CHAPTER FOURTEEN Chewing a Little Fat with the Mind Readers An assortment of pathways led up and into the mountain. Some were dead ends, riddled with monsters that roamed in hordes amid the shadows, channeling Gordok’s magic and drawing so deeply on his power that I could feel it like a brewing storm preparing to lash out with lightning and howling gusts of wind. Others were misleading routes that continued into nothingness. But Aragon knew the winding trails and carefully guided us around the tight, dizzying loops, clear of the wild windswept shrubs and lanky trees that looked more like torture victims with gaping lesions. As we scrambled up, at least half a dozen battles raged on the hill. Winged beasts circled through the smoky air, snatching up unsuspecting creatures and hauling them away. A cyclops wearing a …show more content…
Several knives hung from her belt. A quiver was strapped to her back, and her bow looked like a serious weapon with its gleaming carved wood. She embraced me without crushing me, until I groaned, “Crushing me.” “Sorry,” she said, giggling while wiping a tear from her eye. “Aragon, I haven’t seen you in, like, forever.” “Matilda.” Aragon smiled. “What are you doing here?” “Well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I’m a part-time commando, and I teach baton and tambourine on the weekends. Anyway, enough about me. I’m oh so desperate to hear what’s happening in your life. You must stay for tea so we can catch up.” “Sorry, Matilda,” I sighed. “We have no time for tea we’re on quest.” “We won’t allow Gordok to destroy everything that’s worth living for,” Mason explained. “We’d rather have our eyes plucked out by a thousand vultures than see him triumph.” Yeah, right, I thought. Easy for him. I was the one the goblin wanted to kill. “Oh, dear.” Matilda mashed her scaly paws together. “Doomsday and destruction . . . how
By noon they had begun to climb toward the gap in the mountains. Riding up through the lavender or soapweed, under the Animas peaks. The shadow of an eagle that had set forth from the line of riders below and they looked up to mark it where it rode in that brittle blue and faultless void. In the evening they came out to upon a mesa that overlooked all the country to the north... The crumpled butcher paper mountains lay in sharp shadowfold under the long blue dusk and in the middle distance the glazed bed of a dry lake lay shimmering like the mare imbrium. (168)
Onward we walk; my master and I, until the sight of a small footbridge stops us in our tracks. With its haphazard stones that form a conglomerate arch upon which to cross, I freeze in fear. Directly beneath the bridge, I hear the interjections of water snakes hissing and slithering through the mosquito infested water. Virgil takes the lead and tests the bridge's sturdiness, signaling for me to follow. The bridge wobbles beneath us with each step taken. Its slipperiness and lack of walls to prevent the looming creatures under the water from consuming me strike fear in my heart. Crossing the bridge, I am met by the base of a mountain, fashioned with a tall, narrow opening that fades to eternal black. I enter. A rhythmic thumping grows louder
Prologue P1: Ruins in Ladrian Forest Bryne Village at the foothills of Mount Ladrian A large, majestic mountain stood tall, reaching high up into the firmament piercing the clouds. As the forest that draped across it from the middle of the mountain to its foothills started to come alive with the singing of birds, and the far reaching calls of other wildlife. At the very edge of the forest a long, meandering river that flowed calmly during this summer morn could be seen snaking out from the forest. leading to a large village nestled among the foothills of Mount Ladrian.
The air was fresh and chilly. The trail came out of the forest and we joined a logging road and continued our climb. We re-entered the forest and continued to climb...yes we were gaining altitude quickly and soon our hearts were thumping! This was no longer a gentle climb.
“The dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind,”(325).
The drive to cross the Kentucky border had taken hours and hours of strenuous patience to finally arrive in another state. The view was by far country like as hints of cow manure could be smelled far from a distance. We drive through small towns, half the size of our hometown of Glen Ellyn had been the biggest town we've seen if not smaller. The scenery had overwhelmed us, as lumps of Earth from a great distance turned to perfectly molded hills, but as we got closer and closer to our destination the hills no longer were hills anymore, instead the hills had transformed to massive mountains of various sizes. These mountains surrounded our every view as if we had sunken into a great big deep hole of green pastures. Our path of direction was seen, as the trails of our road that had followed for numerous hours ended up winding up the mountainous mountains in a corkscrew dizzy-like matter.
“No!” Wash tried to yell but only slipped to the ground panting in pure panic. The world seemed to spin. I know,
As the two men hiked, they came upon many rugged trails and hills that were difficult to overcome, however they did it together and kept moving on. The view from the trail was beautiful with many places to stop and admire the view, but they couldn’t seem to get above the canopy of the trees to truly take in the whole view. The man that strove to see the beautiful scenery from an unobstructed viewpoint was trying in every way to get above what was around him to see the true beauty of the mountains.
why she was upset. “Sorry Kugo,” Brianna apologized. Brianna sat back down right next to Riruka who had finally let go of her leg. Kugo’s mouth dropped.
As I inched my way toward the cliff, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the coldness of the rock beneath my feet when my toes curled around the edge in one last futile attempt at survival. My heart was racing like a trapped bird, desperate to escape. Gazing down the sheer drop, I nearly fainted; my entire life flashed before my eyes. I could hear stones breaking free and fiercely tumbling down the hillside, plummeting into the dark abyss of the forbidding black water. The trees began to rapidly close in around me in a suffocating clench, and the piercing screams from my friends did little to ease the pain. The cool breeze felt like needles upon my bare skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps. The threatening mountains surrounding me seemed to grow more sinister with each passing moment, I felt myself fighting for air. The hot summer sun began to blacken while misty clouds loomed overhead. Trembling with anxiety, I shut my eyes, murmuring one last pathetic prayer. I gathered my last breath, hoping it would last a lifetime, took a step back and plun...
“You are to look upon this grim opening as travelers on foot confront a steep, rugged mountain: beyond it lies a most enchanting plain which they appreciate all the more for having toiled up and down the mountain first,” (Boccaccio, pg. 7).
"Ex-excuse me, Princess," he stuttered. "But there's, uh, someone waiting for you by the front doors."
"... she started pawing and ripping at him with her fingers, scratching his back and face..."
In the distance, the trail along which I had been walking wound through a thick velvet fog. Lining the path were tall trees that stoo...
Going up the mountain in the lift with the mountains leering over you like a huge dragon ready to pounce and the tiny houses below getting smaller and smaller as they disappear, passing through fluffy white cotton wool like clouds you must remember to hold on tight as the lift comes to a sudden abrupt jolt just before it reaches its destination at nearly the top of the mountain.