Eyrie

Eyrie

Queenbird Eyrie. The name alone shot fear into her heart. Everyone knew that the Eyrie was surrounded by a pungent swamp. Even if you made it past the swamp, which was unlikely, the mountain was filled with maze-like tunnels that were impossible to navigate. Yet, it was where she had to go. To find it.
The swamp covered most of the lowland before the mountain%u2019s ominous shadow. The run-down routes through the marshy terror were barely visible, dark mist billowing through the wilderness. Her eyes widened with shock. She had heard, but had never seen the true terror of the marsh.
She took a step forward. Fine. She took another step forward, straight down into the marsh, which splashed up around her already submerged ankles. As she pulled her ankle out, she felt something brush past her shoulders, but when she turned to look, it had gone.
The path along the swamp was dark and damp, the air heavy with dust. It was long and windy, winding around the more dangerous areas of swampland, where, even now, she could see the wide-eyed terror of the floating bodies, could hear the shrieks and shrills of terror as they floundered through the squelching mud and water that reached up to her waist easily.
As she continued along her path, the swamp became darker, and gloomier. It was getting towards night time, and the moon cast long shadows from the surrounding trees, and, in a state of exhaustion, she did not truly realise what they were. The shadows cast a duskier appearance to what was already a spooky scene.
A bird croaked above her head, and she turned to look. A raven swooped above her , turned, and flew straight at her like an arrow, causing her to plunge to the ground for safety. She fell forward, jarring her knees on the solid floor beneath them, and plunging her hand far into the marsh ahead.
She got shakily to her feet. As she pulled her hand out of the sticky marshland, she also pulled out a skeleton, whose bony head rocked angrily towards her, before disintegrating into her shaking palm. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and terror, as she finally understood the warnings of danger ahead that she was being given. She stood still, pondering just how much she wanted the red glow she had seen in her dreams and memories. She wondered if that light was worth her life.
The powdered bone trickled through her open fingers. It was this sight that heightened her resolve. The sky was lighting up as the dawn lit the red sky, casting a pinkish glow to flash eerily across the swamp, and lighting up her path.
All at once, she saw the end of the path, that led to the eyrie. She rushed forward, remembering too late, that there was a path to follow. She screeched to a sudden halt, momentum throwing her forward. She caught herself just in time to stop her falling, head first, into the place where many others before her had met their death, and where many more were likely to.
The path doubled back, winding around the same parts of swamp she had bypassed before. It seemed strange to her that there was no straight path, yet it would have seemed strange for there to be one. Nevertheless, there was a path she could follow, and she ploughed on. As she returned to the last leg, finished with the final bypass, it seemed to her to take ages.
The gravel behind her shifted slightly. Crunch! She jumped around, to see what had cracked the twig, but it, whatever it was, had already gone. Her eyes glanced at the cover, none of it moving, and then to the path, where, at a glance, she could see a shadowy shape diving into cover beyond her reach.
It seemed like a long while had passed before she reached the end of the swamp. Ahead stood the great Queenbird Eyrie, in it%u2019s full glory in the blazing sunlight of day.
It was high, piercing the sky with it%u2019s point. That was the fist thing she noticed. It was also obviously unscaleable, due to the large amounts of slippery lichen coving the great height ahead of her. It was a majestic height to behold, this mass of rock that towered miles above her head, but all her feelings were of trepidation towards the task ahead of her.
There was little black hole at the base of the mountain, which she assumed was the entrance to the maze. What lay beyond? She did not know, but she did know one thing. It was not likely to be good. After all, the stories pointed to a monster living in the shadows beyond, or inside, the mountain. She hoped that these stories were just made up.
She stepped inside. The darkness swallowed her whole. She could not see anything. She could not hear anything. Maybe this was what it was like to be dead. Then she remembered her torch that lay unused in her pocket. She pulled it out, turned it on, and blinked at her surroundings.
She appeared to be inside what seemed to be a stone corridor, except it was nowhere near as well made. The stone was rough, a sandy colour, and had been very roughly shaped into pillars. The roof of the cavern was very low, when she moved she could feel it scraping along her head. The base of the cavern was a slightly duller colour, and by her feet, she could see the imprint of a lonely soul who had wandered here before. She could also see their body, stiff and frozen, lying face down, covered in moss.
Left. The path curved sharply. She had no idea where she was going. Maybe she was going the wrong way. Maybe she was headed towards the lair of the monster.
Right. She stared at the path ahead of her. She was sure that this path was the path that she found the body on. Her fears were confirmed when a sphere of light enveloped her, and the exit loomed eerily ahead.
She screamed, and it echoed, bouncing back at her. Something had brushed across the top of her face. She fumbled in her pockets for her matches, as she had dropped her torch near the beginning. She stuck one, and looked. She sighed with relief as she saw a dead bat on the floor. Then she noticed that it had been shot.
She glanced around. The dark figure was running past her, something shiny in his hands. He was wearing a black top, black trousers and black shoes. As he was not wearing a hat, she could see his blond hair glinting in the flickering light. His dark cape was slung over one shoulder so that he didn%u2019t trip over, and the rest of his outfit seemed designed for speed. He seemed so insistent to hinder her progress through the eyrie that he seemed almost out to kill her.
She turned left, again. Her heart pounded louder than her feet clicked on the cold, hard floor. Her eyes were wary of her surroundings, and she kept a sharp vigil for the shady character that was following her.
Her face was illuminated by her lit match. Her eyes glinted in the semi-light that filled the cavern. Her face shone with renewed hope as she walked down the narrow cave path that went on forever. The click of her shoes on the floor was now the only noise that punctuated the silence that was growing louder and heavier in the air surrounding her.
The path grew steeper up the mountain. The rocks were starting to crumble in front of her, and it seemed that an avalanche was imminent. A few rocks came crashing down on the path ahead of her, and they crunched under her already noisy feet.
She crushed the rocks under her feet, and the powder tipped down the ever steep tunnels that created Queenbird Maze. She was reaching the top of the mountain, the light in the tunnel was getting brighter, as if she was arriving back at the entrance, except that she had never seen this tunnel before.
The light was getting brighter with every step she took, as she climbed up the tunnel, which was now practically vertical. Her arms ached as she hauled herself up the rocky face that now faced her. She felt as though her legs would drop off, and she wondered how long it had been since she last slept. She wanted to curl up and fall asleep at the top of this rock. Her eyes kept closing.
Finally, though it had seemed like ages, she reached the top of the rocky face. She gasped as light filled the air around her and swam, making patterns against the dark rock on either side of her.
The view from the top of the eyrie was superb, taking all her breath away. From here, she could even see her house, which was now where she wanted to be. The swamp did not seem so scary now, compared to how she had found the mountain, and from up here, she could not even see what she had been scared of. Even now, scared as she was, she laughed at her own fear.
A red-orange glow filled the air around her. The orb that stood in front of her was causing it. Finally, what she had seen in her dreams was in front of her, and what a beauty it was. She still did not understand why she had dreamt about it, when she had never seen it before, but now she knew that she wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything. The light filled her mind with ideas of what she could do with this. This orb obviously had powers beyond her understanding. She just wondered what these powers were.
She walked forward, to the edge to pick it up. As she bent down, she felt two hands on her shoulders, shoving her off the edge of the cliff. Her bones crunched as she landed on the rocky outcrop below. He smiled, and bent to pick up the orb. His fingers clutched around the blood red stone, and it let out a note, higher than the shrieks and shrills in the marshes, higher than her scream. He was surrounded by the glow, and once this glow went down, all that anyone could see left of him was a pile of ashes. The orb laughed evilly, and sent the dreams to it%u2019s next victim.