Rakara

by Steve Shilstone

  ---------------------Impatience then it is, youngling ---------------------jrabe jroon. To find the Ramp and ---------------------leave the Field of Peace is far ---------------------simpler than solving any rain ---------------------riddle. Make the proper shift and ---------------------the First Ramp will appear. Dosh, you knew Roamer Lace. How … What should I try? Dragon? …”No, that’s not it …

  Winged cloud? … Still no Ramp …Plain old jark dweg Karro of Thorns? … Ah, peaceful to look at truly, Bek, with bendo dreen eyes, but still no Ramp …Hmmmm … Fuzzletong tree? … No … Trofle? … No … Ponderous bollidore? … No … Bek, what else do I do?”

  Dosh, do you ever change back to hutkeeper? ---------------------Why? I am a pink drull, star-fingered. ---------------------Imagine my pleasure!

  “Bek! Bek! What else do I do?!”

  Kar, you’re a jrabe jroon. You do anything.

  “Such! So! Ah! Ye be right, Bek! This be it! Look!”

  ---------------------Imagine my pleasure. It’s steep. It’s …

  Chapter Eleven

  The First Realm

  Kar, as Rakara, picked me, so such plucked me carefully up, roots and all, from the bed of black pearls. I inflated in her lavender grasp to me, Bekka of Thorns. My chonka and Jo Bree were safely attached to my belt. I touched ‘em, trying to take hold of reality. Rakara set me on the end of the Ramp. The Ramp, a long slick bar of gleaming bright liquid white, curved down and away into the distance. I was completely fuddled. I sat heavily, my legs giving way. The thinnest slice of time earlier I had been waving peacefully, a blissful blade of green grass in the field beyond O’Tan’s Gate. Shifted. I, a bendo dreen, had been shifted.

  “That be a good idea, Bek. Ye sit. I’ll push,” said Rakara.

  I said nothing, unable to gather any of my wits. I watched Dosh bulge and clump pinkly. She danced, star-fingered, over and around the blue bushes and the quivering yellow blobs that were drulls. I blinked. Kar pushed me from behind. I slid neatly along the Ramp. The fields flew by on both sides fairly. I saw the trembling yellow drulls in a blur. Orange star-fingers and yellow, too, waved from the fields. Such was so. I blinked. My hollow head remained so such, darbeast flooce empty. Rakara’s hands gripped my shoulders. The Ramp dazzled white ahead and plunged. Oh, we slid! I clutched Jo Bree and closed my eyes. Through the curtain of dizzying speed I thrilled to feel myself falling, sliding down the Ramp. I clung to the safety of Rakara’s hands touching my shoulders. A violent swerve and a tumble and a roll brought me to a spinning stop. I risked opening one eye the barest nince.

  “The First Realm,” whispered Rakara beside me.

  I turned my head and opened wide my eyes, both of ‘em. Rakara sat next to me, folded into her dark green mantle. She stared at me with her sightless milky eyes. She tilted her head, turning her enormous lavender ears this way, then that. The shining white Ramp had truly disappeared. There were no drulls, no fields, no star-fingers. No Dosh. We sat on ground matted with soft blue grass. Around us a strange sort of forest seemed to fairly float. Such was so. Leafless red trees with twisted branches reached for a dim purple sky. Hanging in writhing coils from the trees were hundreds and thousands and more of watery serpents. Watery! Like ropes of clear liquid with emerald diamond eyes! We heard a chant, a droning, a buzzing which filled the air. The serpents flicked their liquid green tongues.

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza,” the gentle babble seemed to say.

  Rakara shifted to my old Kar and stood, fisted hands on her hips. I don’t know why. I only knew for certain that she had more secrets. Such she had said so. Such I trusted her. I remained seated, waiting for her to do something.

  “We are visitors from the Boad, All Fidd and Leee Combined,” she shouted.

  The serpents still writhed and coiled, but in addition, fell silent.

  “We are questing to visit the Realm Beyond Realms. We slid the First Ramp. We seek the Second. I am the jrabe jroon Rakara, such so Karro of Thorns. This is the Chronicler Bekka, such so also of Thorns. What Realm is this and who are you?” loudly and boldly Kar announced and inquired.

  “Wunce wuzza Realm of Ricks hanging from red limbs,” sang out a single serpent, one of the many in the nearest red tree.

