by D K Drake
“What?”
But she didn’t have a chance to explain. A loud BOOM followed by a series of echoing pops from the explosion caused her to latch on to the closest thing to her: Javan’s neck.
Chapter 23
The Trouble with Twisting Trees
The blast shook Micah’s nerves, causing him to drop the bag of food, lose his footing, and stumble backwards into Ravier. As water spewed upward from one of the lakes down below, Ravier said, “Aww. Do you need a hug, too?”
“I don’t do hugs.” Micah quickly pushed away from Ravier and retrieved the bag. “I tripped. That’s all.” From the corner of his eye, Micah observed that Taliya wasn’t as quick to push away from Javan. Once she did, though, the four of them stood alongside one another atop the mountain staring at the stream of water shooting towards the sky. After a few moments, it vanished, restoring the peaceful surface of the lake.
“Looks like we’re in the right place,” Taliya said.
“Of course we are.” Pride filled Micah’s words, and he was glad he didn’t run away as planned. He wanted his dragon to get the credit for making the finding of the Dusk eggs possible. Then they would make their exit from the group. “We were led here by my dragon, and tomorrow he will lead us through the twisting trees.”
“I don’t think he’s going to want to do that,” Javan said.
“Why wouldn’t he? He loves to run, and he can ‘follow the twisting trees’ faster than any other dragon here. Varjiek can’t fly through trees, and Kisa certainly can’t match Mertzer’s speed.”
“Those twisting trees make up what are known as slanted acres, dangerous patches of woods found in various places throughout this territory. Animals don’t like entering these areas because of the tree tremors that are likely to occur if they make too much noise.”
“Dangerous woods? Don’t tell me you believe that tree tremors are real,” Micah said.
“I’m with Micah on this one,” Ravier said. “Trees are trees, regardless of their shape. They don’t shake and tremor and seemingly come to life when their precious area is disturbed. It’s an absurd myth.”
“It is no myth.” Javan shook his head from side to side. “I’ve been caught in one before. The only reason I made it out was because I wasn’t very far in to begin with.”
“My father did say that the cave is protected by traps to keep predators from disturbing the eggs,” Taliya said. “The slanted acres could be one such giant trap.”
“There could be traps,” Micah said, making a mental note of that interesting bit of information, “but I don’t think trees are one of them. If they were, the Protectors wouldn’t want to carry the eggs through the slanted acres to hide them in the cave in the first place.”
“It’s too dark to prove anything one way or the other right now,” Javan said. “Let’s eat, sleep, and continue in the morning.”
“Fine by me.” He picked a handful of fruit from the bag and wandered over to his dragon to settle in for the night, amused by the fact that Javan believed tree tremors were real.
◊◊◊
Javan had never been so happy to see the sun rise. The steady stream of water bursts throughout the night combined with the unforgiving surface of the mountain top made sleep impossible. As soon as the sun provided enough light for him to see, he sat up from his uncomfortable bed and scanned the valley. He smiled when he saw what he expected to see on the other side of the geyser-spewing lakes: an unmistakable patch of slanted acres.
“What’s that smile for?” Taliya asked from her sleeping position across the fire pit from him. Long strands of her black hair had escaped from her braided bun, and the whites of her blue eyes were red. She must not have gotten any sleep, either.
“Let me show you.” He waved her over and pulled out the map. “Check out these trees.” He pointed to the five oddly-shaped trees pictured in a row above the first line of the poem. “See how a different number marks each tree? The spiral starts with one, then the tree that looks like a sideways W is marked with seventeen.”
“Then thirty-seven, fifty-four, and seventy-seven. So what?”
“So to follow the twisting trees, we look for these shapes in that forest over there.” This time he pointed to the slanted acres across the valley. “We can fly around the edge on Varjiek until we find the spirally tree and walk in from there to find the W tree like on the map.”
