Chapter 1 - Dangerous Beginning

The first chapter in the second book of the series.

Chapter 1 - Dangerous Beginning

  Daylight had just broken through my bedroom window and I knew it was time to go. I wanted the whole day to make this work in case things didn’t quite go as planned. My backpack was already filled with everything I could think of. I had even included things which probably wouldn’t be needed in a million years. Yet I remembered gramps always telling me it was much better to have something and not need it rather than need something and not have it. After reading the journal, I had included things like strings with washers attached, a small can of oil, lighter fluid, and even a small tub of grease. Of course I brought small bags filled with creme drops and gumdrops too. Gramps had gotten me hooked on them a long time ago.
  Pressing my backpack tightly to my chest I quietly made my way down the stairs one slow step at a time. Reaching the bottom landing I quickly slipped out into the kitchen. I knew if I were going to do this, someone else should know and that someone had to be grams. I decided it was probably best just to leave a note though. Otherwise she would have tried talking me out of this. Stepping into the kitchen I noticed a large note with my name on it taped to the refrigerator door. I opened it up and began reading.
  Richard:
   I know you’ll be the first to find this. I’ve decided if I’m going to do this then someone else should know. Of course it has to be you. Only you would really understand. I’ve left to find gramps. I’m certain now he needs my help, otherwise he would have been home by now. I have no choice but to go find him. I’ve left at first light so I have the whole day to reach the other side. With luck we’ll be home before you even know we were gone.
         Love Grams
  My eyes suddenly opened wide in surprise. Nervous thoughts slowly began to creep in. What if something were to happen to them both, I thought, and neither could make it back.
  Turning to leave I rubbed the tear from my eye and said in a whisper, “Not if I can help it.” Slipping my backpack on as I rushed out the door I bolted straight down the road to catch up with grams. If she had left at first light she was only a few minutes ahead of me at best. I couldn’t begin to remember the last time I had run this fast with a fully loaded backpack.
  Bouncing steadily up and down as I ran my backpack began taking its toll. The shoulder straps drew down tightly with each step and its weight drew back. Short breaths raced outward as legs tired and muscles ached of determination.
  Finally reaching the cabin I drew the long breath of relief and stopped a moment. With hands placed aside my hips I filled my lungs slow to steady myself once more. Looking at the cabin I saw its door unlocked and slightly open. Walking closer I slowly swung the door open to hear the soft squeaking of its hinges sounding out. Stepping inside I looked about and called out for grams. An unanswered silence echoed back in return.
  How could I have missed her, I thought? How could I have possibly been that far behind her? I found it hard to believe even grams could have moved that fast.
  Slipping off my backpack I swung it easily up onto the table. Turning towards the small hallway in the back I headed for the bedroom to retrieve gramp's journal from its hiding place. Just as I stepped into the room I saw a squirrel as it bolted out the partially open window. Kneeling down I pounded lightly on the window sill to watch the loose board below pop out. Reaching in behind I took the journal in hand and stood back up to leave.
  Walking out I remembered just how I had discovered it. Gramps had always kept it hidden in the wall below the window sill. Being a klutz I accidentally tripped awhile back and bumped against the wall. A loose board popped out and I had seen the journal for the first time. Not wanting gramps to know I found it I always put it back after reading it. I wasn’t sure how mad he would have gotten with me for checking it out. Nevertheless, I knew I wanted it with me on this journey.
  Walking back to the table I opened the journal to reread the part about gramps finding the way into the strange fog. I wanted to be on the right path the first time. After reassuring myself, I opened my backpack and slipped the journal in. Taking one last look around I slipped on my backpack and let out a sigh of uncertainty. Without any more concern for the thoughts in my head I Turned and headed out the cabin door.
  Stepping outside I hooked the padlock through the clasp but decided not to lock it. Giving the backpack one last tug to keep it comfortable I quick stepped it over the old plank wood bridge. Reaching the outer edge of the Great Parish Swamp I called out for grams and still got no response. I yelled out as loud as I could and listened to my voice echo into the shadows of the swamp. I looked for any sign of which way she might have went but saw nothing. The mosswalks concealed any signs of recent travel so I just stood there examining everything in sight for anything at all.
