Shadow Tree (19 page)

“I knew it!” shouted the bearded man. A tide of prisoners surged forward and began pressing up the stairs. The prisoners ran towards the group of Dragoonya who were just beginning to exit the stairwell. In the angry melee that ensued, Marta and Alfonso dashed out of the fort and headed back to the airship.

As they ran, Alfonso couldn't help but suppress a grin. “It really is a good thing we're not getting married!” yelled Alfonso.

“Why not?” yelled Marta.

“Because you'd destroy me!” said Alfonso. “You're a wrecking ball!”

“Aw, come on now!” yelled Marta. “I'm just a nine-year-old pipsqueak, right? Besides, don't be so happy. We didn't find any kerosene back there and I think we just made those guys really, really mad.”

Chapter 32: The Way Down

Hill and Naomi had been hiding in the small utility closet for almost two hours now. The old wooden floor was cold and the air smelled of damp rotting rope. The room was dark, except for a faint glow of light emanating from the space between the floor and the bottom of the door. Hill sat, legs folded up against his chest, and stared at Naomi – studying her face, trying to discern what he saw in her eyes. When he had asked Bilblox whether they could trust her, Bilblox had replied simply, “You can trust me.”
But what about her?
Hill wanted to believe that everything would be okay, but his intuition told him something was amiss.

“They've been gone a while,” said Naomi. She sounded worried.

“I am sure they're just waiting for the right moment,” said Hill as reassuringly as he could. “In a situation like ours, the natural tendency is to rush and to panic – but that's exactly what'll get us caught. We just have to be patient.”

Truth be told, Hill didn't know what was taking Bilblox and Resuza so long. They had left over two hours ago with the aim of finding a safe way down to the ground below. Naomi had told them that the Dragoonya used a primitive system of elevators, in which old rowboats were hoisted up and down via a system of ropes, pulleys, and counterweights. The elevators were self-operated. According to Naomi, you simply got into one of these rowboats and operated an old-fashioned winch to lower yourself down to the ground. The challenge for them, of course, was to do this without being seen by anyone. Naomi suggested that they hide somewhere – that somewhere ended up being the utility closet – and then wait for a quiet moment, when no one was watching, in which they could make their descent unnoticed. Bilblox said he'd be the lookout and Resuza quickly volunteered to go with him. This was smart, thought Hill, just so they made absolutely sure that Bilblox wasn't leading them into a trap. You could never be too careful.

“Tell me about the town where you and Resuza grew up,” said Hill in a whisper.

“Why?” asked Naomi somewhat standoffishly.

“Because I'm curious,” said Hill kindly. “And because sitting here in the silence isn't all that much fun, wouldn't you agree?”

“I don't really remember much,” said Naomi reluctantly.

“What do you remember?”

Naomi sighed deeply. “I remember that I lived in a round little hut – we called them
gers
– I don't
know what you would call them,” she said finally. “It was my parents, me, and Resuza. Dad herded reindeer. Mom, well, mainly she stayed with us.”

“Your mother,” said Hill, “What was her name?”

Naomi paused. The questioned seemed to rattle her. She became flustered for a moment and then her eyes grew moist. She struggled to regain her composure and then she uttered her mother's name. “Yolanda,” said Naomi. “Her name was Yolanda.”

“You were close?”

“Yes,” said Naomi. “We had a good life until they came...”

“The Dragoonya?”

Naomi nodded.

“How old were you?” asked Hill.

“I don't know,” said Naomi. “I couldn't even say – not more than four years old I would guess. I can remember it though. I wish I didn't, but I do. They burned the town with their torches. Sometimes I can still smell the scent of the rooftops burning. And I remember mom and dad lying in the street. I was too scared to move. That's when Resuza left me.”

Hill said nothing for a moment or two.

“That must have been very hard on you,” said Hill finally.

