Free Raveler: The Dark God Book 3 by John D. Brown Page A

over a hundred feet in the air. However, the woodikin didn’t fall. It extended its arms and legs and, with some fabric that made it look like a flying squirrel, glided to a platform on another tree.
    “Did you see that?” Talen asked.
    “They weave those wings from some kind of silk,” said Harnock. “And so woodikin can, for short distances, fly.”
    Talen was astounded yet again.
    They continued forward, moving beyond the small tangle, woodikin coming to get a look at them. Some tried to throw things at Talen and the others, but the troop leader hollered at them, and the hazing stopped. They crossed a stream, then proceeded up the road leading to the massive tanglewood.
    The shouts and hoots of many creatures came from the tanglewood. A flock of birds wheeled about the canopy of leaves. In the heights, woodikin moved along ropes and platforms that led between lines of small, low huts that were cantilevered out from a number of thick branches. In the higher branches of the tanglewood, all was light and activity. Below on the ground was different. The thick tangle of branches above crowded out the light, plunging the floor of the wood into a deep gloom, allowing very little to grow there.
    Talen and the others came to the outer edge of the wood, and the leader halted them. The many woodikin who had continued to follow them gathered around, watching. The woodikin troop leader yelled at the crowd. He yelled again, and the crowd moved back.
    The lowest branches of this part of the tanglewood soared forty feet above the ground. Woodikin on one of the largest branches threw down a dozen ropes that were knotted every foot or so. A number of the warriors that had captured Talen and the others began to swarm up the ropes.
    The leader watched them climb, then produced a knife and turned to Talen and the others. He licked his lips. “You will climb,” he said. “You will follow me. If you run, I will kill you. Agreed?”
    “Agreed,” said Harnock.
    “Agreed?” the leader prompted again, looking at Talen and River.
    “Agreed,” Talen and River both said.
    The leader bared his teeth, stroked his long moustache, then walked up to each of them and untied their bonds. He stepped back, watching them as if he expected them to run.
    Talen rolled his back and shoulders. He rubbed his wrists where the cords had bit into them and swung his arms trying to get the feeling back into his fingers. He was parched. His spittle had dried at the corners of his mouth and around his lips. “Do you have water?” he asked the leader.
    “You will not speak,” said the leader. “You will climb.”
    Talen’s tongue was sticking to the roof of his dry mouth. But he didn’t want to provoke the leader. Nor did he want to fall. So despite his thirst, he began to increase his Fire.
    “Up,” said the leader and motioned toward the branch.
    Harnock motioned for Talen and River to take a rope.
    Talen grabbed one that was close; he grasped the knots with his hands, pressed down on others with the soles of his feet, and began to climb. The leader watched them for a while, then took another rope. Like the other woodikin, he seemed to race up the rope with great ease. He beat Talen to the top and climbed onto the wide branch just as Harnock did.
    Talen climbed onto the branch, then turned to help River up. She was sweating and grimacing and clearly not yet fully recovered from her brush with death.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    She gritted her teeth. “I’ll make it,” she said.
    But he took her hand anyway to keep her from falling.
    The top of the fat tree branch was lined with a crisscrossed runner of thin rope, almost like a long mat. As they walked, he became grateful for the traction it provided. There were also guide ropes looped through small sturdy branches that seemed to have been grown just for that purpose. However, the guide ropes were built for woodikin and were too low to use without crouching.
    Talen looked down at the ground