“Sounds logical, but what do the numbers mean? Is seventeen the number of steps we have to take to get to the second tree, or is it the number of trees between the first and second tree?”
“Whether it’s steps or trees,” Ravier said, joining them, “we don’t know which direction to head from tree to tree.”
“That’s not the only problem.” Micah stood and stretched. “We also don’t know if the number of steps or trees between each tree increases as we get farther into the woods or if seventy-seven is the total between tree one and tree five.”
“We’ll just have to test each theory.” Javan rolled the map up and stuck it between his back and belt buckle. “Once we find the starting point, we all walk in different directions, counting our steps. If no one finds the second tree, we start over and count trees instead of steps.”
“That’s too tedious,” Micah said. “Let me have the map, and Mertzer and I will have the trail of trees figured out before Kisa’s done eating her morning meal.”
“Absolutely not.” Javan locked eyes with a terrified Mertzer. The first time they crossed paths was when Javan freed Mertzer from a tree that had attacked him during a tree tremor. He wasn’t going to put the Dusk Stalker in harm’s way by making him run through the slanted acres. “He remains here.”
“He’s my dragon. I say he goes.”
I must obey my master, Mertzer said. I will cause a tremor, a vicious one if he orders me to run. You just keep everyone else outside the acres until the tremor is over.
“He may be your master,” Javan replied, “but I am the leader of this mission. You wait here.”
“Are you talking to my dragon?” Micah blocked Javan’s view of Mertzer. “He doesn’t belong to you. He’s mine. Stay out of his head.”
“He basically just told me that you and he will die if you force him to run through the slanted acres. I know he’s your dragon, but I will not let you take him on a double suicide mission through those woods. For the last time, he stays. We go.”
“If he stays, I stay.”
“Convenient,” Ravier said. “The Hunter wants to separate himself from us. He could easily reach Japheth by noon on the back of Mertzer and have an army out here by nightfall to capture us all.”
“If I wanted to run away,” Micah said, “I wouldn’t go to Japheth. That would be a suicide mission. My father wants me dead, remember?”
“Maybe you’re thinking turning the Collector over would be a good way for you to get back in your father’s good graces.”
“You have no idea what I’m thinking.”
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Javan said, putting an end to the argument. “I’m thinking we need all four of us to figure out the trail of twisting trees. The dragons can’t help us with that, so both Kisa and Mertzer will remain here, and Varjiek will join them once he flies us down there. That way we’ll both be without our dragons until we find the eggs.”
Micah gave him one deliberate nod. “Fair enough.”
“Glad we agree. Now pack up. We leave in ten minutes.”
The day had gotten off to a sour start, but he hoped it would end with a dragon egg in his hands.
◊◊◊
“So strange.” Taliya’s fingers stroked the smooth, light-brown bark of the tree whose trunk grew in a tight spiral a hundred feet high just like the tree on the map marked with a number one. A myriad of long, thin branches with tiny circular leaves topped the tree like a wide green hat. The other trees along the unmistakable perimeter of the slanted acres each boasted their own unique shape, angle, or design, almost as if they wer
e competing against each other for style points. The only thing they had in common was the cluster of branches at the top.
“Gawking is getting us nowhere,” Ravier said. “This is definitely our starting point. I’ll head straight in. Javan, you go to the left. Taliya, you take the right. Micah, I don’t care where you go as long as it’s not near me. Everyone, yell if you find the tree that looks like a sideways W.”
“Before we start, beware--” Water erupted from the lake behind them, drowning out Javan’s words.
Taliya felt the power of the water from her toes to her nose as she turned to see it shoot up into the air twice as high as the trees. Its shiny glean beckoned her, and she wandered through the spikey grass toward it, noticing that the water did indeed appear to be falling up. Rather than drop once it reached the top, it simply faded away.
Fascinating. She needed a closer look. She needed to know what would happen to her if she let herself get caught in the rush of the upward water. Would she vanish as well if she made it to the top?
