The Forgotten Land of Myria

SAFIRA

A drop of blood trickled down my lips to my chin and I couldn’t wipe it off. My hands were tied tightly behind my back, pulse hardly beating. Below me, my legs were strapped to a rock, which I could barely reach, leaving me in a half-dangling position. Above me, well, way above me, was only one of the deadliest creatures to ever roam the Caves of Solitude. The Horned Serpent. From the prison cell, I could only hear its heavy, putrid, nasty wings, that felt like a storm’s wind when it flapped.

It seemed to shriek even louder now, triumphant, awaiting its supper. Once again, I heard the scurrying of gnomes nearby-the grubby creatures responsible for putting me in the position

I was in.

“Safira,” Ada sniffled next to me. “I’m scared.”

I remained quiet. There was nothing I could say. I could hear Eulisses mumbling prayers as the cell gates flung open and the gnomes barged in. Banebee growled from his cage and one of the gnomes gave it a rattle as it walked by. They made their way towards the first victim. I forced myself to watch as Roy was lowered from his ropes and had his ankles and wrists fastened to an X-shaped rack.

“No!” Ada whimpered.

“Stop it,” I silenced her. “There’s nothing we can do.”

However, as they hauled him away, I wished I had felt something other than anger. A single teardrop floated down my cheek, the same way it did twelve years ago, the day the two boys were taken away. And now, I got to see the older boy being taken again before my eyes, with the younger boy nowhere to be found--and for the second time I couldn’t do anything.

Banebee was wailing from his cage. I shushed him but he ignored me.

“Krupa! Kupo!”

When I turned to scold him, however, I noticed he was blankly staring upwards. Before I steered my eyes in that direction, I heard something flop down from the ceiling of the cave.

“What was that?” Ada whispered. Another flop. It came from behind us.

“Safira, what’s going on?”

As if I knew the answer. Even Eulisses looked worried, but at least he didn’t blabber on and on.

All of a sudden, Ada’s following whimper was muffled and a second later, a large, rough hand clamped against my mouth. Instinctively, I thrusted and thrashed. When I looked at Eulisses with screaming eyes, I found him ossified, staring upwards like Banebee had done. His eyes were gleaming in excitement (as much excitement as those gloomy eyes could hold).

That’s when I heard a “Shhh!” coming from above, and finally looked up to find Angus holding a finger to his lips. I was never so relieved to see someone in my life. As he landed on the floor, I felt the ropes at my wrists being cut and I immediately fell forward. Angus stumbled to catch me.

I didn’t have time for any affection, and I made sure to show it, pushing him away as soon as he set me down. He then hurried to help Ada and Eulisses, and finally Banebee. That’s when I noticed the company he had--the first two “flops”--and I almost choked on my own heart.

Two wildlings. Children, still. We’d heard only a couple of stories growing up about wildlings, children raised in the wild, and they weren’t very pleasant. Some said that once a wildling met civilization, it could never live a normal life.

My eyes met Ada’s and I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

“Angus?” she said, as he nervously dropped her down next to me. “Wh--who are they?”

She pointed at the two infants who were now cutting Eulisses’ rope.

“Feral children that I met here in the Caves,” he responded enthusiastically. “I’ll explain more later.” He burst open Banebee’s cage and the joyous jujoo flung himself at Angus’ shoulders. He managed a chuckle. “For now, we have to move.”

At that moment we heard, once again, the uninviting scuffles and squeals of the gnomes, we fell silent. Without a sound, Angus signaled us to retake our positions. The “tip-tap” of gnomish feet grew nearer.

“Go!” Angus hissed as he and the two wildlings scurried up the walls, with enormous agility. By the time the cell doors opened, it was as if nothing had happened. I grasped the loose ropes behind my back. A hoard of gnomes filled the cell, dragging in the rack. I felt a stab in my heart. Had Roy been sacrificed already?

I made no more room for such thought, knowing a mission was under way.

The gnomes circled us suspiciously, obviously having heard some racket--gnomes have remarkable hearing. Angus looked like he was even holding his breath as he and his companion stealthily dangled from the ceiling. The grubbers paced around some more, until one of them finally found something wrong. I had noticed it too: we’d forgotten to close Banebee’s cage. One furious gnome began howling at the wide-open cage and pulled out a scythe. Before it could wave the weapon anywhere, Angus had landed on its back. The two wildlings followed, and at once, it was a brawl.

Weapons swinging, heads spinning, and much, much thrashing. Weaponless, I had to kill my first gnome with my bare hands before I jacked its axe. It wasn’t my weapon of choice but it had to do. I saw Ada and Eulisses do the same and in no time, all the gnomes were sprawled on the floor. As expected, we immediately heard thousands coming from all direction. For all I knew, we’d awakened the entire gnomish nest.

None of us had any idea what to do, but before anyone raced mindlessly towards the open cell gate, one of the wildlings nudged Angus and pointed at the X-rack, that the gnomes meant to tie one of us into.

“Quick!” Angus snapped. “Throw them in!”

