by B. C. Harris
“Emily, this way,” a faint voice drifts through the din of the battle.
“Rad, is that you?” I reply. “Help me. Please help me.”
It’s hard for me to stop looking at the gargantuan battle that is occurring near me.
The pazu, perhaps realizing that defeat is only seconds away, releases its grip on the sethaurus and begins to use all four of its paws in an attempt to turn itself over.
As the colossal pazu pushes with its powerful paws, the sethaurus slaps its Herculean wings harder to keep its victim pinned to the ground. The force of its flapping wings causes a burst of wind that sends me tumbling along the ground.
“This way,” an unfamiliar voice once again beckons.
I’m confused as to where the voice is coming from. I’m not sure which way I should go.
Suddenly there’s a great cry of despair.
The sethaurus is ripping open the pazu’s shell exposing its vital organs. The fight is almost over.
I think I see something moving in front of me through the dust. What is it? There’s a small pink animal waving at me to follow.
I crawl towards the pink creature as the earth around me throbs from the violent battle. The sethaurus is now pounding the pazu over and over again into the ground, using its huge wings for extra strength. The defeated pazu no longer offers any resistance. The horrendous screams that had accompanied the battle give way to an eerie silence.
Realizing that the fight is over, I focus on following the tiny pink animal in front of me.
All of a sudden I fall into a hole that I didn’t even see. Everything is black. I try to cry out but I’m so frightened that nothing comes out of my mouth.
As I begin to adjust to the darkness in the hole, I see several pink animals, about the size of kittens, busily pushing dirt to fill in much of the mouth of the hole in the ground.
I realize that they’re attempting to hide me. Did they dig the hole that I fell in? Yes, they must have done this. In spite of my terror, I guess that if I remain still, the sethaurus won’t find me in the hole in the ground.
Eventually the swirling dust and dirt that filled the air from the frantic battle begins to clear. I peek through the small opening in the hole to see what is happening.
The sethaurus, perched on top of the dead pazu, is viciously eating its prey. I quickly sit back down in the hole to prevent it from seeing me.
Looking around in the hole, there are some pink creatures hopping beside me. They remind me of adorable bunnies with long droopy ears, except that they have faces like dolphins.
“Who are you?” I whisper to them, not really expecting a reply.
“Swibbles, swibbles, swibbles,” several voices squeak in unison. They smile big tooth grins at me.
“Swibbles?”
“Swibbles, swibbles, swibbles,” the strange voices giggle together. The little pink creatures are acting silly in spite of the danger nearby.
A few minutes ago, I was caught in a ferocious fight. Now I’m sitting in a large hole with four cute pink creatures called swibbles. Tamor is certainly a perplexing world.
As the swibbles start to enlarge the opening of the hole, using their paws like tiny shovels, once again I look outside the hole.
In one direction there are distant mountains, but as I turn my head the other way, I shudder as I see the huge sethaurus aggressively eating its victim.
I start to pull my head back into the hole. A yellow creature suddenly appears above me. It’s Radwin. Although he still only has one head, his wound is starting to look much better. I feel some relief at seeing my friend once again.
“How did I end up in this hole? Where did these odd pink creatures come from?” I ask.
Radwin looks around the hole.
“The swibbles must have heard your cries for help so they dug a large hole for you to hide. Now that the fight is over, you’ve got to start moving again.”
“What if the sethaurus sees me? The last time I tried to walk away, it saw me and came after me.”
“Now that it’s eating, it will be too busy to bother you. Wait until its back is facing you, and then start walking again.”
“Will you come with me this time? Please…” I know I sound desperate.
“I’m sorry Emily. The morphadels haven’t finished regenerating my head. You need to find a way to get back to your home. Perhaps I will see you again if you ever return back to Tamor.”
Before I can ask another question, and I have many of them, a cute little swibble kisses me on the nose. The tiny creature giggles.
“The swibbles will keep you company,” Radwin says. “If by chance some other dangerous creature sees you, they can dig another hole to protect you.”
As the energetic swibbles jump around me, I reluctantly pull myself out of the hole.
The loud grunts of the sethaurus eating its prey remind me that I could be its next meal if I’m not careful.
“Go!” Radwin orders. “Follow the swibbles.”
I watch the small animals jump out of the hole. Their long floppy ears bounce up and down as they hop around like rabbits. What an odd world I’m in, I say to myself.
My legs wobble from fear as I stand. I’m completely in the open with only a few bright orange bushes here or there to offer a little seclusion if I need to hide.
“Radwin, where should I go? Where can I hide?”
There’s no answer.
“Rad?”
Still no answer.
I’m alone again. I look at the distant mountains. They’re too far away for me to reach them. I can only hope that I find some other form of safety before the sethaurus turns its attention back to me.
The swibbles are giggling. They are jumping in a carefree manner in front of be. I begin to follow them.
As one of the swibbles hops near an orange bush, the bush turns pink exactly the same color as the small animal.
I look in amazement.
The bush returns back to its original orange color as soon as the swibble hops away from it. The bush is like a chameleon, changing its color to match anything that comes near it.
