Rutty pushed away from the table. “I’ve got business to take care of. Letcho! Beat it! To your post! I’ll be back later.”
Maximojo pondered what he was hearing. Celebration? Clarenette? The Captain? Demise?” He realized this mission was bigger than just the phase-in. And that the moon, even now, was nearing the final phase-in its cycle. Time was running out.
“You’re right, Glitta. This dungeon isn’t going to hold up much longer either and we’re under it. We need to get to the palace. Fast!” Maximojo stumbled over Woofster, and the horse broke his fall with the cat on his head. They were the Mojo Team at last.
Glitta continued on to search for an exit. She rounded a corner and shimmered to a sudden stop. There stood a huge mountain, smooth as crystal. As she approached it, she saw a boarded-up entrance in the mountainside. It began to waver.
“It’s the vanishing mountain,” she flickered. “I’ve never seen anything like it. This could be our way out.” She emitted some x-rays to see what was hidden behind the meteorite planks. Seeing it was safe, she released a round of gamma rays that sizzled through them. Puffs of smoke lifted away, revealing a breathtaking interior that even surprised Glitta.
The smoldering metal cooled while she soared straight up the center. A maze of passageways led off the main tunnel, lined with glistening clusters protruding from the walls. Above she caught a glimpse of light pouring in from a crater-like opening. “I can see the sun and blue skies. I am at the top of the mountain,” she sparked.
Arriving at the peak, she captured a picture of manicured gardens with birds chirping, recharged in the sunshine, and happily turned back to get the others. The “escape exit” flashed on the PolyMatrixor’s screen.
When she sped past the castle to return, in her elation, by mistake, she released a bunch of luminescent orbs that bounced everywhere. Some of them strayed over to the castle. One had smacked Letcho on the horn and exploded. He jumped.
“An intruder?” Letcho sizzled. “How rude!”
***
Kelcius began biting his nails, a bad habit he picked up while spying on Smelka, who did it when she thought nobody was watching. IT morphed into a mitt and covered his claw.
“Kazeees! I was a little excited, that’s all,” Kelcius said, squashing the bug into putty and playing with it to keep his claws busy. “You’re right. I need every one of these nails to cut gems out of the rock.”
Glitta sped around the corner and landed on Mojo. She spotted Kelcius standing in the center of her team and lowered her light levels, but then couldn’t resist and exploded into fireworks when she told everyone she had found the exit. Kelcius did not know where to look to escape her glare. He rubbed his eyes, but still could not see past her shining face. He began to lose his grip, but IT sprung around behind and steadied him.
“What are friends for?” IT sighed.
Chapter 12
Elsewhere underground, the slaves huddled over planks of insect stew and swamp vegetables at mealtime, as scruffy-winged scavengers hung on side cliffs awaiting leftovers.
The miners had begun to talk among themselves about the missing one. In the distance was Rutty’s private garden where no one else was allowed. One of the slaves pointed toward it. “Maybe he is somewhere among those twisting vines covered in berries, although I am sure he wouldn’t dare anger Rutty.”
The talk spread fast. Where was he? What had happened to him? He was always such a rebel. Why couldn’t he just be like everyone else?
Later, the miners huddled together. “He snuck out of his cave to find out what was causing the strange banging noises in the forbidden area,” one slave-miner said. “At least, that’s what he said. When I wouldn’t go with him he left alone. I didn’t hear anything, but he said it was echoing all around and calling his name.”
“His name?” the eldest Bender said. “No one is supposed to have a name around these caves,” even though he knew Kelcius had named himself. Everyone else knew, too.
“He wanted an adventure,” another miner piped. “Maybe the noise we heard was from the other side!”
“You mean the forbidden land?” Everyone gulped.
“That’s only a story,” a young Backer reassured them. “No one ever could survive the ice storms and wild monsters.”
They all looked up into the darkness of the only world they could remember.
“He would have taken his best friend,” another miner said. They checked under every stone. The bug was nowhere to be found.
“Kelcius was serious about leaving,” one of them said. “IT is gone!”
“Maybe Letcho snatched him for breaking the rules and threw him to the snapheads,” said another.
“What if Kelcius crossed into the forbidden zone and can’t return then the rest of us will be punished!”
One of the Backers spoke. “We must take action! Scrapsie does a head count before we go to the mines. A missing miner is serious for all of us. This time he has gone too far.”
Letcho had divided the slaves into two groups of miners. The “Benders” were skilled at breaking open the geodes, and the “Backers” were strong, and carried the heavy sacks. Together they formed a search team. They all set out, even though it was against the rules to wander into restricted areas. They armed themselves with crystal shards, not knowing what they might encounter in the passageways. This could be the first time they would really need the weapons. Following Kelcius’s scent, they veered onto a narrow path. The spark-flies were nowhere in sight, so they turned on their dark vision.
“We must find him before Letcho does,” one Backer said.
