The Forgotten Eden (26 page)

“
I mustered up my remaining courage and took a few steps forward. The eighth tree lifted itself up from the ground and landed with a heavy thud on the edge of the path’s gravel surface. Within the next few seconds it would completely block the path. I drew in a deep breath and sprinted toward the tree, just as its roots stretched out in an apparent effort to pull itself fully onto the path and block me. In the very instant before it pulled itself over, I dove over its roots, scraping my arms and knees in the gravel but rolling to safety beyond the tree.

“
I stood up and ran like hell, hearing a loud, meaty, breath-like sound coming from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, surprised to find a face glowing within the tree. Not sure if it was the monster Genovene or some other fiend, it sneered contemptuously. I believe it tried to say something, but all that came out was a low whispery rumble—at least that’s the best way I can describe it. Maybe it was an order for me to stop, because all the other trees in the grove now approached the path.

“
Some trees tried to halt me with their branches, but I kept running. The sound of roots and limbs stretching to the point of tearing filled the air around me, sending cold shivers along my spine. Or maybe it was that feeling of being watched and studied from all angles again…. When I neared the grove’s exit, they crowded the path along its remaining length. One stepped in front of me. I faked to the right as if I really would move in that direction. The tree went for it and I sprinted to the left instead. Despite my cleverness, I narrowly escaped in one piece, receiving a reminder of just how close it’d been. A long scratch from a branch drew blood along the outside of my right leg.

“
Leaving the grove, I happened to look over to my left. I stopped moving. Banjo and a few of his playmates were suspended in the air within a circle of five trees roughly forty feet away. He hung from the trees’ branches while a sixth tree moved within the circle toward him.

“
He put up quite a struggle, kicking his legs desperately. A branch wrapped tight around his snout kept him quiet while two others were wrapped around his mid-section and shoulders to keep him from escaping. The other animals were motionless, with strips of bloody flesh and fur hanging from their torn bodies. The raccoon looked like it was stuck halfway inside a tree, like that particular somila was trying to absorb the animal’s flesh. The middle tree closed in on Banjo.

“
In my mind I knew I should just get out of there, to save my own skin. But my heart wouldn’t let me do it. I couldn’t bring myself to desert my friend, even if Banjo was just an animal.

“
Fearing I’d surely regret it, I ran off the path and raced to the circle. Eluding the outstretched roots and branches from even more trees, I finally reached the one holding Banjo.

“
Suspended almost fifteen feet above the ground, there was no way I could reach him. To make matters worse, the middle tree was in the process of positioning a branch directly in front of him, the twigs at the end of the branch stretching and contorting into sharp barbs. As it prepared to strike Banjo, I did the only thing I could think of. I kicked the tree holding him. Sharp pain ripped through my foot, traveling from my toes to my knee, and I remember crying out in agony. But the tree holding Banjo moved enough to where the middle tree’s weapon missed him by a hair, crashing into the side of the other tree.

“
Both trees pursued me as I tried to limp away from their reach. Despite the pain in my foot I moved back in and kicked the tree holding Banjo with my other foot. The tree swung around, trying to attack me with another of its branches. It missed completely, but its twig ‘barbs’ rammed the tree trying to absorb the raccoon. Dark sap seeped from the wound and that tree dropped what was left of the animal’s carcass on the ground.

“
To my surprise—and this is the God-honest truth—it swung a large branch loaded with sharp barbs, thrusting it into the tree holding Banjo. That tree dropped Banjo to the ground.

“
Ridiculous as it sounds, it looked like the trees prepared to attack each other. But not wanting to waste the opportunity to rescue Banjo and get the hell out of there, I’ll never know if they duked it out or not. I threw him over my shoulder and raced back to the path.

“
The entire grove was soon in an uproar, but the trees couldn’t get organized in time to stop us from leaving. All they could do was try to drop their giant tomato-like fruit on us as we left. I’m glad their aim sucked, especially after I watched more than one piece of fruit burst open on the ground, with some acid shit pouring out. It sizzled and foamed while burning a hole in the ground. I ran even harder once I saw that.

