Chapter 6

Jane skipped a little to keep up with Will. “Wait up, please!” Will stopped.
“That hermit, he was great,” Will said, as the two once again made their way down the path.
Jane nodded.
“That drink he gave us was so good. Mmmmm…what I would give for a glass of it right now.” Will licked his lips. “He reminded me of someone I’ve seen before.”
“Who?” asked Jane.
Will frowned and scratched his head. “I can’t remember. I thought it was… But no, it couldn’t.”
Jane tried to get Will to explain what he meant, but he abruptly changed the subject. “So we are to continue walking along this path, and it should take us straight to the valley. That’s what the hermit said.”
“I don’t see any valley, do you, Will?”
“No.” Will stopped and pondered this for a moment. “Hmmm… Maybe if I climb a tree, we could spot it. Here, let me climb this one.”
Will pulled himself up into a pine tree, and disappeared among the branches. Jane watched him for a moment. “I want to climb one too!” she exclaimed. It really hadn’t been very long ago since she had climbed a tree, Jane thought as she hoisted herself onto a branch of an evergreen tree and looked for a good foothold. The satchel was slipping off her shoulder, so she sat down for a moment on another branch to adjust it. Will’s head appeared from the peak of the neighboring pine tree, and he surveyed the area all around them.
“See anything?” called Jane.
Will shook his head. He looked around again and then stopped. “I see it! It’s far down the path, five miles, maybe. It’s nestled right between those two mountains on the horizon.”
He climbed down, and they trotted down the path towards the valley. The thick mist had long since parted but the eerie silence continued. The wood was still and hushed.
The trees on either side of the path lessened gradually and were replaced by sea-green flowing grass. Finally the children were walking in the midst of a grassland. An hour passed, and the children stopped at a flowing brook to rest and eat the food the hermit had provided for them. Meanwhile, thunderclouds rolled ominously overhead.
After a good half-hour the children continued their hike down the gently sloping grassland into the valley. The grasses around them shimmered like the waters of a vast ocean while the dusty path the children followed left a brown scar in the stretching fields of grass.
Will and pointed ahead. “Look, the valley is straight ahead, between those two mountains far off on the edge of the horizon.”
“Yes.”
“We should be there in about an hour, maybe.”
They walked along for a half hour, talking pleasantly when suddenly Jane swung around. “I heard something!”
“What?”
“A horse! I know I heard a horse neigh far in the distance.”
Will stopped in his tracks. He had heard the sound too. Suddenly, he grabbed Jane by the arm and they sprinted down the path towards the valley.
Three dark specks appeared far off on the trail behind Jane and Will. Jane didn’t dare look back and gasped for breath. Will panted encouragement every few seconds when he was able.
The children were growing weary; their strength dwindled, their legs ached, they panted for breath like deer before hunters.
The horsemen were galloping at full speed, nearly a mile behind them. They were gaining quickly. Blancshoyc’s granite-chiseled face wore a cruel grin. “The Book!” He cried, “The Book, men!”
The red rider, Marshivoc, waved his sword in the air, licking his blood-red lips as if already tasting victory. He let forth a blood-curdling war whoop and leaned over his saddle, his red-specked eyes glinting.
The skeletal rider, too ghastly to even imagine, grinned his toothless smile, as his steed screamed once more, galloping along the path.
Jane, reeling, pointed ahead to Will. “The city! I see a city in the valley!”
They were now running up a small incline leading to the gates of the city, the horsemen a half mile behind.
Will licked his dry lips as the two stumbled up to the gates.
The muscular guards shouted and opened the gates to let the children pass through the city entrance into the main avenue. The gates quickly swung shut behind them.
Jane and Will, shaking with fatigue, gazed around the city. They saw that they had entered a large area with peddler carts and wooden tables laden with fruit, bread, cheese, and other merchandise.
The inhabitants of the City hurried about the marketplace, selling their wares. The uproar was deafening. Jane turned to Will and yelled through the turmoil, “Where can we go? Where can we hide?”
Will swallowed. “I don’t know.” His head rang.
“Here! Here!”
Turning around, Will saw a tall willowy girl run towards them. Her long blonde hair fell to her waist and her eyes were as blue as cornflowers.
The girl stopped a few steps away from the two children. “Hello! I am Andrija, granddaughter of the hermit of the Northern Woods. I just now received a message from him describing you so that I could meet up with you. It did surprise me to see you here.”
Will gestured at the gates. “The h-horsemen are after us. W-where can we go?”
The girl opened her mouth in surprise. “They are here? In the city? But…oh! You are right! I see them coming in the gates at this moment! Hurry, after me!”
Jane and Will followed the strange girl, running through the city streets, leaping up stone steps, and dodging people.
Andrija led them past the marketplace and into a residential area with two-storied houses lining both sides of the street. Jane clutched her side and gasped. They turned down an alley and found themselves on another winding street.
Andrija directed them to a small house on the right, and they burst through the door. They dashed through the abandoned living room and followed Andrija down a dim hall. She abruptly stopped and pointed at the rug beneath their feet. Will understood her gesture and peeled up the rug. Where the rug had been, a trap door lay. Will helped Jane pull it up and Andrija climbed down a wooden ladder into the inky blackness that lay beyond.