Tree of Life Book III

Part I - Chapter 07

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART I

CHAPTER 07

On and on they marched.

Nicole could tell they were headed out on a new path and in a different direction from before, when it had only been Ella and herself on the trail creeping up the side of the mountain. This one was leading them to the far side of the peak.

She glanced to her left and right, at the guards, one on either side of her. A stone's throw ahead was the leader of the company, the same man who had come up and addressed Ella at the beginning and had bent down on one knee and called her his princess. To the rear was the rest of their little band, including Ella, who had fallen in directly behind her.

Ella picked up her pace and caught up to her. "Dr. B…?"

Nicole didn't answer. She kept marching.

~~~

Back in the stony clearing, it had only been the terse, initial greeting. After that, the man got to his feet again, approached Ella and whispered words into her ear.

She nodded.

And that was all.

Ella gestured with her hand.

The rest of them took their places, the ones they were in now and that's how their journey began.

For a moment there, Nicole toyed with the idea of fighting them, but Ella came to her and said, "Dr. B., if you want to see Wendy, this is the fastest way."

Nicole chewed on this. And then she fell in line too.

~~~

Before long, the group came to a waterfall. Nicole had not seen this before when she was with Ella only, even from a distance, because they had always stayed to the north side of the mountain as they climbed. This was on the south side, away from the sun.

Here, halfway up the mountain was a grassy plateau, where the fallen water had gathered itself into a lake, a giant one, some five hundred yards across in diameter. On the far side, a river ran off in the other direction to guide the water down the mountain and into the forest, and then onward until it met up with the ocean many, many miles away.

The band of them had now arrived at the base of the falls and stopped about two hundred feet from the edge of the lake. Nicole took a moment and scanned about her. She lifted her gaze and traced the line of white back up toward its source.

The tumbling water structure was immense. The height of it was at least a thousand feet, if not more. The thundering of the tide as it smashed into the lake over yonder drowned out all sound that otherwise might have crept into her ears.

Right in front of where they had stopped, carved into the face of the stone by the side of the falls was a series of statues, gigantic figures of men and women with swords and crowns and stars and suns twirling about their heads. A zig-zagging stairway had been chiseled out beside the figures, snug between these and the water, so one could climb up and be at once welcomed into the bosom of these royal gentry of the past.

At a signal from her captors, Nicole began her ascent.

The stairway was narrow. It only allowed for a progression in single file. Ella remained right behind Nicole.

Along the rise up the stairway, Nicole was only twenty feet from the falls. If she took a diving leap from here, no one could have stopped her. She was just thinking this when she noticed something strange.

The water was hot. On an odd picking up of the breeze when it would waft over her way, the spray that drifted along with it was warm. It was warm on her face and arms.