I suppose you want to know whether or not it held together, Monkey Keys. That cliffhanger was down right tingly! I could end a primetime season like that. I mean, not a GOOD primetime season, but something like Grey’s Anatomy.
Our heroes fought hard against the raging river. The trio paddled for hours until they finally brought the boat around a bend; only one and a half miles to go.
And the sandal held.
“Blahhhh…” growled Hobbes as he threw his san-ddle in the corner. “Let’s just live on this river forever.”
“Quiet,” murmured Stancliff as he tilted his ear up the river. “I hear an outboard.” The three ran to the starboard side of the craft and stared downriver. Sure enough, a wee boat was plodding along toward them on a lazy Friday morning cruise.
“We’re saved! Huzah!” cheered Nicolai as he waved the tiny craft in.
“Well sir, looks like you boys is in a hoop dingy!” said a strange foreign man.
“I guess you could say that,” Stancliff smiled. “I don’t suppose we could persuade you fine folks to tow us a few miles upstream?”
“Oh, we’d be please as punch. Same think ‘ere happened to old Hank a bout a fortnight back. He’s claim he spent the night on the river, but we know better, the old scallywag.”
A short while later and the three were back at the palace telling their miraculous story. I hung on Hobbes’s every word until I had to ask the inevitable question.
“So, is the ship fixed so we can go out?”
“Well, luckily me and Stancliff grabbed a starter from town and rigged it back up. She should be ready to go, but I’m not sure if Stancliff wants to bring everyone just in case it breaks.” Nicolai had been walking by as Hobbes said this.
“Nonsense! We can cram all of us on the ship!” he said. “Everyone who wants on the ship, get over here!” So he, Hobbes, myself, Finnius, Megion, Moni, Bobby, Rick, Kendal, Jamie, and Brian all lined up in front of Stancliff who was standing atop his ship looking cross about Nicolai’s announcement.
“Nicolai, I’m not sure this is a great idea,” he muttered.
“Pish posh. Come on, I need four other people in my chariot.”
“I’m in, Nicolai,” I called as I jumped in his chariot. It ended up not mattering though, because about ten minutes later all 12 of us were piled on Stancliff’s ship at the edge of the river.
“I need a few more people up front so this thing actually planes out!” Stancliff yelled as the engine sparked to life. I meandered to the very front tip of the ship and gazed over the rolling river. Our little piece of humanity was alone in a dense forest. Thick trees lined the river as far as the eye could see. They came right into the river actually. The whole moment was very Huckleberry Fin meets Jerry Springer. I wouldn’t have been surprised if we passed a ramshackle cabin with and old, beard to his ankles, moonshine at his side, man that was busy strumming a banjo and oiling a shotgun simultaneously.
We passed no people at all though. Stancliff powered the ship two or three miles up the vacant river and brought it to a small clearing in the forest with a park bench.
“Ok, I need half of you out,” Stancliff said as he cut the engine and we drifted ashore. “The Queen of Wings wants to try wake boarding.”
“We shouldn’t be too long,” Jamie said as she donned her aquatic armor. Our action squad set to splitting itself. Ere three minutes had gone by, Finnius, Lady Kendal of Oz, Stancliff, Nicolai, and Jamie were off on the boat.
Our shore party, consisting of the other people I don’t have the energy to list, looked for something entertaining to do. After seconds of soul searching, Sir Rick of Hawkhill decided it would be prudent to swim across the river which was roughly 1000 feet across.
The rest of us, content with this spectacle, plopped on a log to bear witness.
“You kill that river, Rick!” yelled Hobbes as the lone solder paddled through the water. After a few moments, Hobbes followed suit. It didn’t take long to notice Sir Rick was struggling against the river. He had made it about halfway across when he turned toward us and started back.
Hobbes was close to Rick and decided to drop in to see how he was doing.
“How’s the leisurely swim,” Hobbes said as he forced his way to an audible distance.
“Hobbes,” Rick panted. “I don’t… think I’m… going to make it.” Rick was flailing slightly and grasping at the water. Hobbes started swimming beside him. The great knight weighed at least 80 pounds more than Hobbes. There was no hope of supporting his weight and swimming with him.
“Rick,” Hobbes started as his own muscles began to burn. “You’re alright man. Try doing a backstroke.” Rick turned on his back and started using the new muscle group. The shore was still a football field away.
I looked out at the pair. Bobby the Brave must have sensed his comrade was in trouble, and stood at my side.
“Feanor, Rick doesn’t look so good does he?” he asked. I winced against the setting sun trying to make out Rick’s face.
“Maybe you should go after him…” Megion said. Bobby contemplated this, but held his ground. Perhaps Rick was ok.
“You got this man,” Hobbes repeated as the two struggled forward. Rick’s head disappeared occasionally under the water. Each time Hobbs’s hair stood on end. Rick was a proud soldier, and Hobbes knew he wouldn’t have said anything unless there was real trouble. “Sidestroke is a good one too.”
