‘Now what?’ asked an exasperated Kel, ‘I can’t reach the Bag, and Moss can’t haul it up any further or it will break against the rough bark of the branch.’
‘That’s for you two to work out.’ replied Mec firmly, and they both knew they were on their own with the problem.
‘I’ll cut another vine, tie it around my waist and then I can lower myself down and tie on the other vine.’ Kel suggested.
‘Sounds all right to me, I could lower you down though.’ replied Moss, who had tied off the tendril from the Bag to the same stump he had used before.
When Kel was almost level with the bag, Moss called out,
‘May I suggest that you tie the knot on the Bag vine some way up, and then slip it down and tighten it, that way there is less chance of bursting it.’ Mec smiled to himself, yes he had chosen wisely.
With the second vine made fast, Moss helped a rather sweaty Kel back up onto the branch and they both sat down to get their breath back after the struggle.
‘If I cut the Bag’s vine, leaving it long enough to keep it a safe distance from us later, and you take the load as I do it, we’ll have most of the hard work done.’ Moss commented, ‘I take one vine and you take the other one, and the Bag will swing in the middle, that way we can stop it hitting anything as we move back along the branch and then we can lower it down ahead of us later.’
Mec was watching, ready to stop the two if they made an unwise move.
Slowly they manoeuvred the deadly bag of dusty spores back along the branch to the main trunk, and began the long descent, the Bag suspended on the two vines below them.
‘I hope that huge flying thing doesn’t come back and grab it after all our hard work.’ Kel panted as he transferred the weight of his load over to Moss, and climbed down to take up his new position below. Bit by bit, by passing the heavy weight of the Bag between them and each moving on to a new position, they got it safely back down to the branch outside Mec’s cave.
‘Now the fun begins.’ said Moss as he tied off the vine around a convenient bough to prevent their prize from slipping into the inky darkness below.
The little group stood around wondering what to do next. They had the deadly dust bag, but how were they going to get it into the cavity in the main branch where the creature lived? Kel came to the rescue after considerable thought on the matter.
‘If one of us skirts around the marked spot on the branch taking one of the vines and the other holds on to the other vine at this end, we should be able to swing the Bag along under the branch until it’s level with the creature’s hiding place. Then we’ll have to lift the Bag up on it’s vines and drop it very carefully onto the marked spot, the creature should detect the presence of it and take it inside, and then we run!’
Mec nodded his head, not so much for their benefit, but as a self acknowledgement that they had got it right.
‘I think we’ll need our two companions to help with the final lift.’ Kel said, ‘It’ll be quite difficult to lift and lower it gently onto the branch.’
‘All right, let’s do it.’ called Moss, taking one of the vines and going out along the branch towards the place where the creature lay hidden.
The Bag was slowly swung along beneath the main branch, each of the vine holders making sure in turn that it didn’t snag on anything below them, until Moss had gone around the creature’s lair and was in position to do the lift.
‘This is where we need some help.’ said Kel, beckoning his helper towards him, but the man held back, fear clearly seen on his face.
‘Oh, come on you stupid little man, if you don’t learn how to get rid of these things, they’ll get us all in the end.’ Kel’s patience was running out, no doubt affected by his own fear of what might go wrong.
Reluctantly the helper was shamed into joining Kel and took hold of the vine as if it was going to devour him at any moment.
Moss’s helper joined him, after sufficient cajoling, and together they pulled the vines apart, the Bag gradually rising until it was level with the top of the branch.
‘Gently now.’ called Moss, as the container of dust spores swung over the target area.
‘Lower it slowly and then tie the vines off onto anything nearby.’ Kel called, sweat running down his face and stinging his eyes.
Moss ran back to join the others and they all stood there, expecting the creature to come out to see what had landed on its trap. Nothing happened, and a look of disappointment was evident on all their faces.
‘Now what are you going to do?’ asked Mec, leaning back on a side branch, seemingly uninterested about the whole affair, but watching with the fatherly care of one who is very much concerned.
‘How about one of us taps on the bark with a stave, that should get it interested in seeing what’s going on?’
Mec was visibly enjoying the situation, and didn’t bother to hide it.
Kel picked up the longest stave and cautiously moved forward. A couple of sharp taps on the bark trapdoor produced the required effect.
The two halves of the trap dropped inwards, a large viciously clawed tentacle swept up and outwards, scooping the bag of spores into its grasp and both disappeared into the cavern beneath the surface, the trapdoor springing back into place, leaving the branch as if nothing had happened.
Before anyone could say
