Lacey woke slowly, her head aching and her vision blurry. As she started to be aware of her surroundings, she noticed Lilly standing over Silvia softly nudging her, trying to get her to wake up slipped back into unconsciousness again.
Suddenly she came to again. Where was Tim? Her vision was not quite as blurry and she tried looking around, her head still hunt. Turning over she found that she was not hurt badly, nothing seemed broken, all that hurt was her head which was pounding so bad she had a hard time concentrating, As she sat up she noticed her arm was bleeding and her legs were scratched up.
She began to rub her head to relive her headache but quickly pulled her hand back away from her head. It was covered in blood. Seeing the blood, she blacked out again. She came to again, sitting up she looked around.
All the trees were all small spindly things with hardly any to no growth, they all looked dead. The bushes also were just a bunch of dead looking twigs and they all had moss and other odd-looking growth and vines growing around and up them.
The air an odd smell of rotting plants. A grown came from beside her, she turned slightly to see Silvia laying beside her. Lilly curled up beside Silvia.
Silvia slowly sat up with a wince holding her arm. "Are you hurt bad? Can you move everything?" She asked Silvia, looking her over, she had a bruise on her check and a scratch above her eye, Silvia slowly moved each one of her limbs one at a time in answer.
She then looked over at Lacey, her eyes going wide. "Are you ok, your head is covered in blood." She said, Lacey nodded. "I don't think anything is broken. Where is Tim?" Lacey said looking around but still did not see him. "I don't know. I just woke up."
Silvia said also looking around too. "Where? Where are we?" She said. "The other side of the island? But it looks so different." Lacey answered, the ground beneath was musty, Lacey stood up wincing at the pain in her leg and arm. "We must find Tim."
Lacey said, Silvia followed her up. Now standing up they could look out over what looked like a swamp. Lacey looked down at her still white dress the fuzzy warm feeling that she had grown to appreciate was no longer there and felt alone, and scared and afraid.
Silvia's outfit was solid and covered in dirt, the pack of her side that she always wears was in place. The girls and Lilly had only gone a couple yards when they hear a grown. "Tim!!" they called and was answered with a cry of pain. They spotted him by a dead bush and run over to him.
He lay on the ground holding his leg, the fur of he's clothes, was covered in blood. "Ohh.." Silvia gasped covering her mouth. Tim's face was white and covered in sweat, the girls knelt beside him. "Your leg." Lacey said.
"I can feel it, you don't have to tell me." Tim whispered. "Lilly!" Silvia called but the bird disappeared. "Can you lacey, get me some vines and small branches, to fix my leg?" Tim said struggling to sit up. Lacey nodded to Tim and got up and looked around they, only a couple dead trees and bushes where is sight.
She went to the tree and broken off a couple long branches and collected some vines, then headed back, she came up to Tim and Silvia to see her holding his le, then Tim yelled a string of noneligible words, as Silvia pulled.
Silvia jumped back and stared. Tim lay on the ground Lacey herself recovered and set the branches and vines beside him then stepped back. Tim sat back up and looked at the stuff Lacey had got for him. "Could I get a little help?" He asked, both girls stood like statues. "Sorry." Tim muttered.
Lacey kneeled beside him again. "How? What do I do?" She asked. "I need you to strap the branches to my leg to keep it in place." Tim instructed Lacey nodded, and tried her best to follow his instructions. When she was done his leg was supported by the branches and tied with the vines, Tim nodded at her work. "Nice! Work!" Tim said.
She smiled and got up, then looked down at the two brown stains on her white skirt. "Oh. NO!" She cried, Silvia who had been watching from afar, now came up. "There's a way for you to keep it up and out of your way.
Here let me help you." Silvia said. Taking ahold of Lacey's skirt, she pulled as much as she could to the front of Lacey, after bunching it together she passed the bunch between her leg. "There hold this." Silvia said to Lacey.