Rick’s strength had reached critically negative amounts. He pushed with everything he had against the water, but the shore was still a ways off. His vision blurred and he felt his body sank, but this time the murk of the riverbed met his hand. He coughed hard and pulled his body forward. Bobby jogged out to help him up.
“No,” coughed Rick. “No, I’m fine.” We watched as Sir Rick drug himself ashore. “Hobbes, thanks man.” He panted as he put his head back on a log. “It wasn’t looking so great back there for a second.”
“Yeah, I dare say we thought you were done for,” Megion said. “What’s wrong with you boys? The Steeds, and all manner of trying to kill yourselves must get old.”
“Not as old as you’d think,” I said with a smirk. I missed Firebolt. At length, Rick got to his feet and we started to relax. A journey to the Northern Lands of Carolina needed less tension.
Our tension break lasted all of 20 minutes before we found more. As we joked about Rick’s near death experience, it was nearing 8:10 pm. No one wanted to spread more negative sentiment, but it had been nearly an hour since we last saw Stancliff or his hearty crew. Brian Tenterfoot was first to snap.
“Guys, something is clearly wrong,” he said looking out over the river. There was no sound other than the rolling water and cicadas. “They totally should have been back by now.”
“I mean, not necessarily,” Moni said trying to retain some optimism. “Does anyone have a carrier pigeon or owl to contact Stancliff?” Of course, no one did.
“I’m serious, guys. I mean, we really need to start thinking of a way to get out of here on foot,” Brian said. “It’s nearly dark, we’re in the middle of the woods, none of us knows where we are, half of us don’t even have shoes!” I glanced at Hobbes’s shoeless feet. What if the ship had wrecked again?
“Yeah, but we could probably just follow the river back to the dock,” Moni said glancing through the undergrowth. The thick trees made their way straight into the water.
“Look at us, we’re basically nude!” Brian said gesturing around. “We can’t go bushwhacking through the Brazilian marsh in swim trunks and sunglasses. The bugs will eat us alive, and who knows what is under water. It’s going to be dark soon, and Stancliff may be stranded on the water. No one knows we’re here. We have to do something!”
“Brian, calm down,” Megion said. “Maybe we should wait another 10 minutes or so. If the ship doesn’t come back, we’ll start down that path.” Megion pointed toward a rocky set of tire tracks that wound its way into the dense woods.
“We don’t even know where that goes!” Brain lamented. “We’re going to be stumbling down a rock path, nude, in the dark; I mean it’s game over man! Game over!”
“I think she’s right,” I said looking up toward the sun. “We need to decide what to do. Let’s give Stancliff another 20 minutes or so, then we need to get moving. No one knows we’re out here other than him, and if the boat did break, we could be stranded all night. The path should lead to a road, and we can find the dock or Stancliff’s palace or something from there.”
Hobbes grabbed a stick in his hand and wandered toward the beach.
“We’d better leave some kind of message in case they come back.” With a quick display of calligraphic prowess, he left a tale of our meanderings.
Stancliff, left down the path at 8:30.
I grabbed an armful of sticks and constructed a crude arrow atop the note pointing in the direction we went. Everyone decided our band was smarter than Survivor Man, and we proceeded down the path.
“How can we even be sure this goes anywhere?” Brian asked as the trees closed in around us. “I mean, we’re probably going to be eaten by Sasquatch’s inbred cousin before we even find the first shine still back here.”
“It’s more likely we’ll be eaten by these rocks,” Hobbes winced as he limped along hobbit style behind us.
“Hobbes, maybe we can trade off with my sandals,” I said. “That’s got to be wicked painful…”
“I’ll let ya know, Feanor,” he managed a smile as we came to a fork in the road.
“I do think it would be right to follow the path closest to the water,” Megion said glancing toward our left. “The other path could go to all manner of horribleness.”
“No way man,” Brain said glancing back and fourth. “The left path looks like it hasn’t been tread since the Cretaceous. At least the right looks a bit beaten down. Maybe a chariot has been by here recently.”
We reluctantly took the right path, losing sight of our river. As the band continued along the path, I gathered several more sticks and pointed them to the right.
“Godspeed, Stancliff,” I murmured looking back the way we came. I took one last look at the river through the tree line, and ran after the gang.
I caught up to Hobbes first. He had slowed to a crawl over the jagged rocks of the path, and the others were getting dangerously out of range and soon vanished around a bend.
“Hobbes, I have an idea,” I said removing my left sandal. “Put this on, and we’ll both favor our sandaled foot. We’ll at least be able to keep up.” Hobbes agreed, and soon we were hopping after the others.
In about a minute we made it to the bend. As we rounded the corner, we both came to a dead stop. The path before us descended into a marshy wasteland. Slime green water bordered the path on either side, and a light haze floated about. An old dilapidated dock stood to our right crumbling into the murk.
We stared at each other not knowing what else to do. Alone, with the sun gripping tightly to the horizon, we hobbled down the path into the unknown.
