The Warble (22 page)

“Not a chance,” Werrien
said adamantly.

“Well, then, I guess
I’ll have no other choice other than to kill you right now.”

Kristina noticed that
Ramon’s canteen was wobbling to and fro on the ground behind him. The lid
suddenly popped off, and Clover flew out. She flew very fast past Ramon, and he
swiped the air, thinking she was nothing more than a cave bat.

Ramon      turned to
Ugan. “And you, you little traitor, I’ll deal with you soon, but for now, bring
that torch closer so I can see where I’m going to stick my knife in the peasant
boy.”

Ugan slowly made his
way toward Ramon.

“Hurry, lazy dwarf! I
don’t have all day,” Ramon snapped impatiently. He then told the zelbock to
bring Werrien to him, so the zelbock snapped its long whip on the ground in
front of Werrien. But Werrien didn’t move; instead, he looked up at the zelbock
and because he was much angrier than scared, he spit in its face. Infuriated,
the zelbock wiped the spit off its face with the back of its hand. It grinned,
revealing its rotten teeth and snapped its whip again, this time hitting
Werrien.

“Leave him alone, you
evil, rotting creature!” Kristina yelled.

The zelbock quickly
turned its attention to Kristina and brought its whip down toward her, but
Kristina was able to duck out of its way. Werrien managed to loosen his hands
from the ropes and at the same time, Clover flew up behind Ramon and gently
took hold of a few strands of his hair. Then, with a hand gesture, she told
Ugan to bring the torch closer. Once the flame was close enough, Clover placed
Ramon’s hair in it.

Unaware that his hair
had caught fire, Ramon sniffed the air. “What is that horrible smell?”

Rumalock looked up at
him and yelled, “Oh no! Your Highness, your hair is on fire.”

In a panic, Ramon began
to run in circles, but this only made the flames burn stronger. He ran toward
the entrance of the cave, with Rumalock running behind him.

Werrien quickly untied
his and Kristina’s feet. “Come on!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. The
two of them ran to the Warble, and Werrien quickly scooped it up into his palm.
They were just about to run with it to the shelf in the cave’s wall when
Kristina felt something grab hold of her pant-leg. Queen Sentiz was lying on
the cold ground, trying to pull Kristina to the ground.

“Give it to me, or
you’ll never escape this cave!” the queen croaked.

Retzel, who had been
standing in a dark spot of the cave, holding Raymond, took notice of this and
quickly ran to help Kristina.

“Nobody lays a hand on
my master,” Raymond said angrily, and when they were close enough, he leaped
into the air and landed on the queen’s head. He dug his nails into her scalp
and then jumped onto her hand and bit it. Queen Sentiz screeched in pain, and
finally loosened her grip from Kristina’s ankle.

Once Kristina was free
from the clutches of the queen, Werrien and she made their way toward the
shelf. But again they were hindered, this time by a sudden strong wind heading
towards the entrance of the cave. It tried to pull them away from the shelf.
Werrien gripped Kristina’s hand even tighter to stop her from being taken away
by the wind. After it blew past, they quickly made their way back to the shelf,
and Werrien gave Kristina the Warble. She put her hand back on the shelf, and
then—finally—placed the Warble in its resting place.

But all was not well,
for as it dropped into the chalice, Werrien looked at the tunnel that led to
the entrance of the cave, and he got a sick feeling in his stomach.

“What’s wrong?”
Kristina asked him.

He didn’t answer;
instead, he pushed Kristina to the ground and with his own body, he shielded
hers. Kristina didn’t see what happened after that, but she felt an intense
heat.

An enormous explosion took place when
Ramon brought his burning hair too close to the flammable walls. After the
intense heat subsided, Werrien and Kristina looked up to see a bright, colorful
light radiating from within the shelf in the wall. They quickly peered inside
the shelf to see the Warble spinning around in the chalice. It changed into all
the colors it had previously displayed. They watched in awe as it spun faster
and faster, until they couldn’t see its shape anymore, only its many colors
intermingling and swirling throughout it. “What do you think is happening to
it?” Kristina asked Werrien.

“I have no idea.”

They felt the ground
beneath them begin to tremble, and then shortly after, Kristina saw a rock the
size of a football falling from the ceiling, directly above Werrien. “Look
out!” she shouted.

Werrien jumped out of
the way, just in time. “We have to get out of this cave, and fast!”

Kristina glanced over
at the other three children, still huddled together on the ground. “Hester,
Davina, Graham! Get up! We need to get out of this cave before the ceiling
caves in on us.”

Werrien, Ugan, Retzel,
and Kristina started toward the tunnel that led to the entrance of the cave,
and as they hurried past the other three children, Kristina stopped and offered
her hand to help Hester up. But even in a life-threatening situation such as
this, Hester was too prideful to accept it.

“Have it your way!”
Kristina knew how Hester felt by the sour look on her face. “If you can’t
accept my help, then just get up yourself and follow us—that is, if you want to
get out of here alive.” Kristina and the others continued on down the tunnel.

