Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Part Eleven
Part Twelve
Part Thirteen
Part Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen:
“Do
you want me to go up first?” Raynold asked when Alyssa seemed daunted by the
height she had to climb.
But
Alyssa shook her head. “You may need to catch me if I fall,” She explained with
a crooked grin.
“I’m
afraid I wouldn’t do much more than pad your fall,” Raynold laughed softly,
aware that the quickly kindled tempers of the gliefs would be what fell on them
if they saw the three humans trying to wrest a prisoner from their clutches.
“No,
you go last Raynold,” Alyssa said. “I’ll go first.”
“Which
leaves me stuck in the middle while you’re busy dropping loose rocks on me,”
Diana said a faint teasing smile lingering on her features.
Alyssa
grinned. “I’ll try not to.”
“But
you will,” Diana answered. “You know you will. You can’t really help it.”
“Whatever,”
Alyssa shrugged and began climbing.
It
was difficult to say the least. The slippery rock provided few handholds and
even fewer footholds. Alyssa lost count of the times that it had seemed only a
breath of wind would be needed to send her plummeting to the bottom. Sweat
beaded her forehead and dripped off the end of her nose. It itched horribly,
but she didn’t dare bring a hand away from her already precarious hold to
scratch it. Inch by inch she wormed her way up the rock.
So
far, the gliefs hadn’t seen them. Their dark clothing helped camouflage them,
but it didn’t help keep them cool. Alyssa’s hands were slippery from the sweat
and she closed her mind from her surroundings so that she could concentrate on
the difficult task of climbing. Once in a while she looked up to see how close
she was getting to the marked cave, but their progress was disappointingly slow
and soon she gave up and simply kept steadily climbing.
Because
of this, she was so astonished to find herself automatically grasping the edge
of the rock and pulling herself over onto a level floor that she almost fell
off the temporary safety. She had found and climbed onto the ledge outside the
marked cave.
Alyssa
gasped, momentarily stunned that their climb had actually succeeded. Then she
remembered her friends and quickly turned to help them get up as well.
First
Diana arrived, gasping for breath and her face ashen. When Alyssa practically
pulled her up onto the ledge she sat next to the opening of the cave, trembling
and panting from the exercise and tension she had just been through.
Raynold
pulled himself up, with only a little help from Alyssa, but even he looked a
bit shaken.
They
sat for a moment, composing themselves after their short period of being so
close to death. Alyssa glanced down the face of the mountain they had just
climbed and shuddered, drawing herself away from it.
“I
can’t believe we actually climbed up that,” She said.
Diana
moaned. “I don’t even want to look down.”
Alyssa
gave her a shaky smile. “If I had known what I was getting myself into when I
started climbing, I don’t think I would have had the nerve to try,” She admitted
honestly.
“Well,”
Raynold agreed, “I’m certainly glad it’s over and we’re all still alive and
safe.”
“Amen
to that!” Diana muttered fervently.
Just
then, someone walked from the cave and into the sunlight outside.
*************************************************************************************
Alice
had dozed off, exhausted with worry and fear. She awoke sometime later to the
sound of something, or someone climbing onto the ledge outside her cave. Now
wide awake, she sat up and glanced around for Eliana. She was nowhere to be
seen.
“Eliana!”
Alice hissed towards the darker corners of the cave. Still, no answer. “Of
course she has to disappear right when I actually want her near me,” Alice
muttered in frustration. “I can’t believe this.”
She
looked around her again, this time in search for some sort of weapon. A loose
rock appeared to be the only thing that would work effectively and so armed
with this, she made her way to the opening of the cave feeling only a fraction
safer with the rock in her hands.
Walking
outside, she suddenly saw who it was and dropped her weapon in her astonishment
before immediately swooning at her sister’s feet.
*************************************************************************************
“Alice!”
Alyssa cried, dashing forward and catching her sister before she fell to her
death on the rocks below. She patted her twin’s cheeks in consternation. “Alice,
are you ok?”
