Chapter Five
The teens hiked west through the perilous rainforest the entire day, stopping occasionally to eat more purple fruit and to rest. They encountered many exotic and beautiful plants, birds and animals. Luckily, they didn't meet up with any more wild predators. The weather was pleasant, but they walked in fear, not knowing who or what they would meet up with.
“Why did you have to pick up that stupid book?” Katy asked angrily. “Why do I need to be risking my life here for nothing?”
“I’m sorry,” Andrew replied. “I was drawn to it. I don’t know how to explain it. I just felt an unstoppable urge to pick it up.”
“So it was like a magical force, compelling you to take it?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“Yeah right. Magic is a myth. There’s no such thing.”
“And how do you explain the book turning into a robe and sword?”
“Like I said, it must be advanced technology. Maybe nanotechnology. You know, matter rearranging itself into different forms at the atomic level. But you picking up the book, compelled by magic? Baloney.”
“And what about the fact that we were transported here, miles away from where we started? Also technology?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that I am in a scary forest with no way out, and it’s your fault Andrew.”
“I wish it would never have happened. There was nothing I could do.”
That night, the young travelers found another thick-limbed tree to sleep in, high up and out of the reach of most predators. They gathered a few giant, soft, colorful leaves to use as makeshift bedding on the hard bark and went to sleep.
Katy woke in middle of the night to the sounds of snarling animals emanating from the ground below them. She peered through the leaves and branches, and could make out a fight between two groups of animals; a large band of gorillas, and what appeared to be several giant eagles. The monstrous heads of the eagles were much larger than the heads of the fully grown gorillas. Though it was difficult for her to see anything clearly on the rainforest floor at night. The dense leaf canopy blocked out the moonlight almost completely.
Katy watched the fight, entranced. The gorillas struggled, but the eagles were very powerful, and ripped them apart limb for limb. They killed every one of the gorillas, ate their fill of the tough, stringy meat, and moved off. For some reason they only moved along the ground, and did not appear to fly. Fortunately, the ferocious animals didn't notice Katy and Andrew, who were hidden behind the branches and leaves of the tree they were in.
When the giant eagles were gone and fully out of earshot, Katy woke Andrew and told him of the gruesome scene she had just witnessed. They considered themselves lucky that they had made the choice to sleep high up in the tree that night. They could only imagine the terrifying possibility of what could have happened had they slept on the ground. Their soft, sweet human meat would be a nice meal for the giant eagles. If the mighty gorillas lost to the eagles, surely the much weaker humans would.
"Ironically, it was the wolves of last night who saved us tonight," said Andrew.
"How do you mean?" Katy asked.
"If not for them, we would've slept on the ground tonight, easy prey for those vicious eagles."
They went back to sleep, images of bizarre monsters; scarlet eagles, flying wolves, and gorillas with glowing eyes, inhabiting their dreams.
The hikers awoke soon after dawn, eager to begin the new day and make more headway in their search for civilization. They needed to leave the threatening forest that held them in dread as soon as possible. They would search for any civilization, primitive jungle tribe or sophisticated society. Any human contact would do for now. They ate a breakfast of purple diamond fruit once again, and resumed their desperate hike west.
"I always wanted to go on a safari in somewhere like Brazil," said Katy. "But I thought that it would be in a jeep, and on a trail, accompanied by a fully armed and equipped guide. This is intense! A terrifying creature could be hiding behind the next tree trunk."
"Yes," said Andrew. "Even with a jeep, on a trail, and armed with guns is an intense enough safari for me. The only thing more intense and risky than what we are doing now would have to be something like bungee jumping off a tall building! We're easy prey for any wild predator out here. Let's pray we don't meet up with one."
"I just wish that we knew why we were brought here," said Katy.
"Yeah, me too," Andrew agreed. "It must've been an evil sorcerer, luring innocent people to a wild place like this. Hey Katy, maybe that's why we're here. To stop him. To hunt him down and put an end to this."
"I don't know Andrew. I don't think we're here for any reason at all. I just want to go home."
They continued hiking. Before long they encountered a deep, narrow ravine, about two hundred feet deep and twenty feet across. It cut deeply across the rainforest floor, like a huge gash in nature.
The ravine ran in a north-south direction. Andrew walked to the edge, and looked down. Its walls were as steep as sheer cliffs. There was no visible way in or out, save a direct jump down to the bottom, two hundred feet below.
Katy turned towards Andrew. "So we walk north or south along the edge until the end of this ravine, and then continue on west, right?"
"Hang on. I may have an idea of how to get across, but it would probably be a bit dangerous. Give me a moment to work it out, okay?" Andrew requested.
"Danger's my middle name," said Katy brightly.
