(Previous)
I had
hoped to at least get over the bridge before we ran into more trouble. There was a moment when I watched the
movement in the slight mist ahead and considered turning around and going back.
Or
sitting down and letting others handle the trouble. One or the other. I couldn't bring myself to care. Too many things, too much going on. I needed a break.
I
watched the mist. More than one thing
was out there. They looked small. I
didn't assume that meant they weren't trouble.
Edmond and Lord Snow had both stopped as well, so maybe pausing wasn't
such a bad idea.
"They
aren't attacking us yet," Edmond offered.
"I think that might be a good sign, right?"
"Maybe
they're setting up the trap," I replied.
"You're
getting pessimistic," Edmond replied.
He paused for a moment.
"That's probably wise."
"I'm
going to take a look," Lord Snow said.
"They won't have a lot of luck throwing me off the bridge."
I had
purposely not looked down since we started across the bridge, but I had been
vaguely aware of a sense of distance. I
stepped to the side now and looked down.
A
jungle, far, far below with the hint of a river running through the bottom of
the gorge. Light came from . . .
Everywhere, as far as I could tell.
I
expected to see dinosaurs raise their heads and a pterodactyl to sweep up
towards us. The sight completely took my
attention for a few heartbeats. Then I
looked back to see Lord Snow moving cautiously forward, his ears back and his
tail twitching.
It
was not the snow leopard's place to make certain things were safe for the
others. That was my job. I took three quick steps forward and stopped
beside him. Edmond, still in my arms,
gave a slight sigh of frustration but didn't complain.
The
mist was odd. What a surprise. It moved and swirled without the least
breeze, and I found myself watching a patch that appeared to form into a shape
and break apart again, and then another shape --
I had
to force myself to look away and back at what I thought was the real problem.
Little
creatures were running back and forth on the bridge in front of us. About Edmond size, brown and red, and
starting to make a lot of racket. I
thought at first they were just making noise, but I quickly realized I was
wrong.
"Human! Human!
Human!"
"Calm
down," I said. They didn't listen.
Some
of the creatures were up on the uneven walls that ran along the sides of the
bridge. I feared they were going to
fall, though I saw they had long fingers -- and claws -- as well as tells that
were longer than their bodies and obviously used as another hand to grab
things.
"Be
quiet!" I shouted little
louder. A few of them fled in fear,
but dozen or so stood their ground, and
at least got quieter. "All we are
doing is crossing the bridge. We won't
harm you if you leave us alone."
It
was more a veiled threat than I like to make, but I didn't want to stand here
for too long because something worse was bound to come along. I did a quick sweep to get an idea of how
many we faced -- dozens of them and more arriving. They were small, but they outnumbered us.
And
they were not happy.
"Did
you understand what I said?" I asked.
I kept my tone quieter and, as I had hoped, they grew quieter too as
they tried to listen. "We simply
want to get to the other side of the bridge."
"Other
side?" one asked. The two words
echoed around and around. Mimics. "What is the other side?"
"The
end of the bridge," I said nd waved my hand in that direction.
They
looked. Looked back at me. I had the distinct impression they thought I
was crazy.
"How
can the bridge end? If it did, it would
not be bridge!"
Huh. Okay.
A different approach.
"We
need to go past this part of the bridge," I offered. They must not move
far from here. Cute little guys. They hadn't tried to kill me yet. I liked things that didn't, at least
immediately, try to kill me.
"You
go to the world of the gods?" the little guy whispered.
This
was getting complicated. Neither Lord
Snow nor Edmond was offering any suggestions, either.
"We
go to seek our future," I offered, which was a complete and total truth.
That
brought a whisper of sound rushing back and forth among the little guys. I thought it might be awe. That struck me as kind of bad.
"You
seek the gods," the apparent leader said
and bobbed his head three times.
He stopped. He did it again.
Okay. I bobbed my head three times as well and wondered what I was
agreeing to this time.
"Go
in peace, brave pilgrims." The
little guys moved aside so that they lined the edge of the bridge, little heads
bobbing up and down. "May your sacrifice
be worth the gift."
Uh
oh.
But
you know, we were getting past these guys without a fight, so I could could
count this as a win, right? Sure, Edmond
was looking up at me with a shake of his head and Lord Snow had started
mumbling things that were starting to sound like soft growl, but we were moving
forward.
The
mist still moved in odd ways. I could
not see through it and had no idea how far we might need to go. And we might have to face gods at the end of
the bridge.
Maybe
I should have talked to the others first?
I looked back and saw the vague line of people (human and otherwise)
following me.
Following
me.
I had
to go on and make this work.
I
hoped Edmond had a few ideas.
To Be Continued. . . .
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