  That was when I noticed the first set of marks. Carved in a tree to my left was the letter “J” with an arrow underneath pointing the way someone had gone. I guessed it to be either the Captain’s or Jonah’s mark. Below that was another mark but this was a large “G” and looked pretty new. It had to be gram’s I thought. Softly touching it I watched as chalk dust floated gently downward. With a renewed surge of confidence I quickly turned and headed in the same direction. Constantly watching for more markings I kept on the same mosswalk I was sure grams had taken. I kept calling out for her but still got no response.
  I still couldn’t figure out how she had gotten so far ahead in such a short time. There’s no way she could have moved that fast.
  Looking around I had an unusually odd feeling that something else was very different today. The shadows seemed to put me more on edge for some reason. The ugly brown mur, as gramps called it, seemed to be spreading all over. There were puddles of it alongside every mosswalk and I don’t ever remember seeing so much of it.
  After an hour or so of careful treading, the wall of fog rose up in front of me and reached out in both directions.
  It just hung there, as if clinging to the air itself. A massive wall of dull gray gently swirling around yet never clearing. It defiantly climbed upward past the treetops to keep secret whatever was on the other side. Thoughts of entering it sent shivers down my back and I trembled lightly. If I was ever going to turn back it had to be now. Still, I knew gramps and grams were in there somewhere and I was as determined as ever to find them. Suddenly I thought I heard that strange whisper again. The hairs on the back of my neck stretched to stand on end and goose bumps rose up along my arms.
  Thinking about stepping into the fog I remembered the blue stones gramps wrote about in his journal. He had written about how they helped him and grams see in the fog. I remembered seeing them in the cabin on the mantle above the fireplace and remembered him telling me they were nothing more than a few pieces of broken crystal. I wished I had brought them with me but it made no difference now since I wasn’t going back.
  I swallowed the newly formed lump in my throat and took a slow step forward. Instantly the fog engulfed me. In a cold blinding stillness I felt as lost and alone as anyone could ever be. With my feet seemingly frozen in place I strained to see anything before me. Reaching up to wave my hand I saw nothing but the swirling of smoke that filled the air around me. As invisible as my own existence I could only feel the cool dampness against my skin. Turning around I saw only the wall of fog clinging tightly to my presence as I moved in its shroud of secrecy. I tried yelling out but the sound of my voice was heard only in my head. The dead silence was all that reached my ears.
  My next thought was to turn around and go back but I realized it was too late. Now I had no idea of which way back was. Realizing I had but one choice I began walking slowly along in what I hoped was a straight line. A stillness of time was set upon me as each movement seemingly passed in slow motion. The motion of my legs drew on as if forced to hesitate from moment to moment. Carefully I took one step after another, with my unseen hand held straight out before me.
  It seemed like getting through was to last an eternity when suddenly it was gone. In the blink of an eye I stood in the coolness of fresh air and heard the sounds of life rebounding around me.
  Standing somewhere in the swamp again I felt the sudden relief of being out of the fog rush through me. A soft sigh escaped my lips to let the sound of it touch my ears once again. Looking around I saw open water to my left and more of the swamp everywhere else.
  The fog had retreated behind me a short ways and I knew returning to it was not an option. Being fairly well lit I saw a few differences in the way the swamp now looked. There were a number of strange looking plants scattered about and I heard sounds I had never heard before. Taking in every movement as it played out before me I quickly realized this wasn't the swamp as I knew it to be.
  The sun was straight overhead so I figured it to be sometime around noon but I was sure that couldn’t be right. Looking at my watch I noticed the second hand had stopped moving altogether. The fog must have done something to it I thought. Then I remembered gramps writing about how his watch had acted the same way.
  “I must really be on the other side,” I whispered. Knowing it probably was sometime around midday I knew I’d be okay for a while at least. Daylight filled the entire swamp around me and it was easy enough to see a ways out in every direction.
  I called out for grams but again there was no response. Looking around I felt a slight smile break and my spirits began to lift. On a tree to my right was a mark. Whomever that “J” stood for had come this way. Walking over and touching the carved mark I felt the rush of relief in knowing I was at least heading in the right direction. At least I hoped I was heading in the right direction. As much as I wanted to look around I knew I didn’t have any time to waste if I was still going to have any chance of catching up with grams. With a newly furrowed brow I wondered once again just how grams had gotten so far so fast.
