by David Alric
Just as Lucy was plucking up the courage to start her own descent a dark shape appeared from above the trees and swooped down to the rocks. It was the harpy eagle. Lucy saw a little piece of bloodstained monkey fur stuck to one of his talons and felt slightly sick. She knew that life in the jungle consisted of a constant cycle of ‘eat and be eaten’, but it was upsetting to think that this beautiful eagle had just devoured a cousin of one of her new friends.
‘The great soariquills have just departed,’ said the harpy in his fearful grating voice. ‘They said that the Mighty Ones have destroyed the thunderquill in the crater, but that the Tailless Ones are safe; they sit near a fire which the arborikin will find. The air moves in curious ways near this crater, not as it does in the forest. It is best if I remain up here lest I injure my wing against the rocks.’
‘I understand,’ said Lucy; she could feel the unusual turbulence tugging at her clothes and hair. ‘You have brought us safely to this place and I would not have you hurt. I have, however, one more favour to ask of you before we depart.’
‘Ask, O Promised One!’
‘Can I speak to the great soariquills?’ asked Lucy.
‘I fear not,’ replied the eagle, ‘for they now already fly high, near the Brilliant One where I cannot reach them.’
Lucy looked up, her hand above her eyes: there were the tiny circling dots. She had never tried to project her voice thoughts such a distance but there was no physical obstruction and she thought it worth a try. She watched the condors and concentrated intensely on projecting her thought beam directly at them.
‘Can you hear me, O masters of the sky? Please come to me if you can.’ She listened intently but there was no reply. Disappointed, she tried once more and then turned her attention to the task of her descent into the valley. Suddenly the queen monkey tugged at her shorts.
‘Look. They come!’ she said. Lucy looked and sure enough the birds seemed nearer. As she watched they grew larger and within a few minutes two of the great condors were gliding on to her rock. Their wingspan was almost three metres – exceeding that of any bird but the albatross – and looking at their great bodies Lucy wondered how anything of such bulk could fly with such consummate grace high above the earth. Their plumage was black with a ruff of white at the base of their long naked necks. Their heads and necks were blood red.
‘You called us, O Promised One, and we are here,’ said the larger of the two. Lucy glanced at its great hooked beak and gave a mental shudder; but she pulled herself together – without the help of these creatures and their incredible eyesight she would never have found the people below, one of whom she was certain was her father.
‘I am deeply in your debt,’ said Lucy. ‘I know you flew many leagues from the mountains in the west to assist me and I wanted to thank you. You must now return to your kin.’
‘We have found rising air here such as we feel in our own mountains,’ said the condor, ‘but we knew not of the existence of the place until we came to you. Our kin may return, for we see food below such as we have never seen before. Fare thee well.’ The birds then ran towards the cliff, their wings making a swishing noise like satin curtains, and launched themselves into space. Once in the air they became transformed from clumsy land creatures into masters of flight, and as they picked up a rising thermal from the valley they began to rise in ever-widening circles. Lucy watched, fascinated, until once again they were but specks in the sky and then she lost them as they flew west into the rays of the afternoon sun.
The panther spoke. She had been lying quietly in the shade at the edge of the forest, unable to help in the construction of the rope ladder.
‘It is time for you to go, O Promised One, for the Brilliant One already begins to fall to his sleep; the raspihops are falling silent and the croakihops begin their songs of the night. I cannot come, but I will be here with Katy Coati to protect you and greet you once again when you return with the Paterpromise.’ Lucy thanked her for all she had done and then turned her attention to the challenge that now awaited her.
She was not particularly afraid of heights but the prospect of descending that terrible precipice on the makeshift ladder was a daunting one. She had constructed a strong reed harness to go round her chest, like a baby’s seat harness but with a loop sticking up above each of her shoulders. She indicated to the queen that two monkeys might follow her down, holding on to these loops in case she lost her foothold.
Lucy then stepped to the edge. The monkeys had been playing incessantly on the ladder while she had been speaking to the condors, running up and down, sometimes running down headfirst, even jumping over one another and catching the ladder further down. Lucy envied their fearless agility. She turned so that she faced the ladder and the cliff to go down and as she moved down she felt a soft scratching as the tails of the spider monkeys above her came down past her ears and wound around her shoulder loops. Greatly reassured by this additional support she climbed steadily down the ladder, the monkeys babbling excitedly above and below.
About halfway down her arms and shoulder began to ache and she realized she was gripping too fiercely with her hands instead of letting her feet take all her weight. She gradually relaxed and moved more easily and efficiently, and only once did she partly lose her footing. As she did so she felt the tail of the spider monkey on that side instantly tense and steady her and she soon resumed her steady progress.
When she had started her descent Michelle, her little marmoset, had jumped off her shoulder and scampered down the ladder ahead of her; now, the instant she set foot on solid ground, she leapt back up on to her shoulder again.
The queen monkey was sniffing the air for smoke.
‘The fire is back along the cliff,’ she said, and set off towards it. After a while the monkeys started the excited chattering that Lucy had now come to recognize as an indication that something of interest was afoot, and soon the queen came to her.
