Eranithia: Prophecies: Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Mark watched as Garandol spoke with Arland. They seemed to have a deep friendship; Mark wondered what their story was, how they became such close friends. He also wondered what Garandol was saying to Arland. Mark knew that if he was in Arland's position, he'd be beating himself up for attacking Timberfoot the way he had. Granted, it was to protect his friends, but after causing such pain to an innocent and kind creature like Timberfoot, Mark wondered if he'd be able to forgive himself.

After Garandol spoke with Arland for a few minutes, Arland seemed to cheer up a little. At least enough to continue their journey, so, they called the horses back and continued on to the Gar Mountains. Timberfoot served as their lookout for any danger that might come since he had such an advantage with his height. It wasn't long before Timberfoot called down a warning.

"Your king's men are only a day's ride away."

"Thank you, Timberfoot!" Garandol called up to him. "We will be fine. We are less than two hours away."

"Away from where?" Mark asked.

Garandol didn't respond to Mark's question. Mark looked at Jennifer and she shrugged. He didn't understand why they weren't allowed to know where they were going. Why would Garandol keep it a secret? Was something going to happen to them there that Garandol knew about? Something that might get them killed? After all, Garandol was a prophet.

As they rode on, Mark looked over at his sister as she rode on the back of the horse, holding onto Arland. Even though they'd only been traveling together a short time, he didn't like that they were always together. If she didn't want to stay in this land why was she paying so much attention to this guy? This Elf. She wasn't immortal like he was. He gave a short glare at Arland then looked away. He looked over Garandol's left shoulder, forcing himself to look away from his sister. If ignorance was bliss, he didn't want to see anything.

They rode hard for a little more than an hour before coming to an abrupt stop. They had come to a cliff, with no immediate walking path in sight. So their only options were to climb down, or walk along the ledge until they found a safe way down.

Timberfoot caught up with them a couple minutes later. He looked over the edge also into a narrow canyon about as deep as the Grand Canyon; it was nearly a mile to the bottom where a river ran between the canyon walls. Numerous caves, all almost perfectly identical in size and shape, were scattered along the cliff face.

Mark studied the caves from where he stood. He wondered if there was a huge network of caves intertwined within the earth behind the cliff face. He looked down but it was such a steep drop that he couldn't see where the caves were on the side they stood on.

"I can carry you down on my back," Timberfoot suggested.

Garandol looked up at Timberfoot with an amused smile, "You certainly can."

"Just climb onto my shoulders and I can carry you down as I climb down the cliff."

Garandol looked at the twins with a smile, saying, "He's a smart giant. Very clever indeed."

He pointed his staff at the two of them, lifting them to Timberfoot's left shoulder. As soon as Arland had sent the horses away, Garandol pointed his staff at Arland, sending him up to Timberfoot's right shoulder. Then, once Arland was in place, he pointed his staff at the ground, lifting himself to the same shoulder as Arland. Timberfoot then went to the edge of the cliff and turned around to climb down. Mark watched as Timberfoot stuck his feet into a cave to climb down like a ladder. As they passed by the caves during their descent down the cliff, Mark noticed that he could see the back of the caves. They weren't caves at all!

"Garandol, what are these? At first they looked like caves, but they don't look like they go more than a few feet into the rock," Mark called to him.

"That is very observant of you, Mark. The Geoth made these in wartime. They were footholds for them to climb the cliffs with ease. If you look down as far as you can, you can see there are many throughout the canyon."

Mark did just that. Looking in the opposite direction of the giant's head, he saw that it was scattered with footholds. It made him think about the war with the giants. He wondered what it must have been like. It must have been a great battle with many heroes and many stories. He hoped to hear them one day.

His daydreaming was broken by a sudden jerk. Timberfoot had lost his footing and was holding on by his fingertips to two of the footholds; his feet dangling. Mark was holding on to the giant's shirt tightly as he looked around. Jennifer was nowhere to be seen! He looked down the back of the giant to find her dangling by her foot. Her foot was caught in a loose thread.

"Help!" she screamed. "Help me!"

