Orville Mouse and the Puzzle of the Capricious Shadows (Orville Wellington Mouse Book 3)

by Tom Hoffman

  “Orville, there’s no need to–” Sophia stopped, her eyes on the wide flat rock where Orville was standing. She fell to her knees, brushing away a thin layer of dirt and debris.

  Orville dropped down next to her. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “It is. Someone carved the symbol of a coiled serpent into the rock.”

  “Why? What does it mean?”

  “It means Haukesworth Mouse stood on this very spot three hundred years ago, probably trying to figure out how to get past the Forest of Thorns.”

  Orville held the gold coiled serpent medallion on his adventurers hat next to the one carved in the rock.

  “They’re not quite the same. The carved serpent on the stone has its head and neck extending out from the spiral.”

  Proto had been studying the carving. “Perhaps it is meant to be a signpost, pointing us in the right direction. The head of the snake points to the east, along the outer edge of the forest.”

  “That’s it! Haukesworth marked the trail for other members of his guild to follow. You may have just saved our lives, Proto.”

  Orville grinned. “It’s Proto to the rescue!”

  The trio of adventurers made their way back to camp, Sophia and Orville crawling into their sleeping bags. Orville woke up an hour later, his sleep disrupted by three small trees who were scampering about, leapfrogging over him.

  “Unnghh! Knock it off, you crazy little trees!” He swatted at the rambunctious saplings and they dashed off into the night. “I guess they’re a little bit cute.” He burrowed back down inside his sleeping bag and was soon fast asleep.

  Chapter 18

  Down Under

  “There’s another one of those stone huts. I wonder who lived in them? They’re really small.”

  “It looks like they’ve been abandoned for centuries, there’s nothing in them. Maybe they were rest stops for travelers, a safe haven from the weather.”

  “Or a safe haven from the thorn trees.”

  The early morning sun found the three adventurers trekking along the outer perimeter of the Forest of Thorns, scouting the area for spiral serpent carvings left by Haukesworth Mouse.

  Orville was having a difficult time staying focused. Something about the Forest of Thorns was bothering him and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It wasn’t until they stopped for lunch that the answer came to him. Sophia sat down on a boulder and began shaping lunch. “Orville, water or lemonade with your lunch?”

  “Water, I guess.” He gave a yelp. “Water! That’s it! That’s what’s wrong. There are hundreds of thousands of trees in the Forest of Thorns, but it hasn’t rained once since we’ve been here. Where do they get their water?”

  Sophia furrowed her brow. “That’s a good point. So many trees in close proximity would require a vast supply of water to survive. Even if Tectar has a rainy season, it wouldn’t be enough to support a mammoth forest year round.”

  Proto nodded. “Quite puzzling. If by some chance the trees didn’t need water to survive, they would not have such extensive root systems.”

  After lunch and a lengthy discussion regarding the trees, they were no closer to understanding how the forest could survive without water. They continued on, skirting the edge of the dark forest.

  Orville spotted another stone hut. He approached the small edifice, peering in through a narrow rectangular opening next to the door. “I don’t think these buildings had windows, just that narrow vertical slot to let light in. Maybe they had wooden shutters or something to keep bugs out, if they even have bugs here.”

  Sophia glanced inside the hut. “It’s just like the others, a solid stone hut with a heavy wooden door. I just thought of something, where did they get the wood to make the doors?”

  “From trees, where else would they get it?” A look of horror crossed Orville’s face. “Oh, I see what you mean, the trees here aren’t like the ones at home. Um… maybe they waited till the trees died before they, you know, got the wood. That’s sort of creepy, like building a house out of old mouse bones.”

  Sophia grimaced. “Eww.”

  Proto grabbed Orville’s shoulder, pointing mutely to the wide stepping stone in front of the wooden door.

  “A coiled serpent! You found one!”

  “The serpent’s head is pointing to the doorway. It’s directing us into the hut.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Why would Haukesworth send us in there? Unless he’s saying it’s a safe place to sleep?”

