Too late. Mannie was out for revenge. His head reared back and he prepared to lunge at his enemy. Everyone saw what was coming and scrambled to get out of the way.
He caught Rutland in midair, threw him by the scruff of his jacket onto the floor, and sank his teeth into his shoulder. Rutland, though, was not without his defenses. With a twist he dislocated his joints and slid out of Mannie’s clutches. Forgetting where he was, he scrammed out of the room on all fours, Mannie in hot pursuit. The Captain stood speechless at the strange behavior of both dog and Kavalonian.
“Mannie, Stop!” McFee commanded, and ran out the door after him, his silk-weave scarf flapping behind him. It caught on the door when it slammed behind him. The Captain picked it up and examined the insignia woven into it. “A spider?” he said. “Never seen anything like that before.”
Mannie chased Rutland out of the main door, over the garden beds and past the guardhouse. McFee ran fast after him, but Mannie was faster, disappearing in the darkened streets in pursuit of the nasty rat, whose fashionable suit was now in shreds and whose skin was beginning to change back into rodent’s hair.
Rutty dropped the tattered remainder of his clothes in a garbage can and picked up speed. He scurried across Main Street and took a sharp turn into a narrow alley, and another quick left into a backstreet. He took a last glance over his shoulder, then removed his boots and shrunk into a full-fledged rat.
“Not just a rat, but a distinguished rat and strong like the Captain. Rutland ‘Rutty’ Ratkin, the handsome one. Ruler quality.” He assured himself.
He groomed his tail and noticed a nearby pack of rats chattering away. “Alleyway commoners. How could they not be impressed with Rutty?” He flashed them a chipped-tooth smile. They sniffed, encouraging him to come over. Rutty was a hero to rodents of the land. Rutty winked, gave them his notorious sneer and slid between the grate bars. Mannie slid around the corner, his tongue flapping, and the other rats scattered.
McFee finally caught up with Mannie, who growled relentlessly at the sewer grate, trying to pry the bars apart and hurting his legs in the process. McFee leashed him and dragged him away.
“I’m not finished with that rat yet,” Mannie growled to himself.
“You need a break from patrol duty,” McFee said. Later he advised the Captain that Mannie collapsed during a recent break-in at his estate, and not to worry, he won’t be accompanying him again. “That dog was never the same after that night.”
McFee was convinced that Mannie knew too much.
Chapter 11
The Mojo Team dove head first for the trap door’s small opening, desperately trying to escape the shrinking dungeon. Legs, arms and assorted travel sacks flew every which way.
But there was not enough room for all to get through at once, so there they hung, packed snugly together upside-down above the ledge, and all waving their arms. Maximojo was jammed between Meowlen and Woofster. Lou was squashed in the center, managing to just barely poke out his now pipeless head. Whinniston’s head and one hoof stuck out.
Glitta, who of course was much smaller than the others, beamed out between them and flittered above Maximojo’s shoulder.
Kelcius, who managed to pull himself up onto the ledge, thought he was looking at a multiple-headed monster. Frightened, he placed a claw over his eyes, spreading his nails slightly to peek.
The button bug had never known his friend to be in such a state of surprise. “It has so many arms, and it appears enraged at us for disturbing its rest,” IT said.
Glitta sparkled excitedly when she noticed Kelcius, but Kelcius panicked at the sight of her. “That brightness must be its weaponry, like Letcho’s tail. It’s glaring at me. I can’t bear to look.” IT ran for cover in an ear and plugged the opening with some knotted strands of hair from his friend’s face.
“This monster must be from the other side,” Kelcius said, “the forbidden world where Smelka told us there is sunshine that might tempt us to escape. But she said it was a trap and we’d never return! She said never to leave our rest caves. The others listened, but not Kelcius-Kol. The monster must have discovered that I was missing and come here to take me away.” He trembled at the thought.
“I was warned I’d be doomed if I broke the rules, now it’s too late! This terrifying monster will soon break free from the constraints and drop me in that cavern with one of its many arms! Then it will go after the others.
“Wait! Maybe it won’t throw me in to the boiling pit, but have me as a snack instead like a snaphead feast. You are in trouble, too!” Kelcius told IT. “It may find you taste like toasted crawler crisps. We’re doomed!”
The bug began to swell up with anxiety, popping out of Kelcius’s other ear. “Life in the mines isn’t so bad, after all,” Kelcius said, feeling remorse. “How are we going to warn the others? I am already trapped in its clutches. Gathering his courage, he vowed to defend the others resting unaware in their caves.
But he was so frightened he couldn’t lift a claw. IT did everything it could to help, but his friend, who had plastered himself against the wall, would not budge. IT stretched into an elastic band and snapped itself across Kelcius’s face to slap some sense into him.
He flung his arms up, startled. “Am I not Kelcius-Kol?” he said. “Courageous? Why can’t I just leave the way I came? No one will ever know.” Some rocks crumbled off the side of the ledge, and he watched them fall away. Finally an echo returned. “At least it’s not bottomless. We could jump to a lower plateau then another.” He struggled to let go with each foot, but trembled. IT puffed itself out to cushion his fall, in case Kelcius decided to jump.
