Benotripia- The Complete Trilogy

by McKenzie Wagner

  But he suddenly realized he wouldn’t feel free for long.

  They were on their way to Darvonia.

  SHADOWY FOG HUNG OVER BLACKWATER SEA AS MOONSTAR sprinted across the water, the dark island coming within the three friends’ view. “What if they see us?” Astro asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jessicana said, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear with a trembling hand. “But Danette and Dastrock should be safe, maybe hiding away. At the worst, they’ve been captured. The Darvonians would want them alive.”

  Astro could tell Roseabelle was trying to keep her doubt and fear hidden away. He put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right.”

  Roseabelle gave him a small smile but turned away, her muscles still tense. Moonstar suddenly put on a burst of speed as they neared the coast of Darvonia. Astro reeled backward, his vision blurring as Moonstar shot forward.

  Moonstar skidded to a halt, and all three friends sprawled on the rocky beach, groaning. The Sheilvoh nudged them as if urging them to move on. Reluctantly, they all stood up and followed him to a small rock cranny, where an underground passage opened up.

  The three friends sat down and broke out their remaining food, spilling two loaves and a collection of fruit on the ground. Astro gathered up all the food he could eat, completely famished. They had been so focused on rescuing Magford that they hadn’t eaten in two days.

  Suddenly from the shadows, Roseabelle’s father appeared, and they all jumped back. Magford was covered in cuts and bruises, and his daughter gasped. “Are you all right?” she asked, leaping to her feet.

  “I’m fine, Roseabelle,” Magford said, embracing her quickly. “But, first, I must tell you what is going on. The secret I’m about to reveal is the reason the Darvonians captured me—I knew too much. So once I pass this information down to you, you must be careful. Understood?”

  Astro’s heartbeat picked up a bit, and he stared at Roseabelle’s father with intrigue.

  “What exactly do you know about the Dream World?” Magford asked.

  Astro shifted in his seat, and his friends did the same as they exchanged glances. They recalled when Asteran, Jessicana’s former trainer, had dropped a feather on the ground that Roseabelle had then picked up. She had entered into the Dream World. “Well, I accidentally traveled there a while ago,” Roseabelle said, and Magford’s eyebrows shot up.

  Jessicana handed him Horsh’s papers. “We found these in the ground near Astro’s home,” she said. “They looked pretty authentic to us and they had Horsh’s mark on them, so we were certain the author was telling the truth.”

  Magford cleared his throat, looking over them. “Yes. These are mine actually.”

  “What?” Astro asked. Roseabelle’s father was making no sense.

  “Well, yes, they are Horsh’s, but I excavated them from the ground. It’s how I learned about the Dream World.” Magford gestured to the point where the words stopped. “I smudged that over so the Darvonians wouldn’t learn where the entrance to the Dream World was.”

  “So when the Darvonians captured you . . . ?” Astro began.

  “Yes, when I found this they became incredibly suspicious. When they found out I had learned where the Dream World’s entrance was, they came after me. Luckily I had already rubbed those words away and buried the trutan in a place I thought was safe.” He raised his eyebrows. “How did you find this anyway?”

  “Well, I fell from the sky and my lightning went off,” Astro said, his tone nonchalant. “And then we kind of found it.”

  Roseabelle’s father gaped at him. “Clearly, I’ve missed a lot over the past few years. Do you mind informing me a bit?” And so they did, telling Magford of all the adventures they had experienced, how they had rescued Danette from the Darvonians and how they had obtained the Stones of Horsh. Astro noticed Magford’s eyes slightly moistened when they talked about Danette.

  Jessicana withdrew the spyglass. “Is this yours too?”

  Magford’s eyes lit up. “Resourceful children! This is the Third Eye. It belongs to the rightful ruler of Benotripia—and it really is a useful artifact. I was scouting the Dream World, when they came. Moonstar was with me and I silently communicated with him that he should run back to Metamordia. I don’t know what he was thinking when he found you, Roseabelle. Maybe he had sensed your presence near when he was out on the ocean, and traced you to Benotripia.”

  “So, where is the entrance to the Dream World?” Astro asked, but Magford held up a hand.

  “I’d rather not say it out loud. Do you have the Stones?”

