The Other Side

by Alan Hotchkiss

  Finn finally broke through the surface of the river and inhaled the air rapidly into his lungs, which burned from the lack of it. He frantically looked around the water, searching for the thing that had entrapped him moments ago, fearful of another attack. None came however, as the fast flow of the river carried him downstream. Anxious to get out of the water he swam with the current, hoping to find a shallower, calmer area where he could get out of this wretched river.

  As the adrenaline from what had just happened wore off Finn began to feel extremely fatigued once again. He lay on his back to allow the river to carry him and slowly he began to close his eyes. Water splashed over his face and entered his mouth, causing him to cough and splutter, but he was just so tired he was unable to lift his head out the water any further.

  Just as his head began to slip under the water, a loud booming voice that he recognised entered his head. ‘Finn….over here…..Finn……..wake up boy’ it screamed. Finn tried to stir, but he was still too out of it.

  A second voice entered Finn’s head, this time a girl’s. ‘FINN…..GET UP’

  This time the girl’s voice snapped him awake and he lifted his head out the water, coughing and spluttering as he did from all the water that had entered into his mouth and nose. ‘Finn…..over here’ the girl’s voice called out again. As Finn looked over to the embankment he saw Tala waving her hands frantically, trying to get his attention. Then he saw the large figure of Max, who was running along the embankment trying to keep up with the pace of Finn flowing down the river.

  ‘Just hang in there for a few more minutes boy,’ he was shouting. ‘The river splits and then shallows out up ahead,’ he yelled and pointed in the direction of further down the river. Finn looked ahead and sure enough coming up in the distance he could see that the river split off into three separate directions.

  ‘Stay to the left’ was the last he heard Max yell, as he sailed beyond the pair now. With hope of escaping the clutches of the river, Finn found a small reserve of energy and managed to guide himself to the left-hand side of the river and off into the side split. Once into the split section the flow began to ease dramatically, then suddenly his foot grazed off the bottom of the river bed. Now able to stand in the water Finn eased himself over the edge and hauled himself out the water with one last heave. He crawled a couple of feet away from the edge then rolled over and collapsed onto his back on the grassy ground, utterly exhausted. As his eyes began to flicker shut again he could hear the heavy footsteps of Max arriving from upstream.

  Chapter 42

  When the secret door had been shut it had sent the tunnel into complete darkness. Eric had gingerly made his way down the steps, which seemed to go on and on until he finally reached the end of them and stepped onto hard, bumpy ground. With his hands stretched out in front of himself for protection in the pitch dark, he fumbled around looking for Doogard.

  ‘I’m here,’ boomed Doogard’s loud voice, as he grabbed Eric by the shoulder and spun him around. ‘Here, hold onto this and try to keep up,’ said Doogard as he held out a piece of his shirt for Eric to grab, which he did.

  ‘Don’t worry, I know this tunnel like the back of my hand and we can escape from Riezgar and his guards this way,’ said Doogard.

  ‘What is this place?’ asked Eric as he fumbled along behind Doogard, one hand holding onto the large elf and the other swinging around in front of himself to avoid colliding into the cold, wet, rocky walls of the tunnel.

  ‘It’s a very old tunnel that leads us to a cave near the shoreline. It has been used for centuries by different people and races for different reasons, but mostly either to escape from an enemy or to smuggle various types of goods,’ replied Doogard.

  ‘Cool, said Eric. The thought that he was in a very old, secret cave was actually quite exciting, despite everything that had led him here in the first place.

  They continued through the tunnel for about another five minutes until gradually the pitch darkness began to lighten a little. Just enough for Eric to let go of Doogard’s shirt and continue along by himself. ‘Not far to go now,’ said Doogard.

  With the tunnel now getting brighter with every step, they turned around a bend and as they did they were met with rays of bright sunshine dazzling their eyes.

  ‘Just watch your step now, it’s a long drop down,’ said Doogard as Eric squinted his eyes trying to adjust from going from the dark tunnel into the bright sunshine. As they did so, Eric could see they had reached the end of the tunnel and he now looked out over the ocean, with the bright sunshine twinkling on the crystal blue water.

