Chapter 12

Into the Jungle

The next morning they awoke, all of them getting a good night’s rest. They were invited to the mess hall of the Forks to eat with the Masedelo soldier’s who were stationed there.

“After everything you have been through, I think you deserve a warm meal,” said the soldier who came to escort them.

“Thank you Anrin,” Baran said with a smile, then introduced him to the others, “This is Anrin, commander of this outpost.”

They went inside and ate to their hearts content. Keirian looked to see about fifty soldiers in the hall. In times of peace, they surely didn’t need a lot of men stationed here, he thought to himself.

All of them accepted the hot food very readily, especially after spending the last five days in the cold, windy hills. Hardly a word was spoken as they were too busy wolfing their food down. After the meal, they were invited to see the top deck of the stronghold.

They took a series of stairs along the east side of the waterfalls, until they arrived at the top. They stood out on a wide platform overlooking the four falls, at the top of the hill which they fell over. They talked with Anrin and Casse, another of the soldiers stationed there.

“I never even knew this stronghold was here. What's its purpose?” Keirian inquired.

“The stronghold of the Forks was built almost two hundred years ago,” Anrin told him, “It was built to govern the passage of travel to the west of the river. We use it as docks for the boats which we use for trade. We use the river to transport goods from here to Guardia and Culilonia. We also use it for mining expeditions northwards to the Northern Peaks. Historical expeditions also come through here on their way to the ruined cities in Erestia.”

“But to take the river as a trade route, wouldn’t you have to pass through the Ti jungle?” Bale asked.

“Yes,” Anrin answered, “But the residents of the jungle allow us to pass most of the time. Only a trusted few of us they will let pass, and in exchange we promise them secrecy of the location of their city.”

“So you know where the city is?” Carson said.

“Yes, but as I said, we are sworn to secrecy,” Anrin said with a smile, “But don’t worry. I should think you will have no trouble finding it.”

“Just follow the river route,” Casse said, “And do not stray too far. The jungle may appear small, but once you‘re inside it will seem like a great maze. Watch your step, and know where you are stepping.”

“We will provide all the supplies you will need,” Anrin included.

“Does that include boats?” Baran asked.

“Of course, Captain Baran,” Anrin said, “We would not send you into Ti with them.”

“How many men are stationed here?” Keirian asked.

“We have around fifty to seventy at any given time. In times of peace we do not need many. The men are stationed here for a month at a time, then we return home and a new troop replaces us.”

“Yet we are not completely out of harm’s way during our duty,” Casse added, “We patrol the river banks and watch for bands of wild men from the north. There are occasions when they come down from the mountains looking for trouble. We usually have no trouble fending them off.”

“We too have our skirmishes with the wild men,” Tirius said, “I pity them. They are a diminished people, desperate for any chance of valour, and so they make enemies with men such as ourselves, who are much higher in strength than them.”

“Well, I hope you will all rest and enjoy yourselves here. There is not much to do, I’m afraid, yet you should all rest. We will prepare the boats for you, and you can leave for the jungles tomorrow, or whenever you wish.”

So they spend the day at the Forks and prepared for their journey into the Ti jungle. They were given a fresh supply of food, as well as basic survival necessities such as rope and medicine.

The next morning they were ready to make their way down the river. They were given three small boats. The boats were tied up on the side of the docks which ran across the edge of the Sojourn river. They were at the bottom of the water falls and a little ways from where the water landed again. Keirian and Carson went in one, Tirius and Bale in another, and Baran, Nessa and Sanchen in the third.

“Good luck,” Anrin said before they left, “Follow the river.”

So they left the Forks and drifted down the Sojourn river. Keirian watched as the Eajourn flowed out to his left, separating itself from its brother river. Keirian stared down the Eajourn and thought about how it flowed all the way along the borders of Brannock, through Tuzxan, until it emptied into the sea at Culilonia, where this whole journey began. When he thought about Culilonia again he thought about Dr. Sykes, and Elace.

