The Fourfold Key

Chapter Seventeen: Safe...Or Not

Ruth opened her eyes and looked at the blurry scenery about her. She was lying on a small beach. The beige rocks stretched out a ways behind her and then were suddenly cut short by tall grass. The tall grass went on a bit and then the forest took over. The trees were some of the tallest she had ever seen.

What happened? she thought, willing herself to remember. Water...Cave...Key...Tom! She sat bolt upright, ignoring the stabs of pain shooting through her skull. To her relief, Tom lay a few yards away from her, still clutching the Key.

She stumbled over to him and pried the Key from his hand, then checked his pockets. The two other Keys were nestled safely inside. She drew them out of his pocket and held all three in her palm. The pale gold glinted in the gray, cloudy light. A shiver ran up her spine seeing all three together there.

"Tom," she said, gently patting his cheek. "Tom, come on, get up."

"Wha..?" he mumbled, opening his eyes.

"We made it out! All the Keys are safe. Are you okay? Do you know where we are?"

"Yes, I'm fine. My head hurts a little but I'll get through it. How are you?"

"Never been better." She grinned, bouncing on her toes.

She helped Tom stumble wearily to his feet. He gazed about him, trying to find his bearings. After a minute he shook his head. "I don't know where we are. But it's probably best if we continue southwest. It might lead us to a town, or directly to the Troll Swamps."

Ruth's head was spinning with questions, but she kept silent, hoping that he would find out where to go.

"Come on." He waved her forward and they stumbled into the brush.

The tall grass was nothing like she had expected. It had three sides as sharp as razor blades, and the sharp sides clung to their skin, making large, deep gashes. They were cut and sliced from all sides by the invincible plants and they had no way to cut them down—they had lost their swords in the cave. The only weapon they had was a small knife, not big enough to do anything but whittle with. Their packs were gone, too. Let's hope Troll Swamps are better than the Whirlpool. We won't come out alive if it's any worse!

They stepped out of the slicing grass. Ruth sighed with relief. The woods were much safer for her soft, bleeding ankles and one bare foot.

"Do you have any idea where we are now?" she asked. She pulled her sneaker off and tried to stuff her other foot into it. It fit...sort of. It pinched her toes a lot, but a shoe was a shoe, so she persevered. 

"Not really. It seems like the Elven Woodlands but it could very well be the Fairy Kingdom for all we know."

"How could we be in the Fairy Kingdom?"

Tom shrugged. "The underground river could have taken us to Dwarfshead River."

As they walked, Ruth gazed around her. The woods were beautiful. The trees looked magical. Their bark was like birch, and they were almost as tall as the redwoods. They stretched up, up, up to the sky, each one determined to outgrow the other. Near the top, instead of the normal leaves for birch, there were pine needles. The ground was covered in the soft, dead needles—and moss—soothing Ruth's sore feet. Flowers that looked much like tiger lilies grew in patches everywhere. They weren't just orange, though. There were pinks and blues, too. They mixed together, filling Ruth with a deep happiness. She closed her eyes. It was a wonderful day to get lost. All of the sudden, she felt a pain in her right ankle. Something jerked her foot up, and before she could react it pulled her off the ground much too far into the air. Ruth didn't even have time to scream. She opened her eyes to see what had happened. A thick rope was tied around her ankle. It had caught onto her foot and jerked her to the sky by some mechanism high in the trees. To her left, she saw Tom hanging upside-down from a rope as well. We can't stay here too long. We'll die! If we use the knife we have, we'll fall one-hundred feet to the ground and die that way too!  Ruth wondered who had set the trap. Elves? Maybe. Dwarves? Hopefully not. Unfortunately, Ruth suspected the latter of the two. Gee, what a stupid trap. She kicked angrily at the rope. The mechanism squeaked and she fell a few feet. It hurt her ankle terribly, but it was a way out!