“It was,” said Naomi, so softly that Hill could barely hear her. “I'll never forget standing there all alone, by myself, staring at mom and dad in the street. I kept calling out for Resuza, but she never came.”

“She's here now,” said Hill hopefully.

“Yes,” said Naomi wearily. “I know.”

There was a very long silence.

“Please don't blame her,” said Hill finally.

“I don't,” said Naomi. She pursed her lips and smiled slightly as she said this, but something about her smile made Hill very uneasy.
Why is she lying?
Hill again felt a feeling of foreboding. It was obvious that Naomi was bitter, but was she so bitter that she would betray her own sister? Resuza would never even consider such a possibility, but Hill had to.

“Naomi,” said Hill, as tenderly as he could, “Resuza has been looking for you ever since that day. She spent her whole life trying to find you. I can't image how hard it has been for you, and I have no idea what's going through your head, but you mustn't let your own hurt and pain lead you to do something that you will regret. Resuza is your sister – you're joined by the bond of blood. You have to help her.”

“That's why I am here,” said Naomi slowly as if in a trance.

“I think we both know why you're here,” ventured Hill. “But it's never too late to change your mind.”

Hill paused after he said this, waiting and hoping that she would get angry and proclaim her innocence – but she made no reply.

Just then the door to the closet swung open and Bilblox stuck his head in. “The coast is clear,” said Bilblox excitedly. “We gotta go now – come on.”

Hill and Naomi followed Bilblox along the main deck of a small ship that looked as if once, long ago, it might have been a fishing vessel. When they came to the mainmast there was a small boat, known as a cockboat, rigged with ropes and pulleys and pressed into service as an elevator. Bilblox walked right past it.

“Wait,” called Naomi, “Where are you...”

Bilblox turned and gave her a fierce look, indicating that she should shut her mouth right this instant. Bilblox continued until he came to the pointy front of the ship, known as the bowsprit, and peered over the edge.

“What now?” asked Hill.

“Have a look,” said Bilblox.

Hill and Naomi peered over the edge. There was a small rope ladder that dangled downward and dropped into another cockboat, this was one significantly smaller than the first, but also equipped with ropes and pulleys. Unlike the first cockboat, however, this boat was not rigged to drop straight down like an elevator; instead, it was attached to a long rope that made its way down to the ground – not vertically – but at a forty-five-degree angle, so that the boat would slant its way downward the way a gondola slopes down the side of a mountain. Resuza was already waiting for them in the cockboat.

“It's too small,” said Naomi.

“No it's not,” said Bilblox. “It'll work – get in.”

“This wasn't the plan,” said Naomi.

“The plan is whatever I say it is,” snapped Bilblox. “Now get inside.”

Hill watched the two of them arguing.
What was going on here?
For a moment it looked as if Naomi was going to refuse to go with them, but finally she sighed, and scurried down the ladder into the cockboat. Hill and Bilblox followed.

“How does this thing work?” asked Hill.

“This thing here is the arm,” said Resuza pointing to a metal pole that shot up from the center of the cockboat like a mast. “It has wheels on top that run along the top of the main rope allowing the boat to descend like a cable car.” Hill nodded. “And you control your speed using this winch,” explained Resuza, as she pointed to
a large wooden cylinder at the stern of the cockboat which was coiled with rope. “You just unlock the winch and the boat will slide down the line.”

“Let's go,” said Bilblox as he stepped down into the boat. He had two very large packs
on his shoulder.

“What's in there?” asked Resuza.

“Some supplies that I found,” he replied. “We're gonna need ‘em.” Resuza nodded, moved to the stern of the boat, and pulled a small rusting lever on the side of the winch. The entire boat jolted and then began to slide down the rope toward the ground below. The boat operated like an open-air cable car. Everything was going quite well until everyone heard a sudden pop, which sounded like metal snapping under pressure. Suddenly the cockboat began to build speed. Rope whizzed out of the winch at a dizzying speed as they shot down toward the ground below.

