My arm pulses hot, white pain, which sears through me. I let out an earth-shattering scream, and my body falls limp.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Wyatt
I was hoping to think of another escape plan when I got back to the hut, that looks unlikely now. “Um… what exactly is this trial?” I glance at their faces expectantly, but no one answers. Caelan simply gestures towards the far left of the valley, over the small wooden bridge.
Anxiously, I follow Caelan with Arel at my side. Going over in my head the vast number of trials I can come up with: fighting pits, ogre races, and wolf taming.
In each, I would die.
We finally arrive in the shadow of an enormous tree, the biggest I have ever seen. Its girth is at least four times my height. Its dark brown bark, shimmers in the sunlight like an iridescent mirage.
I look around the tree, wondering what the trial is, nothing around gives any hints.
A sparkling glimmer whirls around the bark, luring me in. Tentatively, I approach. I reach my hand forward, and the glow warps into a tall wooden door with an inscription on the top.
“With no handle and no key, how do you propose to open me?” I read the inscription repeatedly before turning to Caelan.
I point to the inscription. “What is that supposed to mean?” My eyes dart back and forth between the door and Caelan.
“Simple,” Caelan says, reaching forward, knocking on the door three times.
The door rumbles in a deep laugh as a face appears on the wood. “Welcome, who do we have today?”
Caelan answers the door like he’s talking to an old friend while I sit there in awe at the talking door.
The door's eye narrows on me. “Well? What is your name? It’s rude to ignore a Chestnut Tree, or at least this one.” The face scowls at me.
“I’m sorry, I’ve never spoken to a tree before.” This is absurd, and now I’m apologising to a tree. If Andi could see me now, she would never let me live this down. “Wyatt.”
“Wyatt… are you ready? What do you call a door that’s a great actor?”
The tree’s eyebrows raise, if that’s even possible. I turn to look at Caelan and Arel, they don’t seem phased by this at all, they watch me with their arms crossed, waiting.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
The chestnut tree grumps, “Have you never heard a joke before?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” There I go again, apologising to a damn tree. “I don’t know. What do you call a door that’s a great actor?”
The tree snorts, the branches above shake and leaves fall to the ground. Birds fly away in annoyance, angrily chirping as they go.
“A dramatic entrance.” The tree door bursts into a fit of laughter, its eyes on me.
Arel nudges me, and I force a chuckle, slapping my knee. “That’s a good one.” I pretend to wipe away tears. The door swings open whilst continuing to giggle. I glance at Caelan and Arel as they walk through the door, “So what’s the next trial?”
“You’ve not even started yet.”
If someone had told me last week, I would be walking through a tree into a strange mystical place, I would have laughed in theirface. Honestly, this is crazy. I follow behind Caelan and Arel into a tunnel through the tree’s open door.
My eyes take a moment to adjust to the darkness. Plants scale the walls, in radiant blues, purples, and oranges, lighting up the dim cave. My jaw drops, trying to comprehend how all this can be hidden within a tree, even one as big as that old chestnut.
The walls are an inky blue with luminous lantern-like plants hanging from the cave walls, lighting up the narrow paths. Small trees with pink-red leaves, hills, and waterfalls in this strange, extensive cave; with identical wooden bridges connecting the ridges. Multicoloured fruits grow from bushes and plants, in distorted colours, purple apples, red bananas, blue oranges. My mind is warped trying to make sense of this weird world.
I turn to Caelan and Arel, who remain beside the open door of the tree. “Welcome to your first trial,” Caelan says. “There is an exit further into the cave, which you will need to find if you want to leave. This door will shut and remain closed. You cannot open it from the inside, and I wouldn’t try if I were you.”
I look to Arel for help, surely, I can’t be locked in this cave, what if I never find the way out?