by Tom Hoffman
Soon the entire party of adventurers stood around the treasure chest, all of them talking at once.
Oliver’s voice boomed out above the others, “There could be something buried beneath the marbles. Scoop them out and check.”
Thunder looked dubious, but pushed his arm down into the chest. He pulled out a large pawful of the white spheres. “It’s just more stupid marbles!” He flung them across the floor in frustration.
As the marbles bounced and skittered across the room Bartholomew once again heard the voice of the Cavern of Silence. “Every atom, every molecule, and every bouncing marble is exactly where it should be at every moment in time.”
Bartholomew called out, “Wait! Everyone be quiet!” The only sound was the marbles clinking across the stone floor. Then there was silence, followed by the sound of twelve white marbles rolling towards the pedestal at the center of the room, gaining speed as they grew closer. When they reached the pedestal they disappeared with a soft tinkling noise.
Bartholomew ran to the center of the room. “Look, the marbles rolled down these holes next to the pedestal. There must be something below us. Maybe that’s what the ghost King was trying to tell Thunder. Oliver was right, we need to scoop out all the marbles.”
After several frantic moments of pawing out marbles Oliver cried, “The trunk has a false bottom! The marbles are sitting in a tray only eight or ten inches deep.”
Edmund reached in with both hands and lifted out the huge tray of white marbles.
Lightning shrieked, “There’s a big hole with a ladder going down!”
Bartholomew clapped his paw on Edmund’s back. “This is it, Edmund. I know it is. I’m certain we’ll find the Seventh Key in the room below.”
Edmund gave him an anxious look. The only time Bartholomew had seen him more apprehensive was when ants were involved.
“I hope you’re right.” Edmund nervously adjusted his adventurer’s hat, then confounded Bartholomew again with his unpredictable behavior. Edmund stepped up onto the trunk and called out, “Strap and roll, rabs, it’s treasure time!” He didn’t bother with the ladder, but simply jumped into the hole, disappearing into the inky darkness below.
Chapter 41
The Queen’s Haystack
“It’s dark down here.” Lightning’s voice had a quaver to it.
“Hold on.” A stream of sparkling lights swept out from Bartholomew’s paw and floated up to the ceiling. They grew brighter until the entire room was blazing with light.
“Oh, my. This is quite astonishing. What do you suppose all this is?” Oliver waved his paw at the endless mounds of boxes and crates and sacks and chests and strangely wrapped objects filling the gigantic rectangular room.
Bartholomew gave a sigh. “I suppose we could call it the Queen’s Haystack, and we’re looking for the needle.”
“Is this treasure or just more junk?” Thunder was looking dubious.
Edmund stood atop a huge mound of objects. “It’s treasure if it’s valuable to you. Were the chests in the Queen’s Treasure Chamber filled with treasure?”
Lightning snorted. “They were full of garbage. The Queen must have been a whopping nutcake to have all those marbles. I think maybe she lost all her marbles!” He gave a cackling laugh and began singing,“The Queen lost her marbles, the Queen lost her marbles!” Thunder immediately joined in.
Edmund waited patiently until they were done singing. “Suppose on Mintar the rarest substance was not diamonds or gold, but was pure white marble. Did you notice how many objects in the palace are made of white marble, and how few are made of gold? The city’s King and Queen were displaying their vast wealth with objects made from white marble. They were more than likely going to take the chests back to Mintar where they would be worth trillions of credits. If you traveled to a planet where diamonds covered the ground like leaves in the fall, would you be rich there?”
Thunder shook his head. “I get it. It’s only valuable if it’s rare.”
“It’s only valuable if someone thinks it’s valuable. It’s treasure if you think it’s treasure. You are the one who places a value on the things in your life. Which is more valuable, a sack full of Nirriimian white crystals or your friendship with Lightning?”
Thunder looked at Lightning. “The Nirriimian white crystals!” They both burst out laughing.
Oliver interrupted. “Yes, yes, that’s all quite interesting, but we need to be looking for this Seventh Key of yours. We’ll have plenty of time for chit chat on the way home.”
