Chapter 1

A Soaker

The merry finch trilled softly as it flitted between the branches of pines that were covered in limp moss the color of ash. It paused each time it alighted, peering around as a bobcat might survey a field before moving into it. The bird gave an excited chirp as the soft steps of feet came to its ears. Seeing the two animals break out of the forest floor beneath it, it gave one call of alarm before flying as fast as it could towards a bramble patch.

Joe watched the bird wing away, its brown feathers and plump body easily disappearing into the woody branches behind it. Grinning, he nudged his companion.

“Hey Sal, take a look over there. I think I just saw a finch!”

Sally turned her head and squinted in the direction he was pointing. After a moment she dropped her hand and shrugged.

“I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it, Joe.” She told him. He laughed.

“Of course not, it was flying away. Poor little devil was frightened of us.”

Sally rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the trail with a slight sniff, although Joe thought he could see the slight smile as she turned away. He felt his amusement grow, she was starting to warm up to him a lot more, he thought. It was a big improvement from the time they first met. Of course, falling into her lap was not quite the way he had meant to meet someone. He had always imagined meeting a girl while he was doing something cool, like doing a perfect figure eight, or zipping down the mountain at breakneck speed on his board. Even swimming would have been neat; but instead he cut the fool and lost his grip during his first white-water raft trip and ended up head-butting her in the stomach with his helmet. Thank God her life-vest had absorbed much of the impact…

Joe was startled out of his reverie by Sally’s excited grab of his arm. He turned to see what had excited her and saw a pair of American Timber Wolves running across a field ahead of them.

He felt his heart start hammering in excitement. He had to get this on film! He unslung his pack and grabbed his camera from the main pocket. He quickly put it up to his face. The wolves were still moving across the field, he hadn’t lost them! Adjusting the distance, he half-pressed the trigger and waited impatiently for the camera to focus. When the picture cleared, he hit the button rapidly, following the racing wolves until they vanished on the far side of the clearing.

Lowering the camera, he saw Sally grinning broadly, her eyes alight with excitement.

“That was amazing!” she gushed. Joe couldn’t help but agree.

They pressed on along the trail, determined to make it to the end of the trail. Joe cast a worried eye at the dark clouds that were gathering swiftly in the sky. He knew that being caught in the rain would be an absolutely miserable experience.

“Come on,” he urged. “We need to get to the end of the trail and back to the car before that storm gets here.” Sally looked worried.

“It wasn’t supposed to rain.” She complained. Joe barked a laugh.

“I’ve heard,” he said expansively as they picked up their pace. “I’ve heard, that if a weatherman is right a quarter of the time, the ban him from the Lucky Mary!”

Sally gave a short grunt, and rolled her eyes at him. Joe shrugged and gave an apologetic grin back. It was a lame joke he knew, but it was the best one he could come up with on the run.

Despite their efforts, they had only gone a short distance before the rain started to hammer down. Their clothes were soaked through in seconds, and Joe bitterly cursed the fact that he had believed the weather report and had left his rain jacket in the car.

The hard-packed dirt of the trail allowed water to run around his boots, and Joe could feel it slowly start to soak through his boots. His cloths were plastered to his skin, and he could feel cold water running down his back between his pack.

Joe felt a nudge on his arm. Looking at Sally, he saw she was pointing at something on their left. It was a cave mouth, with water falling down across the front in a silver curtain. It was perhaps the most beautiful sight he could remember seeing in his life.

It was with a sense of relief that they stepped past the rocky threshold and ventured inside. The air of the cave was slightly damp, but the rocks inside were dry, and they had a roof over their heads, so he certainly wasn’t going to complain!

Sally giggled and something along the same lines.

“Any port in the storm.” Joe quipped. “Or in this case, a totally awesome cave.”

“Yeah, but…” Sally hesitated, frowning. “I don’t remember their being any mention of the cave on their maps. You’d think a cave like this would be one of their primary features.”