“I could wait for you below!” IT said, pointing toward the bottom. Glitta wavered over the edge and flashed them another “hello.”
“Kazeees! It’s real!” Kelcius cried. Glitta’s wings shone in his eyes. He swatted crazily at her with his dangling back claws. “It must be an overgrown spark-fly,” he said. “Take that and that!”
Glitta vanished from view and waited for the others to descend. Kelcius backed into a crevice, exhaling to shrink. “Jump in,” he said to IT. “At least you’ll be safe for now.” He stretched his ear into a landing pad, but the bug said, “Let’s just go the way we came! We can backtrack through the hole just over there. Now that we know who caused the banging noise we can go.”
IT stretched itself out into a wheeled board for a fast exit. “Jump on!”
“What if the monster tackles us before we make it to the hole?”
“Have it your way,” IT said. “But what will happen to the others when you don’t show up for our shift?”
“We’ll make it back before they wake up!” Kelcius said.
Lou and the others watched the creature and the bug, unsure of what to expect. “Why don’t they just help us onto the ledge?” Meowlen said. “We need the door yanked off at its hinges to give us a little more room to squeeze past. The big one has strong-looking claws.”
“This may be a trick,” Lou said. “Meowlen, Woofster, squeeze over. Whinniston don’t move.” He pushed his head and another arm out past them, but then IT crawled across his nose. “A curious bug at a time like this!” Lou brushed the bug off, sending it airborne. Kelcius caught his friend.
“What were you doing up there?” Kelcius said. “That was dangerous to aggravate one of its heads.”
“You wanted a little adventure,” IT puffed. “Nothing can squash me.”
Kelcius molded IT into a shape and plugged it where it belonged. “Keep quiet while I figure this out. It’s my journey, and you’re along for the ride.”
“I’m courageous, too,” IT snapped. “I’ve learned from the best, and we’ve been together a long time.”
Meanwhile, Maximojo finally managed to push his way out, landing with a thud alongside where Kelcius hid in the crevice. He towered over the creature. Glitta flickered out from around the corner and emitted black light to let Kelcius know she was approaching. She didn’t want to frighten him
with a high beam.
Kelcius was confused. “Not only is there an inquisitive spark-fly, but now there’s a curly-haired face with long ear flaps and a flashing light around its neck. The monster seems to have separated into different faces. They really should go if they know what’s best for them,” he said, wondering if Letcho would appear from behind a rock. The lizzardo had a way of finding him.
That reminded him of something that had happened once while wheeling a cart full of gems to the far side of the castle gates. He was forbidden to go too close to the castle or the swamp around it. He was told that the fluorescent-eyed snapheads would show no restraint if they locked him in their hold. Once he was caught, either his head would be snapped off or he’d be dragged under, his cries turning into bubbles floating above its slimy surface.
His curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he found a rock to hide behind. Letcho wouldn’t be able to see him from the guard post there. He felt safe. Then to his surprise, he saw Rutty arrange various containers and pick up some stones. He rubbed two together to make them spark, and placed them over a container into which he had shoveled some coal. The little sparks turned into a flame and then burst into a huge torch. It was the first time he had seen real light. From that moment Kelcius began to feel he had a bigger purpose. The brightness of the fire stirred every part of him. He seemed to remember being in a magnificent castle, his very own, though he didn’t know how that was possible.
“I miss the comforts of my cave,” he told IT. “I miss the other slaves, but at least I have you to count on.” He looked again at Glitta’s light. “Maybe she is not so scary looking after all, even though the only hair she has hangs away from her face and spills onto those wings that never seem to stop moving.” It looked like the rest of the monster was also planning an escape.
“It’s a good time to whistle so you can make a decision,” IT said. Kelcius nodded, and crawled out of the crevice. He began whistling the miner’s march, the tune all the miners whistled through the hole in their forehead while they worked. It was a tune passed down by the eldest of all the miners, and always brought them feelings of hope and encouragement. A little braver now, he shouted up to the monster and its many parts, “What are you doing up there!”
All they heard was a whistling noise. Maximojo reached for his PolyMatrixor to confirm the whistle’s origin, and discovered he spoke the language of the lost civilization of Treptalon. He crouched to eye level to stare into the stranger’s face, touched his head gently, then began speaking to the creature. Kelcius squeezed the button-nose tenderly. “Friends?”
The 'Mojo Effect' had instantly kicked in, Kelcius finally heard familiar words, and everyone could speak with each other. Kelcius was thrilled to be able to communicate with the monster hovering above.
“Are you a Treptalonian?” Glitta asked him.
Treptalonian? What’s that? Naturally not! I am Kelcius-Kol, once a slave-miner, now the voice of the underworld miners movement for equal rights and independence. I named myself after the temperature of our world.” Then his voice dropped to a whisper. “Actually it is a secret name. Having a name is forbidden here.”