  “Wunce wuzza blue Rick who gave out riddles far in the depths of the forest,” sang out another in the same tree.

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza,” the babble chant sounded from the hundreds and thousands and more, making a comfortable din.

  “What should we do?” I asked Kar.

  “Look for the watery blue snake,” she answered with confidence.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Riddle

  “Where should we go? In what direction? Why are you Kar shifted, and not jrabe? Are you following more secret instructions from your Dak jroon father? Why couldn’t we stay longer talking to Dosh?”

  “Settle, Bek. Let’s walk there. The forest seems thicker in that direction. I’m Kar because I’m used to being Kar. It’s a comfort. And no, I don’t have instructions. Secrets? Maybe. You’ll see. Come on. Bang your chonka. Let’s do a Bower march. We’re going quickly just because.”

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce …”

  “Tap along with the ‘wunce wuzzas’.”

  “We’ve seen odd things, Kar, but none so such odder than these watery serpents writhing in strange red trees.”

  “What about the rolling bollidore? Oh, look, Bek! My hand … It goes right through! See! Step around. See if you can see my fingers wiggling on the other side. I’m the first jrabe jroon to do this.”

  “I see ‘em.”

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce …”

  “You try it. Pass your hand right through. You can see the tree, but it isn’t there, is it? What an oddment. What a Realm.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “I don’t know. Keep walking. Look for a blue Rick.”

  “Rick?”

  “That’s what these snakes are called, don’t you guess?”

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce …”

  “Oh, probably, yes. Red trees, red trees, red trees. Clear crystal liquid serpents. Hmmm. Kar? Notice the flicking of their tongues?”

  “I notice. What about ‘em?”

  “The serpents are writhing and coiling in all directions, but see where they flick their tongues.”

  “All flick that way! Bek, good! Come on! Belt your chonka. Let’s run!”

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce …”

  “Wait!”

  “Hurry!”

  “Oh, I see it!”

  “Such. Wouldn’t you guess. Coiled around the trunk of the biggest tree.”

  “Liquid blue. Oh, beautiful snake!”

  “Blue serpent, I am the jrabe jroon Rakara, shifted to Karro of Thorns and ready for my riddle. Here is Bek, a champion riddle solver from the hedge near the Well of Shells.”

  “Kar! I’m not a ..”

  “Shhhhh!”

  “Wunce wuzza blue Rick named Red Wade Lar.”

  “We’re Bek and Kar, Red Wade Lar. We’re traveling the Realms. Do you have a riddle to help us find the next Ramp?”

  “Wunce wuzza jrabe among jroons

  Who might have gone to both moons

  To Jeth and to Jith

  Or was it a myth

  Sung simply to Carven Flute tunes?”

  “Go ahead, Bek. What’s the answer?”

  “Me? Why do I know?”

  “You’re the champion.”

  “No, I’m not!”

  “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza, wunce …”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Puzzle Solved

  Of a sudden, all the serpents swayed in unison. They hung heads down, chanting, “Wunce wuzza.” In trees as far as I could see they swayed, left, right. The blue one, still coiled, merely rocked its head back and then forth, left, right. The flick of the green water tongues captured my gaze and held it. I stared and swayed, l
eft, right.

  “Bek! The riddle! Solve it! Play Jo Bree!” demanded Kar loudly, jolting me from sway.

  Shaking my head, blinking my eyes, I plucked Jo Bree from my belt and began automatically to play my favorite bendo dreen Nursery Bower lullaby. Soothing melodious notes floated out, and the serpents ceased swaying and chanting. No more did they flick their tongues. Limply they hung from the phantom red trees.

  “That’s the start. See? Look at ‘em,” said Kar. “Don’t stop. Keep playing. Now, what else? The riddle said that there was a jrabe among jroons who went to the moons. That could mean for me to shift. A clue to. I’ll be jrabe first.”

  I watched Kar shimmer and shift from bendo dreen to jrabe. Upside down like her mother Ragaba she hovered in the air. She tapped her lavender chin with the bony lavender forefinger of her right hand. The fingers of her left hand drummed at the waist of her dark green mantle. She was thorn deep in thought. Such was so. I kept on playing.