The trip down the river was easy on the travelers. The current was going with them, and they only needed to paddle to keep from drifting to the banks. After only a couple of hours they could see the jungle forest ahead of them. As they approached the sides of the river slowly began to become lined with fresh, green trees, and great roots would hang over the sides into the flowing water. Soon they were engulfed by the trees, a great canopy draped over the river.

The great trees hung over their heads, covering the river like an arch, with only a sliver of sky open to view. The forest was extremely green and lush. They had large, flattened leaves, and long, slender trunks. Vines hung from the limbs. It was a much different forest then Kirkwood. Much more moisture and the plants seemed to grow wilder. Brannock had many underground rivers which all flowed down towards this area, which was how the Ti jungle came to be, as well as the great swamps to the west of it. Keirian thought it was very exotic and different then his own home.

Entering the jungle seemed surreal to everyone aboard the boats. None of them had been to any place like this. An eerie silence seemed to encapsulate them as they entered, which was periodically broken by various bird calls, and even the dropping of water from the leaves could be heard. A strange light surrounded them as the sun was now only allowed to peak in through the cracks, and when it did it glistened off of the wet surfaces of the jungle. Their boats glided down the river and the seven travelers went deeper and deeper into this mysterious place.

All of them were silent as they moved through the jungle. They all seemed to be taking in the strange environment they now found themselves in. The bright green colours, the eerie silence, and the feeling of the air becoming denser, more humid. Although they didn’t realize it, they spent hours in that trance. Soon Baran snapped out of it and decided it was time for some food.

They brought the boats up to the right banks of the river and pulled them halfway onto the shore. They found a grassy area under the trees where they sat to eat their lunches packed for them by the men at the Forks.

“This place is wonderful,” Keirian said, “It would be great to explore.”

“Chances are you’d find yourself lost in under an hour,” Carson said, “And besides, Anrin told us to follow the river.”

They continued eating their lunch when they heard a noise in the woods to the right over their resting area. It sounded like something was crashing through the trees, running maybe.

“What was that?” Nessa exclaimed.

“We should check it out,” Tirius said, lowering his voice.

“Alright,” Baran said, “I’ll go. Sanchen, you’re a hunter, you come to. Who knows what kind of beasts are in this jungle.”

“Alright,” Sanchen said almost excitedly, finally seeing a chance to be of use to the group.

“I’ll go to,” Nessa said.

“The rest of you stay here and watch over the boats,” Baran said, “If we need help we’ll call. If we’re not back in time, don’t go anywhere. Just stay there.”

So Baran, Bale and Nessa crept through the jungle away from the river to investigate the noise. Sanchen whispered hunting tips to Nessa as they went.

“Do not try to concentrate on too much,” he said, “Only focus on your senses. Step with your toes, so you wont make noise. Keep your ears open.”

The three of them silently moved through the jungle, turning towards any sound that they heard.

“Hold up!” Sanchen said softly as he held up a fist to the others. He signaled for them to find cover. Baran and Nessa hid in the tall grass around the trees. Sanchen crept around a thick trunk of one of the trees, watching and listening.

“Something’s out there,” he whispered to the others.

The other four sat around waiting for the three investigators return. And so they waited, and waited, until a number of hours had passed. They were growing impatient and worried.

“We should go look for them,” Keirian finally suggested.

“Baran told us not to,” Carson said, “He told us to stay with the boats.”

“I don’t know what we should do,” Tirius said slowly, “It is important that we don’t lose the boats. But Keirian is right. We have to go looking for them. They’ve been gone far too long.” He paused and thought for a minute. “Alright, this is what I think we should do. One person stay with the other ships, with someone else searching the surrounding areas, but staying within sight and earshot. The other two will go out deeper to search. Once we find them, come directly back here, and stay here.”

So they went forward with Tirius’ plan. Bale stayed back with the boats, while Carson went a ways ahead to search the perimeter. Tirius and Keirian went forward to find the other three.

Tirius and Keirian walked under the trees heading in the direction where they last saw their friends going in. Keirian found this forest much harder to walk in then his own forest at home. The ground was wild, with large, gnarly roots popping up before him, and tiny bogs and marshes hiding before his feet. Tirius found it hard to find a path. The trees were always bending down and crossing with each other, their branches jutting out in all directions. Wild, tall grass, which seemed to grow over a foot tall, covered the areas of ground where it could fit.