  I noticed the mur left only a few safe mosswalks to travel on and even those were pretty narrow at best. Picking one leading in the same direction the marks went I headed out. Moving along carefully I followed the marks for about an hour before I came to realize I wasn’t alone anymore. Someone or something was in the shadows to my left and keeping pace with me. A sudden shiver ran through me as I remembered gramps writing about the darkmoor. Without stopping I slipped off my backpack and quickly opened it up. After removing my slingshot and some marbles I quickly slipped it back on. Still walking I loaded a marble into the seat of the slingshot and readied it for anything.
  I soon came to a small open area where the mosswalks came together and that’s when I first saw what had been following me. As I stepped into the moss covered circle they began to act in an aggressive manner. One of them pointed a finger at me and shouted something I couldn’t understand. I knew right then they weren’t going to be friendly. Suddenly the second one began running along a narrow mosswalk leading to the circle of moss I now stood in.
  Reaching behind his back he quickly lifted something like a net above his head and began spinning it around. The air broke with the sound of it whipping about so quickly. After a few times it spun to a blur above him. Suddenly he threw it outward. It opened up flat to swirl and spin like a disc slicing the air as it flew quickly at me. Without a moments hesitation I dove for the ground and heard the whistling sound pass by overhead.
  Instantly I jumped back to my feet and taking a fast aim pulled the seat of the slingshot back. A split second later I felt the recoil as I released it. The marble shot forward with blazing speed and deadly accuracy as it hit the front one dead on. A dull thud sounded as his head reeled back from the impact of the marble slamming viciously into it. Screaming out in pain, his hands shot up to his face. Stumbling backwards he quickly lost his footing and tumbled to the ground. Suddenly he began yelling out in sheer terror. His foot had accidentally slid off the mosswalk to touch the mur alongside him. It was as if it were alive with hunger.
  The mur began to spread up his leg and pull him down into it. In a panic stricken fear his voice he pleaded to the other for help. With desperation he struggled to pull himself out and get free of the mur. Still, it was a useless attempt that mattered not to the other one. He quickly turned his attention back to me and immediately began yelling something else in anger.
  Suddenly he pulled up his net and wasted no time in swinging it around quickly before letting it go. Again, without hesitation I dove for the safety of the soft moss at my feet. This time however, my body lurched upward as the whirling weapon took hold of my backpack. Hitting it with such force it rolled me over and suddenly he yelled out in triumph. His hand shot down and grabbed for the sheath at his waist as he came running straight at me. I saw the shimmer of the knife he drew upward and instantly I rolled over and jumped back to my feet.
  With a sudden rush of adrenaline my shaky hands quickly loaded another marble into the seat of the slingshot. My only thought was having enough time to get one shot off. There wouldn’t be any time left for another if I missed. My heart pounded and my pulse raced from the onslaught of fear mixed with the sudden surge of adrenaline. Lifting my slingshot I looked him straight in the eye and fired it off. Yelling out loudly, his arms flailed upwards as his feet came out from under him. In the blink of an eye his body went limp and he fell backwards to the ground. The soft moss muffled the sound of his seemingly lifeless form crashing to a motionless state. Quickly I loaded another marble and waited to see if he was going to get back up. Shaking so hard from the rush of the encounter I could no longer hold my slingshot steady. After a few moments I realized he had been knocked completely unconscious. His small grotesque body lay there sprawled out across the mosswalk without any movement at all.
  Shakily holding a readied slingshot I moved a little closer to the motionless figure. Stopping a few feet away I took a good look at whom, or better yet, what I had taken down. Suddenly more shouting echoed out from the shadows.
  Looking up I saw more of them coming from a short ways off. In another rush of panic I turned and ran with my slingshot still in hand. Seeing a large tree up ahead I tucked the slingshot into my pocket and reaching the low growth of branches began to climb. Within minutes I was a good ways up and looking down towards the opening. With my backpack pressed tightly against the tree I sat there trying to remain motionless and hidden from sight. Quietly I tried to steady my nerves and catch my breath. Slowly pulling my slingshot back out I readied it once again.
