by Alana Grerig
“The border,” they uttered in unison. Pleased to have finally reached their destination, Eve walked forward to see if there was a gate nearby.
“Eve don’t go any….” Caleb warned, but it was too late. When Eve was a meter from the wall, she hit an invisible barrier. She was momentarily held in place, then there was a loud pop, and Eve found herself being repelled from the wall at high speed. Caleb made a grab for her and got winded for his trouble.
“Ooof!” he gasped. Eve quickly got off him.
“What on earth was that?” she wondered, slightly shaken.
“Magic…. force field…. powerful….” Caleb coughed. Eve helped him to his feet, and they once again approached the wall. “There must be a gate somewhere,” she assumed.
They walked along the wall, keeping at least three metres’ distance. Suddenly, up ahead they could see the flickering of torches. Quickening their pace, they arrived before a rather grand set of gates carved from the same type of tree as the wall. They were a masterpiece of filigree and embedded with polished stones.
“How do we get in?” Caleb muttered to himself. He tried a couple of charms, but these just caused the force field to shimmer and crackle. They tried calling and waving their arms frantically. Then, in a last-ditch attempt, they threw stones, but this resulted in Caleb getting a black eye. “Let’s just call it a night,” he grumbled, rubbing his eye. Moving out of direct sight of the gate, they made camp. Eve worked quietly over a bowl near the campfire while Caleb went off in search of something to eat. He returned an hour later with a cut arm and two fish. Throwing them down, he asked if he could borrow Eve’s dagger to gut them.
“It’s ok, Cal. I’ll cook. Here, put this over your eye. It will help with the swelling,” Caleb took the bowl Eve had been working over. It was full of green paste, which he applied to his eye. Instantly he felt some relief as the cooling effect soothed his swollen skin. A sigh escaped his lips.
“You are full of surprises, Evangeline. A warrior and now a healer, not to mention a great cook,” Caleb complemented. Smiling, she packed up her herbs and began gutting the fish.
“My dad taught me how to make simple remedies when I was small,” she told him.
“Well I am very grateful that he passed on the knowledge,” he praised. After their meal, they curled up in their bags, and deciding to try to gain entry again at first light, they drifted off to sleep.
It was, however, not a restful night for either of them. Every woodland sound caused them to wake. The small creatures of the forest sounded large and dangerous in the hush of the forest, and in the early hours, a deer walked by the camp, causing them such a start that they decided that they would take turns to keep watch for the rest of the night.
Eve had known another night in this forest was a bad idea. Upon opening her eyes, she was greeted with the sight of several sword blades and a couple of spear tips all pointing at her. It wasn’t quite what she was expecting, but she wasn’t terribly surprised. Careful not to make any sudden movements, she asked her captors, “Where is my friend?” No answer was given. Instead, large paw-like hands reached for her. She was pulled roughly to her feet. “I would very much like to know what has happened to my friend,” Eve asked once again.
“No more talk; you answer only our questions!” shrilled one of her captors, “Who are you, and why did you spend an intolerable amount of time disrupting our force field?” Understanding that these, whatever they were, must be the owl riders, Eve began to raise her head to look at the creatures surrounding her.
Speaking in a neutral tone and moving slowly, she answered. “My name is Evangeline of Hermoria. I am travelling with a friend. He is a witch called Caleb. On our behalf, I would like to apologize for causing a disturbance last night. We merely wished to seek shelter. The night before, we were attacked by a pack of werewolves and were rather anxious not to spend another night in the forest.” The creatures took a moment, talking in hushed tones amongst themselves.
Eve now had her chance to get a look at them. To her amazement, she found herself gazing at very large and extremely muscular mice! However, they were clearly not the usual kind she found in the larder at home; these creatures stood at five feet tall with tails as thick as her forearm. They wore leather chaps but no shoes, leather vests, and some kind of strange hat that appeared to have tinted glasses attached to it. Their paws were more like hands, though the feet still resembled those of a mouse. Each one carried a weapon.
