So here's the next chapter. Not much to say... Please review.
Chapter V
When we finally stopped running, I checked behind us. Fortunately, there were no lights and assumedly no one pursuing us. On the negative side, we were lost in the forests of Zion.
"Thank God we managed to escape," I heaved, leaning against a tree. Mara didn't seem nearly as out of breath as I was.
"Yeah that's great, but now we've got nowhere to sleep," Mara complained. Suddenly, I was struck with an idea. Fishing around in the bag from Malachi, I presented the black cube to Mara.
"Tada!" I exclaimed. Mara scrutinized the cube, which made sense since it was dark and hard to see.
"So what?" she asked. I threw the cube into the dirt.
"Just wait for it," I advised. Without disappointing, the same black tentacles that formed the homes for the Evangelics grew forth from the ground. Instead of forming a dome, they wrapped around the trunk of a tree to form a tent.
"That'll work," Mara shrugged. We went inside, and even though there were no mats or pillows, we fell asleep in a matter of minutes on the floor, which seemed to hum with a warm yet comforting energy.
The chirping of birds awoke me in the morning. Immediately, I noticed a couple of things wrong. First, my sword had transformed back into its necklace form, which I put on. Secondly, we were now asleep on the forest floor, instead of the tent the black cube had provided the previous night. Mara was still asleep, but it looked like bugs were starting to make homes in her hair.
"Mara, wake up," I yelled. Mara's eyes immediately fluttered open.
"Why?" she asked irritably.
"Your hair," I said, motioning toward her head. Mara cautiously reached up to run her fingers through her hair. She had the displeasure of touching an especially big and hairy spider the moment her fingers reached her scalp. She let out a ghastly shriek, which chilled me to the core.
"Get them out! Get them out!" she begged. I was forced to help her, much to my own displeasure. I'd always found bugs to be a squeamish subject, but with some struggling and using a stick as a makeshift comb, we got out all the critters.
"All done," I concluded. Suddenly I noticed Mara had a fearful look in her eyes.
"Be quiet. Did you hear that?" Mara warned. At first, I thought Mara was being paranoid. Clear daylight filtered through the forest canopy. The birds continued to chirp with a carefree attitude, but then I heard it too. The sound of twigs snapping and leaves rustling, signaled the coming of a larger animal. We peeked around the edge of the tree, and were surprised to see a teenager standing there. He had long blonde hair and whiskers on his chin. He was light skinned, but the way he was dressed was the strangest. He wore shorts that looked like animal skin, and a white shirt. A point wooden spear was strapped to his back by some black cords. On his shoulder he wore shoulder pads crafted of tree bark. All in all, he looked like a wild man. He was whistling a tune to a bird, who would chirp back occasionally. It seemed almost like they were conversing.
"Who's that?" I whispered.
"How should I know?" Mara snapped back.
"I don't know," I hissed. Suddenly, the guy stopped his conversation with the bird and began to head toward our tree.
"What should we do?" Mara panicked.
"Maybe he's friendly," I offered. Unfortunately, he then jumped in front of us, wielding his spear and screaming like a raging lunatic. Mara screamed and backed up against the tree. I quickly followed her example. The guy began to speak in a language unfamiliar to me. When he noticed the confused expression on our faces, he switched through languages like he was flipping through a photo album.
"Go away," Mara stammered. The guy eyes lit up when he heard Mara talk.
"Oh, so you speak English? My apologies, it has been ages since I've spoken with another human," the guy said.
"Wait, you really were conversing with that bird?" I asked.
"Yeah, why?" he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I stared, completely dumbfounded.
"How?" Mara asked for me.
"Well, I have the Gift of Tongues, meaning I can speak in any language, even if I've never learned it," the guy explained.
"That's great. I'm Mara and he's Amos," she said, jabbing her thumb to point at me.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Samuel," the guy introduced.
"Anyway, we're going to Tyre. Do you think you could lead us there?" Mara asked.
"Sure, but it's more than a day's journey. You guys can stay with me tonight," Samuel suggested. I saw Mara get an angry look, like she was about to complain.
"Thank you," I intervened.
"You're welcome. Now, if you'd kindly follow me," Samuel said. As he walked off, Mara held me back for a moment.
