by Adam Blade
He floated free of his aquabike and swam the few strokes to the island, Lia swimming with him. Rivet and Spike stayed nearby, heads poking above the waves, watching them.
Max grabbed one of the woody tendrils hanging from the side of the island and began to haul himself up.
Suddenly, something black and heavy landed on his shoulders with a thump. It was a tangle of thick ropes. Max shouted and struggled, but the ropes tightened around him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Lia was gathered in the net with him. He felt the net being pulled upward and heard grunts and panting. The tough stems of plants scraped against his body as they were dragged up onto the island.
Max looked up through the gaps in the net to see two of the green men from earlier standing over him. Their black eyes stared down, their frilly, lizardlike heads framed by the brilliant blue sky. They were grinning. One of them bent to Max and pushed a spongy, sweet-smelling pad over his face. He thrashed and tried to pull the scaly hand away, but it was too strong. He breathed in and the fumes stung his lungs. His brain reeled.
Then everything went black.
MAX OPENED HIS EYES. HE WAS LYING ON HIS back in darkness. He pushed out his arms, expecting to move through water, but nothing happened. He was breathing air through his nose. As his eyes got used to the dimness, he saw that he was lying on a bed in a small hut with green walls. A bright line of sunlight marked out the edges of the doorframe.
Where was Lia?
He sat up and winced as a fierce pain lanced through his skull. He stayed still for a while, waiting for the moment to pass. He touched the wall of the hut behind him — it was hard, slightly bumpy, and smelled of the sea. Dried, toughened seaweed, he realized.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Two of the scaly green creatures poked their heads in.
“What have you done with Lia?” Max demanded.
They shouted something he couldn’t understand and rushed toward him.
He thrust out his hands to fend them off, but they grabbed him by the ankles and hauled him from the bed. Max hit the floor with a sickening thud. His stomach churned. He threw his arms around his head to protect himself as he was dragged from the hut and bumped over the ground. The sun, high overhead, was painfully bright.
They reached a clear, flat area in the open, where Max’s captors let him go. He struggled to his feet. He was in a space with a smooth green floor, a kind of public square or meeting place. More of the scaly green creatures came to circle him, murmuring in a strange language.
Max tensed his muscles, ready to defend himself if necessary. “I haven’t done anything!” he said in the Merryn language. “What do you want with me? Where’s Lia?”
They didn’t answer, but murmured to one another more loudly.
The ring of figures parted, and two more of the scaly beings appeared, with Lia’s body sagging between them, her arms over their shoulders. Max saw with relief that she was still wearing the silver oxygen mask.
They sat her down. She got up at once, stumbled toward Max, and stood close by him. He did his best to give her a reassuring smile.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She frowned and rubbed her brow. “I have a headache,” she murmured.
“Me, too,” he said. “But at least they gave you your mask back — they obviously want us alive.” For the time being, anyway, he thought.
The green figures pressed in closer, peering at them curiously. As if we were the strange ones, Max thought, not them. But then, Max remembered, Lia had looked strange to him the first time they’d met.
“Why have you captured us?” Lia demanded. Her voice was muffled by the Amphibio mask. “And what have you done with Spike and Rivet?”
One of the scaly people, who Max thought looked older than the rest, stepped forward and spread his arms.
“I am sorry,” he said in a soft, creaky voice, “we do not speak your language.” With a jolt of surprise, Max realized he understood. He glanced at Lia and saw from the blankness of her face that she hadn’t.
“Do either of you speak the language of Aquora?” the scaly person asked.
“Yes — me — I do!” said Max. He hadn’t spoken in his home tongue in a while, and the words felt odd and clunky in his mouth. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
“You followed us and came onto our island,” the older man said. “What do you want with us?”
“We meant no harm,” Max said. “We are on a Quest, and we need help. I am Max, and this is my friend Lia.”
Lia plucked at his arm. “What are you saying?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Max whispered. “I think we’re going to be all right, though. He seems reasonable.”
The elderly person bowed. “I am Lang’onol, the elder of our tribe.”