I hurled as many dead bodies as I could onto the rack-trying to ignore the stench and discomfort of packing carcasses.

“What’s this even supposed to be?” I asked, clogging my nose.

We could already hear some of the gnomes approaching.

“Serpent supper,” Angus murmured.

We each took a handle of the rack and shoveled it as hard as we could towards the cell gate. By now, I had understood Angus’ idea of using the gnomes as bait to swap sacrifices-though I wasn’t sure if he knew about Roy (whether he was alive or not).

Outside the cell gates, the marble hall split into three different directions, but Angus and his companions seemed to know what they were doing.

“This way!”

“Wait,” Ada called out. The racks came to a halt and she ran towards a marble wall on the opposite side, where I could see our weapons neatly lined up. I sighed in relief--these gnomes were such idiots.

While retrieving our things I glanced at Roy’s spear and sword. Without thinking, I strapped the spear onto my back and buckled the sword on my belt. Thankfully, it was a generic weapon so I was able to wield it.

Just in case, I thought. We wheeled the rack to the far left entrance, just in time to see the first troop of gnomes running our way. There were only six or seven of them making a good addition to our rack--gnomes are numerous, but terrible fighters. We raced down the path, dodging arrows, and pummeling every gnome we met along the way. I couldn’t even keep track of what my scabbards were slicing and what my arrows were hitting.

The tunnel-like trail was endless, twisting, turning, and splitting, until we reached a dead end. The flaw was that there were no bends, no ladder, no turning point. The path simply stopped.

“What do you suppose we do now?” I demanded to a puzzled Angus, as a stampede of gnomes came in our direction. The wildlings banged on the walls and protested.

“Something isn’t right,” Angus breathed heavily. “There must be some way...” Ada pleaded.

We were beginning to see some gnomes down the path. I was just about to string three arrows into my bow and let loose, when I caught a glimpse of Eulisses. He was crouched, his jolty eyes skimming the wall, like he was reading it. I huddled next to him.

“What do you see?”

As expected, he said nothing. He calmly ignored me and the fact that the entire gnomish nest was now only a training field’s length away from us. Desperately, Ada raced down the path waving her staff fiercely, and mounds of rocks and sediment avalanched upon the hoard of oncoming gnomes blasting them away. The wildlings set after her to help, but Angus took no incentive.

Meanwhile, the wave of gnomes was unstoppable. Hundreds were streaming endlessly and they seemed to be moving even faster now. I knew it wasn’t because of the rumbling ground and the toppling rocks--it had something to do with what

Eulisses was doing.

“Whatever is going on, must be done quickly!” I urged, shooting blind arrows behind my back.

Eulisses only brandished his hand in response, not daring to unglue his eyes from the wall.

“We don’t have any more time,” my voice rose along with the stomps of the gnomes that now chased Ada and the wildlings down the path. “We have to go!”

No words.

Angus shot arrows aimlessly. The gnomes were only yards away and I began to panic.

“Eulisses!”

Still no answer. Arrows flew. Rocks fell. It was only a matter of seconds...

“EULISSES!”

Eulisses solemnly pulled out his staff and tapped a specific point on the wall. In a fraction of a second, the cave ceiling cracked open and the spot that Eulisses had tapped on the wall revealed a lever. The dead end was a hidden passage. An escape valve.

Without thinking twice, Angus, Eulisses, and I, pulled the lever, all at once. There was a jolt below us and just as Ada and the wildlings reached us, the ground tore apart, barely separating us from the gnomes, as we shot up through the open ceiling--Banebee shrilled in excitement.

The sun’s blinding light forced my hands into my face.

“We have got to act quickly!” Angus hollered near my ear and I came to my senses. The surface we stood on was a plateau, suspended at a mountain peak hundreds of feet above the ground, sheeted in scorching white sand. Angus had crouched behind a shrub of withered leaves, and I inched my way next to him peering through.

“There he is,” Ada whispered hunching down next to me. “How will we get to him? Well, the Serpent is nowhere in sight.”

Angus squinted attentively at Roy and pursed his lips. Roy, who was suspended on the rack, limbs spread out, looked lifeless. As we waited uselessly, watching Roy melt under the sun, my patience died.

“Here’s an idea,” I blurted out. “How about we run for it?” I was already on my feet before anyone could protest.

“Now wait a minute!” Angus called out, but I cut him off.

“Ready the rack!” I hooted over the bush and sprinted across the sandy plain, wide out in the open.

Well, someone had to make a decision I thought, in a way of reassuring myself that what I was doing wasn’t completely absurd. Roy moaned miserably as I reached him.

“Hey...hey, it’s me!” I said, patting his sunburnt cheeks. “Stay alive alright? I’m getting you out.”

He grumbled in response as I tugged at the ropes with my knife; I practically had to pry open the metal clamps. Roy was definitely in hopeless pain, so I made sure to take caution. When I was at the final rope, I turned back at Ada, Angus, and Eulisses in order to signal to them to bring out the rack. I was greeted, instead, with three of the most shock-stricken expressions I’d seen. They looked petrified, and I suddenly grasped what all of Roy’s whining was about. When I turned around, I already knew what to expect.

