"So much for goodbye," I mumbled, then looked over to Nathen. "Do you think we should go?"
He sighed. "Do we have another option?"
Thunder boomed again, and lightning tore across the sky. I held out my arms to keep my balance as the ground rumbled violently. This storm was ridiculous.
I shook my head, imagining what horrible things the Upperlanders would do to my tribe if we couldn't find help. "How far do you suppose it is to the next village?"
Nathen took off his backpack, set it on the ground, and pulled out a paper map with every village, mountain, lake and river there was for a hundred miles. Nifty. "We're here,"—he gestured to one part of the map—"and the next village is here. I'd say about a week's hike. . . . We're going to have to use the bird, aren't we?" he winced. I nodded with a slight chuckle.
Chapter 10
In an Upperlander’s Clutches
IT DIDN'T TAKE MORE than a minute to shrink and mount the blue jay. Though he denied it, Nathen clung to me like a squirrel to a tree as we flew. I didn't make it easy for him either. I pushed that bird to its max, doing loop-the-loops and going as fast as possible. Though I couldn't see Nathen from in front, I could feel him holding his breath every time I did something crazy.
Memories of when I first got on a bird flashed through my mind. The blue jay’s name was Bull, and boy, was that fitting. My group teacher was letting us mount and dismount a couple birds when I took my place on his back. Bull was furious. He spread out his wings and shot across the sky. This scared me half to death. I must’ve been only six or seven, because I rarely got scared like that afterward. My fear just seemed to fuel him, making him go faster and faster.
I shook my head, pulling back on the reins to Nathen’s relief. There was no reason for him to experience a first ride like mine. Though I kept at a fairly speedy pace, I stopped with all the tricks.
My parents didn't let me fly unless it was for group, and being able to do crazy tricks like this was more than rare.
The wind rushed through my hair and a wave of freedom and thrill washed over me. If it weren't for the loud booms of thunder, the dark sky, and the raging river, it would've been the perfect moment.
But it was over almost before it began. After just a couple of hours, the next two villages came into view. I landed the blue jay between the Upperlander and Minniemon towns, and Nathen and I did the same as last time. But this time we knew what we were looking for. Links.
I half-expected to have another girl run up to me and start talking as I neared the outskirts of the Minniemon village, but that never came. In fact, the town was empty. There wasn't a single person in sight. So, I figured they must've been inside because of the storm.
I walked around for a few more moments, searching for any sign of life. There wasn't a single fire, the cabins were unmaintained and there was not a soul to be found. This was some kind of ghost town.
I shook my head and turned around, making my way back to where we'd landed the bird. Next thing I knew, my body was being yanked upward and the breath was knocked right out of me. I shot about six feet into the air, struggling all the way until a bell rang and I froze. A net. I was tangled up in a net.
I tugged and chewed at the ropes, but to no avail.
It wasn't long until an Upperlander started marching proudly over to me, an evil smile stamped on his face. I froze at the sight of him, not even daring to blink. Surely, after all I'd been through, some Upperlander would not kill me.
He pulled me off the branch, still tangled up in ropes, and carried me over to the Upperlander village. I struggled to breathe as he held me with some kind of death grip. A little more pressure and I'd be squished. Literally.
I couldn't help but notice how every time he passed another Upperlander, he hid me behind his back. What was he trying to do?
He brought me into a large—even for an Upperlander—log cabin. The logs fit together like puzzle pieces, there wasn’t a speck of dust on anything, and the furniture on the inside seemed to glow. This guy knew what a home should look like.
He took me all the way to the back of the cabin. A small room that could probably qualify as a closet sat empty. At least, it seemed that way.
The Upperlander opened up a small door to a log in the wall and threw me in. I landed on my hip as he slammed the door shut, causing a loud bang. I groaned in agony, clutching my side.
The log was hollow. It was one of the strangest things. The only lights were the small rays that shone through the cracks and holes in the log's walls.
I turned around to find hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at me. A shiver snaked down my spine. The thick darkness prevented me from seeing who the eyes belonged to, causing it to be even more creepy.
Then a little Minniemon girl stepped forward. She must’ve been about eleven or twelve. "I'll take this one!" she called to the others as she approached me. Just like that, the eyes turned around, heading back into the depths of the darkness.
My eyes adjusted after a few minutes, but it was still hard to see in the cave-like room. I could barely make out the details of the girl in front of me.
She had dark brown skin and deep hazel eyes that went well with her long, curly brown hair. A smile spread across her face as she came up to me, holding out her hand.
I looked into those brown eyes only to find a mix of emotions. Though her voice and smile portrayed happiness, her eyes had a very different story to tell. They were stained red as if she’d been crying for hours.
That feeling bubbled inside me. The same one that had told me Chrissy was a Link. Suddenly, I wasn't so upset about being thrown in this log. I was supposed to be here.
"Hi!" she gleamed as I gave her my hand to shake. "My name's Jenna. I’ll be the one to tell you all about what just happened."
Just then, a roll of thunder caused the entire wall to shake, leaving both of us in awkward positions from trying to stay on our feet. As quickly as it had started, the trembling stopped.
Would this storm ever calm?
"Hello, Jenna," I chuckled nervously as I took back my hand, still trying to grasp how I got there.
She picked up the ropes the man used to catch me, now strung across the floor, then gestured for me to follow her deeper into the log. Without hesitation, I was right next to her.
“See all these Minniemons?” she asked as she led me through crowds of hundreds and hundreds of people, some sitting by the walls, some standing. “We were all brought in here the same way you were. One by one.”
"I figured that." I stared at the crowds as we walked. "But what would an Upperlander want with us?"
Jenna sighed. "There’s one thing that every Minniemon can do. One thing that no Upperlander can do." She held her hand in front of her, and it became cased in a gentle green light.
"Grow plants," I finished for her.
"He captures us, then he'll come back and take a few of us to his fields. There, we're forced to work until we either get killed by a predator or we die of thirst." She shook her head at the horrible fact.
Even most Upperlanders had laws against this kind of thing. It was a well-known fact among us Minniemons that the Upperlanders only kept us alive because of our ability, but this was just plain cruel.