Close Encounters of the Magical Kind Page 23

  “None of us were looking right. What’s the result? The mountain moved us. Again.”

  “You’re suggesting that the mountain will change in whatever direction we’re not facing?”

  Sarah nodded, “Right.”

  “Then why didn’t the mountain change when we were going up?” Steve asked. “We must have all been looking up.”

  “Well, perhaps it could be any direction where someone isn’t looking,” Sarah suggested. “Maybe one of us was looking either left or right. Either way, this should be easy enough to verify.”

  “How?” Steve wanted to know.

  “We each look in different directions,” Loryss guessed. “We’ll pick a specific direction and agree to not look that way. If the mountain only changes in that direction then we’ll know.”

  Sarah looked gratefully down at Loryss and smiled.

  “Yes, that’s it exactly. I’ll look down. Steve, you look left. Loryss and Nyx, you look right. Hang on. Before we do this we should check the surroundings. Everyone look up. Do you see that indentation in the mountainside about three hundred feet up?”

  “It looks like a dragon could have collided with it,” Nyx decided.

  “Right. Let’s see if that depression on the mountainside is still there after this experiment. Alright, everyone. Are you ready? Look in the direction you’re supposed to look.”

  “Starting now?” Steve asked, turning to look left.

  “Yes,” Sarah said, looking down at him and the distant ground far below.

  “We’re looking east,” Loryss announced. “Now what? The mountain doesn’t appear to be reacting to anything.”

  “Start climbing up,” Steve decided. “That’ll get Usol’s attention. Let’s see what he does.”

  Both griffins began to climb. Less than ten seconds later they all felt the trembling begin anew. They gave it another thirty seconds before Sarah called for the griffins to stop. She looked up and gave a victorious shout.

  “Haha! I knew it! The mountaintop has changed. That depression is gone!”

  “So where are we now?” Steve cautiously asked. “I mean, this is the same mountain, but now where are we?”

  “Don’t you get it?” Sarah asked, exasperated. “The rest of the mountain is still the same, only the top part has changed. Do you know what this means?”

  “No,” Steve admitted. “Do you?”

  “Obviously. Assume this mountain is a complex Rubik’s cube. It can spin on multiple axes. We can –”

  “A Rubik’s cube?” Loryss repeated, puzzled. “I’m not familiar with that term.”

  “Umm, it’s a multi-layered puzzle from our world,” Sarah explained. “The challenge is to twist and turn it until all sides are whole again. I don’t think I’m doing a good job explaining it.”

  “Close enough,” Steve assured her. He gave Loryss a smug look. “I actually solved it.”

  “You took it apart and put it back together in the correct order,” Sarah corrected. “That doesn’t count. Now, back to the problem at hand. If we really want the ground to come back then we should be able to make that happen.”

  “How?” Nyx asked.

  “By looking in all directions but down,” Steve guessed, finally catching on. “Nice one, babe. Alrighty then, we’ll each face a direction other than down and we’ll stay that way until the bottom looks like what we remember when we first started this.”

  Sarah beamed her approval, “Exactly.”

  “Your plan is to work on each direction until what we seek lies above us once more,” Loryss deduced. “An excellent plan.”

  It took them longer than Sarah would have liked in order to put the mountain back in order. The waterfall was once more on their left. The outcropping they were angling for was directly above their heads and the river was once more flowing south was directly beneath them as it should be.

  The mountain trembled with rage. Small rocks shook themselves loose and rained down upon them, forming small welts whenever they made contact. Thankfully, they were hit with nothing larger than pea-sized gravel.

  Sarah had just rubbed a welt on the back of her head when Nyx slipped again. The young griffin scrambled to reestablish her footing, but in doing so, Sarah was torn loose. She heard her husband let out a shout of alarm but there was nothing he could do. Nyx helplessly watched Sarah slide off her back and begin to fall towards the many thousands of feet of open air below them.

  Sarah’s surprised brain had yet to focus on a safe zone, and before she could, she felt a sharp stinging sensation on her right shoulder. Something had collided with her, pushing her towards the mountain. It was Nyx, or more specifically, her tail. It was just enough of a boost to allow her to make contact with the mountainside.

