The centre of the portal was a whirl of light dancing to a constant ticking that was emitting from the very middle. The light moved to form a circle, made all the brighter by reflecting off the thin layer of snow. All of a sudden a gush of wind ran from the portal. A flash of orange shades whirled on top of the wind, riding it like a ghostly rider whose horse had been spooked.
Holly shook her head and moved against the wind in jerking movements, but she made as much progress as a rowboat moving up a river- none. Her hand gripped to a trunk of a large oak, her knuckles turning white. She pulled herself up and braced her back against the bark that was wet with snow. She looked back at Eldon. He waved her on.
"Go!" He shouted, his voice only just travelling to her ears, "It's you who wants to get there not me!" His voice was cut off when the orange ribbon that had been riding the wind landed on top of him, knocking him down to the ground before rolling a few metres away down a slight hill. It was then that the pair realised that the orange cloud was in fact a girl of about 13. Eldon looked at Holly, his eyes panicked, his hand raised and continue to wave Holly on.
"Someone's come out," He shouted, "You go! I'll take care of her!" Holly looked between the portal and Eldon, between her home and her best friend. She longed to go home, to see her family again, her grandfather, her sister. But she couldn't leave the girl stranded in this world. She shook her head and moved backwards away from the portal towards the girl. Eldon looked at her, eyebrows furrowed and nodded.
"I have to take her back, Eldon! She'll want to go back as well!" He nodded and moved back with her.
Holly grabbed the girls arm and began to pull her with her, however she made even less progress than she had before. Eldon grabbed the girls other arm and also began to haul her up the slight slope. The girl's auburn hair flew behind her, tangling with the branches behind them that were getting slightly further away.
It was Eldon that stumbled first, his foot rolled on an outcrop of rocks. He tumbled to the ground. As his momentum pushed him down the hill his leg caught on me of the rocks and a few drops of blood spilled onto the pure, white, snow.
"Eldon," Called out Holly, but Eldon continued to roll down the hill and was only stopped when his body hit a tree with a loud crack.
Holly dropped the girl ceremoniously, and ran down to Eldon, the wind pushing her down towards where he lay. She turned him over and her head began to spin at the sight of blood on Eldon. There wasn't a whole lot of blood, but enough to make her queasy. Swallowing her fear, she looked at his leg.
The cut wasn't huge, but it was coated in a thin layer of blood that the leg of his trousers had stopped from spilling onto the snow. The wound would heal fine with correct care, but it would probably leave a scar behind.
A series of popping reached Holly's ears. She turned round to witness the ball of light closing, sucking in on itself like a black hole, until it eventually turned black and disappeared with a final pop, leaving behind the smell of burnt toast and a pile of wreckage. Holly's shoulders sagged as she turned back to Eldon.
"I'm sorry Holly." He wheezed.
"It's ok," She replied softly, but her tone implied the opposite. Eldon tried to sit up, but only caused his leg to spurt more blood.
"Maybe I shouldn't sit up." Eldon said, his voice light with wooziness.
"What are we going to do about it then? I'm no healer. The best I can do is to treat a cold with a cup of coffee."
A small voice began to speak," If you tell me everything, I can try to heal him."
"We don't need your help," snapped Holly, "we're fine on our own."
Eldon rolled his eyes before answering to the voice's question in a shaky voice, "sure, can we tell you everything after though, I'm not really in the mood right now," he said, finishing with a laugh wobbling like an inexperienced tightrope walker.
"Okay," the voice, who was actually a girl with thick brown hair framing a bony face, "do you have any herbs?"
Hey guys. This is the first part of the second chapter. The other parts will be up in a few days :) please give me advice on what you liked and what you didn't.
- Caylpso
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