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 …
But Jasmine had twisted her head to look over her shoulder. It seemed she was thinking only of Kree. “Kree!” she called. “Get to the other side! Make haste!”
The bird was dazed and in pain, but he obeyed the call. He fluttered across the moat, one wing barely moving, his feet almost touching the green slime. He reached the bank and fell to the ground.
Lief and Barda hauled on the cloak, their arms straining. One more pull and Jasmine would be near enough for them to reach her. One more pull …
But Jin and Jod were charging across the moat towards them. The bright patches of green slime between the pale leaves marked their path clearly. They did not hesitate. Already they were almost in the center.
As Lief watched in horror they lunged forward once more, roaring savagely, their clawed hands reaching for their prey.
And then their faces changed, and they shrieked. Their feet had plunged through the green slime — but found no safe ground beneath. Bellowing in shock and terror, they sank like stones, their arms thrashing frantically as their great weight drove them down.
And in seconds it was all over. The horrible screams were smothered. They were gone.
Dazed and trembling, Lief reached out and grasped Jasmine’s wrist. Barda took the other, and together they dragged her up onto the bank. Her injured shoulder must have given her great pain, for she was white to the lips, but she did not murmur.
“What happened?” Barda gasped. “How did they sink? There were stepping stones there — we trod on them ourselves! How could they vanish?”
Jasmine managed a grim smile. “The stepping stones did not vanish,” she muttered. “They are under the leaves I cut and moved. The monsters trod in the wrong places — the places where the leaves were floating before. I knew they would be too stupid, and too angry, to notice that the pattern had changed. They just went from one bright green patch to the next, as they always had.”
Lief stared at the moat. He had not noticed the change to the leaf pattern, either. Even now he could not quite remember exactly how it had been.
Wincing with pain, Jasmine pulled out the tiny jar that she wore attached to a chain around her neck. Lief knew what the jar held: a little of the Nectar of Life that had cured Barda when he was injured in the Forests of Silence.
He thought that Jasmine was going to use it on her gashed shoulder, but instead she crawled to where Kree lay. The black bird struggled feebly on a patch of bare, sandy earth, his beak gaping and his eyes closed. One wing was spread out uselessly.
“You did not go home, wicked Kree,” Jasmine crooned. “You followed me. Did I not tell you there would be danger? Now your poor wing is hurt. But do not fear. Soon you will be well.”
She unscrewed the lid of the jar and shook one drop of the golden liquid onto the broken wing.
Kree made a harsh, croaking sound and blinked his eyes. He moved a little. Then, all at once, he stood up on his feet, fluffed his feathers, and spread both wings wide, flapping them vigorously and squawking loudly.
Lief and Barda laughed with pleasure at the sight. It was so good to see Kree well and strong again — and just as good to see Jasmine’s radiant face.