A Fork In The Road

The trio stood there staring at the junction for a while.
“Aside from the flying tracks, this is what I expected.” Commented Luce. “Rails, the lever thingy that operates the switching mechanism to go back and forth …”
“A bunch of plants …” Bug contributed.
“Probably a bunch of rust and dirt in that lever thing …” Continued Luce.
They all grimaced, imagining trying to lift the railcart around another stuck junction, but without any help.
“Floating tracks aren’t a thing, right?” Cy asked. “It’s not something they used to have before, but nobody ever mentioned it?”
Bug shook her head.
“No, don’t think so. There’s floating stuff in stories and movies, but it wasn’t real.”
“And this stuff is from before electricity.” Luce observed. “Originally at least. If they had floating tracks that can go up and over and through the trees at the same time as they had steam trains, why’d they need to build a bridge?”
Bug and Cy gave her ‘that’s a good point’ looks, then turned back to the impossible view ahead.
“May as well take a closer look.” Bug said, starting to walk forward. “It must be a mirage or an illusion or something, right?”
“Or Lumpy’s camouflage?” Cy suggested. “Though I don’t really see the point.”
“It might be the only big part that isn’t overhung by trees?” Said Luce. “Maybe that’s a reason?”
Luce and Cy trotted forward to catch up to Bug, and the trio continued walking, with Cy pointing out the crushed debris and bent-over plants he’d been looking out for.
“That magical wardrobe thing is starting to look more reasonable.” Bug muttered.
When they reached the junction Cy paused to look closely at the plants on both tracks.
“Still can’t tell.” He told Luce. “Sorry.”
Bug, who had continued walking out towards the floating tracks, suddenly stopped and started laughing, pointing up ahead. Despite Luce’s best efforts, the most she could get as an explanation was even more laughter, so she and Cy trudged up to see what Bug was finding so funny.
The right-hand branch diverged gently from the left, heading away from the away from the hillside until it passed over the edge of a steep bank and kept going, apparently unsupported by gravel or soil or anything, the rails and widely-spaced sleepers just floating there in midair. From their position on the very edge, however, the trio could see a latticework of supports coming up right underneath the rails, reaching down into the forest below, and a narrow plank walkway, barely wider than their feet, tucked in beside one of the rails.
Bug leaned sideways to get a better look.
“I really hope the Wanderer didn’t come this way.” She said. “That does not look sturdy at all.”
Cy and Luce took a few steps sideways along the edge of the bank, then a few more, trying to get an idea of the scale of the thing.
“Those are just small bushes, I think.” Said Luce. “Not full-sized trees a long way down; It’s not as high as it looks.”
“Don’t think your plant-signs thing is going to work here, Cy. Sorry.” Bug said, crouching down to look along the rails. “There’s nothing until those trees over there to get disturbed.”
Cy nodded sadly, still looking at the lattice of supports, cataloguing all the missing parts and slumping parts he could see.
“I hope he didn’t come this way too.” He quietly replied. “How crazy would someone need to be to cross that thing?”
“Did we consider ‘running from something’ as a reason they came here?” Bug asked, more speaking aloud than expecting an answer.
“Something or someone.” Muttered Luce.

They stopped for lunch at that point, partly because it was around the right time and they were hungry, but mostly because nobody was really sure what they should do.
Cy kept staring accusingly at the trees growing past the elevated track, looking for any sign of broken branches. Luce and Bug scoured the other set of tracks, looking fro some definitive sign, like a crushed twig or trampled leaf, but found nothing.
“The trouble is.” Bug complained, hurling herself down to lie beside their lunch spot. “That I can’t say that the Wanderer didn’t come that way, or that he did. Could be either.”
“Then we need to check both, I think.” Said Luce. “Tunnel and Mine. It has to be one of them, unless we find that magic wardrobe thing.”
Cy sniggered and Bug grimaced, looking back and forth between the two sets of tracks.
“Which one first?” She asked. “We’re not splitting up, right?”
“Absolutely not!” Cy declared, and Luce shook her head.
“So, which one?” Bug asked again. “Lumpy and Mister Station thought the tunnel was the only option, even if they couldn’t figure out how the Wanderer did it.”
Cy stood, stretched, and walked to the edge of the bank where the elevated tracks began. He carefully balanced on one rail and walked out a few steps, then cautiously put one foot down on the plank walkway running beside the rail.
It immediately cracked under a fraction of his weight, and he jerked his foot back, windmilling his arms for balance as that section of plank, plus some of the next one, crashed to the ground. With his balance restored, Cy looked down, then back to Bug and Luce.
“I’d be OK with leaving that way to last?” Bug offered. “That doesn’t look like any kind of fun to push a railcart over.”
Cy tried an experimental stomp or two on his rail, then a few hesitant jumps, poised to leap back towards the bank at any moment. To his obvious surprise, it held. Even when Bug and Luce eventually joined him, inching their way out and then all jumping in unison, the structure seemed sturdy.
“That doesn’t mean I disagree with checking the tunnel first.” Said Cy as they carefullt walked back to solid ground. “I just wondered whether we could not have to check at all, if it was too unstable for the Wanderer to have crossed it.”
He wandered back to their lunch spot and started packing up.
“Tunnel first for me too.” He announced.
“Me as well.” Luce agreed. “And not just because I don’t want to push the cart while balanced on a rail.”
She gave a speculative look at the elevated tracks.
“Though it’s definitely something I’m not keen on at all.” She added.