Chapter 26
“Nothing short of a miracle that we didn’t capsize when sliding out of the levee,” Queen Rosemarie said, looking out the yacht’s porthole, her nerves all but shot over the sudden thrust and drop of the vessel as it had broken from the slip.
Princess Languidere made no comment, but she wouldn’t.
The potential injured souls outside of the royal yacht, the wreckage, the upset, wouldn’t matter much to her. Not as long as she remained unscathed.
“Do you worry that the citizens will blame you?” Princess Languidere asked.
There was a large bang on the deck above from the guards securing the ramp for their exit from the stranded yacht, and Rosemarie held her breath for a moment, terrified that it may be the boat slipping from whatever post held it upright.
The guards had assured her that once it broke free of the slip, it had settled on submerged pillars, keeping it stationary, but how stable were they if the port’s ground had fallen out from under them?
She tried to remain calm and clear in her mind, for dealing with this disaster would require swift action.
Rosemarie sat down at her desk and was removing stationery to begin correspondence when the pressing feeling of being watched forced her to look upon the princess.
Her husband’s niece stared while draped across the davenport, her boredom indicated by the rhythmic strumming of her fingers against the beaded fringe at the cut of her bodice.
Her flagrant display of her bust was an indecorous wardrobe selection for a day with the queen, but, of course, arrogant disregard for Rosemarie was Languidere’s intention.
Her father, though brother to Evoldo, made no effort to cover that he had never favored the match or his resentment of Rosemarie’s bloodline.
Envy and vanity were often the only motivators of his side of the family, her husband included.
Not satisfied that Rosemarie had not taken the bait, Languidere continued, “I simply mean, the port collapsing only a year after trade tax increases seems like an easy target for the people. Do you fear they’ll think you’re squandering their money on your whims?
” She brushed hair from her forehead that had not fallen, focusing intently on the queen.
“I have no such concern,” Rosemarie replied, feigning diplomacy.
Under her high, stiff scarlet collar, she felt the heat and redness of anger spreading across her skin.
She needed to distract herself before Languidere could press her further.
The queen rang the brass bell, and a scarlet guard entered the cabin within moments.
“Any word on Tinkerton, Alice, or Blinkem?” she asked, knowing that not much time had passed, and that her men were focused only on ensuring safe transport of the queen from the port.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“The people of Ev did love your mother so, the great Queen Nasrin.” Languidere’s voice purred from the corner. “Such a shame she is not here to offer you her advice…”
“That will be enough, Princess,” Rosemarie warned.
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Languidere said as she extended her hand to the guard. “It’s become quite dull here. I will take my leave and travel back to Thorncrest.”
Rosemarie nodded, though irritation flared over the princess returning to Thorncrest, the capital palace.
Evoldo had granted Languidere permission to live there for the summer without consulting Rosemarie.
Now Rosemarie kept calm, but as Languidere reached the cabin door, she turned to look over her shoulder.
“I will send correspondence to the king to inform him of what has happened. You have enough to handle.” Languidere spoke with a sweetness that caused such rage in Rosemarie that she felt her child flutter in her stomach.
“Do tell him that I will remain here at the port with the people of Ev until all injured parties are safely taken care of,” Rosemarie said.
Languidere, who wore a sly gaze, began to speak, but Rosemarie would have the last word.
“That will be all.” She waved the princess away and looked back down at her correspondence, though she could feel Languidere’s glare as the princess departed.
When the cabin door shut, Rosemarie forcefully inhaled, trying to loosen the tension mounting in her chest. In Oz, coincidences were rare occurrences.
The return of death to Ev, followed by this disaster, left her kingdom vulnerable in ways she knew not how to navigate.
It was imperative that she reach Tattypoo. She needed another witch’s guidance.
Yet, why was reaching Tattypoo proving so elusive? Rosemarie feared that the danger wasn’t only in her kingdom, but that chaos lay in wait for all of Oz.
“Tinkerton, can you find the edge?” Blinkem asked as he kicked away from a cave waterfall.
Tinkerton, still partially draped with canvas from his invention, floated on his back and laughed.
The cave echoed with his voice and the sound of water gushing from the platform from which they had just catapulted.
Blinkem, who had just begun to feel the lingering effects of the water, experienced a numbing, stinging sensation in his limbs that served as a haunting reminder of his fear of water, a fear he had ignored when Tinkerton’s demise seemed imminent.
But being forcefully propelled through a network of tunnels, only to be abruptly thrust into yet another dark expanse of water, did little to evoke any thrill in him.
“What was that?” Tinkerton said with a loud splash.
Blinkem peered back to the center of the pool.
One unexpected benefit of his ability to shift was that his vision in darkness was superior to non-shifting humans.
In the darkness, a large shape undulated behind Tinkerton, and, with a flick, the shape hit the copper buoy.
A serpent! “Get out now!” Blinkem shouted. Tinkerton began kicking, but the copper raft slowed him.
“Follow my voice!” Blinkem reached for Tinkerton.
“I can see you,” Tinkerton sharply whispered.
“Almost there,” Blinkem said, now slowly moving back into the water where the rock sloped, for behind Tinkerton the serpent tail lifted to strike. The tail disappeared into what was likely a hidden cave behind the rushing water.
What had circled the pool was only the very end of a tail that belonged to a larger creature behind the fall.
Blinkem splashed into the water and grabbed Tinkerton’s forearms, pulling his heavy body with a backward thrust of his legs from the pool.
With another yank, Tinkerton was out, and the tethered copper weight clanked onto the rock.
There was a hissing snarl followed by a low clicking, and, from behind the fall, a ball of blue fire sizzled and vanished in a puff behind them.