  Eric took another few paces towards the entrance of the cave and suddenly realised what Doogard had meant about watching his step, as this cave did not open out onto the beach or another part of land. As he peered over the edge he saw that the cave opened out to a sheer cliff face, with a straight drop down into the ocean of about one hundred feet.

  ‘Whooah,’ said Eric, stumbling backwards. The sight of the drop making him feel slightly dizzy. ‘How on earth did anyone manage to smuggle anything up to here, from down there?’ said Eric pointing down to the ocean with a puzzled look on his face.

  ‘With them,’ replied Doogard, pointing towards a darker corner of the cave entrance. Eric looked over to see a rather old-looking, rolled up rope ladder and several large piles of coiled thick rope.

  ‘Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t easy and many perished trying to do so but it can be done, and was many, many, times. Back in the days of the pirates, they would set off in a small rowing boat from the main ship, and once they were directly down below, ropes would be thrown down, tied around the cargo and hauled aloft. The rope ladder would be used if people required to go one way or the other,’ said Doogard.

  ‘So……..are we climbing down there?’ asked Eric, not relishing the thought. Doogard laughed then said, ‘No, without a boat waiting for us there isn’t much point going down that way. No that’s our way out over there.’

  Eric followed the direction in which Doogard was pointing to, across the other side of the cave from where the ropes lay. His eyes adjusting to the sunlight must have been why he hadn’t noticed it sooner, thought Eric, as there before him stood a wishing well. Rather grey and bleak-looking, it seemed that it had been carved out of the cave rock itself. For it came right out the ground of the cave with no marks that would show it had been built on top on the surface rather that out of it.

  Eric looked at Doogard, ‘We need to go back to your world?’ he asked with a look of dread on his face. ‘I’m sorry,‘ replied Doogard genuinely. ‘But it’s our only option at the moment, I’m pretty sure you don’t want to go back that way and face Grogar and your old home is no longer safe. I know it must be hard to hear but that home is gone for you now. We need to find your brother as he too will be in danger from anyone searching for the Straize gems.’

  The mention of his brother suddenly made Eric remember how much he was missing him and his gran. He had no idea where they were or even how they were. There had been so much happening to Eric that he hadn’t had the time to think about them, and that gave him a pang of guilt.

  ‘Okay let’s go,’ said Eric with renewed vigour.

  Doogard walked over to the well and placed his hand on the edge of it and immediately a sparkling green colour flashed around it, lighting up symbols that had been invisible moments ago. Eric made for the well and was just about to climb over the edge into it when Doogard raised his hand and stopped him.

  ‘Wait one moment Eric…………the Elf side will be unsafe for us now as Drer will have guards waiting at the portal just for this very event, that we had escaped and try to get back my land. No, we have no choice other than to travel to the Fairy lands.’

  Doogard’s hand had remained on the edge of the well and just as he stopped talking the sparkling colour around the well changed to a sky blue.

  ‘Okay, now you can go,’ said Doogard.

  Eric paused for a moment then nodded his head and slip
ped over the edge of the well, falling deep into the darkness.

  Chapter 43

  Grogar nearly had to bend right over in order to squeeze his huge frame through the front door of The Turk’s head Inn. As he stood to his full size again, he scanned around the Inn growling. Everyone inside froze at the sight of the hulking Elf before them.

  It had been strange enough that one had just come in moments before with the boy but this enormous giant was a sight to behold and a scary one at that.

  ‘YOU,’ bellowed Grogar to the innkeeper Thomas. ‘Where’s the Elf and the boy?’

  The people that were sitting enjoying food and drinks shot quizzical looks at one another.

  ‘The what and the boy mate?’ replied Thomas pleading ignorance. Grogar snorted and stomped towards the bar, ‘You heard me and you know fine well what I’m talking about,’ he growled.

