*
Following the stream through the forest to the river proved to me much easier than Crush had expected. With the smell of urine still hanging in the air, understandably, they came upon no resistance as they traveled along the sewage line, and they successfully ventured out of the dark forest at the mouth of the creek with daylight to spare that same evening. As the great star that gave light and warmth to this planet began to set on the horizon, Crush marveled at the beauty and magnificence of the river as it stretched out into the distance. He could see the beaches and the forest on the far shore of the river, and the peak of Scalus Mountain rose high into the sky.
As he stood on the bank of the river, Crush forced himself to forget about the impending challenge of the dragon, and he decided to turn his attention to the matters at hand. In the fading light, he began to listen to the cries of hunger and the growls of his stomach as he searched for cover from roaming beasts. After finding refuge for Simon and Boulder in a collection of enormous granite rocks which protruded from the ground upon the shore, Crush then parked himself at the shallows of the river and watched carefully for any fish that might stray too close to the edge. It had been a long time since he had eaten a proper meal, and as hungry as he was, he was not opposed to eating sushi that night.
Boulder on the other hand needed no food, and he simply rested in the retreat of the rocks. He looked back into the forest and wondered in his mind whether the giants would soon catch up to them. The giant sorceress had warned him that he would never be allowed to escape from the magic of the prison cell, and yet here he was, free.
“Perhaps they were not able to track us all the way down into the sewage line,” Boulder thought to himself. Or perhaps they wanted him to escape. He had stared with wonder at the glowing pendant that Crush had strapped around his back, and he could not help but envision that the mystical item contained within itself some higher level of magic than the sorceress could defend against. Maybe that is what had allowed Crush to obstruct the giant’s magic and free Boulder from his prison cell. He had not yet enlightened Crush about his meeting with the giant enchantress, and deep inside, he felt that he should make Crush aware of the wizardry that he had come up against in the castle. But he sensed that now was not the time, and after all, they were in good health and on course to Scalus Mountain with a minimal overall delay.
Simon stretched out on the cool surface of the enormous rocks and waited quietly with Boulder in their shelter. He had eaten plenty of fruit while in the forest and did not seem to need any food that evening. If he had been hungry, it would certainly not have been for fish, but for the bounty of fruit and nuts from the forest of which he was accustomed. Instead he chose to rest within the confines of the protruding rocks. He knew that he should be comfortable, but the pointed ends of the rocks were shaped like sharp teeth, and he could not escape the sensation of sitting helplessly inside of a giant mouth. The nervous feeling mingled with his memories of being chased by giants and unnerved the monkey, and he sat up at the sound of footsteps outside of the barrier. A shadow passed by the gaps in the teeth, and Simon glanced up as the shadow grew in height. Crush’s head appeared between the cracks, Simon sighed with relief, though his heart was still pounding with uneasy excitement.
“Do you want one?” Crush asked Boulder and Simon as he held out two fat fish that he had snatched from the shallow water at the river’s edge. He did not think that either of them would be hungry, but he thought it impolite not to ask anyway. Simon simply turned his head away at the thought of eating meat.
“No, thank you, human. I need no food on this journey,” Boulder answered predictably. “Those don’t have wings, by the way?” Boulder asked. Crush was preparing to skin one of them when the question came at him, and he had to think about it for a moment before he responded.
“What?”
“Wings. I would most certainly not advise eating them if they have wings,” Boulder explained. “Their relatives, the flying catfish, may be upset with you and may not offer you a ride.” Crush returned a look of shock at the statement as he looked down at the fish that he was preparing to eat. Thankfully, there were no wings to be found on his catch, only fins. Crush just growled a purr of agitation and went back to cleaning the meal of fresh fish. He had decided that regardless of who liked or disliked his choices of food, he was simply too hungry to let it bother him. Shortly thereafter when Crush had finished eating, he tossed the remains out into the river for fear of attracting any unwanted scavengers on land. The last thing they needed right then was an invasion of giant crows, a very real possibility in this world.
