Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

realappearance began emerging. Her mirrored image of theweb—her disguise—was fading fast!

When she came within a few feet of Jonathon,she was back in her real form and normal image. Herbreathing was heavy and deep, echoing out from heriron breathing apparatus.

The spiders were now gaining upon them.

Still clutching onto the iron lantern, Tabithagrasped Jonathon’s outreached hand with her other freehand; he pulled her quickly over to him, and quicklynoticed the lantern in her hand.

“Good!” he said, noticing the lantern. “We canuse the oil in that lantern with this—” He raised thewelding torch up to her eyes. Tabitha responded with awink.

Without another second of delay, Tabitha swiftlysnatched the torch from Jonathon’s hand and lit the restof the oil in the lantern. She turned around and saw thespiders looming up on them; some of the bigger oneswere continuing to fire their web lines at the two. Butwith the new winds that had picked up, flowing throughthe canyon, many of the lines would stream off courseof their intended targets.

Extending her arm back behind her shoulder,Tabitha flung the fiery lantern into the mass of spiders.It shattered as it hit, causing an oily, hideous fire. Thespiders sprang about in a panic causing the web toshake terribly.

Jonathon and Tabitha quickly turned—barelymissing several web lines that shot directly over thetops of their heads—and made a fast leap through theburned out part of the web where Haley had fallenfrom.

They plunged down into the depths below.

~ CHAPTER VI~ The HOLLOW ROOT

The dark river swept fiercely through the deepcanyon of the wild mountains, carrying with it twohelpless souls. Tabitha and Jonathon had fallen downthrough the abyss, plunging into a river that was nowtossing and turning them about.

As the river gushed through the dark shadows ofthe canyon, the two teens clung tightly to a couple ofweb strands that had been passing by them when theyhad surfaced; they were barely able to keep their headsabove the raging water. Tabitha figured that the webstrands must have fallen when they had, too.

Although the iron headgear they continued towear didn’t help the two a great deal in the fast movingwaters, they dared not attempt removing the gear. Theycouldn’t risk it as the river was now taking them intounknown areas of the realm that, by now, could havebeen smothered by the ash cloud that carried the witch’ssleep spell.

As Jonathon and Tabitha bobbed up and down inthe river like two apples in a barrel, they were finallyable to get their headgear’s spotlights turned on. Theynow had some idea of their dark surroundings as thelights flashed all about the water and the high walls ofthe mountainous river canyon.

“Keep your eyes out for Haley!” Jonathonhollered to Tabitha over the raging waters.

Tabitha gave him a thumbs-up signal from whereshe was floating, just a few feet ahead of Jonathon.

“I am!” she shouted back.“And I think I see anopening up ahead in the river—maybe out of thiscanyon!”

Passing beyond the walls of the wild mountains,they saw that they had now entered an area of the riverthat was lined on either side by towering and twistedroots. The roots were all connected to each other,forming a great, tunneled archway for the river. Thetwo teens were both reminded of their time when theyhad braved the old deadwoods, with all the giant rootsand branches that had been jumbled together.

To Jonathon and Tabitha’s relief, the river hadcalmed in its speedy flow, and they were now able toshine their spotlights in a more precise manner. Theywere hoping to see Haley possibly stranded somewherealong the banks of the river.

Drifting through the strange silence of the rootedunderpass, Tabitha thought she heard the faint sound ofsomeone shouting. She tensed, and then quickly aimedher headgear’s spotlight towards the direction of thenoise. Her eyes instantly lit up when she saw Haleydirectly ahead of her. He was dangling upside down afew feet above the river! His ankles were still coiledtogether by the spider’s web line, and it was connectedup in the tangled mess of roots!

“Jonathon!” Tabitha shouted excitedly. “Haley isstraight ahead of us!”

Jonathon immediately shined his spotlight in thedirection of Tabitha. He then tilted his spotlightupwards, directing its light to where her spotlight wasshining. He could see Haley wriggling about in the airlike a fish hooked on a line. Moving closer towardshim, Jonathon shined the light up along the spider lineinto the rooted branches. His light stopped as he frozein terror.

“Uh, Tabitha,” Jonathon said nervously. “I’d sayHaley’s really in some trouble!”

Tabitha quickly shined her light over to whereJonathon’s light was aimed. She, too, froze in fear.

Clinging from the root branches just aboveHaley’s body, was the spider! It had floated down theriver with Haley, and now it was slowly spinning hisbody upwards like a robot being hauled in by a steeltow cable. The spider’s mouth was snapping open andclosed as it hissed.

“We’re on our way, Haley!” Tabitha shouted,wishing she had more time to conjure up some type ofmagic to help her poor friend.

But with the river moving them along as it was,there was no ample amount of time to calm herselfbefore they reached the area where Haley was at—letalone conjure up some sort of sorcery she had only justbeen learning.

As Haley was being pulled into the darkness ofthe rooted branches, towards the drooling, hissingspider, a crashing noise suddenly split through the rootsabove him.

Tabitha and Jonathon startled, staring in shock asa glinting iron pole pierced into the spider’s body. Thespider let out a terrible scream, and then died; its bodydangled in the roots like a rag doll.

Haley remained hanging by his ankles from thedead spider’s web line; he was sobbing and clearlyexhausted from the whole ordeal.

Passing right underneath Haley and the spider,Jonathon and Tabitha fixated on what they had justseen, when all of a sudden two piercing red lightsswooped forward through the darkness. They skimmedthe surface of the river, flashing light upon the waterlogged teens, and circling around Haley.

Tabitha stared up in disbelief, stunned to see ahovering robot-droid—and it appeared to be that of