Raynold
crawled over and looked Alice over. “She’s only fainted,” He explained in a
matter-of-fact tone. “She’ll be herself in a few minutes. The reason she
fainted was probably because she was so shocked to see you again.”
Alyssa
felt tears of relief streaming down her face, but she didn’t care. Her sister
was safe and with her again! She watched anxiously as her sister began showing
signs of recovery.
“Alyssa?”
The question was faint, but everyone heard it and Alyssa leaned over Alice
eagerly.
“Yes?
I’m right here Alice!” She said.
Alice
opened her eyes wide in astonishment. “I must be dead!” She said in a surprised
tone.
This
statement was so like something Alice
would say, that Alyssa burst out laughing. “No, you’re not dead. I’m really
here and it’s good to hear you being Alice again.”
Alice
sat up, fully conscious now and demanded to hear what had happened to them.
Alyssa began to tell her, but Raynold stopped her.
“We
should get inside the cave,” He admonished seriously. “The gliefs will see us
soon if we keep out in the open like this.”
The
girls knew he was right and they quickly obeyed his suggestion by entering the
cave. Alice again voiced her desire to hear what had been happening to them
after she had been carried away, and Alyssa filled her in on their adventures
up to seeing Alice come out of the cave and having her faint in surprise.
“Now
tell me what has happened to you!” Alyssa exclaimed once she had finished their
tale.
“There’s
not much to tell,” Alice answered with a shrug. “I was carried away by the
glief, put in this cave and then I met Eliana and she told me too…”
Alyssa
held up a hand. “Wait a minute. Who’s Eliana?”
Alice
gasped. “Oh my goodness! I completely forgot to tell them about her!”
“Yes,
you did,” Alyssa answered. “Diana and Raynold still have no idea who you’re
talking about.”
“I
am so sorry!” Alice said, giving an apologetic look towards her two friends. “Let
me explain who Eliana is.”
But
thankfully, Eliana saved her the trouble by appearing suddenly inside the cave.
“Who
are you talking to Alice?” She asked, becoming visible suddenly in the soft
light of the candle that Alyssa had just finished lighting.
Alice
quickly rattled off introductions. “Eliana, this is my twin sister Alyssa and
my two friends Diana and Raynold. Everybody, this is Eliana, the person I was
supposed to tell you about.”
Polite
exchanges of greetings took place before Alice finally tried to satisfy her
curiosity. “Where were you Eliana? I looked everywhere for you!”
Eliana’s
eyes sparkled in silent amusement, but she didn’t really answer Alice’s
question. Instead she said, “I should be allowed to keep some secrets Alice.”
“Oh,
I suppose,” Alice replied with an aggravated shrug. “I thought I would ask
anyways.”
“So…”
Diana studied Eliana critically, “who are you?”
Eliana
drew herself up and answered, “I am Eliana, Guardian and Keeper of the Fire Stone.”
Diana’s
eyes widened and she glanced over at the twins.
Raynold
leaned towards the young woman, eagerness shining from his eyes. “You are the guardian?”
He asked.
Eliana
nodded with a smile.
“You
know where the Fire Stone is then?”
Again,
Eliana nodded.
“Can
you bring us to it?”
Eliana
hesitated. She glanced around the small circle of humans. Slowly, she nodded
again.
Raynold’s
eyebrows shot up in surprise. “It’s near here then?”
Slowly,
Eliana nodded.
“How
near?”
“About
ten feet.”
“What!?!”
Alice gasped out.
“Straight
down,” Eliana explained, smiling at the look of astonishment on the girls’
faces.
“But
you could bring us to it?” Raynold persisted.
“Yes…”
Eliana answered slowly. “But it will be difficult.”
“When
has that ever stopped us?” Alice asked ruefully.
“What
are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Alyssa exclaimed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love it when you comment, but please leave a name. Thank you! :)