“
I kept running until we were far enough away from the grove. I set Banjo down on the path and dropped to my knees from exhaustion. Every time I got tired it was worse than before, taking longer for me to recover. Thankfully, Banjo didn’t leave me this time, because I wouldn’t have been able to stop him. He put his front hooves on my shoulder and eagerly licked my face, bleating loudly in my ears.

“
I still scolded him for almost getting killed, wondering why he and his buddies didn’t stay put in the meadow like they were supposed to do. He just looked at me curiously while I petted him. I looked to the side of the path where I’d watched him and the other animals at play earlier. The ground completely scorched, the grass and wildflowers had been burned away from that entire portion of the meadow. Whatever had caused this did so fairly recent, as smoldering flames burned the remaining grass near the path.

“
I worried for a moment the somilas had done this, and that they might pursue us after all. But the damage to the meadow extended several acres on either side of the path, and I knew something else had done this.

“
I spotted a pair of crumpled, shredded robes lying on the ground not far from us, and I moved over to get a better look at the mangled garments. Lying next to them were the partially eaten and charred remains of the two miahluschkas Genovene had assigned to watch over Banjo. Their torn bodies violated so badly, at first glance I wasn’t quite sure what I looked at. Then I stooped down to examine the half-eaten torso of one of the critters and its exposed internal organs, along with the shattered skull of the other one. It surprised me at how similar they were to the rest of the human race—unlike Genovene and the others.

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I moved back over to the path, keeping Banjo close by me. It didn’t take long to find out what was coming next, for no sooner than we reached the path again, a solid gust of wind greeted us. With it came an ominous dark shadow that obscured the late afternoon sun.

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I grabbed Banjo and ran to the river. I didn’t need to verify the cloud from earlier hovered above us. I looked up anyway, just in time to see a pair of misty appendages from the cloud reach for us, bringing more gusts of wind and bolts of lightning down into the meadow. Much larger than before, the cloud’s assault made it extremely difficult to maintain my balance and keep my hold on Banjo.

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The sheer force of the wind grew stronger and stronger until the powerful gusts finally knocked us down to where neither one could stand up. I crawled toward the stone bridge holding onto Banjo’s collar, dragging him with me. Less than a hundred feet away, I didn’t think we’d ever reach the bridge.

“
The cloud’s ‘arms’ darkened and continued to solidify until clearly defined, with hands and lucid fingers, though disproportionately long. I swear to God I’m telling you the truth, Agent McNamee, but I can’t blame you if you don’t totally believe me. Hell, I scarcely believed it when I saw this shit!

“
Somehow we reached the bridge. I climbed on first and pulled Banjo up with me, being careful not to strangle him. The cloud’s long fingers grasped the sides of the bridge, sending an immediate tremor throughout the stone structure. Powerful gusts blew across it, and torrid lightning strikes, which had been landing closer and closer to us, now crept to within a few feet. The crackling and sizzling sounds unnerving, we kept going. No other choice.

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Just before we reached the midway point, one of the clouds’ hands let go of the bridge and tried to grab us. More like scoop us out from the narrow bridge. It couldn’t quite get a grip on either one. Still, I nearly lost my grip on the railing, forcing me to use my arms and elbows to keep from being tossed over the side into the raging river below. I could no longer hang on to Banjo, though he managed to wedge himself in between my legs.

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Tedious, moving along like this, but we managed to make progress. Nearing the end of the bridge, a powerful lightning bolt slammed into the bridge floor right behind us. Singeing the hair on my right leg, it also mortally damaged the structure, leaving a deep crack where it hit. The crack soon splintered into smaller ones that quickly spread toward us, and I could tell the bridge wouldn’t hold up much longer.

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I dragged Banjo with my legs, desperately clawing my way to the other shore, resolutely determined to cross the bridge before it crumbled into the river. Within fifteen feet of the shoreline, the cloud’s hands began whipping the water from the turbulent river onto the bridge. The water acting as a powerful hammer, and the cracks throughout the bridge quickly widened.

