The Questory of Root Karbunkulus - Quill (28 page)

The pool took its arrivals fully into its
depths and soon they were sucked into a powerful current. Root had
no idea which way they were going; she was spinning so wildly. It
had escaped her that they’d be under water for quite some time. And
now the realization was making itself known by the ache in her
lungs. She longed for breath but the swooping pull of the water
would not allow it. It was moving fast now, spinning her through
the tunnel. Her lungs felt like they were going to collapse. Air!
Air!

Air…Her head was going numb. She needed to
breathe. Just one breath. God…Air…Her thoughts started to slip
away. Silence replaced them. Silence, calm and beautiful…

Any second now her lungs would give
in…release themselves…the water would…fill them. And she
would…surrender…

A sudden change in the current roused Root
back to consciousness. She was being sucked upward with tremendous
force. Before she could comprehend what was happening the water
shifted again and with a great burst, she was spewed into the air.
Air! She was gulping for breath before her body even hit the soil.
Stogie, CPR and the staircase landed in wet lumps around her.

For a long time they lay there, filling their
lungs over and over. And over again.

They had broken through and landed in what
looked like the charcoaled remains of a giant abandoned bonfire.
Coal, ashes and blackened wood were strewn all around. Root could
care less how much of it was now staining her clothes. She was so
soooooo soooooooooooooo happy to be alive. As were CPR and Stogie
who couldn’t stop licking her wet cheeks.

A short distance away was a roughly hewn
cabin. Once inside Root realized it was actually a stable. There
were four straw beds in a corner and another one in the opposite
corner; this one much larger, enormous in fact. To Root’s immediate
shock, a gigantic tortoise was gawking from it. Right at them.

It roared, sending Root scrambling backward
into a row of bunk beds.

Wait a minute. Bunk beds?

Root looked closer at the tortoise. She
immediately identified the symmetrical purple design of its shell.
“Is that you, Corky?” she whispered.

The tortoise roared again but this time Root
recognized his rich, bass tones. It was just a greeting. A Corky
hey, how’s it goin’?

Root stood up and gave the beast a relieved
pat, all the while surveying her new surroundings. They were in
Haverly’s stable to be sure. The Hovers’ beds were in the corner
and bunk beds for the team, just like Haverly had said.

This coincidence could not go unnoticed. A
tunnel leading from Vulcherk’s to Haverly’s property? That was more
than just strange.

Something was not making sense.

Stogie was overjoyed to find bowls of food
and water had been set out for the Hovers. Soon the room was filled
with the sound of gulping and slobbering and lapping. CPR,
uninterested laid a ways further, licking her delightful new
squeaky toy.

Root watched her. And then, as if an angel
had suddenly swung down and whispered a secret in her ear, she knew
something beyond any shadow of doubt. A shiver tore down her spine.
Goosebumps raised her skin. Her mind spun and flashed images
around, trying to fit them together like a puzzle.

“Oh. My. God.…” she whispered as the last
piece clicked into place.

Then she was off, flying through the stable,
barking off a score of commands, soldiering a plan into action.

“Corky, where’s the water carriage?”

Corky’s great head gestured to a corner where
the water carriage sat covered in a tarp. Root ran over, removed
the tarp and opened the drawer of Haverly’s driving podium. She
pulled out Horace Gastral’s Finest Gills and dropped two sets in
her palm. “Stogie, come here!” She pasted the gills onto the sides
of his neck while his tail sunk between his legs. She then ran to
CPR, still drooling over her squeaky prize. “CPR, give me
that!”

CPR thought to resist but the tone of Root’s
voice had an authority in it that had to be obeyed. She released
her beloved toy. Root pasted a couple of Horace Gastrals along her
neck too.

Root’s mind was going a million miles an
hour. There was so little time. She could feel the Squawnches
searching for her. It wouldn’t be long before one of them found the
pool. She ran back to Haverly’s drawer and rummaged through it. She
pulled out a Road and remembered that Haverly had said they could
be waterproofed. Surely this one would be. Root tucked it in her
pocket and returned to the drawer. ClearView drops! Perfect! And –
aha!- a pen and paper in a waterproof bag. Root quickly scribbled a
note and folded it. She ran to Corky and placed the bag securely in
the leather straps over his head.