“How do you know the language of Aquora so well?” Max asked.
“I have studied the languages and customs of many peoples — though not, I regret to say, the Merryn.” He inclined his head to Lia, and she stared back at him. “Most of our people are peaceful scholars like me,” he continued. “Our name, in your language, means ‘the Curious Ones’ — we are the Szurt’zjan’kroy.”
“The … Shirtskoy?” Max said uncertainly.
The scaly people laughed. It sounded unexpectedly bright and high-pitched.
“Not quite,” Lang’onol said gravely. “Though it was a good try. You may call us the Kroy, for short.”
“Ask him why they netted us and knocked us out!” Lia hissed. “Tell him I am a princess and not used to such treatment!”
“Er —” Max said, wondering how best to put this.
“Your companion is asking about the rough way we treated you, I would guess?” Lang’onol said. “For this we apologize. We had to be sure you were not enemies. We are perhaps a suspicious people by nature, but recent events have made us more so.”
“Recent events?” Max said, suddenly alert. Perhaps his instinct had been right — maybe these people could offer some sort of clue to help them on their quest.
“Our home has always been in the Forest of Souls, below the sea — and we have lived for many generations there in peace. We know that dark stories are told about the Forest of Souls — among peoples such as the Merryn — and this suited us well, for it kept unwanted visitors away. But something has come to our homeland that truly is dark. That is why we have made our home on the Floating Island.”
“What was it?” Max asked. He was beginning to feel this might have something to do with the Professor.
“A deadly creature that we call Manak, the silent predator. He is a manta ray who glides close to the ocean floor, without a sound. When he finds prey, he strikes with venom, which paralyzes.”
Max remembered the motionless figure the Kroy had rescued from the ocean bed. “So — that Kroy person we saw you take into your vessel — is he …?”
“That was Zarn’ol. He descended to the Forest of Souls to see if it was safe to return yet. And Manak struck. Luckily, we reached Zarn’ol in time — we have medicine to counteract the venom, and he will recover. Any longer and it would have been too late.”
Max was feeling more and more sure that the manta ray must be one of the Professor’s Robobeasts. “This Manak — does he have any sort of … robotics attached to him?”
Lang’onol’s forehead creased in puzzlement. “Robotics?”
“You know,” Max said, “like, machinery — computer parts — plugged into him?”
Lang’onol shook his head. “We have seen no such thing,” he told Max. “Manak is a demon of the deep — he is no machine.”
Max explained to Lia, in Merryn, what Lang’onol had said. “He must be the next Robobeast, don’t you think?” he asked.
“Then why does he have none of the Professor’s technology on him?” Lia asked.
“I don’t know,” Max said. “But it’s the closest thing we have to a clue.” He turned back to Lang’onol and said: “We are on a Quest to find and defeat this mo
nster. Lia and I will descend to the Forest of Souls to find him. Can any of your people guide us?”
Lang’onol looked grave. He translated Max’s request for his people. There was a murmuring and a shuffling of feet. Max could hardly blame them for not leaping forward — they must be remembering what had happened to Zarn’ol.
At last, a small boy pushed through the crowd. His skin was pale green and smooth. He said something in the Kroy language, and some of the crowd cheered and laughed. Max and Lia exchanged glances. Surely this boy, hardly more than an infant, wasn’t going to guide them?
Another Kroy, an adult, hurriedly stepped out. He grasped the boy by his shoulders and gently moved him back.
“My son shames me,” he said. “I won’t let him go.” He turned to Max. “I’ll go instead.”
I AM TUSC’OL.” HE REACHED OUT AND TOUCHED Max’s fingertips. This must be how the Kroy greet one another, Max guessed. Tusc’ol touched Lia’s fingertips, too, then abruptly started walking away.
“Where are you going?” Max said.
Tusc’ol spoke over his shoulder. “We must go now, not wait. We must do this, so let’s do it quick.”
That sounded like good sense to Max. “Come on,” he said to Lia, and they quickly caught up to Tusc’ol.