After a long period of trying to keep up with the swibbles, I begin to get tired. I become less sure why I’ve come back to this strange world. What if I never get back home again?
I can no longer see the sethaurus.
I’m so thirsty that my throat is raw. With every step, I’m getting weaker. The hot sun bearing down on me is sucking the life out of me. Without water, I know I will soon be in trouble.
I learned at school that a person can go many days without food, but not having water, especially on a very hot day, can lead to dehydration and possibly even death.
Feeling more and more exhausted with each step, I search the horizon for water. Somewhere, there has to be a stream, river, lake or even a small pond.
My head is spinning.
The swibbles are beginning to look blurry.
My lungs are aching. My throat is sore from the extreme thirst. Even the ground feels hot through my shoes.
I have to find some water.
- 8 -
LAND OF LIMNITS
I’m not sure if I passed out from the heat and am now dreaming, or whether the surreal scene around me is real.
I’m sitting at the edge of a small lake. The water is crystal clear. Around me, a myriad of animals like I have never seen before are playing.
Beside me, three purple creatures that look like squirrels except that their faces are more like a fish, actually exactly like the face of a goldfish, are laughing out of control.
One of the small purple creatures keeps pointing at me, constantly laughing. Every time it laughs, the laughter is so contagious that the other two purple animals that are with it begin to laugh as well.
In front of me, another weird creature that looks something like an octopus with red and white striped arms spins towards me. At first, the bizarre animal frightens me. Then I hear its high squeaky, almost comical, voice ask, “
Water?”
I look closer at this peculiar creature. At the end of each of its arms that look like red and white candy canes, are hands that are shaped like cups. Each cup is filled with water. Perplexed, I look around, uncertain as to whether I should drink the water. I notice that there are several of these creatures bordering the small lake, each of them spinning their arms in and out of the water, providing a drink to other nearby animals. It’s almost as if these unusual creatures are the local drinking fountains.
I turn back to the octopus-like creature in front of me. “Where am I?”
The colorful animal blushes, its arms turning an orange-crimson color. “You are in the Land of Limnits.”
“The Land of Limnits? How did I get here?”
The bizarre animal continues to swing its arms around as other creatures gulp a drink of water from its cup-like hands.
“After you fell unconscious on the hot plain, some swibbles came here to get help for you.”
“Swibbles? What are swibbles?”
“The swibbles are over there,” the strange animal gestures.
As I look in the direction that the animal is pointing, there are a large group of small pink creatures with large floppy ears.
I remember. Those little animals saved me from the sethaurus. They were leading me to safety when I…, well I guess I must have fainted, or something like that from the heat. I forgot that they are called swibbles.
“The swibbles saved me?”
“Yes. They came here to get help. They took Frank with them to carry you back here.”
I take a deep breath as I reflect on what I’ve heard. If the swibbles hadn’t got help, I might have died on the hot plain. I shudder at the thought of this.
“Who is Frank?” I ask.
“Drink some water first please. It’s a hot evening. You must be thirsty.”
I sip some water from the hand of the octopus-like creature, cautiously at first, but soon I begin to gulp it down vociferously. It’s delicious. The water is sweeter than I remember water ever tasting before and it’s very cold. I feel my energy starting to return.
The high squeaky voice continues, “That’s Frank sleeping over there.”
I gaze at dozens of strange looking brilliant colored creatures. Some have bodies like fish. Some with faces like birds. Others that have bodies like a bird with faces like elephants. More with bodies like chipmunks with faces like flies with huge bulging eyes. Some with two heads and some with three. And others, well others that are too peculiar to describe.
“Where is Frank?”
Abruptly the creatures around the pond stop what they’re doing and begin to stare at me. One of the swibbles says, “Where is Frank? Where is Frank? Where is Frank?”
Instantly, dozens of other odd animals around the pond begin to chant, “Where is Frank? Where is Frank? Where is Frank?”
“Stop it!” I shout. “You’re upsetting me. It’s not nice to make fun of another person.”
The chanting stops although a group of the small squirrel-like creatures with the goldfish faces are now standing in front of me with their big silly grins.
“What are these purple animals?” I say to no one in particular.
The red and white octopus-like creature replies, “They’re zakabibbles.”
“Zaka…?” I say with growing confusion.
“Zakabibbles. Actually their full name is zakakawatchazoomabibbles, but we call them zakabibbles for short.”
My mouth is wide open as I attempt to understand what’s happening around me.
“I think you wanted to meet Frank,” the creature with the waving arms begins again. “She’s right there.” The weird animal points with three of its red and white stripped arms. “That big green kabinga with the orange polka-dots.”
She? I thought its name was Frank. I’m becoming more confused by the second. I look again. I still can’t see any green animal with orange polka-dots.
“Up, look up,” the unusual animal says to me, its high squeaky voice rising higher as it gets louder. “Up! Look up!”
All the creatures around the pond begin to chant, “Look up! Look up! Look up!”
I look up.
In a tree that reminds me of a palm tree except that it has several trunks looping together upwards, there is a kangaroo-like creature sleeping where several branches join together.
“That’s Frank?” I reply with uncertainty. “It looks like a green kangaroo to me.”
