Alosha (23 page)

He shook his head. “No hurt.”

“But you chased me that afternoon. You admitted that already, and besides, I saw you. I threw that rock at your leg. Remember?”

He nodded, ashamed. “Hungry.”

“That's all right, I understand. But earlier that same day—about an hour earlier—did you or your friends push me in the river?”

He shook his head. “No hurt Geea.”

“Ali. My name is Ali. Listen closely, Farble, this is important. Could your friends have pushed me in the water when you were not there?”

He shook his head. “No.”

She was puzzled. “Did you or your friends hit Steve on the head by the river?”

He shook his head.

“Are you sure?”

He was confused. “No.”

He must be mistaken, she thought. Who else could have attacked them? The creature that had flung her in the water had been strong. And Steve had taken a nasty blow to the head. He had been knocked out, his camera taken.

Funny about that, though. Steve did not get much of a bruise from the attack. His face looked fine this morning. What was even more odd was how quickly he had reached Overhang once the dark fairies attacked. Of course, he had been scared. Frightened people often did amazing things.

Why was she suddenly doubting Steve?

They resumed their torturous hike, as the sun rose higher into the sky. They had lost their water bottles, but Karl had a couple of steel cups in his pack. They were able to drink from the river when they wanted; however, their hunger came quick and hard. The exercise was to blame; they must have been burning a thousand calories an hour.

Like before, Steve tired quickly. Ali demanded that he let Farble carry him. Even with one hand on the umbrella, and a bum leg, the troll appeared to have strength to spare.

“I'm not letting that smelly carpet carry me,” Steve complained.

“He doesn't smell so bad since he took a bath,” Ali said.

“He won't drop you, I can vouch for that,” Cindy said.

“No,” Steve said, annoyed.

“Look at you, we've hiked only two hours and you're exhausted,” Ali said.
“An hour from now you'll be flat on your back. Don't you see, we can't afford that? We have to keep moving and we can't leave you behind. You have to swallow your pride.”

“What if the guys at school find out about this?” Steve asked.

“Who's going to tell them?” Ali asked.

“I might,” Cindy said brightly.

“Oh brother,” Ali groaned.

Steve glanced at the troll, then at Paddy. “What do you think?” he asked the leprechaun.

“If he doesn't take a bite out of you, laddie, I suppose it could do you no harm,” Paddy said.

“You're a big help,” Steve grumbled.

“I think he's safe,” Karl said.

“You didn't say that last night,” Steve said.

“I wasn't in such a hurry last night,” Karl said, wiping the sweat off his brow and looking at Ali. He tapped his watch.

“I don't know,” Steve said, sulking.

Farble surprised them all. He stepped forward and reached out a hand to Steve. “Help,” he said.

“See, he wants to help you,” Ali said.

Steve glanced at the peak and then back at the troll. “You try to bite me and I'll take away your umbrella,” he said.

Farble shook his head. “No hurt.”

“Okay,” Steve said. “But only for a few minutes. Just till I catch my breath.”

The troll picked Steve up and nestled him in one arm like an overgrown child. They resumed their climb. Steve ended up holding the umbrella over Farble's head. Ali thought they looked cute together.

Later, they were about to leave the trees behind when Paddy suddenly stopped. Sniffing the air, he glanced at Farble, who quickly set down Steve—his few minutes had grown into a laid-back hour—and also sniffed the air.

The leprechaun and the troll looked worried.

“What is it?” Ali asked.

“Elves,” Paddy said.

Karl looked around. “Where?”

“Close,” Paddy said. He spoke to Farble. “Behind us?”

The troll stared back the way they had come. There was nothing to see but the river and the forest. Farble nodded in response to Paddy's question, however.

“Elves,” Farble said.

“Do you see them?” Ali asked.

“Not easy to see elves in the woods, Missy,” Paddy said. “Move fast, from tree to tree. They'll be here before you know it.”

“What should we do?” Ali asked.

“Run,” Paddy said. “Fast. Up the mountain.”

