Chapter 4 - Waterfall

The boys paddled swiftly down the river, the light of the full moon illuminating their path. Only occasionally did a passing cloud obscure their view of the water. Cable was in the rear of the canoe, charting the course. Andres paddled away in the front.

Canoeing was second nature to these boys. They'd spent countless hours in nearby rivers and ponds--sometimes with their parents knowledge, and sometimes without it. Probably their most memorable journey had been when they had gone out at night, paddled out to the middle of Tolman's Pond, and tried having a bamboo joust while standing in the canoe. They'd been quite proud of the fact that they had battled for a full ten minutes before they knocked each other into the pond. They thought they'd gotten away with it when they paddled home and snuck into bed without their parents' noticing. But their mother suspected something the next morning, when their beds were dripping wet. The boys, who were not exactly obsessive about neatness, had just jumped in bed and slept in their sopping clothes. Andres' excuse--that the summer heat must have just caused excessive sweating in the night--didn't quite fool their mother. But neither she nor their father had been nearly as upset with them as they would have expected.

After the boys had paddled for awhile, Andres finally broke the silence. "Hey Cable," he half-whispered. (Andres had no sense of what a real whisper was. His half-whisper was typically as loud as casual adult chatter. But Andres thought he'd been as quiet as a spring breeze.)

Cable jumped just a little, gently rocking the canoe. "What, Andres?" he replied.

"Did you see the scar on the man's face--the one that carried us to the river?"

"Yes, I did. Can you believe it? That was Ronaldus! The blind man!"

"I guess he wasn't so blind after all. I think he's been watching us for years."

Cable thought about this. He said, "Here's what is funny. Remember all the times we used to sit back and watch him from a distance, to see if he'd stumble into a ditch or something? Well, he was actually watching us! All this time, we figured we were the ones knowing what was going on, and he was just walking around without a clue. And it turns out that he was the one that really knew what was going on, and we were the ones without a clue."

Andres thought about that for a minute. Then he asked, "Are you scared?"

"Well, sort of. But not really, I guess."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it's like this. Sure, I'm a little bit scared. I mean, we just had a guy shoot arrows at us, right? And our dad got shot. That is all a little bit scary. But the funny thing is, I'm not nearly as scared as I probably ought to be."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Why do you think that is?"

"You know, Andres, I'm not really sure. But do you remember what Dad used to say? He always said, 'When you're doing what you're supposed to be doing--what you are meant to be doing--then there is no need to be afraid.' I never really knew what he meant at the time. You know Dad: he'd always say stuff that was deep, and we'd say that we didn't get it, and he'd say that we'd get it some day. Well, now I get it."

"Hmmm..." said Andres thoughtfully. Now his brother was getting deep, just like his dad. It took him a moment to process it. He pondered as he paddled. Finally, he said, "Are you saying that we are supposed to be paddling down a river in the middle of the night with no idea of when we'll ever get home?"

"Yep, I guess that's what I'm saying. I mean, I'm like you. I have no idea what is around every bend in the river. We've never even seen this river before, Andres! But whenever I start to shake inside, I remember--we're on a mission for the king! How many kids ever get to do that?"

"None, I guess. Just us. Lucky us." Andres said it, but didn't quite believe it. He paused, then asked another question. "Do you think we're ready for this?"

"Probably not. But then again, look at us. We're paddling down a river at night. We've done this a hundred times before. So we're ready for this part, anyway. Will we be ready for the next part of this journey? I don't know. I'm not sure you can ever be completely prepared for a secret mission for the king himself. But I suppose we're more ready than any other kids."

"Why do you suppose we got this mission? Wouldn't grown-ups do a better job at finding this lost prince?"

"Maybe," Cable replied. "But maybe the reason we got asked to do it was because nobody else was willing."

"Yeah, well I wasn't exactly willing this morning." Andres secretly felt guilty about his father's getting shot. If he'd not read that note and gone to sleep like Cable, then he might have gotten out of bed quicker and they might have left before their enemy had arrived.

