THE BATTLE FOR TERABITHIA
Disclaimer: I don't own Bridge to Terabithia or its characters.
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Chapter 3
Reunion
May 12th, 2007
"Your Highness, I am Gregorius, the leader of the Terabithian warriors. I hope you don't mind me asking, but what brings you here?" asked the insect-like being.
Jesse looked at him with amazed eyes. He had never met a Terabithian creature with an actual name. "Well, uh…Gregorius, I just happened to come here with my sis… I mean Princess May Belle, and I thought I saw something moving deeper in the forest, so I ran after it and here I am."
Gregorius nodded his tiny golden head. "I see. To be honest, my King, we hoped you would never find this part of Terabithia."
"Why would that be?" Jesse asked. He was surprised by what he heard. Somehow he found his ability to speak as a King again. "Don't I have the right to go anywhere in my kingdom I want? Isn't that my right as a King?" he pronounced royally.
Gregorius looked at his ruler. His sad face was completely hidden by the helmet he had on. "But this is a place you shouldn't visit. It is a graveyard."
Jesse moved his eyebrows together. "A graveyard? What's so special about that?"
"It is a dark and mysterious place that needs to be honored and not treated without respect. Very few would want to visit this unusual place."
"Why, Gregorius?"
"My King, there are two different graveyards in Terabithia. One of them is in a much more peaceful place, and that's where most of us Terabithians go. The other one is situated here, and even though the sun shines here too, the whole place is just darker. That's because here are the graves of all the evil creatures that have died in battles et cetera."
"Oh, all right, I understand," Jesse nodded slightly.
"But, unfortunately, that's not all, dear King", Gregorius said, turned away from Jesse and looked at the high, spooky gate. "This is also the place where the evil beings bury everyone they've killed themselves."
Jesse continued to stare at the warrior. He was beginning to understand what the situation was. He gasped. Gregorius noticed this and knew he had to confess to his King, no matter what. But still it was difficult for him to tell Jesse the truth. "We fear that…this is the place where they've buried…"
Gregorius turned around, only to find out that Jesse was gone. He then looked at the gate again, and saw Jesse in front of the gate. He was about to enter the graveyard. "Your Highness, stop! You mustn't go there!" he yelled and flew after Jesse.
"Don't worry about me! I know what I'm doing!" Jesse yelled back over his shoulder. He stopped and turned around. Gregorius stopped too. "Gregorius, wait for me here. If I don't come back in fifteen minutes, send your troops to look for me."
"Understood, Your Highness", said the warrior and bowed. Jesse turned, and entered the graveyard. Gregorius continued to stare at him until he was out of sight. That happened pretty quickly too, as there was a thick layer of fog in the graveyard. The leader warrior took his position as a guard next to the gate, hoping that his King would return safe and sound.
When Jesse entered the mysterious place, he couldn't see a thing due to the thick fog. After walking a few meters, the fog started to disappear. When he finally got a chance to take a look around, he was totally stunned by the sight. Now he knew what Gregorius had meant by calling this graveyard an unusual place. It almost didn't even look like a graveyard. He could only see the countless five-meter-high leafless trees that seemed to dominate the place. There were no tombstones poking out of the ground. Jesse noticed that the only way you could actually find a grave was by looking for a spot on the ground with no grass or any other vegetation. He also noticed that in almost every one of those spots, there was a symbol resembling a spiraling lightning bolt carved on the ground.
Jesse wandered around the graveyard for five minutes and he didn't find anything of special interest. He started to think that it was a mistake to go there. Feeling angry and furious with himself, he kicked a nearby stone, sending it flying a few yards away. Then, he remembered what Gregorius had told him about respecting the place, and immediately he regretted what he had done. The wind started to blow harder and harder every passing second until it was hard for Jesse even to stand on his feet. Eventually he had to give up and suffer the punishment. He fell on his knees, trying to cover his eyes from the wind. Just as he was about to scream for help, the wind began to calm down. To Jesse it seemed like the wind ended just as suddenly as it had started.
Jesse stood up and continued to walk around the graveyard. As he passed by every dark, dead tree, the threatened feeling inside him grew more and more. The trees alone made the graveyard look such a spooky and haunting place. "Gregorius was right", he thought to himself. "Indeed, very few would want to come here."
Then he stepped on something. He knew it wasn't a tree branch or a rock. He lifted his leg and looked down. He saw something colorful on the otherwise colorless ground. He bent down to take a closer look. He realized it was a tiny piece of some sort of a cloth. It seemed to have been ripped from the cloth. How he had been able to feel it under his weight he had no clue. He grabbed it with his right hand. It felt so soft…almost familiarly soft. He held it on his palm and continued to stare at it. Suddenly, he realized something else. He gasped in shock. "This can't be…from a sock?"