They kept trekking through the jungle for what seemed like hours. Keirian thought about seeing the Ti jungle on the maps back in Culilonia. It looked so small, even smaller them Kirkwood. But now that he was inside, it seemed strangely large, as though the depths of this jungle could not be measured by any map. He wondered what kind of people the ones who lived here were. What kind of history they had. Then he realized he was distracting himself and tried to focus on the search for his friends.

Carson paced back and forth, making himself a nice path. He looked back, still able to see Bale waiting at the boats. Then he thought he heard something away to his left. It sounded like twigs snapping, like someone walking. He crept over there silently, peering through the vines and branches blocking his view. Then before he knew it, he lost his footing and tumbled down a steep slope in front of him, which he didn’t even know was there.

Bale sat beside the boats getting bored. He felt like he was waiting for ages. He now wished he could go searching too, just so he could be on his feet doing something. But he knew he couldn’t leave the boats. So he waited, and waited, becoming more and more restless.

All of a sudden, Bale heard a yell. He wasn’t sure, but he thought that it sounded like Carson. He jumped up and quickly looked to see if he could see Carson anywhere, but all he saw was a jumble of green and brown. He quickly ran towards where he last saw Carson, but as he ran, he felt a cold thud on the back of his head. He immediately fell over, down into a bramble of grass and bush, and blacked out.

Tirius and Keirian made their way further and further into the maze of green. There was silence no longer. Bird calls filled the air, of all different pitches and rhythms. Tirius was starting to get far ahead of Keirian. Keirian tried to keep up, as gracefully and quietly as he could, but he found it very hard to move in this place. It had been hours now since they left the boats, and Keirian started to wonder what they were going to do now. It was becoming clear that they probably will not be able to find anyone in this matted jungle, and they themselves were in high danger of becoming lost, which they probably were already.

Keirian could soon hear a rushing sound, like the sound of a waterfall ahead of them. Just then Keirian heard something, something that wasn’t a waterfall or a bird call. It was a whisper.

“Keirian, over here.” It was Nessa. Keirian looked to his right and saw her calling him over to her hiding place under a couple large, flat leaves.

He quickly ducked down behind the trunk of the tree in front of her. If she was hiding, there was obviously a reason. He looked ahead and to his left, where he saw Tirius also crouching down. He crawled over to Nessa.

“What’s going on?” he whispered back.

“Shhh,” she hushed pointing ahead, “Look.”

He looked to where he was pointing and saw what they were hiding from. There was a great cat prowling through the jungle. It reminded Keirian of the Raincat of Tuzxan, only larger and with a slick black coat, and yellow eyes which Keirian could easily notice even from this distance. The cat was still about thirty feet from where they were, but it was making its way over towards them. It came about half way towards them, and them stopped suddenly and crouched down. Keirian could see the cat’s eyes making clear contact with his own. Keirian just hid lower and stared right back.

“Keirian!” Nessa softly exclaimed. Keirian shook off the stare and realized the cat was coming closer towards them somehow, although he looked as though he wasn’t moving at all. Then in a sudden movement the cat sprang and ran straight towards them. Keirian and Nessa bolted up to sprint off when Tirius jumped out from his spot with his sword brandished and tackled the cat as it leaped in the air.

Tirius quickly picked himself up off the ground and reached for his sword, which had fallen out of his hands. As he reached down to pick it up, the cat sprang at him. Just as the cat was again in midair, an arrow came out of no where and hit it in the neck. Keirian looked and saw Sanchen and Baran running out from the jungle in front of them. Baran quickly leaped on the cat and finished him off with a slash to the throat.

The five of them gathered around the body of the beast, catching their breath. “This guy has been tracking us for the last few hours,” Baran told Tirius and Keirian, “He wouldn’t let us find our way back to you. So we’ve been trying to hunt him down.”

“What time must it be? It’s hard to tell in this forest,” Nessa asked.

“It must be getting close to evening,” Tirius said, “We left Carson and Bale at the boats. We’d better find our way back before they come after us.”