Lacey took the bunch at her back and Silvia walked around to her back. Taking the bunches back from Lacey she split it into two equal parts. "Ok, give me both your hands." She said to Lacey.
Lacey put her hand behind her back and Silvia put a section in each of her hands. "Ok now tie it in front." Silvia said as she came back around to her front.
Lacey tied the two sections into a double knot. "There." Said Silvia. "Now you can walk without ruining your skirt." When Silvia was done, Lacey stood in what looked to be short pants. "Thanks! I don't know why it's white, but it's a dumb color to be in a swamp." Lacey relied. "What is that dress anyways?" Tim continued.
"It's magic, it changes color and." Lacey was saying but Silvia cut her off with a chuckle. "And flies!" She said the girls started laughing. And Tim looked lost because he had missed the event.
They all turned to Lilly as she came back, she looked bad, her wings had to be broken and some of her feathers had been rubbed off from the landing. Silvia rushed to check her, she lifted a wing, Lilly pulled away tucking them against her sides. "She broke her wing." Announced Silvia, checking her other wing.
"Where was she?" Lacey asked. "I don't know." Answered Silvia. "Well we better get them splinted so they can heal correctly otherwise she may never fly again." Tim said. Lacey and Silvia pain staking splinted both of Lilly's wings, while Tim lay on the ground. Once her wings were set Silvia instructed Lilly to keep watch over Tim.
"So Lilly, keep Tim safe while we go see if we can find a way to get back over the mountain." "Hey! Be careful." Tim called to them as they headed towards the mountain. The girls pushed their way through the limbs and brambles soon they came to the edge of the mountain looking up their faces showed surprise and despair at the same time.
The cliff stating at the base and going up as far as they could see. "great!" Silvia exclaimed. "Now what are we going to do? Or maybe we can get around it on the shoreline?" Said Lacey. "Well it is getting late. We will have to try again tomorrow. We better get to Lilly and Tim." Said Silvia.
The girls made their way back the way they came. As the others came into view suddenly Silvia could sense something else headed their way. "Come on! Hurry!" Cried Silvia.
The girls began scrambling quicker towards Lilly and Tim. Suddenly there was a loud growl from behind them. "Here!" Said Tim as he pulled his sword from its sheath and tossed it to Silvia.
Silvia quickly grabbed it by the handle and stood ready Lacey quickly grabbed a large stick off the ground ready to help defend the best she could. The monster that came lumbering out of the misty fog that had all of a sudden appeared, was a tall beast that walked on two legs of wood almost like small tree trunks and was covered in moss.
Not taking a chance Lacey made the first move and went for its leg, while Silvia drove the sword into its neck and like the ones in the forest it let out a blood curdling scream and fell to the ground, Lacey jumped out of the way as it fell. "That will never get old." Tim said, they turned to see him half up and leaning on Lilly's neck.
Silvia sighed and went to hold him up with an arm around his shoulders. "We got to find a place to sleep." Lacey said, the mist had gotten thicker and the sun was setting Silvia nodded. "How are we going to movie Tim?"
Asked Lacey. "Let's support him between us." Replied Silvia. "Well let's get started." Said Lacey as she got into position on the other side of Tim. Slowly, they started walked as best they could.
Lilly followed along slowly. The fog continued to thicker as the sun slipped lower in the sky. "We almost can't see anything anymore." Lacey said breathlessly as she repositioned Tim on her shoulders. "Here, let's set Tim down right here for a minute you can rest and I will scout around and see if I can find somewhere to sleep for the night." Said Silvia.
The girls helped Tim sit on a gnarled limb sticking out of the ground. Silvia headed out looking for a place to stay for the night. Lacey sat on the limb beside Tim. She sighed and watched as the sun sank even lower. "What are we going to do? Don't broken bones take forever tom heal?" Asked Lacey.
"There is no way we will be able to climb over until your leg is healed and Lilly won't be able to fly us back over until her wings are healed." She added. Tim let out a low whistle.
