by JB Rowley
They looked across the water where the diprotodon was still lying quietly. Charli beamed.
“Well, what are we supposed to do now?” said Hamish. “We’ve done the bit about the walking wood and crossing where the giant guards the flow. Now what?”
14: Captured
Before them was a dense forest of trees, ferns and climbing plants.
“I guess we should just keep going,” said Nellie. “If Kikka has another message for us, she will find us.”
They cleaned and dried their feet as best they could and put their shoes and socks back on.
“How can you walk all through the forest without any shoes, Meg,” asked Charli.
Meg grinned. “The soles of my feet are like leather.” Balancing on one leg, he raised the other foot to display its sole. “I have walked on bare feet for so long my feet have each grown hard skin like the sole of a shoe.”
“Gosh,” said Charli, “so they have.”
They began the next leg of their journey, pushing their way through the dark jungle. A fallen tree lying lengthwise on the forest floor with roots exposed had opened up the forest canopy and created a shaft of light.
“Look at how much light there is here. It makes you realise how dark the forest is, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, you’re right, Nellie,” said Charli. “I wonder when that tree fell down. By the looks of the moss and the little plants growing all over it I suppose it must have been here for a while.”
“Not necessarily,” said Hamish flicking his curls in a familiar gesture that indicated he was about to impart important information. “It probably had plants growing on it when it fell. Some of them would have survived and continued to grow. All those saplings and plants growing around it are new though. They’re taking advantage of the light.”
They continued past the fallen tree and the forest was soon dark again.
“How do we know we are going the right way?”
“Good question, Charli,” said Nellie. “We just sort of kept walking but we don’t really know if that is what we are supposed to do.”
“Besides, we could have changed direction in this jungle without knowing it,” said Charli.
“We might as well go on a bit further and see what happens,” said Hamish.
Meg was at the head of the group and passing an ancient tree when crooked fingers reached out from an overhanging branch and snatched Pari.
“Pari!” cried Charli and Nellie together.
They all looked at the ugly creature clutching the tiny possum.
“It’s Ata,” said Nellie. She turned to Charli and Hamish. “Ata is the spirit of the underworld.”
“Will it kill Pari?” whispered Charli.
“Even worse,” said Nellie. “He will take Pari to the underworld. Poor Pari will have to stay there forever.”
“Oh, no,” said Charli, her eyes filling with tears.
“Let that possum go,” said Hamish sternly.
“Bah!” said Ata in his rough voice. Pari’s little nose twitched.
“We have to do something, Meg,” said Nellie.
Meg stood still looking at Pari. Nellie wondered if he was sending Pari a message. Hamish made a movement toward the tree but Meg put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“We must be careful, friend Hamish.”
“Bah!” said Ata again, his black eyes staring at Hamish.
“In my adventure,” said Nellie, “Ata had Kikka by the neck. We were so scared he would take her to the underworld.”
“What happened?” said Charli.
“We had a stone, a water sapphire which reflected light from the sun, even when there doesn’t seem to be any sun. The reflected light from the stone hurt Ata’s eyes and he let Kikka go. The underworld spirits are afraid of light.”
“Oh, so they live in dark parts of the forest like this area,” said Charli.
“Yes,” said Nellie, “and I wish I had that water sapphire with me now.”
They looked at each other. “We need a torch or something like that,” said Charli.
Still clutching Pari, Ata moved to a higher branch.
“Come back here,” said Hamish. “He’s just a harmless little animal, you bully. Let him go.”
“Bah!”
“I have an idea,” said Hamish. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a bright yellow ball. “This is a glitter ball. It lights up when I bounce it but it also has a button. All I have to do is press the button to make the light come on.”
He held the ball up toward Ata.
“I have a gift for you.”
“Bah!” said Ata, but he leaned forward slightly to look at the ball. At that moment, Hamish slipped his thumb over the button and the ball suddenly shimmered with light. Ata screamed and covered his eyes with his hands, releasing Pari who immediately jumped down onto Meg’s shoulder.