With the last vestiges of daylight departing behind the far shore in the distance, Boulder stepped out of the mouth-like enclosure and headed toward the shore of the river. He motioned for Crush and Simon to follow, and together they listened to the sounds of the river in the distance as they drew near the edge. Boulder looked both directions along the waterway until he had spotted what he was looking for, and then he clarified his intentions to Crush as Simon waited patiently by their side.
“There is a dock in the distance,” the man of stone explained as he pointed downstream. “There are catfish that dwell at the bottom just past the last pylon of the pier. The men of old ferried the river ages ago, and they saddled the catfish for safe passage across at times of need. They kept the winged creatures herded together near the pier, safely rounded up at the bottom where no one could steal them.” Crush held a skeptical look on his face at the explanation.
“At the bottom. That’s a safe place for sure,” the cat-man answered sarcastically. “So do you have some fishing line? Maybe we could use Simon here as bait,” he joked, and the monkey raised an eyebrow.
“No, that will not be necessary,” Boulder replied and motioned for them to walk along the shore with him towards the pier. “I will do the fishing.”
The pier was situated near the horizon, and it was more than half-an-hour before they reached the dock. The structure that had once been a great fishing post now lay in ruins, and Crush was reluctant to walk across the rotted boards that lined the pier. He was not known to be the greatest swimmer on earth, or in this world for that matter, and the thought of falling through the decayed boards into the dark waters below was unpleasant. He was unfamiliar with what lay beneath the surface, and night time would not be the best occasion to introduce himself to some giant river eel.
“We’ll wait here for you, then,” Crush countered and then paused to reflect back on something that Boulder had said earlier. “Didn’t you say that the fish had wings?”
“Indeed,” Boulder replied as he avoided the decomposing steps onto the pier completely and chose to step directly into the water. They watched as the man of stone kept a steady pace, dropping lower with each step until the top of his head disappeared below the surface. For a short time they could still see Boulder moving by the ripples that were created on the water’s surface, but as his depth increased, they lost him completely to the depths. Crush then glanced around him to make sure that no large birds or giants were in the vicinity, and when he was satisfied that they were alone by the riverside, he picked a smooth, flat stone on the rocky shore to park himself while they waited for Boulder to return. Simon’s eyes peered over at the water with no interest, but instead, as all monkeys do, he became curious about his new surroundings. Picking up a stone, he flung it into the water and watched as the ripples rolled out from the center of the splash. Then he found another small stone and tossed it out into the river, repeating the process, but this time clapping his paws together and laughing out loud with excitement. It was as if the monkey delighted in the smallest of pleasures, and Crush shook his head at the sight.
“I forgot how easily children are amused,” he said as he thought back to his own childhood. Crush had grown up in an orphanage, and though many years had passed him by, he could still recall what it was like to go outside for recess. Due to his
condition, or his curse as he liked to think of his cat-like characteristics, he was usually outcast by the other children and forced to play alone. He naturally had developed keen hunting skills, and when the keeper of the orphanage was not looking, he incorporated other children into his hunting games, whether they wanted to play or not. This did nothing to improve his popularity at home, but it certainly helped hone his stalking skills. “Those days have long since passed,” he told himself as he admired Simon’s ability to pass the time so easily.
The monkey leaned over to one side, and with another flick of the wrist, he pitched the flat stone along the surface of the water. This time the stone skipped multiple times before sinking below the surface. Simon clapped louder this time around, and burst out a laugh of enjoyment as he hopped up and down to celebrate his newly discovered trick. After the scamp’s noise had settled, a light flicked on in what Crush had mistaken for trees downstream in the distance. At a closer glance, he found that the outline was not of a forest, but of some type of large structure, maybe a house on the same side of the river. Then a door opened, and rusty hinges squeaked, which was followed up immediately after by a slamming door that echoed across the riverside. The noise that the monkey had carelessly made had given them away, and Crush bent down low to the ground to look for cover. Sensing danger, Simon ran to his side to hide, and they both waited out in the open for the inevitable.
