Chapter Six

6 – Celnar Falls

The boat was out of control. They were getting closer and closer to the edge.

                Jesse, Rhias and Melissa were all trying to get the boat away now. They were too scared of getting out in case they might be swept away faster.

                The sound was now louder than all their yells as they were only a few metres away from the edge. They drew closer and closer, knowing it was too late. Then came the moment where they all held their breath as they reached the very edge – then the boat tipped, first slightly, then completely, and then they fell down, down, down the waterfall.

                It was the scariest thing either of the Henryson children had ever encountered. They screamed and tried vainly to cling onto each other as the lake came rushing up to meet them. Then with a sickening crunch the boat hit the surface of the water, shattering. All three children fell deep into the water.

                They all floated deep under, shocked by the fall and the landing. Then they came to their senses and struggled to surface.

                First Rhias – who was an experienced swimmer – popped out onto the surface, gasping for air. When she saw she was the only one up, she took a breath and swam under to find Jesse and Melissa, nearly drowned only about two metres below. She grabbed both of them and tried hard to swim up with them.

                Neither of the children had ever really swum before, and they clung onto Rhias as their only hope.

                As they came up they coughed hard because of all the water they had swallowed and tried weakly swimming to the edge.

                They staggered onto the sand and flopped down, breathing deeply and still coughing up water.

                They had only lain there for a moment when they were each grabbed from behind. They were forced up by strangers and their hands were forced behind their backs into painful positions. The three children fought and struggled, but the Henrysons were still weak from the waterfall. Rhias was full of the fire she always had and she kicked and bit the abductors.

                The three of them saw they were being held by tall people (the Henrysons first mistook them for spirits in a moment of confusement) who were all dressed in brown cloaks and had black cloth wrapped around their heads to protect their faces. Each carried with them a longbow as tall as themselves.

                “No fighting please – come with us,” one of the cloaked people ordered, giving Rhias a good kick.

                It did not take long before the struggle was over and the children were forced to walk ahead of the cloaked people. The three of them were painfully reminded of when the centaurs had captured them.

                They were pushed along to a cave near the riverbank. They walked along a windy passageway until they came to a larger cave where many of these cloaked figures hurried around.

                “What have you got?” came a voice ahead of them, and they looked to see a boy not much older than Jesse wearing the same cloak but had no material wrapped around his face so his long hair tied up in a pony tail could be seen. He was leaning casually on his bow inspecting the children.

                “Captives,” said one of the men in a muffled voice, “we watched them fall off the waterfall.”

                The boy grinned. “Not the first to fall under the power of the Epiar River. They look as saturated as any of the other fools!” He walked towards them and looked at each one separately, then said, “The girl is sort of pretty. She is no use to me though. Do as you like with her. The two boys though... they look kind of strong... I suppose they could help in the digging of the cave.”

                Jesse and Melissa realised they had mistaken Rhias for a boy. They dared not contradict him.

                “Do as I say!” the boy said when the men stood motionless.

                “We don’t take orders from you,” the one holding Melissa said angrily. “We only follow the words of your father. Just because you are his son does not give the authority to order us around.”

                “What’s going on?” asked another man who had just appeared at the boy’s shoulder.

                “Ah, Lenly,” one of the men said, bowing slightly, “We found these falling off the waterfall.”

                “I had it under control, father,” the boy said stiffly.

                Lenly shook his head. “You need to stop taking control into your own hands. You may do that when I die, but no earlier.”

                “These enemies should be killed,” the one holding Jesse said.

                “We are not from the enemy,” Rhias burst out. The cloaked people all turned in surprise to her female voice. “Well,” she added, “If Lord Gendon is your enemy. I mean, if you were on his side, then I suppose we would be enemies.”

                “Silence,” Lenly ordered.

                “No!” Rhias said crossly. “I am a free person and I order you to let me and my friends go!”

                “You can’t be free if you’re Dorian,” the boy said. “Lord Gendon owns you all.”

                “Not you all, but us all,” Rhias replied, pointing out, “You’re Dorian too.”

                “We do not belong to Doria,” the boy said. “We live as outcasts here in the Burlun Hills. We are the Burulians and we are on no side. Everyone is our enemy.”

                “Hold your tongue Tably,” Lenly snapped. “Remind me to punish you later.”

                The boy (or Tably as we shall now call him) leaned on his bow again sulkily.

                “But don’t you want peace in the world?” Jesse piped up.

                “What do you mean?” Lenly frowned.

                “Well, Lord Gendon seems to have taken over all of Doria, and if you want peace, then you’re against him. If you want everyone to be killed, then you’re on his side. You can’t just be in the middle.”

                “That’s right,” Rhias nodded. “You may as well just say you are on Doria’s side, since you are Dorian. What’s wrong with opposing Lord Gendon? He’s evil.”

                “He holds no threat against us,” Lenly spat. “If he arrived tomorrow asking us to join him, I can’t say why we wouldn’t say no.”

                The men holding the children glanced at each other uncertainly.

                “Why are you outcasts?” Melissa asked quietly. Everyone turned to her. There was a pause.

                “Our village was attacked,” one of the men said. “Technically, we’re supposed to be dead. But we escaped to the mountains.”

                “Who attacked your village?” Jesse asked.

                Another pause, and then Lenly said, “Well... spirits...”

