The Questory of Root Karbunkulus - Quill (24 page)

Haverly turned to the team, her eyes
flickering with the fire in front of her. Or perhaps within
her.

“I have told you all this, not to prevent you
from seeking your Quill but that you may do so in reverence and
respect.”

The Valadors vowed nothing less.

Root nestled up between Stogie and CPR,
teetering between sleep and wake, lulled in the rhythm of the sea.
The last thing she saw was Corky drawing in his great arms and legs
and head. His shell rested like a giant stone saddle in the
sand.

The morning’s routine of clinking pots,
hissing kettles and sizzling pans, along with the rumbled greetings
of Corky roused the team from sleep.

Haverly was a conscious host and made sure
her guests were well fed and comfortable before ushering them once
again into the foamy seats of her water carriage.

The ride was even better in the morning with
shards of sun glinting off the waves and the added entourage of
seals and whales and dolphins. Corky sped along relaxedly. His huge
head bobbed and snorted playfully in his domain. Root looked at
Dwyn. He was watching the dolphins with new eyes. She could feel
his pride and gave him an affirming nudge. In the same moment Lian
patted him on the back. He had done it. He had become a creature of
water. The great sea had befriended him.

And now, with the forest and the swamps and
all the white knuckling behind them, finally they were going in the
right direction. They could hardly wait to get back in the game,
especially in light of the synchronous meeting of Haverly and her
history with the HaloEm. To them it was a sign indeed. The HaloEm
Quill was calling them.

The port of Divit was much like any other, a
rounded bay of turquoise water, sand and wooden piers, busied with
boating vehicles and the industrious calls of sailors. Only Divit
also harbored tortoises. Hundreds of them. Some even bigger than
Corky, many smaller. Purple, green, blue. Some had been painted
with names, of which Root read “Marine Queen” and “Chicken of the
Sea”. Some were pasted with a collection of tags, not unlike bumper
stickers, naming off famous port cities and towns of DréAmm.
Haverly directed her carriage past these to a magnificent stone
bridge.

“Welcome to Divit – Pearl of the Sea” was
engraved in bronze lettering into its sub-structure. It had three
round tunnels beneath it with a fleet of water carriages queued up
for each. Corky took the left tunnel, with the shortest line
up.

“Need t’buckle up now, kids!” Haverly called.
“Gets bumpy! Now, watch yer fingers!” She pushed a switch on her
console and the team watched a tinted plexi-dome begin to close
around them. It glided over Haverly and sealed with a fffffttt,
cutting off any outside noise.

“Where’re we going?” asked Root somewhat
nervously.

“Takin’ the snakes.”

“What?”

“The snakes. They’re underwater tunnels. Take
ya t’where y’need t’go. Or close as they can, being only the three
mains’re in use now.”

“Y’mean there are more?”

“Heck ya! Hundreds! Spreadin’ out under Divit
like water roots. But, like I said the snakes ain’t used much other
than the three heads on account a nearly all Divitinians have taken
to land and don’t need ‘em like they did in the Drowned City.
Most’re prob’ly plugged or inhabited by now, if y’know what I
mean.”

Images of rolling, slippery appendages and
nasty yellow eyes tucked away in dark water tunnels came to mind
and Root shivered.

“Here.” Haverly handed over a bottle with a
stopper. “Just one pair each. Don’t put ‘em on yet. Not unless
y’have to. Just hang on t’them, just in case somethin’ happens. Not
that anything’s gonna happen…least not in my whole time snakin’…but
y’never know…anyway, they’re good for three hours.”

Lian read the label:
Horace Gastral’s
Finest Gills. Long Lasting. Minimal Scarring
. He looked at his
teammates and nodded. “These’re good. Dad uses them.” He passed
them out. They looked like bandaids, the only difference being that
when these bandaids were pasted on they’d literally meld into the
flesh of your neck and become gills.

Root looked at Dwyn. Why was it that
everything she found utterly horrifying, he found to be down right
exciting? He clutched his Gills, a picture of elation, while she
put hers in a pocket so she wouldn’t have to be reminded that at
any time she could be drowning and needing to sport, of all things,
a set of gills on her neck.

“Allrighty then!” Haverly secured her
goggles. “Hang on! Here we go!