“Taliya!” Javan jumped in front of her and put his arms on her shoulders. “Stop!”
Javan’s green eyes broke her concentration, and she realized she was standing on the silver sand of the lake’s shore a stone’s throw away from the wall of water. Once it sputtered out, she shuddered. “Let’s get out of here before that happens again.”
“What exactly happened?”
“You mean you didn’t feel compelled to walk into the water?”
“Nope.”
“Oh. Well then, thanks for stopping me.” Taliya pursed her lips and strutted back to the spirally tree. She didn’t like having her mind hijacked or being the only one affected in such a way. To prove she could think for herself again, she needed a practical task to accomplish. Such a task awaited her in the slanted acres. “I’ll look for the W tree this way.”
She veered to the right of the scowling Ravier with a scowl of her own fixed on her face. But her scowl turned to surprise when her feet hit the soft surface of the slanted acres, causing her to sink several inches. “Whoa.” She kicked a layer of leaves out of her way and realized she was standing on white fluff. “This ground is made of cotton!”
“Shh,” Javan whispered, “and don’t kick the leaves. The trees don’t like noise or sudden movements. Walk slowly and stay quiet, or we’ll set off a tremor.”
“Okay.” Taliya disregarded Javan’s warning as soon as she progressed into the woods.
“In my experience,” Micah muttered from behind her, “trees don’t care about noise or movement.”
“Same here,” she whispered back. “They don’t even care when I cut them down for firewood or shelter.” Nevertheless, she counted to herself as she walked.
She made it nine paces when she heard Ravier yell, “I found it! It’s right here, seventeen trees in.”
“Coming.” As she sprinted to her left, a root from the ground shot up and smacked her in the leg. “Ouch!” Another root beat her in the back while the trees around her began twisting and trembling and shaking.
“Tree tremor!” Javan announced. “Get out! Get out now!”
Taliya squeezed between two trees right before they slammed into each other, jumped over a series of roots striking up from the ground, and fought her way through the storm of leaves showering down from above. She and Micah dove onto solid ground at the same time. She rolled once, bounced to her feet, and held her breath until Ravier and Javan joined them.
Blood flowed down Ravier’s face from a cut above his eye, but Javan appeared unscathed. He immediately turned to Ravier. “What part of ‘stay quiet’ did you not understand?”
“How else were you supposed to know I found the tree?”
“Apparently not by yelling,” Taliya said. “At least we know what direction to take now. Next time we can all go in together. How long do these tremors usually last?”
Javan shrugged. “I have no idea.”
As the trees continued to shake, another blast of water erupted behind them. This time Taliya refused to look at it, but the swaying trees in front of her made her dizzy. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, feeling helpless and trapped even though she stood in an open field under the warmth of the bright morning sun.
Chapter 24
The Eetzy Bird
“I
think it’s been calm long enough.” Javan stared at the spirally tree he had grown to despise. They had tried walking in a slow, single file line past that tree, entering the woods at staggered times, and climbing the tall trees to get to the branches based on Taliya’s theory that swinging from tree to tree using the branches wouldn’t cause a tremor. It did.
The tremors had become more violent and lasted longer with each attempt. He wiped a leaf off his sweaty forehead and reached for his teleportation sword. “I haven’t tried this yet.”
“If it works,” Taliya said, “you’ll be on your own the rest of the way.”
“I have to give it a shot. We’ve exhausted our other options.”
“You’re right.” Ravier clapped Javan on the back and plopped to the ground. “Good luck.”
“I have dodged enough trees today.” Micah joined Ravier. “I’ll be happy to hang here until you get back with a dragon egg.”
“I won’t.” Taliya was the only one that seemed to have any spunk left after a day of getting beat up by trees. “How about just you and I go in? I’m small. I won’t make much noise.”
“I can get a head start by teleporting myself just past the second tree since we made it that far in once.” He would take her if he could. He certainly didn’t want to try to figure out the rest of the journey on his own. When he returned, the first thing he would do was have Kisa teach him how to teleport people with him. “Wait here. Please.”
