CHAPTER 27

LAND

Taken From Arcadia's Diary:

We have lowered the anchor and the crew are preparing to go aboard. Olose is heading to shore with Trevia and Nadia and our equipment first to secure the beach. It would appear that he does not trust all the information we have. The rumours of giant monsters seem to have him behaving cautiously. Of course, that is most likely a side effect of my presence, I have heard enough stories of him charging into battle with little regard for safety in many other situations.

This raises an interesting point. I am not even sure why I am here. I wanted to be involved and included for once, and with Saria coming along it seemed an ideal opportunity, but I have never felt more out of place. I could request to stay on the ship, but I do not think I could bear it. I would have to wait for Olose to return, not knowing his fate. I shall have to go with them, and face whatever is on that island.

To make matters worse, I have no useful clothing. My dresses and high heels are highly inappropriate, and I feel that they may raise issues before I am through with this adventure. I can only hope that things are not as bad as I fear and that I am able to handle them. I would hate to let anybody down.

I simply wish I had a use. I cannot help Olose, or the others in combat, know no magical spells and am physically not strong enough to carry the loads we brought from the ship. Perhaps something will develop that I can do. Time shall tell.

Olose pulled the rowing boat up to the side of the Destiny and peered upwards.

"Okay, it seems safe on shore!" He cried. "Nadia pushed me in the water while I was poised on the bow of the boat, and then blamed Trevia, but other than that, everything seems fine."

"Right. So we're leaving?" Saria assumed, jumping onto the rigging and climbing down to the rowing boat.

"Urm, yes." Olose answered, a little surprised by how brashly she acted. He shrugged. She was clearly just eager.

"Right away?" Arcadia asked, clearly much more reserved. Suse scampered down onto the boat while she was talking.

"Yeah, no need to wait. Get down here." Olose shrugged. Arcadia climbed onto the rigging, blushing slightly, realising she was still wearing a silky red dress (which when climbing down things with people below was not good). In truth, she knew that she should have brought more practical clothing, but hadn't, and didn't have time to change at this point anyway. She stumbled onto the rowing boat and fell over. Olose caught her before she fell overboard, and she laughed nervously. She managed to reposition herself to be seated as Olose stood, rocking the boat. "Take good care of her, Phabrizoe!" He yelled.

"You won't even notice you were gone!" Phabrizoe yelled back. "Might take her out for a sail though." He grinned sarcastically.

"Just bring her back in one piece! We should be back in a week, maximum." Olose explained. Arcadia looked at the boat longingly, and fearfully at the island. Spending a week there was a scary thought. Luckily, everything they'd need had already been taken ashore, and they would transport it via huge packs to where they set up their camp.

Olose rowed to shore, and Arcadia watched the vicious rocks jutting out of the ocean as they passed. She was very glad they had avoided taking the Destiny ashore, especially as she saw what looked like a mast jutting out from under the water. She gulped and sat down awkwardly, looking at the others. Saria was looking over the map she had and Suse was playing with her hair. They both seemed disturbingly calm. Arcadia was almost shaking with fear when the boat came into contact with the soft land, and she bolted ashore, her feet sinking in the soft sand.

Nadia smiled.

"You know, this beach is kind of nice. The water's warm, the sand is soft. Could stay here all day." She told Olose.

"I'd love to." Olose grinned. "But this is a rescue mission." He reminded her, becoming more serious.

"We need to get to the plateau, find Saria's father, and get off this island before we find out why he went missing and somebody gets hurt."

"You make it sound simple." Grumbled Arcadia.

"No he doesn't!" Suse protested.

"That was kind of the point." Arcadia replied, worried.

"Well, we can't stand around here all day." Olose announced, hauling one of the packs onto his back. Nadia and Trevia did the same, and they began to hike, scrambling up out of the sandy bay by a slope on which Arcadia slipped more than once.

Finally reaching the top she could look out across the rest of the island. There was a river gushing before them, just as the map had shown, spraying white foam up as the water rocketed on down. Across that she could see the festering swamp, huge dingy trees hanging, making it appear a place of darkness and death. She wrinkled her nose at the smell that even the fresh sea air behind them couldn't battle.

"Right. We head east!" Olose announced. "Come on. The mountain should be there."

"That swamp looks rather unpleasant." Arcadia voiced her concerns.

"We have no choice. It's the only way." Olose replied. "But our first task is to get by this river!"

"I can see the mountain in the distance!" Suse cheered.

"Yes, we all can." Grumbled Nadia. The peak wasn't as high as Arcadia had imagined, but it was steep, and she didn't see how they were planning to climb it.

They walked to it as quickly as possible, and Arcadia was already finding it difficult to keep up, cursing her lack of practical footwear hurting her feet, and the fact that she was already short on breath before they faced the task of climbing the mountain. She looked up at the mountain as they arrived, deciding it was far taller than it had looked when she had first seen it.

