Part 7 is here.
"You'll be going home now then?"
The crow seemed eager to leave, and who could blame him? This wasn't the kind of place that made you want to stick around.
But no-one was going anywhere yet. Not until they'd found Pete.
"You're welcome to leave," said Goldberg, addressing the crow. "We have to find Pete."
"You can find your own way back, then?"
Goldberg nodded. "I think everyone will fit in the van."
The crow nodded, and said nothing. He simply turned, flapped his giant wings, and flew away.
Goldberg watched the huge bird until he had crossed the horizon. Then, blinking, he asked Sarah if she knew who the crow was or where he had came from.
Sarah didn't know.
* * *
All Pete had to do was find the cave.
But that could be harder than it sounded. Joel Fields was so barren that, even when stood on the very edge, you could see right across it. And Pete could see straight away that there were no caves in Joel Fields.
So he headed back into the forest.
Which was silly. He had just come out of the forest, and were it not for the crow he'd probably still be in there, hopelessly wandering around in circles.
Actually, scratch that. Were it not for the crow, he'd have beeen eaten by a troll.
But he had a plan, and for some reason that made him forget this. True, he knew his way around the forest about as well as he knew how to play the tuba. Yes, he could well be on the inside of some vicious monster faster than he could say "comeuppance".
But he had a plan, and so he was confident. Everything would be wrapped up within the hour, and he could go off and be human and live the good life.
It was so close he could taste it...
* * *
"I owe you an apology."
"What?"
"I mean, I told you the whole big backstory, formulated a plan for you, convinced you it was a good idea, and I didn't even tell you where I was!"
Pete was back in the cave.
That's odd, he thought. I don't remember getting here.
"What a scatterbrain I am."
The monster was here too, but he wasn't chained up like he'd said he would be. He was pacing around, chuckling to himself.
"It's a good thing you fell asleep or you never would have found me."
Oh, thought Pete. That explains it.
"But anyway. How's it all going? Are you nearby?"
"I think so," Pete replied. "Last thing I remember I was in the forest, trying to find your cave."
"The forest?" the monster laughed again. "No no no. I know I wasn't too informative, but I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I was in Joel Fields."
"But there aren't any caves in Joel Fields!" protested Pete. "Not that I could see."
"Exactly."
"What?"
"You won't be able to see the cave," explained the monster. "Of course not. It's underground."
"Underground," repeated Pete. "How do I get underground?"
"Well. Those awful trolls used to send a man down every so often to check on me, make sure I hadn't broken free. They stopped after a while; I suppose they decided that it was never going to happen, so why bother? But anyway, it was the sign."
"What sign?"
"The 'Welcome to Joel Fields' sign. That's the key."
"Okay," said Pete, nodding. "So what do I do?"
"Your friends are looking for you," boomed the monster in a voice quite different to the one he'd been using so far.
"...I beg your pardon?"
Pete awoke to find the biggest crow he'd ever seen staring him in the face.
"I know you've had a long day," said the crow. "But this is a dangerous place to fall asleep. Come on, everyone's worried about you."
Pete sighed. Oh well. At least he had a clue.
Once more he hopped on the crow's back, relieved that, once again, he wouldn't have to find his own way to Joel Fields.
* * *
As they flew, Pete felt a pang of guilt. Cliffey and Sarah had been his friends since he was just a kid. And now he was going to sell them to a monster who was quite open about his intentions to eat them.
Didn't he care at all?
...
No, he decided. Humans don't really care about goats.
TO BE CONTINUED
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