by Moira Murphy
“Oh crap,” Niko grumbled.
“Jump!” Tucker dropped the oar and scooped up the backpack.
“What about the boat?” Tessa asked.
“Forget the boat!” Niko flung himself and the oar into the water. They were inching closer to the waterfall.
“Jump!” Tucker shouted as he, too, jumped in the water.
“We need the boat!” Tessa picked up the oar and aggressively paddled backward. “How are we going to get back? Help me!”
“Leave it, Tess!” Tucker pulled on the oar. The canoe’s nose pulled over the darkness. Tessa’s paddling was the only thing holding it in place.
“Tessa!” Niko shouted, kicking against the current.
“Get out!” The boat was seconds from falling. The back end lifted into the air. A pair of hands reached down from atop the cave, and grabbed Tessa’s upper arm and wrenched her outside of the cave.
Chapter 10
“Tessa!” Tucker and Niko shouted. There was no sight of her. They swam hard against the current, searching the rock ceiling.
“Out here!” her voice was muffled by the rushing water. After swimming to the edge of the cave and crawling out over a rocky edge, they found Tessa. Behind her was a man, an extremely large muscular man with red dreadlocks and dark skin, covered only by a cream colored uniform. A Lavoc. He held a firm grip on Tessa’s right bicep.
“Come out, friends.” He smiled. As they passed through the opening, their clothes and pack became dry. They stood below the six foot high stone that Tessa was being held hostage upon. “Tucker, Niko, and you must be Tessa.” He leaned into her face. “I am Mooney.” He slightly bowed his head, releasing his grip on Tessa. She jerked her arm out of his hand, elbowed him in the nose, and jumped down; in one fluid motion. Mooney grunted and staggered back.
“Ow!” he held a hand to his nose. “Wait. Wait!”
Tessa ran past the boys, and continued on.
“Wait!” Mooney shouted at her, “Theo sent me!” Tessa stopped. “Theo told me to come find you! I’m here to help!”
Tessa turned and now, with her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, saw their surroundings. They stood in a great dry quarry; similar to the depth of the Grand Canyon. Mooney stood on a rock near the edge. Four feet high and oddly round. The suns were just above the top of the canyon.
“Come back!” Mooney laughed, waving her back. Tucker gave her an encouraging nod, and she made her way back to them. “There we are.”
“Who are you?” Tuck asked.
“I am Mooney.”
“You are one of them.” Tessa scowled.
“Well… yes… but no.” He weighed his hands back and forth.
“What does that mean?” Niko questioned.
“Yes, I am a Lavoc, as far as Nathayre and the Lavocs know. But, as for the rest of Wiklow, I am not.” He explained.
“How do you know our names?”
“Cami told me you’d be coming. She told all of us to keep an eye out for you.” He explained. “But, I see you are missing one. Where is your fourth?” No one replied. “Has he not come? Cami said he would be hesitant.” He checked his nose for blood.
“When did you see Cami?” Niko stepped forward. “Is she okay?”
“It’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen her. She’s been in hiding, and hasn’t reached out to us in quite some time.” Niko sighed.
“Who is ‘us’?” Tucker asked.
“That is the right sort of question.” He pointed at Tucker. “I am one of the leaders of the Renegades.” He stood up straight, shoulders back, proud of his title. When no one replied to his statement, he realized his title meant nothing to them. “She really told you nothing of this place.”
“No.” Tessa answered.
“Where did you think she had been all these years?” Mooney jumped down from the rock.
“Years? She’s been coming here for years?” Niko was stunned.
“Yes, since she was a child. But over the last year or so, she was here permanently. She lived here.” He gestured to the canyon.
“But she sent us photos from all over the world; mountains and oceans.”
“It was all here. In Wiklow.” Mooney smiled.
“What is this place?” Niko gawked at the large cavern.
“Welcome to the Stone City.” He opened his arms wide. “The city of Queens.” He pointed to the tops of the canyon, where large limestone crowns sat, atop the heads of four beautifully carved women at the four corners of the quarry. The stone Mooney had been standing on was actually the toe of a queen. While their faces were somewhat eroded by wind and elements, they were still luminous.