Swoosh!

The tunnel gulped its traffic as if it were a
gargantuan whale and the carriages a measly mouthful of Krill.
Haverly and her passengers flew forward and descended into the
burrowing tube. Water soared past them in a blur. The tunnel bent
sharply around a corner and Dwyn fell into Lian’s lap. Having felt
too cool to buckle up he was now swiftly reconsidering and clicking
the lock around his hips.

The tunnel swerved around another corner and
then rose up. In the slowed speed the water became clearer and the
kids marveled in the sea life outside of them. Fish, gleaming of
color swiveled by with nary a second glance. Huge stars, mottled
and spiny clung to the tunnel sides, neon pink and blue and orange.
A whole fleet of Ocean Ants marched below, piling into their own
mounded city.

The tunnel dipped like a roller coaster on a
waterfall, plunging the water carriage into further blurry
depths.

“Hate this part. Always lose my stomach!”
Haverly called out.

The falling eventually slowed taking them
around smaller curves until at last Haverly cried. “This is it!
Hold on!”

The water carriage suddenly torpedoed upward,
defying any laws of gravity. Root gripped her teammates as, with a
deafening roar the whole of their vehicle, Corky and all shot out
of the tunnel. It went airborne for a moment then landed with a
huge splash on the surface of a round pool. Corky thundered his
approval at the landing. Haverly gave him a nod and lifted her
goggles to rest on top of her head. “Everyone okay?”

“Awesome!” Dwyn thumbed up. His friends, a
little less enthusiastic were nonetheless unscathed.

“Incoming!” Someone called out just as
another water carriage exploded out of a neighboring pool. Haverly
and the team seemed to be skimming one of several pools that were
continually popping out carriages. A landing pad of some kind.

“Hupcha, hupcha, Madam Sintamore. Got no time
for an accident today. Had enough of ‘em last week when the
trainees were out.” said an elderly gentleman in a sea-green
uniform. His long, black moustache was curled up like a
corkscrew.

“No problem, Brinslip, I’m a goin’” Haverly
nodded to the man whose attention had already left her for a bunch
of young hotdoggers he was sure had no license.

Haverly had Corky pull their water carriage
out just before they were about to be rear-ended.

“Hey, watch where yer goin’!” She hollered at
the other driver.

“Well, this ain’t no parking lot, lady!” came
the reply.

Haverly humphed and joined a lineup that was
bottlenecking along a small river. Up front two men of identical
sea green uniform directed the traffic from atop a center tower
blotted in starfish. Haverly was gestured straight through into a
grand canal leading into the Eastern portion of Divit.

The city of Divit, the new one, was built on
canals. Haverly removed the tinted dome over the carriage and
directed Corky slowly through the watery streets where off to the
sides the kids could see walkways and buildings built above ground.
Nearly all of these were of light, adobe brick with a most
welcoming display of awnings hanging in all manner of color. Like
cheery bright flags.

Cherry red awnings waved from the windows of
an eatery called “Sea Legs” where people sat outside on a patio,
sipping tall drinks under matching cherry red umbrellas. A deep
yolk yellow color waved over the door of a market store. Flanking
it, the same yellow hung over displays of fresh fruit and
vegetables. A tailor shop had decided on emerald green awning and a
salon had taken on the color of ocean blue over its door and
windows.

Directly beneath the streets, floating in the
water were parked many more water carriages and their tortoises,
most of which were dozing in the warm morning sun. Haverly found a
free space and eased Corky in. She threw his reins on a large iron
pole, not bothering to tie them up. There was no need. Corky would
stay as he always did, enjoying the sun like his tortoise brothers
and sisters.

“Watch your step now.” Haverly said while
offering her hand from the bottom step of a stone staircase.

The team climbed and unloaded onto a cobbled
walkway that seemed to skirt the whole of Divit, forking here and
there with new branches that coiled around buildings and into the
city’s inner reaches. A short stone wall served as a safety rail.
Haverly leaned on it and went over directions.

