Two in one day!!!
Also, if you open this one first, this is the second of the day, you might want to go read chapter 3...
The birds twittered from fear, and animals hid from the unnatural pounding of the ground headed towards them. First, a giant dog pounded by, followed by a couple of adults and two boys. Looking closer, you would see two girls and an elderly man riding the horse-sized dog. They passed in a whirlwind, but only a few beats later, an army of Fangs followed.
Janner huffed as he tried to keep up with Nugget. Podo ran beside him, seething slightly because Kalmar had decided to follow Oscar's advice instead of his at their last pause. They suddenly came upon the cliffs overlooking the falls and scrambled to slow down and not plummet into the sea. Podo grew angrier and angrier as the bridge failed to appear. Snapping, he nearly shouted at Oscar, "Bridge my foot!!! There is no bridge and we're all going to die because of this!!!" Oscar began to reply, but was interrupted by a panicked Janner. "Tink!" Kalmar was balancing on the edge of the cliff, and as Janner ran to pull him away, he jumped off the edge. "TINK!!!" Janner screamed, not expecting an answer, but a shout echoed in reply. "I found steps! Come on!" They followed the, thankfully, very alive Kalmar down steps that ran on and on, until there was a gap in the road. Nia looked past, and then pushing Kalmar gently to the side, made three stabbing strides and jumped over the gap. Nugget was next, and Leeli and Rebekah got off to lighten the load for Oscar. Nugget jumped there and back. The four children were next, and Nugget again jumped the gap easily. Podo attempted to jump, but barely caught the edge, dangling over a deep cavern at the bottom had the sea in a little inlet. He dangled there between sky and land for all of ten seconds before Nugget and Nia pulled him up. They continued down the stairs, and then they found the bridge. Thankfully, the Fangs had had the same confusion as they had, and had had to wait for sniffers to come and recognize their path. They were halfway across the bridge when the Fangs came. Janner and Kalmar shot them one by one as they came across, but had to flee after a troll came. The trolls stomped and moaned, and Janner feared they would break the bridge, and in fact, one of them did break away a section of the bridge, and fell with it. The other troll nearly fell with it, but regained it's balance. It ran towards them grinning, and the boys ran over to Nia as Podo prepared to fight it. Nugget jerked, and Rebekah slipped, Janner barely catching her as she fell. Nia grabbed several of the most important bags, and then helped Leeli off. As soon as Nugget felt her slip off, he leaped over Podo, and attacked the troll. Leeli gasped in dismay, and Podo looked mightily surprised, but quickly urged the others to run for the other end of the bridge, supporting Oscar as he ran. Oscar did surprisingly well at this and nearly outpaced Kalmar to the end of the bridge. Leeli looked back once she was safe on the other end, and watched as Nugget fought the troll towards the gap in the bridge. The troll muttered and tried to swing Nugget around, pushing him over the edge, but Nugget overcorrected, causing both of them to plummet over the falls. Leeli screamed, and Rebekah silently wept, as the giant dog plummeted into the sea. Podo gently scooped them both up, and they silently made their way to the tall tower on that side that had used to be an observatory in the ancient days.
Any suggestions, comments, or questions are greatly appreciated!!!