  “This be me as jrabe Rakara, ye watery Ricks,” she announced. “Hidden within me be jroons and jroons, ancestors of my past. To go to both moons be my task. Such. Behold!”

  Rakara sailed in a swerve, rising swiftly above the trees and vanishing into the dim purple sky. I stopped playing. The serpents seemed not to notice. They remained limply hanging, all of ‘em. I searched the sky, feeling empty hollow alone. Panic pawed at my stomach. Starkly, in a sudden nince, a great round yellow orb appeared in the high distance. As quickly as it appeared, it winked out. As quickly as it winked out, a second orb, somewhat smaller, appeared down lower and off to the right. A roar of “WUNCE WUZZA!” crashed in my ears, knocking me flat. The serpents, writhing, fell from the trees and teemed together to form a tangled mass. A great watery ball of serpents with green tongues flicking and chanting “Wunce wuzza” rolled on the carpet of blue grass between and among and around the red trees. The watery ball unfurled itself into a long watery ramp, flicking with tongues and splashing with writhes. Ramp. Ramp.

  “Ramp,” I gasped to myself.

  “That was easy, wasn’t it? While you played tunes, I did all the rest by being a jrabe with jroon ancestors and shifting shape to be both moons, Jith after Jeth, in that oddly dim purple sky,” boasted Kar, stepping from behind me, bendo dreen again and wearing her jark dweg grin. “I hope all of the puzzles are this simple. The deeper the Realm, the harder they’ll be, though, don’t you think? Come on, Bek, let’s walk on a path of watery serpents. We’ll be the first jrabe jroon and bendo dreen to do so such!”

  I followed Kar with more than a few grains of reluctance. To walk on a living Ramp of writhing serpents, watery or not, was far from any of my many lifelong dreams. I am a bendo dreen who left the hedge, true, but I AM a bendo dreen. So such sometimes I can’t help feeling timid.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Down the Second Ramp

  “Are they squishy?”

  “A little bouncy is all. See? Look, they don’t mind. They’re the Ramp! Such! Climb up.”

  “It’s squishy, Kar. Squishy is …”

  “Stand still! When one of ‘em pops it head up like that, we should listen.”

  “Why?”

  “Shhhhh!”

  “Wunce wuzza jrabe from Kazoo

  Who fell in a grawnberry stew

  She yelled, ‘Send a raft!’ as jroons nearby laughed

  And the jrabe kicked the stew all askew”

  “What was that all about?”

  “They’re entertaining us as we walk.”

  “How do you know this? More secrets?”

  “So such, it’s true. I didn’t know, Bek, I vow, that they’d be the Ramp. No. But Dak did warn me to be polite and to listen if ever a Rick so and such happened to stick up its head.”

  “He told you about Ricks. What other more did he tell you?”

  “He didn’t tell me anything other more about Ricks. I asked him, ‘What are Ricks?” He said, ‘You might find out.’”

  “That’s all?”

  “That’s … Oh, another. Stop. Shhhhh.”

  “Wunce wuzza hutter whose name

  Was known far and wide to his shame

  His sanity fled. He put glass in his bed

  A terrible way to earn fame”

  “That was about Jugglor, the mad hutter.”

  “I know, Bek. I knew right away.”

  “This is getting interesting.”

  “Getting?”

  “Well, I know, but about Gwer drollek stories and such is what makes me, as Chronicler, feel the most … lively.”

  “Bek, you sound confused. Keep walking.”

  “What do you expect? I’m here walking on a living Ramp made out of watery serpent Ricks. It’s not exactly an average day in the hedge, is it? I’m allowed to be …”

  “Shhhh! Settle. Another.”

  “Wunce wuzza wandering woe

  Lost in caverns below

  A garden it made, carrots in shade

  A tentacle wielded the hoe”

  “That’s a garl story! That’s so such about the racketous garl BEFORE Rumin. Wandering woe. Lost. I don’t know that story. I should find that story! We should! It could be a Chronicle!”

  “Settle, Bek. Time and place. You are Bower deep in the middle of living a Chronicle right now. Pay attention to the thorns you have before you pluck others.”

  “Me? What about you? What about …”

  “Shhhhh. Another.”

  “Wunce wuzza delicate web

  Trembling at sea’s lowest ebb

  Sitting to listen, admiring its glisten

  Was an Acrotwist Clown known as Jebb”

  “There, Kar. That’s another one I don’t know. Jebb. Have you ever heard of Jebb?”

