Beyond the Cherry Tree (12 page)

Chapter 19

Slygar

J
osh had slept through the thick of the darkest hours. As Habilon welcomed another sunrise, he opened his eyes to see the distant summit of Mount Erzkrin up ahead.

‘Not too far, my lord,’ spoke Eusyphia softly. She held the boy close to her underside firmly and protectively, yet still with a sense of tenderness and affection.

‘Habilon is beautiful,’ said Josh. ‘When I awake from sleep, I expect not to be here, as if it were all a dream.’

Eusyphia, for the first time in their company, allowed
herself
to laugh, just a little.

‘It is very real, my lord, as real as the sun is rising behind that cloud that taints the perfect morning sky.’

‘Did you know my parents?’ asked Josh.

‘I was a child, my lord, when your mother and father fell by the evil hand of Krudon and his army, but I have fond
memories of the good in Habilon when they were alive. Our land was always tainted with some form of evil, but your father and his forefathers always protected us.’

Josh felt comfort in Eusyphia’s kind words, and he longed to hear more of his heritage.

‘Tell me about my sister, Zera? You’ve met her?’

‘I’m afraid I have never had the privilege, my lord, but I have seen her when I have watched in hiding. And I have heard our people tell many great stories of her bravery and beauty and …’ Eusyphia laughed.

‘What’s so funny?’ smiled Josh.

‘Forgive me, my lord, but I believe the princess is quite feisty, almost a tomboy, when she is in sword training with royal knights.’

Josh tried to visualise his sister: she was brave, and was trained in sword fighting by royal knights.

I can’t wait to meet her!
thought Josh.
My sister – I must save her!

As Eusyphia flew further north, she noticed that, strangely, the cloud was not moving eastwards with the wind.

It was flying south, towards them.

She dipped her head down and descended. She did not want to fly through this black cloud that moved with such conspicuous flight. But it appeared that as she descended, the cloud descended too.

‘Hold on tight, my lord. I fear we have trouble heading our way.’

As the cloud grew closer, Josh could hear a faint noise. The noise grew louder and louder. It was a deafening, piercing noise that penetrated the very back of his eardrums. It was almost unbearable.

Eusyphia was flying toward a cloud of bats.

What are bats doing out during daylight?
thought Josh.

Eusyphia pointed her head upwards and ascended, but the bats followed her movement. She moved swiftly to her right, then back to her left and dropped her altitude.

There was no avoiding collision. The bats were heading straight for them, no matter what their direction.

‘They’re heading straight for us!’ cried Josh, taking his sword in his right hand.

Eusyphia closed her eyes as the bats screeched toward her, fluttering past her wings, and clattering off the crown of her head. Josh swished and swiped his sword, slicing through wings, but there were too many of them. Then, with a
terrifying
cry, the bats dispersed on command. Eusyphia quickly opened her eyes. She knew the sound of the terror that ordered the bats away.

Orzena and Serula were flying toward them on their cats. The bats had veiled their attack well.

Eusyphia dove, ducking between the two cats with the
narrowest of margins.

‘Get the boy!’ screeched Orzena. ‘Kill him!’

Choking air rushed through Josh’s lungs as Eusyphia pushed herself to fly faster than she ever could have
imagined
.

It still wasn’t enough. The powerful wings of the witches’ cats thrashed loudly behind her. She could feel her wings being pulled back as Serula pointed her damning fingers toward her, cursing her with poisonous words.

She spiralled and plummeted toward the ground.

Serula’s cat stretched out its daggered paws, trying to grasp Josh from Eusyphia’s weak body. However, Eusyphia held on tight to the boy. Every time the cat swiped at him she sent her body into another spin, pulling Josh away from danger, until, finally, her wings regained some strength and she pulled out of the dive, swooping upwards.

But there was Orzena, flying straight toward her. Her cat’s jaws wide open, razor-sharp, pointed teeth lunging to strike its fatal blow.

‘Turn!’ shouted Josh as he pulled his right arm back, his sword glistening in morning sun.

Eusyphia heard her king’s command, and with instinctive trust, she twisted her body away to the left. Josh swung his sword across the witch’s cat, severing its lower jaw from its head.

Orzena dove from the cat and clung to Eusyphia’s legs. She dug her nails in deep, sending agonising bolts of evil shock through Eusyphia’s body.

The witch slowly climbed toward Josh.

‘You’re going to die!’ laughed Orzena.

‘Cut the leg!’ cried Eusyphia.

‘What?’ Josh couldn’t believe what Eusyphia asked him to do.

‘Do it now! I have three others.’

Josh looked down, as Orzena plucked her nails from Eusyphia’s leg and stretched out her hand.

Without further delay.
SWISH!

The leg was gone and Orzena with it.

‘No!’ screeched Serula as she looked down at Orzena’s body draped over a tree. Its broken, pointed branch stuck out of her chest.

Eusyphia had blacked out from the shock of her
amputation
and Josh found himself once again hanging onto her for his life as she fell from the sky. They clattered through trees, which slowed their fall. They crashed through the thick brushwood beneath and landed in a pile of soft leaf-mulch. The mulch camouflaged a large hole in the ground.

As Eusyphia and Josh slid down a tunnel deep beneath the ground, Serula and her cat searched for their bodies. Finally she came across the hole. Serula saw Eusyphia’s blood at the
entrance of the hole.

