Cursed Shadow Land

            The roar awakened him.  Deafening.  What had hit them?  Slowly, the noise subsided.

            “What was that?” Jess heard Dainler voice the question that was just in his mind.

            “Dainler! You’re all right.”

            “Fine.  Oglethaine?”

            “Here,” the dragert replied.

            “Chezim?”  Jess started to get up but swooned.  He touched his head and brought back his fingers with sticky red fingers.

            “Just shaken up.  Blonders!”  No one answered.

            Jess steadied enough so he could stand.  Dainler, Oglethaine, and Chezim also managed to get to their feet.

            “Oglethaine, fly out through the front glass and see if you can find Blonders.  Any idea where we are, Chezim?”  As he asked, Oglethaine glided out the window.

            “Yeah, I know where we are.”

            “Where?”

            “It has no name.”

            “I thought you knew” –

            “We’ve always called it Shadow Land.”

            “Tell me later.  We have to get out of here.”  The ship creaked and moved several feet, throwing every body off balance.  Jess moved to the front of the ship and peered down.  The bluzzard hung suspended at least a hundred feet above the ground.  The tops of the trees had snagged the ship. “Chezim, put on the tractor beam.  We have to get out of here.”

            “I can’t.  We don’t have any power.”   

            “Let’s just climb down,” Dainler said.