“Who are they?” Tessa asked in wonderment.
“They are the four queens of Wiklow. They reigned in the years before Nathayre, when Wiklow was good.” He pointed at the statue directly above them, “This was where Cami stayed; with the South Queen.” He, then, pointed down the water filled cave. “This is how she traveled back to you. You will find your canoe at the bottom of a well in Siegly Lake.” Tessa thought of Sully’s soaked blonde hair in the shack at the start of all this.
“So, what are the Renegades?” Tucker interrupted her thoughts.
“We are a group dedicated to making Wiklow good again. To overthrow King Nathayre, and reinstate another great queen.” Mooney replied.
“Why a queen?” Niko asked.
“While, we are not opposed to a great king. Queens have given us great leaders. They are kind, caring, and stern and righteous. It is what we know.” Mooney shrugged. “Come. Come. We can talk somewhere safer.” He looked up, as if searching for a Lavoc carriage.
“Where?” Tessa asked, eager to continue the conversation.
“Come meet the rest of us.”
“No. No. We have to wait for Sully.” Tuck stated. “He said to meet here. With Bindy.”
“Well, if he is with Bindy then he’ll be with the others. Bindy knows very well the Renegades home.” The others reluctantly followed Mooney on a hike across the empty quarry. He said that everyone would be waiting with the West Queen. So, they followed; hoping and praying that they could trust the unusually large man who claimed to know Cami. But, still the question hung on all their minds: where was Cami?
They reached the feet of the West Queen by midday. She sat cross legged against the quarry wall, her palms sat on her knees open to the sky. Her eyes were shut and she had a calm smile on her young face. She seemed to be the oldest Queen in the quarry.
“Most of the queens died very old and happy, but that Queen,” He pointed toward the Queen at the North side of the canyon. “She died very young, she barely had a chance to reign.”
“How did she die?” Niko huffed as he tried to catch his breath from the hike; he was not familiar with such physical activity.
“Well, it is unknown, but there are several rumors.” Mooney answered. It was then that Niko noticed five smaller statues at the feet of each of the queens: human sized. They stood in positions as if to imply they were protecting her. “I, personally, and well, most of the Renegades believe Nathayre had something to do with it.” Mooney continued past the five small statues, unaware that these might perhaps be something odd to the others.
“Wait… wait…what are these?” Tessa asked studying the face of the statue closest to her. His face was gentle and hopeful; he had thin eyes and a small face with large cheeks. He smiled, his hands out in front of his body, palms up; as if waiting for an embrace.
“That is Edjee, the first healer.”
“The first what?” Niko asked.
“Healer… the first healer.”
“What does that mean?”
“You do not have healers where you come from? They heal the sick and wounded.” Mooney asked, confounded.
“Yes, we call them doctors,” Tessa confirmed.
“Ah yes, well, Edjee was our first healer.” He nodded.
“But, who are they? All of them?” Tuck asked.
“They are th
e Wards.” Mooney said matter of factly. No one replied. “The Wards? Surely you’ve heard of the Queen’s Wards.”
“We haven’t.” Tessa was intrigued.
“Cami said you had all been here, I just assumed you all knew.”
“What are Wards?” Tuck asked again.
“Where to begin…” Mooney rubbed his forehead.
Tuck shifted from side to side, eager to find his brother, but also curious about these peculiar statues. He weighed the idea of interrupting Mooney’s explanation with a kick to the belly of this statue. He decided against it.
“This Queen was the first queen of Wiklow. She created everything here. But, in order to keep Wiklow good and beautiful, she had to protect it from the other worlds. So, in all her great power she created the Wards to protect Wiklow. She gave Edjee the power to heal the sick and wounded. This power would be passed down to his children’s children and so on, to keep all generations of Wiklow safe.”
