The Land Across the Lake: Part I

Scotty stared out the window of his family’s summer house. Douglas Lake stretched out into the distance until it met the mountains on the other side. They were tall and green with peaks that pierced the overcast sky. 

His eyes traveled down the mountains to the shore, but it was impossible to see through the fog that hung over the lake, even with his dad’s military-grade binoculars. 

Scotty imagined that strange people lived in the forest and caves on the mountain sides. 

He moved the binoculars until he caught a glimpse of a shadow moving across the fog. 

“What is that?” he whispered. 

“Let’s go, Scotty,” Max called. 

Scotty was startled and quickly scrambled to get his things together. He grabbed his backpack, in which he safely tucked the binoculars, and met Max out in the hall. 

Max wore a t-shirt with a scary skull on it and the name of his favorite rock band, Metallica, in white block lettering. He also wore loose jeans with holes in them and his scruffed-up signature Converse sneakers. 

Scotty paused, looking up at his older brother, who scowled down at him. “Move.” 

Scotty frowned.“What about dad?” 

“He’s busy, but Mom’s making me take you anyway,” Max complained. 

Scotty looked down. “Oh.”

“But you should talk to her. I mean, wouldn’t you rather just play Nintendo?” Max asked. 

Scotty shook his head. “No! I wanna go fishing!”

Max flinched and peered wearily down the hall. “Ok, ok, let’s go.”

The boys went outside to the fishing boat. The bait, tackle, and fishing poles were already on board. The boys brought the paddles from the shed in the front yard and walked a few feet down to the dock. 

Max effortlessly hopped into the small wooden boat, but Scotty struggled to balance one foot inside while the other barely hung on to the edge of the dock. Max sighed audibly and helped pull him in.

“You’re too old for this,” Max said, dragging Scotty in with both arms.

Scotty stuck out his tongue and giggled, but Max just rolled his eyes.

They rowed out into the lake in silence, looking for a quiet place to drop their lines, until they noticed the heavy fog in the distance. 

“We gotta go back,” Max said. “I’ll tell Mom it was bad weather and we’ll come back tomorrow.”

Scotty stuck out his bottom lip. “But it’s not supposed to rain today! Can we just try?” 

“No, Scott! You can’t just have whatever you want. Maybe with mom and dad, but not me! We’re going back.”

“You just wanna go watch your dumb show and play your dumb guitar! You never do things with me anymore!” Scotty complained. 

Max turned away. He was silent for a moment. “We’re going back. Maybe Dad’ll take you tomorrow.” 

Scotty opened his mouth but quickly closed it again. He rested his head on his hands and looked out into the water while Max paddled towards the shore. But the further they went, the more the fog thickened until it completely enveloped them. 

The waves became rough, as if they were near the shore, and rocked the boat. Scotty could feel them moving below his feet, but he couldn’t see them through the fog. All he could see was white fog and a faint outline of his brother across from him. Peering through the whiteness, he caught a glimpse of something dark over the edge of the boat. It darted past, and a large wave knocked against the wood. 

“Max!” Scotty exclaimed. “I saw something!”

“You’re imagining it,” Max assured him. “It’s just-“

Something knocked into the boat again, but this time, the force was almost enough to tip them over.

“What the hell…?” Max questioned. 

The boys sat very still for a moment. Then, there was a splash in the distance, and both boys turned their heads to see the dark silhouette heading right for them. 

Max picked up the paddles and rowed, putting his entire upper body into each cycle. Meanwhile, Scotty kept his eye on the creature. It was gaining on them, despite his brother’s efforts, and Scotty began to bite his thumb, anxiously. He couldn’t see anything besides the dark spot coming towards them, through the fog. Scotty looked at his older brother, but he was too busy rowing. Scotty’s heart began to pound wildly, and he felt tears forming in his eyes. But before a single tear fell, the boat lurched, and Scotty fell out. He crashed into the water and began to flail about. 

In a second, he felt Max’s arms around him, and he shrank into his brother’s strong grasp, eyes shut tight. When he opened them, he realized that Max was standing up and holding Scotty above the shallow water—the black silhouette nowhere in sight. 

