by C. Litka
06
We wove our way through the floating jungle more quickly than we had in the boat. Each of us had a loop of rope around us attached to our supply cache to keep us together. Naylea and Py had theirs over their shoulders, I had mine under my arms so that we had our hands free to pull ourselves along. Once we got the cache moving, it moved almost effortlessly in the free fall conditions, and as we followed the contours of the vines, it slipped along nicely. My job was to keep it straight and free of snags. Naylea and Py with two working hands pulled it briskly along, half dragging me along with the cache.
Without a boat, finding the anchoring islands was our first priority. While we were still uncertain as to what direction the closest island lay, with the talon-hawks and the dead serpent-dragon behind us, we didn't debate long as to our course. We continued on the way we had been heading.
Between watching for any flash of shiny emerald behind me, and possible smaller snakes on either side of me, I was making useless plans as to what our next move could be. Returning to the Principalities now seemed to depend on finding a fairly advanced and friendly society at the far end of these vines. I wasn't in a very optimistic frame of mind.
We dove and darted our way through the jungle and its colorful, noisy, but thankfully, harmless inhabitants for the better part of four more hours before we emerged once again into the milky light of the Pela. We'd found the windward edge we'd been looking for - a little bit of good luck. But I think we were owed that. We stood on the edge of the jungle to look around.
Behind us, the vast floating jungle stretched back ten kilometers or more, fading into a cloud bank. Ahead, the jungle arched "down" several kilometers to surround a small, rocky island, and then another kilometer beyond it, to a much larger island, perhaps 20 kilometers long and half as broad where it had its roots. And beyond it, the blue-green shadows of more islands that faded away into the distance and the blue-green sky.
I slipped out of the loop and walked forward to join the rest of the gang.
'Glad to see you're still with us, Litang,' said Naylea, cheerfully. She seemed to have put, at least for now, her concerns for her mission behind her. 'I wasn't sure you'd have time to yelp if the big snake's mate caught up with us.'
'We're not out of the jungle yet,' I muttered, and looking around at the sky. 'And now we'll have to keep an eye on the sky as well.'
She shook her head sadly. 'You never seem to learn, do you?'
'I'm just saying - we may've put some dangers behind us, but we don't know what lies ahead. And I didn't name anything this time. So you see, I do learn.'
'Oh, don't be so grumpy. But I suppose it's just your poor scalded hand talking. As long as our supply of darts last - and I have thousands of them - we can deal with whatever the Pela has in store for us. Still, if we follow the Way in all its subtle in and outs, we won't need darts, will we brother?'
He nodded and smiled, 'Indeed, sister. With a carefully considered approach to whatever lies ahead, we should get along fine with just our staffs.'
She laughed. 'See, you've nothing to worry about.'
'Well, I'd like to get home.'
'And where is home?'
'For now, I'll gladly settle for the Principalities, though they seem as remote as the Unity. But we'll never reach them if we don't get started. Let's see what we'll find down there,' I grumbled, with a nod to the large island ahead.
'We saw a steam ship during our first visit to these islands. I'm sure we'll find a means of returning home.'
'It was slaver ship, I seem to recall.'
'I doubt that only slavers have steam ships. And if they do, well, that will make it all the more easy for us to acquire it. The Order frowns on slavery. But let's be on our way. We can make camp and make plans once we reach the big island.'
We set out, now walking on a thick, twisted vine, dragons in the lead, our cache trailing Naylea and Py, with me once more to the rear to keep the floating cache from darting this way and that, as they rapidly skipped along down the vine lane toward the islands ahead - careful to keep one claw or the clawed tip of their staffs anchored in the vine between the two of them. I had to work hard to keep up with them - without darting this way and that while floating off, though I was tempted to.
By the time we crossed the small rocky island in our path, it was clear that the big island beyond was inhabited. We could see the faint lines of crops growing in the fields beyond the great roots and trunks of the vine jungle that streamed out from the island. We paused on the far side of the small island to consider our course.
'Do we continue on and see what we have to deal with, or camp here, rest up, and perhaps take a covert recon of what lies ahead?' asked Naylea.
'I'm not tired, and as you have said, we can likely deal with anything we find. I'm sure they'll be wary of us, but I doubt they'll be hostile,' said Py.
'Litang?'
I was likely already outvoted, so I said, 'It doesn't matter. Whatever you think best.'
'Right then. Let's push on and see what we're dealing with.'
In the timelessness of the Pela, one went for as long as one could go. And though it had no doubt been a long round already, we still had enough energy and eagerness to push on.