“I don't think I can run,” Cindy said, soaked in sweat and out of breath. She had been talking about trading places with Steve just before Paddy and Farble had caught the scent.

Paddy hopped from foot to foot, anxious. “The troll can carry you, lassie. Best we be gone.”

Farble nodded, scared. “Elves. Coming.”

“Can't we talk to them?” Steve said. “I thought elves were supposed to be reasonable.”

“They're invading our dimension to wipe us out,” Karl told Steve. “I don't think talking with them will help.”

“
Us
talking doesn't help,” Paddy said. “Time to be on our way.”

Ali looked back the way they had come, hesitated. If they left the shelter of the trees, they would be easy to track. “How many elves are behind us?” she asked.

“Don't know!” Paddy said. “Enough! Let's go!”

“Six,” Farble said.

“Are you sure?” Ali asked the troll.

“Six,” the troll repeated.

“That isn't too many,” Ali muttered.

“He's a troll!” Paddy complained. “He can't count up to six. He can only count to two—the number of leprechauns he can eat at one time. Missy, we must run!”

She held up her hand. “Wait. If there's only six, we might be able to handle them. I have the fire stones.”

“Cool,” Steve said, nodding. “Blast the suckers.”

“No,” Ali said. “I'm not going to kill them.”

Paddy was close to a nervous breakdown. “Either kill them or run from them, Missy! Do one or the other!”

“Why not kill them?” Cindy asked her. “If they try to kill us?”

Ali considered. “Because they're not like the dark fairies. They're not evil. This whole war—I think it's just a misunderstanding.”

“That might be true,” Karl said. “But if the elves are as intense as Paddy says, then I doubt we'll be able to clear up that misunderstanding before we're dead.”

She nodded. “But I hate to run up into the snow. We could get bogged down up there, and Paddy says the elves are great archers. They could pick us off from a distance, one by one.”

“That's why you have to kill them,” Steve said, getting more scared.

“Better them than us,” Cindy said.

Just then an arrow flew out of the trees and struck Farble's umbrella. Another arrow followed; it hit a tree beside them. The gang ducked behind the rocks and trees. Crouched near a boulder, Ali peered down the mountain. Still, she could not see a thing.

“Fire off a few shots, let them know we're armed,” Karl said, kneeling nearby.

Ali already had the fire stones out. “I can't start a fire. There's no clouds to put it out,” she said.

“For once let's not worry about the environment!” Steve shouted.

More arrows flew over their heads and landed harmlessly behind them. But the elves were not out for target practice. The arrows were meant to kill. They had been lucky so far, she realized, but their luck could not last forever.

Ali caught a glimpse of movement; it gave her a target. Standing up and rubbing the stones together, she willed the beam to follow the course her mind set. The stones were like high-powered lasers, she imagined. She was the battery. She was confident she had more juice than a typical dark fairy.

The bolt that erupted from her stones was awesome. The red beam tore the air and struck a boulder in front of the spot where she had seen movement, and the rock exploded as if dynamited. The noise was deafening. Dust rained down on them, as the boom echoed across the mountain.

Her friends cheered, and for a moment the forest went still. But then another wave of arrows flew overhead. “I was hoping it would scare them away,” she hissed, ducking back down.

“Kill a few and they'll get scared,” Karl said.

She looked at him. “I didn't come up here to kill.”

“You came up here to stop a war. Sometimes that involves killing.”

She tried to hand him the stones. “You do it then.”

He shook his head. “I don't have your power.” He paused. “Ali?”

“What?” she asked.

“Paddy's right. You have to make a decision. We either stay and fight or else we run. There can be no in-between.”

She sighed. “I know.”

It was then her gaze was drawn to the river. They had not considered trying to cross it. The current would sweep them away in seconds. But what if they had a tree to walk across? A downed tree, after all, had saved her life at the falls. She hated killing a living tree but it was better than killing elves, or her friends for that matter. Tapping Karl's arm, she pointed at the river.

