The Fallen Prince That Never Was

by A. G. Higgins

  Chapter 4

  The Rise of a New Dawn

  Present day

  It was dark. The sea was cold, but in the darkness a strange blue light began to glow? It was Professor Clayton’s crystal, and it willed Zack to follow. However, beneath the surface Zack could not save him. Professor Clayton was too heavy, the depths of the sea laying claim upon his soul now. He thrust the crystal into Zack’s hand. He willed him to use it!

  “Forgive me, my boy, for I cannot follow”

  Zack could no longer help; he could no longer hold his breath. It was time to reach the surface. It was time to reach out for Suzan...

  When Zack came too, he found that both he and Suzan lay upon a raft of wreckage. Somehow it had drifted inland, wedged upon the side of a bank in a shallow stream of fresh water? About them the land was tick with wilderness, almost as if forgotten by time its self. Though lost to the unknown, as he stirred to his side, he was happy for now to at least have survived the storm.

  ‘Where are we?’ asked Suzan.

  ‘I don’t know?’ he replied while wearily looking about, ‘we must have been out for some time?’

  ‘Do you think anyone else made it?’

  ‘It’s hard to say? If they did, they’re elsewhere I guess?’

  ‘What about the professor and Captain Frances?’

  Zack shook his head with regret, ‘best not to think about it, Suzie,’ he finally replied, ‘let’s just worry about finding some shelter and getting warm for now.’

  ‘Shelter...? Warmth...?’ said Suzan with displease, ‘I suppose you’re just going to strike a match and hey presto we’ve got a fire? We’re lost Zack – Just soaked to the bone and lost in the middle of the wilderness?!’ The moment fell quiet as a lone wolf howled in the distance, ‘it’s getting cold...’ she dared as they both nudged a bit closer, eyes shifting uneasily, ‘I’m hungry too.’

  Zack began to laugh. Soon Suzan followed in his amusement, ‘come on,’ he said, ‘let’s just see what we can find. If we made it then maybe some of the crew did too?’

  Moving further downstream, the venture of path became unclear, slain with trees in parts to act as bridge across breaks of earth, distant in their fall. And soon no bird would sing. The trees fall bare and black in shade, forming overhead like a ghostly archway steeped in an eerie float of mist. And the river ran dry, and the warmth of sun dared not a foot more.

  Carefully Zack continued to make his way, but Susan wasn’t so sure.

  ‘I don’t like this, I think we should turn back?’ she said.

  ‘Perhaps you’re right?’ he replied, ‘let’s just go a little further and see what’s over the next rise. If it doesn’t improve much by then we’ll turn back.’

  ‘I don’t know... I have a bad feeling about this?’ she insisted, ‘It’s creepy here, and I’m not too keen on finding out why?’

  Zack sudden came to a halt, ‘did you see that?’

  ‘See what?’

  ‘I thought I saw something...’ he pointed, ‘just over there?’

  ‘Stop it Zack you’re scaring me,’ said Suzan, ‘I don’t see anything? There’s no one here but us, and I do think that we should turn back right now.’

  But Zack would remain still, listening with care, ‘maybe it’s one of the crew... another survivor?’ he hoped.

  ‘Are you sure you seen someone?’ she asked quietly, ‘it could just be your imagination playing tricks on you?’

  ‘Maybe you’re right,’ said Zack at last, failing to see anything more, ‘perhaps it was just my imagination?’

  ‘Good, at last we can agree on something. Now can we please turn back? If you must explore, I’m sure that there are a lot more places you could find that aren’t as creepy as this?’

  ‘Okay Suzie, you win... my nerves are starting to get to me too,’ he conceded, ‘let’s go back. If there are other survivors it’s probably best not to wonder too far. Maybe there is a coastline, a beach or something like that nearby? Somewhere we could wait for help and be seen more easily too.’

  As they made their way back, from behind, many roots began to slider across the earth?

  ‘I wonder what the professor would have thought about this place?’ said Zack, ‘I bet he would have been brave enough to continue.’

  ‘Wishing he was here, are we?’ said Suzan, ‘After what he did to us?’

  ‘He helped us...’ replied Zack.

  ‘Like he helped Captain Frances and his crew?’ she replied angrily, ‘He changed the ship’s course; you know that? He put everyone in danger and for what... some ridiculous fantasy?!’

  ‘I told you, he was not himself – even Captain Frances knew so. If it wasn’t for Professor Clayton we would never have made it.’ Zack pulled out the crystal from his pocket, ‘he gave this to me – when the ship went down – don’t you see; he gave himself to save us, Suzie!’

