Emily Rodda - The Lake of Tears

But at the same moment Lief’s sword came crashing down on the pole, cutting it through. Off balance and taken by surprise, Jod fell backwards, crashing into Jin. They went down in a tangle of lumpy, heaving flesh.

Jasmine sprang for them, her dagger raised.

“No, Jasmine!” shouted Lief, snatching the Ralad man from the ground and heaving him over his shoulder. “Leave them!”

He knew that now that he had discovered the secret of the stepping stones, speed would be far more likely to save them than fighting would.

Jin and Jod were clumsy, but very strong. If either Lief or Jasmine were wounded, it would be disastrous. The Ralad man was helpless, and Barda nearly so. They would both need help if they were to survive.

He began running back towards the rock, where Barda was anxiously waiting. After a moment’s hesitation, Jasmine followed, shouting after him. He ignored her until they had reached Barda’s side. Then he turned to her, panting.

“You are mad, Lief!” she cried angrily. “Now we are trapped with our backs to the quicksand! It is the worst possible place to stand and fight!”

“We are not going to stand and fight,” gasped Lief, pulling the Ralad man more firmly onto his shoulder. “We are going to cross to the other side.”

“But which leaves are we to trust?” Barda demanded. “Which mark the path?”

“None of them,” panted Lief. “The spaces between them are the path.”

He peered over Jasmine’s head and his heart thumped as he saw that Jin and Jod were already scrambling to their feet. “Jasmine, you go first!” he urged. “Then you can help Barda. I will follow with the Ralad man. Make haste! They will be upon us at any moment!”

But Barda and Jasmine just gaped at him.

“The spaces between the leaves are quicksand!” Jasmine shrilled. “You can see it. If we leap upon it we will sink and die!”

“You will not die!” Lief panted desperately. “You will die if you leap anywhere else! Do as I say! Trust me!”

“But how do you know it is safe?” mumbled Barda, rubbing his hand over his brow as he tried to clear his head.

“The Ralad man told me.”

“He has not said a word!” Jasmine protested.

“He pointed to this spot and then to his legs,” shouted Lief. “His legs are muddy to the knees. But the leaves have not been trodden down into the mud in the last hour. They are quite clean and dry.”

Still Barda and Jasmine hesitated.

Jin and Jod were coming. Jin’s green-white, bristled face was so swollen with rage that her tiny eyes had almost disappeared. Yellow tusks jutted from her open, shrieking mouth. She was rushing towards them, the axe raised high, ready to strike.

Lief knew there was only one thing he could do. He took a breath and, holding the Ralad man tightly, jumped straight for the first gap between the leaves.

He plunged straight through the green slime. With a stab of panic he wondered if he had been wrong. He heard Jasmine and Barda crying out in horror. But then, at last, his feet touched flat rock. He had sunk only to his ankles.

With an effort he wrenched his right foot free and stepped to the next gap. Again he sank to his ankles. But again he touched firm ground.

“Come on!” he shouted over his shoulder, and with relief heard Barda and Jasmine leaping after him.

Jin and Jod squealed in fury. Lief did not turn to look. The muscles of his legs strained as he wrenched each foot free of the sucking quicksand to move on. Another step. Another …

And finally there was only the opposite bank ahead of him. Grass. Trees towering above. With a final, huge effort, he jumped. His feet hit solid earth and, sobbing with relief, he fell forward, feeling the weight of the Ralad man rolling from his shoulder.

He crawled to his hands and knees and turned to look. Barda was close behind him. He was about to make the jump for the shore.

But Jasmine had stopped just behind him. She was crouching, slashing at something with her dagger. Had her foot become caught in a plant root? What was she doing?

The monster had not yet reached the edge of the moat, but Jin had raised the axe over her head. In terror, Lief realized that she was going to throw it.

“Jasmine!” he screamed.

Jasmine looked around and saw her danger. Like lightning, she stood, twisted, and jumped for the next stepping stone. The axe hurtled, spinning, towards her. It caught her on the shoulder just as she landed. With a cry she fell to her knees, slipping off the stone hidden under the green slime, toppling into the quicksand beyond. Greedily, it began to suck her down.

Barda turned, swaying. He bent and caught Jasmine’s arm, trying to haul her up beside him. But he was too weak to do more than stop her sinking further.

Howling in triumph, Jin and Jod lumbered forward. Any moment they would reach the big rock. And then …

“Leave me!” Lief heard Jasmine scream to Barda. “Take Filli — and leave me.”

But Barda shook his head, and Filli clung grimly to her shoulder, refusing to move.

Desperately, Lief looked around for something he could hold out to them, to pull them in.

A tree branch, a vine … but there were no vines, and the branches of the trees here were thick and grew high off the ground. Never could he cut one in time. If only they had not lost their rope in the Forests of Silence! They had lost everything there. All they had were the clothes they wore …

Their clothes!

With a gasp of anger at his own slow wits, Lief tore off his cloak. He ran to the edge of the quicksand, twisting and knotting the soft fabric so that it made a thick cord.

“Barda!” he shouted.

Barda turned a white, strained face to look at him. Holding tightly to one end of the twisted cloak, Lief threw the other. Barda caught it.

“Give it to Jasmine!” shouted Lief. “I will pull her in!”

Even as he spoke, he knew the task was almost hopeless. Jin and Jod had reached the big rock. They were jeering, gathering themselves to spring. In moments they would be on the stepping stones, reaching for Jasmine, pulling her back towards them, tearing the cloak from Lief’s hands. He would not be able to resist them.

Then, suddenly, like a miracle, a shrieking black shape plunged from the sky, straight for the monsters’ heads.

Kree!

Jin and Jod shouted in shock as the black bird attacked them, its sharp beak snapping viciously. It wheeled away from their flailing arms and dived again.

Lief heaved on the cloak with all his might. He felt Jasmine’s body move slowly towards him through the quicksand. Too slowly. Kree’s attack was continuing, but Jod was hitting at him with the broken pole now. Surely the bird could not survive for long.

Desperately, Lief pulled again, and then felt two hands close over his own. Barda had reached the bank and was adding his strength to the task. Together they heaved on the cloak, digging their heels into the soft ground. And as they heaved, Jasmine’s body moved, coming closer and closer to the bank.

She was beyond the last of the pale leaves and almost within reach of the bank when Kree shrieked. The lashing pole had caught him on the wing. He was fluttering crazily in the air, losing height.

Howling like beasts, free from the bird’s attacks at last, Jin and Jod leaped together onto the first stepping stone. Lief caught a glimpse of Jod’s metal teeth, gnashing in furious triumph.

Soon they will have Jasmine, he thought in despair. They will have her, and they will have us, too. They know we could not leave her. They know we will come after her, if they drag her away …