Greenways

by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton

  ‘Perhaps if you meet other Story Tellers, you might get some answers to your questions about the old times, and if you do, I would very much like to know what you find out. But that is enough of the old tales, we have other more important things to talk about.’ Mec was keen to arm his young travellers with all the knowledge he thought might be useful.

  They talked on, covering all the possible dangers which Mec thought might be out there in the unexplored world he felt sure existed beyond the confines of the forest. Several more of the old legends were told, each holding some item of interest for the forthcoming expedition, until it was time for the two youngsters to leave for their own groups, and retire for the coming time of the Lesser Sun.

  If the truth be known, neither slept too well that night as the level of excitement reached a high point neither of them had ever experienced before, and even Mec found himself going over the things he had said, to make sure everything had been fully covered.

  During the hours of darkness Kel’s ‘Tinkle Stones’ sent forth their musical warning notes, and he leapt to his feet from half sleep with the blade tipped stave in his hand. There was nothing there that he could see, just the gentle beams of the Lesser Sun painting the surrounding trees in its silvery light, the only sound being the occasional snore from a group member, deep in sleep and oblivious to the rest of the world.

  Kel couldn’t get back to sleep properly, and spent the rest of the night trying to imagine what the next day would hold for them, and would they actually survive ’till the following night.

  In this half awake, half dream like state, he drifted through the hours of darkness, his imagination running riot every now and again causing him to snap wide awake, looking for that which had jolted him out of his night time world of fantasies.

  The Journey Begins

  He was up and about long before the rest of the group, gathering his early morning meal and consuming it in great haste. There wasn’t any point in hanging about, saying goodbye or any of the other things he had thought he should do. The journey couldn’t begin soon enough for him, and as soon as he had finished eating he cleared up his resting place, collected his few belongings and headed off for Mec’s cave, and a new life, he hoped.

  Despite his early rising, an even keener Moss had preceded him by some few moments, and greeted him with a cheery, ‘Couldn’t you sleep either?’ and a big grin.

  Mec had all their expedition equipment ready in two neat piles, and as they entered the tree cave he came forward to greet them.

  ‘I so wish I were young and coming along with you two, but someone has to stay home and look after things. He said. ‘Although I sometimes wonder if it’s worth all the effort.’

  Mec showed them how to secure their carry belts, and then attach all the items he had prepared for them. The new Greater Cutting Knives were the last items to be handed over, and this was done with some degree of reverence, as they were very special things indeed.

  ‘If I may, I would like to show you how to use the Direction Finder once more to be sure that you have understood the principle.’ Mec took the little bowl with its transparent top, and placed it on the floor.

  ‘You see the little black stick with the white blob on the end, it will always point in the same direction no matter where you are. As you can see, it is now pointing in the direction the Greater Sun will take up at midday meal time, and that is the way I think you should go.’

  ‘If you want to veer off to one side for any reason, then you only have to make a mark on the rim of the bowl, and using the floating black stick you can see if you are going in the desired direction’.

  Both Moss and Kel had already well understood the way the Direction Pointer worked, and hid their impatience to get underway out of deference to the older man. Finally fully kitted up, the pair stood outside Mec’s cave, eager to be on their way, but somehow loath to leave the old man.

  They could see the longing in his eyes to be joining them, and the loneliness he would feel when they had gone, but there was nothing they could do about it. It was the way things were.

  There were a few moments of embarrassed silence, and then Mec came forward, embracing each of the travellers in turn and wishing them well. Just a glint of a tear showed in Mec’s eyes as the pair turned away from him and strode out along the main branch towards the next massive rising tree trunk, away in the distance.

  Halfway along the branch, Kel turned to wave a final goodbye, but the Story Teller was nowhere in sight, having returned to the loneliness of his tree cave and his even lonelier thoughts.

  The day was young, and Moss broke into a slow trot out of sheer exuberance, following the well worn path along the branch, with Kel in hot pursuit.

  Soon the next big rising trunk was reached, and they carefully edged their way around it and were on to the next branch which was a very long one, disappearing off into the wisps of rising morning mist from the forest below.

  Two trunks later and the pathway was no more, there being no sign of wear due to feet padding along on the quest for food or anything else.

  ‘We’d better take a little more care now,’ said Kel, ‘as this branch hasn’t been used by the look of it, and we don’t know if it’s safe.’ Moss agreed, and the pace was reduced to a steady walk, both explorers looking from side to side for anything which might threaten them.

  Halfway along the next branch their way was barred by a curtain of Whip Vines, hanging down from the dizzy heights above and forming a solid screen of twitching tendrils, each one capable of dealing a death blow if given half a chance.

  ‘That’s a good start to our adventure.’ commented Moss, seemingly unperturbed at the sight.

  ‘It could hold us up for some time, as we will have to cut so many of them down, and then wait for the juice to dry on the branch before crossing the area’ Kel added.

  ‘Not for very long.’ Moss called back as he reached up with his blade tipped stave, and brought the first of the vines crashing down like a live writhing snake, to slip over the edge of the branch and go twirling and twisting down to the forest floor so far below.