Andrew studied the branches that hung out over the ravine, calculating angles and trajectories in his head. When he pinpointed a branch that was suitable for his idea, he walked back, away from the ravine and into the forest, in search of a long, thick vine. It needed to be longer than thirty-five feet, and thick enough to hold their weight for the plan to work.
When he found a vine that met the right measurements, he cut it with his sword and dragged it back towards the edge of the ravine. He tied the vine around his arm and climbed up the target tree. Then Andrew went out on the limb he had chosen, untied the vine from his arm, and tied it to the branch with a strong sailor's knot.
Andrew climbed down.
"Okay Katy, if we stand on that branch," Andrew indicated a branch that was farther into the forest than the one the vine was tied to, "we can swing clear across the ravine, using this branch as a pivot, and hopefully land on those bushes over there on the western side, which will cushion our fall. Whichever of us goes first will tie a rock to the vine, and toss it back over."
"It sounds like fun, but is it really necessary?" Katy asked. "It's risky. We could easily miss the bushes, and the vine or branch could break. Instead, we could simply walk along the edge of this ravine until it ends. For all we know, civilization may be that way anyway."
"You're right. It is an unnecessary risk. We should walk to the end of the ravine instead. It's much safer."
At that moment the teens heard a fearsome roar coming from close by. They turned. Not one hundred yards away, three ferocious, blue beasts charged through the trees straight at them.
"Oh no, more monsters," Katy moaned.
Andrew drew his sword and turned to face the beasts, only to re-sheath it a moment later. He would never stand against three of the terrifying creatures.
Quickly, the pair started climbing up the nearest tree, which also happened to be the very tree that Andrew had proposed they take off from. Andrew carried the thick vine with him. 'Here we go again', he thought, 'chased up a tree like a kitten.' None of the trees in the area grew the hard purple fruit that they had used to defeat the red-eyed beasts earlier. They would need another solution now.
Andrew and Katy stopped climbing about midway up. Andrew gazed down at their pursuers, who were now circling around the tree. The creatures were terrifying and beautiful at the same time, with the body of a jaguar, and the head of an eagle, like something straight out of Mayan mythol
ogy. They were mostly a pretty tiffany blue in color, spotted with darker blue in the same pattern as jaguar fur, only with a different color scheme. They had small wings on their backs which apparently they could not use for flying, like the wings of chickens and penguins. The creatures roared, and they were so loud that Andrew could practically feel it ruffle his hair.
"Maybe if we just wait, they'll go away," said Katy optimistically.
That's when the eaguars started to climb, leaping gracefully from branch to branch with the agility of the cats which they partly were.
"AAAAH!" Katy shrieked, the images of mangled, half eaten gorillas fresh in her memory. She screamed hysterically, "let'sgolet'sgolet'sgo!"
Andrew took Katy's hand and rushed to climb towards the take off branch. If they could make it in time, they could use it to get to safety.
The deafening roars of the eaguars grew dreadfully close. The animals had already covered more than half the distance between the ground and the teens. They wanted their food. And it was an easy catch.
Andrew tried climbing faster, but he had to wait for Katy, who was literally shaking and having trouble to focus sufficiently to continue climbing to the take-off branch.
At last they reached the take-off branch. Andrew quickly tied the vine around himself and a trembling Katy. The closest eaguar was only ten feet below them, leaping from branch to branch with grace. Andrew struggled with the knots, the thick vine hard to tie. "On the count of three, we jump, okay?"
Katy didn't respond. It was as if she hadn't heard him. But he was right next to her. Andrew was getting worried about her.
"Katy, I said, on the count of three, jump! okay?!" Andrew shouted.
This time he got through. Katy nodded her head vigorously.
"One, two, thraaargh!" Andrew cried out in agony as the lead eaguar sank its beak into his arm. Ignoring the pain, he jumped. They soared out over the deep ravine, hanging from the vine, which was itself attached to a branch, with the eaguar dangling by its beak from Andrew's arm, like some bizarre train.
When they were passing over the midpoint of the two hundred foot deep valley, the strength of the eaguars jaw gave way, and the animal plunged to its bloody death far below, too-small wings beating in futility. Andrew continued to ignore the horrible pain in his arm as they flew out over the other side of the ravine.
Then he realized that there was no pain. He wondered if that meant that his arm was bitten off entirely. He didn't dare look at what was surely a bloody mess of a limb.
A fraction of a second later, and the teens were only a couple of feet from the soft bushes on the western side. Andrew drew his sword and slashed the overhead vine, cutting them loose. They rocketed into the soft shrubbery.
The teens lay there in the bushes for a few moments, stunned by all that had just happened. Then Andrew extricated himself from the undergrowth. He realized that somehow his arm was intact, even after the horrible eaguar bite. But right now there were more important things to tend to.
