The Castle of Resurrection: Part Three

by phifi

The Grey River

The next morning, when Antanie and Shamathia awaked, was quite cold and misty. Twilight fell through the leaves of the gigantic trees and fog was rising from the river. Now in the light they could see the whole of the river. It was very big, incredible width and the water was running very fast. Obviously, the easier part of their journey was over now, the rafting seemed to be going to be a pretty though job.

They had only a small breakfast before they packed the tent back into it's bag and took out Sammy's raft. It was just big enough for both of them and their equipment. They out all their bags on it and tied them tight so that they could not slip around in the raft which can bring any raft or boat into dangerous situations. Afterwards, they covered the bags with a strong and water-resistant foliar to keep them dry. They looked again if they had not left anything and than they pushed the raft into the river. Antanie jumped in first, while Sammy pushed it further into to river before she jumped in a well.

At once their raft was taken by a strong current and driven into the middle of the river. Antanie and Shamathia were sitting on each side of the raft, both of them equipped with a wooden paddle to steer the raft. Faster and faster they were driven, and more and more difficult it became to steer away from rapids and rocks. Twice they almost hit some trunks which were also taken away by the current, but after some time they had found a way to deal with the river.

After some hours, when they slightly started to get tiered and thought about making a small break, they suddenly heard something like a thunder or a roar in the distance. Sammy looked backwards and froze with terror: A large wave of foaming water was rushing down the river, directly towards them. Maybe it had rained in the distant mountains and the water had been stowed and suddenly release, how ever, it was a mighty flash-flood and Shamathia and Antanie could lose no time in considering how it had come to this. They could just keep a very firm hold on the raft and hope that it would not be filled with water when the wave reached them.

Only few moments before the wave had reached them, Antanie suddenly saw a smaller river which was flowing away from the main stream. She knew that this was their only chance to escape the wave.

"Sammy, quickly, to the right !!!" she yelled and Sammy, too, realised their chance. The pulled the raft extremely hard to the right and managed to enter the smaller river. In the very next moment the wave rushed down the main stream, but only a small quantity of water flow into the small river. Still, it was enough to accelerate the little raft very much. In addition, the river was flowing through a deep valley and only rocks were on each side of them, as well as in the water around them. "Ati, quickly get out the map and see where we are going to!" said Sammy. Ati took out the map and fainted at the first glance. "Oh no, it's 'The Devil's Playground', you know, that deadly river which claimed so many pets... we are heading straight to the EYE OF THE TIGER !!!! IT'S THE END !!!"

They had entered one of Neopia's most dangerous rivers, and the so called "Eye of the Tiger" is one of the biggest whirlpools in Neopia if not the biggest. Hardly someone saw it and was alive later on to tell other about it. In the distance they could already hear it's gurgling and slurping noises while their raft sped up more and more.

***

Lost in the Forest

Their journey had really reached it's worst situation, or at least Ati and Sammy thought it had. Already the whirlpool came into their view, they had to make a quick decision what their next step would be. "We have to turn, it will smash our raft and suck us to the ground!" Ati screamed, but Shamathia knew that it was impossible to drive up the river against the stream. There was only one way, and this was occupied by the whirlpool. "No, we have to drive straight through it! This is our only chance, we have to drive through it. If we are fast enough, it won't get us. Quick, we have to accelerate the raft even more!"

And so they did. The surroundings of the riverside, rocks, forest and bushes just seem to be flying away from them. The reached the whirlpool, it was much larger than ever they had feared it could be. Steam was raising from its center and the noise was unbelievable. The raft enter the whirlpool, rushed through it, straight through the middle towards it's center... and than was stopped and turned around in circles even faster. The whirlpool had been stronger. Already, Sammy and Ati started to feel sick of the circle-movement, while the raft was driven more and more into the center.

"We have to get out of this, steer very hard to the left!" Sammy screamed, but still they came closer and closer to the center, a deep and dark hole, like the staring eye of a nameless evil. It was too late for them, the whirlpool had taken over control and there was no way to stop it anymore. The raft would be suck to the ground and smashed on the rocks while Ati and Sammy would certainly drown. Ati was right, it was the end.

The last thing that Shamathia could remember was the raft capsizing while Ati screamed, than she fell into the icy-cold waters, darkness surrounded her and than she knew nothing anymore.

When Shamathia awaked, it was late in the afternoon. The daylight was fading and some stars were already twinkling blue and cold far away in the emptiness of the distant spaces. She was lying at the bank of some stretch of waters, half covered with sand and mud.