He looked up from his hand at the ground. He focused his eyes. There were dozens of similar little cloth pieces right before him. And they seemed to form a line, probably leading somewhere. Jesse closed his right palm, still holding the soft, colorful piece of sock, and determinedly started to follow the path formed up by the other pieces.
After a few yards the pieces' path turned slightly to the right. Jesse looked up from the ground, and his eyes widened. Before him stood a monument, pretty similar to the one at the graveyard's entrance, but not as high. Jesse thought it resembled a gate leading to a Japanese shrine or temple. There was something written on the top of it with quite stylish lettering. Jesse looked closely and read aloud: "Queen."
He gasped: "Oh, my God! It can't be!" He took a deep breath and went on walking. After passing the "gate", he noticed that the atmosphere was changing. Dark clouds covered the sun, and the thick fog appeared again. Even though the fog made it almost impossible for him to see anything, even the pieces of clothing on the ground, Jesse felt courage and determination rising inside him, and continued to walk forward. Weirdly enough, the fog didn't last for but thirty seconds of walking. But, as the fog cleared, Jesse swore he heard a ghost-like voice of some kind.
After looking around and not finding the source of the voice, he fixed his eyes straightforward again. He saw something truly shocking. It was the most shocking thing he had ever seen.
In front of the 11-year-old boy stood four pillars, each one about three meters high. The pillars formed a circle, like Stonehenge. Inside the circle, on the ground, was a symbol that had the shape of a star. But the most shocking thing of all was lying on the ground, covering the star-shaped symbol.
Tears were coming out of Jesse's eyes. He saw a beautiful, blonde-haired, thin, young girl lying on the ground, completely motionless. She had colorful, but heavily torn, clothes, including a blue shirt with a Pegasus on the front, light brown pants, almost sneaker-like boots, and…long socks with stripes of different colors covered her elbows. This girl was the best and only friend Jesse Aarons had ever had. Her name was Leslie Burke.
Jesse felt like his heart was coming up his throat when he yelled with every bit of emotion he had: "LESLIE!" He ran to the circle and fell on his knees next to his friend. "Leslie! Leslie, can you hear me? Leslie!" he cried while shaking the girl, trying to get her awake, but to no avail. Jesse cried even more. "Leslie, please! Leslie, please wake up! I'm begging you!" Again, there was no response.
"Leslie…" Jesse's voice was shattered as he took Leslie's right hand into his own hands, stroked it and rested his head on it. "Please. Please come back. I need you." He looked at her face. He knew she was unconscious, but still she looked so unbelievably calm. The memories of that fatal day came flowing back to his mind. "I'm sorry I didn't think of you back then. I'm sorry I didn't invite you to come with me. I promise I'll never do that again. Please, Leslie. I'll do anything. Just…please wake up!"
Then he felt something. He hoped it was Leslie's hand moving, but it was not. But he did feel something. He concentrated on her hand. "A pulse?" he said in amazement. Quickly he put his right hand on her chest while still holding her hand with his left. On her chest, he felt a pulse too.
His eyes watered again as he said: "You're alive!"
As soon as he said that, he heard the ghost-like voice again. He stood up, trying to find the source again. He knew it was pointless to look for it because the voice seemed to be coming from every direction. Since he didn't want anything to happen to him or Leslie, he knew what he had to do.
He placed his right arm under Leslie's knees and his left arm under her back. Carefully and gently he lifted her up. He was actually surprised that he was strong enough to carry her. As he remembered that voice again, he started to walk back, holding Leslie tightly in his arms.
As they exited the spooky place through the "gate", he saw the pieces of sock on the ground. He thought for a minute. "Should I pick them up for her? It wouldn't do much good for Leslie, but she could like to have a souvenir of some kind." In the end, he decided against it. He already had enough to carry anyway. And so he continued to walk, holding Leslie and following the trail of sock pieces.
Gregorius was still standing guard at the graveyard's entrance gate. Since the Terabithian creatures had an "inside clock", he knew fifteen minutes had almost passed. He was preparing to call the other warriors until he heard something from the other side of the gate. He turned around and when he saw Jesse's head coming out of the fog he sighed in relief. But when he saw whom his King was carrying, he was shocked.
"You were right, Gregorius", Jesse said.