Bartholomew smiled. Oliver was ever Oliver. Edmund however, was a far different story. Where in the world had he learned about placing a value on the things in his life? Where had that come from? His inner voice?
Bartholomew held up his paw. “I have an idea. Like Ennzarr the Red Monk, Clara has the uncanny ability to find lost objects. She says if I close my eyes and completely relax, then free my thoughts, I can ask the universe to guide me towards a lost object. Clara said the universe guides her with feelings and images, not words.”
Thunder snickered, “Hey, can you find my favorite beater bat I lost when I was a mouseling?”
Oliver shushed him with a stern disapproving look. Lightning snorted.
Bartholomew held up a paw. “Quite humorous, indeed. Okay, I’m new at this, so I’ll need quiet. Clara can feel the universe almost instantly, but it will take me a good deal longer.”
Bartholomew walked to the top of a small mountain of objects. He stood silently, his eyes closed. Almost a full minute later he turned to the left and began walking cautiously across the piles of crates and boxes. He veered to the right, eyes still closed, then walked another thirty feet. He stopped and kneeled, reaching down as far as he could between two irregular shaped objects wrapped in a dark gray cloth. When he pulled his paw out he was holding a small wooden bat. He opened his eyes.
Lightning guffawed loudly. “It’s a beater bat! Great job, Bartholomew! You found Thunder’s beater bat!”
Bartholomew looked chagrinned, but tossed the bat to Thunder. “Will this one do?”
Thunder picked up the bat with a smirk. “It’s perfect, it’s just–” He stopped, his teasing grin replaced by a look of stunned surprise. “How did... it’s not possible. This is my old beater bat. It’s the one I lost. It has my initials carved into it right here. How did you do that??” His voice was tinged with fear.
The Cavern of Silence spoke to Bartholomew. “Of all the objects in the world, why do you suppose Thunder asked you to find his favorite old beater bat?”
Bartholomew thought carefully. “Thunder, why did you ask me to find your lost beater bat?”
“Uhh... I don’t know. It just popped into my head. It was funny.”
“Popped into your head from where? Where did that thought come from?”
“From inside my head?”
“It came from the universe. I believe you sensed the beater bat was here, and I simply located it for you.”
Thunder gave a nervous laugh. “The universe didn’t tell me anything, Bartholomew, I just made it up to be funny. It’s just a weird coincidence, that’s all. Anyway, we need to look for the Seventh Key, not talk about this dumb bat.”
Bartholomew understood clearly what Thunder was saying. “Okay, let’s move on.” He closed his eyes again, turning slowly, one paw outstretched. Cautiously he began stepping over the mounds of objects, making his way across the vast room. He stopped twice, veering to the right, then to the left, then straight forward. When he was nearly three hundred feet away from his friends he stopped and opened his eyes. He was only a few feet from the far left corner of the room. “It’s over here! I’m going to need some help. It feels as though it’s deeply buried.”
Three hours later the party of adventurers had cleared away a twenty foot wide section of the room around Bartholomew. Lying on the ancient stone floor in front of them was a seven foot long dilapidated green canvas pack covered with flapped pockets and a long broken strap. The onc
e rugged pack looked as though it would crumble to dust if someone were to shake it.
Edmund lowered himself to his knees in front of the pack. He hadn’t said a word when they uncovered it, just nodded to Bartholomew. He ran his paw gently across the worn canvas. “The last time I touched this pack Edmund the Explorer was alive.” No one said anything, but everyone knew what he was thinking.
There was a tenderness to the way he moved his paw across the pack’s surface, bringing it to rest on a large pocket. The flap fell off in his hand when he pulled on it. He reached into the pocket. Time slowed to a crawl. The silence in the room was profound. When Edmund withdrew his hand he was holding a large gold key. The key had a single eye carved into it. He reached into the pocket again and pulled out a small shimmering blue cube. He made an odd gulping noise. His hands were shaking. They had done it. They had found the Seventh Key and they had found the time throttle.