“Guess I don’t have a choice.” She sighed and stepped back.
He fought the urge to hug her goodbye and gave her a nod instead. “See you soon.” Closing his eyes, he brought the image of the W tree into his mind. When he opened them, he found himself standing beside it. “I do love doing that. Now to find the tree that looks like it swallowed a staircase.”
As he picked up his foot to take his first step, a root swirled up his leg and slammed him into the sharp edges of the W tree. The thud knocked his breath away and set off yet another tremor. “AH!” He gripped his sword tighter, willing himself out of the woods.
But teleporting didn’t work. Instead, the root tightened its hold. This time, the tree slammed into Javan. The collision knocked him to the angry ground where more roots jerked up and peppered his body with punches. He curled up, used his sword to cut himself free from the imprisoning root, and teleported himself back to safety.
“Scratch that idea.” Javan winced as he forced himself to stand. Taliya, Ravier, and Micah were exactly where he had left them moments before. “The trees did notice when I teleported in, and they didn’t take too kindly to my sudden appearance.”
“We figured.” Ravier waved at the trembling trees.
“Let’s call it a day. I say we get some food and sleep, then try again in the morning.”
“I’m not going back to that ridgeline.” Taliya crossed her arms over her chest. “It is a horribly uncomfortable place to sleep, and hearing the constant water explosions throughout the night doesn’t help.”
“We can’t sleep here,” Micah said. “The explosions are even louder, and I don’t trust those trees not to attack us in the middle of the night.”
“We don’t have to stay anywhere near here,” Taliya said. “Kisa can teleport us back to the coast. I liked sleeping there. That was calm and peaceful.”
Javan nodded. “I like the way you think. I’ll teleport up to the ridgeline and send Varjiek back for you all. Once he flies you up to me, Kisa can take us to the coast.”
When no one argued, Javan took one last look at the slanted acres. How did any Protector ever get through there carrying a dragon egg? There had to be some trick, something they were
missing. But what?
◊◊◊
Taliya opened her eyes and saw the stars staring back at her from her bed on the beach. She had chosen to sleep in the sand rather than under trees. After spending the day running in and out of the slanted acres, she no longer trusted trees to remain still.
The strange-shaped trees had invaded her dreams, solidifying her distrust. Her dreams were only fuzzy memories now that she had awakened, but one image remained clear: the eetzy bird. With its red tail and white body, it fluttered through her dreams whistling its soft, soothing melody.
Where else had she seen that rare bird? Why did she have the feeling that she had come across it recently? That feeling made no sense. The last time she saw that bird was over a decade ago when she and her grandmother were tending to the humminglo flowers in Keckrick.
The map. The map had a picture of that bird on it.
Her sore muscles warned her not to move, but she needed to see the map. She rolled onto the sand from the leaves she had piled together to sleep on and crawled over to Javan. He, Micah, and Ravier were spread out along the edge of the woods, and he had left the map with his swords near his head. She carefully picked it up and unrolled it.
She strained her eyes to make out the picture of the bird in the dull moonlight, but it was there between the upside-down waterfall and spirally tree. It had its wings spread wide and tail feathers fanned out. It only fanned its feathers like that when it sang.
That was it. That was the secret to getting through the slanted acres. “Wake up, people.” She stood and clapped her hands. “Wake up. We must get back to the slanted acres. I know how to keep the trees from trembling.”
She smiled. She did have the Protector decoder in her after all…if she was right.
◊◊◊
“You can’t be serious.” With the sun establishing its presence in the sky behind him, Micah stared at the spirally tree and stiffened at the thought of prancing through the woods whistling for the twisted trees. He wasn’t even sure he knew how to whistle. Frivolous fun had never been a part of his upbringing. “You think mimicking the music of a bird is going to prevent the trees from trembling?”
