Accidental Archaeologist

by Kathryn Wells

  'It's alright,' he said, kneeling down. 'They're friends too.'

  The bushes all became quiet for a moment, but then moved off to surround Hamlet and Vey instead.

  'Thordric, what are they doing?' Hamlet said, rather desperately clinging to a nearby tree.

  'They're just checking to see if you're safe. They won't reveal themselves otherwise,' Thordric replied.

  The bushes gurgled again, slightly louder than before and moved back from Vey to stand behind Thordric. They seemed to be making some angry hissing sounds too. Thordric frowned.

  'They don't trust you,' he said to Vey. The ones around Hamlet were still gurgling excitedly.

  'But I haven't done anything,' Vey protested. 'I haven't been in these woods for over twenty years, and even then I…'

  His eyes widened slightly and he mouthed an 'oh'.

  'What is it?' Thordric asked, raising an eyebrow.

  'I did practice some magic in here once, only for an hour or so, but I was trying to summon things and I ended up uprooting one of the trees.'

  The angry hissing grew louder. Thordric sighed.

  'That must be what's upset them so much,' he said. 'Do you remember where this tree was?'

  'I believe so,' Vey replied, creasing his brow. 'It was slightly further in, east a ways.'

  'Then we should try and right it,' Thordric said. He turned to Hamlet, who seemed to have passed out on the floor. The bushes had decided to climb onto him, almost covering him completely.

  'I'll carry him if you lead the way,' he said.

  'What about the Watchem Watchems?' Vey asked.

  'They'll probably follow us to make sure that you really do right the tree; though I'm not sure what to do if it's dead.'

  'Can't you just convince them that it's important for them to help us?' Vey pleaded as the bushes hissed at him again.

  Thordric looked at them and shook his head. 'That will only make them worse,' he said.

  He went over to Hamlet, gently pushing the bushes off and then levitated him into the air. 'Where to, then?' he asked.

  Vey slumped his shoulders and led them straight on.

  Chapter Twenty Three: Watchem Watchems Everywhere

  The uprooted tree was still there and, to everyone's delight, alive.

  The roots hadn't been uprooted completely, only enough to make the tree fall over and so they had kept growing, despite how much they had been exposed.

  It was a large tree, almost as tall as the house, but the trunk was rather thin. Small clumps of mushrooms covered the bark, as well as several different lichens. It seemed to Thordric almost a shame to move it again, but if that's what made the Watchem Watchems happy, then that's what Vey had to do.

  Standing back to assess it, Vey deepened the hole around the roots slightly so that there would be room for all the new growth.

  The bushes gurgled slightly as they watched him, but it was not an angry sound. Encouraged, he levitated the tree and turned it back to its proper upright position before planting it back in the ground again. He filled in the remainder of the hole around the trunk and, just for good measure, took a vial of rejuvenating potion from his pocket and sprinkled it on the soil around it.

  'Well,' he said, turning to Thordric. 'Has that made them happier?'

  In answer, the bushes all quivered, slowly losing their leaves and shrinking into small, skeletal forms that looked like they were made up of branches. Each one was the same colour as the bush it had been disguised as, and had short beards of leaves.

  'I don't believe it,' Hamlet said, conscious again. One of the Watchem Watchems poked him in the shin with its spindly finger. He yelped and it gurgled, running around him in circles.

  'They're really something,' Vey said, as two of them decided to climb up his robes and sit on his shoulders, pulling his long hair and poking suspiciously at his beard. 'How do we explain to them what we need them to do?'

  The question earned him a jab in the ear form the one sitting on his right.

  'All we have to do is tell them. From what I've gathered, they seem to understand our language well,' Thordric replied.

  Vey and Hamlet looked at him.

  'Perhaps you should explain it, then. It looks like they trust you the most,' Hamlet said, edging away as the one who had poked him stopped running around and danced up by his legs again.

  Thordric pulled out his plant book again and knelt on the floor. He opened it on the page detailing the Watchem Watchems and held it out so that they could see it. They all stopped what they were doing and ran to look at it.