"It's okay, Andres," said Cable. It was unusual for him to be in such a forgiving mood.

"One more thing, Cable," asked Andres. "Do you think this is safe?"

"Probably not. But remember when Mom and Dad would talk about us sometimes? We'd be in bed, and they for some reason figured we were asleep and weren't listening. And Mom would tell Dad that we needed to be watched more closely. And Dad said, 'Hannah, there is more to life than just being safe. Those boys will do great things some day, and it'll be because they did spend all their time worrying about being safe.' Maybe he knew that some day we'd have to do something like this."

Andres figured it was time to stop talking and start absorbing the wisdom of his brother. So they boys descended into silence once again.

Whoooooo......whoooooo.....

The gentle call of an owl startled the boys. They looked up and to the right. At the top of a tree, silhouetted against the moonlight, was an owl whose size was strikingly similar to the one they'd seen the previous afternoon. Andres stopped paddling and stared. Cable glanced, but resumed paddling.

Cable soon became very worried. About 50 yards ahead of them the river came to a fork. Ronaldus had never mentioned anything about a fork. Cable panicked. "Which way should we go?" he asked Andres, a hint of urgency in his voice.

Before Andres could reply, the owl alighted from the tree and veered off to the right. This was all Andres needed. "Let's go right, Cable. That owl has followed us. I suppose it just makes sense that we should follow him."

The boys steered right and continued their journey. Mile after mile they paddled. The boys sank deep into their thoughts once again.

After about 30 minutes of silence, a gentle noise in the distance caught Cable's ear. It was the sound of water tumbling over rocks. Cable knew that this must be the waterfall that Ronaldus had mentioned. He had been closer to the left bank of the river, so he started steering to the right. The broad river started to narrow as it approached the waterfall. "Hey Andres!" he said. "Let's shift right and get to the clearing that Ronaldus told us about."

What Cable hadn't realized was that the sleepless night had once again claimed Andres as a casualty. He was asleep in the front. When Cable uttered his name, he was so startled that he jumped, lost his balance, and plunged into the water. Cable was not pleased.

"Andres, you've gotta get back in! The waterfall is just ahead a little ways!" Cable was worried, for the current was getting stronger. He leaned down to one side of the canoe, so that Andres could jump back in on the other side of the canoe.

It was a good thing he leaned down. For as he did, an arrow flew by overhead. He never saw it, but he heard it whistling by his ear. He felt a pit in his stomach. The chase was on again.

"Hey Andres! That guy is after us again! He just shot an arrow at me!"

"Well how am I supposed to get back in the canoe then?" Andres asked in desperation.

"I don't know! Just stay down and follow the canoe! Hold on if you can!"

Cable stuck a paddle in the water and made a feeble attempt to steer right. It was hopeless--the current was cutting them off. And the arrows kept flying at them from behind.

"We'd better try and go left!" Cable decided. "We can't cross through the current!"

Just then, a great howling sound was heard from the left side of the river. Andres recognized the sound instantly. "Wolves, Cable! Those are wolves!" Sure enough, in the silvery moonlight, the boys could make out a small pack of wolves off to their left. And all the while, the canoe drifted relentlessly toward the waterfall.

Finally, Cable jumped out of the canoe. He held it like a shield between him and the unseen attacker from behind. Arrows continued to fly--some overhead, some running into the canoe itself. The wolves continued to howl. The waterfall continued to draw nearer.

"Andres, just hold on to me," Cable said at last. Andres obeyed. "It'll be all right."

And the boys plunged over the waterfall.

At that point, a couple of things happened that the boys felt, but couldn't really remember. They felt something sharp but strong grasp them and lift them high into the air. They felt a gentle landing on the ground. They felt some rough hands grab them and drag them away up a hill and into a dark room. And they passed out.