“There it is.” Rildie’s voice seemed to echo in the large silence.
“Where’s what?” Rienna asked, looking around. They had been following the river, which had turned out to be really a small stream, for about half an hour. Rienna had refilled her water canister and gotten the chance to clean the cut she had gotten from the stone. She had been surprised to discover that all that remained of the cut was dried blood and a raw area; it had looked more like she had scraped herself than cut herself. Still, Rildie had insisted on re-wrapping the bandage.
“Efendaet,” the girl said simply, answering Rienna’s question. She pointed to the south-east and when Rienna squinted, she could just barely see a splotch of green behind a hill.
“A forest? We’re going to a forest?” Rienna asked worriedly.
“It’s a jungle,” Rildie said. “And yes, that is where we’re going. It is where we live.”
A jungle?! Aren’t jungles pretty dangerous? She tried to remember what she had been taught about the jungles of old. In school she had been taught that jungles were more diverse than your average forest and belonged in more tropical climates. She also remembered stories of seven-meter snakes and poisonous frogs.
“Aren’t jungles found in warmer climates than here?” she finally decided to say.
“It used to be much bigger and closer to the equator. With time and an excess of magic, this continent has shifted closer to the North Pole. Måren Muril’s magic has kept it preserved throughout all these years,” Rildie explained. Rienna was again amazed by how educated this small child seemed to be. She couldn’t imagine herself knowing this much when she was younger, even if her learning hadn’t already been limited by Sovereign Jenni.
Something suddenly occurred to Rienna, “Did you say ‘we live?’ You live in a jungle?!” She couldn’t believe that she had thought Rildie must be related to royalty when she was at the care center.
“Yes. Måren protects us from the dangers of the jungle. It is safe where we live,” Rildie said.
“Wait- more people than just you live in the jungle?!”
Rildie looked over at Rienna and gave her a confused look. “Yes. There is an entire society in the jungle.”
Rienna couldn’t tell whether she was joking. She stared at her, waiting to see if she would offer any more information. Instead, Rildie continued walking down the slope of the mountain.
Rienna just followed after her silently, not knowing what else to say.
Finally, after another hour and a lot of precarious climbing, they reached the edge of the jungle. Ferns and other undergrowth filled in the already small gaps between trees, vines hung overhead, and branches intertwined between the remaining gaps. Flowers expressed all colors of the rainbow, and leaves and ferns showed off every shade of green. It was both beautiful and daunting.
“We’re going in there?” Rienna asked. She could see no entrance and no way to travel through the dense jungle.
“Yup!” Rildie said cheerfully. “Find a way to carry your cats, then follow me.”
“Uh…” Rienna looked down at her cats. How am I supposed to carry both of them?
Xia mewed, and her son translated, “Mom can sit in your backpack. She makes herself lighter if you keep the bag open. I’ll sit on your shoulder.”
Rienna took off her backpack and opened it. “Okay. I’ll close the bag a little bit so the food can’t fall out, but don’t worry: I’ll make sure you can stick your head out.” She let Xia jump into the bag and get comfortable before closing the bag halfway. Then she held out her arm so Xio could climb it.
Xio quickly jumped on and secured his claws in her clothes. “For the record, I still think you’re being reckless,” he said for what Rienna felt was the five-hundredth time.
“We’ll be fine,” Rienna said with more confidence than she felt, slowly standing up to make sure Xio or Xia didn’t fall. “We’ll meet with Rildie’s mentor, then head to the Four Towns. It’s fine.” Xio didn’t respond, so Rienna nodded for Rildie to continue.
“Follow me carefully. There’s only a very specific way through the jungle,” Rildie said. She then turned and approached the jungle. She ducked beneath a tall fern and disappeared from sight.
Rienna quickly followed behind her, barely avoiding hitting the fern. It was so dark on the forest floor that she had to squint to see Rildie. Why did she have to wear a black hood? I can hardly see her. Slowly, she followed her through the jungle, carefully avoiding trees, vines, and fallen branches. Whenever Rildie notably stepped around a plant or vine, Rienna made sure to do the same. It was difficult and hot. It was way hotter than it should’ve been. Just outside the jungle, it had been a little chilly; now it was humid, and the air was thick and stifling. There were bugs, too. She couldn’t see them, but their constant buzzing bore into her mind.
The jungle really was beautiful, though. Red, orange, and yellow colored flowers that were the size of Xia grew at Rienna’s eye level. Vines as thick as a person’s arm decorated the tree trunks. Thin and skinny trees with white flowers grew alongside more than thirty meter tall trees with trunks that were at least two meters in width. Even the fallen trees were embellished with mushrooms as big as plates and green moss that was fluffy and gently tipped with yellow. Along with sweet bird chirps that occasionally echoed through the jungle as though amplified by the trees, it all was almost worth the humidity and incessant buzzing.
Rienna was just thinking about how it was strange that she hadn’t seen any animals yet when a giant black and orange snake’s head swung down in front of her path and hissed at her. She screamed and jumped back, feeling Xio digging his claws into her neck to stay on her shoulder while she panicked.
“Don’t worry,” Rildie said. “It’s just a Tiger’s Stripes Lizard.”
“That is not a lizard,” Rienna pointed out, making sure to keep her distance.
The snake’s tongue flicked in and out.