“We will try, but to tell you the truth that may be easier said then done. It’s easy to lose yourself in this jungle. Honestly, we may not find our way back before this day is over.”

“Then we had better hope they stay in place,” said Tirius.

“Well, we should try our best to find our way back,” Nessa suggested, “Without attracting anymore strange creatures.”

So they headed back in the general direction Tirius and Keirian had just come from, hoping they were making as straight a line as they could figure back to the boats.

They marched through the thick foliage for a number of hours, until the sun was coming down and the light which managed to escape the cover of the trees was no longer there. The jungle took on a whole new look after nightfall, a whole new atmosphere. The bright green colours were replaced with blue and purple tints. A new set of wildlife sounds became to emerge. They soon came to a pool among the trees. They stopped to rest there.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to continue walking through the jungle during the night,” Tirius said, “We will almost certainly find ourselves further from our intended destination.”

“I agree with Tirius,” Baran said, “Let us hope that Bale and Carson wait for us through the night.”

“We left our packs with the boats,” Keirian mentioned, something no one had apparently realized yet, “We have no food, or our tents or even sheets.”

“Well, we will have to make do without,” Baran said, “We wont find the boats tonight, and I think we are all tired from running in the jungle all day.”

So they made their camp beside the pool and laid among the leaves and vines. They took turns on watch, just in case they met anymore cats or anything else before the morning came.

“Bale! Bale!” Carson called out as he searched the brambles frantically. He heard a strange noise above him and halted suddenly. He looked up into the trees. There he saw a small brown monkey swinging from the high branches of the trees. It made another sharp, screeching sound. It looked straight towards Carson for a couple of seconds, and then swung away out of sight.

Finally he found Bale unconscious on the ground, with bugs swarming all over him. Carson brushed off the bugs and shook Bale awake.

“What? What happened?” Bale asked groggily.

“I don’t know what happened to you,” Carson replied, “But the boats are gone.”

“What?!” Bale exclaimed, picking himself up off the ground.

“They’re not there. Neither are our packs. And the others haven’t returned.”

“What happened to you?”

“I fell down a slope,” Carson explained, “I ended up getting myself quite lost. But I found my way back to the river, and just followed it down.”

“Well, we have to find out what happened.”

They got out of the bushes and made their way back to the place where they left the boats, and just as Carson had said they were gone. The marks from the bottom of the boats were still left in the mud on the river bank.

“What on earth do we do now?” Carson said, feeling defeated.

At that moment they heard rustling in the trees around them. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by men in strange clothing. They wore leather dressings around their wastes, with leather bands around their chest, and war paint on their faces. They all held long spears out towards the two travelers. Yet these were not ordinary spears. They were richly carved and had complex handle close to their base. The spearheads were sharp and smooth. And now they were pointed squarely at Bale and Carson.

One of the men came forward and spoke to them in broken words. “Who are you? Where you come from?”

“Um,” Carson tried to spit out the words, “I am Carson, from Culilonia.”

“And I am Bale, from Exeteri. We come in peace, we mean no harm.”

Then the men began talking to each other in a different language. “You must come with us. We go now.”

“Wait, where are our boats?” Bale shouted out.

“Come now. We show you.”

Keirian woke up beside the pool the next morning. He saw that Nessa was already awake as well. She was staring up into the trees.

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“Monkeys,” she said, “I have heard about them before, but I thought they became lost years ago.”

Keirian looked into the trees and saw small, brown monkeys swinging in the high branches. Then he looked lower and jumped back. There on the lowest branch of the tree in front of him was a large snake winding its way around.

“Don’t worry,” Nessa said, “It will leave us alone. There have been a few around our camp already this morning.”

Eventually the other three were awake as well.

“Well, we have to make it back to the boats as quickly as possible,” Baran stated the obvious.

“The problem is that we don’t know which direction to go,” Tirius reminded them.

The Sanchen got an idea. “How long ago did the sun rise?” he asked.

“I saw light through the trees about two hours ago, why?” said Nessa.