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The collapse in earnest, huge pieces fell into the river from our rear. I clung to what was left of the railing with Banjo wrapped inside my legs. We were still nearly ten feet from the shore.

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Another section crumbled into the river, pulling most of the floor with it. I took as wide a step as I possibly could while tightening my grip on Banjo. When the rest of the floor disappeared beneath us, I leapt with all my might and pushed him along side me through the air. The river’s powerful current dislodged the bridge’s foundation, bringing us closer to land. I grabbed onto a large clump of thistles growing along the water’s edge with one hand. Ignoring the thorns piercing that hand, I secured my grip on Banjo’s front leg with the other. I then watched what was left of the bridge crash into the river where it vanished in the rushing rapids.

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I pulled Banjo to safety atop the embankment. The cloud’s hands and arms had already disappeared, and the cloud itself soon dissipated. The volatile water slowed down to a smooth, peaceful current as the river returned to its original course through the woods. Feeling a little safer, I took a moment to remove the painful stickers from my bleeding hand, finding it hard to believe I’d actually hung onto the sharp thistles and Banjo without both of us tumbling into the river.

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The late afternoon sun returned, though it’d dropped deeper into the western sky. The sun’s rays danced upon the river while the grove and meadow faded away. In their place stood the usual trees and plants typical for the woods near Carlsdale, like tall pines, oaks, and elms. Wild ferns and blackberry bushes were among the plants familiar to me that crowded the dirt path overgrown with tall grass and weeds.

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I felt ecstatic to be back in a world I readily knew and understood, where magic and monsters didn’t exist.

“‘
We did it, Banjo
!’
I shouted excitedly.
‘
We made it out of that hellhole alive
!!!
Can you believe it
??’

“
I kneeled to hug him, despite my weariness. Just a hop and a skip through the woods and we’d be home. I stood up and headed for the hillside, with Banjo trotting beside me.

“
When we reached the top of the hill, I took one last look behind us. The wilderness below remained impressive, though nowhere near amazing as the view I’d enjoyed earlier that day. In reality, I looked out onto the vast, and for the most part undisturbed, forest for the very first time. Though unremarkable, it was home and it was beautiful. Relieved the adventure had ended, I turned away and led Banjo into the woods.

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We’d just stepped into the woods’ deep shade when all at once we heard an incredible, almost ear-splitting roar that shook the entire hillside behind us. Since totally unexpected, the roar was the most frightening thing I’d heard all day! Cautious, I crept back up to the hill’s edge and peered down at the river below. On the ground between the river and the path that led up the hill sat the biggest damn reptile I’d ever seen.

“
As I told Sheriff McCracken later that night, I estimated its length to be at least seventy feet, and from the shiny colors on its scaly skin, I recognized it had to be the serpent Genovene referred to as Vydora. But much larger than what I saw splashing around in the water underneath the stone bridge earlier. It took a moment to realize I’d only seen her tail and not the rest of her body at the time.

“
Vydora’s appearance certainly matched her roar. Claws long and sharp, her huge head had gold horns on top of it. Her mouth opened wide, I could see two rows of long pointed teeth. As I mentioned earlier, she also had a pair of multicolored fans near where her ears must’ve been. To me, she really did look like a cross between a
tyrannosaurus rex
and a mythical dragon—just like the sheriff’s report stated. To her I must’ve looked like dinner, for as soon as she spied me peeking down at her, she roared really loud again.

“
A long stream of fire flew out of her mouth, stopping less than fifteen feet below us and scorching a patch of tall grass. At least I knew who was responsible for what happened in the meadow.

“
Keep in mind Vydora had one other physical aspect I failed to recognize at first glance. The wings I told you about? They blended in perfectly with her scales on her back. So unless they were extended, like right then, you might not notice them. Having a good idea what would come next, I rushed over to Banjo, giving him a firm swat on his butt to get him moving.