  I sat there silently watching them run into the clearing and up to the one still sprawled out on the ground. Yelling out in anger now they helped him to his feet and began looking around. It wasn't very long before they were joined by two other men. However, these men were a lot taller and seemed to be much more like me. I heard them talking in an odd mannered voice but it was one I could more easily understand.
  One of them gruffed loudly and said, “The captains not gonna like this one bit.”
  The other said, “No he ain’t gonna like it at all. He’ll skin the likes of both of you if anyone finds out we’re coming.” Watching them I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
  The two taller men looked like real pirates of sorts. Both of them wore long ragged pants, baggy striped shirts, and large buckled shoes. Both looked sort of grungy as if neither had taken a bath in months. The shorter one wore a head wrap of some kind and the taller one an eye patch. Both had long scraggly hair that reached to their shoulders and a heavy beards stubble masking part of their face. I could see the taller man was even missing most of his left ear. I also noticed both had short swords sheathed at their waist. These were pirates I thought, real, honest to goodness pirates. Just like the ones gramps wrote about in the journal.
  I figured the others must be the slavers he had written about. They had a build about my size but their stature left them much shorter in size. They were sort of a sickly pale green in color, slightly hunched over, and completely bald on top.
   The slavers were all shirtless and barefoot as they hobbled around. I heard the one I had knocked out say something about it being a less people kind. He gestured to show them how short and small I was in size.
  “You mean it was just a boy who did this?” the taller man asked in an angry tone.
  In a bit of fearful panic the slaver quickly told the two pirates, “People kind see strange weapon.” Then he gestured to show them exactly how I had used it to knock him out.
  “See strange stone much fast and much hard,” he said, as he pointed to the large bump on his head.
  “You mean he’s got a gun?” the shorter pirate asked.
  “If he did then we would have heard it you idiot!” said the other, “He's talking about a stupid sling of some kind.” Getting really angry now he yelled, “You stupid slavers can’t do nothing right can you? Search the area you mindless maggots. He can’t a gotten very far. He’s bound to be hiding around here somewhere.”
  “Ain’t no time,” said the shorter man. “The captain says he wants to make the gathering by nightfall.”
  “Now what’ll we tell him then?” asked the other.
  “Nothing!” said the other. He pointed to the slaver that had been knocked out for a few minutes and said, “I should throw you in the mur myself. Don’t you dare say anything about this or the captain will feed us all to the fishes for sure. See to it that you follow Bilky back to the longboat while I look around.” The man called Bilky began walking off with the sulking slavers following close behind.
  “Don’t be too long Jimbo, the captain won’t like it,” the one called Bilky replied.
  “You worry like a woman, I’ll be right with you,” the one called Jimbo said, “I know whoever it was is still watching us. I can feel his eyes on us.” With his short sword in hand he moved slowly around from tree to tree trying to see where I might have been hiding. I was glad though he hadn’t once thought to look up or he might have seen me. I smiled when I thought to myself he obviously isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
  I watched as he moved near each tree and sort of jumped up next to it to quickly look behind it. Seeing nothing he wasted no time in moving on to the next one. After a few minutes of finding nothing he had gotten even more angered and yelled out, “You best hope we don’t meet again. Next time I’ll scuttle you myself.” Turning away he headed out to catch up with the others. I almost burst out laughing as he kicked up some moss in disgust before leaving. Then I heard him mumbling loudly about this being a bad omen as he moved quickly out of sight.
  I was pretty sure these had to be the same pirates that gramps wrote about in his journal. I couldn’t believe there were still pirates to be found in the world today. Then I quickly remembered this wasn’t any part of the world I knew about. This was unbelievable I thought, just unbelievable.
  I sat there resting against the tree for a good thirty minutes before I figured it was finally safe to climb down. My pulse had slowed and my body was relaxed again. The rush of panic and the surge of adrenaline had finally wore off and I felt like normal once more.
  Knowing I was going to make a bit of noise when I climbed down I looked about in every direction to make sure no one or nothing else was close by. When I finally began climbing down I made sure to keep my slingshot in hand and ready to go. It was a just in case thing as gramps would have said. I was pretty sure a lot of what gramps had taught me was going to come in handy before this was all over. Only now was I realizing just how glad I was he had taught me what he did.

Additional chapters can be viewed at: WJO Books

Author's Note

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