  ‘Ain’t nobody just came in here I’m afraid friend………….has there?’ he added shouting over to the customers within the Inn, whose faces looked horrified at the thought of being brought into whatever kind of trouble was brewing with this enormous, mean-looking giant before them. A few shakes of the head was all the response the innkeeper got from a couple of customers.

  He couldn’t blame them for not wanting to get involved, he didn’t want to be involved in anything with this beast himself.

  Grogar looked around the Inn. As he did everyone else’s head went down, fearful of making eye contact with the giant. He then walked over to the bar, grabbed Thomas by the scruff of his neck, hauled him right over the counter and threw him onto the floor. The innkeeper groaned in pain.

  ‘You better not be lying to me innkeeper,’ said Grogar as he pushed the bar counter up and walked through to the other side of it where Thomas had stood moments ago. He scanned over the bar then wandered through into the back room. A quick scan only found beer kegs and various other drinks. Growling with disappointment Grogar made his way back through to the bar and over to a door he had noticed earlier that led up to the guest rooms.

  Becoming impatient and annoyed at having lost Doogard and the boy, he wasted no time in checking the guest rooms. Each door was kicked free from its frame, a quick check, then on to the next room. Back downstairs the innkeeper groaned not just in pain but at the sound of the damage that Grogar was causing.

  There were only six guest rooms in the Inn so it didn’t long before Grogar appeared in the bar once again. Only a few customers had remained, the rest having fled at the opportunity to do so when Grogar was busy checking the rooms. Thomas the innkeeper sat up against a wall rubbing his sore back. Grogar shot him a look of anger but marched out the inn without causing any more trouble.

  As he ducked his huge frame through the door and out on to the street once again he looked up and down, searching for any signs of Doogard and the boy, however he knew he had lost them. He promised himself he would make Doogard pay for his failure when their paths eventually crossed again, but for now the best thing he could do was return to the school hall and help his comrades fighting the Fairies. The thought of crushing some Fairy heads lifted his spirits again and with that he set off running as fast as his large frame would allow, back towards the school.

  Chapter 44

  Finn felt the warmth of the fire before he groggily opened his eyes. As he blinked several times, trying to adjust to the bright light of the fire burning before him, he realised that the daylight had nearly gone. A beautiful, deep red colour filled the sky, giving the impression that it would soon be dark.

  ‘Enjoy your nap?’ came Max’s loud voice, followed by him chuckling away to himself.

  As Finn sat up, he noticed Tala sitting across at the other side of the small camp fire, who gave him a warm, caring smile; and Max’s large frame was sitting to his right.

  ‘You had us worried there boy, we thought we’d lost ye back in the river,’ said Max.

  ‘I thought I was a goner myself for a moment,’ replied Finn as he held his hands out closer to the fire to heat himself up some more.

  ‘Here, drink this, it’ll help you feel better and boost your energy levels,’ said Max as he held out a small metal cup with steam coming off the liquid that it held. Finn took the cup and gingerly sipped some of the hot liquid. It wasn’t the nicest tasting thing he had ever drank, but immediately he felt a lovely, warm feeling soaring through his body, reviving his cold, sore muscles.

  The feeling must have been obvious to see on his face, as Max grinned and said, ‘It’s a good brew eh?’ A large grin broke out on Finn’s face as he nodded his head in agreement. ‘Yep you have some good drinks in this world, I’ll give you that.’ The three of them laughed at that, then Max’s face showed a more concerned look as he asked Finn another question. ‘So what actually happened back there, one minute you were floating right next to us, then you just disappeared in a flash. We couldn’t see any trace of you anywhere.’

  ‘Something grabbed me and dragged me down deep into the river. It was strong—really strong, as I couldn’t break free or swim against it no matter how hard I tried. Then suddenly, just as I could no longer hold my breath, it let go and a kind of glowing, beautiful lady appeared before me and well……’ Finn paused, trying to think how to describe what had happened. ‘She brought her face up close to mine and kind of…somehow…breathed air into me. But not just normal air, it felt more like how this drink does; she energised my whole body, it felt warm and safe and well……good.’