“Who does she think she
is, trying to act like she’s some kind of hero to us? We’ll do just fine on our
own,” Hester said, as the three of them stood up and reluctantly followed
Kristina.

Kristina and the others
hadn’t gotten very far when they heard a loud crashing sound behind them. They
turned around to see that a great many rocks had fallen in between them and the
other three children.

“We have to go back and
help them,” Kristina said to Werrien, but almost instantly there was a loud
rumbling sound and more rocks came crashing down, this time very close behind
them.

“If we don’t get out of
here now, we, too, will be trapped or even crushed by the rocks,” Ugan said.

Raymond poked his head
out of Retzel’s shirt. “Kristina’s right. We have to go back and help the other
children. If something happens to them, none of us will ever be able to live
with ourselves.”

Was that Raymond
speaking, the one who was scared of everything?
Kristina thought.

“Raymond’s right; we
can’t just let them die in there,” Werrien agreed. “Ugan, Retzel, and
Kristina—you three go on ahead of me, and I’ll go back and get the other
three.”

“If you’re going, then
I’m going, too,” Kristina said.

There was more
rumbling, and then more rocks fell to the ground. Ugan quickly handed Werrien
the torch. Then Retzel, Raymond, and Ugan went on ahead to escape the crumbling
cave. They were making their way out when Raymond crawled out of Retzel’s shirt
and leaped to the ground. “Hey, where are you going?” Retzel called out after
him.

“I’ve got a rescue
mission to attend to!” Raymond’s voice echoed as he scampered away into the
darkness of the cave.

“Wait, you can’t go!”
Retzel shouted.

But Ugan grabbed him by
the arm and said, “Let him go. It will be good for him to experience a little
danger.”

Retzel agreed, and the
two headed for the entrance of the cave.

Werrien and Kristina
made their way back into the dark cave with the dimly lit torch. They climbed
up the pile of fallen rocks, and Kristina began calling out for the other three
children. “Hester, Graham, Davina! Can any of you hear me?” Her voice echoed
loudly, but unfortunately, there was no answer. Then, suddenly, the ground
beneath them began to tremble again.

“Kristina, if we don’t
get out of here now, we’ll die, too,” Werrien said.

“What do you mean, die,
too?” Kristina said, shocked by his statement. She felt her stomach lurch.
“They couldn’t have died; they’re much too young!”

The ground trembled
again, and Kristina fell backwards. She would have landed with her head on a
very sharp rock, but Werrien grabbed her by the arm and stopped her fall.
“Kristina, we really need to get out of here!”

Kristina used her
sleeve to wipe her dirty face, and then sadly agreed.

Werrien climbed down
from the rock pile, and Kristina was about to follow when she suddenly heard a
faint voice calling her name. She turned around and her eyes panned the
darkness, hoping to find any signs of the other three children. Instead, she
caught sight of two, very small, glowing eyes back in the cave. “Raymond? Is
that you?”

“Yes; come quickly!”

The ground began to
quake again, but this time it didn’t even faze Kristina. She crawled down the
heap of rocks and made her way over to Raymond. “What are you doing out here
all alone? Don’t you know how dangerous it is in this cave? If a rock falls on
you, you’ll be crushed in an instant,” she lectured her pet rat.

“I thought you’d at
least be happy that I found them.” Raymond’s confidence bubble was slightly
deflated.

“What? You found them?
But where are they?”

“They’re not directly
out in the open. Come on; follow me and I’ll show you where they are.” Raymond
scampered over fallen rocks and went deeper into the heart of the cave.

Kristina followed
behind Raymond, but because of the darkness, she soon lost track of him.
“Raymond, where are you? I can’t see you anymore.” She was beginning to get really
scared and wondered if what she was doing was all worth it. Then she saw
Raymond’s glowing eyes.

“Over here!”

She made her way over
to him, and he led her into a deep crevice in the cave wall. Huddled together
inside it were Hester, Graham, and Davina. Hester was crying.

“Are you guys okay?”
Kristina asked.

“Does it look like it?”
Davina snapped, as if Kristina were stupid.

“Are you now willing to
accept my help?”

“I suppose, if we
must,” Hester said, in between sniffles.

Kristina reached out her
hand to Hester and helped her out the crevice. Graham and Davina followed. Now
they could see the light of the torch coming toward them.

“Werrien, I found
them!” Kristina said excitedly.

“That’s great! Now come
on—we need to hurry and get out of here.”

They started to follow
Werrien, but then Hester stopped and said, “Wait! Where’s Graham?”

Everyone looked around,
but they couldn’t see him.

“He was just with us a
minute ago,” Davina said.

Werrien moved the torch
around to see if he could spot him anywhere, but the cave walls began to shake,
and he lost his balance. While steadying himself, the light shined directly on
Graham. “Look! There he is,” Werrien said.

They watched as Graham
headed in the opposite direction.

“Graham, you’re going
the wrong way!” Hester yelled, franticly.

But Graham either
didn’t hear her or wouldn’t listen.