                “You see?” Rhias said. “That means you’re against Lord Gendon and his spirits!”

                “But why would we want to be against them?” Lenly laughed. “Wouldn’t it be a waste of time?”

                “Doing what’s right? Standing up for yourself?” Rhias was getting worked up on it. “You silly men! You don’t get it, do you? Lord Gendon isn’t going to let you live just because you’re not on a side! He’s already tried destroying your village. Soon he’ll reach every corner of Doria and he’ll destroy you too along with the rest! There’s no chance for Doria unless we all appose him!”

                There was another pause, then Lenly said gruffly, “Lock them away,” and the men pushed them along to a room and locked them in.

                “Those men were so stupid!” Rhias said angrily, pacing up and down. “They think they’re safe!”

                “Ah well, when Lord Gendon comes for them I won’t be sorry,” Jesse said.

                “What a horrible thing to say,” Melissa said to him. “They just don’t understand. Good on you Rhias, for telling them straight out what you had to say.” She paused. “So, Doria hasn’t been completely taken over by Lord Gendon?”

                “No, he’s taken over it alright – he’s just slowly destroying it all, picking off towns one by one... destroying forests... contaminating he water... it’s quite terrible. Everywhere I go, I see people becoming more worried that he’ll come to them next. The only hope any of us have is for us all to join forces – and even then it would be hard – what we need is some kind of miracle.”

                Jesse and Melissa glanced at each other, and then looked away, both wondering if everyone was going to expect them to be this miracle. They were both sorry for the Dorians who had expected that they would do great things.

                Jesse sat down moodily. They all were silent for a while.

                “So, where were you planning to go next?” Rhias asked eventually.

                “Don’t tell her Melissa,” Jesse warned as she opened her mouth.

                “Why not?” Melissa asked. “She saved us in the water.”

                “We didn’t need saving,” Jesse snapped. “We were nearly at the top.”

                “You two weren’t trying at all,” Rhias said angrily.

                “No, we were swimming right near the surface,” Jesse said. It was easy for him to believe this was true, now he was comfortably away from the churning water.

                Rhias also sat down angrily. “Thankyou Rhias,” Melissa said, desperate for her favour. “You said you were going to save us like we did for you, and now you have. We’re equal now, and I think we can trust you.”

                She pulled out the map from her pocked and cried out in dismay as a few clumps of soggy mess fell away. The map was completely ruined.

                “Oh, it would have helped make the whole thing clearer,” Melissa sighed. “Anyway, I’ll just tell you."

                She told Rhias all about how Hanni had come to their village and explained about the vision the person in Orstina had had about them and about their journey to Miradel.

                Rhias had her mouth open, staring at the two in awe.

                “So you two are pretty much heroes then!” she said excitedly, “Wow! To think I’m the one travelling with you! That’s amazing... You two are going to give us all hope and help us! Well, hearing this news has certainly given me hope! In fact, meeting people as nice as you two in the first place gives me hope! Hmm... Of course, I’ve heard of Fareast city with Silvadale Castle and all that, but I’ve never been there... did you know the king died? Yeah, it was before I was born... there’s supposed to be a princess there or something and she can’t be queen without a king but there’s some reason why she can’t marry or something... I’m not sure. I think it has something to do with the Empress, whatever her name is...”

                “Sarifia,” Jesse said.

                “Oh yes! That’s right... So, once we’ve gotten out of here we have to go to Orstina... I’ve actually been there before, just after I was born, but I can’t remember it. Sometimes parents bring their children there in hope the Empress can bless their child, but my parents reckon the landpaters were tired that day or something. They said I was an unblessed child.”

                “Who are your parents?” Melissa asked angrily, “They sound horrible.”

                Rhias shrugged.

                Then the door suddenly opened, and the boy Tably stood there.

                “Well, come on,” he said stiffly.

                They scrambled to their feet and came out.

                “Why are we allowed out?” Jesse asked.

                “I convinced my father to let you out,” he said causally, looking at them all. “I was thinking about what you said about Lord Gendon... Do you really think he’s going to kill everyone? Including us outcasts?”

                “Well, we don’t really know much about him,” Melissa said. “You see, we don’t really come from here...”

                “Don’t worry, I know,” he said, holding up a hand. “I couldn’t help overhearing what you were saying in there.”

                They glanced at each other.

                “So...” Jesse said, “You know who we are?”

                “Yes,” Tably said, “And I wanted to request something... I was wondering if it were possible that I could join you?”

                Jesse and Melissa looked surprised.

                “Why?” Jesse asked.

                “Well, I lived in Fareast City for a few years when I was younger. I loved the castle and the city and everything about it. I was there staying with my aunty and uncle, you see. And – I would love to go there again. And – I want to be on your side. I don’t like Lord Gendon any more than you do. And I’m worried for not only us Burlunians, but also for all the Dorians.”

                “Um... I’m fine with that,” Jesse said, looking at his sister. She nodded.

                “I don’t mind,” Rhias said.

                “I didn’t ask your opinion,” Jesse said stiffly.

                “I’m apart of this too,” she said hotly. “I have a say.”

                “Great!” Tably beamed, “Well, I’ll go tell my father! I’m sure he wouldn’t care if I was off his hands for a while!”

                So he ran off, leaving the children huddled together in the side of the cave.