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Chapter 21: The Hidden Jungle
Davy hurt. Everywhere. But it was his head mainly. It ached as if someone had slammed a rum bottle against it. He groaned and sat up. They were still in the Catacombs, the same place where Davy had collapsed the ceiling. It was dimly lit by a fire that someone had started.
“Davy!” Will said. “You alright mate?”
“I’ve been better,” Davy grumbled. “How’s your arm healing up?”
Will chewed his lip. “Its alright. A little sore. I can’t fight with it, but it probably won’t have to be cut off. But its not my arm that you should be worried about.”
He pointed towards a knelt figure. It was Zolina. She was kneeling over the body of Sam. Davy felt wide awake. He had completely forgotten about Sam. He attempted to stand up, but couldn’t. He fell to the floor, and would have hit his head if Will hadn’t caught him.
“Easy there Davy,” Will said. “Your still weak.”
“This is my fault,” Davy muttered. “If I hadn’t been so stupid and used that staff spell, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Aye, but ye saved our lives.”
“Not like we’re gonna be livin’ much longer,” Davy said, gesturing to the sealed walls of their prison.
“There’s always a way out.”
Davy thought about that, then crawled over to where Zolina was, tending to Sam. Beside her was Kate. Luckie was sleeping off to the side. Zolina looked up from Sam and gave a concerned look to Davy. Davy looked back, as if asking how he was.
Zolina shook her head. “The shot was poisoned. I know some healing, but unfortunately, I haven’t seen this venom before. Even if I had, there are no medical ingredients around us, unless we can make medicine out of rocks.”
“Damn it!” Davy cried out. “Why did this have to happen now! We’re trapped in a cave, with no visible way out, and Sam has been shot! He’s dying! Gahh!”
Kate spoke, “Davy. Yelling won’t help. I agree, we need to get out of here. Go get some more sleep. When you wake up, you can go looking around the cave.”
Davy shook his head. “We don’t have long. Even voodoo fire needs something to burn on, and we can’t light a voodoo light. It will use too much of our energy, which we can’t afford to waste. We have to go now, before that fire dies out or we will be stuck in darkness.”
“He’s right,” Will said. “The sooner we’re out of here, the better.
“First, at least eat something from our rations,” Zolina said.
Davy nodded, and pulled out some dried meat from one of their pouches. After he ate, and had some water, he started to look around the cave. Using voodoo, he scanned the walls to see if there was any way that they could blast through it. After countless scanning, Davy couldn’t find anything. They were trapped on all sides.
Wait a minute, Davy said. On all sides. What about…
He looked up, at the roof of the little cave. It was about five feet above his head. He concentrated, and scanned it. Just as Davy had hoped, it was thing. The stone above them was only about three feet thick, and could easily be blasted through.
Davy told his friend about it, and they nodded. He had everyone move to the sides of the cave, and put up a little voodoo shield above them. As soon as Davy felt that he was ready, he took a deep breath, put his hands back, and then thrust them forward. The ceiling shook, and then blasted upward. Rock fell down into the cave as Davy ran for cover. After a minute or so, everything died down. Davy and his friends, with Will carrying the unconscious Sam, made their way under the gaping hole.
“Great, its open,” Luckie muttered. “Now how in the world do we get up?”
“Like this,” Davy picked up several rocks using voodoo, and made a floating staircase out of them. He walked up the little staircase, with the others following him.
“Great,” Will said. “I guess I’m the pack mule here eh?”
He climbed up nevertheless, and soon they were all standing in a new tunnel. This tunnel seemed to go straight forward for a while. It was dimly lit by torches that were hanging from the walls. How they still burned was a mystery. The tunnel looked just like any other tunnel in the Catacombs. Brownish rock all around, with a low and claustrophobic ceiling. However, there was one difference. Far, far down the tunnel, was a grayish light. It was dim, and looked a kilometer or so away, but it was there.