Turning back to their captive, one of the creatures gripped her arm and began escorting Eve towards the now open gates.
“We have decided to allow you entrance, but do not mistake this for weakness, girl. We merely want to hear more about how you came to be at our border and what you and your witch truly want within our realm.”
***
The cat o’ nine tails came down on Chashocs’ blooded flesh for the sixteenth lash. Knowing that screaming would not lessen the pain, he did his best to stay silent. However, this seemed to enrage his master more.
“You disobeyed me! How dare you!” the creature bellowed, taking several more swings with its chosen weapon. Chashoc finally let out a piercing scream and slumped forward, hanging by the shackles at his wrists, his back slashed to a bloody mess.
Leaving the dungeon, the creature slunk along darkened corridors. The slaves visibly shook and cowered as their master swept past. Reaching the throne room, it moved to the great tome open on the reading stand, flicking through the vellum pages made from the skin of the ancient, dammed, and enslaved and bound together with their blood and hair. The book was truly a thing constructed of pure evil. Finding the page it wanted, the creature chuckled.
“Yes, this will be most enjoyable, most enjoyable…for me!” The creature’s manic laughter echoed through the castle.
The creature began constructing its new plan for the two companions. It worked tirelessly. The only sounds were its murmurs and the screams and desolate moans from the pits drifting up through the open windows. Finally, it was ready.
“Grimmer!” yelled the creature. A huge beast appeared before its master, kneeling in respect. Grimmer was more humanoid in form but horribly disfigured. Large scars covered his entire body, giving him the appearance of a melted wax candle. The creature approached its minion. Holding out a vial to Grimmer, it commanded, “Make sure this is consumed by the elf and that witch. Once they have ingested it, return to me, and unless you wish to meet the same fate as Chashoc, I suggest you do only as I command.”
Grimmer stowed the vial in his belt pouch and bowed to his master.
“It shall be as you order.” Taking his leave, Grimmer left for the portal chamber, a malicious grin transforming his scared countenance into something from a nightmare.
Chapter Six
The owl riders escorted Eve rather roughly through the open gates. What she saw was so beautiful that she was convinced it must be a dream. All she could see were treetops, the leaves turning the shades of autumn. The colours ranged from gold-green, that matched her eyes, to warm coppers and rich reds. From her vantage point, Eve thought the autumnal tree tops looked like a rippling sea of fire. Her eyes travelled away from the swaying treetops to the horizon, to where purple mountains, their mauve faces warmed by the morning sun, stood like sentinels. The sky was clear, so she was able to see the snowy caps that would certainly vanish on a cloudy day.
Dragging her eyes away from possibly the most beautiful vista she had ever had the pleasure to see, Eve began to study her position. She was standing on a gangway that was six feet wide and ran for as far as she could see. At regular intervals along the gangway, there were large gaps in the barrier. Looking over the edge, Eve noted that the gaps were just that, holes in the fence. If anyone were to fall, they would crash through the canopy of fiery leaves and surely meet their end on the forest floor. Gulping, she turned to her captors and asked, “How do we get down?”
Snickering, the leader of the group looked at her like she was crazy
and replied, “Down…Why would we want to go down?”
Confused by the mouse-like creature’s response, Eve decided to keep her mouth closed for the time being. Noticing a movement to her left, Eve turned to see what her captor was doing. He had taken a strange looking curled reed from inside his vest. Putting it to his lips, he blew through the reed in three quick puffs, then paused and concluded with two shorter puffs and one long one. Eve hadn’t heard a sound.