“We wish you well!” Lang’onol called.
Tusc’ol led them across the island. It was made entirely of dried seaweed and felt springy to walk on. There were streets of dark green dwellings much bigger than the hut Max had been confined in, all made of seaweed. They soon reached the edge of the island. Waves lapped against a low pier where Max’s aquabike was tied up alongside the spherical vessel that had rescued Zarn’ol.
“Max!” came a familiar bark. “Hello, Max!”
Rivet came scooting out from behind the aquabike, his propellers churning and his tail wagging. At the same moment, Spike’s long sword broke through the waves.
“Spike!” Lia shouted in delight. She tore off her mask and dove straight into the sea. As soon as she surfaced she hugged Spike, who nuzzled up against her.
Max picked up the Amphibio mask. He knelt at the edge of the pier and patted Rivet’s head. “Good boy, Rivet! It’s great to see you again!”
“We must go,” Tusc’ol said shortly. He walked straight off the end of the jetty and plunged feetfirst into the water.
Max climbed aboard the bobbing aquabike, put the oxygen mask in a compartment, and untied the rope. “Come on, Rivet!” he said. Then he tilted the aquabike forward and plunged beneath the waves, entering the dim green undersea world once more.
Max felt the pressure of the sea closing around him again, and the coolness of the water flowing through his gills. He saw Lia up ahead, sitting astride Spike. Beyond, Tusc’ol pointed downward, then neatly flipped head over heels and began to swim with powerful strokes toward the ocean bed. He was fast. Max twisted the throttle to catch up with him. Lia and Spike came alongside, with Rivet bringing up the rear.
The water got darker and darker as they descended. Soon the topmost fronds of the Forest of Souls were brushing against them. Still they carried on going down, through ever thicker fronds. They pushed against Max’s body as if trying to grab him.
“Are we nearly at the bottom?” Max asked.
Tusc’ol didn’t answer, just pointed downward and kept on swimming.
Max stared as a big, pale dead fish floated past, belly up. He and Lia exchanged glances.
“Manak’s work,” Tusc’ol said.
“Don’t worry, Spike,” Lia said, patting the swordfish’s head. “I won’t let him get you.”
Max scanned the dark fronds around him, and strained his ears to hear any telltale sounds of movement. But he remembered that Lang’onol had said that Manak made no sound. The silent predator. If Manak attacks, Max thought, I won’t hear anything until it’s too late….
At last the ocean floor loomed before them. It was dark, smooth, and very slightly mottled — the natural marbling of the rock, Max supposed. Tusc’ol flipped over and landed feetfirst. He pointed at Max’s aquabike and put his finger to his lips. “Switch off. No noise.”
Max eased off the throttle. Lia, on Spike, came to a stop beside him. A few moments later, Rivet arrived, paddling slowly.
Tusc’ol set off and beckoned to them to follow. Max opened the bike’s storage compartment and took out his hyperblade. It was a curved weapon of pure vernium — the hardest metal known to the scientists of Aquora. The blade was paper-thin but unbreakable, and sharp enough to slice through anything. He felt slightly more confident with a weapon in his hand — it was a small thing against a giant, venomous Robobeast, but at least it was something. He wouldn’t use his blade to attack, only to protect himself.
He was about to slip off the aquabike when Rivet gave a loud bark.
“Shush, Rivet!” Lia said.
“Something must have spooked him,” Max said. “What is it, Rivet?’
Max caught a movement out of the corner of his eye.
The next instant, he saw an enormous black whip rear out of the darkness ahead. Before any of them had time to move, it hit Tusc’ol in the chest, like a striking snake.
Tusc’ol barely could cry out. He stiffened immediately and stood unmoving, paralyzed by the venom. His face was frozen into a mask of horror.
“Tusc’ol!” Lia cried out.
“It must be Manak!” Max said. He gripped his hyperblade tighter. “Where is he?”