  Astro reached into his pocket and patted the bloodred Stone. Jessicana nodded as well. Roseabelle slid her hand inside her tunic pocket, then froze. Frantically, she dug her hands into both her pockets, scrambling around, mouth agape.

  “What is it?” Magford asked.

  She held up her pocket and Astro saw a large hole in the bottom. “My Stone,” Roseabelle exclaimed. “It’s gone!”

  Magford swallowed. “Well, that does present a problem.” He slid his swords back into their sheaths. Drumming the hilts on the ground, he sat in concentrated thought for a few minutes. The three friends exchanged glances. They couldn’t destroy the Dream World without Roseabelle’s Stone!

  “Wait,” he said, flipping his swords into the air and catching them by the hilt. “I’ve got it! There’s a high point in Darvonia where we could attract Roseabelle’s Stone. Horsh originally wanted to hide them separately but it didn’t work. All three are connected to each other. So if we touch those two together at a high peak, the third will magnetically float to it.”

  Astro grinned. “Awesome! Let’s go!”

  Magford shook his head. “It’s not that easy. Darvonians will be patrolling everywhere. And it will be tiring for you two.”

  “We can fight through them,” Jessicana said.

  “We’re a team,” Roseabelle added.

  Magford bit the inside of his cheek. “Listen, I can’t just leave you here. You’re children!”

  “Yeah, but we’ve been through a lot,” Astro said. “We rescued the ruler of Benotripia by ourselves. Now we just need to fight off a mass army of Darvonians. Plus we have a magical animal and a warrior dude by our side. We’ll do just fine.”

  Roseabelle nodded. “Trust us.”

  “But is the entrance to the Dream World far from here?” Jessicana inquired.

  Magford sighed. “It would be a three days’ walk from here, maybe farther. But with Moonstar? A few minutes tops. We just need to evade a lot of Darvonians.”

  Roseabelle and Jessicana jumped to their feet, sorting through the backpacks and picking out weapons. Astro walked up to Magford. “Um, sir?” He pulled out his Stone. “Our Stones aren’t working. It’s like they lost their power ever since we left Benotripia.”

  To his surprise, Magford chuckled. “Horsh bewitched them to only exercise their power while in Benotripia or when near the Dream World. He didn’t want the Darvonians to be able to use them freely on the island.”

  Roseabelle and Jessicana had overheard. “So, what will destroying the Dream World do to the Darvonians?” the daughter asked her father.

  Magford put a hand on her shoulder. “Destroying the Dream World with the Stones of Horsh will demolish the Stones as well. Also, the Darvonians’ power will decrease, their fear won’t be as strong. They’ll withdraw from Metamordia as the Benotripians advance on them. We’ll free the people there.” He gestured wildly with his hands as he spoke, and Astro could tell he was beyond elated.

  Magford turned to the kids. “But the Dream World will be dangerous.”

  Astro frowned. “Why? Isn’t it just empty?”

  The Metamordian shook his head. “No, not exactly. Everything that that Stone has made disappear”—he gestured to Astro’s jewel—“is in the Dream World.”

  Astro shook his head wildly and turned back to Roseabelle. Oh no, this was not good!

  As Magford stepped ahead, Jessicana and Astro sid
led up to Roseabelle. “You know what this means?” he asked her.

  Roseabelle swallowed. “A lot of Darvonians will be in there?” she guessed.

  “Well, that too, but Sheklyth is still alive!” Astro said. Roseabelle stared at her feet.

  “We’ll handle her,” she said, forcing on a confident smile, but he could still tell she was beyond nervous.

  “So we leave now?” Jessicana asked.

  Magford seemed to consider it, then shook his head, pointing to the sky above. It was getting darker by the minute. “Darvonians relish the cover of darkness—it would not be wise. Let’s stay here for the night.” Magford nodded. “We leave tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Roarcaneum

  MAGFORD SAT AT THE FRONT OF THE CAVE, HALF awake watching for intruders, and half asleep to get a bit of rest. Meanwhile, the three friends curled up in the back with Moonstar. Roseabelle had created sleeping rolls from the trutan, and Jessicana was curled up in one of them.