***
“We need to find a way out. We urgently need to go to the Kingdom of Kavalon, Right here.” Maximojo pointed to the map projected in front of him from the PolyMatrixor. Kelcius knew of no other place than his own. “This place looks strange to me,” Kelcius said.
He had a suspicious thought and confided in IT. “Maybe this ‘Maximojo’ is really Rutty in disguise. I saw Rutty change into a slave once to catch Letcho off guard. If he could do that, then he could turn into a curly-haired creature.”
The bug, darting into Kelcius’s ear, knew what his friend was thinking. “But what if the creature is telling the truth?” IT said to Kelcius.
“Why not join the team and see what this strange place is like for yourself,” invited Maximojo.
“Simply exhilarating to have a new appointed member. Oh, do join us!” Meowlen said.
With that, all of Kelcius’s suspicions dissolved. He whooped with joy. “Yes! This is a bigger adventure than I ever dreamed of. Follow me!”
It was a tight squeeze, but one by one they slipped into the hole from which Kelcius had originally arrived. Once on the other side, Meowlen told him to scale up onto Whinniston’s back, while she hopped onto the horse’s forelock and examined this new addition to their team. Woofster took the lead beside Maximojo. Glitta lit the way. Lou followed behind.
“Kelcius,” Meowlen purred, “you are quite a peppy fellow. Should I call you Sir Kol? Or perhaps, Your Highness? Or maybe you prefer Kol Miner of the underworld? Or superior creature to the rat and its accomplices? Which Alliance requested your presence on our underworld expedition? There is a world outside the mines you know. Trust me, I’ve had my own Queendom in many lives, without slavery. I was a kind Ruler in a world that has sunlight, rolling hillsides, flowers, and I dressed in the latest fashion trends.”
“I belong to the underworld miners movement. I’m the leader, and the only member. Everyone else is scared to join,” he said.
“You are Sir Kol, indeed.” Always prepared, Meowlen tilted her miner’s hat just so to avoid falling dirt. She straightened her designer belt, which held a hammer and chisel just in case.
“Whinny, pick up the pace,” she said. “Anything you need to know, Kol Miner, you can ask me. I know everything. You don’t need to listen to Glitta. Just ask Meowlens.”
Kelcius was glad, at least, that she shared his taste for
adventure. IT, disturbed by Kelcius’s admiration of this smartly dressed smooth talker, crawled in one side of his snout and out his ear to distract him.
“Now don’t get jealous,” Kelcius said. “We are a team, you and me, and we will always stick by each other.” He comforted the bug by flattening it into a heart shape on his chest.
Lou lagged behind making notes about this subterranean world. It was an extraordinary discovery in this galaxy. “I must inform the others when I get back," he mumbled to himself. So taken by the rock formation, and forgetting to look where he stepped, Lou stumbled, almost losing his balance as the rocks he kicked loose plummeted over the side. After a long silence it made a loud splash.
“I hope no one heard!” Lou said, looking around uncertainly.
They hiked along an incline that narrowed and became steeper with each step. The group stayed close together as they wound around each bend. “This is it!” Glitta sparked. They stopped at the entranceway she had blasted open earlier, but it had repaired itself.
Maximojo turned to Kelcius. “Give it all you got!”
He knew what to do. With just a few swipes of his claw, Kelcius ratcheted the boards into slivers.
“Such a strong Kol Miner!” Meowlen fluttered her lashes.
Woofster was impressed. “Have you ever considered a position in a junk yard? I know just the place. They are always looking for precision cutters. And watch out for sneaky critters.” Kelcius, of course, had no idea what Woofster was talking about.
But for a few remaining planks, the entrance to the cave now stood wide open. Kelcius winked at Meowlen with one of his rearward eyes, which made the cat wonder if he saw out of all his eyes at the same time. Whinniston saw the wink, and kicked in the remaining planks. “Er … I still have oomph in me, even in a body this size,” he said, hoping that Meowlen might also compliment him. No praise came, however.
“Watch out for falling rocks inside,” Maximojo said. “This mountain is not stable. It might not really be here at all. It kept on vanishing off the screen. Everyone move fast and stick together.”
Glitta lit up the entrance as they stepped inside. The team all gasped at once. They were in an exquisite diamond geode. Meowlen, in particular, was dazzled. She twirled about looking at the thousands of diamonds until she nearly passed out imagining was how many necklaces she could have custom-designed if left alone in here for a while. But there was no time to waste. She regained her composure and caught up with the others as they hiked up a steep incline. She kicked off her shoes to keep up.
“Strenuous activity is not an ideal exploit for someone like myself,” she told Kelcius who carried her sack.
Crystal stalactites hung all around them from the roof of the tunnel, making for a tight squeeze in some places. “Keep your breath as shallow as possible and your voice low to avoid shattering them. It could cause a cave-in and a chain reaction in the passageways,” Kelcius said. “They are fragile.” High above them they caught a glimpse of a hole with light coming in.
