THE HIDDEN LEDGE
689 Words
Since he was dangling upside-down being wedged in its mouth, the screams almost blew his brains open. Grendale pressed hard onto his ears to muffle the earsplitting sound. Due to the screams the plants mouth opened up a little wider and , " Aaaahh". Grendale fell right into its mouth and .. 'PLUNK!!'.. got stuck in its screaming throat. The snapper whirled about to dislodge him from its throat making him feel nauseous and even tried to swallow him. But Grendale firmly held on to its fleshy-pink-thing (uvula) with his hands and using his feet started pushing away at the walls. The pain was unbearable for the snapper whirled more violently. Unable to swallow him nor able to spit him out, the snapper swung around in pain until it finally snapped from its roots and fell down with a loud..'THUMP!'..
"Aaaaaarggh", roared Grendale and tore open the throat of the snapper and emerged out with difficulty completely covered in fleshy-plant-goo. Meanwhile the roots were also loosening up and coming down releasing its trapped prisoners. Both the prince and the golem dropped to the ground. Breathing heavily Grendale had taken a few faltering before the world spun and went black. Seeing him faint Goltimer and the prince jumped to their feet and ran to him. Dropping by his side Koda took Grendale's head onto his lap and shook him. " Grendale! Grendale wake up. Grendale please, wake up". It took a lot of shaking to finally wake up Grendale. Slowly opening his eyes he looked into the tearful face of the prince and then of the concerned looking Goltimer.
" Ow my head. What happened? Are you both okay?...... or are we all dead? ". Koda laughed lightly and wiped his eyes. "No you i***t. None of us have died. You did it. You saved us." Grendale fell back with relief. Goltimer was also smiling. After a while all three got up and cleanly stepping over the carcass of the split snapper proceeded further. Ambling ahead for a while the trio came up to the portal platform. Grendale stepped up onto the stone base and just as expected the two blue lamps on either side of the archway lit with flames. Goltimer was staring at it with a mesmerized sight, whereas the prince was amazed by it at first but soon got bored and was looking around when he noticed something that was out of ordinary. " Hey Grendale.", he called out to him , " Is that normal for a wall to be of a different shade than that the walls around it?". Grendale looked at him with a puzzled expression unable to process his question. " What?", he asked clearly confused.
Pointing to another platform carved right above the entrance tunnel in the exact opposite of the portal place, he showed a wall which was suspiciously darker than the walls around it. "Yes, it certainly seems suspicious." remarked Grendale, " Come lets check it out". The three jumped down and went nearer to the ledge. " Its carved right above the tunnel, no wonder it was so well hidden", Goltimer exclaimed. " Ya, thats true but how do we climb up there", Grendale asked craning his neck to look for an entry. " Lets search, maybe we'll find a way" , Koda suggested. The three searched everywhere but was of no use, the ledge of the platform was too high for reach..
Then Goltimer suggested a slightly risky but a worthy idea. " How about this? If we can't find a way to go in then i'll toss you both to the ledge. You both can go check it out. I'll wait here." Both shouted , "NO" in unison. " Absolutely not. If we go we go together only. We ain't leaving anyone behind", finished Grendale. " But..but", started Goltimer. It was the prince who interrupted and scolded, " No buts. Grendale is right. We'll find a way out. Don't be hasty."
What happens next? Will they find a way in? What could be the mystery of the suspicious wall?
Find out in the next episode.
Stay tuned.
- Writer