“You should have listened to me!” Naomi shouted. Bilblox did not reply. He knew they were going too fast, but he had no interest in having an argument – especially right now, when they were hurtling towards the frozen tundra with absolutely no way of slowing down. Hill, Resuza, and Naomi gripped onto the gunnels of the cockboat in stunned silence. “We'll be fine,” Bilblox shouted above the howling of the wind. “Just hold on tight. The snow will cushion our impact.”

“This wasn't the plan!” Naomi shouted.

At that moment, the wooden basket hit the ground and the sides shattered. Pieces of wood flew off into the distance and the occupants all tumbled heavily to the ground. Tiny particles of snow rose into the air around them and seemed to hover there, like instant fog.

Chapter 33: Seal the Ship

As soon as he heard shouting from the fort, Leif sprang to his feet in a fit of panic. Korgu reacted even quicker. The wolf sprang through a small open window and started running towards the fort. Leif followed seconds later, and Nathalia – with Kolo in tow – followed on his heels. As they ran towards the fort, two teenagers burst out of it and began running towards them. Momentarily confused, Leif and the others quickly realized they were Marta and Alfonso.

Korgu narrowed the distance to them quickly, and greeted them with a wagging tail. They all came together on the wind and snow swept plains in front of the fort.

“What happened?” demanded Leif.

“Going to the fort wasn't the best idea after all,” said Marta. “And we didn't make any friends.”

“We have to leave for the forest now,” gasped Alfonso. “The Dragoonya in the fort are after us. We have to leave now!”

They all started running back to the ship together.

“It's dark!” yelled Kolo, as he ran. “We can't enter the forest. I won't! Go, and leave me with the airship.” He paused to gasp for air, as he struggled to keep up with the others. “I've kept my end of the bargain.”

“Be quiet,” said Nathalia.

“But we had a deal!” Kolo protested.

“We still do,” said Nathalia. “You'll get it, once we're done using it.”

As they continued running back towards the ship, they heard more shouting; it sounded as if it were coming from the roof of the fort. It was the Dragoonya, who had spotted them and were quickly closing in. Korgu turned and raced directly towards the Dragoonya. They wavered at the sight of this monstrous wolf coming towards them. Clearly, they were also spooked by the presence of wolves. Korgu leapt onto the closest Dragoonya soldier, who screamed in terror. That was enough. The rest of the Dragoonya bolted back to the fort. By the time Alfonso and the others had returned to the airship, Korgu had caught up with them.

“Good pup!” yelled Leif. They soon got into the airship. Nathalia began working the controls and the airship lifted into the sky.

“Where to?” asked Leif.

“Dargora,” said Nathalia. “I'll try to get us as far as I can, but we don't have much fuel left.” A blast of wind rattled the ship. Nathalia struggled to hold a steady course. Below them they could see the Dragoonya fort. A group of men were running around on the roof of the fort, but it was impossible to see what they were up to. As they drew closer to the stone forest, the ship began to pitch and yaw erratically. Everyone looked at Nathalia, who was visibly struggling to maneuver the ship.

“Don't know what's happening,” she muttered. “It's some sort of wind surge that's getting stronger as we near the forest.” That was an understatement. Wind began pounding the aircraft, shaking it violently. Leif held on to the couch, which, thankfully, was nailed to the floor. Kolo clung to a chair and screamed. Nathalia braced herself in her seat and worked the levers that controlled the ship. Just then a monstrous gust of wind slammed into the ship causing it to plummet downward. Another came moments later, and it felt like a giant hand had slapped the side of the aircraft. Parts of the ship that had been tied down were knocked loose.

Suddenly, the ship lurched again,

“Turn us around!” screamed Kolo. He was trying to wrestle the ship's controls away from Nathalia. His eyes were ablaze with panic. “We'll never make it!” Nathalia was trying to hold him at bay with one arm and steer the ship with the other; but it wasn't working and the ship quickly went into a nosedive.