IT felt it was safe to come out and see what was happening. It took an uneasy peek around, but having never experienced such enthusiasm, it just wanted to go back to their cave.
***
Far away at his guard post, Letcho ran in circles when another of the exploding orbs that Glitta accidentally left behind landed on his horn, setting his scales ablaze. He vaulted off the rock pile, and tried to control himself from chasing his tail.
“That does it!” he thought. “There is something going on here.” Smelka and Scrapsie, who had also been bonked, watched from between window bars in the castle. The snapheads were agitated, snapping at the lingering traces of the glittering trespasser. Until now, nothing had ever escaped them.
Letcho tried to reach Rutty, who was at the docks on “business,” but the signal wasn’t going through to Rutty’s spyscreen. He returned to the castle and stomped around, hissing. He didn’t know who could be creating trouble, but since Rutty wasn’t around, he felt the urge to take charge. He slithered off to find the others, and with Scrapsie and Smelka hanging on to his tail, he stormed over the drawbridge.
Not far from the castle, he picked up unfamiliar tracks, heading toward the forbidden place.
***
Rutty, having grown to an enormous sized rat, faced the dark figure on the docks. They were there to take care of “business.”
“Such a damp night. How dreadfully eerie!” the smuggler whispered. “Now, what surprises do you have for me?”
Rutty peered into the darkness, but could not see the smuggler’s face. In fact, he had never seen that face, despite all the “business” they had done together.
“Plenty of our finest gems,” Rutty said. “Only the rarest finds, indeed. And personally selected for you.” The dark figure rubbed his hands together, and opened the sacks Rutty held under his nose.
Rutty’s spyscreen rattled behind his ear. Letcho’s message had finally come through the cluttered airways. He dropped the sacks at the smuggler’s feet, whipped out the device and read the screen, “Return to the castle and enter through the secret entrance. Urgent matter. We’re on it, but need backup! Letcho.”
Backup needed in the vanishing mountain? Urgent matter? Rutty felt a chill run up his spine beneath his hooded jacket. Something has happened in my domain!” “I have to take care of something. Until next time,” he nodded.
He turned and sped off.
Chapter 13
The eldest Bender detected a familiar scent, and found some of Kelcius’s hair wedged between rocks. “Kelcius knew to leave a trail. Looks like he backtracked,” he said. “This way!”
Their strides quickened to leaps and bounds. The search team turned onto an incline, and as they rounded a corner, a huge mountain towered above them. They stopped to stare at it in wonder.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the eldest of the group, a Bender, gasped. He pointed to a small opening in the mountainside with strange markings carved around it. They scrambled up to it, and the eldest reached out to touch the smooth side of the mountain. “This rock has an electric current running through it,” he said. “Maybe it isn’t a mountain after all.”
The eldest Backer pointed to the metal shavings and sliced planks at their feet. “Only Kelcius has the skill to be this precise,” he said. Some in the group hesitated, unsure whether it was safe to proceed further. Then the shavings began to magnetize, form back into planks and put themselves back in place over the entrance.
“Quick! Lets go in before anyone discovers we are missing,” a Bender said. “Letcho does random spot-checks in our rest caves. Let this not be one of those times!”
The search team slipped under the last board before it nailed itself into place, sealing up the entrance. They took small steps, single file, so as to not disturb anything until it was determined safe to carry on. Narrow streams of light bounced off the brilliant clusters that lined the walls. The team soon became sensitized to the brightness, something Treptalonians did with ease. The eldest Backer snapped off a cluster, and with another sharp twist, split it open. “It’s exquisite! Not like anything we’ve ever mined,” he said, and squeezed it, pulverizing the gems into dust.
From a hole in his forehead, he sent out a piercing sound, the echo of which would help determine which way they should go. “We must be on the right path,” he said. “There is a main tunnel ahead that curves upward.”
One Backer, an expert tracker, pointed to the dirt beneath their feet. “Look, fresh tracks. One them belongs to Kelcius, but what these others? They aren’t Letcho’s.” The eldest Backer scooped a clawful of dirt and sniffed. “These aren’t from the others in his gang, either. Kelcius has been taken. Keep your shards close.”
Knowing that there were others roaming inside this mountain made them feel both uneasy and exhilarated. “This must be the vanishing mountain I was told about,” the eldest Bender said. The others looked at him – a question in their eyes.
“There was
a secret story passed down from my ancestors. Each generation told the next as we came of age. I was told I needed to hear the story so that I would never forget the truth of who we are. I never really believed it until now. I was sworn to secrecy until the last moments of time. But I believe those moments have now come, so I will tell you what I was told.”
All gathered around him, eager to hear.
“We were not always slaves, but the descendants of a powerful race, the Treptalonians, who were free creatures and roamed up there,” he said pointing upward. “They said a dream of freedom lives deep inside us, as well as a thirst for adventure. This is what must have awakened in Kelcius. I now believe that he may hold the answer to our past and who we are. Just look at where we’re standing!
Maximojo and the Wand of Light Page 12