The Quest for Paradise

It was hard, but even the tree trunk pressed against my face was shaking repetitively now. Something very big was coming closer and closer.

Then something touched me and I about let loose of the tree altogether. Somehow I managed to mostly keep from screaming and what sound that did escape was partially muffled by the small brown hand that was quickly pressed against my lips.

I stared into the dark eyes of a beautiful raven haired little Polynesian girl. Willing myself to tamp down the sudden terror her unexpected touch had evoked, I worked on reclaiming a better hold on the tree and getting my breath back under control.

The little girl held a finger up to her lips of the hand that had just been pressed against mine and made the universal sound to be silent. I nodded quickly as all throughout this startled moment the tree had never stopped the repetitive vibration that signaled the approach of a monster.

The little girl beckoned to me to move upward into the concealing leafy fronds of the tree, but I stared hopelessly at her as it occurred to me how I was still in plain view from the ground below. Wordlessly I shook my chained together hands and nodded to the branches between me and her.

Far from being put back the girl began folding the fronds of the tree that seemed in some ways reminiscent of a giant fern upward until she hugged a good many of them flat to the tree's trunk. Gaining some footing on the leftover stubs of bygone branches I moved upward.

My chained together hands passed over the little girl's body. She let go of her grip and one by one the fronds bent back down and offered us a faint shielding from those below.

From my perspective it seemed that we had attracted the notice of no one below including the sentries who seemed to have drifted off to sleep with the rest of the contingent of foreign expeditionary forces.

I noticed something then. The tree wasn't shaking anymore. My gaze met the girls and all the warning I needed was to see the way her eyes had widened in fear to know that things were about to get very bad!

A roar let loose that had even the loudest thunderclap beat in terms of intimidation. I crammed my eyes shut and reflexively grasped ahold of the little girl's body as if to protect her somehow.

It was really hard to keep from screaming as the jungle shook and ear shattering shrieks of soldiers completely overwhelmed sounded out from below. What was worse though was the sudden clack of teeth clamping together through something soft and squishy sounding.