"We don't know anything about him. You're willing to trust him?" she accused.
"He lives in the middle of the woods," I countered.
"So?" Mara exclaimed.
"Are you coming?" Samuel called from a short distance away.
"Yeah," I yelled back. I began to follow, and Mara reluctantly trailed behind. He led us around the maze of trees in a seemingly random pattern. However, eventually we arrived at a beautiful grove. A cave high up on a rock face spilled crystal clear water, which fell in a pool. Grass sprouted around the edges of the pool, and the trees seemed even bigger here compared to the rest of the forest. I began speechless in awe.
"Over here," Samuel signaled, guiding us to the largest tree in the grove. It was easily the thickness of a building, if not thicker. The top of the tree was so high up it was beyond my line of sight. Then I noticed a glow that seemed to come from beneath the bark. Samuel pulled back the bark to reveal a hollow in the tree. It was decorated so that it looked like a normal dwelling. The inside was washed in a cheery light illuminating from a hearth, in which the fire burned small enough so that it wouldn't ignite the whole tree. The smoke rose high up into the hollowed out tree. Comfortable looking couches circled the hearth. A set of cabinets accompanied by a table and set of chairs was in the corner.
"This place looks awesome!" I exclaimed. Mara even had a sparkle of interest in her eyes.
"Thank you. Please, make yourself at home," Samuel encouraged. Mara and I took him up on his offer. Mara crashed on his couches while I raided his cabinets. They were stocked with fresh fruit and exotic spices, stuff I didn't know was available in the region.
"Where did you get all this?" I asked, biting a chunk out of a pear.
"It's complicated," Samuel smiled sheepishly. After stuffing ourselves, Mara and I laid down, and soon passed out. When I awakened, I stretched and let loose a large yawn. It felt like it had been forever since I had gotten a good sleep, and I felt refreshed and well rested, like I had been healed by Sapphira. Suddenly, something felt wrong, like my neck wasn't supporting a weight. My hand instinctively went for my necklace, but I was shocked to find it not there. Panic rose into my throat. I began to overturn couch cushions and search the floor for my beloved necklace. All my rustling caused Mara to stir.
"What's wrong, Amos?" she asked, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness in them.
"My necklace is missing," I explained. Mara was immediately on the floor, helping me to search.
"How could you lose it?" Mara criticized.
"I don't know. It's always on my neck, even when I go to sleep. I have no clue where it could have gone," I said.
"Wait," Mara paused midway through her search of the cabinets.
"What?" I asked irritably. I wanted to keep looking for my necklace.
"Where's Samuel?" Mara asked. The truth quickly dawned on me. Both of us rushed outside to see Samuel examining the necklace's glint in the sunlight.
"Oh, hello. Is this yours?" he asked innocently, offering the necklace back.
"Your nothing but a thief," Mara said exactly what I was thinking. Samuel took off in a full off sprint. Mara chased after him, hot in pursuit. I, on the other hand, just stood there, because I had a better idea.
"For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints, and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," I shouted toward the sky, loud enough for the cross pendant to hopefully hear. I heard a painful yelp, and looked to see Samuel drop my necklace, glowing red with heat, into the grove's pool. Steam began to rise from the pool, creating a miniature fog cloud. A flash inside the pool confirmed the necklace transforming to the sword. By then Mara had reached Samuel and attempted to tackle him. Unfortunately, he dodged to the side and she dove face first into the pool. I began to run toward where she and Samuel were. Samuel began to laugh at Mara's failure, until she rose out of the pool. She was soaking wet, with her clothes clinging to her body. However, grasped in her hands was the hilt of my sword, the blade still partly submerged. Samuel moved fast, pulling his wooden spear from his back. He pointed it at Mara, who didn't seem to be able to lift the sword. Samuel made a jab at her ribs, but pulling with all her strength, Mara was able to swing the sword upwards. It chopped off the pointy end of the spear, which plopped harmlessly into the water.
"What?" I heard Samuel stammer as I approached closer, a nervous expression consuming his face. Mara leveled the sword so it was now even with his chest.
"Take us to Tyre, now," Mara demanded, an unmerciful glint in her eyes.