  “No Jebb. Only Nobb and such. Kadd, of course.”

  “I …”

  “The end! The end! I see the end. The Second Realm! Let’s run!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Second Realm

  Whispered “Wunce wuzza, wunce wuzza” faded, faded away. I looked down at my highboots and saw ‘em firmly planted on a mirrored floor. No more Ramp. No more watery writhing serpents. I looked up and stared at myself in a mirrored wall. Mirrored walls, four of ‘em, surrounded us. There was a mirrored ceiling, too. I reached for Kar and gripped her jacket at the elbow. Trapped with no exit inside of a mirrored cube! Such was surely so. Our images, two fuddled bendo dreen, reflected above us, below us, and from every side.

  “What about this? What …,” I began to question Kar, but faltered when my words echoed from each of my mirrored images.

  “I am me, aren’t I?” all of my images asked along with the Bekka I thought I was.

  “So,” said all of the Kars.

  “This is …,” said all of the Bekkas.

  “…the Second Realm,” completed the Kars.

  We began babbling at each one the other and at all of the reflections until Kar put her hand on my mouth, and we stood silent, we and all the reflected pairs of us. The cube shone silvery bright, causing us to squint our hedge-dweller bendo dreen eyes.

  “The Second Realm is reflections,” said Kar and her images.

  “Did Dak warn you of it?” I and my chorus asked.

  Kar shook her head no. I still clutched the elbow of her jacket. I wondered if I should play my chonka. I wondered if I should play Jo Bree. I wondered if Kar should shift. How could a Realm be a mirrored cube? How could we escape it? Was it such and so a puzzle for us to solve? Various and hurried thoughts danced in my head, but I was reluctant to share ‘em. Truth. If I opened my mouth, a chorus of voices would sound, all mine. Such knocked me nervous and unable to speak. Kar felt no such timidity.

  “This is fun,” she and all of her images announced. “I’m the first jrabe jroon to speak in such and so multiples. Traaaa! Laaaa! Blaaaaaaaaaa! Let’s sing, Bek. We’ll be an assembly!”

  “No,” I and my Bekka reflections whispered.

  I felt dizzy and closed my eyes. I pressed my lips togethe
r and gained some balance. I held on to Kar’s arm with both of my hands. My body was losing my me.

  “What’s wrong, Bek?” asked the Kars.

  “I don’t know if I’m me. My senses are …,” I tried to explain, but couldn’t continue. My mind bounced from wall to wall to ceiling to floor, visiting every image of me. Although my eyes were pressed closed tight, I sensed myself above me, below me, beside me. I was all of my images, turn and turn, never more than one at a time. My mind reeled in fuddlement. I fainted away. In darkness of hollow dream I floated, hearing far away voices.

  “Bek, wake up!”

  “Rub this across her forehead.”

  “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

  “Rub this across her forehead.”

  A soothing coolness, soft fingers on my forehead, set my eyelids to fluttering, brought me up from the hollow darkness to open my eyes.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Blue Truth Berry

  Kar’s worried face hung close above mine. The cube was different. The light. The mirrors all everywhere had been replaced by luminous goldglow panels. The cube seemed smaller. Was it shrinking? I struggled to sit up. I wanted out.

  “Settle, Bek,” said Kar, and her voice stood alone, unaccompanied by chorus.

  “I find this one is bendo dreen, but not you,” said a … yes, it was a fat blue berry as big as my head floating up from behind Kar. I was rightfully scattered with puzzlement. The berry had red bead eyes and sneering red lips. Such was so. It had four of tiny arms and four of three-fingered hands.

  “How do you know I’m not bendo dreen?” challenged Kar. “And so said, in fact, who are you?”

  “I find that you have asked of me four questions. Your allotment, I find, is limited to six. There’s the warning. Take note of it. I find that there will be no other. Question one’s answer – I am the Blue Truth Berry. Question two’s answer – I came from the Book Room behind that panel. Question three’s answer – I find that you are not bendo dreen because your mind is solidly bolted into place. This poor creature’s mind is rootless, I find, easily stolen by images in mirrors. Question four’s answer – I am the Blue Truth Berry. I find of you that asking the same question twice is not very efficient.”