The Medievals 1, page 21
part #1 of The Medievals Series
His boots leave the ground, pushing Richard forward through the falling water, and he emerges out the other side, with only air beneath him. His soaked body arcs downward through the air, and Richard suddenly flashes to the moment on Mount Saurian where he saw his entire life play before his eyes.
Only this time, his father is not here to catch him.
Splash! Richard drops beneath the surface of the rushing river, the current’s formidable strength quickly pulling him down further.
At first, he doesn’t have the presence of mind to do anything but be tossed along by the violent rapids, his knees and elbows crashing against stones. But then he surfaces, his vision clearing long enough for Richard to catch a glimpse of the next drop in the falls. His eyes bob in and out of the water, making it hard for Richard to seek an escape.
Then he sees it: a boulder poking up out of the river. Richard reaches out his arm and his fingers catch in a thin crevice. The rapids do their worst to drag him further, but Richard strains against the pull successfully.
Richard spots something in the corner of his eye coming at him with speed. He turns to see Loxley flailing in the current. Without thought, Richard grabs Loxley by his hood just before the thief is carried over the next fall; and using all of his strength, Richard maneuvers Loxley to the rock.
“Holy crow, those rapids move!” Loxley gasps.
Just then, Richard hears the voice of El Cid, and Richard turns to see him popping up out of the water, his body strong enough and tall enough to withstand the relentless current. Richard watches in disbelief as the massive Spaniard simply walks toward them through the river.
“Where’s Red?” Loxley asks El Cid.
But before El Cid can say, the thief’s question is answered as the gryphon bursts through the wall of falling water, its powerful wings flapping, with Ivanhoe trapped in its claws.
As the magnificent beast soars out over the water, Ivanhoe manages to reach the knife in his boot, and he slashes away at the gryphon, the fight continuing in midair. The knife penetrates the leg, and the gryphon shrieks again as Ivanhoe struggles free, dropping through the air and into the rapids.
El Cid sloshes through the current and plucks Ivanhoe from the water, then drops his body on the bank of the river.
Meanwhile, the gryphon hovers high in the air, circling the team. The wingspan of the flying beast is the length of ten men lined up heels to head. And it looks even more majestic in the light of day.
But after the gryphon circles one more time, it flies back toward the falls, slipping through the water and retreating to its home.
Then, El Cid returns through the water for Loxley and Richard, carrying them both to the shore next to Ivanhoe.
Loxley, breathing heavily as he lies on his back, turns to Richard: “I owe you one, Young Blood, for pulling me from that drink like you did.”
Richard nods, still trying to catch his own breath, the wind knocked from him when he hit the water. And as he lies there, his heart still pounding with excitement through his wet clothes, his eyes find the bovid horn, which Ivanhoe clasps tightly in his hand. Somehow, battling against a gryphon, he was able to retrieve this thing that he seems to prize over his own life.
Now more than ever, Richard is curious about what secret the horn holds.
◆◆◆
“We’re in the soup, now,” Loxley says, his disembodied voice breaking through the impenetrable fog that surrounds Richard as he walks.
It has been several days since they fought off the gryphon at Thundering Falls. Forced to find other passage, Ivanhoe led the team to the east of the falls, where they found a less treacherous climb up the rock. And there, they entered into the Cloudlands on their way to the Island of Forgotten Souls: the place where King Lemlee believes they will find the Descendant.
The new terrain is covered in tall black stalks that offer a bright orange fruit. While the fruit is not poisonous, it is bitter, as Richard learned with a bite that was to be his first and last. The fruit’s only purpose seems to be to attract a swarm of tiny and invisible insects that buzz about Richard’s face and ears as he slices his way through the stalks. Appropriately, Loxley refers to them as Noseeums. And they seem to bother El Cid the most.
Every so often, El Cid sets Tizona aflame and waves the sword wildly around him, shouting “Leave El Cid alone, tiny menaces!” And while the flame clears the air of the Noseeums for a moment, they quickly return.
Since entering this dark field, the clouds have at times thickened, and at other times thinned. But the fog has been ever-present with varying density. And this has caused them to go much more slowly.
At the moment, it is impossible to see more than a horse’s length in any direction, which is why Richard can hear Loxley nearby him, but cannot see him.
As they walk through the dense fog, Loxley begins whistling again.
“Knock it off, thief,” Ivanhoe commands, walking just ahead of Richard.
Ivanhoe is still recovering from the gash at the front of his shoulder caused by the gryphon’s beak, and he has been more ill-tempered than usual.
“Must you always be such a hole in the boat, Red?” Loxley asks.
“Silence,” Ivanhoe responds, and this time Richard can hear concern in the erstwhile knight’s voice.
Ivanhoe stops, and so Richard stops moving, too. Behind him, El Cid and Loxley bump into each other as they are surprised by one another in the fog.
“Watch it, you big ox,” Loxley chides.
El Cid ignores Loxley and looks to Ivanhoe, all four of them now huddled together among the stalks: “El Cid does not know why we have stopped.”
Ivanhoe keeps his voice low as he explains, “Someone is following us.”
“You are sure?” El Cid asks.
Ivanhoe nods, slowly and quietly drawing his battle axe from his back.
“But who?” Loxley asks.
“Me,” someone says.
It is a voice Richard has not heard before. A voice filled with silk. They all turn to see the source of the voice as she emerges from the black stalks like a shadowy ghost.
It is a woman dressed all in black. The one Richard saw following them. Stalking them. And now, with the woman standing right in front of him, Richard sees that she is, indeed, wearing a blindfold over her eyes.
“Who are you? Why have you been following us?” Richard asks the woman.
With her body framed by the fog, the woman in black keeps her silence, but offers a knowing smile.
And in this space between a question and an answer, Richard can feel a pit of uneasiness seeding within his belly. With this new obstacle placed in the path of their quest, Richard's mind goes to the fate of the Descendant.
Will Richard and his fellow travelers ever find the girl that has set them on this journey? And if they do find her, will she still be alive?
Or are they already too late?
TO BE CONTINUED...
Frazier Brothers, The Medievals 1
