CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Drawing three long, deep breaths to calm himself, Phoenix tried to slow his thundering heart. He had to think. He’d gone into the body of the huge oak tree. Brynn, Marcus and Jade had all done the same so, logically, they should be here.
Where was ‘here’? This thick, heavy blackness didn’t fit with his idea of what the inside of a tree should look like. There should be dirt, wooden walls; maybe some water dripping; a few bugs; even bats. Not nothing at all.
He jumped up and down a few times. The floor felt soft underfoot but when he reached a hand down, he couldn’t actually tell where the ground began. It was a weird sensation. His fingers met resistance but he couldn’t feel anything with his fingertips.
He sheathed his sword and re-hung his shield over his back. Pulling out flint-and-tinder, he attempted to strike a light by touch alone. Even though he could hear the rock and iron clicking together, there weren’t any visible sparks. Angry and frightened, Phoenix tucked them away again with jerky movements and wished for an electric torch. He drew a deep breath.
“Brynn! Marcus! Jade! Where the heck is everyone?” His voice sounded thin and stifled.
Something touched his shoulder. He yelped, spinning and half-drawing his sword in quick reaction. A hand grabbed his, forcing it down.
“Wait!” It was Marcus’ voice, also sounding strangely quiet. “It’s me.”
Phoenix was almost sick with relief and glad the Roman boy couldn’t see his face. He slid his sword into the scabbard and gripped the other’s arm.
“Where are we? Where’re Brynn and Jade?”
“Brynn’s here with me,” Marcus replied, a little louder now.
Phoenix felt a warm breath on his arm. Brynn’s small hand found his and held on. Even though it gave him the creeps not to be able to see the others, he didn’t pull away. He needed their company right now and it felt like they needed his.
“Jade?”
There was a pause and Phoenix’s stomach lurched. Had she been captured? Then Brynn’s voice replied shakily from somewhere down by his elbow.
“She’s….carrying us.”
Again Phoenix was glad they couldn’t see him. He just knew there was a totally stupid, blank look on his face right now. Brynn must have sensed his confusion, for he continued.
“We didn’t have time to warn you. We’re inside the Hyllion Bagia.”
Phoenix choked back shock, his knees sagging a little. “How? Why?” he stammered, “And most importantly: how do we get out?”
Brynn renewed his grip on Phoenix’s hand. “It was the best idea we could come up with,” he said meekly. “I said you wouldn’t like it but Jade insisted. We were inside the oak tree, watching the Romans corner you.” The boy squeezed Phoenix’s hand. “Brilliant jump, by the way.”
Phoenix couldn’t help but grin, even though the boy couldn’t see him. He cleared his throat and frowned. “So how is being in the bag supposed to help us? If she gets caught by the Romans we’ll be stuck here forever.” Anger, pushed on by fear, built in his guts. This was what he got for trusting anyone but himself. If there was no-one on the outside to call their names, they might never escape this magic prison!
“No, no!” Brynn tugged on his arm. “She won’t get caught. The Romans won’t find her.”
Phoenix snorted. “Right. Like there are so many places she can hide inside a tree. She’ll be caught and imprisoned and we’ll never get out of here. Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “I like you guys but I really don’t fancy the idea of being trapped in a magic bag for the rest of my life with you.” With a frustrated grunt he shook himself free of Brynn’s clutch.
Marcus grabbed his elbow again, his fingers tightening and finding sensitive pressure points until Phoenix yelped in surprise.
“If you’ll give us a chance, we can explain,” he said quietly.
Phoenix subsided, muttering, “Fine. Explain then.” He had been behaving like a fool but it was really annoying to have Marcus point it out.
Brynn drew a deep, shaky breath. “Jade said the oak tree belongs to the Dryads – I think she meant the tree Twlwyth Teg, the Faery folk,” he explained as Phoenix drew breath to ask what the heck a Dryad was.
“Yes,” Marcus struck in, “Dryad is the Greek word for the tree folk.”
Brynn hurried on. “She knew that she could gain access to the Faery-realm through the tree but we wouldn’t be allowed and neither would the Romans. So….”
“So she stuck us in a magic bag and here we are,” Phoenix finished, “waiting to find out if she really did escape into some other land or not. Great.” He sighed and reached out in the pitch black to find Brynn’s thin shoulder. Squeezing it, he tried to let the kid know there were no hard feelings. He wasn’t very good at apologising.
“So what do we do now?” he asked the darkness.
“We wait.” Marcus’ calm reply came after a short pause.
Phoenix groaned. “Somehow I knew you were going to say that.”