Bartholomew put his hand on Edmund’s shoulder. “It’s time to go home, old friend.” Of all the adventurers in the room, it was Thunder who turned away and cried. Lightning watched, but said nothing.
Chapter 42
The Long Road Home
Oliver and Edmund were standing on the marble steps in front of the Mintarian palace. “I daresay you should put that key in a secure place where you’re certain not to lose it.”
Edmund stared at Oliver, uncertain if he was joking, but decided he was sincerely concerned. “A good thought, my friend. I have already placed the key and the time throttle inside my chest panel. Where I go, they go.”
“Excellent.” Oliver turned to see Bartholomew, Lightning, and Thunder chatting in the main foyer of the palace. “Bartholomew! We should go – we don’t want to be late!”
Again Edmund stared at Oliver. “Late for what?”
Oliver looked befuddled. “Well... late for anything, I suppose. It’s always best to be on time. And, well, I do have many pressing scientific matters to attend to upon my return. I have quite a surprise in store for you and Bartholomew and Clara back at the Fortress.” Oliver chuckled to himself. “Yes, indeed, quite a surprise in store for all of you.”
Bartholomew walked up behind them. “Okay, Oliver, we’re ready to go. We’ll leave the same way we entered. Let’s walk across the city and take The Explorer back to the edge of the Timere Forest, then head back through the jungle to the Island of the Blue Monks.”
Oliver nodded. “An excellent plan. Let’s get cracking everyone! No dawdling.” Oliver headed down the steps.
Bartholomew grinned at Edmund and whispered, “Better get cracking, Edmund!”
Edmund laughed out loud. Sometimes Bartholomew’s jokes reminded him of Edmund the Explorer.
The party of adventurers found a comfortable pace as they made their way across the Mintarian city, again walking past the groups of skeletons scattered about the streets. Lightning couldn’t take his eyes off them. “It’s creepy to look at the skeletons and think they used to be walking around telling jokes and stories.”
Thunder replied, “Or chomping down on mice with those giant teeth they have. And the claws – look at those claws!”
“I know, but still... they used to be alive and now they’re not. I never thought treasure hunting would mean I’d have to look at bunches of dead skeletons.”
Bartholomew strolled up alongside Lightning. “They’re somewhere else now, in a different form – maybe an energy field like the ghost King, maybe in another body, born into another world. It’s like a snake shedding its skin. It leaves it behind and moves on.”
“I never thought of it like that. The ghost King seemed alive enough. That’s not so creepy.”
“Clara knows much more than I do about these things, and she always says we’ll find each other again after we both die. She said Edmund the Explorer and Emma are probably together again by now.” He glanced over at Edmund to see if he was listening.
He was, and he gave Bartholomew a smile. “I hope so. Nothing would make me happier.”
Several hours later they were back on The Explorer. Oliver and Edmund made their way to the control room, while Thunder and Lightning dashed back to where they had hidden their sacks of gold and Nirriimian white crystals. They both stopped short. Lightning stammered, “Huh? Where’d all the ore go? Oliver! All the ore is gone!”
“Our treasure! Is it still here?” Thunder and Lightning ran to a panel near the rear of the craft and flipped it open. “It’s here! The sacks are still here!”
Oliver and Edmund had heard the shouting and made their way to the stern of the ship. “Most interesting. The Wyrme must dump all the collected ore each time it docks. There must be cargo bay doors in the floor that drop down and the hairs move all the ore through the opening, probably into a vast storage chamber beneath the docks. The Mintarians more than likely transported it from there back to their planet.
Lightning grabbed Thunder’s arm. “Let’s count our treasure and see who has the most crystals!”
Bartholomew sat down in one of the soft cushioned chairs he had shaped. He could finally relax. They had found the Seventh Key and the Mintarian time throttle. Edmund would be safe. A moment later he was asleep.