"So, we climb then." Olose smiled, looking at the edge. "Doesn't look to be easy." A threatening sounding roar ripped out of a cave nearby, set in the mountain. "Urm. Suse. I hope that was your stomach."

"I'm not hungrrrrrrry." Suse replied, frightened. Arcadia shook in fear. Another roar tore out of the cave. Suddenly three huge green tentacles burst out, wrapping around the edge of the cave and pulling out a huge green monster, multiple tentacles flapping around and one huge mouth with lethally sharp teeth snapping and drooling at the crew.

"Malboro!" Cried Olose. "Take cover!" The others ran for cover as Trevia, Nadia and Olose drew their weapons, closing in on the monster.

The creature swung its tentacle, and Olose ducked. When he stood again he noticed that Nadia was no longer next to him, but had crashed into the river.

"NADIA!" He screamed. "Get her!" He ordered to the others, before turning back to fight the monster. Trevia drew throwing stars and hurled them at the beast as Olose ran in, cutting away at its tentacles.

Saria rushed along the river, followed by Suse.

"Arcadia! Look for a rope in one of those packs!" She ordered. Arcadia nodded, and began searching.

"Found one!" She cried, hauling it out with great difficulty.

"Tie it to something!" Saria yelled.

"It's a grappling hook." Arcadia replied. "Will that do?"

"Perfect! Throw it here!" Arcadia threw it, and it thudded down between them. "Somebody needs to teach you to throw." Grumbled Saria as Suse dove for it, grabbing it and passing it to Saria. Saria spun it above her head and threw it with expert skill at Nadia.

It caught Nadia perfectly. A little too perfectly. It lodged in her leg.

"OW!" She exclaimed. "Son of a-"

"DUCK!" Olose cried, and Trevia did so, just missing the sweeping attack from the Malboro. He dove forwards, stabbing his sword into its belly. It roared, lifting itself up and just dropping down on Olose, crushing him.

"Olose!" Trevia cried, throwing more ninja stars before drawing her katana. She ran in, dodging its tentacles and slicing it across the face. It howled and swept down with a long arm, wrapping it around Trevia's foot and picking her up, leaving her dangling upside down. "Uh oh." She grumbled.

Nadia scrambled back onto the land, coughing up water.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed at Saria. Saria managed an innocent laugh.

"Sorry." She shrugged. "I saved you, didn't I?"

"Yes. But watch it next time, I'm already down a limb." She got to her feet painfully and pulled the grappling hook out of her leg. "OW!" She screamed.

"OW!" Trevia yelled as she thudded into the floor. The tentacles of the beast shot down at her, preparing to rip her apart. She scrambled for her katana, grabbing it and slicing away wildly, cutting back the evil arms as they came in at her. One wrapped around her blade, hurling it away. She drew a dagger, and stabbed into one of the tentacles. Another picked her up, swinging her towards the beast's mighty mouth. An arrow thudded into it, causing it to drop her. Nadia smiled, holding her bow. Trevia scrambled away. The beast prepared to attack her again.

It suddenly roared in pain. The crew watched in horror as the bottom of it's mouth was torn open from beneath, and a werewolf burst out. Olose leapt out of the mouth, in his werewolf form, and skidded to a stop on the ground. The Malboro screamed in pain. Olose leapt at it's face and tore at it, ripping out its eyes and tearing at its flesh until it dropped down dead. He changed back into his human form, grabbing his jacket from under the collapsed creature and slipping into it, his torn trousers still covering up anything that would be considered indecent.

"Right." He began. "That's one monster down." He grinned. "What's more, a Malboro would have lived in the swamp, meaning that the cave it was in must lead through the mountain."

"So we don't need to climb?" Saria assumed.

"Exactly. We'll cut through the cave and emerge in the swamp." Olose explained.

"Dark caves possibly full of more monsters?" Arcadia narrated. "What exciting adventures you experience."

"Well, we're wasting time." Olose shrugged. "Let's get moving."

"The money had better be worth this." Nadia grumbled. "Can we stop for a bit? I want to bandage my leg, you need some clothes and Arcadia looks like she's about to collapse." Arcadia blushed brightly, her exhaustion leaving her looking tired, and the adrenaline from the fight making her loose even more energy.

"Good point." Olose admitted. "Okay, let's stop for a bit before we head on. Recover as it were." He paused. "Although I like this whole jacket and torn trouser look." He grinned. "Very manly."

"Yeah, you're right." Nadia sarcastically said. "So it doesn't suit you at all." Olose's face fell.

"Hey! That wasn't funny!" He cried sensitively, but it was too late. The entire group was roaring in laughter, even Arcadia.