  They had cleared a small passageway through the curtain very quickly, allowing just enough room for them to pass the nearest vines without stimulating them into their lethal action of whipping out sideways and encompassing anything within reach.

  ‘The branch is soaking wet with the juice,’ Kel said, ‘and will take ages to dry.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ Moss replied, ‘we can still get though. See that big plant over there in the crotch of the main branch and the side one? Well the leaves are harmless, so if we cut some down, pile them up and put them over our heads it will protect us from the dripping juice, and then as we go forward, we take them off one at a time, turn them over and place them on the branch to cover up the juice.’

  ‘Wish I’d thought of that.’ Kel mumbled to himself as he cut the first giant leaf down.

  It didn’t take them long to work their way through the wriggling curtain of death, and were soon out the other side, none the worse for the chance they had taken.

  ‘Just in case you thought I had made that little trick up on the spur of the moment, it has been the normal way of dealing with the Whip Vines in my group for some time now, as we have a lot of them in our area.’ Kel felt a little better for having been told that, and showed it with a nod of his head.

  Several more rising main trunks and their lateral branches later, Kel called for a rest. The packs they were carrying were not very heavy, but they were not used to even that little extra weight, and found it tiring.

  ‘How far do you think we shall have to go before we come across a change in the forest? Moss asked, ‘Not that I’m bored with our travels, as there is always something different to see.’

  ‘I don’t really know, but the first thing would probably be one of the Death Sand patches, according to our Story Teller, or maybe some unknown new life form.’

  As the Greater Sun was now nearly overhead,
they decided to scout around for their midday meal, and soon had a collection of fruits and berries piled up on the branch.

  ‘Must say, this is more interesting than what I was doing before.’ said Moss.

  ‘And what was that,’ asked Kel.

  ‘Nothing much.’ and they both laughed out loud, sending several creatures scurrying for cover who were not used to such a noise.

  Having taken their meal, the pair were on their feet again and heading out in the same direction Mec had suggested, having first checked with the Direction Pointer to make sure.

  By late afternoon, they had long ago left the forest they knew, and several new plants appeared on the branches, although the trees themselves seemed the same.

  The Water Plants were still in abundance as were many of the fruits they were familiar with, so food and water were no problem, but would not remain so for much longer.

  The Greater Sun suddenly lost its light quickly, and this usually heralded a rain storm.

  ‘Let’s cut some of those giant leaves down so that we can shelter under them, as I see no point in getting our things or ourselves wet.’ It was Moss’s turn to look surprised at Kel’s suggestion, but they both set to with a will to collect enough leaves to keep them dry, and a few left over.

  ‘Why not put the leftover leaves around the sides, so hiding us from anything which might come along.’ suggested Moss.

  ‘Two good new ideas in one day is a bit too much.’ replied Kel with a chuckle, arranging the spare leaves to form a box-like structure around them, and only just in time as the first large rain drops began to fall.

  It was just as well they had made some kind of shelter, for the storm raging overhead was one of the worst in living memory.

  Lightning ripped through the upper levels, setting fire to some of the trees which had died, but had been held up by their neighbours for so long.

  Flaming fire brands whizzed past them, and twisting their way down through the canopy from trees which had exploded when the lightning struck their wet cores, sending showers of sparks in all directions.

  The two travellers cowered beneath their leaf shelter, dry for the time being, but shocked by the cacophony of sounds which assailed their ears and the unusually heavy deluge of water.

  The screech of creatures even more terrified than the sheltering pair, rent the air, mingled by the echoes of the trees ripped asunder by the force of the storm, and the terrible power of the electric discharges.

  There was nothing they could do but wait out the storm, and wonder what had happened to their groups who would be soaked by now, and running about like scared Screech Birds and probably falling off the wet and slippery branches.

  Having spent it’s fury on the forest top, the storm slowly moved away, only the soaking wet vegetation and the plumes of smoke rising up from the fire brands which had landed on wide branches and not made it down to the forest floor told of the destruction which must have occurred in the upper levels.

  Finally the rain stopped, with occasional large drips descending from the foliage above as leaves bent under the weight of water they had trapped, sending their loads cascading ever downwards.

  ‘Well, we’re dry at least. And probably the only two things in the forest which are,’ Moss added, ‘except possibly Mec, I doubt if anything catches him by surprise.’

  ‘It would have to be up very early in the morning to do so.’ responded Kel.

  They set about rearranging the giant leaves to hide their presence completely, and then Kel suggested that they took it in turns to keep watch and sleep, just in case something they were not used to came along.

  Just before the dawn broke, something large and rustley came by, and Kel who was on watch touched Moss on the arm to wake him. They both stood, hidden in their leaf hideout with blade tipped staves at the ready, but whatever it was passed them by. Neither of them slept any more that night.

  The first meal of the new day went down well, and both were in a cheerful mood. The branches had dried out during the night, and they hadn’t been eaten, or even bitten for that matter.