  The gurgling they let out at seeing the picture was so deafening that several birds took flight. A few moments later, another bush, moving slower than the others had, came towards him as the Watchem Watchems parted to let it through. It transformed slowly and Thordric noticed that the leaves around its faced formed a long, trailing beard. Two small tears of sap rolled down its woody cheeks.

  Thordric looked at it and then at the picture in his book. Now he understood. This was the Watchem Watchem that Vey's father had sketched all those years ago. It must have been very close to him to stand still for so long while he took down the detail.

  'Hamlet,' he said softly, as though speaking any louder in front of this one would be disrespectful. 'Do you have that book of ancient cultures with you?'

  Hamlet nodded and pulled a book out of his bag, passing it to him.

  Thordric took it and turned to the page on the ancient Watchem Watchems, holding it alongside the other book so that they could see the similarity between themselves and the ancient ones.

  They all crowded around him once more, leaving a slight gap around the bearded one as a mark of respect. 'A long time ago, we believe that your ancestors had their forest destroyed by a human tribe. They decided to work together with a different human tribe to restore the forest, sharing their magic to create a device which would make the trees grow once more,' he explained, turning the page to the Ta'Ren and letting Hamlet tell them how they had used the forest alongside the Watchem Watchems.

  'The device was never used, for both the Watchem Watchems and the Ta'Ren were killed by the other tribe,' he continued, listening to their dark hissing at his words. 'But recently it was activated by accident and now the forest that's growing has taken over the whole region, endangering the lives of many species by trapping them or turning them into trees. I believe that since your ancestors helped make it, you can help us stop it.'

  The Watchem Watchems stared at him for a long time after he'd finished. He decided to sit back and let them discuss it in their strange gurgling way, but they made no sound for a long time.

  Then, after what seemed an age, the bearded one stepped forwards slowly. It picked up the book on ancient cultures and looked at the pages itself, flicking between the ancient Watchem Watchems and the Ta'Ren. Suddenly, it threw the book down and crossed its arms together before flinging them apart, letting out a long hiss.

  Thordric sighed.

  'What's the matter?' Vey asked looking from him to the Watchem Watchems.

  'He doesn't want to help us, not when it was a human tribe that caused all this in the first place,' Thordric replied.

  'What do we do now then?' Vey said, but a loud hissing interrupted him.

  The other Watchem Watchems were communicating with the bearded one, making strange gestures with their arms. One of them even picked up the book on plants and held it up to it, poking the picture that Vey's father had drawn and then pointing at Thordric and gurgling.

  The bearded one endured this for a few minutes more, while Hamlet, Vey and Thordric watched the strange interaction both apprehensive and curious. More tears of sap rolled down his face to harden in his beard of leaves and, finally beaten he threw his hands down and stood in front of Thordric. The others did the same.

  'What just happened?' Hamlet asked, still keeping his distance from them.

  'I'm not certain,' Thordric began. 'But I think they reminded him what Vey's father was li
ke and that helping us would be like helping him.'

  'So they've all decided to come with us?' Vey said.

  The Watchem Watchems all gurgled loudly in reply.

  On board the Dinia's Jewel, the Watchem Watchems flooded into the cabin, refusing to stay on deck for even a moment.

  Hamlet, to his terror, found that his travel sickness had once again returned and so had to join them in there.

  All Vey and Thordric heard was a whimpering sound followed by their loud gurgling. Thordric had forgotten how mischievous they could be and began to feel rather sorry for him.

  Still, only a few hours later they were back in Neathin Valley, heading straight for the dig site.

  They closed in, with Vey trying to manoeuvre the boat around the trees, some of which had now almost reached the clouds. Floating above the middle of the main excavation area, they lowered the anchor.

  Thordric decided to shimmy down it, waiting for Vey to levitate the Watchem Watchems down to him. Just as he had finished summoning fires to light the way, he heard them running out of the cabin. They were still gurgling, and as he watched, they jumped off Dinia's Jewel and found themselves floating down towards him in the air. A few of them even did somersaults or tried to run, but as they noticed the giant trees around them they all fell still.

