THE BATTLE FOR TERABITHIA

Disclaimer: I don't own Bridge to Terabithia or its characters.

--

Chapter 2

Attacked

May 12th, 2007

Jesse went downstairs to get breakfast. He was so glad it was Saturday, so he didn't have to be in a hurry like he was on school days. As he came downstairs, he wasn't surprised to find out that there weren't any others besides him. Nobody in the Aarons house usually woke up at six o'clock on a Saturday. He took orange juice from the refrigerator and some bread from the counter next to the refrigerator. He sat down at the dining table and started to eat.

The silence felt so creepy to him. Had his parents and sisters been there too, it would've been quite like the day when Jesse went with his parents to the Burkes' house to pay their respects. "Paying what?" he blurted out silently.

When he realized what he said, he shuddered. He looked around. He was still alone. He rested his head on his arms and ran his fingers through his hair. "All right. I'm becoming crazy", he said to himself.

"You're what?"

Jesse jumped from his chair and looked behind him. May Belle was standing by the stairs, looking worried. "What did you just say, Jess?"

Jesse was still breathing heavily from the surprise. When he calmed down, he said: "None of your business, May Belle. Go back to sleep." He sat down again.

"No. I wanna know what's going on", she said and walked to her brother. She put her left arm on his shoulder.

"May Belle, I'm fine. Just go."

"Jess, you're so not a very good liar. Now you're gonna tell me what's going on", she said and sat down at the other side of the table, facing him. Jesse just glared at her. "I'm the Princess. I have a right to know what's bothering you, King."

Jesse's look suddenly changed from angry to uneasy again. He looked away from his sister and thought for a while. He knew he couldn't be so angry to his little sister. He looked at her again. "All right, May Belle, look. As soon as everybody's awake, you and me will go to Terabithia. I'll explain then, OK?" he said. May Belle nodded in agreement.

Jesse and May Belle took their time and waited for another hour until everybody in the house was awake. After dressing up and brushing their teeth, they asked their parents if they could go to the forest. Jack and Mary said it was all right as long as Jesse did his morning chores. As frustrating as it was, Jesse agreed and did his chores in the greenhouse as quickly as he could. After he finished, he went to get May Belle from the porch, and they started to walk to the forest.

As they reached the creek, they stopped in front of the bridge, like they always did. They expected to see the bridge transform from brown and wooden into a more beautiful golden one. But, strangely, it didn't. Jesse and May Belle still stood in front of it, gasping in amazement.

"What's happened?" May Belle asked in a worried tone.

"I don't know. I guess the magic isn't so alive at the moment…" Jesse muttered, sounding like he had guessed that this kind of thing would happen.

"Well, shouldn't we go and find out what's going on?"

"I guess so. Let's go", Jesse said and took May Belle's hand.

When they got to the other side of the creek, they both suddenly felt chilly. Or at least that's what they thought, since they felt chills running down their spines. They didn't know if it was the cold air, or something totally different…

Jesse finally found the courage to move on. He started to walk deeper into the woods, May Belle following him on his side. Jesse looked around. The whole forest seemed so spooky and dangerous. In fact, he felt the same way he did when he went to the forest for the first time with Leslie. He felt so unfamiliar with the place again. Every time he heard something, like a flock of birds flying from a tree, he jumped around to take a quick look in every direction, but of course he saw nothing.

May Belle noticed her brother's actions and looked at him weirdly. "Are you OK, Jess? Now may be a good time for you to tell me what's the matter with you."

Jesse turned at his sister. "All right, May Belle, all right", he said and stopped. "Okay, here's the deal. Yesterday, at that ceremony, I started to feel…well, dizzy and kinda…horrified. I felt like I wasn't supposed to be in Terabithia. Like, I can't do this anymore. Somehow, all the memories of…" he started to sob, "…Leslie came flowing back to my mind. That was too much for me. I couldn't take it anymore." He had to stop. He was sobbing so much that he couldn't say anything anymore.

"Jess, I thought you had got over it all those weeks ago."

"Well, maybe I still haven't, all right?" he yelled. "Anyway, there you have it. I explained everything. You happy now?!"

May Belle was surprised at her brother's sudden change of behavior. She was starting to weep. "Jess… You need to get over it."

"Don't tell me what to do! I can handle this! Now let's go back."

He turned and started to walk back, but then he stopped. He heard something. It was some kind of…beeping.

And before either of them could move again, black, hairy creatures appeared in front of them. "Squogres", Jesse said.

The beasts snarled at their enemies. There were five of them, and they quickly surrounded Jesse and May Belle. Then the kids heard something else. It sounded like someone was screeching: "Dead meat! Dead meat!" They looked up and saw a few orange Hairy Vultures flying in circles above them. They were trapped.

Jesse was trying to come up with a way to escape from the creatures. He looked around, and then he thought he saw something moving deeper in the woods. He wasn't sure what it was. He only saw it for a second. Then he came up with an idea. He knew it was hard to accomplish, but he had no other choice. He slowly leaned towards his little sister and whispered loud enough so she could hear: "May Belle, on the count of three, run back home. Tell Mom and Dad that I'll be back later."

"Jess… Are you sure you can handle this?"

"I promise, sis."

The Squogres were moving backwards. They were getting ready to strike. Jesse noticed this, and put his plan into action. "Ready? One…two…three!"

As soon as he yelled "three", the black beasts jumped right at Jesse, while May Belle quickly ducked, evading the attack, and ran towards the bridge. Jesse spun his fist around, knocking three Squogres down. However, the remaining two managed to hit him, and he fell on the ground. The beasts jumped on him, and lifted their forelegs in the air, their razor-sharp claws shining in the sun. Jesse lifted his legs and kicked the creatures far enough for him to get up safely. However he wasn't quite safe yet. He looked up to the sky.