‘The Tailless Ones are ahead,’ she said, ‘but they are surrounded by the greatfangs. Look! One approaches us.’ Lucy looked ahead and at first could see nothing among the scrub and bushes but soon she made out the shape of an enormous feline sauntering majestically towards them.
The monkeys grouped closely around Lucy and the marmoset disappeared into the pocket of her shorts. One or two monkeys scampered back to the ladder and waited cautiously to see what would happen.
The enormous, sabre-like yellow fangs of the smilodon glistened in the evening sunlight and Lucy gulped in apprehension and wondered what kind of big cat this was. She had seen pictures of sabre-tooths but didn’t realise that any still existed. She then remembered the Mighty Ones she had seen and the thought struck her for the first time that this crater must be an area of specialized ecology with unusual animals in it. Close on that idea came the horrifying thought that these creatures in their isolated world might never have heard of the Promised One. If that was the case they all had a serious problem and one that would be apparent in the next few seconds. Gathering her nerve she stopped and looked straight at the approaching beast.
‘Greetings, O magnificent cat with fangs of ivory. I come in peace with my companions.’ The great cat paused for what seemed like an age to Lucy and her trembling companions, but was in reality just a few seconds. Then, to Lucy’s indescribable relief he replied, in a majestic and sonorous voice:
‘So there is indeed a Promised One. We have heard tell of such a one through many ages but we knew not that She would ever grace this place with Her presence. What is your desire, O Great One?’
‘I seek my father and his companions,’ replied Lucy, ‘for I believe that they are here in this place. I hope that I, my kin and all these animal companions can pass freely through your domain without danger or hindrance.’
‘It shall be as thou command,’ replied the cat. Lucy felt she detected a distinct note of disappointment in his voice.
‘Thy kin sit yonder by the tongues that burn.’
He turned his head and Lu
cy then saw, through a gap in the bushes, the smouldering fire and beyond it her father, bearded and tanned almost beyond recognition.
‘Daddy!’ she shouted, and rushed through the bushes, ran round the fire and flung her arms around him. Then she burst into tears and he held her tight, saying nothing as all the accumulated stress of their months of separation poured out of her. When, eventually, she calmed down, the questions poured out of him in a torrent.
‘What on earth are you doing here? How did you find me? How did you get into the crater? And how, in heaven’s name, did you get past the sabre-tooths?’
Lucy laughed through her tears of joy and said:
‘There’s a lot to tell you, Dad, but first you need to see something!’ She turned to look out from the fire then, suddenly remembering her manners, looked at Helen and Julian. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m Lucy and this is my dad.’ She clung to her father. Helen smiled.
‘We’d just about worked that one out,’ she said, ‘and like your dad we can’t understand how you possibly got here.’ Lucy left her father and started to walk out beyond the fire. ‘Watch!’ she said.
‘Stop!’ said Helen, moving forward and grabbing Lucy’s arm. ‘I know that somehow you came here safely but you were unbelievably lucky. There are dangerous animals out there.’
Lucy laughed and was about to call the sabre-tooth when she suddenly remembered that she should guard her secret from these strangers. She paused, uncertain as to what to do next. Her father looked at her and, even though he did not understand what had happened, his father’s instinct told him why Lucy was hesitating.
‘It’s all right,’ he said to Lucy. ‘Helen and Julian are scientists who saved my life and I trust them absolutely. There’s nothing you can’t tell them.’
Lucy turned back to the bush. ‘Come, O mighty fang and pay homage to the Promised One.’ It was a dramatic gesture but Lucy knew that her story would be literally incredible unless those about to hear it had seen irrefutable evidence of its truth. She had spoken the words out loud for the benefit of the onlookers but now she called silently to the cats.
The nearest sabre-tooth, a female, walked towards Lucy. Julian started forward to pull her back but Richard put a restraining hand on his shoulder. He had complete confidence in his wonderful daughter.
‘Just watch!’ he said quietly.
The great cat came to Lucy then lay at her feet, its head resting on its forepaws, looking up at her. At her command it rolled on its back and she leant forward and stroked its belly.
‘Thank you, O mighty fang. Now return to your kin and protect us from all that might come to harm us this night.’
‘As thou command,’ the cat replied. ‘I shall be honoured among all my tribe for having felt the hand of the Promised One upon my flank.’ She then rose and stalked back to the waiting circle of her kind. She moved from one to another and as she did so each cat turned to face outwards from the fire, now keeping guard over those within their fearful circle.
Lucy returned to the speechless adults and sat down. Before speaking to them she called Queenie.
‘This is my father,’ she said. The queen regarded Richard with grave respect. ‘And these are his companions.’ The monkey looked in turn at Helen and Julian.
‘Thank you for all you did this day. Go now and rest with your kin. The greatfangs will not harm you. Please bring us food when the Brilliant One rises from his place of rest.’
The monkey scampered away. After she had gone Lucy turned back to the others. As she did so Helen suddenly shouted in alarm.
‘What’s that?’ She pointed at Lucy’s shorts where the tiny marmoset was peeping out. She soon came out completely and darted up to her usual vantage point on Lucy’s left shoulder.
