Cavern Of Fear by Emily Rodda

Author:Emily Rodda [Rodda, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781921989643
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Published: 2002-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

12 - Mysteries

Barda bent over the hole, roaring furiously. But Lief, rapidly disappearing into the gloom, merely shouted to him to follow. Fury plainly had no intention of returning to ground level either. The chain around Barda’s wrist was pulling violently.

There was only one thing to do. Barda scrambled into the hole himself, cursing under his breath. What was the boy doing? What had he seen in this foul burrow?

Dirt and rotted leaves showered his face as he lowered himself through the earth, clinging to the tree roots that netted the sides of the hole. His feet scrabbled for footholds. His hands ached. When he looked up, he could see only a faint glimmer of light.

‘Take care!’ Lief’s muffled voice floated upwards.

‘You are a fine one to speak of taking care!’ Barda shouted back.

A moment later, his feet broke into open space. He kicked out wildly, searching for a foothold. Something grabbed his ankles, and he yelled.

‘I have you!’ Lief called. ‘Wait!’

With relief, Barda felt his feet guided to a firm surface. Slowly he lowered himself out of the tunnel.

The first thing he saw was Lief’s face, wild with excitement and streaked with dirt. Then he moved his eyes downward. And stared.

He was looking down at a vast space filled with thousands of huge grey poles that stretched from floor to ceiling. A gurgling stream lined with pale ferns wound its way through the poles, disappearing into the dimness.

Then he realised what he was seeing, and his jaw dropped.

‘Why, they are giant trees!’ he breathed. ‘This is a forest! A forest beneath a forest! How could this be?’

‘I think the vine weaver birds must have caused it,’ said Lief, touching the matted web of branches and vines above his head. ‘Once they lived in the tops of these trees, weaving their nests and eating berries. Over time, the forest canopy became so thick and tangled that it was almost solid. The berries the birds dropped did not fall to the ground, but were caught in old nests, and the forks of branches.’

‘So the seeds took root, watered by the rain and young trees grew on top of the old,’ said Barda. ‘And after hundreds of years…’

‘After hundreds of years,’ Lief finished for him, ‘there was no sign of the old forest left. No sign of the valley in which it grew. Only the trees, the moths and the birds above knew the secret.’

Barda became aware that Fury was tugging once more on her chain. She had moved down the tree as far as she could, and was now rearing and scrabbling in frustration because she could go no further.

‘We still do not know if Jasmine and Glock are here, or just Glock’s spider,’ he said.

Lief grinned. ‘What trees and birds know, Jasmine soon knows also,’ he said. ‘She and Glock have found this place, there is no doubt. Look!’

He pointed. And there, tied around the trunk of the tree and dangling almost to the ground, was a rope.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.