  Sarah briefly wondered what the point was. She was falling and picking up speed. What we she supposed to be able to do? Stop her fall? It’s not like she had claws that could… But she did!

  Sarah immediately grasped at the mountain with two hands and ten claws. She felt her talons bite into the rock and knew it was going to work. After she had finally stopped her unplanned descent did she look up. What had felt like several hundred feet was only about two dozen. She saw that Steve was worriedly looking down at her.

  “Sarah! Are you okay?”

  Dangling by her fingertips, with no footholds to help ease the pressure off her rapidly tiring hands, Sarah violently shook her head. She felt the strength in her arms waning and muffled a curse. She looked up and gave her companions an imploring look.

  “Don’t just stand there! Help me! I won’t be able to hold on for much longer!”

  “Nyx, get down there,” Loryss snapped. “On the double!”

  Only when she was safely sitting on Nyx’s back once more could she relax. Sarah knew Steve was worried about her. As Nyx started to climb once more she noticed he and Loryss hadn’t moved, apparently waiting for the two of them to catch up. Once the two griffins were side by side, clinging to the vertical rock face, did she finally look at her husband. His look spoke volumes.

  “Are you okay?” Steve asked. “You scared the hell outta me.”

  “I scared the hell out of me,” Sarah said, nodding. “If it wasn’t for these new claws then I would have kept falling and would have had to teleport back to the ground. So, for that, I thank you, Usol.”

  “This tail has kept me from sliding off Loryss, too,” Steve added. “I will have to admit that it is coming in handy for this oh-so-wonderful trek up the mountain. So add me to his list of admirers.”

  “Well I’m not,” they all heard Thinian say from within her pocket. “I think I’m going to be ill.”

  Sarah extended a claw and poked at her jacket.

  “Don’t even think about it, Paco. If you make a mess in there then you’d better be prepared to clean it up. There’s no way I… oh!”

  “Hey!” Steve cried, in unison.

  “What is the matter?” Loryss asked, concerned. She twisted her head around to stare at her rider. “Are you well?”

  “It felt like someone just pinched my butt!” Steve complained, rubbing his rear. “And not in a good way. Hey, wait. My tail! It’s gone! Sarah! Did you hear that? My tail is gone!”

  Sarah looked down at her hands. Healthy pink skin met her gaze. Her fur was gone! So were her whiskers, her claws, and her mouth full of sharp teeth. Was this Usol’s way of pouting? Was he upset that one of his pools had been responsible for saving their necks?

  Sarah poked a finger into her pocket.

  “Thinian? Are you back to normal?”

  Thinian’s head briefly appeared. He was back to his customary Fae form. Thinian took one look at the ground far below him and hurriedly ducked back inside the pocket.

  “I don’t know how you humans do it,” the Fae muttered crossly. “How your species can live on a day-to-day basis without flying astounds me.”

  “Stop your complaining,” Sarah scolded. “You’re obviously back to your normal self. That’s all I wante
d to know.”

  “Looks like we’re all back to normal,” Steve said. “I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I’m sure not gonna complain.”

  “Didn’t you hear what we just said? We both said that we were grateful for our transformations. Your tail and my claws prevented each of us from taking a nasty spill. Usol must have heard us and reversed the effects of the Pool. And before you ask, no, I’m not complaining either.”

  Sarah rubbed a painful spasm in her lower back. While it was nice to be back to her normal human form, she would have to admit that she’d miss her claws. They had some serious potential. Then again, she wouldn’t have been able to return home until they had returned to their full human forms again. Clearly Usol was a being of great power. Why, then was he concerning himself with only trivial demonstrations of his power? Was their host refraining from using his full power only because of their proximity to the griffins? She could only guess Usol didn’t want to risk hurting the griffins during their climb. The humans on the other hand, were another matter.