  ‘And here we are safe and sound, is that how you see it?’ she dared, ‘do you even know what that thing is for, or did you hit your head a little too hard when we were washed ashore? This isn’t the streets of London anymore, Zack. You can’t just grab food from the kitchen of some fancy restaurant. You can’t huddle beside any alley pipes for warmth beneath the street lights. We’re lost – all alone and lost. There isn’t any survivors, is there? It’s like you said, Zack; it’s just you and me now... like it’s always been!’

  Zack turned sharply, ‘I suppose you’d prefer to be back at the orphanage with sister Clancy breathing down your neck?!’

  ‘At least it would have been warm,’ she replied hastily, ‘at least I would have known what to expect!’ She threw her eyes to the heavens, ‘I should never have listened to you in the first place... We’ll ever find our way back now?’

  ‘Don’t you get it; Professor Clayton was right... there is no going back, not for us!’

  ‘But we’re lost Zack, and if we can’t go back then where exactly do you propose we go from here?’

  ‘We’re not lost, Suzie,’ he replied with hope, ‘we’re free, free at last to make our own place in the world – somewhere we can belong. Here we don’t have to be lost. Here we don’t have to be orphans anymore. No streets or alley ways or Sisters of the Blessed...we’re free, Suzie, free to choose our own destiny... and it can be whatever we want it to be!’

  ‘Well this is some start,’ she replied furiously, ‘right back where we started by the looks of it, wouldn’t you say?!’ Zack froze, seeming as though their argument had gotten the better of him, ‘okay, I’m sorry,’ she said, unaware of what now loomed behind her, ‘I’m just a little tired and hungry, that’s all. I didn’t mean what I sad, well, most of it anyway?’ But Zack was not for moving. ‘What...?’ she laughed, ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

  His eyes drifted slowly over her shoulder. She could tell now that something was wrong?!

  The roots come swift, wrapping around wrist and ankle, daring to drag them both beep into the darkness of its ill heart. Desperately they struggled to break free, holding one another from harm if only for a time. However, the more they did resist the more the roots grew with strength. And many closed in upon them, seeming now to turn to stone; a strange unfolding of form that slowly crept throughout?

  And soon Zack would no longer be able to hold onto Suzan. The roots were too great, and they did drag her further from his reach. Now, disappearing into the heart of darkness, only the echoes of her cry remained; a stone wall of root setting firmly before him!

  Unwilling to give in Zack rushed to its side, pounding upon its surface with his fist. But it was of little use, the stone was not for moving. It would never move, no matter how hard he tried. Everything was set in stone; the roots, the foliage, even the ground and trees were now made of stone. And behind him, within the shadows the forest now formed like a great maze? Rising to his feet, he began to move with care. He could still hear Suzan’s cry for help in the distance, her echoes seeming to surround him? But ahead something lurked within the mis
t? Something moved deceitfully as though taunting his every move?

  ...Zack!...

  ‘Hold on, Suzie, I’m coming!’

  ...Help me, Zack, help me!...

  ‘Where are you?!’ he cried, blindly taking turn for turn without care, ‘Suzie, can you hear me? Call out if you can hear me?!’

  A shadow sharply past before him!

  ‘Who’s there?’ he said, vigilantly eyeing the distant pathway, ‘I know that there’s someone there. Whoever you are, show yourself!’

  And again a shadow did pass, though this time from behind?

  ...They’re coming Zack!...

  ‘Why don’t you show yourself? I’m not afraid of you!’ he yelled definitely, his voice echoing about the air in endless circles, ‘You hear me? I’m not afraid of anything—just leave her alone!’

  ...Alone!... Alone!... Alone!...

  In the silence that followed... Suzan screamed!

  ‘Suzie!’

  Quickly he ran as fast as he could. Desperately calling for her, he took which ever path that came to him as instinct. And he did scrap against the roughness of stone, falling to his knees at times, the carving of tree and foliage rushing by as he fought his way to continue. But the maze had many ends of false lure, and time and time again he would have to retrace his steps? It was time, he knew, that he could not afford. But within the mist the shadows again grew with life, swift in their hunt for they did now come to seek him out. And for every turn or foot he gained, he could feel their presence upon his heel—Thud!

  Zack’s world went dark?

  He never knew what had hit him... he never even seen it coming.

  Let me go!

  Take this little princess to the Falls...

  What about him?

  He’ll be alright, just a little surprised when he comes to...

  See that he fetches a fair price.

  No!