The Sceptre of Samnos

The Emerald Oracle - Part 5

      When they awoke, sunlight was streaming in through the eastern window. Thomas found that he'd rolled in his sleep to within an inch of the shaft and he reared back in alarm, scrambling to the wall and sitting with his back to it, his heart beating wildly. We must have been really tired to have been crazy enough to sleep in here, he thought. We should have slept outside. It's a miracle none of us fell down!

      After eating a light breakfast, they left the building and went outside. They found that the building they'd slept in was surrounded by a circular lawn which appeared to have been recently cut and was speckled with daisies. It was in turn surrounded by dense woodland, similar in floral content to the Overgreen Forest, and they fervently hoped that its faunal content was not also the same. The last thing they needed now was to run into a family of trolls or a tribe of goblins.

      The lawn was as wide as a city street all around the building, except towards the north east where it formed a long avenue running for about a hundred yards before turning a corner. “I suppose we follow the grass,” said Matthew. “It wouldn’t be there unless it led somewhere.”

     He took a couple of steps along the avenue, but Shaun put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “The most likely place for the Oracle to be is the centre of the island,” he said, pointing towards the trees that surrounded them. “That way.”

     “There’s no reason the Oracle should behave logically,” pointed out Jerry, though. “It’s just as likely to be at the end of the avenue as anywhere else.”

     “We’ve had to overcome one obstacle after another to get this far,” pointed out Thomas. “Why should it suddenly get easier now? Maybe that avenue leads to a trap. Whichever way we go, we need to be careful. Really careful.”

     “I say we go that way,” said Lirenna, pointing along the avenue. “See what’s down there first.”

     “But carefully!” warned Thomas, still shaken up by Lirenna’s narrow escape.

     “Yes, obviously,” agreed the demi shae. “Shall we go then?” She looked at Shaun, who nodded in reluctant agreement, and together they set off along the grassy avenue.

      When they reached the corner and went around it, though, they saw that he'd been right. After another fifty yards the avenue went right up to the edge of the cliff, over which a stiff breeze was blowing. Out of curiosity, they went up to within a few feet of the edge, and Shaun and Thomas got down on their stomachs to look out over the half mile drop.

      Thomas experienced a dizzying sense of vertigo and had to close his eyes until it passed. When he opened them again, the dizziness had passed and he was able to get a good look around. Their boat was still where they'd left it, safe and sound, although the tide had come in and it was now afloat, held in place only by its anchor. Still, unless a storm blew up it should be safe enough, he thought. He hoped.

      On the horizon he could just see the tip of Arn's mountain, and behind it, Greenwing Mountain. A few other islands were also visible, and he realised that the island of the Oracle would be clearly visible from them if it were not invisible. Incredible, he thought, that they could live so close to it and be totally unaware of its existence. The Oracle had hidden itself well.

      “Come on, we're wasting time here,” said Shaun, sliding back a few feet and standing up. "Being so close to the edge makes me nervous."

     Thomas felt the same, and he suddenly remembered the boulders lying at the bottom of the cliff. The cliff crumbles sometimes, he realised with horror, and he leapt backwards, nearly bumping into Diana. He mumbled an apology as they set off back to the building.