  Just then, one of Sarah’s worst nightmares manifested. She let out a shriek and lurched forward to encompass Nyx in a death hold. At the same time she heard her husband let out a shout of dismay followed immediately afterward by a muffled curse. The mountain had disappeared! One minute they were clinging to the side of the mountain, making steady progress up, and the next it looked like she and Nyx were about to fall to their deaths. Her shocked brain finally summoned an image of the ground far below and held it there, at the ready. She summoned her jhorun and was about to command them to teleport her and Steve to the ground when... why weren’t they falling?

  “Where the hell did the damn mountain go?” Steve demanded.

  “What’s the problem?” Loryss asked. “Why are you humans panicking?”

  “The mountain is gone!” Steve exclaimed in a shaky voice. “It’s a damn good reason to panic! Come join us, will you??”

  “You cannot see the mountain?” Loryss asked, swiveling her head around to look at her rider. “Is this true?”

  “You mean you can?” Steve cautiously asked.

  Loryss’ head nodded, “Of course.”

  “Why the hell would he make the mountain disappear for only us?” Steve asked, looking up at Nyx and Sarah above his head.

  Sarah cracked an eye, looked down at the ground many thousands of feet below her, and swallowed nervously. The mountain was nowhere in sight. Unhindered, both Nyx and Loryss continued to climb. She sighed with relief. In another second or two she would have teleported the two of them back to the safety of the ground and ended their quest altogether. Actually, she was surprised she hadn’t teleported automatically as a reflex to being exposed to open air. Hmmm. It was almost as if…

  “This was a direct slap to my face,” Sarah announced, looking down at her husband. She quickly looked back up. A swirling sense of vertigo was threatening to overwhelm her. “This Usol character is really starting to get on my nerves. Steve, we can’t see the mountain because of me!”

  “Better ‘splain yerself, little lady,” Steve drawled, using his best John Wayne impersonation.

  “I’ve said a few times now that I’ve been ready to teleport the two of us off this mountain and back to solid ground, remember?”

  “Yeah. What about it?”

  “I think Usol heard me,” Sarah said, grimacing. “I think he’s trying to freak me out and get me to teleport the two of us out of here.”

  “Well, it didn’t work, did it?” Steve asked, giving her a smug grin.

  “It almost did,” Sarah argued. “If you only knew how close I was to getting us the heck out of here then you wouldn’t be smiling.”

  “But you know not to panic now, right?”

  “Steve, I can’t see the ground. I’m really hating this. But, do you know what? You’re right. I’m not panicking.” She raised her voice and shouted up at the clouds. “You’re not scaring us away! We’re still here!”

  The mountain suddenly reappeared. Spooked, Sarah turned to look down at her husband. Steve nervously cleared his throat.

  “I, uh, guess that confirms that Usol is real.”

  “I wonder what he’s planning for us next.” Sarah worriedly said.

  A rumbling noise sounded from the south. As one, two griffins and two humans turned to look left. A dark, ominous cloud was forming. Flashes of lightning lit the cloud from within as it continued to swell in size.

  “Oh, that can’t be good,” Sarah whispered. “Nyx, go! Keep your eyes directly up! I’ll look left while Loryss looks right. Steve, keep your eyes looking down. Let’s move! We need to get up there before that cloud hits!”

  The griffins doubled their efforts. Progress was slow, but steady. Sarah looked back at the approaching thunder clouds and knew they weren’t going to make it. The cloud was acting unnaturally, as if it was guided by an unknown hand. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who was behind it.

  The rain started first. Within moments everyone was completely drenched. Thankfully progress was still steady as the griffins continued to climb.

  “Well, I’m having the time of my life,” Sarah heard her husband grumble. “How about you, babe?”

  “I’m living the good life,” Sarah called down to him. “Nyx, Loryss, how are you holding up?”

  “I am fine,” Nyx reported.

  “As am I,” Loryss added. “Wet or dry, the climb makes no difference to me.”

  It was, Sarah recalled later, the wrong thing to say. The rain doubled in volume and hurricane force winds whipped into existence. The griffins were hammered from above as they continued to climb upwards. The progress slowed to nearly a crawl. Sarah, with her wet hair plastered to her face, turned to look up at the waterfall. The top was still at least two hundred feet away. The sun, unfortunately, was beginning to dip toward the horizon. They had perhaps half an hour of light left.

