The portions of the island visible from Cassandra's landing place were stunningly beautiful. She had come to shore in a natural harbour, protected somewhat from the open sea.
As she waded through the last few inches of water, pulling the boat behind her, she gazed around the beach; it looked as if it had been torn straight out of a travel catalogue.
The sand was white, very soft and fine, almost like powdered sugar. The sea, which lapped up in little waves over the shore was a deep, vibrant turquoise, like nothing she had encountered before.
Palm trees dotted along the dunes, their sweeping green fronds fluttering in the slight breeze.
The beach slopped slightly upwards, bordered as far as the eye could see by dense foliage. Rushing out from a gap in the trees was a large creek, which widened, eventually flowing out into the ocean, fresh water mingling with salty.
Cassandra had been knocking about through space and time for quite a while now, and was no stranger to exotic locales and spectacular views. But this place, this place was something special and it took her breath away. There was nothing she wanted to do more than park a deck chair next to a palm tree and spend the entire day enjoying the sun – an icy beverage in one hand and an excellent novel in the other.
She shook her head sadly, alas, it was not to be. She was on the job after all, so work first, vacation later. Also, while her bag was surprisingly spacious, it still wouldn't stretch to fitting a deck chair and a slushy machine.
She turned to take one last look at the bay. She could see the Jolly Roger, still moored there, the wind billowing the sails and fluttering the black flag. As far as she could see, no boats had been sent out to pursue her. When she had made her exit, she really had not be sure how Captain James Hook would respond. The man had an ego the size of Canada, and she was pretty sure that not getting his way was not something he was accustomed to. At least he hadn't sent out the cavalry at this point, it would have been rather inconvenient to have to scamper around unknown territory trying to dodge a horde of angry pirates.
She turned to look inland, towards the group of mountains which could be seen protruding from the forest. The first step, she decided, would be to scale one of them, and from that vantage point, take a good look around for any populated areas. Cassandra was not entirely sure who she was looking for. It was one of those annoying assignments where an alert comes in and you just get blasted off into time looking for the source. All new time agents recruited by the agency had a chip implanted in their skulls. The chips had two primary functions: one, they worked as a translation system, allowing for comprehension and fluency in almost every existing language. Two, in the event that someone went rogue and absconded with company technology, the chip would create a signal which could be tracked and followed by any agent assigned to the case. The tracking device attached to her wrist would alert her when she had discovered the rogue agent; unfortunately, however it only activated in a very close proximity, meaning, oh joy of joys, she would have to traipse over the entire place scanning for her prey.
Cassandra dragged the boat up the beach, her boots sinking into the sand as she went. She brought it just inside the tree line, where she tied it to the trunk of a palm tree and concealed it beneath some fallen fronds. She had some spares in her satchel, but it never hurt to have an emergency escape plan that no one else was aware of and that would still be available if one's possessions were thrown into a volcano to appease an angry god.
Satisfied with the concealment of her vessel, Cassandra began her trek towards the mountain, following the path of the creek. Inside the forest, the foliage was very thick, the canopy obscuring most of the sky, leaving the forest floor dark and shadowy. It certainly was not as pleasant as the beach, in fact it had a rather sinister air about it, and she could quite easily believe that there might be unimaginable horrors lurking behind every tree. Even the creek took on a more ominous aspect, becoming very wide and murky. At one point, she could have sworn she saw something large flash past, just under the surface of the water.
She pressed onwards, the trees leaning closer together and apparently growing spikier the nearer she reached the mountain. She was forced to move slightly away from the course of the creek, the banks had become steep and slippery, and the trees pressed too closely to the edge. After several hours of clambering over fallen trunks and dragging herself through thickets which grabbed at her hair and scratched her face, she arrived, rather dishevelled at the base of one of the mountains. The others in the range looked too tall and precipitous to tackle without equipment, but this one looked more manageable. She wouldn't be able to get a complete 360 degree view of the island, but at least she would be able to see more than her current position allowed. Closer to the base, its slopes were covered in foliage, becoming sparser as the altitude increased, leaving the summit mostly bare.
She looked up at it and gave a small groan. Manageable was in this case a relative term, the mountain was still very tall and quite steep as well. To top it all off, she had a persistent, dull ache in her lower back, courtesy of her rather bumpy landing. She considered making camp, and attempting it in the morning, but decided against it as the sun was still high, and it would really only be delaying the inevitable.
'Cheer up old thing,' she told herself, 'at least this isn't nearly as bad as the time you almost fell into Mount Vesuvius, or the time when you accidentally insulted Alexander the Great and had to book it while the entire Macedonian army hurled spears at you.'
She took a swig from the water bottle she had stashed in her bag, and then rather grudgingly began her ascent.
It took another two and a half hours to reach the summit. By the time she got there, she was perspiring, and her hair had frizzed up from the heat. She had removed the jacket, which was now tied low around her hips. She plopped herself down on a convenient boulder and downed some more water. It wasn't that she wasn't physically fit, it was just that it had been one steep mountain. She'd almost toppled into a crevice at one point. She pulled a piece of cloth out of her bag and used it to dab the sweat off her face and neck.