Crush cursed himself for letting his guard down so easily. He was tired from the long journey over the last couple of days, and he had not thought that a few moments of lighthearted activity would cost them so dearly. It had though, and they were in danger of being discovered. The faint sound of footsteps echoed across the open plain of the water, and he could find nowhere else to hide but the sharp teeth of the rocks on the beach. At this particular moment he sensed that the rocks would be of little use against a giant. The footsteps grew louder as they hid in the open expanse of the shoreline, and Crush spotted a lamp coming from the house, moving ever closer toward them.
“Foolish. What was I thinking?!” he said to himself as he realized that the giants must have used the river as a means of transport. That notion meant that the civilization of the giants was not limited to only the forest, but quite possibly there were giants living on both sides of the river and all along the way to the base of Scalus Mountain. “Though I doubt they would stay close enough to the mountain to be taken for dragon food,” he hoped, but he could not be certain until they had made the journey.
The size of the lamp grew larger, and Crush was able to distinguish the swing of the light as the giant marched out into the dark to find the source of all the commotion. Uncomfortable with his hiding spot but unable to find anything more suitable on land, Crush decided to take a chance on hiding out on the pier. He guessed that if walking on the rotting planks was dangerous for a person of his own size, it would be even more so for a creature of such mass. And so, throwing caution to the wind, Crush extended himself from the rickety steps up to the platform and snuck out onto the boardwalk of the pier. Carefully he stepped one board to another, avoiding the rotten holes that had developed over the years of wind and harsh weather, and he quietly squatted behind a round wooden column along the outer edge of the pier. The column itself was slippery and covered with a film of mold and mildew, and as he crouched down to hide behind the narrow support, he had to be careful not to lose his footing. Simon straggled cautiously behind. The little monkey was watching every little step on the weakened boards, but to his displeasure, he stepped on a loose board in the center of the pier. As quick as a flash, his foot fell through the floor, followed closely behind by the rest of his furry body, and he splashed quite noisily into the slowly moving river below.
The giant, who was within a hundred feet of the pier, squinted his eyes in the dark and watched as Simon floated downstream, splashing away wildly to keep his head above water. Crush leaned forward and watched as, oddly enough, the giant made no effort to wade out into the river and catch the struggling monkey. Instead, the giant turned his attention back toward the pier where Crush was situated, and he sniffed the air that wafted downwind as if he detected a stranger in the air. The giant drew near to the pier, and with the lamp held high, he searched for the source of the stranger odor. Crush held his breath and tried not to make a sound as the giant bent his head down and sniffed the air over the pier, and then the worst thing that could possibly have happened occurred. The giant homed in on the filthy scent from the sewage and the raw fish that clung to Crush, and the lamp found its way to hover just above Crush’s head.
With a roar the giant swung his great hand down to catch Crush between flesh and wood, but the field agent leapt backward on the slippery pier and bounded across the fatigued wooden boards further away from the safety of the shore. With his cover blown, Crush made his way out over the river toward the outer end of the abandoned pier, jumping from board to board and trying not to fall through as the cull lumber gave way under his weight. To Crush’s credit, his hurried strategy appeared to be working as he remained out of reach of danger. To add to his good fortune, the giant seemed to have no real desire to wade out into the water to snatch him.