“Take this letter to Haverly!” she instructed
the tortoise. “Don’t let anyone else see it. Only Haverly!”

Corky roared. Root was sure he understood
even though he didn’t have Quatra.

And now the dreaded deed. Root pulled a pair
of gills from her pocket; the same ones Haverly had given her at
the entrance to the Snakes. With a look of terror, she stripped off
each backing and smoothed them along the sides of her neck.

The transformation was fast. And actually
pretty painless, thank goodness. All Root felt was a tingling
sensation on each side of her neck. She cringed as she reached her
hand up to feel. Eight strips had cut into her skin, four to each
side, folding open and shut, open, shut. She had gills!

Stogie came to her side whimpering. He wasn’t
pleased with this new feature at all. Root had to stop him from
scratching at it. CPR, on the other hand, didn’t even seem to
notice. Root guessed it was because she was probably too busy
sulking over her lost squeaky toy.

Back at the pool, in the middle of a scorched
dumping ground of debris, Root took a last look of her
surroundings. And that’s when she saw it. Her staircase. It was
mangled up over a stretch of black soot. Root picked it up
tenderly.

“It’s okay, big guy. We’ll get you fixed up
as good as new.” Funny how life can hit a switch and suddenly
talking to a pile of wooden planks is perfectly normal. Root placed
the staircase carefully under a tree with a large canopy. It would
be safe there until she came back.

And now, dreaded deed number two. After
administering two drops of Clear View into each eye she looked into
the glassy, dark face of the pool. It was a risk for sure. For all
she knew she’d be swept right back into the Curator’s clutches. But
surely the tunnel branched off somewhere along the line. She hoped
that her preparations would allow her the ability to find out.

“Okay, on the count of three.
One…two…three!”

The pool splashed, gulping three figures into
its depths.

The current was very strong. Root was
instantly caught in its pull, dragging through the water like a
worm on a hook. She could breathe, yes but what good was that if
she was taken right back to Vulcherk’s and the hands of the
Curator.

She had to try to fight the current. Or at
least find some way to gain control within it. She spread her arms,
an attempt to brake against the flow, but all it did was make them
tired. The tunnel’s momentum was too much. Soon her arms collapsed
back into her and she was spinning once more. She could see nothing
but a blur of darkness rushing past her.

It took her faster now, pummeling her along,
closer to her fate. She grasped at mental straws. Perhaps, when she
popped out of Vulcherk’s pool, they’d all be gone, looking for her,
never expecting her to come right back. Yeah, maybe there was still
a chance.

When she felt the body of something rubbing
up to her, she screamed a muffled drowned scream. She panicked and
kicked. But she was no match for the creature and soon was
forced…upon its back?

Stogie!

Oh the relief!

Root grabbed hold of her Hovermutt and let
him lead. He was overcoming the water and able to control himself
within it. Root longed to know how CPR was succeeding. She turned
her head briefly to see if maybe she could catch a glimpse of
her.

That’s all it took.

She flew from Stogie.

And landed on CPR.

Good answer, she thought.

Eventually she found herself a little niche
right behind Stogie and in front of CPR where they made sure she
was safe. From here, under their controlled momentum she could see
much better. She peered into the water, thankful of enough glow
from the water creatures to make things visible. Eerily visible.
The tunnel was fuzzy with algae and there seemed to be nothing more
to it than endlessness. No intersecting tunnels. No escape.

They sped along. It wouldn’t be long now
until they would be belching out of the original pool. Root tried
to affirm herself.
No Squawnches…no Squawnches…no ugly, gross
curator guy…

All at once, for no obvious reason the water
slowed down. Root gawked around. The current had almost come to a
standstill. She remembered the same thing happening the first time
but now she had a chance to see why. A brief chance, for the
current would pick up any second now. She peered through the murky
water, as far as she could. There had to be a reason it had slowed.
As if something was diffusing its strength.