Max dropped Scotty back into the water, but it only went up to his waist. He felt the soft sand under his feet and turned around. 

The shore was a thin strip of sand, and it led up to a dense forest. “Where are we?” 

“I don’t know,” Max admitted, dragging their boat onto the shore. 

“What was that thing?” Scotty asked. 

“I don’t know,” Max repeated. “Probably a clump of pondweed.”

“But it was chasing us!” Scotty argued. 

“No, Scott. You were seeing things.”

“Then, why were you rowing so fast?!” Scotty exclaimed. 

Max dropped the boat on the sand and turned to his brother, “Just drop it, ok? I don’t know where we are or what we saw! All I know is that we have to wait for the fog to subside, and that means we’re stuck here!” 

His shoulders rose to his ears, and his voice grew louder as he spoke. But Scotty wasn’t listening anymore. He was looking at the woods.

A girl was watching them at the edge of the forest. She had dark skin and hair that was braided and fell over her shoulders. She was wearing what looked like animal pelts that were stitched together, and there was a necklace around her neck with a strange, translucent stone. 

Max slowly turned to follow Scotty’s gaze, and his eyes widened. Suddenly, he stood up straight and relaxed his harsh expression. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Scotty yelled, “Hey, can you tell us where we are? A monster chased us here, and now we’re lost. Can you help us?”

The girl flinched at the mention of the monster, but she walked towards them, cautiously. “Why did you come here? You have to leave.” 

Scotty frowned. “I told you already: we were chased. We wanna go home, but we can’t.”

The girl met Scotty’s eyes. She looked down at her necklace and back at him. 

She walked to him and took the necklace from around her neck. “Please, listen. This is a wishing stone. You can use it to wish for whatever you want, but you only have one wish. Use it to go home. Do it now!”

She handed the stone to Scotty. The little oval fit perfectly in the center of his palm, and he could see through it. It felt smooth and, oddly, almost soft on his skin. 

Scotty looked back up at the girl, but she had tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Please take it, and leave…before it’s too late.”

The girl looked away, but not before Scotty saw the sadness in her deep, brown eyes. He looked up at Max, who proceeded to kneel beside them. He reached out to the girl, but she smacked his hand away. “You have to go, now!”

“We’re not leaving until you tell us why,” Max declared. “What is this place?” 

The girl met his eyes, and he looked away, shyly. “It’s dangerous. If you’re not careful, you could get stuck here,” she said. 

“Are you stuck here?” Max pressed. 

She didn’t answer. 

Max looked down, but Scotty moved closer to her. “What if we use one of our wishes to help you? We can wish you home too.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that simple for me. I can’t leave here right now—not until I can speak with the mountain God, but he lives in the Sky Palace at the top of the highest mountain.”

“Ok…but it can’t be that difficult, right?” Max asked. 

“The journey would take three days, and it’s very dangerous. There are many creatures in the forest, and even if you get past them, it’s impossible to cross the desert without being captured by the stone golems. Then, there’s the mountains, which are too steep and rocky to climb.” 

Max was silent for a moment. Then, he stood up. His eyebrows furrowed, “What if you had help? I mean, we don’t have anything going on at home anyway, and it seems like you could use our help.”

Scotty rolled his eyes as Max smirked, smugly.

The girl stood up. “Are you crazy? We just met. You can go home right now with the stone. Just forget about me. I’ll find a way…eventually.”

Scotty shook his head. “We won’t leave you behind. Right, Max?” 

Max ignored him and addressed the girl. “Where to first?”

The girl stared at him, but seeing that they weren’t going anywhere, she pointed hesitantly to the woods. “This way.”

The boys followed her to the forest. The girl whistled, and they waited a few moments until a beautiful stag leapt through the greenery. It was much larger than any normal stag, and its antlers were large enough to reach the tree branches above them. It was large but lean. It walked gracefully as it approached them. Its eyes were almost glowing green. 

