To Enter a Tapestry

Chapter Eleven -- Suspension bridges and ivory towers.

Roxanne woke up to a horrendous screeching sound. "Oh my God, what is that?"

"The mother troll waking up her kids," said Sharna.

"And I thought my mom was bad," said Roxanne. She got out of her bedroll and tied it up into a bundle again. "Gross -- we've been sleeping on mud -- do I ever need a shower now!"

"This place stinks so bad," said Tina, wrinkling up her nose. "I don't know how we even managed to sleep in here. Let's hurry up and go outside."

It wasn't much better in the troll's yard. There were bones scattered everywhere from the last night's meal -- some of them still had skin and flesh stuck to them. Chisti asked the mother troll if there was somewhere they could find water to drink and wash in. She showed them a rain barrel under her downspout that was filled with murky brown liquid.

"Is there no steam nearby with something a bit cleaner?" asked Chisti.

"Is you girls so special my water's not good enough for the likes of you? We washes in that water regular, every month."

"It is not what we are accustomed to," said Chisti. "The master said if you look after us well he will pay you double."

The mother troll's eyes gleamed and she called to her children and told them to take the girls to the little river behind the house. "Mind they don't try any tricks on you," she added as they walked off into the woods.

"Clean water!" cried Roxanne as she knelt at the edge of the river and splashed the water into her face. "It's cold, but anything is better than smelling like a pigsty."

When they had washed and drunk their fill, much to the amusement of the two troll children who acted as though they'd seen nothing more hilarious than the girls splashing about in the little river, they went back to the path and waited as far away from the house as they could. Soon the mother troll joined them, to lead them to the bridge over the chasm.

"When we gets there you'll tell me the master's orders, right?"

"Of course," said Chisti. "That is what the master told me to do."

It was difficult keeping up with the troll. She was huge and had long thick legs. As she strode through the wild forest, she used no set path but simply crashed amidst the underbrush, scattering branches and twigs left and right. The girls were continually jumping out of the way of flying debris. Finally they heard the sound of water rushing over rocks and they came to the edge of the forest. A great crack ran through the landscape -- it was about fifteen feet wide. On the other side, after only a few feet of tall grass, a rangy thicket of brambles and thorn-bushes stretched as far as the eye could see. Close to where the girls had come out of the trees, a suspension bridge made of planks and woven vines stretched across the huge gap. The sides of the canyon rode straight down to the turbulent water below.

"So -- what's the orders?" asked the mother troll belligerently. The ground at the edge of the chasm shook and a chunk of soil broke off and fell into the depths.

Roxanne and Tina backed away from the chasm, afraid that the whole cliff side would give way under the weight of the troll alone.

"Well, said Chisti, "he said you were to make us cross the bridge and then as soon as we are across to chop it down as fast as you can."

"Why he wants me to do that? He tolds me to guard the bridge till he comes to cross it hisself."

"But he sent us instead. And he has word that evil villains are on their way to cross the bridge and steal the princess."

"No evil villains is going to get past me!"

"Evil, giant goblin and ogre villains?" asked Chisti.

For the first time since they had met her, the troll mother looked a bit worried. "Evil ogres and giant goblins is in these parts? My childrens! I must protect my childrens!" She grabbed up her great two headed axe and took a swing at the bridge's support cables.

"But first you must let us cross the bridge," cried Chisti.

"Why does you need to go across?" she asked suspiciously, staying her axe.

"To do as the master has bid us, of course."

She accepted this reasoning and said, "If you gots to go, runs now because I needs get back to my childrens."

The girls ran out onto the bridge in single file. It creaked and groaned under their weight, and also swung crazily with their every step. They clung to the vines that formed the railing and tried to cross as quickly as possible.

"Whatever you do," cried Chisti, "don't look down."

So of course the first thing that Roxanne and Tina and Sharna did was to look down. The bridge was wibbling and making strange crackling sounds. Through the gaps in the boards they could see broken strings hanging.

Roxanne shifted her weight and a chunk of wood from the board she was standing on broke off and went hurtling down into the water, which seemed to be a long, long way down and full of rocks and wild currents.

"I can't move!" yelled Tina.

"Me either," said Roxanne, crouching down and hanging on for dear life.

Sharna just stood, frozen in place, shivering.

"You have to move, and quickly," said Chisti. "I don't think the mother troll is going to wait for us to cross before she starts hacking this thing down."

The girls turned their heads and saw the troll raise her axe. They all screamed and began running for the end of the bridge and the safety of the bank. Sharna was the first off -- she put her foot on dry grass just as shudders ran through the bridge from the blow of the great axe hitting the cables. The axe swung again. Roxanne threw herself forward and landed on the ground at the edge when the next blow struck, splitting the cable in two. The bridge swung wildly and ended up in a dangerous angle. Tina and Chisti hung on desperately.

Roxanne rolled over and held out her hand to Tina as the troll's axe came sweeping towards the second cable. Their fingers slipped and then caught. Tina hung on as Roxanne pulled, and jumped to safety as the cable broke and the other end of the bridge tumbled into the river.

"Chisti!" the three girls cried in terror.