"Fine, you win," Samuel grumbled raising his hands in surrender. Mara lowered the sword, and handed it back to me, but not before glaring at Samuel to make sure he didn't try anything funny.
"So how do we get there?" I asked. Samuel pointed up to the cave that spouts the water that fed the pool.
"Up there. It's a shortcut through the mountain. If we travel through it, you can see Tyre on the other side, and you can get there before dusk," Samuel explained. I accepted his answer. While he went to prepare a way to get up to the cave, Mara and I spent time filling Malachi's bag with various fruits.
"Do you think these were stolen?" I asked.
"Probably, but we might as well take them. It's not like we can return them," Mara said, to which I agreed. I kept a close eye on my sword, to make sure it wouldn't shrink back into a necklace. It seemed to be anytime I neglected or forgot the sword, it would shrink back into a necklace. Whether that was the key to controlling it transformation, I didn't know nor had the time to figure out. Samuel then came in carrying a stick wrapped in paper-like bark.
"We're ready to go," Samuel announced while he lit the top of the stick to make a torch.
"What's that for? Don't you have an electrical light?" Mara asked.
"Nope, sorry. Nothing technological out here," Samuel reported. Before we went out, I cut one of the straps from the bag to make a makeshift strap to tie my sword to my waist. I was glad I did as soon as I saw our way up to the cave. A crude ladder made of branches and tied together with plant fibers made its way almost twenty feet up to the cave.
"I guess you use the cave often," I commented.
"Where do you think I steal everything from?" Samuel grinned, like he wasn't practically our prisoner and we were friends.
"Get on with it. Let's get going," Mara ordered. We ascended the ladder. Samuel held the torch in his teeth as he climbed, and was careful not to let it touch the ladder itself. The ladder was extremely shaky, and I was very relieved when I, the last to begin climbing up, got to the cave.
"Just keep going straight and you'll reach the other side eventually," Samuel instructed, handing Mara the torch.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere just yet," Mara snapped, handing the torch back. To Samuel's horror, she then proceeded to push the ladder away from the edge of the cave. It went backwards, crashing into the pool below.
"How am I supposed to get back down?" Samuel complained.
"That's not our problem, but I'm sure you'll figure out a way. For now, though, you're going to lead us to Tyre," Mara said. She gave me a nod, and even though it didn't feel right, I drew my sword and pushed the point to Samuel's back.
"You heard her. Get moving," I said, trying to sound fierce. We began to hike into the cave, which did not turn into an enjoyable experience. The torch gave off enough light to offer a fair view of the dark innards of the cave. Water covered the floor, and rose to above our knees, forcing us to hike up our pants. The walls were comprised of black stone, but were wet and slick and coated in slimy algae. The path opened barely for two people to walk side by side.
"It's disgusting in here," Mara shivered. I couldn't help but agree. However, I decided to focus on making sure Samuel didn't try to abandon us, of which the chances were high. The dankness of the cave brought back another memory, and I began to muse over it.
One day, just after I had begun living with Uncle Saul, I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my homework. I was still coping with the death of my parents, and the seemingly endless school work wasn't helping. I decided some playtime was in order.
"Have you finished your homework?" Uncle Saul asked as I raced out of my room.
"Yeah," I lied cheerfully, excited about going outside to play.
"That's good. Where are you going now?" Uncle Saul said.
"To play," I cheered, and ran into the yard to play and explore. After rolling around in the grass to burn some energy, I discovered a water drainage pipe. My young mind was still fascinated by dark and dirty places like that at the time, so I went exploring inside. When I finally crawled out, I was filthy. Uncle Saul was not too happy when I came in tracking dirt and slime everywhere.
"What happened to you?" Uncle Saul nearly shouted.
"I went cave exploring," I said proudly, thumping my chest. Uncle Saul must've figured out what I had meant, because he burst out laughing.
"Well, in that case, go clean yourself up," Uncle Saul instructed, rubbing my dirty head affectionately.
I was still lost in the memory when Samuel suddenly dropped the torch into the water. The cave went pitch black.
"Hello," I called into the darkness. Suddenly, there was a shove against my chest and I fell into the water, dropping my sword in the process. My sword clanged as it bounced off the cave wall. There was shriek that sounded like Mara followed by a splash behind me. Mara seemed to flounder a bit while I heard Samuel's laughter echo back from where we had come.