“Wait here.” The Sanchen swung up onto the branch of the tree nearest to him and began climbing up. Keirian was reminded of the time when Sanchen climbed the Spearshaft, and ended up falling half way down. Yet he was doing much better now.

After a few minutes Sanchen came back down again. “The sun is in that direction, so that is the way we should go, if we want to go east to the river.”

So the five of them continued on their way, now knowing the direction they needed to go. Once they would find the river, they could follow it back up to where the boats were. Keirian began to feel very hungry, yet there was nothing he could do about it until they found their packs.

After a few hours they could finally hear the noise of the river. Yet as they approached it, they heard voices which they didn‘t recognize, voices in another language. All of a sudden they were surrounded by the men of the jungle, holding out their spears, just as they did to Carson and Bale. The men marched them forward towards the river. When they got there they saw other men who had Carson and Bale in their custody.

“Well, at least we found you,” Keirian said to Carson.

“Yeah, but we still haven’t found the boats or packs,” Carson replied. Keirian’s heart, and stomach, sunk when he heard this.

Baran then approached the jungle men. “We come in peace. We bring word from the cities of the north and wish to speak with your leader.”

“Yes,” the leader of the group answered him, “You will meet him. He wishes to meet all strangers who come to our land.”

They were then marched down the river south, the same direction they were originally headed when they entered Ti. A little ways down they came to a comfortable sight: their boats. There were the three boats being held by more men of the jungle, along with two of their own, which were much different looking, looking much wider and flatter and made of the trees and vines from the jungle. Then men also seemed to hold another prisoner, a girl about Keirian’s age with long, black hair, wearing black jungle garments. They had her hands tied behind her.

“Who is she?” Keirian mumbled, with the leader overhearing him.

“She is who stole your boats,” he answered him, “A well-known thief to us.”

She just stared at them as the guards brought them closer.

“So she stole our boats?” Bale said.

“How is your head?” she asked with a sly grin. He just frowned. The guards rebuked her in their own language. She yelled back and tried to struggle free. They restrained her again.

“Bring her on the boats!” the leader ordered.

The men followed the orders.

“What’s her name?” Bale asked, rubbing the back of his head, “She did have quite the punch.”

“Kai-Thalia her name” the guard said, “Trouble. But not important. We must take you to chief now. He will decide what to do with you.”

The men then escorted them in the boats and set sail back down the river.

They spent the rest of the day sailing down the river, yet the jungle men did all of the work. They didn’t let the seven of them do anything but sit there. Yet Keirian didn’t mind somehow. He enjoyed the river ride, watching the thick jungle pass by him. He tried not to worry about what would happen when they came to the city. They were trying to make it to the city anyways, and would sooner or later be in this position. He just hoped their chief would be more accommodating and open to them. Yet after thinking over all of this, his stomach reminded him of more pressing matters: food.

“Um, look, guys? I know that we are prisoners at the moment and everything, but I see that our packs are also here, and , well, we could all really use some food,“ he finally asked.

The leader of the men just stared at him, then nodded to the other men. The men searched through their bags and handed them some food, which they had gone without for about an entire day now.

As they silently passed through the water, Sanchen looked down and saw something moving along the side of the boats. He leered over the edge to see more clearly what it was.

“Don’t touch water!” the guard on his boat warned him. Sanchen paused for a while and then continued to look anyways. Bubbles and ripples showed the path of the thing that was moving in the river. It was following the line of Sanchen’s boat. Sanchen stared straight down, trying to see past the murky surface.

Suddenly out of the water a long, slippery arm-like thing shot out of the water and wrapped itself tightly around Sanchen’s wrist. Sanchen called out in surprise and wriggled is wrist to quickly free itself.

“River snake!” Kai-Thalia called out with a smile, looking like she was enjoying this.

The snake now brought its upper half out of the water and sprung at Sanchen again. The guard quickly got up, shaking the boat, and jabbed at the snake with his spear while Sanchen tried to fend off the snake with his fists. The others leaned over their boats and shouted at the snake. Finally the guard managed to hit a good stab into the neck of the snake. It threw its head back and slunk back into the water. Sanchen leaned back into the boat, trying to catch his breath.