‘That’s Michelle, my little cuddly pet,’ said Lucy. ‘She wants to come back to England with me – if it’s allowed,’ she added hurriedly, glancing at her father, suddenly an eleven-year-old once again in his presence. ‘And just so you can all relax before we tell our stories, those funny lions or whatever they are won’t hurt you and the monkeys will bring our breakfast in the morning.’
‘Those funny lions are sabre-tooths,’ said Richard, ‘and though I’m sure you know you’ve saved all our lives you probably don’t know that you arrived just in the nick of time. We don’t have enough wood to last the night and if you hadn’t turned up when you did we would have ended up as cat food some time in the next few hours.’ Lucy laughed spontaneously for the first time since she had been kidnapped a month earlier.
‘Just imagine the giant tins in the pet food section of the Crater Superstore with a special offer notice above them. “Buy Sabretibbles a nice toothy snack! When we say our new fang-smacking formula is scientifically balanced we mean just that. Every tin contains no fewer than three real scientists!”’
They all laughed – in a slightly hysterical way as months of relentless trauma evaporated.
‘That’s definitely one to tell your big sister,’ said Richard, wiping tears of laughter and relief from his face.
Lucy sat down next to him and cuddled up to him. ‘Now, Dad,’ she said, ‘tell me how you got here and how Mr and …’
Julian interrupted, ‘Julian and Helen to you, Lucy.’
‘… how Julian and Helen saved your life.’
The four sat round the dying embers of the fire until late into the night as they told their amazing tales.
In the morning the monkeys appeared with all kinds of food, including fruits that even those who had lived for some time in the crater had not seen before.
‘Some of these are unknown to us,’ said the queen, ‘but we have tried all that you see here and they are good to eat.’
After breakfast they had a long discussion. Lucy had told them that they could all return to the camp with the help of the animals, but Julian was concerned about Helen’s leg.
‘Helen can’t climb a cliff and trek through the jungle, even with the help you describe. If you’re sure that the animals here won’t attack us any more, then I think I’ll stay here with Helen until you and Lucy get back to civilization and send help. While you are gone we can clear the wreckage of the plane enough to make a landing strip.’
‘That last job won’t be necessary,’ said Lucy firmly. The others looked at her. She spoke with an authority beyond her years.
‘What d’you mean?’ asked Julian.
‘I shall ask the Mighty Ones to clear the landing strip. They certainly look big enough.’
‘The Mighty Ones?’ said Helen.
‘Those things like large brown bears that go round ripping trees down. I saw one yesterday from the cliff.’
‘The giant ground sloths!’ exclaimed Richard.
‘Is that what they are?’ said Lucy. ‘The ones who bust up your plane. Well, I’ll talk to one before we leave and ask him to clear up the mess.’ She misinterpreted the glances of sheer astonishment that the grown-ups exchanged, for looks of disapproval.
‘Well,’ she added, as if to give moral justification for the use of animal labour, ‘it won’t hurt them and they caused the mess in the first place, didn’t they?’
Everyone laughed and Richard felt proud of his daughter and the way she was coping with her extraordinary powers. Lucy then enquired about Helen’s leg and was very interested to hear what Richard described to her.
‘I think I can help, Dad. Insects and worms and things don’t talk to me but they do seem to obey me.’ She turned to Helen.
‘Can I see your leg?’ Helen was only too happy for Lucy to look at her leg and having heard Richard’s description of the condition Lucy asked him to bring a container of water. Then Lucy addressed the leg.
‘Come forth from your hiding place, O long and slender one, and there will be water for your sons and daughters.’ Helen stifled a grunt of pain as she felt movement in her leg. The final worm in her affected foot emerged, bursting through the inflamed boil under which it had lain. As promised, Lucy held the water
for it to enter. Helen then cried out in pain. ‘My other foot, my other foot!’ And from a tiny inconspicuous spot that Helen had previously thought to be a bite or sting yet another worm emerged and Lucy held the container so that it too could enter the water.
‘We shall return these to the river,’ Lucy said, ‘and then they can fend for themselves once again.’
Helen, Julian and Richard were astonished at what they had witnessed and Helen was grateful beyond words.
‘The legs still need to heal,’ said Richard, ‘so I think we should stick to plan A, but at least we know that you are now on the road to recovery.’ The men and Lucy then spent the rest of the day moving whatever was salvageable from the wreck of the plane into the cave, which would be Helen and Julian’s new shelter until help arrived. Much to everybody’s amusement the monkeys carried everything to the cave that they thought would be useful such as pieces of broken glass, nuts and bolts and pieces of torn canvas. Nobody had the heart to stop them and Helen arranged them carefully along one side of the cave floor.
Towards evening a crashing noise could be heard in the distance as a giant sloth hove into view stripping foliage off the surrounding trees. Lucy called to it and it lumbered over on its great knuckles. One of the enduring memories of Richard’s life was to be the sight of his small daughter standing in front of a monster wagging her finger and giving it instructions. It was like a scene from King Kong or Godzilla, except that the heroine was in complete charge of the situation.