“Not a kangaroo, whatever that is,” the octopus-like animal replies. “Frank is a kabinga. I think Frank’s real name is Francelina, but everyone calls her Frank.”
“Kabinga?” I say. “It looks like a green kangaroo to me. All the creatures here have such outlandish names. I suppose you’re going to tell me that you’re not an octopus.”
“Oh no, I’m a coolbeeleesquibble.”
“Coolbeelee…?” I say, my mind struggling to remember the unfamiliar names I’m hearing and also struggling to make any sense of the bizarre creatures around me.
“Cool-bee-lee-squibble,” the animal says, “but my friends call me Cool for short.
“Cool for short, Cool for short, Cool for short,” the other animals around the small lake begin to chant in unison imitating Cool’s high squeaky voice.
Without any warning, the red and white striped coolbeeleesquibble starts spraying water at all the animals around him as his red and white arms spin like a merry-go-round. Immediately, the other creatures are jumping in and out of the lake, taking mouthfuls of water and shooting each other. Bedlam erupts as the animals attack each other in a crazy water fight.
“Cool, what is happening?” I ask.
“We’re having fun. Here, have some more water,” Cool says as his arms spray me.
This is too much for me. I start to cry. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m confused. And I’m most definitely lost.
Suddenly the fun stops. The creatures around me begin to cry even though they have big clown-like grins on their faces.
“Stop it, stop it!” I say angrily.
“Stop it, stop it, stop it,” the animals repeat, imitating my voice.
“What’s wrong?” asks Cool.
“I want to go home. I miss my mother. I miss my friends. I miss my house. I hate being lost.”
“Lost?” Cool replies. “You’re not lost. You’re in the Land of Limnits.”
I vaguely remember that I had been previously told that I was in the Land of Limnits.
“What are limnits?” I ask.
All the creatures stand perfectly straight. They begin bouncing on one foot and then the other. Next, they start to sing the word limnits over and over, with all of them singing a different tune in a different key.
“Stop it!” I shout. “Cool, tell them to stop. They’re not helping me.”
“I’m sorry, but we did help you. We saved your life. How else can we help you?”
“Show me how to get back home,” I say in exasperation. “I want to go home.”
At almost the same instant that the words leave my mouth, all the animals nearby begin repeating, “Go home, go home, go home.”
“Cool, what is the matter with all these animals? Why are they making fun of me?”
“They’re not making fun of you. They’re simply imitating you. That’s what limnits do. They are enjoying being with you.”
“Well, where I come from, what they are doing is wrong.”
The red and white coolbeeleesquibble looks puzzled. For that matter, all the other animals also look puzzled.
“Having fun? Being happy? What’s wrong with that?” Cool asks.
Unexpectedly all the zany animals begin repeating, “Having fun, having fun, having fun.”
Before I can blink an eye, the water fight starts all over again.
Bewildered, I stare as the odd creatures laugh and spray each other with water. Looking upward, I notice that the green animal with the orange polka-dots, the kabinga, is still sleeping in the tree. It�
��s the only animal that isn’t involved in the wild water fight that is occurring.
I walk to the bottom of the tree where the kabinga is perched, attempting to avoid the madhouse around me. Once I manoeuver my way there, I shout at the sleeping green animal to get its attention. Regardless of how loud I yell, it remains deep in sleep. Looking around, I see small stones here and there on the ground. I pick up a few and decide to throw them at Frank to wake her up.
As I throw the first stone, it begins to twirl in the air.
I gaze in amazement. The stone opens up and changes into a bird, or is it a frog, as it flies.
I’m in shock as the small stones in my hands uncurl and turn into an array of what appear to be tiny multi-colored frogs. Unexpectedly, they fly out of my hands.
As the tiny creatures zoom around me, they make the most unusual noises. It’s almost as if they’re burping.
The other creatures begin to pick up small rocks from the ground and throw them into the air.
Suddenly there are hundreds of tiny flying frogs twisting and turning and belching like there is no tomorrow.
“Cool, what are these things?” I ask, feeling like I have stepped into the story of Alice in Wonderland.
“They are walloweeballoweecookoowibbles, Cool replies.
“Walloweeballow…?” I say, struggling once again to pronounce the strange names of some creatures in this most unusual place.
“Walloweeballoweecookoowibbles,” Cool says. “For short, we call them cookoowibbles.”
“Cookoowibbles, cookoowibbles, cookoowibbles,” all the other animals repeat.
As I watch the entertaining small multi-colored burping cookoowibbles buzzing around me, the noise keeps growing louder and louder until I realize that all the other animals are now imitating them.
Huge loud burps fill the air. In between the belches, all the limnits convulse in laughter.
The Land of Limnits is certainly a very unusual place although I’m beginning to laugh as well at the absurdity of what I’m seeing and hearing.
As I gaze back at the green kabinga with the orange polka-dots in the tree above me, she now has one eye open. I wave at her. “Please Frank, help me get out of here. I need to get back to my home.”
By now, the cookoowibbles are everywhere. In the ensuing chaos one of the cookoowibbles lands on my head and lets out the loudest burp I have ever heard before I’m able to push it away.