Due to lunch time traffic, we arrived at Lakewood with only ten
minutes to spare. Hurrying past the entrance, we left Kari's parents to
reach the center of the large preserve by noon. Somehow, I was oddly
reminded of Big Ben back home in London. Luckily we found a guidepost
marking the center without much trouble. Kari checked her watch: 11:59.
No one was waiting for us there, though. In fact we waited by the post for quite some minutes. I found my eyes drifting to a few copper streaks and a group of shrieking children laughing in delight. When one of the streaks paused for a moment to do a headstand, I recognized it as an ardillia. Squirrel-like creatures with four bushy tails, they moved so fast that often all you could see was the red-brown stripe on their backs. Usually they avoided humans, but if they had an audience, they would literally perform for peanuts.
I watched them do flips and chase each other with blinding speed until all at once all five ardillias halted at once, pricking up their ears and catching the scent on the soft wind. It was then that I realized how quiet it had gotten in the forest. It was as if the world was holding its breath before braving the icy waters of the unknown. As moments passed, I noticed that I was holding my breath in anticipation or apprehension. but of what? I slowly began to exhale, not wanting to be the one who disturbed the silence.
Suddenly a human scream erupted out of the stillness and ripped its way through the forest, and everything began to happen all at once. The screech had only heralded a multitude of panicked voices, but lying underneath the mad chorus was a sound like thunder, or waves on a distant shore. Then like a tide breaking on a sheer cliff face came the stampede of panicked flush bodies, terror etched in their white faces.
"What's going on?" Kari yelled over the turmoil.
"I don't know," my friend cried back in return, "but we better hang onto something.!" Thinking quickly we all grabbed hands, and with her free arm, Kari wrapped herself around the post just as the mob hit us.
When the first onslaught of bodies hit me, they slammed like a weighted sledgehammer. A horrified yell escaped from my throat as I was battered heedlessly. Suddenly a burly man hurled his way through between my friend and me. My arm felt ready to be torn off, but the man achieved what he was going for, and I found myself dragged and shoved into the middle of the rushing crowd.
"Rose!" the double shout rang out, but all I could do was run with the crowd and pray I wouldn't stumble or fall. This was the point when the sword, which I had forgotten about up until now, came in handy, because when people saw it waving towards them, they pushed to get out of the way, allowing me to occupy the temporarily vacant space.
"Rose!" a voice shouted out again. I recognized it as my friend's, but how could he be so close? "The tree! Grab the tree!" I blindly grappled for a branch and was pushed away from the first one I held, but to the trunk of another I was able to hang on and wait for the tide to pass. As the last people, a terrified mother pulling a crying child, ran down the path to the entrance, I reopened my eyes after having shut them in trepidation. I immediately noticed my friend down the path away, clutching to a tree on the other side. No wonder he had seemed so close.
Despite having nearly been trampled by a mad rush, I smiled.
"You think they do this everyday?" I grinned. My friend managed to smile in return.
"Probably not, no," he said. "But it would make a good exhibit, wouldn't it?" Then his face grew serious. "What were they running from?"
"You could try using the Othersight," I suggested. Then a crash from the other side of the clearing caught our attention.
"Oh. Never mind."
The leathery wings and scaly back of a dragon filled my vision. Ashen gray in color, it was relatively small for a dragon, but that didn't lessen my dread. It was clearly angry about something because when it took off into the air having reached the clearing, the dragon immediately set an old dead tree on fire to relieve itself of excess fury. The ardillia who had been crouching in terror inside had fortunately escaped the blaze, tails slightly singed. It wasn't normal behavior for a dragon to light inanimate objects on fire; it must have been provoked. The dragon landed inside the clearing, and for the first time I could see its face. Cold steel eyes glared icily around its surroundings, bringing to mind the ice gray eyes of the Brethren leader himself. Any minute now it would see the wooden guidepost with Kari still wrapped around it and mistake it for another dead tree to burn. I turned to my friend half-apologetically.
"I think it's absolutely necessary."
Then I turned and began to jog swiftly into the clearing.
No one was waiting for us there, though. In fact we waited by the post for quite some minutes. I found my eyes drifting to a few copper streaks and a group of shrieking children laughing in delight. When one of the streaks paused for a moment to do a headstand, I recognized it as an ardillia. Squirrel-like creatures with four bushy tails, they moved so fast that often all you could see was the red-brown stripe on their backs. Usually they avoided humans, but if they had an audience, they would literally perform for peanuts.
I watched them do flips and chase each other with blinding speed until all at once all five ardillias halted at once, pricking up their ears and catching the scent on the soft wind. It was then that I realized how quiet it had gotten in the forest. It was as if the world was holding its breath before braving the icy waters of the unknown. As moments passed, I noticed that I was holding my breath in anticipation or apprehension. but of what? I slowly began to exhale, not wanting to be the one who disturbed the silence.
Suddenly a human scream erupted out of the stillness and ripped its way through the forest, and everything began to happen all at once. The screech had only heralded a multitude of panicked voices, but lying underneath the mad chorus was a sound like thunder, or waves on a distant shore. Then like a tide breaking on a sheer cliff face came the stampede of panicked flush bodies, terror etched in their white faces.
"What's going on?" Kari yelled over the turmoil.
"I don't know," my friend cried back in return, "but we better hang onto something.!" Thinking quickly we all grabbed hands, and with her free arm, Kari wrapped herself around the post just as the mob hit us.
When the first onslaught of bodies hit me, they slammed like a weighted sledgehammer. A horrified yell escaped from my throat as I was battered heedlessly. Suddenly a burly man hurled his way through between my friend and me. My arm felt ready to be torn off, but the man achieved what he was going for, and I found myself dragged and shoved into the middle of the rushing crowd.
"Rose!" the double shout rang out, but all I could do was run with the crowd and pray I wouldn't stumble or fall. This was the point when the sword, which I had forgotten about up until now, came in handy, because when people saw it waving towards them, they pushed to get out of the way, allowing me to occupy the temporarily vacant space.
"Rose!" a voice shouted out again. I recognized it as my friend's, but how could he be so close? "The tree! Grab the tree!" I blindly grappled for a branch and was pushed away from the first one I held, but to the trunk of another I was able to hang on and wait for the tide to pass. As the last people, a terrified mother pulling a crying child, ran down the path to the entrance, I reopened my eyes after having shut them in trepidation. I immediately noticed my friend down the path away, clutching to a tree on the other side. No wonder he had seemed so close.
Despite having nearly been trampled by a mad rush, I smiled.
"You think they do this everyday?" I grinned. My friend managed to smile in return.
"Probably not, no," he said. "But it would make a good exhibit, wouldn't it?" Then his face grew serious. "What were they running from?"
"You could try using the Othersight," I suggested. Then a crash from the other side of the clearing caught our attention.
"Oh. Never mind."
The leathery wings and scaly back of a dragon filled my vision. Ashen gray in color, it was relatively small for a dragon, but that didn't lessen my dread. It was clearly angry about something because when it took off into the air having reached the clearing, the dragon immediately set an old dead tree on fire to relieve itself of excess fury. The ardillia who had been crouching in terror inside had fortunately escaped the blaze, tails slightly singed. It wasn't normal behavior for a dragon to light inanimate objects on fire; it must have been provoked. The dragon landed inside the clearing, and for the first time I could see its face. Cold steel eyes glared icily around its surroundings, bringing to mind the ice gray eyes of the Brethren leader himself. Any minute now it would see the wooden guidepost with Kari still wrapped around it and mistake it for another dead tree to burn. I turned to my friend half-apologetically.
"I think it's absolutely necessary."
Then I turned and began to jog swiftly into the clearing.