-42-
"What?" I asked. What it Zione we heard?
"We have to go back," Zale declared, climbing the stones again.
"Are you serious?"
"Zale's in trouble. Don't tell me you're going to let distance keep you from saving him."
I sighed and followed him up the cliff.
We passed the Jabberwock without any great effect, and began closing in on the sound. It was coming from an area that was mysteriously hidden behind a wall of rocks, with a small hole as the only visible point of entry.
"You coming?" Zale asked as he climbed through.
I followed him in, only to be plunged into darkness. The fireflies and other insects that had illuminated the outside part of the cave didn't seem to care for this part of the area.
"Zale?" I called out as I rummaged through my bag for some sort of light. "Zione?"
A light flickered to life somewhere beside me. It was Aurick.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked as Zione became visible as well.
"I followed Aurick, and slipped getting in here," Zione admitted with a sheepish grin.
"You were following me?" Aurick asked him.
Zione stuggled to get up, but couldn't. "Ow. I think I twisted it or something. Damn."
"Where did you go?" I asked Aurick.
He scratched his head a bit, embarrassed. "I was hiding in here, okay? Let's just say me and the Jabberwocky have never really gotten along."
"Why are you guys so scared of that thing?"
"Have you seen it?" Zione asked, amazed at my question.
I smiled. "Yes. I just killed it."
They stared. "No way," Zione replied.
I looked around. "Did you guys see Zale?"
"No," Aurick answered. "But I heard something out there."
He gestured toward another hole in the wall. I had no idea where this one led to.
"Okay. Since I had to kill the Jabberwocky, I guess I have to go see what happened to the others, huh?"
Aurick and Zione looked a little more embarrassed.
"It's okay. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."
"Don't worry," Zione snapped, massaging his hurt ankle.
"Hurry back," Aurick added, offering me another light.
And off I went into the darkness. The hole led to a path, also encased in stone walls and enveloped in darkness. I followed my light's illumination up to another large platform, much like the one I had defeated the Jabberwocky on. Further investigation revealed that it was in fact an even higher cliff. I could just barely make out the body of the dead Jabberwock far below. The fireflies seemed to have gone away, perhaps in hiding.
Was there something else here, even more of a danger to me than the feared Jabberwock? I couldn't imagine any sort of monster being any bigger or meaner than the one I had just slayed, but a quick reevaluation of the scene before me showed that I was going about this danger thing the entirely wrong way.
Something didn't have to look big or mean in order to be a threat. The worst dangers are the ones you don't see coming. And considering the visions I had been having, the fact that I wasn't prepared for what was coming goes to show just how wrong we had all been to put our faith entirely in divination.
Perhaps we had been so caught up in figuring out which vision of the future was real that we had failed to see what had been unfolding before us, in the present. But I don't really think he gave us any warning, which just makes the situation even more dangerous.
This is what I mean. This is what happened next.