"Wow, we are probably going to be stuck here for at least two weeks or more. What are we going to eat?" "Maybe some snakes or some other small things, I don't have a weapon, Silvia took the sword." She answered.
Tim nodded they sat for a good while. Before Silvia came out of the mist. "I found a place that should work for tonight." She said, before coming to help Tim to support on her shoulder, Lacey took another side.
They moved at good pace for Tim, through the mist. Silvia soon pointed to a dead tree they could faintly see through the fog.
The tree was long dead and had its roots sprouting out of the ground and made a little cave under it. "We can all fit in there?" Tim asked as they came to a stop in front of the tree. "Yeah. It's bigger than it looks." Silvia answered Tim.
Silvia let go of Tim and crawled inside, Lacey helped Tim to his knees and he crawled in too. Lacey looked around again but did not see anything through the mist then looked down at her dress, it was still white.
"Why?" She asked her dress, but no change of color or feeling, she shivered, the then got onto her knees and crawled inside the tree root cave.
It was bigger inside like Silvia had said, the fog was all around them and the moonless night was dark. They all lay a couple of feet apart and fell into a restless sleep. Lilly lay at the enterers on guard. Silvia
Lacey awoke the sun right in her eyes, she shielded her vision with her hand, as he sat up hitting her head. "Ouch!" She rubbed her head. Silvia beside her stirred and sat up to hitting her head to.
"Ouch!" She to rub her head, both girls giggled then they crawled out. "We need something to eat." Lacey said as Silvia straightened her clothes. "This place is odd, but we can see what we can find. There should be stuff to build a fire I brought my stuff." Silvia said patting the bag at her waist."
The girls went to work gathering dead and dry sticks for a fire. Lacey snapped a twig of a dead tree when a glint of metal caught her eye. "Huh?!"
She went down a small hill a up to a bush. Sticking out of the bus asked was a pointed blade that looked a lot like the spears Silvia made, she pulled it out of the dead bush.
She held nothing like the spears Silvia had made, this spear was made by a master, she could see the intricate carving on the handle and metal. She run her finger over the blade. "Ouch!" She pulled it away and put it in her mouth.
The spear was definitely a great weapon. "Just what I needed. But why is it here?" She asked herself. Lacey sighed then picked up the small branches that she had gathered. And spear in hand headed but to find Silvia. She came back to the dead tree they had slept in that night.
Tim sat on the ground his back against a root, Silvia had started a fire it burned with three sticks with what looked like crabs on them. "There you are." Tim said, Lacey smiled and set the branches by the fire, Tim's eyes caught the spear in her hand.
"what's that?" He asked, she stood it blade up and studied it again. "I found it just sitting in a bush." She said Tim chuckled. "And you just took it." "Yeah. Who knows what's around here!" She said. "There are monsters here like the forest, but we don't know what else is out there." Silvia said coming up to look the spear over. "Nice! And you just found it?" She continued.
"Yeah"
"Cool! You will need it." She pulled out Tim's sword that had been in her belt. And stabbed it into the ground. Silvia's hair that had been messy early that morning, was now back in place, the same can't be said for Lacey's hair which was all falling out of her braid and was hanging wild.
Somehow even in a swamp Silvia's sliver hair stayed as beautiful as ever.
Silvia sat down by the fire and twisted the sticks, Lacey sat down too. The spear on her lap, Lilly lay a little way off curled up, her beak under her splinted wing.
After the children had eaten, Silvia put the fire out with dirt, they now sat beside the root cave. "What are we going to do? We can't fly back until Lilly's wings are healed, and we can't climb the mountain, because it's a cliff and Tim couldn't make it with a broken leg." Silvia said listing the things on her fingers.
"Well let's try to go around the mountain." "I could go see if there is a way around then come back so Tim doesn't have to make the trip." Lacey suggested. "That could work." Silvia said excitedly. "And I will stay with Tim and Lilly. We will stay here.