Tinkerton scurried backward frantically.
“A dragon?” Tinkerton whispered, now huddled with his back against Blinkem.
The hidden beast continued to growl, with an unnerving clicking coming from its throat.
“It is a dragon. We must run,” Tinkerton whispered, causing the snarl to intensify.
A small blue light shone behind the water. The dragon was prepared to fire again.
“What are we waiting for? Off me!” Blinkem said, as Tinkerton’s weight pressed down on his chest.
Tinkerton whispered over his shoulder. “We have to retrieve the captain, first.” After a moment of confusion, Blinkem deduced he meant the giant metal object bobbing beneath the dragon’s cave.
“You’ve lost your mind,” Blinkem said.
“If we both pull the rope, we can drag him up, and the metal will protect us from any dragon fire.” Tinkerton paused, looking into the darkness. “I think.”
“Fine.” Blinkem reached down around Tinkerton, trying to see the rope better in the darkness. He undid its loop and pulled it tight. “One hand above mine, and the other below,” he said as Tinkerton grabbed at the rope. He found the open gaps in the line and held tight.
“On three.” Blinkem counted down, and they both heaved in tandem.
There was a loud scratching of copper against rock as the object pulled up the slope.
In seconds, the dim blue light beyond the water flared, and another burst of fire sprung toward them.
Blinkem shook as Tinkerton knocked his head backward, slamming into Blinkem’s chin.
“Let’s leave it,” Tinkerton said, but Blinkem could see how close the metal shield was and pulled the rope against Tinkerton to grasp.
“One more pull. But don’t stop until it’s in front of us,” Blinkem said, counting down from three again.
Alice walked mesmerized. The silver sparkling on the rocks now appeared to sit on top of them, instead of coming from within.
She stepped aside, and without the touch of her skin, the silver atop the rocks stayed illuminated and the light within dimmed.
She continued but was then halted by a grinding scrape and wailing cries of men.
She crept low, avoiding stepping in the small stream she followed, not wanting to give any potential threats an advantage by illuminating the interior rocks.
Alice followed the sound of shouting slowly until she recognized the firm voice in the distance that shouted, “Stay still!” It was Blinkem!
Alice ran toward the sound, now splashing in the stream.
Then, after a sharp curve that nearly clipped her shoulder, there was a blue burning light down another corridor.
She raced, with her boots in hand, as the voices increased.
Around her, spidering veins of silver illuminated from her footsteps.
From the mouth of the corridor, Alice stepped knee-deep into water in a cavern with a flowing waterfall, from which the head of a bird-like animal with dark bluish-black feathers poked.
The beak hung open, and blue fire poured out.
At the other end of the flame, at the edge of a pool, a potbellied man made of copper stood.
Behind the copper man, Tinkerton and Blinkem ducked as flames whipped around them.
Beware the Jabberwock, she thought, a poem of nonsense pulled from her dream that now breathed fire before her.
Alice froze when the fire-breathing bird ceased to spit the blue flame and turned rapidly to Alice. Everything was clearly illuminated, for the swirling silver light stretched from below her feet and into the depths of the pool that lay before her.
The light from below cast menacing shadows on the creature that then crawled from the cave with taloned feathered legs and a long slender body that slithered into the pool.
It swam through the pool, its beaked head hovering above the water.
It was like a crocodile, Alice thought, as its long tail, which was only black scales, slithered into the pool last, and she heard Wendy singing: If you see a crocodile, don’t forget to scream.
“Run, Alice!” Blinkem shouted, and the creature slithered sharply toward the men, its nostrils beginning to glow blue. Tinkerton shouted and the beast squawked, its tail shaking, like Dinah when she was startled.
“Do not scream,” Alice said quietly, contrary to Wendy’s advice. “Its ears are very sensitive.” The creature turned slowly to her as her soft voice moved around the cave.
“How do you know that?” Tinkerton whispered.
“It lives in darkness, so it would rely more heavily on its other senses.” Although she wasn’t sure if this was true, it seemed likely. The beast’s nostrils did not glow as it approached her, and she desperately hoped that meant that the dragon didn’t see her as a threat.
The feathered reptile’s body emerged from the pool, with an open beak that tasted the air around Alice.
Air pushed through the large holes close to its eyes, and heat rushed around her.
The creature then fully submerged its head under the water and nudged around Alice’s feet.
She stepped slowly away from its hard beak, afraid it might nip off one of her toes.
Its body, as long and firm as a horse with large slick feathers, slithered around her legs.
Suddenly, its feathers illuminated with streaks of silver, and the ground where Alice stood exploded with silver light, then dimmed as it retreated to the pool before disappearing behind the waterfall.
Tinkerton gasped as he scurried out from behind his copper man.
“Alice,” he whispered, taking her hand in both of his.
He was taller than she’d realized when she’d met him this morning, and the sight of his wild curly hair wet on his forehead and his warm grin, even in the face of such danger, lifted her spirits.
“I know another when I see one, but the dragon’s obedience and the light from within the rocks…
” He looked down at her feet where silver followed and flowed around her.
“It’s very unique.” Even in the darkness, his smile was bright.
“Light?” Blinkem asked from over Tinkerton’s shoulder.
Tinkerton looked at Blinkem and shrugged before turning back to Alice and winking.
Blinkem approached, agitated by the secret Tinkerton kept.
Alice herself was a bit puzzled. The light was nearly pulsating in the rock veins.
But, as Rosemarie had told her of the libre, only if you had the spark could you see it.
Tinkerton had it, then, while Blinkem did not—
But then, the rocks truly did begin vibrating. A tremendous, aching crack sounded above their heads, and from where the waterfall fell, there was a tumbling of rocks—another collapse!