be at first light. Might we have a nice meal and cool our tempers before charging into possible death and destruction?”
Chak considered it for a moment.
“You might be right Doc. But how can we be sure we’ll be safe setting up camp so close to his realm. Wouldn’t we be in great danger if we waited?”
“I had the same thought sir. But I believe we will be safe to do so, because Mendrax is ill equipped to attack us. His maneuver crew is likely still in disarray from the battle we had with them, and all of the other obstacles Skreech mentioned are inside this stone wall barrier, not outside of it, so we have a bottle neck advantage. Anything that comes our way will have to come out of the gate just down this wall. We can’t be outflanked when theirs is no flank to begin with!” said Dr. Lee.
“That makes a lot of sense Chak,” I said. “We could all probably use the rest considering what’s ahead. Maybe we could celebrate a little bit too!”
Chak looked at me for a moment and then a huge grin spread steadily across his face.
“Why not?” he said. “Let’s head back toward the beach a bit.”
“Excellent,” said Doctor Lee happily and he buzzed into the trees to scout out a good place to camp.
Want to keep reading? Go to the next section! >>> “Chapter 22. Part 1.”