Shamathia felt miserable, she had a strong headache and the cold wind made her shivering. For a moment she could not remember what had happened, but than the memories came back. The grey-river, the flash-flood, the smaller river which had turned out to be "The Devil's Playground" and finally the hideous whirlpool. It was very quiet around her now, the silence seemed to fill the waters and banks as well as the forest and bushes. Obviously, the river had flown her into standing water where the stream had finally dropped her at it's bank. It was a wonder that she was still alive, but where was Antanie? Terrible imaginations came into Shamathia's mind when she thought about the fact, that Kacheeks are not known to be good swimmers...

She tried to get up, but pain flashed through her body so that she fell back into the sand. Again she tried it, but again her body would refuse to follow her command. A third time she tried with the same result, before she was so exhausted by her vain endeavor that she fell asleep again.

Meanwhile, Antanie had been far luckier than Sammy had imagined: When their raft capsized, she had also fallen into the whirlpool but it had not sucked her to the ground like Shamathia but realised her so that she was driven down the river by the current. Soon, she had gotten hold on the trunk of an old tree which had also been going down the river. She had even managed to sit on it, and so she had been flown into the lake of moonstone, just the lake to which they had wanted to go to. Though the raft and with it all of their equipment had been vanished by the merciless whirlpool, Ati still had a copy of the map in a water-resistant bag with her, as well as a small quantity of food and a simple survival-kit.

After she had arrived at the banks of the moonstone lake, she climbed on a huge rock nearby and searched the area carefully if Shamathia had been stranded here as well. The lake was large, and deep blue in it's middle. It was so wide that the other side could hardly be seen. The banks were partly a mixture of sand and mud and partly covered with big rocks. Just behind them, the forest started and here in this unexplored area it was so thick, that it seemed like a green wall to Ati. After half an hour she realised that she was all alone. She hoped that nothing had happened to Shamathia but she did not worry too much about her for she knew that she was an excellent swimmer and even knew how to survive under the surface of water for long times.

Ati walked along the banks for some time, and after a while she came to a big rock which was larger than all the other ones. When she passed it, she discovered an ancient-looking inscription on it, which was covered with moss and ivy so that it was not easy to read. Also, it had been written in foreign language she did not understand. "Hic neo-pecunis primerae arriviunt ad initium temporum MCMIC. Istus saxus portus terrae neopiarum est." Ati remembered which rock it was, though she could not understand the inscription. The rock was called "Neopia's entrance" for it was the place, where the first NeoPets had arrived. Even though deserted today, it was a very famous place. And it was marked in the map which Ati had with her. Now it would be easy for her to find out where she was and which direction she had to go to to find the mysterious castle. She had also arranged with Sammy to meet each other there for the case that they lost each other in the forest. But for it was already becoming dark and cold, she decided to stay at the banks for tonight. With some driftwood she made a small fire to warm herself a bit.

Shamathia awaked again when it was completely dark but for it was not windy anymore she did not feel to cold. Also, her headache had gone and so she tried to get up again. She managed to get up, but she still felt very weak and wobbly on her legs. After walking a few meters she sat down on a rock. She closed her eyes and focused her mind; she wanted to use a quite advanced magic ability to restore her powers at least a bit. For a moment, she just sat there on the rock, quiet and still. Than suddenly she started to glow in a pale golden light and she had a feeling as if a mighty force was passing through her body which filled her with new energy. The ability had worked very efficient, the place seemed to be a good for doing magic.

Filled with new energy and self-confidence, Shamathia got up and watched the surroundings. The lake was dark and quiet, it's surface reflected the light of the stars and the moon. Behind the banks the evergreen forest started. On the other side of the lake, very far in the distance she could see a tiny light but of which kind it was, she could not say. It came into her mind to make a small fire to warm herself, but when she had fallen out of the raft, she had lost all of her equipment including her mystery-island lighter. Of course, she could have used her magic powers, but sometimes the fires she created by magic become larger than expected and also she wanted to save her magic powers for major important purposes.

She searched the area for something to eat, and soon she found enough for at least three days. Wild berries, chewable roots and herbs and a colony of quite tasteful mushrooms. She ripped her T-shirt in the middle and made a small bag out of it into which she put all the eatables she could find. It would be very difficult to find a way out of the forest without any map or compass and she was not sure if she would find so much food again.

To be continued...