“Easy fixed,” said Hamish, slipping the ball back into his pocket. “Let’s get out of here.”
They continued on their way. Behind them they heard Ata.
“Bah! Travellers must die!”
Before they knew what was happening, hundreds of underworld spirits, dark shapes just like Ata, had dropped from trees and surrounded them. The spirits formed groups and so that each of the children was surrounded by a barrier of underworld spirits. Hamish pulled the ball out of his pocket and pressed the button so that the ball lit up again. However, as if warned by some sort of silent message from Ata, the underworld spirits kept their faces turned away. A large group had surrounded Charli. They formed a single unit to lift her in the air. Crooked fingers gripped every part of her body so that she could not move.
“Hey!” yelled Charli. “Put me down.”
The spirits, led by Ata, carried her through the forest. After a few minutes, the other groups broke away and followed Ata, climbing and jumping up on each other’s shoulders so that they formed a three tiered wall.
“Bah! Bah!” they chanted
“Where are they taking Charli?” cried Nellie.
“Nowhere, we will stop them,” said Hamish. “Quick! After them.”
They had no difficulty keeping up with the spirits who did not travel very fast.
“We have to think of something,” said Nellie.
“Yes, in the meantime don’t let them get out of sight,” said Hamish.
They were behind the spirits, close enough to hear Charli. “Let me go. Put me down,” she yelled.
“Why don’t we do what they did,” said Nellie to Meg and Hamish.
“What do you mean?” said Hamish.
“Surround one of them and capture it. We are bigger than them so it should not be difficult.”
“And then what?”
“If we capture Ata, we can do a prisoner exchange. He is their leader, after all.”
“How can we get to Ata? We might be bigger but there are hundreds of them.”
“Meg,” said Nellie. “Do you remember how the spirits were distracted by your flute playing during my adventure?”
Meg nodded. “You would like me to distract them with my flute?”
“Yes.”
“I am not sure they will be curious about my flute now. They have already seen it once. It is not a new thing anymore.”
“But they weren’t all there, Meg. Only some of them have already seen your flute and heard you play it.”
“You are correct, friend Nellie. I will try.”
“Wait until we are near Ata.”
They ran into the forest and raced ahead, overtaking the spirits. Now they could see Charli, still being carried aloft by a large band of spirits at the front of the formation. Meg pointed to a cloud of black mist rising above the trees some distance ahead of them.
“That is where they are taking friend Charli. That is the mist of the underworld,” said Meg.
“We won’t let them take her there,” said Nellie.
“This had better work,” said Hamish.
Meg pulled a long thread of
vine from a nearby tree. When he judged the piece to be long enough, he gestured to Pari who used his sharp teeth to cut it.
“Here,” said Meg. “You can tie Ata up with this.”
Hamish rolled the vine up into a loose circle and looped it over his shoulder.
“So what’s the plan?” he said.
“While the spirits are looking at Meg,” said Nellie, “we’ll sneak forward and grab Ata. You grab his upper body and make sure you clamp your hand over his mouth. I’ll keep watch in case any of the others try to stop us. We’ll carry him back here and tie him up.”
“And then?”
“You can stand out there and talk to them. Hold your yellow ball up and tell them you will turn the light onto Ata’s eyes if they come near us. When we have their attention, we can negotiate for Charli.”
“Negotiate?” said Hamish. “I’ll just tell them to hand her over or else.”
“We have to be careful, Hamish. There are a lot more of them than us.”
“All right, all right, we’ll do it your way.”
“Friend Nellie,” said Meg, lifting Pari from his shoulder, “please take Pari into your pocket. He will stay safe there.”
Nellie snuggled the little possum into the inside pocket of her jacket. Meg took his flute, stepped out from the trees and walked toward the spirits. He began to play a lively tune and danced in time to the music, lifting his knees high causing his leaf sarong to bounce up and down. The underworld spirits slowed their pace and looked toward Meg.