  “Let’s find out.” Sophia grabbed the heavy door with both paws and pulled. “I’m going to need some help, it’s jammed shut.” Proto reached over and grasped the iron latch, giving it a sharp tug. The door gave way and Sophia stepped into the hut’s interior.

  “There’s lots of cobwebs and dust, but not much else.”

  Proto’s eyes glowed brightly with an orange light. “I am using my wide scan spectrometer to identify any anomalies within the building.” The orange light panned across the building’s interior. “Interesting.” Proto sank to his knees, brushing away a thick layer of dirt and debris on the floor, revealing a sheet of iron with a large ring bolted to one end.

  “Please don’t tell me that’s a trapdoor.”

  Proto grasped the iron ring and pulled. With a loud squeal of rusted metal he raised up the heavy iron plate.

  “Since Orville requested I not tell him what I have discovered, I will tell you, Sophia, I have discovered a trapdoor leading down into a rather ominous and forbidding darkness.”

  Orville groaned. “Trapdoors are worse than caves. They always go down to scary dark places with creepy monsters that grab you with long slithery tentacles, then stab you with thorns and stuff you into their big chomping mouth.”

  Sophia burst out laughing. “You’re such a ninny, you have absolutely no idea what’s down there. It could be a treasure chamber filled with gold, silver, and Nirriimian white crystals, or a bakery giving away free brimbleberry tarts and back rubs. Besides, it doesn’t matter what’s down there, Haukesworth sent us here and we need to find out why.”

  “I never thought of that, it really could be a treasure chamber. Proto, you can carry all the gold.” Orville scampered down the ladder. “I hear water, maybe a river. How could there be a river down there?” He sent an orb of light down to the base of the ladder. “It goes down pretty far. The ground looks really smooth. Nothing scary so far.”

  “Do you see any pastry shops?”

  “Very funny, ha ha.” Orville reached the last rung of the ladder and hopped off, studying the curious floor. “This is weird, the ground is really smooth and flat. There’s a few pebbles and some dust, but that’s it.”

  Sophia and Proto hopped down from the ladder. Sophia sent out a group of light orbs. “This place is enormous, and it’s definitely not a natural formation, someone built it. Your river is not a river, it’s an aqueduct.”

  “What’s an aqua duck?”

  Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”

  “I said what’s an aqua duck? How could a river look like a duck?”

  Sophia took a deep breath. “It’s called an aqueduct, not an aqua duck. It’s not a kind of bird, aqueducts are how ancient mice moved water from one place to another. They constructed great stone channels or pipes which carried water to their towns and cities. The water had to flow downhill to get there, so they would find a river or lake at a higher elevation, then divert water down the aqueduct to their town.”

  “Oh. I guess I missed that in school.”

  “Now you know. What we don’t know is why there is an underground aqueduct, and what all the stone huts are for.”

  Proto said, “Perhaps the stone buildings were entrances to a vast underground world. I don’t wish to cause undue alarm, but it is possible a race of creatures is living below the surface of the planet, and they are the ones who created all this.”

  Orville knew what Proto was thinking. He was imagining scaly lizard creatures who loved to snack on pl
ump little mice. “I don’t think scary creatures would be smart enough to build aqueducts, Proto, just in case that’s what you were thinking.”

  “You’re quite correct. They would more than likely be an advanced race, like the Anarkkians, armed with deadly particle beam weapons capable of obliterating a mouse in a single–”

  “Proto! That doesn’t help. It’s scary enough down here without that kind of talk.”

  “I do apologize, but we must remain vigilant. It’s just good common sense.”

  Orville sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

  Sophia pulled a two inch brass sphere from her pack and tapped a blue tab, watching as a tiny beam of light spun around, finally coming to a stop. “I know why Haukesworth Mouse sent us here. My compass says the aqueduct is flowing directly east. If we follow it we’ll be traveling beneath the Forest of Thorns. Haukesworth didn’t go through the forest, and he didn’t fly over it. He went under it.”

  “Whoa, that’s good news! Let’s take a look.”