  “Steve! We need to hurry! We’re almost out of time!”

  “What exactly do you want me to do?” Steve shouted back at her. His voice was almost drowned out by the howling winds.

  “I don’t know! Do something! Anything!”

  Nyx paused as she slipped on the wet stone. Sarah wished again that her jhorun would work here. All she’d have to do is teleport the two of them to the top and this whole ordeal would be over.

  A brief burst of heat and light caught her attention. She quickly looked down at her husband. Steve had locked his ankles around Loryss’ abdomen once more and had his arms extended out as he had done before. Sarah nodded. Loryss must have lost her footing and Steve had compensated by blasting out jets of fire to push them back into position. He saw her watching him and grinned.

  “The cat’s out of the bag, right? Usol knows we’re here and wants us gone so I might as well. I figured at this point it couldn’t hurt.”

  Almost immediately the winds shifted directions, threatening to blast the fire jets back in their direction. She watched her husband snap both hands closed and extinguish his flames. She shook her head in amazement. Even in circumstances as dire as the situation they were presently in, her husband still had the tenacity to turn and scowl up at the sky, as if that would help in some fashion.

  “Would you please stop trying to anger Usol even further than he already is? Wait. Blast your flames to the right.”

  “What?” Steve shouted back.

  “To the right!” Sarah yelled at him. “Over there! North! Blast your fires that way!”

  Steve angled both arms north and blasted away. The winds shifted once more, immediately blowing from the south and threatening to envelop everyone in fire. Steve groaned.

  “This must be Usol’s way to counteract me helping Loryss staying on the mountain. Man, this dude isn’t fighting fair!”

  “No,” Sarah agreed, thinking quickly. She pointed down at the ground. “We might be able to use this to our advantage. Shoot down. Now!”

  Steve held both hands out, palms facing down. He b
lasted out twin jets. Two seconds later he had to extinguish the flames. The winds had changed direction for a third time. The powerful blasts of air were now pushing up at them from below, threatening to once more blast Steve’s flames back at their party. Sarah watched a grin quickly spread across her husband’s face.

  “Not bad, my dear. Not bad at all.”

  In the short time that the winds had been blowing from below, both griffins had managed to ascend several dozen feet, placing their goal within a hundred feet above their heads. She noticed Nyx had started to look left, over at Loryss, when she let out a yell, startling the griffin back into place.

  “Keep your eyes looking up, Nyx!” Sarah instructed. “You’re looking up, I’m looking right, Loryss is looking left, and Steve is looking down. We can’t forget that or else who knows whereabouts we’ll wind up on this mountain!”

  With Steve blasting out brief bursts of fire every ten seconds they were able to keep the winds blowing at them from below, thus enabling the griffins to ascend at a much faster pace than ever. Battered, soaked, and bedraggled, both griffins pulled themselves up the final few feet to stand triumphantly before the source of the waterfall. The winds died off and again the mountain trembled with rage. Ignoring Usol’s mounting anger, Steve whistled with amazement.

  “Where exactly is the water coming from?” Still astride Loryss, Steve leaned back to point up at the actual peak of the mountain, still about fifty feet above their heads. “You can’t tell me that this is coming from somewhere higher up. There’s no snow up there. It’s gotta come from somewhere!”

  “This mountain spins in place, becomes transparent on cue, has thunderstorms that appear out of nowhere and you’re worried about the source of the water?” Sarah asked, dumbfounded. “Forget about it. We’re here! Finally!”

  The four companions quietly stared at the smooth-as-glass water. Nyx appeared at Loryss’ side, allowing husband and wife to sit side-by-side. Sarah nudged Steve’s shoulder and pointed at the basin the water was in. The Pool appeared to be resting in a large rocky basin. To Sarah it looked as though two giant stone hands were cupped together. Water spilled from the ‘V’ formed by the fingers of each hand as it slanted towards the other, and fell to the ground far below in the form of a waterfall.