He and Lia peered around them tensely, alert for another movement. There was no sound whatsoever. Tusc’ol started to drift upward from the seabed. He was still frozen in the mid-stride position he’d been in when Manak struck. Max felt his nerves stretched to the breaking point.
Suddenly, the floor shifted beneath him. Max saw Lia’s eyes widen in fear — she’d felt it, too. He looked down and saw the sand sliding on the smooth, dark rock. Except, at that moment, he realized it wasn’t rock at all.
“Lia!” Max cried. “We … we’re —” He could hardly get the words out.
“We’re standing on Manak!” his friend said.
WE HAVE TO MOVE!” MAX SHOUTED. “GET AWAY from his sting.”
He gunned the aquabike’s engine and shot forward. Next to him, Lia plunged ahead on Spike, with Rivet bringing up the rear.
Manak was a broad, flat, dark shape beneath them. Far ahead, Max could see a raised bump. That must be his head, he thought. That’s probably where the robotic control harness is — and the next piece of the Skull of Thallos! If I can just reach it …
But Manak was gliding beneath them, silently keeping pace. They weren’t getting any closer to his head.
They passed through a denser part of the Forest of Souls where the seaweed grew more thickly. Maybe the plants will slow him down, Max thought.
But they didn’t. Manak brushed the thick seaweed fronds aside as though they weren’t there. Some of the stems were as thick as tree trunks, but they bent right back as Manak glided through.
Max realized how powerful the monster was. Impossible to defeat, he thought. But he banished the idea from his head at once. He had to fight Manak … and win!
The forest thinned out again as they came to a clearing. The water was lighter here, and for the first time Max got a good look at Manak. He was a giant manta ray, his great wings spreading far away on each side. The whip that had paralyzed Tusc’ol had to be the Robobeast’s tail. Up ahead Max saw the rounded hump at the center of the two wings more clearly, and spotted two eye-bumps sticking up. That was definitely the head area, but he saw no sign of any harness or robotics, no glint of metal. Had he gotten it wrong? Maybe this wasn’t one of the Professor’s Robobeasts — just a terrible underwater monster.
“Max! Look out!” Lia screamed.
Max turned and saw Manak’s tail whipping toward him at lightning speed. He swerved the aquabike and veered off to the side. The tip of the tail just missed him.
He twisted the throttle, trying to get farther away from the deadl
y sting, but the bike wouldn’t go any faster.
Again the tail lashed through the water, this time toward Lia. She ducked. The sting passed so close to her head that Max saw her long silver hair sway in the current it made.
We have to do something! Max thought. But what? They couldn’t keep this up: Manak looked as if he would never tire, and they wouldn’t be able to escape that lethal sting forever.
A dangling frond of seaweed loomed before Max and he had to swerve around it. A moment later, Manak’s tail sliced through the water, aimed at where Max had been an instant before. It slashed right through the tough seaweed as if it were paper. Max saw that the sides of Manak’s tail were edged with shining metal, and his heart leaped. That had to be the Professor’s work! But still he saw no sign of a robotic harness. The Professor always controlled his Robobeasts with a harness — or he had, until now. If Max couldn’t find that, how could he stop Manak?
“Max!” Lia called. “Remember Cephalox!”
“What?”
“You remember — when you —” Her words were cut short as she veered to one side, avoiding another lash of Manak’s sting. But she didn’t need to say any more. Max realized suddenly what she meant. When they had fought Cephalox, the monster squid, he had tricked the Robobeast into smashing its own harness with its tentacle. Max had darted out of the way and Cephalox hadn’t been able to stop from striking its own body. Could Max pull the same trick on Manak now? If I can make him sting himself, he might be paralyzed by his own venom!
At least, that was what Max hoped.
He slowed the aquabike down so that he was closer to Manak’s tail end, deliberately making himself an easier target.
“Come and get me, Manak!” he shouted.
Immediately, the venomous tail whipped toward him. Max steered left. But instead of striking Manak’s body, the tail adjusted, bending like a water snake, and followed Max. The tip of the tail struck the back of Max’s aquabike so hard it almost jolted Max off the bike.
