The Hungry Garden

Chapter Sixteen: Elbert's Endgame

The Journal of Larkin Claydon

April 17th

In the centre of the hungry garden was a ring of lit fire torches, illuminating a crowd gathering around a large, demonic looking shadow in the gloom. Uncle Morbid smiled at us as we entered, we must have looked a sight in tattered clothes covered in mud and slime. He waited a little longer until satisfied all surviving players had made their way to the circle; from the initial field of fifty or so players around eighteen remained, comprising of a few individuals and duos like our own.

Elbert and Annie were there, of course they were. They were the cleanest looking amongst those assembled, having carefully avoided hazard and exertion throughout. I wondered how they would play this stage.

Uncle Morbid began his speech:

"Congratulations on surviving the Hungry Garden, I hope you have collected a good number of eggs to be counted later. Now is your chance to collect one more worth five of those you have already, but as you will be gambling with your lives you may choose not to play if you are happy with your score so far.

"Behind me is a replica of the Man Eating Tree of Madagascar, or Sacrifice Tree. It was first described in a journal entry published in the 19th century by a traveller who witnessed a tribe feed one of their young women to the tree, hence the name."

The tree behind him was wide and squat like a giant pineapple, opening into a large bowl at the top. Slowly moving vines snaked down the sides, from which grew long tongue like leaves that trailed on the ground, little spikes and thorns visible all along them.

"The top of the tree contains a sweet nectar," said Uncle Morbid. "In the original tales, this had hallucinogenic properties. The condemned victim was made to climb the side of the tree and drink from the nectar, which would leave them in a stupor. They then had to climb back down and get away without disturbing the plant's tendrils, otherwise they would be pulled in and devoured.

"Now, we don't expect you to drink the juices from our plant, but you will need to climb up to the bowl at the top to find the golden eggs. Because you've already dealt with our other plant monsters to get here you know how sensitive they are. This tree combines elements from all the munchers, trappers and vampire vines you have encountered on your way here. So, who would like to be the first to tackle the Sacrifice Tree?"

Adelia and I looked at Elbert and Annie, then at each other.

"We will," said Adelia.

Adelia Claydon:

We approached the tree cautiously, paying particular attention to the snaking tendrils searching for prey to drag into the waiting leaves. There weren't as many of them as there had been in the sprawling mass of the vampire vines, but they needed to be watched carefully lest a stray one might find us. To reach the trunk of the tree it was necessary to tread carefully upon the large hanging leaves, which I had no doubt would fold up and trap us if provoked.

I agreed to climb the tree, while my sister supported me from the ground and kept watch for snaking vines. It wasn't a difficult climb, with plenty of hand and footholds supplied. As I crested the top I found a wide pool of sweet smelling orange liquid, lightly glowing in the moonlight. The golden eggs were nestled in a cluster in the centre of the bowl, under the liquid. Lacking any other options to reach them, I swung myself up and over into the liquid bath, crawled to the middle and took an egg from the cache. I returned to the edge and tossed the egg down to Larkin, who placed it in the satchel on her hip.