At least, her earlier assumption had been correct, and that the top did indeed afford her a splendid view of most of the island. Large portions of it were covered in the same kind of forest she had spent most of the morning clawing her way through. To her right, she could see a lagoon, and a bit further on, a rocky, oddly shaped island. To the left was more forest, but different, less tropical trees, in fact, it looked like a Pine forest. And, most interesting in her opinion, was what looked to be another, smaller island, joined to the larger one by a small spit of land. On it, she could see some kind of settlement, which must have been the one she glimpsed from the Jolly Roger. If anywhere was a logical next step, it was there.
By the time she made it down the mountain – it had been slow going, because the steep descent and loose gravel made footing treacherous, night was starting to fall.
It was obvious she would never make it to the settlement before it got dark. It was at least a day's walk away, maybe more.
Cassandra looked askance at the gloomy forest. There was no way she was sticking around down here to find out what kind of creatures came out at night. During the travels of the day, she hadn't encountered much wildlife, but she had caught glimpses of shadowy shapes, and seen other signs that she wasn't alone amongst the trees.
As dusk gathered around her, she climbed a tree. It was tall, with a thick trunk, and just enough branches to allow her to get up quite far. She settled herself into a place where two branches met, and using a piece of rope she always carried with her, she secured herself to the branch. She wrapped a piece of waterproof sheeting around herself and closed her eyes.
Sleep did not come easily that night, she dozed fitfully, all too alert to the rustles and peculiar sounds originating from below and around her. She only hoped, that whatever was down there hadn't discovered the knack of climbing trees.
She must have fallen into a relatively deep sleep at some point just before dawn however, because she was awoken sometime later by the rays of sun which slanted down through the leaves overhead. Groggily, Cassandra rubbed the sleep from her eyes. With clumsy fingers she untied the knot from around her waist and half climbed, half fell out of the tree. She lost her balance on the last branch, bruising her knees as she landed with a thump. Groaning, she struggled to her feet and leaned against the trunk of the tree. She was stiff, and sore, her back felt like it had been kicked by a horse and her legs still felt cramped from hours spent in a less than comfortable position.
Too many weeks off the job, lying on the couch eating cheese fries and watching Suits had clearly made her go a bit soft.
Cassandra ate some emergency rations, then deciding it was best to be on her way as swiftly as possible, seeing as how she had no desire to spend another night in a tree, shrugged her bag back over her shoulder and headed off in the direction of the settlement she had spotted the day before. As she wove her way through the trees, Captain Hook's words about blood-thirsty Indians echoed in her ears.
Late afternoon was fading into evening when she finally reached the strip of land which connected the two islands together. She had travelled the entire day, pausing only briefly to rehydrate at intervals. The landscape she had trekked through had been varied to say the least, through forests and valleys, over hills and under cliffs, as well as through one particularly memorable swamp, traces of which still clung to her attire.
Some of the flora and fauna had been recognisable, but much of it was strange and new, unidentifiable as anything found in botanical volumes of academia. This place was unnatural and more than a little unsettling.
From a closer vantage point, Cassandra could see that the settlement consisted of several small groups of wooden structures, arranged in circles.
It was obviously habituated, with people of various descriptions, visible in the distance. She slipped behind a tree, and considered her options. Trying to sneak up was clearly a bad idea, there was zero chance she wouldn't be spotted by the sentries at the other end of the land-bridge. On the other hand, if she simply waltzed up, they might still perceive her as a threat. She liked being alive and having all her limbs, so wasn't in a hurry to take any chances. White flag was always an option, but she had no way of knowing how they would react, while many people recognise a white flag as a sign of peaceful approach, to other cultures it might mean, 'I am armed and extremely dangerous,' or 'I would like to feast on your children.' Heck, she wasn't even one hundred percent sure that the translation device would even function properly. Neverland was not supposed to exist, so there was a chance it would not be able to pick up whatever language the natives spoke.
In the end, she decided to go for the most direct approach. Walk forward slowly with your hands in the air, loudly proclaiming 'I come in peace, take me to your leader,' while still being ready to turn tail and bolt at the first sign of war paint and poisoned arrows.
The sentries made no attempt to approach her, they stood there, arms crossed, watching her as she walked slowly towards her.
She could see that behind them, a small crowd had gathered. They all stood there in silence observing her progress.
She came to a halt a few feet in front of the sentries, hands still in the air.
'Hello,' she said carefully, 'I come in peace.'
One of the sentries, a tall man with caramel coloured skin and a shock of thick black hair raised one eyebrow, 'we heard you the first seventeen times,' he said in perfect English.
A/N: Sorry if this chapter was a little dull, I didn't want to do a 'and she walked through the forest until she found the Indians' thing and I thought it would be a good opportunity to describe the island a little better.
Apologies in advance if I am a bit slow getting future chapters up, I'm going to be really busy around Christmas/New Year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
