There was no mistake in Eliana's mind. The trees, the river, the rocks, the sunlight... everything was exactly like she'd seen it in her dream. Even the colors. The wind blew lightly through the bright green trees and they could barely hear the animal sounds over the rushing water. The mountain above the cave they could see was so high they couldn't see the top from where they stood.
"Are you sure it's the same place?" Khyros asked, helping Eliana to her feet.
"Positive," she answered. "I saw it twice, this is it."
Khyros looked up and down the river.
"Okay, but we still have one problem: how are we going to cross? It's too dangerous to swim without knowing how deep it is..."
"Yeah, and I hate to think what nasty beasts are in there," Eliana added, glancing warily at the water.
"But we can't fly, or jump..." Khyros said.
Eliana looked around.
"... But we can climb," she suggested, pointing to the trees on her right. "If we can just find one close enough to jump to on the other side... there!"
Sure enough, just a few feet away, a tall tree was leaning slightly their way. And another was leaning the other way. It was still at least three feet, but it was just about doable. Eliana couldn't help thinking it was lucky they had done so much working out.
Just then, they both heard a deep groaning that made them freeze.
"... Khyros... ? Tell me that was your stomach...?" Eliana asked nervously.
"No, it wasn't," Khyros said, sounding slightly offended.
They stayed still, listening carefully. Then, Eliana said:
"Khyros!"
He glanced in the direction she was indicating. And saw a huge green scaly beast.
"A... a crocodile..."
Sure enough, it was a crocodile. And a very big one, too. About fifteen feet long and about as large as both Khyros and Eliana put together. It glared at them with its large eyes, sharp teeth and long snout.
"Whatever you do," Eliana said, "don't move. It won't attack until we get closer or run."
"Well, we can't just stand here and wait for it to chew on us!" Khyros protested in a low voice.
His hand lowered slowly towards his sword. Eliana's hand caught his wrist:
"No! Orinoco crocodiles are a critically endangered species!" she hissed.
"We're a critically endangered species!" Khyros retorted. "That thing is bigger than the two of us put together!"
"We'll just walk away slowly. It can't climb trees, so if we can just get off the ground, we'll be okay."
So, they slowly stepped backwards, though keeping their eyes on the crocodile, which took a step forwards as they moved away.
"On three, we run to the tree leaning over the river, okay?" Eliana whispered.
Khyros looked at her like she'd gone mad.
"You said not to run!" he pointed out.
"D'you have a better idea?" she asked.
"Uh.... not really," he admitted.
"On three, then. Three!"
They spun around and pelted towards the tree. Eliana climbed first, pushed by Khyros, who followed her. The crocodile narrowly missed Khyros's leg as he yanked it up out of reach. The beast glared at him with its big yellow eyes, brushing the ground with its long thick tail.
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No way in Heaven or Hell - Afterlife Series Book 1
Fantasy#14 in Fantasy - Now officially featured on Wattpad. She is Light. He is Darkness. They have no reason to trust each other. But they're the only ones who can stop three worlds from falling apart. Oh, and they're both dead. Added to TeenF...