It will probably take all day to make the trip." Silvia said continued, Lacey nodded and got up and picked up the spear, then head off going east she stayed right up against the cliff of mountain. She walked for an hour or two, before she stops to take a break, and set her spear down beside her. She sighed then got up again and walked on.
The sun was high in the sky when she reached the beach. "What.." She walked to the end were the ground come to an abrupt ledge. She stood on the ledge and looked down in to ink bluey black water that dashed up against the ledge.
She sat down and watched the water for a while thinking hard, she shook herself, got up and head back. It took her longer to get back, the sun was setting reds and pinks colored the sky. When she got to place, they had crashed at Lacey stopped when she saw Silvia waiting for her.
"So?" Silvia said. "There's no way to go that way it's a ledge that goes straight into crashing water." Lacey replied. "Oh." Silvia said. "I will go check the other side." She continued. "Tonight?" Lacey asked. Silvia nodded then headed out the other way without another word.
Lacey headed back toward the root cave. Tim and Lilly sat beside the already going fire. A crab on a stick was waiting for her. She sat and ate, Tim and Lacey both were to deep in thought to speak so they ate in silence. The sun disappeared and the mist set in. They put the fire out and crawled into the root cave to sleep.
But Lacey stayed awake worrying about Silvia in the fog. "But she's smart. She will be fine." She had to keep telling herself that and when she did sleep it was light and restless.
Lacey awoke from a dream that as soon as she was awake she couldn't remember, she sat up and slammed her head on the roof of the cave, she grimaced as she left the cave of roots and went out into the early morning.
The fog was light. Her sleep was usually was not filled with dreams, but this side of the island was trippy and gave her feelings that she had never had before, being a princess she had never had a care in the world and coming to the island.
The dress had made her feel safe and had kept her happy. She stretched and tried to shake the uneasy feeling off. Undoing her hair, she combed her fingers through it, blood was still caked on her head, but she braided it again as best she could.
Feeling a little better she picked up the spear that, when she was standing and had it straight up and down, it came a foot higher to her five foot seven.
She looked at her newly found spear in the dim light, she need to find a way to strap it to her back, but still get to it quickly, she sighed running her hand over the handle, the big blade on the top was as big as four of her hands, there was a pointed metal piece at the bottom.
She looked it over carefully it was littler than it seemed. She was focused on her spear that when she heard the footsteps, she jumped a little looking up, she made out Silvia's young form in the dim light.
Silvia did not say a word and just sat down beside Lacey. Silence fell for a couple minutes before Silvia spoke. "That way is a dead end. We have to go somewhere there's water that we can drink."
Lacey listened to Silvia as she spoke, she sounded tired and defeated. "I went a little way to see if I could find water to drink, but it is all just mud and black water that smells terrible. But there has to be a spring somewhere." Silvia was stopped by a yawn. "Go sleep. We can go later." Lacey said, Silvia nodded and crawled into the cave.
Lacey got up and went to one of the dead trees with vines all around it and slowly got herself a big bundle of vines then sat down and got to work.
About an hour later the sun came into view, Lacey held up her finished vine creation. She laughed, she did not know what to call it, she had weaved the vines into a make-shift weapon holder, she stood up jumping around. Her legs had fallen asleep.
The holder fit well enough; she had some trouble getting the spear into it though. When she finally got it in, it felt strange she took it out then put it back a couple times to get a better hang of it. Silvia came out of the root cave dragging Tim out with her.
"Tim will have to ride on Lilly So we can move faster." Silvia said, Tim sighed. "Where are we going?" Tim asked. "to find water, you can't say you are not thirsty?" Silvia answered him. "Yeah, because you said something about it." Tim said groaning.
"You get to ride Lilly." Silvia said, turning to the sleeping Lilly who lifted her head at her name. "Come on Lilly, let's go. Will you lay down so that Tim can get onto your back?" Lilly walked over to where Silvia was and then lay down next to her waiting patiently as the girls carefully helped Tim onto her back. Then the little group slowly headed farther into the dead swamp.