Scotty held out his hand, hesitantly, and the stag sniffed him. It sneezed into his palm, and Scotty giggled. The girl smiled, and Max quickly mimicked her. 

She pulled herself onto the large stag with ease. Then, she pulled Scotty up by his arm. Finally, Max tried to pull himself onto the rear but couldn’t make it all the way up. Instead, his face ended up right in front of the stag’s behind. 

Scotty burst out laughing, and the girl giggled quietly, clearly holding back. 

Max blushed and quietly pulled himself up to sit behind Scotty, who held onto the girl for support. As soon as they were all on the stag, the girl spurred him on, and he galloped into the forest. 

Scotty had never been on a horse before, but he was fairly certain that they weren’t as fast as the stag. Their surroundings were a blur of green and brown. Scotty had to hold onto the girl’s waist, and he felt Max tentatively clutching his shoulders. Every time the stag jumped over a fallen tree or boulder, Scotty felt his brother’s grip tighten until, suddenly, the stag stopped. 

“Oh no,” the girl whispered. “This isn’t good. You should go, right now.”

“What isn’t good?” Max asked, ignoring her command. 

She gently patted the stag and tugged his antlers towards the right. “We’ll have to go around it.” 

“Go around what?!” Scotty asked at full volume. 

The girl flinched. 

There was a voice in the distance, but Scotty couldn’t hear what it was saying. Another voice joined it, and then another, and another, until it sounded like a crowd of people sputtering nonsense. 

The girl dropped from the stag and walked toward the noise. The boys followed. She put her hands up and whispered, “shhhh! Please be quiet!”

Scotty looked around. He didn’t see any people. There was nothing but trees, but when he looked closer, he noticed that the trees had faces on them. They had eyes and noses made of wooden knots and mouths that looked carved into the bark, but the mouths were moving. Scotty tried to make out what they were saying, but all he heard was gibberish. 

It sounded like “flumbash, furmlay, fashluret” and so on. Despite the girl’s shushing, their voices grew in number, and they grew louder. 

“What is it?” Max asked. 

Before she could answer, the ground began to shake underneath them like an earthquake, and they wobbled unsteadily, trying to balance on the turbulent ground.

“Come on!” the girl exclaimed, and the boys followed her to the edge of the grove of talking trees. 

The ground in front of them began to rise. Two hands appeared, a head, a torso, and finally, two feet emerged from the dirt, bringing a cloud of dust with them.

Scotty coughed, and his eyes teared up from the dust. He rubbed them on his shirt. When he could see again, he stared up at a giant. It stood almost seventy feet tall, and Scotty strained to look up at it. Its skin was green, and it was covered in moss. There was moss in between its toes, and it wore a skirt of moss. It had a beard made of moss that went down to its knees. Even its hair was made of moss. It hung down its back like a blanket, but in between, little sticks poked out all over its backside–at least they looked like sticks from below. They were the talking trees. Scotty could hear them chattering far above. It was even louder now, and the giant put his hands over his moss-covered ears. 

“What do we do?” Max asked. 

“We can try to sneak away while it’s distracted,” the girl suggested. “But be careful. Its hearing is very good.”

They started to tiptoe past the giant, but the leaves were too loud, crunching under their feet. 

The giant turned its head, ears still covered, and spotted them. Without warning, it bent down and snatched Max off the ground. 

“Max!” Scotty yelled. 

He ran out of the cover of trees before the girl could stop him. He grabbed a stick off the ground and poked the giant’s green toe. “Let my brother go, you big, fat monster!” 

The giant ignored him and brought Max up to his eye level. Max cowered between its fingers. “Scott, do something!”

Scotty looked around frantically. “I don’t know what to do!” He could feel the tears forming again.

“Scotty, the stone!” the girl yelled. “It’s your only chance!” 

He was still grasping it in his hand. “How do I use it?” 

“Just think about what you want to wish for!”

Scotty looked down at the stone and then up at the giant. He imagined the giant falling to the ground. “But Max might get hurt.”

He imagined a sword appearing in his hand and plunging it into the giant’s toe, or wings sprouting on his back to fly up and steal his brother back from the giant’s hand. 