  She couldn’t believe everything that had happened—it was crazy. Brushing aside her mass of tangled blonde hair, Jessicana closed her eyes and made an effort to sleep. It felt nice to not be resting on a rocking boat that was being tossed about the waves.

  Her fingers clutched tightly at her aqua blue Stone. Jessicana knew how important this was to the Benotripians. They might have their strong defenses but with the Dream World, the Darvonians could appear on Benotripia behind the defenses, catching the Benotripians completely by surprise.

  Dawn broke the horizon, and they all breathed a sigh of relief that no Darvonians had spotted them during the night. They all sat down to eat milk and nuts, stomachs rumbling with hunger.

  “All right,” Magford said, tapping a finger on his mostly bare chin. He had made an attempt to shave the beard off with a Trapita last night, which had left his beard a huge mess—all that remained was some ragged stubble. “Remember, we need to stay hidden. That’s the key element here. This is life or death now. Stealth is the only option we have.”

  All of the friends gulped at the same time. “What’s ahead of us?” Jessicana asked. “I mean, just the Darvonians themselves right?”

  Magford grimaced. “I wish, but you know the Darvonians. Always full of surprises, whether you like it or not.” He tossed each of them weapons: a Spidegar and javelin for Jessicana, a razor sharp Thepgile for Roseabelle, and a broadsword for Astro. “Weapons are great for defending yourselves, but you need to remember who you are—the Darvonians are all about weapons, fighting. But you are Benotripians, Metamordians. You have powers and you have them for a reason. So if you have to choose between weapons and powers, choose who you really are.” He paused. “Now, let’s find Roseabelle’s Stone. Come on.”

  THE FRIENDS CREPT TO THE EDGE OF THE CAVE AND Magford motioned to the outside. The air was filled with thick black smog, and the landscape was as rocky as Jessicana remembered. “If we’re lucky enough, the Darvonians won’t know we’re here.” He took a step out into the open and his foot instantly squelched in a patch of dark mud. Magford winced. “I would just Shadow Tumble but none of you would know where to go.”

  “There has to be a specific spot?” Jessicana asked, and he nodded.

  “Yes,” Magford said. “Also, a single person is easier to overcome than four.” He continued walking through the spongy ground, which was much like a marsh.

  “That’s strange. The ground was dry last night,” Roseabelle remarked and took a step forward, following her father. Astro did the same. That was when Jessicana noticed black sludge reaching up toward Magford’s ankles.

  “Everyone,” Jessicana said uneasily. “What are you standing in?”

  Magford glanced down and his face suddenly went very pale. “Oh no.”

  “What?” Astro asked.

  “We need to get out of here!” Magford roared.

  The ground began to tremor a bit and Magford tried to squirm out of the sludge. Jessicana watched, helpless, as her friends struggled.

  Jessicana frantically scurried around the cave, searching for something she could pull her friends up with. Her eyes landed on a piece of thick, dark wood lying in the back of the cave, and she scrambled toward it. Jessicana’s eyes were wide. She had a slight suspicion of what was going on, but was too scared to think about it.

  “Is this quicksand?” Astro yelled.

  “Worse!” Magford said as Jessicana held out the piece of wood. Roseabelle managed to grab onto it, and Jessicana clenched her teeth, pulling back on the thick wood.

  “Come on,” Roseabelle grunted, and Jessicana pulled as hard as she could—but it wasn’t working. She jumped when the wood broke in half, leaving a woozy Roseabelle still sinking into the sludge. All three of Jessicana’s comrades were now knee deep in the mud.

  “Try stabbing it!” Magford said.

  Astro cocked his head to one side. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “This isn’t quicksand,” Magford explained and did his best to worm out of the sludge. “It’s a Roarcaneum, creature of the ground. And we’ve been caught right in his jaws.”

  “Try Shadow Tumbling!” Jessicana called out desperately, but Roseabelle shook her head.

  “It won’t work!”

  Magford stared at Jessicana, his eyes wide and determined. “Jessicana, stab your javelin into the ground now! It’ll get it to resurface and then you can fight it.” Jessicana’s pulse was beating rapidly, and she bit her lip.

  “So the Darvonians did find us!” Astro said, scrambling to pull himself out.