  ‘Things can only get better after that storm.’ Kel offered as a conversational opening piece, but Moss had his mouth too full to do more than just nod his head and do his best to grin without spilling too much juice from the fruit he was eating.

  Soon they were on their way again, after first checking that the Direction Pointer and that they were on the correct heading. The branches between the main rising trunks were getting longer and thinner, although they were still wide enough for a safe path to be trodden, and the pair hurried along aware that something had changed, but were not sure what it was.

  Moss suddenly gave the signal to stop, and Kel nearly ran into the back of him as he had been looking the other way when Moss raised his hand in silent signal. After they had disentangled themselves again, Moss said,

  ‘I know what it is, we must be getting closer to the Greater Sun, it’s a lot lighter here.’

  ‘Or the top of the forest is not so high above us now.’ retorted Kel, who long ago had realized that the Greater Sun was always the same distance away, and the light level depended on how high up in the forest you were.

  ‘Yes, could be.’

  They hurried along the now thinning branch, eager to see what other changes there were to be found which Mec had not told them about, or even knew of himself. They were not disappointed. Suddenly, the Greater Sun burst forth upon them, causing them to shield their eyes against the glare, and stop in their tracks.

  As their eyes got used to the increased light level, they could see that the forest was thinning out to a few wispy trees which were nothing like the ones they had been travelling through, and in the distance they could see a great area of yellow sand.

  ‘That must be the Death Sands Mec told us about. He said we mustn’t go any nearer than we are now, this is where the trees change to those ugly looking stumpy ones, and they lead right down to the Sands themselves.’ Kel wasn’t one for taking chances.

  ‘We’ll have to go around them then, that’s if we want to carry on in that direction.’ Moss said, a little disappointed that they would have to go some distance before they would again be heading in the correct direction according to Mec’s instructions.

  They turned and back tracked some way until the trees looked a little more familiar, and then reset the Direction Pointer to take them east of the Death Sands, and hopefully past them.

  Speeding on, now that they were on wider branches, the pair had covered a considerable distance when they stopped for the midday meal, and it was as they did so that the next surprise in store for them became evident.

  In a clearing just ahead, a giant block-like stone reared up into the sky, tree branches growing into and through the holes which were dotted about its surface.

  ‘Do we eat, or go and have a look?’ asked Moss, with a slight hesitation in his voice.

  ‘Eat first, in case we have to run for it and feel faint from lack of food.’ Kel replied, sensibly.

  They ate, but not with the enthusiasm that usually accompanied the meal time, the strange block ahead had taken their interest above all else.

  ‘All right, let’s go carefully, there may be something unpleasant in there, and it may not have eaten as we have.’

  As they approached the great stone monolith, a silence descended upon the area. There were none of the usual sounds of the forest, the little rustles and squeaks, the odd scream as something larger ate something smaller and then belched.

  ‘If we go along that branch, we will be able to go into the same hole the branch goes into, and if we don’t like what we see, it will be easy to get out again quickly.’ Moss took the lead, and they cautiously entered the block.

  ‘It’s like a kind of tree cave, only very much bigger.’ Moss called out, his voice strangely echoing around the huge space, causing the hair on his back to stand up.

  ‘I can climb down this side branch and reach the flat level below. If
I’m careful.’ he added as an afterthought.

  Some moments later they were both on the flat surface of a giant room, with square walls on every side and a big opening in two of them. Going over to one of the holes in the wall, they were surprised to find another huge room, and what looked like even more rooms leading off that one.

  ‘It looks as if it’s made of stone, but I’ve never seen stone of this size before, and so flat. Stones are usually rough or knobbly or even round, or at least, the ones I’ve seen brought up from the forest floor were.’ said Moss, running his hand over the nearly smooth surface.

  ‘I wonder if this is a leftover from the time of the giants which Mec was telling us about, ’cos it looks as if it has been made rather than brought about by nature.’

  ‘This place doesn’t feel right.’ a nervous Kel commented as they walked from room to room, ‘I don’t think we should be here, there’s something about it which makes me feel very uneasy.’

  ‘Why are there so few leaves on the surface we are walking on, where have they gone? It should be knee deep in droppings from the trees I would have thought.’

  As Moss didn’t have answer for that, he remained silent. They finally lost their collective nerve when they came to a huge dark hole which went down to what they assumed would be the forest floor. A cold dank smell wafted up every now and again, and the inky blackness below them seemed to have a strange beckoning effect, as if something wanted them to jump down the shaft.

  ‘Come on,’ said Moss, ‘we should be all right as long as we keep our wits about us, let’s go as far as we can to see what’s at the end of this place. As long as we have a branch to climb out on, we should be safe enough.’

  They walked on from to room to room until an opening far larger than the square ones in the walls came into view.

  ‘This looks like the end of it.’ said Moss, fearlessly going up to the huge gap in the otherwise flat walls.

  ‘This is different, it looks as if the stone has been melted and run down the side of the place.’