Joe frowned slightly uneasy. “Perhaps we the cave was discovered recently and they hadn’t had time to update their site?” he offered lamely. As soon as he said it, he wished he could pull the words back. Could I have said a dumber thing? A dozen possibilities flashed through his mind. Okay, he conceded. There were plenty. Sally gave him an exasperated look, and he held up his hands apologetically.

She apparently decided not to make an issue of it, for she turned away from him and sat shivering in her wet clothes. Joe briefly thought about building a fire in the cave to warm them and dry their stuff, but realized that the rain would have soaked everything out there leaving it to wet to catch fire easily. Besides, he was sure the rain wouldn’t last all that long and they could leave soon and be back to the car in about an hour.

Joe was about to open his mouth and tell her of this, when a soft sound like the high- pitched blowing of wind over a bottle mouth came from behind them. Joe froze, unsure about whether or not his imagination was playing tricks on him, when the sound came again.

Joe turned to Sally, wondering if she had heard the sound as well. Her turned head, and the language of her body that suggested she was straining to hear, told him all he needed to know. They waited a few more seconds in a tense silence, waiting to hear the call again.

After a period of silence that stretched their nerves taut, Sally spoke.

“Who do you think that was?” she whispered. Joe had no answer, but made a guess.

“Probably someone who came in out of the rain like us, but went farther in and got hurt.” He whispered back. In the dark, he couldn’t see her eyes, but thought that they were probably looking at him.

“Are you sure?” she asked. Joe felt a rise of irritation. Of course he wasn’t sure! He wouldn’t know until he got up and looked, but right now he wasn’t sure that was even the best move he could make anyway. The reasons he shouldn’t, such as getting lost or hurt himself, were forefront in his mind. Still, it wasn’t in him to leave someone hurt or injured without help.

Shrugging off his pack, he set it down and whispered for Sally to stay here. Putting his hand out to warn him if he was going to hit something, he groped like a blind man towards the back of the cave.

A hand grabbing his arm made him nearly jump out of his skin. He about swung in fright until he realized it was Sally.

“Don’t do that!” he gasped, his heart in his throat. What he had thought…!

“Sorry, sorry!” she whispered frantically. “I hadn’t meant to scare you! I just didn’t want to be left alone!”

Joe willed his pulse to return to normal. It didn’t seem to want to listen to him at all. Taking what he could get, he squeezed Sally’s hand, not trusting himself to speak. Together they went further into the cave.

Light all but vanished the further back they went, until it was only a dim point behind them, and barely visible in the gloom. There was no other reference to tell how far they had come, but Joe didn’t think it could have been further than a half-a-mile. He began to think that they weren’t anywhere to coming to finding the person who was hurt.

He was starting to think about turning back when the cave floor suddenly sloped away steeply, and he found himself stumbling and running towards the bottom. Sally was rushing beside him; apparently too busy trying to keep her feet to even think of screaming.

Joe didn’t see the rock that tripped him in the dark. All he knew was that one moment he was rushing downslope on his feet, and the next moment he was sliding down headfirst, and praying that he didn’t break his fool neck.

Fortunately, the slide remained free of obstructions, and they landed at the bottom in a heap with only minor bruises.

Joe waited until the pain in his body faded to a dull ache before stirring. He tenderly tested his arms and legs, groaning as pains shot up his body. He was relieved to find that nothing was broken; and, growing bolder, he began to move a bit faster. He pushed himself up onto his feet, feeling only a momentary dizziness that quickly passed.

Joe looked down at his feet, and saw the shadowy shape of Sally stretched out along the ground. With a pained cry, he reached down and gently touched her shoulder, terrified that she had been badly hurt.

At the touch of his hand, however, Sally rolled over and groaned. Her eyes popped open and her gaze focused on him.

“That bloody hurt.”

Joe laughed softly. “Agreed.” He glanced up, and frowned.

This cave was dark when we rolled down, but now I can see Sally. We must be near an entrance or something. If we’re close, we can walk out and find some help. I hope whoever was in trouble back there is able hold on until we can call for someone!”

Once again, he cursed the fact he left his phone in his car. He had wanted to completely get away from it all. Now, when a cell phone would be most useful, he didn’t have it!