“Well it is an honor to meet you Kelcius-Kol,” Maximojo replied. ”And you are a Treptalonian, even if you don’t know it. I am Maximojo, and this is Glitta, the wand of light. You live in this inner space of your planet, and I am from the outer space beyond its surface. Now we both are standing on common ground. We are from a star called Plaxo in another galaxy. We’re on a mission. We traveled a great distance to help your planet.”
Kelcius was no longer afraid. “In your world, is a mission like an adventure?” Maximojo nodded. “Kazeees! I’m really part of an adventure!” IT inspected Maximojo’s ears, and approved. “It would be safe in there!” The bug told his friend.
Glitta felt a signal ripple through her body. “I sense trouble,” she vibrated, and whisked away to explore the source of her unease. Maximojo peered up at his friends who were still hanging in the opening.
“Just hang on now. Don’t jump yet,” he said. “I am making preparations for you to descend. The ledge is too narrow for all of us. It’s risky. I will need to adjust you to a smaller size. Prepare for a blast.”
Maximojo pointed his sensor at Whinniston. “Now keep your hooves still. This won’t hurt a bit.” The sensor beamed an electric current and Whinniston shrank into a mini-whinny, slipped out of the crowd and landed majestically on the ledge next to Maximojo.
The bug saw an opportunity to be helpful, and inflated itself into a landing pad so the rest of the team could fall in comfort.
Woofster howled when he felt himself shrinking not wanting to be too small. Guard dogs had a height requirement to see over fences. “Move aside Whinny, we’re coming in for a landing!” Meowlen said. They landed in a jumble of legs and paws on the button-bug-cushion in front of Kelcius. Lou managed to show up last.
Maximojo adjusted his size in order to be eye level with his comrades.
***
Glitta soared along the still air whirling around the mountainous region. She narrowed into a bolt to squeeze into a small opening that led to the other side of the cliffs, and then reached lightning speed as she picked up a tail wind rising from a valley below. Radiant steams of color trailed behind her, painting a beautiful picture on the sunless world.
She sped along the intertwining route and transmitted data, in a light beam, to the PolyMatrixor. “It appears this world was not built underground. There’s even an upside-down castle that has stabilized on a rock foundation below pipelines. It must be a lost civilization that got submerged. I’m on my way over.”
She shimmied to an upright stance, her wings backstroking steadily so as to not to disturb anything. She glided between the cliffs, focusing in on an opening in the castle wall. “It’s a window,” she noted, somewhat surprised, and nearly hit a pillar that appeared out of nowhere in front of her, trying to block her view. Another emerged, followed by another. “I am being cornered!” she sparked. She moved sideways and stilled herself.
“Confirmed, Mojo,” she transmitted. “It is a whole other existence inside Zalturn.”
She spun, spiraling back toward the castle. The wavering pillars watched. “There is a strong force emanating from somewhere in the planet’s core that’s making me wobbly,” she transmitted. “Maybe it is in that mountain that vanished off your screen.”
She found her way to the castle, determined to seek out the nasty culprits who had tampered with their mission and imprisoned them in the dungeon. Her radiance awakened the drowsy snapheads. Their piercing eyes glowed above the water’s surface, and as Glitta came near they leapt out of the water and snapped ferociously at her. She veered, cutting through thick mist. Ever playful, she enjoyed a good game of “Catch me, even if you can’t.”
The snapheads, empty-mouthed and confused as to how their prey had slipped by them, smacked their jaws into the sludge to await a return visit.
The moving shadows in the castle window did not notice Glitta flittering about as she took movies of them and sent them to the PolyMatrixor. Then she encircled the castle with ropes made of radiant fibers before soaring back over the drawbridge.
“The coordinates are registered,” she transmitted to the device. “The gang is located in the castle. I’ve encased it with radiation. It should contain them until we find a way out, but we must hurry before the ropes dissipate. Glitta out.”
She zoomed back over the swamp one more time for fun. “There’s that overgrown spark-fly!” said one snaphead. He lashed out, but Glitta’s light faded in the distance. “How did you let it escape again?”
Maximojo’s PolyMatrixor projected the images of Rutty, Letcho, Scrapsie and Smelka behind the castle window, sitting around a table, arms waving as they busily discussed something. Rutty’s voice gradually became clear. “Let’s go over the plan once more. The Swaggelot affair will be one that he’ll never forget. The handsome Rutland Ratkin will escort the charming
Clarenette to the palace gardens during the new-moon celebration. I will give her the specially formulated potion, and then she will become putty in these claws. You will be hiding in the bushes, and when I call for you, you’ll come out and carry her away. Then it will finally be just the two of us, and the rest of you, as well, of course! Soon, she will rule together with me. It will be the demise of the Captain. The underworld will rise, the Kingdom of Kavalon will be no more, and our gang will reign on land – supreme at last!”
Maximojo and the Wand of Light Page 11