The second statue was a female; her hair was long, down to her knees. She wore a long dress with a thin corset around her belly. Her eyes were closed, mouth straight, hands clasped at her heart. “This is Myalo. The Queen gave her the ability called ‘many minded’. She was the right hand to the Queen on all things. Myalo had the ability to know many things. As if an artist, a history professor, a philosopher, and a scientist all lived inside her. She was able to become all of these things and more.”
“So, she was smart?” Niko asked.
“Not just smart. She had many minds who were experts at their professions,” Mooney reiterated.
“Multiple personalities.” Niko winked at Tucker. “I took psychology.” Mooney ignored Niko’s joke, unsure of what the joke exactly was, and he continued on to the next statue.
“And I believe you’ve met this generation’s Crypsis, Bindy.”
“Bindy is a what?” Tessa peered at the vaguely familiar statue. Bindy had the same eyes and nose.
“A Crypsis.” This is Bindy’s great grandmother, Mishran. The Queen gave her family the ability to camouflage the portal entrances to Wiklow. I believe you came through one, which is how Bindy found you.”
“What do you mean?” Tessa asked.
“Well the Crypsis sense when one of their spells has been broken, so she knew that someone had come through her barrier at the well. That’s how she found you.”
“And this one?” asked Niko, standing at the next statue. He was tall and thin, but strong, like a runner or swimmer. He had curly hair and a thick beard. In his hand he held a stone fish.
“That is Andha, the Herapher. He had the power to blind victims with visions and hallucinations of his own making.”
“What’s the purpose of that?” Niko said within a few inches of the statues face.
“The Queen wanted someone to confuse the people who did get through the spell of the Crypsis. To make them forget that they’d ever seen Wiklow.”
The final statue was much larger than the others; his hair grew below his ears, his jaw was wide. In his right hand was a large sword, leaning against his shoulder, and in the other he held a roll of paper. He wore the same uniform as the Lavocs they had met.
“This is Vanya, the first Lavoc. The Queen gave him the power to hunt and track like an animal. We can find anything from anywhere, and we have great strength. Our sole purpose is to protect the throne.”
“Yeah, we’ve met Vanya’s family.” Niko said, thumping the statue in the forehead with his pointer finger.
“Quite the plan for protection,” Tuck said impressed.
“Yes, she was very wise.” Mooney looked up at the great Queen.
“But, what about this?” Tuck turned and pointed toward a sixth statue. This statue was not whole. A pair of barefeet stuck up from the earth, unattached to a body. The legs were cut off below the knee, jagged and rough. Simple erosion had not been the cause of this statue’s demise.
“That was Conway.” Mooney said with disgust. “He chose not to protect the Queen.” Mooney eyed the feet.
“What could he do?” Niko asked.
“He had the ability to manipulate water, which he did not use to benefit the Queen.” Mooney turned to face them, “May I borrow some water?” he asked politely.
Tucker took the pack from his back, and handed off a water bottle to Mooney. He climbed a shallow staircase to the breast of the Queen. At her heart, was a large necklace with a green stone, the same stone Tuck had found in the forest, and was now around Tessa’s neck. Mooney put his mouth to his hand and gently blew the water onto the wall. It dripped down the cracks of the reflective surface. The stone began to heal itself of the sun drenched cracks. Slowly, they filled with water, and soon it looked like a freshly buffed diamond.
“Well, come on.” Mooney waved them up. He stepped foot first through the jewel. His foot squished just like the mirror in the cave. He merged his leg, then his head, followed by the rest of his body. He was gone.
“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Niko said, first to climb the staircase.
“Do we really think this is a good idea?” Tucker proposed. “We don’t know him.”
Niko turned.
“What other option do we have?” Tessa was hopeful.
“He said Sully might be in there,” Niko added.
“What if it’s a heap of followers of this King and it’s all just … a… trick?”
“He knew about the water and didn’t kill us,” Niko tried to help.
“But, if…” he stammered in reply.
“We have no choice but to trust him.” Tessa comforted him. “For Sully.” She led him by hand up the stairs. Tuck exhaled in surrender. “Just like you told me in the cave…this is where we go. He knows we are here, so our choice is to run in no certain direction, or go with him.”