  Jessicana gathered all of her courage and looked all over the ground, holding out her javelin. Where was she supposed to attack the Roarcaneum? She’d read about these creatures in books before but they never specified where to stab them—that was the only way to get rid of them.

  “Just do it!” Magford hollered as the sludge buried them shoulder deep. Acting on an impulse, Jessicana lifted up her javelin and drove it deep into the earth. The reaction was instant. The ground’s radius around them began to vibrate. Jessicana stood her ground, trying to keep from toppling over, and yanked back on the rod of her javelin, breaking a piece of the shaft off. She pulled her javelin from the deep mud. An enormous shape withdrew from the earth, silver eyes glinting at Jessicana. It had a round head with slick mud dripping from its long neck. It also possessed a bulky nose with tiny nostrils, and its soft brown skin surprisingly camouflaged well into the earth. Roseabelle, Magford, and Astro were embedded in its head.

  Then Jessicana saw the most bizarre scene she had ever seen. They were sinking right through the monster’s head into its mouth! So that was how the Roarcaneum caught its victims.

  Jessicana resisted the urge to squeak, and she took a step back. The Roarcaneum was undoubtedly huge—although it towered ten feet over her, part of its lower body was still submerged in the mud. The Roarcaneum stared at her, almost as if it was wondering if Jessicana was really worth attacking. On a sudden impulse, Jessicana suddenly leaped forward and hurled her javelin at it, but the sharp weapon bounced back against its hard coating of solid rock and soil. She yelped as the javelin came sailing back at her, flying over her head as she ducked.

  “Hurry, Jessicana!” Roseabelle shouted, and Jessicana searched for the monster’s weak point. It was protected by the earth, submerged in the earth. Then she saw its silver eyes staring past her.

  Of course! The reason the Roarcaneum wasn’t attacking her was because it couldn’t even see her. Jessicana realized it had horrible vision. Its only weapon was to trap its victims and catch them by surprise. Her intellect took over, and she thought quickly, running all possibilities through her head.

  Then it came to her. The Roarcaneum had to have an incredible sense of hearing to sense its prey above ground!

  She dug in her pack, and the monster growled a bit as her friends frantically twisted out of the mush, striving to escape. Jessicana yanked out a Flame-hurler and loaded it with ammo. Roseabelle, Astro, and Magford were now
neck deep in the slush. “Hold on!” she yelled and pulled the trigger.

  Three iron balls of metal, electricity, and fire hurled toward the Roarcaneum, zooming right past it and exploding into a cloud of dark silver ash, raining down on the Darvonian ground. The earth monster, hearing the horrendous noise, jerked around to look. Unfortunately, the movement did nothing to release Jessicana’s friends.

  Jessicana gritted her teeth. The Roarcaneum, still startled from the commotion, kept looking all around for the noise. She just had to make more of it. Jessicana banged two swords together, but quickly dropped them. She attached a hook to an arrow, placed it in a bow, aimed, and shot. The hook embedded in the Roarcaneum’s shoulder, and she quickly grabbed onto it as the Roarcaneum flailed about.

  Grasping the arrow as tight as she could, Jessicana screamed as she was flung about. But seeing her friends above her rapidly sinking into the monster’s head, she thought harder. Think, Jessicana, think.

  Wait a second. I can fly! she thought. With not a moment to waste, Jessicana transformed into a parrot and zoomed up to her friends, wings flapping hurriedly. Astro had started hacking at the mud with his sword but that only resulted in bruising his arms as he tried to yank his weapon out of it. “Awk, use your powers!” Jessicana squawked loudly, and Roseabelle and Astro exchanged panicked glances. Jessicana transformed back into a girl in midflight and landed beside them.

  Her friends were now shooting lightning bolts and hitting the Roarcaneum in the head with its own rocks. Magford’s body had almost sunk through. Jessicana, keeping light on her feet so she wouldn’t join their half-buried state, yanked Magford by his arms out of the mud, using all of her strength. She tried to not focus on the creature’s height. She could maybe simply fly down but her friends couldn’t.

  As the Roarcaneum thrashed about, Astro managed to release himself, burning a hole around himself with his silver-blue lightning. He then turned to Roseabelle, digging her out as fast as he could. “Astro, a little help here,” Jessicana groaned as she lifted Magford.