The Horned Serpent emerged from under the plateau, only yards away. It met me with wings wide open, unloading an ear-splitting shriek and scattering sand with its heavy scaly wings. It was quite as I had pictured it: a 30-foot-long slender physique, a slimy-greenish flaky skin and one large horn poking out of its thin head, between a pair of red beady eyes.

I didn’t have any more time to behold its nastiness, once it charged in my direction. In desperation, I ripped Roy from the last couple of knots and flung his arm over my shoulder, as Angus pushed the gnome-piled rack in my direction. His shaking hands let it go once he reached me.

“Come, this way!” he yelled.

He raced to the other side of the bushes and Ada helped me carry Roy the rest of the way. We found Angus kneeling on the ground. He brushed the sand away and a handle to a trapdoor sprung up. Angus pulled the trapdoor open revealing a dark tunnel going straight down in a slope. I faltered when Angus gestured to jump in.

“It’s the only way,” he pleaded. Unfortunately for us, we really had no other options. The Serpent had lost interest in the fresh batch of dead gnomes as soon as it noticed that its real dinner was getting away. It whizzed behind us and I had a sense of urgency, but was still hesitant.

“You go first, then,” I ordered. Angus blinked at me, almost offended. To my surprise, he brushed the dirt off his shoulder, gently took Roy in a bear-hug and fearlessly dove headfirst into the tunnel.

“Okay, who’s next?” I huffed, suppressing my vulnerability.

“Come on, quickly!”

I raised my voice to compete with the Serpent’s shrill shrieks. Eulisses stepped forward and calmly plunged his bony legs in, disappearing into the porthole. Ada was just as hesitant as me and I practically had to push her down.

When it was my turn, however, I was caught by surprise. The Serpent had caught up. It landed with a thud in front of me and hawked, more furiously than ever. I froze in terror. Reactionless, I couldn’t bring myself to jump down the trapdoor. However, as the serpent pried open its razor toothed mouth and prepared to lunge at me, I saw something incredible happen. Two figures zapped by and landed in between the Serpent and me.

It was Tanya and Zeff. The wild infants puffed their chests and bared their fangs, hissing menacingly at the monster. As I was ready to pull them away from harm I saw a peculiar detail. It looked as if the Serpent had actually flinched!

They pressed on, seething intimidation as the great Horned Serpent challenged them, now in a more defensive manner.

Why not show up earlier? I thought. Then, they turned on me. As I was caught off guard, I finally found myself being shoved backwards, into the trapdoor tunnel. I bumped roughly down the slope for what seemed like forever, whizzing, swirling, until my back finally skidded onto soft ground. I grunted when my bow and arrows fell out of the hole on top of me, and rolled over to allow the wildlings to whizz by. Only when I heard a groan did I notice I had landed on top of Eulisses.

I quickly picked myself up and brushed the slime and dirt away.

“Thank Yihwa, we all made it,” I breathed. “Where’s Angus?” I asked Ada, whose attention was elsewhere.

Ada stood stock-still, kneading her staff with both hands.

“Safira,” she whispered. “Look!”

Oh, boy I thought.

Tanya and Zeff had just toppled out of the tunnel. Bracing myself, I slowly turned around, but what I found was no monster.

A giant glowing blue sphere of ice was lightly floating atop a frozen, shimmering lake.

“That can’t be...”

“The Razorgate!” Ada finished in awe. Angus then scooched into scene, waving his arms to get our attention.

“D-did you...?”

He nodded shyly. I gawked in disbelief as he nimbly set up his things--the medical supplies he had fished from the crate--and knelt to treat Roy, who was sprawled out next to the Razorgate. He then stopped on one knee and pulled out an ocarina from his pocket.

He played a short tune and the legendary Whispering Ocarina glowed green.

“Th--tha--that isn’t...that really isn’t--is it?” Ada panted.

“It is,” I affirmed. “What are you doing?”

“Oh,” he laughed nervously. “Just...calling a friend.”

As if on cue, a twinkling light sparked into scene, and a nixie materialized in front of us.

“Mr. Dead Serious, you made it! You literally made it!”

“Clearly! Not figuratively!” I heard Angus chime.

The nixie clapped in excitement and pranced around. The wildlings then approached her and she greeted them intimately, then began floating around us, showing great curiosity.

“So,” she rang. “These are the great heroes...oh I don’t even know what to say...um, excuse me--what a delight!”

Angus called her over, to examine Roy as he casually tucked his other knee under. Meanwhile, Ada, Eulisses, and I couldn’t believe what we were seeing. We were stunned. Angus had just reactivated the only known exit to the Caves of Solitude, which, according to legend, had been asleep for over fifty years; and best of all, he didn’t seem to have a clue as to what he had done.

A warm feeling of hope surged through me. We still had a long way to go, but I couldn’t help but grin. The younger boy hadn’t changed at all.