“Praise the Lord!” Kate said. “Finally! I think we are getting out of these accursed caves!”
She began to run forward, but Davy caught her arm.
“Wait, lets go slowly. We are all tired, and Will can’t run with Sam,” Davy said. Kate nodded, and they all walked forward. Finally, they arrived at the exit of the Catacombs. And what they saw made them gasp.
After having been traveling in a cave so long, surrounded by nothing but rock, it was quite shocking to come out, right into a wide, canyon. It was a jungle, with trees everywhere. In the distance, they could hear a waterfall, and probably a creek to refill their water supplies too.
“Whoa,” Zolina said. “This place is…”
“Beautiful,” Luckie said.
Davy nodded. “Lets keep moving mates. I hear a waterfall, and that means water. Our water supplies have been running low, so we need to get some fresh water. And where there is a jungle, there are animals, and where there are animals, there is meat.”
They walked through the jungle. The trees weren’t actually very densely packed. The group didn’t feel crowded at all. The jungle was beautiful. The sounds of birds singing was prominent, and they could hear insects buzzing around them. At one point, Zolina said that she thought she saw a walking tree, but everyone thought she was crazy.
After an hour or so, they came to the base of a small waterfall. It created a small little creek that ran down the width of the canyon, before disappearing under some rock, probably flowing out into the sea. The waterfall was surrounded by black rock. The area around the creek was lush. The grass was a bright green, and there were several shrubs that flourished from the pure water from the creek. Davy spoke.
“Alright. Kate, you find us a nice spot to set up camp. I think we should stay here a day or so. Even with Sam, it won’t do him any good if we collapse of exhaustion while carrying him.”
“What do you mean, ‘we’,” Will grumbled. Nobody heard him.
“Will, set Sam down somewhere and go find us some firewood. Zolina, while Kate sets up, change Sam’s bandages again. And Luckie, you fill up the canteens. I’ll see if I can find us some meat. ”
They nodded and got to work. Davy grabbed Kate’s musket, and walked away from the camp. He followed the creek downstream for a few minutes, and finally saw what he was looking for. Laying on the banks of the creek, was a group of alligators. Each was about six to eight feet in length, more than enough for all of them. Davy quietly loaded his musket, and aimed it at a gator.
He only had one shot to kill it. That one shot would startle the others, and they would swim away. However, if he didn’t kill his target in one shot, it would come and attack him, and maim him before he could reload. He held the musket up to his eye, and aimed at the gator’s head.
If only Billy were here, Davy thought. He’s an amazing shot.
Davy fired. Lucky for him, the bullet passed straight through the alligator’s skull, killing it instantly. As he predicted, the others ran into the water and swam away. Davy strapped the musket to his back, and walked over to the carcass. He slowly dragged it back to the campsite, on the banks of the river.
They cleaned the carcass out, and cut it into pieces. Then, they roasted each individual piece over the fire for a few minutes, and then began eating. They were ravenous, and the fresh meat almost tasted better than rum. Almost. Davy asked Zolina about Sam.
“He hasn’t gotten better,” She said. “But I don’t think he has gotten worse. When we get back to the ship, we should let Meg Mcbones tend to him. She used to be a healer back in Iceland.”
Davy nodded. After they ate, they all went to sleep.
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The next morning, they ate a quick breakfast of leftover gator meat, and then headed off quickly. They walked for several hours, passing through another creek, and then through more jungle.
After a little longer, the end of the canyon came into view. Straight in front of them was a little opening in the rock, which likely lead outside the canyon, hopefully, back onto the main part of the island. Beyond the canyon, they could see the volcano of Padres Del Fuego, which meant they were getting back to the main part of the island for sure. Lave flowed down its sides, give it a menacing look. It was ironic, how such a beautiful and lush jungle could be tucked away in such a fiery, molten wasteland.
The group made their way over to the little tunnel leading out of the jungle. They headed through the tunnel, not looking back.
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