Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (good beach reads .txt) 📗

“You don’t have to say it like he’s something todread or to fear, anymore, Haley!” she snapped. “He isa good soul who saved me from a great many things—things we should surely be wary of in the wilds! Heeven helped you guys out in that dark forest of giantleaves—remember?”

“Okay, you two—enough talk!” Jonathon saidanxiously. “Let’s keep going, or we’ll never get to seeanybody at all!”

They then set off, moving at a steady pace forsome time through the dark and cold of the wilds; theirspotlights lighting their steps. With their breathinghelmets on and their heavy cloaks bundled around theirbodies, they looked like three creepy creatures fromsome far-off world, wandering through some ashcovered, alien landscape.

For many miles, they crossed over and throughthe desolate outskirts surrounding the Land of Iron andAnvil. They soon happened upon areas where treeswere beginning to bloom with new growth—their littletrunks and tiny branches poked up through the frozenlandscape.

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When early morning had fallen upon the wilds,and the sun was filtering through some of the red,overcast sky, the three teens had entered a region ofelder forest growth. Untouched by the volcaniceruptions from four years earlier, the trees loomed highinto the sky, sprouting all the way to the edge of a giantmountain pass where the three had decided to stop andrest.

Snow was drifting through the area, and the windbrought further chill into the wilds, as well as to theweary travelers. Hungry, they started up a small fire, allthe while wondering how they were even going to eatwithout first removing the breathing filters of their ironheadgear.

“Well, we have to be able to eat somehow!”Haley whined, fidgeting with the mouthpiece of hisbreathing filter.

“Look up, over there in the sky,” Tabitha said,pointing towards the southern sky. The other twoturned and saw dark, gray clouds that were lingering onthe horizon.

“You see? The blackened ash has not yet reachedthis area yet—so her spell hasn’t, either!”

“Which means?” Haley asked as he threw somebeat roots into a tin pot.

“Which means we can remove our mouthpiecefilters and eat!” Tabitha replied. “But we’ll have to eatquick, then replace the breathing filters right away—just to be on the safe side.”

They were soon eating a few pieces of dried-upfish, mixed into a stew of beat roots. Afterwards, theyfell fast asleep near the edge of the mountain, unawareof the impending mass of dark clouds that started to rollinwards towards the ground.

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“Move!” Tabitha hollered, awakening to a lowrumbling in the distance. Through the plastic eyecoverings of the breathing headgear, she saw that theblackened ash clouds of the witch monster werecreeping upon them at a frightening pace.

“The clouds!” she cried. “They’re sweeping intowards us!”

Jonathon and Haley startled from their sleep.They bolted upright, turning to see what all the fuss wasabout. Seeing the darkness that had blanketed the sky,and the growling black clouds coming up behind theline of tree tops, the boys quickly darted about in acrazed panic.

“Grab all your belongings and run!” Jonathonyelled.

The three teens ran as fast as they could along thesteep edge of the mountain pass, careful not to slip onthe slick ice. They looked over their shoulders everyfew seconds as they ran, seeing a wave of ash-ladenclouds rolling steadily towards them. The cloudslooked ready to crash down upon them in a heartbeatand swallow them forever.

And then the unexpected occurred: all three ofthem suddenly dropped—falling fast into a black holethat had opened up before them.

~ CHAPTER V~ WEB CASTAWAYS

Thousands of giant, wild butterflies were flyingabout through the misty rays of a bright sun. Tabithawas flying with them as they softly and gracefully liftedher on their colorful wings. She was as light as afeather, shouting with joy as she drifted with them.

And then suddenly she felt as if she were fallinginto a deep and dark abyss. All the colors vanished asthe wings of the butterflies burned, replaced by coldspace.

Then her mind snapped, and she awoke. She hadbeen falling, but it was no dream—she really wasfalling!

Somewhere below, or possibly above her—shecouldn’t tell for sure—screams filled the dark. Then itdawned on her: she and the others had been runningfrom the witch’s dark cloud of ash, spit forth from hermonstrous pumpkin form, when they had suddenlydropped into some strange hole in the ground.

She must have hit her head during the fall andbeen knocked out for a bit. But she was still falling, asit now seemed!

Extending her hands outward, she felt for something to grab onto, but there was nothing. With herheadlight flashing all about, it was too hard too tellwhere she really was; she only knew that Jonathon andHaley were somewhere in this hole, too, because theyhad fallen in when she did.

And just as she was wondering when it would allstop, she shot out from the hole and landed atop sometype of plush, cushion-like surface. It felt as though shehad plopped onto some kind of giant marshmallow—her body sprung upwards slightly with the surface stillclinging to her back.

That sure is strange, she thought oddly.Staring up, she saw that she was somewhere inbetween the walls of a canyon passage. The little lightthat filtered down revealed the steep, solid walls thatrose very high on either side of her.

And from where she was lying, she could seehundreds of cave-like holes in the sides of the canyonwalls. Most of the holes were covered over with a weblike, mossy substance.

I must have flown out of one of those!

She craned her head around, straining to see whatshe had landed upon. To her surprise she noticed it wassome sort of thick, rope-like vine. It clung to her whenshe tried to raise herself up, and then pulled her downagain like a giant rubber band snapping her back inplace.

What in the shades of the realm is this? Tabithathought nervously, her heart beating fast.

Attempting to roll onto her side to get a betterview at what laid even further beneath her, she had tostruggle against the pull of the surface. Finally she wasable to turn slightly over. What she then saw made herheart almost leap out of her throat: it was a deep