Chapter 11
The jewel was gelatinous and cold on their skin as they eased themselves in. Niko felt reminded of a Jell-O mold at a church potluck. When he was younger, he had a bad habit of sticking his fingers in them at church functions. Ms. Ramirez always swatted his hand, gently, while Cami laughed.
On the other side of the jewel was a large room, filled with hundreds of empty wooden tables. The ceiling was high and oval, with a mural of thousands of men, women, and children floating on a big beautiful ocean. Tessa looked up at the elegantly painted individual faces of each person. Millions of fish, whales, jelly fish and octopus swam amongst them, peacefully. There were colors Tessa had never even seen before.
“You’re here!” They heard an excited squeal echo about the room. Bindy came bounding through the tables. Tuckers eyes searched for Sullivan, pleading with himself to remain calm. “Mooney just told everyone you’d arrived.”
“Where is Sullivan?” Tuck blurted out, his heart was beating against the buttons of his shirt. “Is he here?” he breathed out.
“He will be here soon.” Bindy placed her hand on Tucker’s shoulder. “Your brother is amazing. He’s my hero.” She gushed.
“Where is he?” he repeated.
“Mooney went to tell him you’re here. He’ll be here as fast as he can, I’m sure.” She remained kind, despite Tucker’s urgency.
“How did you guys make it here?” Tessa asked, as she squeezed Tucker’s forearm.
“Like I said, your brother is my hero. He got us out of a terrible position. He saved us.” She swooned over her new found protagonist. “What about you, how did you get here?”
“We met… uh… Cut Throat Theo.” Tessa swallowed.
“Ah… yes. That was Cami’s doing. She could be a snake charmer.” Bindy laughed. “She thought he’d be a good ally for us. A surprise ally, if need be.”
“She planned all of this?” Niko remarked. “Like she knew she’d need us at some point.”
“Well, she was here when Nathayre took over.” Bindy played with the hem of her dress.
Running footsteps came echoing on the cement floor. They abruptly stopped at the doorway in which Bindy had just en
tered.
“Ladies and gentleman.” Sullivan shouted. Tucker and Niko ran to him, dodging tables, to aggressively hug their brother. They remained like that much longer than they ever had. Tessa walked to them and waited for them to break, wanting her own hug.
“Tessy.” He said locking eyes with her between Niko and Tuck’s heads. She opened her arms, he let go of the boys, and embraced her.
“I’m so glad to see you,” she whispered. He set her on her feet, and looked at her.
“You have no idea,” he said. Niko and Tucker reanimated their hug, bringing Tessa in as well.
“I see you’ve found your friends.” Mooney entered the large room.
“I did,” Sully said with misted eyes. Mooney slid an arm around his shoulder, as they separated.
“Your brother has become quite the asset to our little operation. “ Mooney spoke highly.
“Is that so?” Tucker beamed, proudly.
“Yes. Quite the uhh… what is it?”
“Architect.” Sullivan finished for him.
“Yes. Architect., Mooney repeated.
“Wait. What are you building?” Tessa asked.
“Well, not so much building as… destroying,” Sullivan cleared up.
“More about that later. Our guests must be starving!” He exclaimed.
“Let’s meet Palmer over something to eat.” Mooney ushered them over to a table. Someone appeared to seat them and take their requests. When asked what they wanted to eat a simple cheeseburger and fries would not suffice. After a few moments of struggling to find a food both knew of, Bindy ordered for them. They slightly hoped it would be something not filled with sugar. Mooney ordered a second meal for the aforementioned Palmer. He assured them he would be along shortly.
When the food arrived, nothing looked familiar. Luckily, what Bindy had ordered for them was a basic pasta dish. The sauce was unrecognizable but delicious. And the noodles were an odd shape, but noodles nonetheless. Since they had had nothing to eat but sugar and snacks, their plates were empty as quick as they had come. Mooney, Sullivan, and Bindy continued to eat and make polite chatter.