Faelorehn - Book One of the Otherworld Trilogy

Chapters 19-20

Copyright (C) 2012 Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

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-Nineteen-

Eile

Cade had once told me never to go into the cave that led to the Otherworld unless I had no other choice.  Well, at the moment I really didn’t have any other choice.  The Faelorehn woman (ugh, why hadn’t I asked her name?) had told me Cade was in trouble.  In my book a friend in trouble required me to call upon desperate measures, especially since I couldn’t do anything as simple as call the police.  Of course, I could be walking straight into a hostile environment, but I was beyond caring for the time being.

A fog had blown in towards the end of the day, as if it knew what I was up to and was only helping to set the mood.  Mom and Dad hadn’t been home yet when I made it back to the house, so I left them a note about going out with friends and that I would be back very late.  I hoped whatever it was I was supposed to do to help Cade didn’t take all night.  I made sure to have my cell phone on me, but I had a feeling that I wouldn’t get service in the Otherworld.

I shook my head and took a deep breath, puffing a little as I walked up the trail that would eventually plunge back down into the culvert where the dolmarehn was located.  I was so fixated on going through with this; of walking into that cave and crossing over into the Otherworld, that I hadn’t noticed the sudden silence of the woods or the eyes that watched me from the overgrowth.  I was so busy trying to ignore the warning voice in my head that told me I was acting too rashly; that I hadn’t thought this through, that I didn’t see the great black raven watching me with fire in its eyes.

Taking one more deep breath and pulling my thin jacket over my shoulders, I stepped over the broken branches and pushed aside the tree roots hanging in front of the cave like a screen.  Shutting my wayward thoughts out of my mind, I stepped out of the white fog and into the blackness of nothingness.

My first impression of the cave to the Otherworld was total darkness.  I blinked a few times, stretching my arms out tentatively in front of me.  I nearly screamed when my trembling fingers brushed against something soft and stringy.  After a few seconds’ consideration, I realized it was only more roots hanging from the cave ceiling.  It was a small space, after all, only just big enough for a normal sized adult to pass through without much trouble.  Cade must have had to duck and make himself as small as he could whenever he passed this way.

The sudden thought of Cade rubbed painfully against my raw emotions.  Some of my anger towards him started to fade away and my more compassionate side kicked in.  Maybe he hadn’t wondered about my missed meeting because he had been in trouble.  I hadn’t thought of that before.  My stupid, selfish teenage heart was only concerned about its own welfare.  Now I was beginning to worry.  I picked up my pace, keeping my fingers crossed there weren’t any really big spiders in here or sudden drops that might result in a sprained ankle.

As I felt my way through the cave, using the wall to my right as a guide, I breathed deeply to keep my heartbeat at a normal pace.  The air smelled and tasted like dust, mildew and eucalyptus oil at first, but after several minutes the temperature dropped dramatically and a cool, moist breath of air slithered past my face and caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.  The scent of rain and wet stone and something that just felt ancient flooded my nose, and the darkness around me seemed to grow blacker.  I started to shiver and I wanted to wrap my arms tightly around myself, but I was afraid to take my fingers from the earthen wall.  I imagined that just a few small steps ahead of me there lay a great abyss, deeper than the earth itself, ready to swallow me whole.