Oliver made his way up to the control room and pushed a green lever, switching the ship over to autonomous control. The Explorer came alive, backing out of the dock and heading off into the desert. Flipping it back to manual control he brought The Explorer up to the surface. He realized he had no idea whether it was day or night. They hadn’t seen the sun in almost a week. The ship broke through the surface to a bright and beautiful day. “Ah, excellent. Quite marvelous to see the old sun back where it belongs.”
Edmund walked back to find Thunder and Lightning. They were hunched over, counting out piles of Nirriimian white crystals and gold nuggets.
“Lightning! Thunder! Up front now, on the double! Strap and roll!”
“Huh? Are we in trouble? Did we do something?”
“Far from it. I’m going to teach the two greatest treasure hunters in all of Nirriim how to run The Explorer. That way you’ll be able to come back and hunt through the mysterious and valuable treasures in the Queen’s Haystack whenever you want. Who knows what you’ll find there.”
“We get to drive the ship??”
“Of course you do. You wouldn’t be real treasure hunters if you didn’t know how to drive a two hundred foot long ancient Mintarian mining vehicle that looks like the biggest worm you ever saw.” Edmund laughed all the way to the front of the ship. Thunder and Lightning stuffed their treasure back into the sacks and dashed after Edmund.
It took a full day of training for Thunder and Lightning to become proficient in the ship’s operation. Oliver helped to instruct them and was a stickler for detail, making them memorize and recite over and over every aspect of the ship’s controls and power systems. “I have no desire to pick up the morning paper and read about two young treasure hunters disappearing beneath the Nirriimian sands in a great worm creature. I am quite fond of you both, even though you still have a great deal to learn about proper manners and decorum.”
Lightning looked puzzled. “What’s decorum?”
“Oh dear, it’s far worse than I thought.”
Lightning laughed his cackling laugh. “Just joking, Oliver. You’re the smartest rabbit we’ve ever met, and we’ve learned a lot from you. Even Thunder is starting to like science, and that’s something I never thought I’d see.
“Ah, now this is good news indeed. I believe you would make an excellent scientist, Thunder. Both of you would, for that matter, being as curious as you are about the nature of this world.”
Edmund called out from the control panel. “I can see the Timere Forest in the distance. We’ll be there in about twenty minutes. I’m going to take her down just below the surface and we can exit through the overhead escape hatch. That way the ship will be hidden, but Thunder and Lightning will know where to find her when they decide to return to the lost city.”
By
the following morning the group of adventurers was strolling through the magnificent Timere Forest on their way back to the jungle. It was a long walk, and Edmund wound up carrying Thunder and Lightning’s sacks of treasure.
Bartholomew found himself walking along next to Thunder. “I see you still have your beater bat. It holds sentimental value for you?”
“Uh... a little, I guess. I kept it because it was weird the way we found it. You know, when you said maybe I somehow knew it was there. I thought I’d keep it to remember that.”
“Ah, a good reason indeed. Clara and I sense things like that almost every day. She’s much better at it than I am though.”
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of everyone, but, um... I’ve known things before that I shouldn’t have known. Sometimes I know what’s going to happen before it does. I told my dad and it worried him, so I never mentioned it again.”
“It’s a gift, Lighting. It’s a gift to be able to listen to the universe, to be part of it, to understand that all things are connected. The specific information your gift reveals to you may not be especially important, but being connected to the universe is.”
“Do you think I should tell my mom and dad?”
“Only if you want to, but do it in a way that doesn’t frighten them. The truth is we all have this inner voice, but some of us listen more closely to it. I’m certain the Thirteenth Monk would be happy to teach you more about your gift, if you’re interested.”
“I would like that, but... if I look at him won’t I turn to stone?”
Bartholomew laughed. “I don’t know where those stories came from. Edmund said he is the kindest, most understanding mouse in all of Nirriim. I will ask Edmund to tell the Thirteenth Monk you might be paying a visit. Bring your beater bat and tell him how and where you found it. He will understand the true meaning hidden beneath the event. Events often occur for far different reasons than the ones we imagine. I have a strong feeling the Blue Monks will play an important role in your life.”