Roxanne lay down on the grass and looked over the edge. She could see the little elf a short way down, grasping onto what was left of the bridge, her legs dangling. "Hold on!" she called. She sat up and faced the other girls. "She's hanging on but we have to get her up somehow."

They tried pulling up the bridge by yarding on the cables, but it was too heavy and they weren't strong enough. Sharna leaned over the edge and yelled encouragement to Chisti as she tried to climb the dangling ropes hand over hand. As soon as she was high enough there were arms reaching down to grab hold of her and pull her up.

"Thanks," she gasped as she was finally on solid ground again. "I guess I deserved that."

"I don't see why you think so," said Roxanne.

"I know mother trolls are caring parents, no matter how their rough ways make them appear. I shouldn't have invented something that would be such a threat as giant goblins and ogres. A few truant soldiers wouldn't have scared her half so much."

"But why did you want her to chop down the bridge?" asked Tina. "Now we are stuck on this side of the canyon and we can't get back."

"There must be some other way back, further downstream, far away from the trolls. I didn't trust the trolls not to become suspicious and come after us. What if their master arrived?"

"What do we do now?" asked Roxanne.

"Now we have to discover a way through these thorns to the tower and save the princess."

Chapter Twelve -- Trying to catch an elusive giant rock.

Jolie snuggled deeper into her sleeping roll.

"Wake up lazybones!" she heard, yet again.

"It's too early," came her muffled voice.

"Naragor wants to make a start. I have a flagon of water here and I will not hesitate to pour it on you."

Jolie threw her covers back and stared up at Dep, who was grinning at her from under his down-pulled hat. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?" he tipped the flagon, and Jolie screamed and rolled out of the way of the stream of water that poured out.

"You-you-you jerk!"

"Are you getting up now?"

"Yes, so go away and quit bugging me," Jolie said sulkily.

As Jolie packed up her bedroll she thought back to the evening before. They'd arrived at the hollow tree by nightfall, so Naragor had suggested setting up camp for the night. Dep had built a good fire and they'd cooked some of the provisions he and Naragor had brought. The meal had been great, but it was mainly because Jolie was so hungry; there was nothing special about the food. After dinner Dep had pulled out a piccolo and played some tunes while Naragor had accompanied him on a small tambour. She had gone to sleep thinking that the adventure wasn't turning out so terribly after all, and Dep wasn't as bad as he'd seemed.

Now, of course, she was as annoyed with him as ever.

Breakfast was just some more boiled grains, and not very appealing, but Jolie ate because they were both watching her, making sure that she did.

"Where are we going now?" she asked.

"We have to find Lorgar's rock," said Dep.

"So, what's the problem? I thought you said you knew the right trail."

"It's not that easy," said Dep. "Lorgar's rock is sneaky. If it knows you are looking for it, it hides."

"I thought it was a huge rock."

"It is a very large rock indeed, fair maiden," said Naragor, "but you must remember that we are in the forest of Vlidmir where anything can happen."

"So, what does it do? Hide behind a tree? Magically become invisible?"

"Oh no. It is much too large for a tree to hide it." Naragor finished buckling his sword belt while Dep cleaned up all the traces of their camp. "And it cannot become invisible -- the idea is ludicrous. No, it simply moves to a different location."

"Invisibility is ludicrous, but a gigantic rock running all over the forest isn't?"

"It doesn't run around the forest," put in Dep. "It just disappears and reappears somewhere else."

"And you don't call that becoming invisible?"

"No," said Dep. "I call it moving fast."

Jolie gave him a dirty look and walked beside Naragor as they got back on the trail. Maybe he wasn't as brave as a knight should be, and maybe he spoke in a funny old-fashioned way sometimes, but he was pretty hot looking and not obnoxious like Dep.

In two hours they came to a lovely grove of oak trees with a nice open circle in the middle.

"The last time I beheld Lorgar's rock, t'was in this very place," said Naragor.

"It's beautiful here," said Jolie. "Too bad the rock is gone."

"Something is not right," said Dep. "I feel uneasy. Let's get out of here."

"If the maiden is happy here, I do not see why she should not rest. We have made her walk far, and early too."

"Yes, I'm tired," said Jolie, sitting on a stump under one of the oak trees. Naragor stood at her side and handed her a flask of water to drink.

"We can rest in another half hour, when we have left this place far behind," urged Dep. "Quick, before . . ."

Just then a net descended upon them. They were tangled in its meshes before Naragor even had time to pull his sword.

"Imps!" yelled Dep. "We've been caught by wood imps!"

Seconds later, creatures the size of spider monkeys were crawling all over the netting above them.

"Tie them tight!" they yelled in their high little voices. "Don't let our prisoners escape."

"Ooh! What's this?" screeched another one, staring straight at Jolie. "She's not from here, that I can tell. Come see, brothers, good money we shall get for her!"

"A knight too! We've bagged a knight!" shouted another jumping up and down with glee. "Even this paltry page will bring a gold piece or three. We're rich. We're rich!"

"Just whom are you planning to sell us to?" asked Dep. "When Prince Egaldaron finds out that you are holding his mightiest knight, his princess' favourite hand lady, and the brightest page in the palace he'll have all your heads."