She was about to ask what that was all about when suddenly two things happened. The first was that the whole gangway seemed to move clockwise. Eve felt like she might fall, so she lunged for one of the posts that made up the fence and held on tight, looking the way she was traveling so as not to feel nauseous. Eve saw that a few metres ahead the atmosphere seemed to thicken; the very air seemed to become opaque. Suddenly, the world around her became blurred. The section of gangway she was on had passed into the strange atmosphere. Becoming scared, Eve closed her eyes. Unsure if she was able to breathe within this heavy and strangely jelly-like air, she began to panic as she was fast running out of oxygen. Then, with a slight squelching sound, she found that they had passed through the viscous atmosphere. Eve took a deep lungful of air and then another while the mice-like creatures chuckled at her. Opening her eyes, she was confused to see that it was dark.
I am losing my mind, she thought.
It was then the owls appeared, and like the mice, they were not normal-sized. These owls were huge, with jewel-coloured eyes that flashed in the starlight. There were three approaching them; two were white with silver wing and tail feathers. The third was bronze in colour; its wing and tail feathers were blue-black.
“Beautiful,” Eve sighed.
The owls landed on the posts that were a few feet away from the opening in the gangway. Eve watched as the Owls extended their left wings to bridge the gap.
“Come, let us find your friend. Then we can begin our discussion,” the leader said as he placed a paw on the small of Eve’s back and guided her towards the bronze owl’s wing. Hesitating, Eve tried to back up. An exasperated sound came from behind her, and then she found herself lifted around the middle and carried along the wing to be deposited on the owl’s back. Heart pounding in her ears, Eve frantically looked around for something to hold onto. The mouse who had carried her sat in front of her. “Hold onto me,” he instructed. She didn’t need telling twice; she wrapped her arms in a death grip around his middle. The owl then seemed to fall off the perch. Eve screamed, convinced she was about to die. The owl swooped upwards, then began gliding towards the horizon.
After a while, Eve took her face away from the rider’s back and looked into the night. The view was beautiful. The moon, full and fat, illuminated their path, lighting a highway across the lake they were soaring over. In the distance, she could make out hundreds of tiny specks of light. Assuming that this was their destination, she settled into a more comfortable position and kept her eyes on the lights glowing in the distance.
“We are about to do a bit of fancy flying, so hold on tight to me,” the rider instructed over his shoulder. Once again, Eve tightened her grip and buried her face in his back; she felt, rather than heard, his chuckle. The owl swooped down, then banked left, right, then left again, before soaring straight up. Eve could feel her panic rising.
“I can do this, it will be over soon,” she told herself over and over again. The owl landed gracefully on another perch and extended its right wing to allow its passengers to alight from its back.
“Thank you for the ride,” the mouse murmured. The great bird gazed at them both for a second with its huge eyes, the colour of smoky quartz, and then took off, disappearing into the night. They were now standing on yet another gangway. This one, however, led to another - more solid - path. Gasping, Eve took in her new surroundings. She was looking out at a town in the sky. Many gangways led to cosy-looking dwellings, some made within the trunks of the trees. Following the line of dwellings, Eve noticed stairs that wound themselves around the tree trunks. Looking up, she saw yet more illuminated windows and many more mice going about their business.
“Amazing,” she breathed.
***
“This is where you will be staying; your friend will be brought here as well,” her escort announced at the door of one of the dwellings on the higher levels. It was mostly built into the tree trunk, but they had added a cheerfully rounded extension in which the front door sat pride of place.
“Thank you, this is a truly lovely house,” Eve remarked, turning to her escort.
“They are not called houses here in Olia. These are called burrows,” came the gruff reply. Keeping her thoughts to herself, Eve had a feeling that offending these creatures would be a very bad idea. She twisted the carved doorknob and entered her accommodation, very aware that she had no idea how long she might be there.
“Eve! Oh, thank the Goddess you are alright!” Caleb almost sobbed as he rushed through the front door a short while later. Holding each other close, Caleb looked down into Eve’s face. Smiling up into his blue eyes - that always reminded Eve of the sea - she reassured him.
“I’m fine, Cal; the owl riders have been very good to me.” Moving out of the embrace, Eve went through to the kitchen; Caleb followed, shaking his head at how completely calm she seemed.
“Girls,” he muttered under his breath, with a slight smile playing at the corners of his lips.