Pushing the thought aside, he gave Sally a hand up off the floor. Once he was sure both of them could walk, he led their way through the cave, sliding their feet more than actually lifting them, trying to feel any obstruction or change in the flooring before it hit. They only did that for a short distance however, as the light grew steadily brighter, and they could see more and more details. Eventually, Joe didn’t bother sliding his foot at all and walked normally, he could see the entrance of the cave ahead, slightly overgrown with what appeared to be thick tree roots. There were gaps between them just big enough for them to wiggle through, he thought. Any chance to get out of there was better than none!

When they came up to the tree, he turned sideways and pushed his way between two big roots. The finer corms that grew out of them seemed to grasp at his shirt, like the tree was trying to hold him back.

Joe shook the irrational thought out of his head and stepped through. He emerged none the worse for wear and with only slight dirt stains on his shirt. Brushing the excess off, he finally straightened and got a good look at where he was.

Giant trees stood in front of him, easily the largest he had ever seen. They seemed bigger around than the sequoias and taller than redwoods. The ground at their base was carpeted by dense ferns that grew in their shadow, and even taller horsetails that curved above them. Behind him a short hill had eroded into a cliff upon which an enormous tree perched.

The size of this tree boggled imagination, it was as if a mountain had turned brown and grown leaves. Joe could not even see the top of the tree; he could barely see the top of the bottom branches!

A short rustling, and Sally came up came beside him, her eyes wide. She looked at the tree that stood above the cave, and craned her head.

“What is this place?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” Joe whispered back. He didn’t dare raise his voice. The still air and somber colors made the glade seem the inside of a church. It wouldn’t be right, he thought, to disturb it.

They eased downslope a little, Sally’s hand clenched around his. Joe hoped that he would be able to find the trail, or perhaps at least the road where they could flag down some help. The trunks of the trees soon closed behind them and he lost sight of the glade and its scion, and were surrounded by brown and green.

Joe kept a close eye on his surroundings; but even so, he was soon hopelessly lost. He found comfort in the fact that he was going in a fairly straight line. To go back, all he had to do was retrace his steps.

The trees thinned dramatically, so that in a few steps he went from dense forest to an almost open area that allowed sunlight to stream through the canopy.  At the foot of the trees, in a circle of grass there was a small, clear pool.

Joe found himself suddenly very parched. What harm could come from a small drink? Various reasons flashed through his mind, from parasites to disease, and he hesitated. The proper thing, he knew, was to boil the water. But he did not have a way to start the fire or hold the water. Perhaps if he…

Sally answered the question for him pushing forward to the pool. Before he could stop her, she had knelt to the ground and scooped a handful of water, drinking thirstily.

“Oh, that’s good.” Sally groaned contentedly. She eagerly scooped another mouthful of water.

That decided the matter. Joe eagerly went to one knee next to her and began drinking the water. It tasted cool and sweet against his tongue, like it had sugar added to it. Joe found himself drinking as much as he could; eventually abandoning his hand and shoving his face into the water.

When his thirst was finally quenched, Joe rolled onto his back on the grassy bank. His body felt slightly heavy after drinking so much, and he felt like cursing his inability to control himself. He shouldn’t have had so much water. Especially since he didn’t know what was in it, and he hadn’t boiled it. With the water being so clear like that, it was probably fine, he reasoned. I’m just trying to scare myself. Joe got a grip on his wild imagination. Nothing was going to happen. They’ll get to a road, and check in at the hospital if they feel sick. They’ll be fine. First they had to get there though.

“Come on Sal, we need to find a road and h…help…that…v…voi―”

Joe’s speech softened and his vision blurred. He stumbled and put one hand out to brace himself. He spat the taste of dirt out of his mouth. I fell. The thought drifted vaguely across his tortured synapses. His body felt as if it were being stabbed with a thousand sharp knives, and his stomach threatened to expel his breakfast.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was an incredible itching sensation on his skin, as if he had been rolling in stinging nettle, before blacking out.