  Next, Vey lowered Hamlet down and, feeling rather guilty, Thordric noticed a few scratches and bruises on his hands and face. Finally, Vey shimmied down the rope himself and all of them, with their Crystos Mentos glowing brightly to counteract the forest's magic, made their way through the trees and thorn bushes towards the main excavation site where the wooden bodies of the archaeologists could still be seen.

  As Thordric showed Vey the middle where all the roots had grown, the Watchem Watchems hissed again. Thordric felt his body go cold. If even they were reacting like that, then something had gone very wrong.

  'This is the spot where you couldn't cut through?' Vey asked, bending down to touch the roots. Before he could touch them, however, the bearded one leapt forward and knocked his hand away. A great thorn grew up right where his hand had been.

  'I don't seem to be having much luck with touching things from here,' he said, glancing back and forth from his hand to the thorn. He turned to the bearded one and bowed to it slightly in thanks.

  'It didn't do that before, when I touched it,' Hamlet said. He walked forward and reached his hand out. The Watchem Watchems watched him quietly, but didn't try to stop him. Nor had they needed to, for nothing happened.

  'It must only do that to people with magic, then,' Thordric said. He turned to the Watchem Watchems, kneeling down to speak with them again. 'Can you help separate the roots for us?'

  They huddled together, gurgling amongst themselves and then they all spread out around the roots, forming a ring. The bearded one stood in the middle, balancing on top of the roots.

  To Thordric's surprise, thorns shot up around it, narrowly missing its legs, but it didn't seem to notice.

  The thorns travelled down the roots until all of them were surrounded, but none of them moved so much as an inch. Instead, they raised their arms and moved them from side to side, a shower of leaves sprouting forth and showering down on the roots. More and more leaves came down, until the Watchem Watchems were almost buried by them.

  Then the leaves started pulsing with a dark green light that radiated out across the whole excavation site. Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped, vanishing with the leaves.

  The Watchem Watchems all fell down, lying so still that Thordric wasn't sure if they were even alive. Only when the one closest to him reached up and tugged at his robes did he realise that they were just resting.

  He breathed deeply, but noticed that both Vey and Hamlet were frowning. He followed their gaze and saw that the roots were still there, looking just as they had done before. Had the Watchem Watchems' magic failed?

  'It didn't work,' Hamlet breathed next to him, dropping to his knees and then hurriedly scurrying away as a sapling sprang up between his legs.

  'Wait,' Vey said, stepping forward to put his hand on the roots again. Nothing happened. 'They've disabled the magic on them.'

  'Then we can break through?' Hamlet asked, but Thordric had already summoned all his magic and sliced through them all before he could finish speaking.

  The roots fell apart as Thordric caught the bearded Watchem Watchem in his arms to prevent it from getting caught under them. Underneath was a large, circular stone slab, joined at the outside by the veins of gold running through the ground. It looked as though it was made of a similar stone to the carved pyramids, though it was a different colour to both of them.

  Deep lines had been etched into its surface, tracing two triangular patterns that spiralled in upon themselves. In the middle of the patterns were two holes, also triangular in shape, but narrowing down to a point at the end.

  Hamlet traced them with his fingers and then reached for his bag, rummaging around in it until he found the two pyramids. They seemed to be exactly the same size and shape as the holes, to be inserted point down.

  He looked at Thordric and Vey, who both gave him an encouraging nod. Taking a deep breath, he put one in each hole, hearing them click into place. A loud grinding came from below them and the stone slab split apart to reveal a tunnel leading underground.

  Chapter Twenty Four: Down into the Depths

  The tunnel sloped down so steeply that it was all Thordric could do not to let his feet slide. It seemed to have been dug in a spiral, so that the end would likely be directly under the main excavation site.

  Thick roots grew around the sides, but as he and the others had already found, touching them made them grow large thorns just as the ones above ground had done.

