And it is into the next section of Trickster:The Venom of Vipers,the middle grade readers novell of adventure that is available on Amazon Kindle stores in the e-book format. Chapter 8 It was now more than two hours since they had started their hike and they were tired. A fallen tree provided the seat they needed. Sitting on the log they looked at the meadow scenery in front of them. The bright sun, high in the brilliant blue sky shone on the pastoral setting. Multitudes of bees collected the pollen from the proliferation of bluebells, daisies, dandelions, and narcissi. The buzzing of the bees and the scent of the flowers, together with the drying warmth of the sun had an almost hypnotic, sleepy effect on their senses. From the woods echoed the cooing of wood pigeons; the cuckoo bird joined them in this serenade. All around them the small birds were chirping their own songs. Far away, across the creek, a family of deer grazed peacefully, too far to worry about human presence. Josef scooped water from the creek into his army dish. He drank a few sips of the cold, fresh water and passed it to Ludmila. She, too, drank some and then handed it over to Emil. He just sat there, saying nothing, sullen. She gave the dish back to Josef, shrugging, and ignored Emil’s strange mood. Instead, she inspected a scratch on her foot while Josef consulted the map. “We are getting closer,” he said as he pointed at the drawing. “There should be fork out from this trail heading to the hills anytime soon,” he added. “Sure, we are getting closer,” replied Emil sarcastically, glaring gloomily at him. “Something bit you, or what?” asked Ludmila. No answer from Emil, who just sat silent and sullen. What’s got into him? Josef felt a sudden chill, remembering his strange premonition at the school and scratching absent-mindedly those three itchy spots that should not be there. He forced the feeling out of his mind and looked questionably at Emil. Finally, after a few long moments, Emil apologized. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me, but I am alright now. Nevermind me, OK?” “Sure Emil,” replied Josef, and added in falsely cheerful voice, “Is everybody ready? Let’s go get her.” They both followed him wordlessly. Soon, the beautiful scenery around them soothed the dark mood of few minutes before. They hiked up the trail, parallel to the creek. The steeply slanted hills to their right turned into a dark gray basalt slope that ended high above them, in the sharply defined horizon. It was only a few minutes after their resting place when a small stream flowing down from the basalt slope crossed their path before entering the Meadow Creek. Emil, leading again, jumped over the stream and Ludmila and Josef followed. Emil pointed at the map. “The drawing is showing fork in the trail to the hills. Anybody see it?” Josef and Ludmila, in unison said, “Nope.” The slope to their right was smooth, bare basalt and there was no sign of the trail or symbol of squirrel anywhere. They continued up the trail for several hundreds of feet and still did not see the trail, which was clearly marked on the map as being close from the crossing stream. In frustration, they retraced their steps back to the stream. No matter how long they looked at the smooth slope on which just a few dwarfed, misshapen trees and bushes grew haphazardly, there was no sign of the trail. Going over the terrain two more times, it was Emil who finally solved the mystery. The symbol of squirrel was so cleverly hidden that only someone who was looking for it could spot it. Yet, it was not really hidden! It was too large for casual observer to see. Whoever made it used the natural contour of the land, with minimal alternations to it, to create the symbol of squirrel that surely was there, but was invisible to anybody just walking by. It was like a star’s constellations. You are looking for certain constellation in the night skies-among the thousands of stars. One moment, you can’t see it. Then, suddenly you see it clearly and wonder, Why did I not see it before? Emil had to point it out to them several times before they too were able to see it. Josef whistled softly. “That’s just too good. I wonder why Lawrence did not tell me about it.” “Probably because he knew that I was coming with you,” joked Emil, grinning proudly. Ludmila rolled her eyes in mock disgust and rhymed, ”Oh, mister Good and Smart, what did you eat to make you such?” They all laughed at that, the uneasy mood they experienced just short time ago all forgotten. They returned their attention back to the symbol of the squirrel. It was more than eight feet tall and its tail pointed directly up the bubbling stream coming down the slope. The trail itself was not noticeable, the slope being hard basalt rock with only an occasional tree or shrub growing, seemingly from the rocky base itself. Emil led the way, mumbling something about mountain goats. Occasionally a symbol of a squirrel, now small again, was carved directly to the rocky slope. The symbols pointed up the slope, following the stream. Soon they could not see the main trail anymore, it being blocked by the trees and shrubs as well as by the contour of the rocky slope. After a climb of about twenty minutes, their progress led them to a small gorge with a small lake on the bottom of it. The lake was formed by the stream filling the bottom of the gorge, until eventually overflowing into the stream which they followed from the main trail. The gorge was V-shaped and bounded on two sides by steep cliffs of volcanic origin. They had no choice but to enter the gorge and bypass the lake by clinging to the cliffs on the edge of the lake. It was a fairly difficult hike at this moment. Past the lake, there was no place for them to walk on so they had to enter the stream itself, fording it up the gorge. They expected the stream above the lake to be cold at this time of the year. Yet, the water was quite tolerable. Not exactly like a bath, but lukewarm. They continued in their hike. The steep cliffs on both sides towered over them as they waded through the stream. Suddenly, the piercing screech of an eagle, high above the cliffs, reminded them that they were in the wilderness, far from the city. Instinctively, Ludmila’s hand reached for Josef’s. He squeezed back reassuringly; also glad of the human touch. They trod through the stream for about five hundred yards before the gorge opened up. The cliffs on their left gave the way to a heavily forested hill. Looking ahead and to their right, the smooth, basalt slope reached high to the bare summit. On its far right edge it also changed to a treed terrain- as far in eastern direction as they could see. Down from the basalt, volcanic slope a tiny stream joined the one they were wading through
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 07:31:16 +0000
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