  The adventuring trio made their way to the edge of the roaring aqueduct. Sophia sniffed the water. “It smells okay.” She dipped her paw in and tasted it. “It tastes fine, it’s fresh, clean water.”

  “Fresh water! This is how the Forest of Thorns gets the water it needs. Their roots must go down into the aqueduct.”

  “That might explain it.” Sophia ran her paw along the smooth stone of the aqueduct wall. “It’s definitely not a natural formation. Someone built this entire underground complex.”

  “How could it be so big? The Forest of Thorns is at least a hundred miles across.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this. Not even in books.”

  Proto said, “The aqueduct goes through that large arched tunnel in the side of the cavern. There’s a narrow ledge running along both sides but it’s not wide enough for us to walk on.”

  It was Orville who spotted the three gray metallic domes lying on the ground next to the cavern wall, each dome twelve feet across and four feet tall. “I wonder what these are?” He leaned over, rapping one of the domes with his paw. “It sounds hollow.” He pushed the dome, surprised when it slid several inches across the ground. “They’re really light. I wonder what they’re made of?”

  “What are they?”

  “We shall soon find out.” Proto flipped over one of the domes.

  “It looks like a large metal bowl, but it is exceptionally light and strong, apparently made from a synthetic composite material.”

  Sophia had a wide grin. “It’s more than just a big bowl, it’s our ticket past the Forest of Thorns. We don’t have to walk, we can ride this down the aqueduct.”

  Orville gaped at Sophia. “Are you serious? Shooting down a roaring aqueduct in a big wobbly bowl seems like a very, very bad plan. Suppose there’s a giant waterfall, or the aqueduct comes to and end and we go down a big gurgling drain?”

  “I suppose you could walk along that narrow ledge next to the raging rapids if you’d rather do that.”

  Orville eyed the precarious ledge, imagining himself slipping and plunging into the rushing torrent of foaming water. “Maybe the boat isn’t such a bad idea. How would we launch it? The water is moving really fast.”

  A long wooden pole blinked into Sophia’s paws. “Proto, you position the boat on the edge of the aqueduct. Hold it steady while Orville and I climb in, then you hop in and use this pole to launch us into the water.”

  Proto soon had the small craft balanced on the outer wall of the aqueduct, holding it still as Sophia and Orville climbed in. He scrambled in after them, the long wooden pole in one hand.

  “Hold on, I’m going to push us off! Keep a sharp lookout for mutant fish who might leap out of the water and drag us overboard.”

  “Wait, what?? Why do you think there are mutant fish?”

  Proto gave a staccato laugh as he pushed them into the turbulent rapids with the wooden pole. Seconds later they were barreling down the aqueduct toward the dark opening in the cavern wall.

  “Whoo hoo!!” Sophia raised both arms into the air. “This is amazing! We’re flying!”

  Orville was clutching the side of the craft, peering into the roaring foamy water. “Why did you say mutant fish might drag us out of the boat? Did you see something?”

  Before Proto could reply they were shooting through the long dark tunnel. Orville was clutching the outer rim of their makeshift craft as they raced madly down the roaring aqueduct, rocking and swaying wildly.

  It took several minutes for Orville to get used to the rolling motion of their oddly shaped vessel. The good news was they hadn’t tipped over, and the craft wasn’t taking on any water. Even better, no mutant fish had leapt out of the aqueduct and grabbed Orville.

  “This isn’t so bad. It’s a lot better than walking along the ledge, that’s for sure.” Orville slid down into the boat, leaning back against the smooth curved surface. “I kind of the like the way the boat bobbles and sways. It’s a little like riding in the back of a hay wagon. I bet I could stand up. It’s not as rough as I thought it would be.”

  “Orville, standing up is a very bad idea.”

  “It’s not that hard, I stood up in the boat when Papa took me out in the Vesarak Sea. It just takes a little practice, especially in a rolling sea. It’s called getting your sea legs. Papa told me all about it.”