‘Come!’ she beckoned to the cat. ‘Take me to Krudon’s castle. I will tell him the boy is dead.’

The cat snarled.

‘Don’t question me! If he is not dead now, he will be soon. There is no escaping Slygar’s Pit.’

The cat flapped its wings and Serula screeched with laughter as they disappeared beyond the trees. They headed north-east to bring the good news to Krudon.

Josh pulled on Eusyphia’s hands, freeing himself from her grasp. She began to regain consciousness as the light from above shone far down to the bottom of the tunnel. Josh knelt over her and tucked his left hand gently behind her head, helping her to sit upright. The blood was no longer pouring from her wound.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Josh.

Eusyphia smiled. ‘Fear not, my lord. Being cursed with the body of a swamp moth has its benefits. I tend to heal very quickly!’

Josh helped her to her feet, as she stood tall on her
remaining
three legs, her head punctured through a blanket of webs that lined the ceiling of the pit.

‘We’ll have to try and climb back up, my lord,’ suggested Eusyphia.

Josh did not answer Eusyphia. He stepped back from her about three paces, fear masking his face.

Eusyphia slowly turned around to see hundreds of small, spiny, spider-like creatures the size of Josh’s hand clinging to the ceiling above her head. They moved along the ceiling, blocking the entrance of the tunnel they had fallen down. The light disappeared. They were in darkness.

‘Spinners!’ whispered Eusyphia. ‘Run, my lord!’

Josh did not hesitate or question Eusyphia’s cry. He turned and ran through the darkness.

He could hear a lot of noise from behind him as Eusyphia struggled with the spinners. Then the spinners began to follow him. They scurried along the pit’s ceiling, dropping onto his shoulders and crawling all over his body. Josh pulled at them, smashing their spiny warm bodies against the walls. The spinners increased their numbers. They were on the ground and the walls now.

Suddenly Josh could see light ahead. It was coming from three directions and meeting in one point at the centre of the pit up ahead. Josh ran faster, waving his arms and
thrashing
his body, his hands in a frenzy. As he drew closer, he could smell a terrible stench. He made it to the light.

Strangely, the spinners ceased their chase. They stopped at
the shadowed edges where the tunnel met three more
tunnels
.

Light shone down from above. Josh was no longer in
darkness
.

The spinners on the floor quickly crept backwards, into the darkness, leaving Josh all alone. They watched him, hundreds of tiny eyes flickering.

Josh turned around in circles, scratching himself all over and pulling spiny hairs from his itching skin. He looked toward the spinner’s tunnel. He thought of Eusyphia and wondered if she was still alive, but he knew that he could not go back to her. He looked at the other three tunnels and then looked to the light above. There was no way out.

Why? Why have the spinners stopped? What are they scared of?
he thought while holding his nose to block the sickening smell.

His answer followed quickly.

The spinners turned from the shadowed edges of the pit and scurried away. Josh had heard nothing that could have startled them, but he could feel – sense – that there was something in the pit with him. He slowly turned around clenching his sword. As he turned full circle, he found himself stumbling backwards onto the ground. He held out his sword. The creature’s tongue slithered up and down the blade.

Staring down at him, with its large, pink eyes and its long, serrated tongue, was a giant albino serpent. Its long, slimy body
stretched out of one of the tunnels behind. Josh was
speechless
. Even though he tried to use his sword, he found his arms paralysed with fear and shock. The serpent stretched its tongue toward Josh. He slid it over the boy’s body, then slowly retracted it back into its mouth.

Then, it spoke.

‘I am Slygar,’ hissed the serpent. ‘What brings a
boy
into my pit?’

Josh struggled to get any words out. Then he took a deep breath.

‘Accident! It was an accident. Fell … we fell in.’

‘Thought as much,’ said Slygar, leaning his head back from Josh’s face. ‘And you will want to leave now, won’t you?’

Josh wasn’t sure whether that was a question or whether Slygar was teasing him.

‘Yes! If you don’t mind, that is.’

The serpent smiled, ‘Fear not, boy. You would make little impression on my desires. I will spare your life.’

Josh slowly stood up.

‘Where was your journey bringing you when you fell into my pit?’ asked Slygar, noticing the symbols on Josh’s sword.

‘Erzkrin.’

‘Then I will take you. It will be a quicker and shorter journey underground.’

‘You will help me?’

Slygar bowed his head and then raised it again.

‘I would help the King of Habilon, my lord.’

Josh noticed something on the top of the serpent’s head that reminded him of home – of Henry’s story to be exact. He remembered Henry telling him of how the general had left a serpent with a scar on top of his head, when he too fell into the serpent’s pit that stank of death …

Slygar is the serpent in Henry’s story!
thought Josh.
What am I going to do? He’ll kill me for sure. I don’t trust him.

Josh feared to let Slygar know that he doubted the serpent’s loyalty, so he had to pretend to trust him.

Josh looked behind. ‘There was another. We have to go back for her.’

Slygar shook his head. ‘It will be too late.’

Josh wasn’t sure what to do. How could he leave Eusyphia behind? Was this the way it was supposed to be? Was this what it was really like being a king, having others sacrifice themselves for your well-being?

Josh looked toward the spinners’ dark tunnel once more and then climbed onto Slygar.
There’s no going back!
he thought. Then and not for the first time, he thought of the general’s wise words in Henry’s story –
Forward and fearless – that’s the only way to find truth in one’s journey.