Cosmic Twists 1 (Old Version)

Part One - Lara - Chapter 3

Chapter Three

We gallop hard and fast until we reach the dark tunnel at the foot of East Mountain ; it’s the only way into Furdock, and the only way out, unless you’re strong and tough enough to take the mountain route, but I’ve heard many scary stories that come from the very few who have made it out alive.

As we creep in the shadows approaching the tunnel, I see the black armoured guards stood at attention in their formation surrounding the tunnel entrance. There is no way we can get past them. That’s when I think of Uncle Isaac’s note again. You also have my old map of Greater Denvernia which you will need once you make it out of the foothill forests, which is when you will need the bow and arrow. My heart sinks. Does he really mean for us to take the mountain route?

I look up at the great mountains that surround us, and see the gap in the peaks just north of East Mountain, where the wall of mountains surrounding Furdock lowers ever so slightly. That is the other way out; the only gap in the peaks where the Old Pilgrim trail once was, before it got worn away in the cold winters just before the Silver Years. I look back at the tunnel, and I know which option Isaac had intended for us to follow, but how? I can barely use this bow. Isaac took me hunting a few times when I was younger, and I watched the way he used the bow, but I never used it myself. Isaac said my fingers were too small to hold the string steadily, but he did teach me how to skin his rewards and create traps to capture small animals. I suppose that will have to help us now.

I kick lightly at Cosmo’s sides and we move quickly off the track, hurriedly heading across a snowy clearing into the shadowy woods. We move on through the trees as the incline begins.

The towering peaks of Furdock still loom over us through the forest canopy. I look back at the pointed rooftops overlooked by the council buildings of Furdock once more, and wonder if I’ll ever have to return to this dreadful place again. It already looks so distant from where I stand now, as if all that is happening in Furdock right now is a secret hidden away from the rest of Greater Denvernia. I’ve never even seen what it’s like in the mines below. I wonder if other regions know what Furdock has become, or perhaps they prefer to keep their hands clean of its corrupt mess. No one has ever interfered with Furdock’s politics in my time.

I turn away from the ghostly mountain peaks one last time, and push away the pangs of guilt as if the harsh rock faces are beckoning me to return home. Suddenly I think of my mother. You must do this, she had said. Do it for me… The words ring in my ears, battling in conflict with my feelings of guilt, for running away, but I know now that I can’t go back. It’s too late; I suppose two free souls is better than one feeling imprisoned with the shadow of a ghost.

I close my eyes and listen to the wind that blossoms in the silence as it whistles through the trees from the valley. It’s a different kind of silence here, in these woods, compared to the bleak sound of nothingness that I had grown so used to. Leaves don’t rustle in the trees, as the winter winds have shook them bare, but the whistling sound is like a song in my ears. It could feel unsettling, if I allowed it to, but it makes me feel less alone, although Cosmo is my companion now. My feet tap gently against his flanks once more and I feel Cosmo move faster beneath me as we follow a small dirt track deeper into the woods as the ground steepens below us.

We step cautiously through the pines as it begins to thicken around us, cutting off more light from the sky above, although the noticeable chill, even in my winter cloak, tells me that night is falling. The wood chippings scattered across the muddy ground become dotted with wildflowers and spouting ferns, lined with a silver glow from the starlight sparkling through the canopy.

Even with my attention focused on the peculiar cacophony of sounds that I start to hear around us, we startle at the odd snap of a twig underneath Cosmo’s hoof, and the echo of a haunting bird song from above. My senses become accustomed to the peculiar noises of the forest that I have never heard before, but even I know that the low growl that sounds near Cosmo’s left hind leg is unwelcoming.

I hear it again, but this time the sound comes from the other side of the narrow, overgrown dirt track.

Out of his own fear, Cosmo lurches forward into a gallop, precariously striding over the loose stones and fallen leaves that are damp with dew and moisture from the undergrowth. I cling to him with fear, too afraid to turn back at least until we have covered a good distance, but the growls become ferocious yawps and roars of what I imagine a lion would sound like, but when I finally find the courage to peak over my shoulder, I double take, and reach for the bow.

We’re being chased by a pack of wild wolves flailing their clawed paws towards us, but they are much bigger than the wild dogs that scavenge the streets of Furdock. In fact, they look almost as tall as me on foot, not far off Cosmo’s size. They have golden manes around their necks, and long golden tails that swish behind them. They’re catching up with us, so I kick Cosmo firmly, and the pine trees fly past us in a colour spectrum of greens and browns until everything feels like a blur.

The closest beast lurches out a clawed paw and catches the back of Cosmo’s leg, causing him to leap forwards in pain as we head even further into the darkness of the woods. I carefully remember to duck under the low hanging branches as everything whistles past us. They’re closing in.

We come to a narrow river, but I can’t judge how far Cosmo can jump in his painful exhaustion. Nonetheless, it’s the only way we can go.

The bank on the other side of the river is a little higher, but just like that, in some sort of leap of faith that Cosmo has been storing his energy for, he charges forward one last time as I lurch backwards, upwards, and we soar, like we’re flying. For a brief moment, it feels like we are. I turn, and the momentum of my weight causes me to lean back further.

Suddenly I feel a clawed paw slash against my cheek and the pain surges through my entire body with a sharp, excruciating burn. Warm blood seeps from the torn flesh over my shoulder down to my back. I cry out uncontrollably at the shock of the instant agony as the warm blood blocks my vision. We fall from mid-air to the bank with a thud and everything falls into silent darkness.