But then the inevitable occurred. One of the support rails beneath Crush snapped in two, sending the loosened boards that rested on it down into the water below. Crush fell into the water along with the rotten boards, and struggling to stay afloat with the heavy cameo pendant on his back, he went under the surface of the water while holding on to a piece of lumber. The board acted as a floatation device, and Crush found that his face was suspended at equilibrium only a couple of inches below the surface of the water. He reached out for another nearby board, and he was able to raise his center of gravity and get his mouth above the surface so that he could breathe in fresh air. As Crush’s prostrate form floated helplessly out from beneath the frame of the old pier, the giant trained a watchful eye on him. With an expression of determination spreading across his face, the giant stepped first one foot and then another into the flowing water of the river. A feeling of dread came over Crush as he realized that the giant was wading out into the water to get him. He kicked his legs in an effort to swim out deeper into the river as the giant treaded down the slope of the bank and out into the water. If it had not been for Boulder’s reappearance at that very moment, Crush may not have survived the giant’s attack. Water sprayed everywhere as some strange disturbance broke the surface of the river, and two man-sized catfish flew out of the water by the pier with ropes and saddles attached, dragging the man of stone to the shore behind. Their sudden emergence surprised the giant, and the colossus lost balance and slipped on a rock on the river bottom. With the loss of his footing in the current, the giant dropped his light into the water. The lamp was immediately extinguished in the process, and the giant went below the surface for a moment.
Crush called out to Boulder in desperation. The two oversized fish dragged Boulder off of the shore and into the water as they headed out toward Crush, and Boulder was forced to let go of them so that he could stay above water. The fish, however, swam around the flailing giant and out to Crush, where he was able to mount the fins on one while the other fish swam downstream to find Simon. When both adventurers had been saved from drowning in the river, the catfish took them back to the pier to meet up with Boulder who was waiting for them. Crush and Simon dismounted the fish when they got back to shore, and Boulder wasted no time in instructing Crush on what to do. He had a plan, but it would require bravery and a good deal of trust from his companions.
“Hold on to the reins!” the man of stone yelled. Upon hearing this, Crush seized a set of ropes in his hands as he mounted the back of the fish where a makeshift saddle was located. Boulder placed Simon on Crush’s lap for safekeeping. “Fly!!” he shouted to the catfish, and the aquatic animal spread its wings in the water, flicked its fins and tail to thrust itself out of the river, and took off into the night on i
ts webbed wings. Boulder hopped into the saddle on the other fish, lightly smacked it on the tail, and took off into the air, narrowly escaping capture just as the giant lunged at him from where he had been hiding beneath the surface of the water. The giant did not miss his target altogether though. He caught the tail of the catfish, but the animal’s skin was oily and slippery to the touch, and the harder the giant squeezed, the quicker the catfish shot out of his grasp like a bullet. The reins snapped tight in his grip, but they did not break. As a result, Boulder rode the cannonball shot of the catfish into the sky and quickly caught up to Crush as together they soared high over the glimmering surface of the rushing river below. Riding a flying catfish taxi over a river at night was a unique experience like no other that Crush could remember in his long life. With a fist held high, he roared with excitement into the night breeze while Simon whimpered and held onto the saddle so that he did not fall from the slippery animal. The catfish’s barbels oscillated in the wind as they coasted over the moving body of water below, and when they approached the far shore, Crush felt the butterflies in his stomach while adrenaline was released into his system. The fish glided down lower and lower as the rocky shore drew nearer, and they made a sharp turn over the land before sailing back down to the water. Crush quickly grabbed the reins with both hands just before the belly of the fish made contact with the water. They skied and splashed to a stop with the riders still aboard, and the fish then swam to the shallow edge of the bank to let their riders dismount onto the rocky beach.
When they had gotten clear of the water, Boulder stroked the barbels of the great fish and whispered a quiet promise to them before letting them go. He then stepped back onto the shore, and the catfish rowed out with their fins into the deep flowing water and then disappeared into the current.
“Ready?” Boulder asked as he turned to Crush for his approval.
“To ride again?! That was great!” Crush exclaimed before he remembered that making too much noise had gotten them into trouble just a little while earlier. “Come on, that was awesome!” he continued in a softer but excited whisper.
“You may get your chance to cross the river again if you make it back. Once your task is complete at the mountain,” Boulder replied and dampened the mood with his morbid reminder that they had farther to go before the night was up.