Aha!

There
was
a connecting tunnel! She
could just make it out under a carpet of waving algae, a huge round
opening that, for whatever reason, had been plugged. So, where was
its cross current coming from? She scanned….right there! At its
lower section, near the floor. Time and water had taken its toll,
leaving a breach for the traffic of those creatures that could fit
through it.

Already she could feel the pull of her
tunnel, a much greater current, trying to return to its full
strength. She quickly directed Stogie and CPR to the gap in the
connecting tunnel and found that it was, thankfully large enough
for all of them to fit through. A bit tight for Stogie, but doable.
They squeezed past the plug, which was remarkably like an actual
cork.

As they arrived on the other side, Root was
struck with awe.

The new tunnel they had ended up in was not a
tunnel at all. It was a lake!

An enormous, spread for miles and miles,
underwater chasm.

And then it hit her as its many features
became clear. Pillars, buildings, walls, walkways, statues! All
eerily coated in the swirling, fuzzy green of algae.

She was in the long forgotten Drowned City of
Divit!

From a peak overlooking the chasm Root could
practically see the whole of the Drowned City spread out before
her, the ‘Pearl Below the Sea’. Though suffering from the ravages
of time and erosion there was no doubt this was once a city of
majesty and wonder. Buildings rose in abundance, claiming the sea
in glorious feats of ivory; honoring it with coral gardens and
mother of pearl roadways. Even under water the details of art and
beauty were not lost. Sculptured heroes and beasts sprang up in
squares and atop pillars and along the fronts of golden
architecture. Schools of iridescent fish meandered in and out of
windows while static sea creatures found post along the great ivory
wall that surrounded the city.

With no current to yank them, Root, Stogie
and CPR descended leisurely into the watery streets. It was a tour
of wonder as the magnificence of the great city enclosed upon them.
Under a watery grave it had remained a treasure of the sea. Root
couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like bathed in the
light of a cloudless sky.

Their silent tour would not last, at least
not in the glory of which it had begun. For as they came out of a
street, they were met with the shocking reality of Haverly’s
warnings.

A flat, open field lay ahead. Broken
buildings littered it like the clean, white bones of an elephant
graveyard. Hungrily sifting through this, as termites taking to the
rotted remains of nature, were hundreds of swarming, sifting,
scavenging workers. They were all gilled, like Root and upon their
heads were funneled lights that cut through the water’s murky
depths. They were each uniformed in a waterproof suit, sort of like
Haverly’s but steely black. Termite black. And to Root’s
astonishment the sleeves of these were stamped with a crude symbol,
the same of which sent chills of terror through her spine.

The sign of the Murk Lord. Kakos.

Root shrunk back into the street.

How on earth….?

She had to regroup. And find a way out of
here. The last thing she needed was Kakos added to her list of
hunterss. As Jorab had said, Kakos would remember the destruction
of his Black Market, of which Root was responsible. And there was
no doubt he’d be more than pleased to ‘bump into her’ and exact
revenge.

“Hey!”

It had come out more like a muffled
“Mmmaawww!” under water but Root got the gist of it. And now one of
the Termites was pointing.

And then three of them were walking toward
her.

Root tore off back down the street, this time
on Stogie’s back. CPR kept close on their tracks, easily managing
the sudden turns and twists down the slippery streets of the
Drowned City. Unfortunately Root’s chasers were managing as well
and were even gaining. They were obviously used to being under and
manipulating water.

The Drowned City sped by in a swirl of
greenish white sculptures and pottery and archways. Root and her
mates swam as best as they could down a flight of stairs and
slipped behind a door. Root held her breath behind it.

The Termites had lost sight of her and now
slowed down, coming to a frustrated halt outside her door. One of
them grabbed the handle and twisted. On the other side Stogie
clenched it in his jaws, holding it solidly in place.