Alfonso, Leif, and Marta watched on helplessly. The ship was now spiraling downward and the g-force had pinned them to their seats. Suddenly, the petrified forest came into full view. Directly in front of them was a vast field of stone pillars. The pillars were massively thick, and hundreds of feet high. It almost looked as if someone had ripped the ceiling off the biggest temple in the world and now all that remained were the giant support columns – millions of them. Many of these trees, perhaps as many as a third of them, had a canopy of branches at the top, which looked like intricate spider webs made of stone. The ground of the forest, rather curiously, was not visible because it was shrouded in a heavy blanket of fog.

The ship screamed downward, riding a rollicking downdraft of wind, shooting in-between two massive stone pillars and into the Petrified Forest. Nathalia finally managed to free herself of Kolo's grip by kicking him in the stomach. Kolo fell to his knees and began to vomit. Nathalia regained control of the ship momentarily, slalomed around several pillars, and managed to navigate the ship back out of the forest. For a moment, it looked as if she might even avoid crashing, but then the wind took hold of the vessel again and slammed it down into a huge bank of powdery snow. There was an explosion of snow spraying everywhere and then, as the ship skidded along the ground, the snow crashed through the front windshield of the ship and poured into the cabin. Nathalia was knocked to the floor. For a moment she lay deathly still, then, gingerly, she stood up.

“Is everyone okay?” she asked.

Kolo sat huddled in a corner, staring vacantly at the wall. Leif was massaging his head and appeared bruised, but very much alive. He had a gash on his forehead that was bleeding, but not excessively so. Alfonso and Marta slowly got up as well, but looked to be in no worse shape than Leif.

Leif went outside and struggled to get his bearings. They were currently situated just inside the Petrified Forest amidst the first, neat row of giant stone pillars rising up into the sky. About a hundred feet further in, a blanket of fog obscured what lay beyond. It appeared to be around seven feet tall, and it covered the entire forest floor like a vast gauzy blanket, which undulated with the wind. To his right, Leif saw a great sprawling open field of snow stretching back to the Dragoonya Fort.

Leif turned to Nathalia and asked, “Any chance this ship can still fly?”

She looked doubtful. “Hard to say,” she eventually replied.

“Well we should...” began Leif, but he was interrupted by the sound of a lone distant howl – a piercing, mournful cry – the kind of awful noise that sucks the wind from your lungs. Leif, Nathalia, Alfonso, and Marta looked up. The lone howl lingered in the air, ringing in their ears even after the sound itself had died. Then came a chorus of howls. These weren't the calls of coyotes or wolves. They started off deeper, rich with base – almost like the growl of a tiger – and gradually became sharper and more horribly shrill. They all looked at Korgu. She was intently alert, every hair on end. But she also seemed a bit scared, which was the most frightening of all. Korgu was
never
scared.

“What in God's name is that?” asked Leif.

“The fog wolves,” said a voice from behind them. It was Kolo. He was still huddled in the corner and the vacant look was still very much in his eyes. “They're running from their caves and into the forest – that's what they do at night.”

“We need to seal the ship,” said Alfonso.

No one needed any more convincing than this. They began to seal any and all possible entryways. The ship's doors, both the one in front and the one in back, were intact. Nathalia closed both doors and locked them. Marta pulled up a loose floorboard and used it to block off the ship's largest window. Meanwhile, Leif and Alfonso ripped the couch from the floor, carried it to the cockpit, and pushed it into the gaping hole where the front windshield once was. Luckily, it was a decent fit, and with a few good kicks, the couch was wedged in very tightly. Because of the crash, much of the ship was actually buried in the snow, leaving them fairly well protected.

Then they sat still for a quarter of an hour. The minutes ticked by with excruciating slowness. It was very quiet in the ship. The snow was a good insulator and it effectively muffled any and all sounds from the outside world.