“Yeah, yeah. Well, at least tell me what you whispered to the fish before you let them go?”
“I told them that I would be back and to wait for my call,” Boulder replied.
“Could you teach me how to call them?” Crush asked. “You know, in case I’m in an emergency.”
“And there you have hit on it, Crush. I cannot teach you their language, and I may not be returning so soon from Scalus Mountain. It may very well be that you have to find your own way back across, though it grieves me to tell you.” Boulder began walking away from the river, and Crush stood resolute in silence at the admission.
“Doom, doom, doom. Are you sure you’re not part rain cloud?” he finally replied back. Boulder was pensive for a moment, returning no answer. Simon latched onto Crush’s hand, and they followed Boulder silently to the edge of the forest. Boulder stopped and lowered his voice to a whisper again as they stood by an evergreen tree in the dark.
“I am sorry, my friend,” he acquiesced. Boulder did not wish to linger on the future. It was not acceptable in his culture, so he pointed ahead to the forest. “We should expect giants on this side of the river as well, so keep your voices down and your ears tuned to your surroundings. The base of the mountain is near; I can feel it. If we walk through the night, we should make it there by morning,” he instructed.
“That’s a huge chunk of real estate stretching up into the sky, Boulder. Do you know exactly where the dragon’s tooth is hidden in the mountain?” Crush asked. Since he had been trying to simply stay alive for the first part of the journey, it was actually the first time that he had begun to think back about the whole reason for the journey: the finding of the dragon’s tooth in Scalus Mountain. “Surely, it will be easy to locate. After all, who would even want a dragon’s tooth?” Boulder turned his head in surprise at the frivolousness of the statement.
“The beings of this world would all love to own a dragon’s tooth. It represents status and power,” Boulder explained. “Trust me when I say that they are not easy to come by, and most times they must be taken by force. Find the dragon, and you find the tooth. Be wary though. Dragons are vengeful creatures, and the winner of the prize rarely lives for long,” he said with a frown.
“It’s not an artifact then?! We have to actually remove it from a dragon’s mouth!” Crush’s blood pressure rose quickly, and the skin beneath his fur turned red. “You’re just telling me this now! That’s encouraging!” Crush sputtered with all too loud of a sarcastic whisper. “You can trust me, and I trusted you. Why didn’t you tell me this before?!” he continued with a lowered voice, but holding the same level of emphasis.
“Human,” Boulder started, but then decided he should be more personal. “Crush. This is your adventure. I have offered you my help up to this point, and I have not left you yet of my own will. We will see this task completed together at Scalus Mountain, and you must trust me as well,” he reminded him. Crush nodded reluctantly and seemed to quietly accept his own part in the quest.
“You’re right,” he agreed as he thought of all of the obstacles that they had come up against, and he knew that he would have never made it this far without Boulder’s help. “I was wrong to be upset. But you can trust me to do whatever it takes to free the humans enslaved by Argentine and the Queenmother. I have proven that at the giant’s castle. Remember.” Boulder nodded his head in agreement, and for a second, Crush thought that he saw the crease of a smile cross his stony face.
“Now, I have something that I feel that you should know. While I was held prisoner within the castle of the giants, the prison cell which held me was fortified with magic to protect against my escape. The spell was placed upon the cell by a sorceress who spoke no words, but communicated her thoughts to me in my mind. She is known as Queen Dowager, and she is the ruler of the giants. When you came and provided for my escape, I was surprised to see that her magic had been overcome so easily, until I saw the pendant which you now wear upon your back as a shield. I have been troubled ever since by the image that rests upon the cameo. The image bears an uncanny likeness to the sorceress,” Boulder revealed. “Though we have crossed the river and left the castle behind, as long as we carry the shield, we may never be free of the sorceress’ wrath.” Crush quickly shed the pendant from his back and held it in both hands to examine the cameo which seemed to stare back at him.
