When we both rose, there at the water’s edge was a boat! A sailor not of this world bid us come hither. At the same instance, I heard Rosalyne’s voice shouting, “Markus, come back, come back, please come back.”
I lifted my eyes and looked across to the island and there was Rosalyne waving her arms. The next instant she was gone. I dropped to the ground and wept bitterly; this was more than I could endure.
Orfeo stooped down, “Come on, we must keep going!”
I staggered to my feet and grabbed Orfeo’s arm. We made our way down to the boat; we sat down and embarked with trepidation . The creature who was our oarsman was the most grotesque I’d ever seen. He smiled, but that did little to assuage my fear. Obviously a native of these parts, he turned the boat around and headed for the island. We rowed through mountains of leaping flames. Death was beginning to look more appetizing than life itself. We arrived on the island and both ran to rescue Euridice, but of course, that would have been too easy. Out of nowhere came a lumbering creature with two heads, hell-bent on our destruction. Was there no end to it? We ran back to the safety of the boat, and after about thirty minutes, the creature disappeared. So, we thought we’d make a run for it. We jumped off the boat, ran like the dickens, grabbed Euridice and ran back even faster.
Orfeo shouted, “Get going.”
As we pushed from the shore, the creature came lumbering back only to find his prized possession gone and us pushing from the shore. It rushed to the water’s edge and let out one ungodly yell that must have been heard at the gates of heaven. We hastened to the opposite shore with all expediency and disembarked. As we lay on the ground from sheer exhaustion, we were entertained by the wails of our would-be captor. It was a brush with death I will never forget.
All Orfeo wanted to do was kiss and cuddle Euridice, but survival dictated differently; we had to get out of there. We rose and braced ourselves for what I thought would be the worst part of our journey, and I can tell you I was not disappointed. Our way out was through mountainous terrain. As we walked, the ground began to crumble beneath our feet, which meant we had to be constantly on the move. We watched mountain peaks tumble to the ground. Things became so desperate we were once again forced to our knees in prayer. The next thing we knew, a flying dragon landed at our feet and bid us mount.
We didn’t have to be told twice. We were on that dragon’s back like a hot knife through butter. By this time the whole area was completely disintegrating, and I must say, it was an awe-inspiring sight to witness. The dragon flew until our ship came into view. Then we swooped down and shouted, “Get out of here, we’ll see you outside!”