“Now!” said Nellie.
Hamish and Nellie sprinted forward. Hamish snatched Ata. Before the spirits knew what was happening, they had carried Ata to a tree and bound him so that he could not move. The spirits moved toward them. Nellie kept a firm grip on Ata while Hamish stepped forward with his ball held high. Meg stopped playing and stood still.
“Stop!” Hamish called.
The spirits stopped and, seeing the yellow ball, quickly lowered their eyes.
“We have your leader. If you come any closer, I will burn his eyes with my light.” Hamish pressed the button to light up the ball. The spirits stepped back a few paces and turned their heads away.
“If you let Charli go,” Hamish gestured to the group carrying Charli, “we will release your leader. No harm will come to him.”
The underworld spirits did not move. Hamish lifted his fingers from the button so that the ball was no longer lit up. He waited until the spirits raised their eyes again before holding the yellow ball close to Ata’s ugly face. Ata tried to turn his head but Nellie held it firm. The spirits shuffled. Hamish brought the ball even closer, a finger hovering over the button.
“Want me to turn on the light?”
“Bah!” said Ata, “let me go. We will set the human free.”
“First,” said Hamish, “tell all your followers to leave. Only the ones holding Charli can stay.”
“Bah!” said Ata. Nellie noticed that the tone of his voice was different and she realised his ‘bah’ must have indicated agreement because all the spirits except those holding Charli disappeared into the forest.
“Now,” said Hamish to the remaining spirits, “put Charli down, then we will untie your leader’s legs.”
The spirits slowly lowered Charli to the ground. Nellie bent down and untied the vine around Ata’s feet.
“Let Charli walk toward us and we will untie the rest of the vine around your leader’s body.”
The two spirits holding Charli’s arms let her go.
“Don’t run, Charli,” called Nellie. “Just walk slowly.”
As Charli started to walk toward them, Nellie untied the vines around Ata but held him firmly.
“When I let Ata go, “said Nellie, “go back the way we came as fast as you can. Go to that fallen tree we saw earlier.”
As soon as Charli reached them, Nellie let Ata go. She grabbed Charli’s hand and ran. Hamish and Meg followed. They stopped at the fallen tree and climbed up onto its trunk to rest. When she had caught her breath, Charli spoke.
“You were clever to think of this tree, Nellie. Ata and his spirits won’t come here because of the light.” Nellie nodded. “Thank you all for rescuing me,” continued Charli.
Meg grinned. Hamish shrugged. Nellie hugged Charli.
“Oops, I nearly squashed Pari.” Reaching into her pocket, she took Pari out. He jumped onto Charli’s shoulder and snuggled into her neck.
“Oooh, Pari,” said Charli.
Nellie thought she saw tears in Charli’s eyes.
15: Gold and Silk
They were interrupted by a movement at the other end of the mossy log. Cart wheeling towards them along the log was someone dressed in a pair of red trousers dotted with purple and yellow spots. The trouser legs fell down as the acrobat turned upside down to reveal red and white horizontal striped tights. When he performed one last cartwheel and flipped to land on the log in front of them they saw that his long pointy shoes were much too large for his feet.
“Mop,” cried Nellie.
Charli and Hamish stared open mouthed at their visitor. On his upper body he wore a red and white striped shirt with an orange bow tie at the collar. Big red buttons attached a pair of blue braces to the waist of his trousers. His hair stood on top of his head and stuck out at the sides and his face was made up like a clown.
“Lollysocks and chuckleberries,” said the clown with a deep bow. Charli thought she saw a bird’s egg in his hair when he bowed.
“This is Mop,” said Nellie. “Meg and I have already met him.”
“Hello, clown man,” said Meg. Pari bobbed up and down.
Nellie introduced Charli and Hamish.
“Mop lives in Circus Realm, don’t you, Mop?” said Nellie.
“Circus Realm,” said Mop, clicking his heels together. “To be sure. To be sure.”