Katy was not coming out from the bushes. She just sat there, trembling and shaking from their near horrible death experience. Otherwise, she wasn't moving, wasn't trying to get out of the undergrowth. She was still. Lifeless. It seemed that she was in state of severe shock. Andrew gently lifted her up and out of the bushes, and sat her down on the ground with her back to the terrifying eaguars on the other side, who were already running back into the forest, probably to find some gorillas to eat.
Andrew didn't know what to say to soothe Katy. It truly was a horrifying experience, and particularly for her, as she had saw with her own eyes what the eaguars were capable of. So he just sat next to her, arm around her shoulder, gently stroking her dark blond hair. Katy just stared blankly ahead, her green eyes wide open in shock.
Andrew felt a surge of anger towards whoever had caused this, whoever had brought them here into this horrible nightmare. Being alone in a strange place was bad enough. Being alone in a strange place where there were many, many creatures that could kill you was infinitely worse. Whoever had caused all this would have much explaining to do when it was over, to say the least. It was possible that they wanted the teens dead, for some reason. It certainly seemed that way.
After several minutes, Katy began to cry softly. Andrew took this as a good sign, a sign that she had started to connect more with the reality of their situation. Instead of zoning out, and disconnecting, she was zoning back in, and responding emotionally to what had happened. Which indicated that she was no longer in shock. It was only temporary, and not permanent, thank goodness.
He let her cry for a while, to let her sadness flow out through her tears.
"You were very brave," he told her. "You climbed the tree, and you agreed to do my wild stunt when it became necessary. I'm proud of you."
Katy smiled through her tears, for the first time since they saw the eaguars. She continued to cry for several more minutes though.
At last, she regained her composure. "Whew. We made it through. That was without a doubt more thrilling than any roller coaster ride I've ever been on! I'm sure glad that those creatures can't fly with those little wings of theirs!"
Andrew could tell that Katy was trying to put on a brave front, after she had broken down like that. He wanted to tell her that it was nothing to be ashamed of, that anyone would have acted the same way had they been in her situation. The only reason why Andrew wasn't affected like she was, was because he hadn't seen the eaguars tear apart the gorillas with ease with his own eyes. But telling her that would be tantamount to calling her a liar. So he let it slide.
Andrew wasn't sure if Katy had the strength to continue on. She was surely demoralized after all that had happened.
Then a whimpering sound was heard, coming from a nearby tree, close to the edge of the ravine. Katy went over to investigate. "Andrew, it's a puppy! The poor thing got stuck under a root. It's funny looking, in a cute way."
She freed the puppy from its imprisonment, and brought it to the shrubbery where they had been sitting. It was an adorable little thing, its long shaggy fur colored in beautiful shades of light green, blue, and lavender. It had big, floppy ears, and a small, cute nose. It looked like one of those stuffed animals that one can win at a carnival game or claw machine, come to life. The puppies' large violet eyes gazed up at Katy, full of love and trust.
As she held the puppy and pet it, something unusual happened. Katy felt her fear of the forest and its wild inhabitants ebb away, and the strength and courage to go on flow into her. The puppy gave her hope, and strength, as if the power of the great, shining sun was contained within its tiny body, parting the storm clouds of Katy's trepidation. "I think I'm going to keep her. I'll name her Bella."
"Now you have a souvenir to take back home with you," said Andrew.
"Yeah, to take back home," repeated Katy. She thought wistfully of home, living in her comfortable house, and sleeping in her cozy room, instead of the rough trees they were now forced to sleep in. She thought of eating normal food, instead of the pulpy, tangy fruit juice that they now had for meals three times a day.
"Do you think you're ready to continue?" Andrew asked.
Katy snapped out of her reverie. "Not five minutes ago I had absolutely no will to go back into the forest, after what just happened. But now, somehow I regained my resolve to resume our quest to find a way out of these immense woods. I don't know what changed, or why it did. Somehow, I think that this little puppy has caused a wonderful change in me. Like some kind of magic. I'm more than ready to resume our journey now."
"That's great," said Andrew. "It was good luck that we found that puppy, then. Also, another strange thing happened to me, a few minutes ago. When we jumped from the tree, one of the eaguars bit down directly on my arm. You said that you saw the mighty eaguars rip apart fully grown gorillas with their powerful beaks. I thought that my weak human arm was a goner for sure. But nothing happened to
it. Look, not even a scratch."
He pulled back his sleeve for her to see his unscathed arm.
"Maybe these animals can't hurt us, because we're not from their world," Katy said excitedly. "This whole time we've been so worried about them. But it could very well be that they couldn't even do anything to hurt us all along, since we're from another world!"
"That could be it. But I wouldn't risk letting our guard down around these vicious creatures. There may be another explanation."