  Orville rose to his feet, holding out both arms to keep his balance. He grinned at Sophia. “It’s not as hard as it looks, and I can see where we’re going when I’m standing. We’re about thirty feet above the ground and it looks like the aqueduct is passing over some kind of weird forest. It’s too dark to see exactly what it is. I don’t know why there would be trees down here though.” Orville turned to the front of the boat, trying to get a better view of the forest. He had time for one terrified shriek before they hit the sharp curve and he was hurled from the boat, disappearing over the edge of the aqueduct into the dark forest below.

  Chapter 19

  So Cute

  “Is it dead?”

  “No, I’m sensing a strong life force.”

  “Why did it collapse when it looked at us?”

  “Uncertain. Maybe the fall from the aqueduct damaged it. We may have frightened it. Sometimes little creatures like this collapse when they get scared.”

  “It was surrounded by a small energy field. That should have protected it from the fall.”

  “It’s moving again.”

  Orville groaned, opening his eyes. He looked up at the two enormous insects towering above him. “Uh…uh… are you going to eat me? Is this a dream? Am I dead?”

  “It talks! It’s so cute, all covered with fur like that. We should keep it.”

  Orville was still dazed. “Have to think… giant insects… I can understand what they’re saying, so this must be a dream. I must be sleeping.”

  One of the insects made a low buzzing sound, shaking all over. “That is so darling, it thinks it’s having a dream.”

  “Precious. Where do you think it came from?”

  “It fell off the aqueduct. It must have wandered down here from the surface and gotten lost.”

  Orville frowned. Maybe this wasn’t a dream. “Stop calling me it! I’m not an it, I’m Orville Wellington Mouse, and I can hear everything you’re saying.”

  Both insects began buzzing and shaking. “It said it’s not an it!”

  “Are you laughing? Is that what you’re doing when you buzz like that?”

  “Are you lost, little fellow?”

  Orville studied the tallest insect. Standing over twelve feet tall, it had a strong resemblance to a praying mantis, but was a mustardy yellow color. The shorter insect was the same dull yellow but was also covered with small irregular splotches of orange. “What are you? What is this place?”

  “We should keep it. It’s so cute. It wants to know where it is.”

  Orville was beginning to get angry. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here and saying how
cute I am! I can hear everything you’re saying, you know.”

  “It can sense our thoughts. Surprising for such a little furry fellow. We could build a cage for it, feed it and take care of it.”

  “That sounds like a lot of trouble. We’d have to feed it every day, give it water, clean its litter box.”

  Orville jumped to his feet. “I’m not using a litter box! Don’t say litter box again. I’m not a pet. I’m Orville Wellington Mouse and I’m a member of the Metaphysical Adventurers. My friends will be worried about me, and just so you know, one of them is a powerful and terrifying Rabbiton.”

  “It’s trying to scare us!” The two insects began buzzing and shaking.

  Orville was now livid. “That’s it, I’m gone.” He shot up the most powerful sphere of defense he could muster and took off running. Much to his dismay after two steps he collided with an invisible wall.

  “Don’t hurt yourself, little fellow.”

  “Is it all right? It ran into the air wall. It couldn’t see it, I guess. That’s odd.”

  A brilliant orange light shot out of the insect’s left eye, scanning Orville. “It’s fine, just scared, that’s all.”

  “I’m not scared, I happen to be a very powerful shaper, just so you know.”

  “A shaper, why didn’t you say so? What kind of things do you like to shape, little one? Funny toys and tasty little snacks?”

  Orville glared at the enormous creatures. They were definitely more amused than afraid. He flicked his wrist and a deadly looking black dagger appeared in his paw. He raised one eyebrow, trying to look as threatening as possible.

  The two insects looked at each other, once again buzzing and shaking.

  Orville growled, “I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you. I’m not afraid to use this.”

  The taller insect looked at the dagger and it vanished from Orville’s paw. “Seriously, it’s not safe to play with sharp things like that, someone could get badly injured. We’re not going to hurt you, I promise. We’ll take really good care of you.”