"If he's so mighty and you are so bright, how was it we captured you so easily, then?" smirked one of the imps. He was wearing a red hat and sitting upon Dep's chest quite comfortably, as if he had no thought of leaving.

"Good point," said Dep.

"Instead of chatting with your little friends," said Jolie, "How about trying to get us out of here. This net is getting tight."

"I will save us, fair lady," cried Naragor valiantly, "but you must wait until I can manage to get my sword out from its scabbard."

"Which will not be possible until we are freed from this net," said Dep.

"I thought Prince Egaldaron was burnt up in the castle," said the red hatted imp.

"That is what you were meant to think," said Dep. "It was all a ruse to travel the forest incognito and discover who was waylaying all the innocent travellers in this kingdom and selling them to Duke Fremor. He is not a league behind us with his army of warlocks. If you don't let us go at once they will attack and turn the lot of you into toadstools."

The imps all began laughing shrilly.

"I ought keep you and take you home to recite bedtime stories to my little ones," said Red Hat. "You tell such marvellous fairy tales."

"You will rue the day you did not believe me," said Dep. "Toadstools have a supremely boring life and end up being eaten by warthogs."

"I am willing to take that chance," said the imp, bouncing up and down upon Dep's chest. "Do any of you have any jewels you could give us? We must send a token to our buyer to prove we have choice goods. Something from the lady? If she is indeed handmaid to the princess, who I understand to have disappeared as well, and you and the knight are who you say you are, the Duke might pay highly for your return."

It was Dep's turn to laugh. "Duke Fremor pay for our return? That is extremely unlikely. He will be counting his lucky stars that we are no longer around to plague him."

The imp smiled cunningly. "Better yet! I will have him pay me to do away with you after which I shall sell you to the pirates!"

"Good job, Dep," said Jolie. "You've just made everything worse."

"The lady has some lovely earrings you could take," said Dep. "The Duke presented them to her himself not one year ago."

"He can't take my earrings!" cried Jolie. "I just bought them last week!"

Two imps crawled up Jolie's arms, sat on her shoulders, and began tugging at her ears. She shook her head and screamed at them.

"If you struggle it will only be worse," said Dep. "They might rip your ears, or cut them off or something terrible like that. Imps are mean little beggars."

"Why did you have to tell them I had earrings -- you could have been a gentleman and offered them something of yours instead."

"Sadly, I am not a gentleman. I am but a lowly page. Naragor, on the other hand, ought to have done the chivalrous thing, but he has been noticeably quiet."

"There is a nasty little imp sitting on my head," said Naragor in a muffled voice. "Besides, the fair maiden's offer of her earrings was a cunning move. Duke Fremor will not recognise them at all and he will refuse to pay these imps anything."

"I -- did -- not -- offer," said Jolie angrily, still trying to shake the imps off her head.

"You may not have," said Dep, "but your heroism is appreciated anyway."

While the attention of the imps had all been drawn to Jolie and her fight to keep her earrings, he had managed to pull a short knife from his boot and cut himself free from the net. He slashed the webbing around Naragor as well and then jumped to his feet, pulling his dagger out of his belt as he did so.

"Let her go!" he yelled at the imps as he waved at them threateningly with his two blades.

Naragor untangled himself from the net and stumbled up, shaking loose a couple of imps from his head and shoulders. He pulled his sword and brandished it around. "Unhand her in the name of Egaldaron!" he shouted in a very impressive manner.

Jolie swatted at the imps that were crawling all over her to get away from the blades. She ripped at the holes in the netting and yanked herself free. "Get lost you little pests!" she raged.

The imps scattered as quickly as they had appeared.

"Ew! That was like having spiders crawling all over me. Let's get out of here!"

"Aren't you even going to say thanks?" asked Dep.

"For what? Almost getting them to rip my ears off?"

"For saving us. I knew you'd never let them take your earrings."

"You did not! None of your plans were working. You couldn't trick that red hatted imp -- he was way too smart for you."

"Not smart enough, so it seems. I got us free."

"That was just luck."

"You may call it luck if you like. I happen to know it is because I am the brightest page in the palace."

All the time they were arguing, Naragor was leading them further down another trail. "If I had not my trusty sword, the whole scene might have played out differently for us," he said. "But I do not desire thanks. All I want is that we find the oracle in the rock. I am almost certain if we follow this path to the north we shall find Lorgar's rock at the tree of the three eagles."

"South," said Dep under his breath.

After a few hours they came to a tall tree. In its topmost branches were perched three eagles.

"Well here we are," said Dep, "And here are the eagles, but where, oh where, is Lorgar's rock?"

Naragor shrugged his shoulders and looked quite helpless.

"Don't you think it's completely pointless to look for a rock that won't let you find it if you are searching for it?" asked Jolie, throwing up her arms in disgust.

"As you may recall, this wasn't my idea in the first place," said Dep. "You are the one who wanted to follow our fearless leader."

"Well Mr. Perfect-I-Know-Everything-and-Never-Make-a-Mistake, what do you suggest we do?" asked Jolie, crossing her arms and looking at him through narrowed eyes.