He looked up at the giant again. It was still covering one ear with one hand while holding Max with the other. “That’s it!”

Scotty clasped the stone to his chest and closed his eyes. He made his wish. Then, there was silence. 

When Scotty opened his eyes, the giant was looking down at him. He reached around his back and pulled one of the trees off. It had eyes and a nose, but the mouth was gone. The giant lowered his hand from his ear, and a smile spread across his face. He looked down at Scotty again, but the boy pointed at his brother. The giant followed his finger, and his large eyes widened. He knelt, and the force of his knee hitting the ground knocked Scotty off his feet. The giant helped him up with one finger and placed Max beside him. 

Scotty met the giant’s huge eye and said, “You’re welcome.”

The giant smiled and gently lowered down to the forest floor. He crept into the missing part of the ground, filling in the mold until he disappeared into the rest of the ground. 

Max looked at Scotty with wide eyes. “You-you saved me.”

Scotty nodded and ran to hug his brother, but when the girl joined them, Max pushed Scotty off him. 

“Are you ok?” she asked. 

Max stood tall. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just about to stab its eye before Scotty-”

The girl knelt beside Scotty. “You did great,” she said. “But that means you only have one wish left. We have to be more careful.” 

Scotty nodded. 

“We should keep moving,” she suggested. 

They found the stag wandering around the forest nearby. It was still spooked from the earthquake, but the girl managed to calm it down. 

They rode through the forest until it was dark, at which point, the girl suggested that they camp for the night. “A few more miles and we’ll be in the desert. We don’t want to go there when it’s dark.”

They made camp in a tiny clearing at the edge of the forest and the desert. It was very cold, so they made a fire. They all sat around it, silently. Scotty looked into the flames and watched them dance. The land across the lake was nothing like he had thought. It was much larger and scarier, but there was actual magic. For once in his life, after all the birthday candles, stray eyelashes, and dandelions, one of his wishes had come true. He wondered what other adventures lay ahead.

“So, what is this place?” Max asked, breaking the silence. 

“This land is called the Mountain Kingdom, and it’s ruled by the Mountain God,” the girl explained. 

“Who is the Mountain God?” Max asked, raising his brow.

The girl fiddled with her braid. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. No one has–not even the giants.” 

“You’re ruled by some guy you’ve never even seen?” Max asked. “Then, how do you even know he exists?” 

“Because he’s the one who gave me the wishing stone,” she explained. 

Max tilted his head in confusion. 

“I heard his voice. He said, “I am the Mountain God, and I give you this stone to aid you. He told us that we only had one wish, and we could use it for anything except crossing deeper into the Mountain Kingdom. I think he just wanted us to leave, but for some reason, he couldn’t force us to.”

“You’re not from here either?” Max asked. “Who are you?”

“My name is Wen, and no, I’m not from this world. I came here with my brother. We got lost on the lake–just like you, but when we got here, there was no one to help us. So, the Mountain God gave us the stone and…”

“What did you wish for?” Max asked softly. 

Wen turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it!” 

Max reached out to her reflexively, but his arm slowly dropped to his side. “I’m sorry.”

Wen didn’t say a word for the rest of the night, and the boys took it as a sign to go to sleep. They prepared their beds, made of soft leaves, and lay beside the fire. 

Scotty looked up into the trees. The stars twinkled through the leaves high above. He wondered if the giant could reach them and smiled to himself. He turned over and peered into the forest. It was too dark to see past the first trees, which were bathed in firelight. His eyes began to droop as he watched the shadows passing over the trunks. Then, he saw something there. There was a hand clutching one of the trees, and slowly, a head peeked around the trunk. It was all black like a shadow, and it had one red eye in the center of its face. Its fingers were long and pointy. 

Scotty sat up and moved towards Max, instinctively, but when he looked back at the woods, the monster was gone. 

“Go to bed,” Max groaned, but Scotty just sat there a while.

He was sure that he saw something and stayed up for a while, never taking his eyes off that tree. Eventually, his tiredness got the better of him, and he dozed off to sleep.