The cave shook
violently again, and more large boulders began to fall from the ceiling.
Kristina picked up Raymond. Just as he was crawling inside her cloak to hide,
Werrien saw a large boulder heading straight for Kristina’s head. He pulled her
out of the way, and it hit the ground and shattered, sending small sharp chunks
of rock in all directions. One razor sharp chunk hit Davina’s thigh. She let
out a loud screech, sounding like someone had stepped on a cat’s tail. Then she
pulled out the shard to reveal a good-sized gash in her leg.

“Follow us,” Werrien
shouted to her and Hester.

Davina held one hand on
her cut leg as she and Hester followed Werrien and Kristina toward the entrance
of the cave. Rocks fell continuously, and the violent shaking didn’t cease, but
they all made it safely out—except Graham.

“We can’t just leave
Graham in there,” Kristina said.

“If he gets hurt, it
serves him right,” Davina said, her voice straining from the pain in her leg.

“The brat shouldn’t
have gone the opposite way,” Hester said coldly.

“Can you think of any
reason why he did?” Werrien asked Hester and Davina.

“No, not really,”
Davina said, through chattering teeth.

“Wait a minute,” Hester
said excitedly. “Remember he kept saying that he felt sorry for that ugly,
scary-looking woman who brought us here?”

“Are you saying you
think he was heading to Sentiz?” Werrien said.

While they were
talking, the wolf suddenly came toward them. “Follow me.” It walked away
hastily.

“We can’t leave! My
dumb cousin’s in the cave,” Hester said.

“We must leave this
area now, before the cave blows.” The wolf began to descend the mountain. The
children followed him down to a large rock, at least three times the size of
them in height that protruded out of the slope. Already standing behind it,
shielded from the wind-driven snow, were Ugan and Retzel. They had no sooner
joined them when the ground beneath them began to quiver and quake, and then a
tremendous explosion took place. Snow, ice, and rock spat high up, obscuring
the already cloud-covered sky. The atmosphere went dark, and the blistering
wind grew even stronger. Then there was a fearful wrenching sound, and the
snowy slope around them began to crack and separate. Deep crevasse began to
form that resembled slithering snakes going in all directions. One crack came
toward them and went directly between Hester and everyone else. Hester let out
a blood-curdling scream when the snow she stood on began to separate from where
the others stood.

“Grab hold of my hand
and try not to panic!” Werrien yelled, reaching out to her.

Hester didn’t answer;
she only looked down to see the snow separate even more. Her face turned as
white as a ghost and she seemed to freeze up like the icy ground beneath her.

“Hester, please, grab
hold of Werrien’s hand,” Kristina insisted.

“I can’t. I’m too
scared!” Hester began to cry hysterically.

Without giving it
another thought, Kristina jumped over to her and took hold of her arm. She
looked her straight in the eyes. “It’s okay, we’re going to jump together.”

As Hester stared back
at Kristina’s eyes, her stone-cold glare seemed to melt. She shook her head to
focus better. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it, if you promise not to let go of me.”

“I promise.” Kristina
linked her arm with Hester’s, and then she said, “On the count of three.”

“Are you sure?” Hester
was very nervous.

“Yes! Now here we
go—one, two, three!” Just as they jumped, the chunk of snow they had been on
broke away completely and tumbled down the mountain until it finally
disappeared into the abyss of white below them.

Other large hunks of
snow, rock, and ice hurled past them and over them. It felt like the land of
Bernovem was coming to an end.

They all stood crammed
together, like sardines, on the small chunk of snow behind the large rock. The
only thing they could do was wait until finally, the avalanche stopped. At that
instant, all the ruckus, rumbling, and tumbling of snow and debris, along with
the violent roaring of the wind, subsided and there was dead silence. They all
looked up to the sky to see that the snow had ceased falling and the vicious
wind had died. The clouds began to separate, and the sun suddenly pierced
through them. It was so bright that they had to squint. The clouds quickly
evaporated, and the sky turned bright blue.

“It must have
happened!” Werrien said excitedly.

“What must have
happened?” Davina asked, while shielding her eyes from the sun.

“The curse over
Bernovem has been lifted,” Ugan said, looking amazed.

The sun began to warm
them, and they got so toasty that they took off their cloaks. Raymond crawled
on top of Retzel’s shoulder to bask in the sun. While enjoying their newfound
warmth, they felt movement under their feet, and they looked down to see the
chunk of snow beneath them melt before their very eyes. They all sank down,
about three feet, and found themselves no longer on snow but on very wet,
flattened grass. Everywhere around them, patches of snow began to dissolve and
small streams formed and ran down the mountain. There was no more need to stand
behind the large protruding rock, for most of the snow on the mountain had
melted.

Kristina was the first
one to venture away from the rock, and when she was no longer behind it, she
could see the top of the mountain perfectly. “Wow!” She was astonished. It was
the most unusual yet beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life. Werrien
quickly joined her, and he, too, couldn’t believe his eyes. Then Ugan, Retzel,
Raymond, Davina, and Hester also joined them, and they all stood in awe. “What
is it?” Kristina couldn’t take her eyes off it.