“The city centre is around that bend, then
your first right. Then straight on. Y’can’t miss it. Should be able
t’get all your supplies there. And the fellers over at Iguna’s’ll
fix yer Road up like new. I’m bettin’ they’ll even waterproof it
for ya. I’m headin’ opposite t’get my hands done. It’s a webbed
thing. B’sides, I get a bit claustrophobic in cities. Anyway,
here.” She handed over a roughly drawn map. “That’s my place. Easy
peasy. Just take a Turtle-taxi, they’ll know. Got any money for
that? No worries. Take this, should be enough and if it ain’t,
they’re rippin’ y’off.”

“But that’s way too much, Haverly.” Lian said
as he watched her pass out a cut-glass coin to each of them. He
knew it was Icerock, one of the most expensive substances out
there.

Haverly shrugged him off with a friendly pat
on the back. “If you’re gonna be late comin’, just slip in the
stable. Not the old one, which you’ll recognize by its charred
remains. The new one, a jaunt or two down. It’s all nice n’ comfy
like. Even a bed for Corky. I’ll set some bunks up and a place for
the Hovers and…wha’dya call that thing again?”

“CPR.”

“Right. Okay then kids, we’ll be seein’ ya
later. Have a good time.”

Haverly accepted their many thankyous with
‘don’t mention it snorts’ then strolled down the walkway
whistling.

Divit’s city centre looked as if a rainbow
had been wrangled into it, there were so many brightly colored
awnings lining the streets. And cafes. Lots of cafes full of chit
chatting people and the flaky remains of artisan pastries on
plates. Businesses were boutique and small. And there was not a
stitch of garbage to be seen. Though a quaint town charm had been
well preserved here, there was a clear sense of sophistication
bubbling to the surface. Fashions were articulate and pleasing.
Attention was given to beautification from polished street lamps to
freshly painted signage. Even Hovermutt parking was tidily
designated to lots. Root loved it instantly.

All except one building. A store. A looming,
mighty beast of a store.

Vulcherk and Co.

As with all of its franchises this one
scorched the street with its big, black bones. Even the awnings
were black. A gigantic silver ‘V’ gleamed across a central spire
that soared high overhead. The windows were tinted with ‘Vs’ in
them. People were coming and going and Root cringed at the notion
that she would be one of them. Couldn’t she just keep the Brotswin?
They seemed to be fine without it now. Yet, even as she thought of
it she felt an urge to trap herself in its screen.

Rats.

She pulled it from the travel pack, still in
its box. “Olly olly oxen free!” she sighed. The box didn’t budge.
How embarrassing. It didn’t believe her.

Dwyn raised his eyebrows. She knew he was
just teasing but it still bugged her. She was so over the whole
thing. Really she was. She had every intention of going through
with this. No matter the pang of loss.

Root refocused herself, eliminating any
thoughts of keeping the Brotswin. It had to go. It was not good for
them. She would sell it to Grotius Vulcherk. “Olly olly oxen free!”
The box clicked open. She snatched its treasure and with an
unamused look to her teammates, set to cross the street.

“We’ll take Road to Iguna’s and then meet you
over there.” Lian pointed to a lavender storefront that said Miss
Steampot’s. “There’s a Hovermutt lot right by Vulcherk’s. Y’wanna
take them?”

“Fine” Root muttered. This was so unfair.

She gathered up Pilsnips, Hana, Stogie and
CPR.

“Have fun.” Dwyn added with a mocking pat on
the back.

“Hardy har har.” Root said, pulling away.

The man at the Hovermutt lot was very
friendly. He let them park side by side and didn’t even charge
extra for CPR. Root tied them to posts and started for Vulcherk’s.
She was halfway there when CPR trotted up behind her.

“No CPR. You stay!”

CPR wagged her tail and did a sort of
‘neigh’.

“No CPR! You can’t come with me.”

Root had CPR’s leash triple wound and knotted
when she left for the second time. She tried to ignore the awful
whimpering behind her and prayed she wouldn’t suffer through
howling.

Not to be.

CPR’s howling continued even as Root reached
the imposing double doors of Vulcherk and Co. She blocked poor CPR
out of her mind and took a deep breath. The doors were tinted dark,
like the windows, the familiar silver ‘V’ dominating. Once close
enough the ground beneath took over, moving her along with other
patrons as objects on an assembly line. They glided right through
the doors, which opened with a
shwish.
When the trundling
stopped Root stepped off and looked up.