  Even the Watchem Watchems were having trouble; they had resorted to forming a chain between Thordric and Vey, holding on to their robes for stability. Only Hamlet was managing not to slide, for he had put on a pair of boots that had spikes built into the sole, making his feet grip deep into the soil. He had retrieved them from his tent on the surface, but as he only had a single pair, Thordric and Vey had to go without.

  Thordric was just considering how to make them a pair when his foot caught a large rock and he stumbled forwards onto his face. As he fell, the chain of Watchem Watchems, who were holding onto his and Vey's robes, were flung forwards too. Vey, feeling his balance go, reached out and latched onto Hamlet, whose boots were no match for the weight of them all, and soon they found themselves shooting down the tunnel on their stomachs.

  The end of the tunnel came into view far too soon for Thordric to prepare himself. With a hard crash, they all landed in a heap on the floor, made of polished stone. The chamber they found themselves in resonated, though Thordric found that his ears were ringing for a different reason.

  As they all sat up, he found that there was a large cut down the side of his face, though it didn't seem to be deep. Rummaging around for the sticky potion in his bag, he pulled it out and poured it along the cut. The bleeding stopped almost instantly, but his head still throbbed.

  Vey hadn't fared much better; his robes had ridden up over his head, revealing a set of silken undershorts decorated with flowers that, in any other situation, would have made Thordric snigger. His legs were all scratched and bruised and, as he stood up, he wobbled to one side.

  The Watchem Watchems had all bounced off of Thordric and been propelled further into the room. As they picked themselves up, their joints sounded like someone dropping a large pile of firewood.

  Hamlet, who was unscathed but now bare foot, took one of Thordric's light globes out of his bag and shook it. As it illuminated the room, he looked around and gaped.

  'Do you know where we are?' he gushed, as Thordric and Vey grumbled to each other about their injuries and exchanged potions to help with them.

  'No idea,' Thordric said, still concentrating on his wounds.

  'We're in a chamber that no one has been in for thousands of years,' H
amlet replied, excitedly, running his hands alone the smooth stone floor, delicately engraved with the same type of markings as the pyramids had been.

  'Actually,' Vey said, hobbling over to where Hamlet was standing, 'I think you'll find that someone was here quite recently.'

  Hamlet frowned at him as Vey pointed to the centre of the room, lifting the light globe so that it shone in that direction. There was a tree growing there, not much taller than Hamlet himself.

  They all crowded around it, taking in every detail of its split trunk and branches spread out as though it was reaching for something. 'It's just like the others,' Thordric said, noticing a bulbous bit on one of the branches shooting up from the centre, like a head. 'This tree was a person.'

  'One of the archaeologists?' Vey said, examining the branches to see if any tools were trapped in them.

  'No, I was told that the team only had five members, excluding me,' Hamlet said. 'Whoever this is, he's not one of them.'

  Thordric felt his body go cold. Kal, Lily's brother, had been at the dig site. Could this be him?

  'I think,' he began, turning to them, 'that this could be the boy claiming to be Kalljard's son.'

  Vey stared at him; his eyes narrowed. 'But what was he was reaching for?' he asked, gazing around the room, which was empty apart from the tree.

  'Perhaps he put an illusion over whatever it was, like Kalljard did to Dinia's Jewel,' Thordric said. 'With all this strange magic about, I can't tell.'

  'Neither can I,' Vey replied. 'We could combine our magic and try a lifting spell. It should dispel an illusion if there is one.'

  Thordric agreed and together they tried sweeping the room with their magic, but neither of them could summon their powers at all. Thordric sighed. 'I can't even get a hold on anything. It's just like what happened before, when I tried to use magic in the forest.'

  The Watchem Watchems gurgled and ran over to him, the bearded one being carried by two of the others. They set it down in front of the tree and, after examining its branches for a few minutes, the bearded one made another gesture with its arms. There was more gurgling from the other ones and they formed a ring around a space on the floor just in front of the tree.