  Finn took another sip of his drink, felt the warmth surge through his body then continued. ‘But then she looked at me in a certain way. Her eyes sort of lit up and I could feel them boring right into my brain. My head suddenly became full of images of blood and death and I could taste it and feel immense pain, not my own, but as though feeling other people’s pain. Then just as I thought my head was going to explode, it all sort of faded out. She was gone and I snapped out of my trance and kicked as hard as I could to the surface again, which I only just made. By then I was so fatigued it was a fight to manage to stay afloat. I’m pretty sure I would have probably drowned too had you not come back looking for me…….so thanks for that.’

  Tala stood up and moved over to where Finn was and sat down beside him. ‘You seem to be a dangerous person to hang around with, but you’re welcome and don’t worry, we wouldn’t leave you,’ she said jokingly, then reached over and placed her hand on Finn’s. She looked beautiful, thought Finn as he smiled back at her and another hot flush suddenly ran through his body, but this time it was nothing to do with the drink.

  ‘What happened to the dragon?’ asked Finn, suddenly remembering why they were in the river in the first place.

  ‘Well it might have been a lot bigger than this pair,’ said Max, motioning towards Aazer and Flix, who were lying dosing on the grass about fifty feet away from the trio, ‘but once tamed dragons can be fiercely loyal companions and when they saw it attacking us they too went into attack mode. Thankfully despite the size difference, two on one seemed to be enough to discourage the larger beast and it soon disappeared back towards the mountains. That said, we need to be careful as I don’t think that’s the last we’ve seen of it.’ As he finished talking, Max’s gaze drifted down to the gemstone hanging around Finn’s neck that was currently sitting outside of his clothes in plain view.

  ‘I’d keep that out of sight if I was you boy,’ he added with a curt nod towards the Straize gem.

  Finn lifted the gem and looked down at it for a moment, then glanced at Tala who was staring intently at the gem too, her eyes lit up and a look of desire in her face. Finn turned away from her and quickly placed the gem back inside his clothing and out of sight. It was probably just the reflection of the fire in her eyes, he told himself and as they sat there in a moment of silence, Finn pondered over what the big deal was about the gemstone attached to his chain, for he had never once witnessed it doing anything out the ordinary. It was just a plain old gemstone as far as he was aware and he wondered to himself if all t
hese strange people chasing him and his brother had made a huge mistake.

  It was Max who broke the silence. ‘Well I guess we better head back to the village now, get some food and a change of clothes eh.’ The others nodded in agreement as Max stood up and began stamping the fire out. ‘I’ll go and wake up this pair,’ he added, then as he began walking towards the dragons he stopped suddenly and his face went blank, as if he was deep in thought about something.

  ‘Are you okay Max?’ asked Finn as he rose to his feet with Tala.

  ‘Someone is connecting with him,’ said Tala.

  ‘What does that mean?’ replied Finn with a puzzled look on his face.

  ‘Our race can connect to each other through our minds, convey messages to one another even when we are a great distance apart,’ explained Tala.

  ‘Wow, that’s cool, you mean you’re telepathic?’ asked Finn.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with that term, can you explain?’ asked Tala.

  ‘It’s okay, never mind, I’ll tell you some other time,’ said Finn. He looked back at Max who remained silent for a few more seconds then turned to Finn. ‘Someone just travelled through the portal, I think it could be your brother. We need to go there now!’

  ‘Great, let’s go then’ said Finn, pleasantly surprised and the trio jogged off towards Aazer and Flix.

  Chapter 45

  As PC Hughes got closer to where the noise was coming from, the worse it got. Loud screams rang out as though someone was being murdered in an extremely violent way, also screams that sounded like that of an attacker. Metal clashes rang out too, like that of weapons colliding with each other. It sounded like an all-out battle was being held from within the school walls. But that had to be ridiculous, thought PC Hughes as he paused for a moment and considered calling for back-up, before deciding it would be wiser to check things out first. He didn’t want to be ridiculed for calling in back-up from all over the county, for it to turn out to be rehearsals for the school play or something. No he would try and sneak a quick look at what was going on first before calling. So on he went.