After some sandwiches and tea, Eve gave Caleb a tour of the house. She had taken the bedroom which didn’t have a view but a beautiful stained glass, irregularly shaped window that had been made to fit into a split in the tree’s bark. There were other ‘windows’ - for lack of a better name. Eve liked to think of them as ‘light’ veins. These were very thin splits and cracks in the tree’s bark that the mice had glazed to keep draughts out and allow as much light as possible into the room. She wondered how the veins would look when the sun came up.
All the furniture was built into the tree. The owl riders had excellent design skills, and the rooms were cosy and light but also totally functional. Caleb’s room had a large window that overlooked the gangway network and the other burrows on this level. Heading back down the spiral staircase to collect his bag, Caleb was surprised to see two of the riders standing outside the open front door.
“May we come in?” the taller of the two asked.
“It’s your house, I mean burrow,” Caleb replied. On entering the burrow, the riders wiped their paws and stood by the front window. Unsure what to do, Caleb began to flounder. Then Eve appeared on the bottom stairs.
“Hello again, how may we help you?” she inquired.
“We have come to escort you both to our leader’s home for the talk I mentioned on your arrival here.” Opening the front door, the rider made the common gesture for ladies first. Sighing, Eve made her way to the door. Slipping on her shoes, she waited for the riders and Caleb to exit.
“This way, please.” The riders guided them through several levels before arriving at their leader’s burrow. Knocking on the door, the company waited for admittance. A small female opened the door. Like the males of her kind, her paws were more like hands, and she wore attire similar to her male counterparts. “Erica, we are here to see Maximus,” explained the taller rider. He definitely seems to out-rank his companion, Eve thought.
Opening the door wider, Erica allowed the party to enter.
“You will find him in his study. Remember to knock this time, Jericho. I have only just finished cleaning up the glass from the last projectile that was nearly embedded in your skull,” she pleaded. Chuckling, the tall rider called Jericho nodded in agreement. Taking one last look at the visitors, Erica headed back the way they had come.
Reaching the end of the corridor, Jericho stopped outside a heavily carved door. “Upon entering this room, you will be respectful at all times, and only speak when spoken to, is that clear?” he asked the two friends. After Eve and Caleb had nodded their agreement, Jericho raised his fist an
d knocked on the door.
“ENTER!” shouted a deep voice from within.
***
They had been in Maximus’s study for hours, and, so far, he had thrown two inkwells and a heavy candlestick at no one in particular. These outbursts were due to his dislike of the answers given to his many questions.
“Girl, for the last time, why are you here?” Maximus yelled, his eyes wide and ears pulled back. Once again, Eve gave the only answer she could: that they only wished to pass through his lands and to experience the wonders of the cities in the tree tops. Though the flattery went some way to calm him, it did not totally appease the angry rodent. Deciding that he was getting nowhere with his line of questioning, Maximus decided to play the slow game of interrogation. “Fine. If that is why you are here, I shall say no more about it for now.” Changing tack, he continued his questioning, “I understand there has been some werewolf activity in the woods close to our border… How many attacked you?” Surprised by the sudden change in the questioning, Eve was momentarily lost.
“That would be six, Sir,” Caleb answered. Making a mental note to thank Cal later, Eve stayed quiet and allowed Caleb to explain the attack.
“Hmmm, this is worrying news, indeed,” Maximus murmured once Caleb had told his tale.
“Please, Sir, if we could just rest for a day or so and maybe wash our clothes? We will then leave your lands in peace,” Eve said as she looked the fierce mouse right in the eyes.
“You may stay for a few days. Jericho and Dexter here will be your guides for the duration of your stay. But mark my words, if you turn out to be spies, you will be very sorry indeed!” He warned them, though Eve hadn’t failed to notice that when Maximus had commented about the possibility of them being spies, he was looking only at Caleb. Making another mental note to find out more of the history between the witches and riders, she stood with the others waiting to leave.