"Stay still, Jen!" Mark called, positioning himself so he was lying face-down on the giant's shoulder.

He hung over the back of Timberfoot's shoulder, hooking his feet into a hole in the shoulder of Timberfoot's shirt. He stretched his body out as much as he could to reach Jennifer, but his arms still weren't long enough. She was still a few inches out of reach. He tried to inch his way forward, but as soon as he moved he felt like he was going to slip off.

"Garandol, do something!" Mark called over.

Garandol aimed his staff at her, but right as he did her foot slipped out of the loop of thread. She was falling straight for the canyon floor. Mark's only hope was for her to hit the water. Then he saw another falling object out of the corner of his eye; it was Arland! Arland was diving after Jennifer!

Arland knew that if he could get to her, Garandol could direct them towards the river, soften their fall and save them. It was a risky plan, but it was better than just letting her fall unconscious into the river. At least he'd be able to pull her to safety.

Wind beat at his face as he flew towards her falling body. Her eyes were shut and her limbs were limp.

She must already be unconscious, he thought.

That could only help him. If she were aware of what was happening, she may try to twist around too much for him to be able to hold onto her.

Continually picking up speed, Arland's body slammed into Jennifer's. As soon as he did he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her close to him as their momentum just began to slow before hitting the river. Despite Garandol's efforts to slow them down, they hit the water hard. Ice cold water stung every inch of his body as they splashed in.

Arland swam as fast as he could with one arm while holding onto Jennifer with the other. Small waves from the river splashed his face, threatening to drown him. He clenched his mouth shut, thwarting the river's attempts as he knew he could hold his breath till he reached the shore.

When he reached the edge of the river, he carried her to the trail that ran alongside the river. Laying her down in the dirt, he looked her over. She wasn't breathing and she looked as pale as a corpse. He didn't know any spells to take the water from her lungs. He would have if he'd paid more attention when he was younger. He cursed himself for ignoring his lessons. Now a young girl was going to die because of him, or at least that's what he told himself. Arland would blame himself forever; never would he forgive himself.

"Jennifer!" came Mark's voice, breaking Arland out of his self-pity enough to try and apologize to Mark for letting her die.

Timberfoot had just set Mark down but was carrying an exhausted Garandol. The old man had used all his strength to lower the three of them down the rest of the way. Mark was tearing across the rocky shore, catching himself on each stone he slipped or tripped on. He looked desperate to get to his sister, only caring about his own safety enough to reach her.

Arland watched as Mark fell to his knees and put his ear to her mouth.

Why would he do that? She couldn't be telling him something. She's dead.

"She's not breathing," Mark said hastily, then put his fingers against her neck, just under her jaw.

"I know, I tried to save her, but-" Arland started to say, but Mark cut him off.

"She's got a pulse though," Mark said.

Mark wasn't listening to a thing Arland tried to tell him, and he was doing the strangest things. Did Mark really think he could bring her back to life? Did Sol give him the ability to renew life?

Arland watched as Mark tipped Jennifer's head back, straightening her neck more. Then he placed his mouth on hers. Arland went to stop him because a brother should not kiss his sister in such a way but then Mark blew into her mouth. Arland stared dumbfounded.

Why would he breathe into her mouth? he wondered.

"Come on sis, breathe," Mark begged.

He breathed again and again and again. Arland wish he could find the words to convince Mark that she was gone, but he seemed determined that she was still alive or that he could bring her back. Just as Arland was about to grab Mark's shoulder, Jennifer's body convulsed, coughing and vomiting water into Arland's lap. He had been sitting on his knees just to her left.

Arland's mouth hung open, amazed and shocked by what had just happened, oblivious to the fact that Jennifer had just vomited water all over him. He was now convinced Mark must have the Breath of Sol in him. Only Sol could give life to one who's been dead. He grabbed Mark's shoulder, turning him towards himself, looking straight into his eyes.

"Do you have the breath of Sol in you?" Arland asked.

Arland waited for an answer, but all Mark did was look back at him as if he'd gone mad. Mark's stare told Arland he had no idea what the “Breath of Sol” meant.

