'Be ready,' the words repeat and fade away.
''What do you mean, Omar?' the Princess repeats her question, 'what has
'deserve' to do with our leaving the forest?'
'But the tree is silent. The leaves stop rustling, the twigs stop twitching,
and the branches no longer wave. Omar, the enchanted oak, will say no
more.
'We turn away from the friendly, but mysterious tree and move on along
the narrow, twisty trail.
'The trail gets narrower still, and the leaves in the trees pack so close we
hardly see our way. We trip over roots curling out from the squishy
ground, and our clothes are snagged by the sharp thorns of slimy vines
hanging from trees. The deep silence of the enchanted, tangled forest is
all about us.
'Ahead, the trail takes a steep drop into a hollow with huge gray rocks on
each side. The rocks are shiny with wet, green moss. We slip and slide
about as we try to make our way down and across to where the trail
curves up again to drier ground.
'But wait. We cannot make our way through this rocky hollow. The
trail is blocked. Yes, blocked, and I mean really blocked.
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