CHICORY

At first Amaryllis was determined to take her time walking in tandem with Hress and Red, but she quickly lagged behind and stumbled twice. Both times she rejected Hress’s helping hand and got back to her feet herself. When Amaryllis stumbled a third time, she collapsed but Hress was ready to catch her. She was about to tell him to put her down but Hress spoke first.

“Hey,” he said, “Please let me help you.”

Amaryllis was just barely able to bring her eyes from Hress to where I was standing beside Red.

“…okay,” she said in a whisper.

When Amaryllis was settled in Hress’s arms he crouched down and picked up the sandals which had fallen off her feet, he then made sure her blanket was wrapped tightly around her.

“Want a lift?” said Red, looking down at me.

Before I could answer Red yanked me up by my left arm and hoisted me onto her shoulders.

“Alright up there?” she said.

“Yes,” I said in a small voice.

Without meaning to I let out a sudden sneeze downward into Red’s hair as if I were trying my best to blow the petals off a dandelion.

“Really?” said Red.

“I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again, okay?”

"O-okay.”

I felt very sleepy but I didn’t want to miss anything. The amazing blue leaved forest bobbed in rhythm with Red’s large strides. Seated on her shoulders I felt like I was riding a horse with a ginger mane.

After twenty minutes of Red walking with me on her shoulders I had begun to doze off but Amaryllis’s coughing fits kept me awake. The colour had drained from her face. There was a faint wet rasp to her breathing that didn’t sound good. I noticed Hress wasn’t looking at ease either, not just that he seemed to be worried for Amaryllis, but also because the veins in his arms, neck, and forehead were bulging.

“Hress?” said Red, noticing the same thing.

“She’s getting heavier,” said Hress.

“We haven’t been walking for that long?” said Red.

“No,” said Hress, “A little girl shouldn’t weigh this much. It’s like I’m carrying a boulder.”

“Hey,” said Red, and I realised she was talking to me.

“Yes?” I said.

“Were you struck by the Dawn Storm?” she said.

“I-I d-don’t know…”

“Do you remember being hit by golden lightning?”

“Oh, erm, y-yes.”

Hress and Red looked straight into each other’s eyes.

“What do you want to do?” said Red.

“It doesn’t change anything,” said Hress, “We can’t leave them,” After a moment’s pause he then said, “Alright?”

I could feel Red lowering her head and raising it slowly again.

“We better hurry back then,” said Red, “Want me to carry her?”

Red held her arms out in wait.

“I can manage,” said Hress.

They picked up their pace. I watched Hress struggling to move quickly with Amaryllis in his grip. Other than being sick she didn’t look any different, but then she must have become really heavy, somehow, to make someone as big as Hress sweat and grit his teeth from carrying her.

Nearly a half hour since Hress and Red took us from the meadow the forest opened up to a large field of dirt specked with more blue grass. Before we could reach the field we had to cross a wide yellowish dirt road. The yellow road continued downward to the right, and upward to the left. I slowly started to think about how slanted the land was. The whole way through the blue forest we had been moving a little bit up. Every time I thought we were almost at the top of the really big hill it just kept going.

On the other side of the yellow road lay a signpost which I couldn’t read. I could feel the muscles in Red’s firm neck swallowing before she spoke.

“It says Midway Village,” she said.

“Oh,” I said, not that things made sense to me, but because it felt rude not to mumble something back.

Far away on the far side of the field of dirt I spotted something big and black. I didn’t actually know the word for what I was looking at. Not just the tall black thing, but also what the word was for the edge of the world.

“What is that?” I said, pointing towards those things I couldn’t describe.

“That’s home,” said Red.

“But, but,” I said, trying to work up the confidence to ask the same question again, “What is that?”

“It’s a tower,” said Red, “It has four floors.”

I thought about this new word. Tower, I didn’t understand how the tower could have four floors; wasn’t one enough? And what did four floors look like? I tried to put into my mind the idea of four floors in one room but the shape didn’t make any sense. Hress and Red continued on beyond the wide yellow road and the signpost, then onwards towards the tower.

“But,” I said, “Why has the world stopped over there?”

“What?” said Red.

I was at a loss to find the words to explain my confusion.

“It’s not the end of the world,” said Hress, his voice strained but also a little amused, “It’s a cliff, mate.”

“’A cliff-mate?’” I said, trying to take in another new word.

“No,” said Hress, grinning and still straining to carry Amaryllis at the same time, “The end of the world over there, as you put it, is just a cliff. ‘Mate’ is just what I call my friends.”

I found myself watching the nearing tower and cliff and noticing how Hress and Red’s boots trod on the damp dirt with each step they took.

“Erm,” I said, “C-can I ask another question please?”

“Sure,” Hress grunted.

“Why is there so much fog behind the tower and cliff?” I said.

Hress and Red let out sudden laughter that made me blush and feel stupid.

“Where do you think we are?” said Hress, his voice amused but also out of breath.

“Near, erm, Rootwork?” I said, “On a big hill somewhere?”

“No!” said Hress, “Those are clouds, mate.”

I tried to imagine why clouds would be on the ground instead of the sky.

“But—then—where are we?” I said.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Red, “We’re on Wish Mountain!”

I didn’t know much, but I knew what Wish Mountain was, because I had seen the sight of it from far, far away many times.

When the other orphans at Rootwork talked about running away Wish Mountain always got mentioned. After hearing about Wish Mountain over and over again but not knowing what it was, I asked Amaryllis about it because she was the only one who would explain anything to me.

“It’s the largest mountain in the whole world,” she had told me, whilst we walked behind all the other children toward the mining town after washing in the river.

“What’s a mountain?” I had asked.

“It’s like a big hill, but way, way, way bigger,” she had told me, “Wish Mountain is the biggest.”

“Can you show me it?” I had asked.

“No,” Amaryllis had said, “We’d have to go away from camp where we’re not allowed. Just forget about it.”

I was happy to wait until I could see Wish Mountain. I was curious but able to ignore my want to see it any time soon. That same day I walked in my sleep for the first time, doing the bad thing. In my dream I thought I was making my way through the forest near camp during the light of day, with lots of red robins flying all around me; I was chasing them and trying to catch one with my hands. In my dream I came to the end of the forest, to the start of the very big field, where the hill was.

I caught a red robin and it chirped happily in my hands because it wanted to be my friend, but then I blinked and the robin disappeared, and the sunny daytime was replaced by the late night sky full of stars.

Finding myself alone I was too afraid to try and make my way back to camp, so I stayed where I was looking across the field to far, far away.

That was when I saw Wish Mountain for the first time. I gasped and wondered how something could be so big. It was like those beams of wood that kept the mine tunnels from falling in, except Wish Mountain looked like it was holding up the entire sky. I couldn’t see what was at the top of Wish Mountain; because it was so big the clouds in the sky, big thick, unmoving white ones, hid what was above them, the way blood hides a bit of wood stuck inside a finger.

Somehow Amaryllis, Hress, Red, and me were above the clouds. I realised I hadn’t really looked all the way to my left. I looked again, my heart drumming in my chest. My gut clenched as I saw the blue forest to the left continue on and up…up…up…until I couldn’t look up anymore but there was still more forest and mountain to be seen.

“Hey, Chicory,” said Red, her hands patting my hips, “Are you okay?”

A feeling like breathing a lungful of air after being dunked beneath river water swept over me.

“Y-yeah,” I said, quietly.

Hress and Red came to a stop because we had reached the tower, seeing the dully smooth black stone up close made me hope more than ever that there really was comfort waiting inside.