"We all have the breath of Sol in us," Garandol said, one hand gripping his staff, holding him up as he sat on a boulder, leaning forward, an elbow on his knee, propping him up. "He's the giver of life, He breathes into us from within our mother's womb."

"That's not what I mean,” he said, waving Garandol off. “Did Sol give you the power to give others life?"

"All I did was perform CPR," Mark said.

"See Pea Are?" Arland said. What in the name of Sol does that mean?

"It's a way to get someone breathing again if they've drowned," Mark explained simply.

"You can bring someone back from drowning? How?"

Mark didn't seem to think he had time for Arland's questions. He ignored Arland, shaking his head and attending to his sister.

"Jen, you okay?" Mark asked her.

Arland could hear the love in his voice. Love like he hadn't heard in a long time.

Jennifer was whimpering as she rolled over onto her back again but when she saw her brother she sat up, threw her arms around him and cried even harder. He hugged her tight as she cried into his shoulder. He whispered things to her that Arland couldn't hear to calm her down.

After a few minutes Garandol had them all stand up. Then, waving his staff over Jennifer and Arland, he made them dry and warm again. After thanking him, Mark put his arm around her to help her walk as they followed Garandol upstream.

________________

As Mark helped Jennifer walk, all he could think about was her well being. Her steps were shaky, but she seemed to be slowly regaining strength and confidence again. She was still trembling but he couldn't tell if it was from the cold or because she had almost died back there. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. Mark looked back to see Arland pestering him again.

"What?" Mark snapped.

Jennifer looked at them confused.

"I apologize Mark, but I just wanted to know what it was you did back there. Explain this see-pea-are."

Mark stared at Arland for a moment then sighed as he asked Jennifer, “Are you okay to walk?”

She looked at him, then Arland, then back to Mark and said, “For a little bit, I think.”

“Okay, I'll catch up with you in a minute.”

“Okay.”

He let her go on, then began explaining what he knew about CPR to Arland as they walked. "CPR is cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It gets the heart and lungs working again. That's why I tilted her head back. It opens the airflow to her lungs. And if her heart had stopped I would have pumped it by pressing down on her chest like this," he said putting his hands together and thrust them downwards as if there were a body floating in the air. He had no idea how he remembered everything so well.

"And this works?" Arland asked with the curiosity of a child.

"For the most part. Of course, there will always be times when it's not enough.”

"This is something you learned in your world?"

Mark nodded and said, "Last summer, Jennifer and I worked as junior lifeguards at the YMCA. We volunteered there, and to be a lifeguard you have to know how to save people from drowning. So they gave us CPR classes."

He wasn't sure if all of this was sinking in with Arland, but he didn't care. All he cared about was his sister. Not caring whether Arland had more questions or not, he left him behind and caught up with Jennifer. He put his arm around her, then grabbing one of her arms with his free hand he helped her walk again as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Garandol, where are we going?" Mark asked after a few minutes.

"To Unterhumus. The underground city of the dwarfs."

Mark was astounded that he actually got an answer from Garandol this time. He looked around at the canyon they were in, then looked at the river. It seemed to be flowing in the opposite direction as the Golden River. Realizing they were heading downstream, not upstream like he'd thought, he had to ask Garandol about the river.

"Garandol?" he asked, confused.

"Yes, Mark?"

"Is this river flowing backwards?"

Garandol chuckled then said, "That depends on what you mean. Is it flowing backwards from the way it normally flows, or is it opposite of the rest of the rivers in Eranithia?"

"Well, the Golden River was flowing south. This one seems to be heading more north."

"Very good observation. And yes, compared to all the other rivers in Eranithia, this river is flowing backwards. It is the Palina River. It flows into Unterhumus and to the westernmost peak of the Blood Mountains,” Garandol explained, pointing his staff to the north.

“Will we be following this river all the way to the Blood Mountains?” Mark asked, helping Jennifer around a large rock in the path.

“For most of our journey, yes, we will be either on or near this river.”