“I see. We’re running from two dangerous queens into the mouth of a dragon. Should we dispose of the pendant then? Be rid of its power while we can?” he asked the man of stone as he lowered the shield to lean against his knees, all the while admiring the craftsmanship of the carving. Crush was at a loss for what to do with the article, not knowing whether they would need its power for a second time against whomever or whatever they may come upon along the road, much less whether it would come in handy against the dragon. Maybe they would even need its power against some unseen dangers that dwelled in the mountain for that matter.
“I think not. Because of that pendant, you were able to free me, and that is worth much,” Boulder explained after he had thought over the consequences for a moment. “We may yet need it to see this mission to its fruition. Keep it on your back and use it cautiously as you see fit. Just be mindful of its origins,” he said as he shifted the conversation away from the magical item and studied the shoreline for the way to Scalus Mountain. “I fear it would be a grave mistake to take the most obvious path to Scalus. Though it will be more difficult to trek through the forest, it may prove to be the least watched. Our friend Simon may be able to show us the way,” he added and waited for the little primat
e to answer. Simon scratched his head and then picked his butt.
“I think he just said in sign language, ‘Scratch that, dingle berry,’” Crush said as he interpreted the monkey’s unintentional sign language with a mischievous grin. The monkey then scampered into the gloom of the forest with the two heroes following closely behind.
**********
“Tell me, again, guard. How did you lose the pendant?” the disappointed voice traveled telepathically into the shackled giant’s mind. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and he gasped for another breath of air before he coughed out more blood from the beating he had just taken.
“My Queen Dowager . . . it was in the chest. I saw it, and then it was gone . . . ,” the beaten giant insisted.
“And the key? It was in the chest, and then it was gone as well, hmmm?” she droned loudly into his skull, and his nose began to bleed from the pressure.
“Yes . . . yes . . . it was a monkey . . . ,” he answered though he knew that he may never speak again with the admission. Queen Dowager’s eyes glowed a fierce green from beneath the hooded cloak as she examined his face one last time, and the giant fell to the tiled floor in agony.
“Guards! Take him to the foot of the mountain for the Queenmother to do with as she will!” she ordered, but this time with her own voice as she strode out of the cell and into the hallway. A particularly muscular guard stood out in the corridor awaiting her next order. “Mouchard. I have need of your services since your uncle has just lost his position in the monarchy,” she explained with a mischievous grin as the guards dragged the struggling prisoner out by his shackles.
“Yes, my Queen Dowager. Would you have me recover your sister?” Mouchard answered as he stood at strictest attention. He could not help as his eyes drifted over to watch the guards drag his uncle away in chains, and Queen Dowager held a finger to his face in anger.
“You would do well to never mention her to me or to anyone else ever again, fool!” the sorceress ordered, and Mouchard closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable strike to come. Smiling at her servant’s terror, Queen Dowager placed her long fingernails under his chin and spoke more softly. “Recover the pendant, my slave. I warn you though: go alone and tell no one your charge. If you fail me, you will become dinner for the half-breed ants that dwell in the mountain. Once they have finished with your uncle’s bones, they will definitely crave another meal of giant. But they will reluctantly take more of our prisoners for delicacies, unless you fail me,” she chortled with the veiled threat. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes. Very,” he replied and made his way out of the castle to begin the search for the escaped prisoner. Mouchard could hear his uncle’s screams of terror as the guards dragged him away.
###
Next Issue
Will Pound live to fight off the hunger of the ant lion!!? Can Crush recover the mysterious dragon’s tooth in Scalus Mountain!!? Follow our heroes in their struggle for survival from the depths of the ant lion pits to the heights of the mountains, and from the obscurity of the forest to the darkness of the caves!!!
About the Author
Christopher Carter is an engineer by day, and transforms into a writer and artist by night. He lives with his wife and cat in central North Carolina.
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