The leader warrior stuttered: "I-I-I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything, Gregorius. But I need you to do something. If there is a medic Terabithian, tell them to meet me at the castle. Our Queen needs to be revived."
"Is the Queen still alive?!" Jesse nodded. "All right. Your wish is my command, Your Highness", said Gregorius, bowed and flew to the treetops.
After three minutes, Jesse had reached the old tree house that was the "castle" he had created with Leslie. It felt good for him to see the tree house again after all the time spent in the new castle he created with May Belle. The Terabithian warriors soon arrived and offered to lift their Queen up to the castle, to which Jesse agreed. When the warriors grabbed hold of her, he let go off Leslie and watched for a moment as the surprisingly strong insects carried their precious Queen inside the tree house. Then he climbed up to the castle himself.
The warriors set Leslie down on the floor while Jesse told them to be careful. As Leslie touched the wooden floor, Jesse crouched down beside her and let a tear run down his left cheek. The warriors moved back a little. Next, there was a bright flash of light and then a different kind of Terabithian was standing between Leslie and Jesse. Jesse was stunned. This Terabithian was obviously female. Jesse saw that from the clean woman-like face and very long hair. She was golden in color, like the warriors. But the difference between her and them was the size. She was at least two meters tall and she only just fit inside the tree house. She was wearing a full-body dress, and she also had a long staff in her left hand.
She turned to Jesse and bowed. "Greetings, my King. I am Dora", she said in a very soft, calm tone.
Jesse answered: "Greetings, Dora. I assume you are the medic?"
"In a way, yes. Once I heard that you found Queen Leslie alive, I wasted no time in coming here." She turned at the unconscious girl. "Although, the revival won't be easy. It will require a lot of energy and skill. And I'm going to need your help to accomplish that, King Jesse."
"I understand", Jesse nodded. "What do I need to do?"
Dora continued to explain calmly: "I need you to place your left hand on her forehead, and your right hand on her chest."
Jesse did as he was told. Once his hands were in place, Dora touched both of them with the tip of her staff. His hands started to glow. Jesse was amazed but he knew he couldn't move them away. He watched as Dora lifted her staff in the air. She concentrated as she began to mumble a spell while spinning the staff in her hands. The dragonfly warriors were watching in awe. After about twenty seconds she stopped mumbling and pointed her staff at Leslie.
Dora made eye contact with Jesse and said: "King Jesse, I still need you to do something." Jesse nodded. "You need to fulfill your loyalty as a true King. If you wish to have Leslie, the one you love, back, I want you to promise something. Do you promise to protect and love Queen Leslie, no matter what? Do you promise to be there for her and be by her side by all means necessary? Are you ready to fulfill your task as a loving, caring, true King of Terabithia?"
"Yes, I promise. I am ready" Jesse answered with a voice full of determination.
With no further questions, Dora turned towards Leslie again. She concentrated and a bright, golden ray of light was shot from her staff. The ray split in half and hit both of Jesse's hands. At the same time, a tear from his right eye fell down and hit his right hand. Then, as if that one single tear was the last thing needed, Leslie's whole body started to glow. The light quickly filled the entire tree house, making it shine in the middle of the dark forest. After another ten seconds, the glow faded.
Everybody stayed still in the tree house. After casting the spell, Dora moved her staff away from Leslie. Jesse was still holding his hands on Leslie's forehead and chest, desperately waiting for any sign of life, as did Dora and the warriors. They hoped that their waiting and patience would be repaid.
And then, it happened. Jesse saw Leslie's left hand move towards his right. As soon as she touched it, she slowly began to open her eyes. Jesse felt the tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat. He couldn't say anything. He could only watch as a miracle was taking place right before his eyes. Leslie turned slightly to the right, and her fully opened eyes met his. Jesse sobbed when he saw that beautiful smile on Leslie's face, something he had thought he'd never see again.
"Jesse…" Leslie whispered.
Jesse shook his head in happiness and answered: "Leslie…"
Leslie slowly sat up. The two best friends looked at each other's eyes and then put their arms around each other in a hug like no other. They held on to each other tightly, especially Jesse. He was making sure to keep the promise he had just made. He wouldn't let her go, no matter what. The friends patted each other's backs and cried, letting their happy tears run down freely.
The Terabithian warriors started to clap and shout with joy. Dora joined in as well. Jesse and Leslie reluctantly separated from each other and watched as the Terabithians honored them as their rulers once again. They were happier than ever before, and for a good reason.
The Queen had returned.
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Author's notes
Don't worry, this is not the end yet. There will be lots of more stuff coming. ;)