“We need to get in the gorge. All of us,” she said.

“No. They'll trap us down there.”

“No. I'm going to make us a bridge.”

Karl was confused but then understanding dawned and he smiled.

“Good plan,” he said.

Trying to stay under cover, the gang scampered into the gorge. It was not
steep at this altitude. Indeed, they had already walked down to the river a number of times during their morning hike.

Unfortunately, the elves refused to let up. Another wave of arrows followed. One hit Karl's backpack, and a second one flew between her legs as she dashed across the open space. A few inches to either side and she would have been crippled.

“We can't swim across this water!” Steve cried, terrified by the raining arrows.

“We're trapped!” Cindy said, despairing.

“We're not trapped and we don't have to swim.” Ali pointed to a tree that stood twenty feet above the river. “I'm cutting down that pine. Stand back!”

Because the branches were weighed heavily on the side of the river, she was confident the tree would fall over the water. But to get a clean shot at it, she had to climb out of the gorge, once more exposing herself to the arrows.

Ali decided to give the elves something to worry about for the next few minutes. Raising the stones, she fired off another shot, blowing up a clump of bushes and a mound of dirt. The debris showered over the slope and the noise probably told anyone who was listening exactly where they were. Well, she thought, it couldn't be helped.

Ali jumped onto the rocks and studied the tree. The base was thick—better to have a precision cut than another explosion, she thought. Holding tight on the stones, she concentrated on how she wanted them to perform. She was rewarded when a narrow beam of light poured out and she was able to cut the tree like a slice of bread. In fact, she cut it so clean that it didn't move when she was done, although the stump had been severed from the rest of the trunk. She had to give it a stiff kick.

The tree toppled across the river. The dust, when it landed, was like a blast from a sandstorm, but she was too relieved to care. She shouted to the others.

“Get across! Hurry!” she said.

Karl was the first across, followed by Cindy and Steve. Paddy went next, but
Farble was having second thoughts. Ali had to climb down into the gorge and take his hand.

“Are you afraid?” she asked.

He nodded sadly. “Can't swim.”

“You don't have to be able to swim. We're not going in the water. Come on, I'll walk behind you. You'll be safe with me.”

Farble believed her. Whatever she said, it was gospel to him. It made her wonder. Why did he keep calling her Geea?

The troll leaped onto the fallen pine—with a quick look behind to make sure she was coming—and lumbered across. The wide trunk was as easy to skirt as a real bridge. Ali was across in seconds. It was only on the other side, however, that she saw the arrows the elves had put in the tree.

For the first time she got a glimpse of the enemy. They stood above the gorge on the other side. Clad entirely in green, they had long yellow hair that reminded her of gold crowns set in the sun. With human-shaped heads and large eyes and gentle mouths, their faces appeared as soft as children's.

The sight of them reminded her of something Paddy had said.

“Is Lord Vak close to Jira?”

“He was.”

“I thought you said he
almost
died?”

“Jira died later.”

“How?”

Paddy had changed the subject then.

The name Jira was even more familiar to her than Lord Vak.

She pushed away the thought. She had more pressing concerns. The gang was far from safe. Across the river, the elves carried bows and arrows. Two of them pointed at her as she studied them through the branches. They lifted their weapons.

Ali raised the fire stones, took aim above their heads. The blast went lower than planned. Maybe a part of her wanted to hurt them, after all. The two elves lost their caps; they almost lost their heads. They ducked out of sight.

“The tree, Ali!” Karl shouted.

“I know,” she said. This time she didn't bother to be precise. Aiming the stones at the tree's center, she fired a hard blast. The red laser tore through the wood, sending out a rain of charred splinters, cutting the trunk in two. The pieces collapsed into the water and the current dragged the logs down the mountain and out of sight.

Ali felt a stab of regret. It had hurt to cut down the tree.

The gang ran into the trees, finally safe on the west side of the river. But they had not gone far when they were forced to stop and catch their breath. They didn't even get to enjoy their rest. Paddy brought up more bad news.