“Circus Realm?” said Charli as she stroked Pari.
Mop took his tiny banjo from a large trouser pocket and began to strum. He sang in his high squeaky voice.
Realms are many, realms are many
One ha’ penny, two ha’ penny
Realms are many, many, many.
Nellie laughed. “Is that a clue? Have you come to give us a clue, Mop?”
“Massage,” said Mop. “Massage from ringmaster.”
“Massage?” said Charli.
“He gets his words mixed up,” said Nellie. “He means message; a message from Gondvan.”
Mop sat his tiny banjo on top of his head and began to search his deep trouser pockets.
“Massage,” he said as he pulled out a gold silk scarf which got longer and longer as he pulled. “Gold and silk.”
Mop kept pulling and the scarf kept getting longer and longer. Charli giggled. Pari jumped back to Meg’s shoulder.
“It is a very strange scarf, Pari, is it not?” said Meg. Pari bobbed his tiny head up and down. A long stream of golden silk lay at Mop’s feet and draped over the log but still the scarf kept getting longer and longer.
“Gold,” said Mop. “Massage. Silk.” He scratched his head and stared at the scarf as if it might help him remember. “Net. Silken net. Massage from ringmaster.”
With a sudden flourish of his hand he pulled the end of the silk scarf out of his pocket and flung the fabric high in the air. To Nellie’s amazement the silk scarf became a beautiful net as fine as a spider’s web. It hung suspended between two trees, catching the light so that it looked like golden lace.
“That’s magic,” said Charli, her eyes wide.
“It’s...it’s...gosh, Mop. How did you do that?” said Nellie.
Hamish was staring at Mop as though he could not believe what he was seeing. Mop’s white painted lips opened in a wide grin.
“Silken net,” said Hamish. “Is that what it is? Is that the message? Do we have to find a silken net?”
Mop plucked his banjo from his wild mop of orange and yellow hair and began to strum again.
On top of spaghetti
all covered with sneeze
Nellie laughed. “That’s not right, Mop. It’s cheese, not sneeze.”
Mop stopped and shook his head. “Not right. Not right. Cheese, not sneeze. Ah! Silk!” He began to strum again.
On top of silk spaghetti
all covered with cheese
He shook his head. “Wrong massage.”
“Maybe you should try On Top of Old Smokey,” said Charli.
Mop began to sing again.
On top of old Smokey
All smothered with dough
Charli giggled. “Not dough, Mop. It’s snow.” she said.
“Yes,” said Nellie, “and not smothered, it’s covered; covered with snow.”
Mop shook his head again. “Wrong massage,” he said. He stopped playing and scratched his head. After a moment’s thought he cried out.
“Lollysocks and chuckleberries! Got it. Got it, by jolly Jove.”
He began to strum and sing again.
On top of old Vulcan
All covered in silk
You’ll find the true gold
Only one of its ilk.
As soon as he finished, Mop jumped up, clacked his heels sideways and disappeared.
“Where did he go?” said Charli.
Nellie shrugged. “That’s what he did in my adventure, too. He just disappears when he’s delivered his message.”
“Typical,” said Hamish. “Leave a totally useless clue and then disappear. Seems to be a habit with all these weird characters.”
“Not totally useless, friend Hamish,” said Meg. “I know what old Vulcan means. We must go to the volcano. It is not far.”
“Volcano!” said Nellie. “He said on top. We won’t have time to climb a volcano.”
“We will not have to climb the volcano, friend Nellie. We can fly to the top.”
“Fly?” said Hamish. “I thought we were supposed to be back in pre-history. No planes then, you know.”
Meg smiled. “We will fly to the top of the volcano without a plane, friend Hamish.”
Meg cupped his hands around his mouth and made a loud yodelling sound. After a few minutes they heard something crashing through the tree branches. A tumbling confusion of feathers and leaves appeared before them as Fang untangled himself and landed on a branch close by.