“Don’t touch water,” the guard said again.

The boats continued on until evening came through the trees. Then Keirian and the others thought they could see something ahead, like a dim green glimmer in the growing dark. They peered forward and finally saw Vanajumbo, the city of Ti jungle.

Suddenly, out of all the thick and straggly jungle around them, emerged this wonderful city, sitting on the western bank of the river. It seemed to glow in the twilight, sitting silently, engulfed by the dark trees around it. Keirian thought it looked very surreal, like a city out of a dream. The towers went to the top of the trees, with many hut houses around it. There were lamps hanging in the streets, which gave the city its glow. It was one of the greatest sights Keirian had seen.

The pulled the boats into a small harbour which branched out from the side of the river and pulled up to a series of wooden docks. The jungle guards tied the boats up, and led the travelers into the city.

They looked in awe at Vanajumbo. It was a city which was very much a part of the jungle itself. The trees still managed to find there way in between some of the buildings. The streets were lined with what seemed to be some kind of glistening clay rock. The houses were all made of the wood from the forest, with the green leaves used on the roofs. The taller buildings were painted green in colour, to blend in with its surroundings. The stairs of these buildings were on the outside, winding around them in a spiral. As they were escorted through the streets, many of the local people stared at them intently as they passed by. They came to a large, round dome-shaped building in the center of the city.

“Here is Chief’s house,” the leader announced, “You will wait out here.”

The leader went into the domed hut while they waited outside with the other guards. As they waited, a crowed started to gather in the streets. The people of the city were very interested to find out who these strangers are, as they didn’t have strangers very often. The crowd became very large indeed, and a sound of many whispers hung over the streets.

Keirian and the others felt very exposed. Baran, Tirius, Bale and Nessa were used to being in the public eye, but the other three were uncomfortable with it still. Finally the leader of the guard came back out, with another man Keirian assumed to be the chief.

“Why have you come into this jungle without our leave? Speak, for I am Uganday, the chief of Vanajumbo,” the man asked, speaking the common language much clearer than the guards did. He was a strong-looking man, yet wise as well. He had more elaborate clothing than the others, and had a very strong presence.

“We came to seek your leave,” Baran spoke politely, “Yet we did not have the chance to receive it yet.”

“And what makes you think we would have given it to you?” he questioned, “We are a private people, and we wish to know the purpose of those outsiders who enter our land.”

“We wished to tell you our purpose, yet first we had to find you,” Baran answered him.

“Those who enter our jungle without our consent usually end up not leaving the jungle again,” said the chief, who was now sounding more threatening and unwilling to co-operate with them.

“You claim this is your jungle?” Tirius now spoke up, “Yet I know more about your people then you may believe. The name Vanajumbo itself means Visitors of the Jungle. Isn’t it so that the people of Vanajumbo do not claim the jungle itself?”

“The chief now looked at Tirius, annoyed. “Yes, it is true that we do not claim the jungle as our own. We are but passing guests in what is sure to be the long life of the forest itself. But we do consider ourselves the protectors of the jungle. We consider it our duty to save it from strangers who do not understand the fragility of it.”

“We do not come as a threat,” Tirius defended them, “Indeed we come only as visitors as well.”

“Jaron my trusty guard here tells me different. He says you were prodding deep into the forest, and that they found a body of one of our sacred Rathas, our prowler cats.”

“That was in self defense!” Sanchen cried.

“Perhaps, yet I do not wish to judge tonight. Lock them up! We will deal with them tomorrow,” he ordered.

Jaron and the other guards took the travelers again and marched them away from Uganday’s house and from the large crowd in the street.

They were taken to the southern side of the city to a building with only three walls, and otherwise looking outside where a group of other guards were gathered. They were taken inside where they saw a number of large cages made with wooden bars. They were thrown into the pens, three in one and four in another. Across the room in another cage they saw the thief Kai-Thalia, who just stared at them.

“Welcome to the jungle,” she said as she smiled, then turned away.

They sat there in silence resting above the doors. They had found Vanajumbo. The second hidden city. But now they were trapped, imprisoned in the middle of the jungle.