THE DIAMOND AND THE PEARL

Chapter 7

Caught

"So, what are we going to do," Mitch said, "go back or go on? Hey, we don't have much food, and we don't know how big the valley is."

" Well, he does have a point there," Martha said.

"But we can't turn back now!" April said. "We have to find Neleger."

They all turned and looked at Carl.

Carl looked at all their faces. Then he said, "Okay, I and April will go on; and, if you, Mitch and Martha, don't want to come along, you two can turn back now."

"No, I want to come," said Martha.

"I guess I'll come, too," said Mitch.

"Okay, just don't eat or drink anything you find in this valley. Is that understood?" Carl said, looking at all of them and Mitch in particular."

"Understood."

They all repeated, even Lolly, although Lolly repeated it three times in a row.

Carl picked up their food bundle and started off. They all followed without another word.

After walking for about an hour, they came to a wide river. on the other side of the river, there was what seemed to be muddy swamp.

"What's over there?" April asked, squinting so that she could see better.

"There," said Carl. "That's Melou, Joleren's kingdom, if you can call it a kingdom. That's the forbidden swamps you see there.,,

As April looked at it, a little shiver went down her spine. on the other side of the river, she could just make out the half of the island that was just a mass of gooey mud and bubbles. She was not so sure she liked being so close to their destination.

"So we're almost there," April said, trying to perk up.

"Yes, but first we have got to find a way across the river" Carl said.

"Swim across. You do know how to swim don't you?" Mitch said, looking at Carl.

Carl pointed to the ground, "That's why we can't swim. We can't take a chance."

Down on the ground, almost covered by grass, was a little stone. Engraved on it were the words "DEATH RIVER."

"Everything's death around here," Mitch Complained. "We can't even cross the river because we'll probably die if we do."

"We could try looking for a bridge," Martha suggested.

"Bridge! Bridge! Bridge!" Lolly squawked.

Carl shrugged doubtfully, but didn't refuse.

After about half an hour of walking east, they were all overjoyed to finally see a bridge up ahead.

As they drew closer to the bridge, they could see that it was very old. It was made out of big rocks, and in some areas there were big holes where the rocks had fallen out.

"Are you sure we should go across this bridge?" Mitch said. "What if one of the stones should give way underneath us?"

"We'll have to chance it," Carl said. "Unless you want to walk for another hour or so and try to find another bridge. And I don't think you want to do that because you complained more them I've heard in my whole life in the half an hour it took us to get this far."

Mitch nodded and hung his head.

"Go! Go! Go! Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!" Lolly squawked loudly flapping his wings hysterically.

So they started across the bridge. Although the bridge was very old, it seemed that it would hold them up at least. But that soon changed. Half-way across the bridge, one of the biggest rocks came loose and plummeted into the river below. April fell through the hole and grabbed ahold of the bridge just in time to save herself from also falling into the river.

She looked down and then had to look away as fear grabbed her. Below her the deadly water churned, and here and there jagged rocks stuck out of the water. If she fell, she would surely die.

Lolly saw April hanging on for her life and started to squawk loudly. "Help! Help! Help! Fall! Fall! Fall! April fall!" he squawked.

Carl whirled when he heard Lolly's squawking and in a glance took in the whole situation.

"The weeds," he yelled to Mitch as he started toward April. Mitch handed the weeds to Carl without hesitation.

Carl took the weeds and lowered them down through the hole until they were a little past April's dangling feet.

"Rap your legs around the weeds" Carl told April.

April did as Carl told her.

"Now," said Carl, "all of you take ahold of the weeds and we'll haul her up."

They all grabbed tightly onto the weeds even Lolly, and in a few minutes they had hauled April up again.

They crossed the remainder of the bridge without further mishap.

Melou was not a pretty island like Death Valley had been, but April had a feeling that it might be less deadly. On one side there was a huge, muddy, bubbling, swamp; and the other side was all sharply pointed, rocks, boulders and stones. April had the feeling ghosts might be lurking about.

"This place gives me the creeps," Martha said. "I'll be glad to get out of here."

"Has it always been like this?" April asked Carl.

"No," Carl said, "once Melou was one of the most beautiful islands around. And the people that lived here were loving and caring. Then Joleren came. He put a spell on the land and a deep sleep on the people of Melou. That spell and sleep will last until Joleren's death.

"But Joleren wasn't happy with just Melou," Carl continued. "He has two other islands besides Aerilyn that he plans to take over. And after that he will probably find others to take over as well."

"So, we don't only have to get Neleger," April asked with a shudder. "We have to kill him, too?"

Carl nodded gravely.

This news only made April more frightened than she already was.

She had felt like eyes had been watching her for some time now, watching every move she made, hearing every word she spoke. It did not help that now on top of everything else they had to kill Joleren, too.

Suddenly, they all stopped in their tracks, and stood statue still.

"Did you hear something?" Mitch asked.

Then they were all grabbed from behind. They were gagged and their hands tied behind their backs. Lolly was grabbed and stuffed in to a bird cage.

"Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!" Lolly squawked.

"Parrot," said a gruff voice, "if you don't stop that squawking, we'll just tie your beak shut." Somenone kicked the cage and sent it rolling a little ways down the road. There were some jeers and laughter. The man who had spoken went over and grabbed the cage so that it swung violently. Lolly stopped squawking and sat there miserably.

"Get a move on now," said another gruff voice from behind them.

April looked over at Carl, who motioned with his head for them to go forward. Before long they could see a huge, black tower. They were marched into the tower and straight up to a big man who sat on a throne as if he was a king. Indeed, he did look as if he might be a prince, although they all knew he wasn't. He wore a long black cloak that trailed to the floor. His tunic was also black with gold and red trim. He wore red pants. On his head he wore a black circlet. His hair was brown, and he had flashing, cold blue eyes.

It was those cold eyes that looked at them now and seemed to be measuring each one of them.

"Your names!" he said, in a voice that was as icy as his eyes.

Carl returned the man's cold stare.

"You don't need us to tell you our names," Carl said. "You know them as well as you know the fingers on your own two hands."

The man turned such an frigid glare on Carl that it made Martha shudder.

"I'm Martha," Martha said aloud.

Now, the man turned to her with a wicked grin on his lips.

"So the little lady has more sense then you," the man said, "and maybe, just maybe, I'll spare her life for that."

"I'll fight for Neleger," Carl suggested, with as much anger in his voice as ever.

The man (who must be Joleren, April realized) seemed to ponder this idea for a little while. Then he turned back to Carl.

"You have a deal," Joleren said "but remember, you will never win because I, I have Neleger." Then, he motioned for them to be taken away.

"Carl" said April, as they sat in one of the darkest dungeons in the tower, "What if you are killed?"

Carl just shrugged and said, "Get some sleep."

But April couldn't sleep; instead, she lay awake thinking about Joleren. Then, just as she was dropping off to sleep, it came to her.

"I knew that I'd seen Joleren somewhere. Of course, he was the man in the cave that Lolly and I saw him. We followed him through the forest."

She thought, "But I don't want to think of Joleren right now. Joleren's the last thing I want to think of. I'll think of something else. I wonder what the morning will bring. Will I ever get home? Will I ever see another spring day? Smell the flowers? Hear the birds sing? Feel the sun warm on my face? Will I ever talk with my mom and dad again, or ride Flicka? And what will happen happen if I do die? What will my mom and dad think? Well, I do know one thing. If I do get back safe and sound, I will never, never, never, ever again go looking for acorns."