"Where's that thief? He's going to pay for doing this to me, twice now," Mara began to threaten.
"Don't bother getting mad. Our mischievous guide has ditched us," I sighed. Mara grumbled to herself while I recovered my sword. When I found it and strapped it on, I found Mara and helped her to her feet.
"What do we do now? I'm not going back to his grove," Mara complained. I didn't really want to either.
"It can't be too much further. As long as we follow the wall and keep going the direction we were going, we should make it," I suggested.
"We should hold hands, so we don't get separated," Mara offered. I felt my face heat up, but fortunately it was darker than night, so she shouldn't be able to see me. I awkwardly grasped her hand. We fumbled over to the right wall, where I could feel it against my shoulder.
"Are you on the wall?" I asked Mara.
"Yeah," her voice responded from behind me. The wall felt even grosser than it had looked, but I took a little comfort in the fact I was actually holding a girl's hand. Eventually, the wall began to feel drier. The water covering our feet and legs began to get shallower as we walked further until the ground was completely dry. Soon, I spotted a pinpoint of light not far ahead.
"I can see light," I announced to Mara. She didn't respond immediately, so I got worried she had disappeared in the darkness. I squeezed her hand to make sure she was still there.
"I see it too," Mara finally said much to my relief. We began to run until we reached the exit to the cave. I had to shield my eyes as the blazing sunlight hit my face. Sprawled out before us was the remainder of the mountain and the ocean far beyond. I could make out Tyre at the edge of the ocean, even though any details to what the city looked like were impossible to make out. The landscape held a picture perfect moment. It was then, with embarrassment, I realized I was still holding Mara's hand. I realized it from my grasp, and prayed that she didn't notice.
"That's a relief to be out of that cave," I grinned.
"Race you to the city," Mara challenged, leaping off the small ledge that separated the cave from the forest floor. Before I began to chase after her, I checked my sword, which had shrunk back down into a necklace, now barely hanging from the strap. I strung it on my neck before racing after Mara. I quickly caught up, but could not overtake her, so we ended bursting into the city at the same time. The city was filled with people driving levias far above, trapped in traffic jams. People swarmed the sidewalks, which were covered in the shadows of huge buildings. The buildings were like huge spires, covered in reflective glass and steel. The city itself seemed like a typical city, save for the weird buildings.
"It's good to be in Tyre," Mara commented.
"So I guess we should head for the port," I said. Mara shot me one of her intimidating glares.
"Are you crazy? Not when we look like this. We wouldn't even be allowed on the boat," Mara complained, signaling to our dripping wet clothes and overall rugged and dirty appearances.
"So what do we do?" I asked, which kind of made me feel like a fool when Mara glared again.
"As long as the clothes are still dry inside the bag, we should go find a public bath," Mara suggested. I pulled the bag from the back, and sure enough, the clothes were still dry. We wandered the streets until we stumbled across a nice looking public bath. We went inside, but it was then that I realized we didn't have any money.
"What are we suppose to do? We have no money," I whispered to Mara as we approached the front desk.
"Just go sit over there, and leave it to me," Mara ordered. I obeyed and she went to speak with the lady at the desk. The lady did not look pleased when Mara mentioned we had no money, but then the lady's eyes seemed to illuminate when Mara mentioned something else. The lady disappeared behind a door that was marked as the manager's office. There was what seemed like screaming, and the lady came out doing little bows as she approached Mara. After a brief discussion with the lady some more, Mara came over to where I sat.
"Okay, we can go in," Mara said.
"What did you say?" I asked in utter awe.
"I'll tell you later. Now, give me my clothes," Mara shrugged. She took her clothes and went into the women's side while I went into the men's. I took a long and warm shower after which I felt completely refreshed. When I came out completely clean and in fresh clothes, I felt like a new man. Mara wasn't out yet, so I sat around and read some magazine. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice that sent chills down my spine.
"Excuse me, have you seen this kid?" the voice asked just outside the public bath. I peeked outside, and sure enough there stood Commander Joel, showing a hologram image of my face to a couple.