“It’s both a snake and a lizard,” Rildie said. She approached the snake and held out her arm to it. Rienna watched in amazed terror as the snake slowly slithered up Rildie’s arm and around her shoulders until it rested across both of her arms, and its head was resting at her hand. “Tiger’s Lizards are friendly and not very venomous. If they do decide to bite a person, the most pain the person will suffer will be from the bite itself, not the venom.”
“Why is it called a lizard, though?” Rienna asked. Despite Rildie’s obvious calm, she refused to get near the snake. Especially since it appeared to be long enough and strong enough to choke someone.
Rildie slowly moved her hand so that Rienna could easily see the front of the snake. “Tiger’s Stripes Lizards have legs,” she said, gently holding one of the hands so Rienna could see. “In a sense, they are also like insects because they have six legs.”
Rienna braved getting closer to the snake and saw that there were indeed three sets of legs: one at the front, one in the middle, and one set at the back near the tail.
Rildie slowly stepped closer to Rienna. “Here, pet him. He’s not slimy like you might think.”
“Yeah… I’m alright,” Rienna said, taking an equal step backward.
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely.” There was no way in one thousand years that she would get close enough for a giant snake to bite her, no matter what Rildie or anyone else said.
“If you say so,” Rildie said, shrugging as much as she could with the snake wrapped around her shoulders. She held out her arm to a tree and made a clicking noise. The snake (or lizard) slowly slithered up the tree and around a branch, ending with its head and front legs hanging over
Rildie’s head and the rest of its body curled around the tree’s trunk and branch. Rildie smiled and patted it on the head. It closed its eyes and hissed softly.
Rienna thought that it probably meant that the snake creature was happy, but she still tensed and leaned as far away from it as possible. “How close are we to your town, or whatever.”
Rildie turned away from the snake and to Rienna. “Just about forty-five minutes,” she said. “Be careful now; we will soon be entering one of the most dangerous parts of the jungle.
“There’re worse things here other than giant brightly colored snakes?!” Rienna whisper-yelled, following Rildie as she began walking again.
“Lots of things are worse than snakes, Rienna, but we won’t encounter them if you follow me and stay quiet.”
Maybe Rildie was just trying to scare her, but Rienna refused to even whisper ‘okay’ after what she had just seen and heard.
It was harder for Rienna to notice all of the beauty in the jungle once she began looking towards every strange sound. Not to mention, her arms had started to itch from at least six bug bites, yet somehow, she never seemed to see a bug. One time, she had to stifle another scream when she saw what Rildie referred to as a ‘crazed-eye frog.’ It was the size of a small tangerine, but its body was completely black besides a splattering of bright yellow dots. The worst thing, though, was the large white ‘mask’ on its face that made it seem to have a giant yellow smile that spread far beyond each eye. However, Rildie assured her that the smile was fake and that its real mouth was below its mask.
As they traveled deeper into the jungle, the trees became taller, their leaves became darker and larger, and eventually, it seemed as though it was dusk. There had always been odd chortles and squawks from hidden birds, but now, in the growing darkness, it felt like they were being laughed at as they failed to find a way through the maze. Even the buzzing bugs seemed to dislike this place, slowly fading until all that remained of them were the bites on Rienna’s arms.
Rienna had to try harder than ever to follow the ‘path’ that Rildie followed. There were no longer obvious directions to take to get past trees, and the plants kept getting stranger and stranger; she no longer recognized flowers or ferns from studies at school, and almost all of them looked like they could be hiding venomous snakes or shadowy panthers.
In front of Rienna, Rildie slowed to a stop.
“What’s happening?” Rienna asked as Rildie looked around and into the trees slowly.
“Shhh, listen.”
Rienna snapped her mouth closed and looked around her. It was dark, so she couldn’t see much, and all she could smell was plants and earth, but when she listened closely, she didn’t hear a thing. There were no birds in the distance, no bugs, even the wind seemed to have disappeared; there was complete silence.
“Somethings wrong,” Rildie said. “There’s something here…”
“There’s always something here,” Rienna said, trying to reassure herself.
“Something dangerous,” Rildie continued.
Not helping! Rienna thought anxiously. What could cause the entire jungle to go silent? Every breath she took seemed to announce to the world where she was.
A twig snapped to their left. They both jumped back and looked into the bushes cautiously.
Leaves rustled as something moved, this time above their heads.
“Rienna?” Rildie whispered.
“Yes?”
“Hold onto Xio and get ready to run where I say.”
“Okay.” Rienna’s heart beat against her chest as she reached up, grabbed Xio, and secured him in her arms. She looked over her shoulder to Xia and whispered, “I’m going to close the bag, okay? It’s for your own safety.” Xia nodded, and Rienna carefully removed her bag from her back just enough so she could close it.
She glanced at Rildie, who was scanning the trees above them. “What do you think it is?”
“It could be many things…” Rildie said vaguely.
Not exactly reassuring… “If something… attacks us, what should we do?”
Rildie looked over at Rienna. Rienna could tell, even though her hood was up, that she was worried. “Hopefully, whatever it is doesn’t notice us… But if we do get attacked, follow me and try to hide.”
“What-” Rienna cut herself off when a slithering noise came from directly behind them.
They both turned around slowly. Something hissed from behind a tree. A tail flicked in and out of view so fast that Rienna couldn’t tell what kind of animal it belonged to.
She heard Rildie take a breath to say something, but all of a sudden, something jumped out towards them from behind the tree, and Rildie shoved her to the side instead.
Rienna gasped and angled herself so she could see their attacker. She couldn’t help but gasp again when she saw what it was. A dragon. They were being attacked by a dragon.
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