"Dead meat!" screeched the Vultures and dove at the 11-year-old boy.

May Belle felt lucky. She crossed the bridge without any of the creatures following her. She kept on running fast until she was back home. Jack and Mary were outside when they saw her arrive. When she reached them, she fell on her knees and panted heavily. "Jess is still in the forest. He'll be back later", she said in between deep breaths.

"How much later?" Jack asked in a demanding yet worried tone.

"I don't know. But he promised he'll be back soon."

Jack and Mary looked at each other. Jack was worried that his son would go crazy. He said: "I just hope he doesn't lose it again in there."

Meanwhile in the forest, Jesse narrowly avoided the Hairy Vultures' diving attack. He started to run towards the direction where he thought he had seen something moving. He tried to run as fast as he could. He was well aware that he was still in danger as he could hear the Hairy Vultures screeching and the Squogres beeping behind him. They would chase him until he gave up running.

The creatures were gaining on him. That amazed him. "But I'm in Terabithia. Why can't I run faster?!" he shouted desperately.

He kept on running. Then, as he looked at the ground, he remembered something. "The grenades!" He picked up a couple of pinecones, bit the top part off of them, and threw them behind him at the unsuspecting animals. The grenades blew up, incinerating many of the vicious creatures. Jesse was given a few more seconds to escape from them.

He looked behind him. The remaining beasts suddenly stopped. He wondered why, but when he turned back, he got his answer. He fell on his knees, panting and coughing so heavily he almost threw up. He couldn't believe what he saw.

In front of him stood a tall monument made out of some kind of black basalt stone. It looked like a gate. Surprisingly, it resembled the entrance at the bridge quite a lot. Two tower-like constructions rose from the ground high into the air. They were at least 50 meters high. At that height, they were twisted horizontally at each other, and in the middle of their distance they were combined together.

Jesse stood up and looked around. He felt even more unfamiliar with this part of the forest than right after the creek. The atmosphere seemed so different. The sun wasn't shining anymore. Dark clouds covered the whole place in darkness. The wind had become noticeably stronger. Jesse felt scared, more scared than ever before. He heard the thunder up in the sky, which raised his fear even more.

Then he started to hear a voice. It sounded like laughter. Very evil laughter. It seemed to be coming from every direction.

"We meet again, King."

Jesse turned around quickly. Something started to form in front of him. After a few seconds, a dark, menacing creature about the same height as Jesse was standing between the boy and the monument. The creature was covered in ripped black clothing –if you could call it that– and it had long, sharp claws in its hands, and long, dark hair covered its face.

Jesse looked at the creature in complete fear, his mouth agape. He felt like his heart would jump out of his chest.

"Why so surprised, boy? I thought you expected this", said the creature in a cold, threatening tone.

Jesse managed to say only three words: "The Dark Master...?"

The creature let out its evil laughter again, filling Jesse with more and more fear. "Correct, dear King." The creature started to walk circles around Jesse. "Good old Jesse Aarons. Always so foolish!" he shouted, causing the boy to jump. "Congratulate yourself for falling into my trap. I knew you would act once you had those visions."

Jesse gasped. "Visions? You mean the ones about…?"

"Your beloved Leslie?" The boy gasped again. "Of course, silly boy, what else?" the Dark Master chuckled. Jesse's face changed from scared to angry. "Oh, I know. You want the truth. Well, your beloved Queen is dead, and now…it is your turn", said the creature with an evil smile that could be seen from under his dark hair.

"Jesse", said the demonic creature while raising his right hand near his left shoulder, "it has been nice knowing you. Now, King Jesse Aarons…DIE!"

The Dark Master waved his right hand forward, right at Jesse. Before he could react, a blast of pure dark energy was fired from his enemy's hand directly at him. The blast struck Jesse right on his stomach, sending him flying backwards. Jesse hit the ground, groaning in pain. The Dark Master laughed, and raised his right hand again, preparing for a second strike. Jesse looked up at his adversary, feeling totally lost. He was praying for help.

And then, just as the Dark Master was about to fire the next shot, something hit him on the chest. The shot was small, but somehow it still caused the dark creature to cry in pain and stumble a bit backwards. Both the Dark Master and Jesse looked up and they saw a Terabithian warrior hovering above them, equipped with a bow and arrow. Soon there was a whole swarm of dozens of the dragonfly-like beings, all of them ready to defend their King.

The Dark Master did nothing but laugh. "Do you think you can defeat me? You insignificant little creatures really think so? Hah! Nobody can defeat me!"

The warriors took out their bows and arrows and fired simultaneously at their foe. This time, since the number of attacks was raised, the damage was greater. The arrows had enough power to put the Dark Master on one knee. The Dark Master panted slightly and looked up at Jesse, who had now stood up. The Terabithian warriors were hovering next to him, ready to fire again.

"I guess you have still got friends, boy", said the Dark Master with a sly grin on his face and stood up. "Well, King Jesse, you may have won this battle, but I can assure you, the war has only just begun." The Dark Master waved his hand and suddenly he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Jesse and the warriors waited quietly for a few more seconds. They noticed the wind started to calm down. They looked up. The dark clouds were fading away, revealing the sun.

"The battle is over", announced the leader of the Terabithian warriors who flew in front of Jesse. "Your Highness, are you all right?"

"Yes, I am", answered Jesse. He then thanked all the warriors before they flew back to the treetops, except for the leader, who still had something important to say to the King.