Chapter 10: Gargantuar
The following morning,Seth, Kendra and Ingrid were all woken up at the crack of dawn by Mrs. Sorenson. Now that they had rested up from their previous day, they were ready to set out on their next adventure.
After washing up and getting dressed, the kids all made their way down into the kitchen, where Grandma was preparing a hearty breakfast for them, consisting of bacon and poached eggs served on English muffins, accompanied by slices of oranges. Warren and Bracken were already there, sitting at the dining room table.
Once they had eaten, Kendra, Seth, Ingrid, Warren and Bracken got their gear together and set out into the backyard, where they met up with the dragons outside of their lair.
Kendra stared off towards the east, where she could see the sun still rising above the tops of the trees in the distance, giving off a pinkish hue against the rest of the darker blue sky.
"Is this it, then?" asked Warren. "Is everybody ready?"
"I sure am," said Seth. Skyfrost and Firesquall both nodded in agreement.
"Vanessa is still sleeping," said Geminus. "But Dale assured us that he would look after her while we're gone."
"Great," said Warren, as he removed the Translocator from his bag. He proceeded to twist the artifact, then held it out for everyone to touch. "Let's do this."
Once everyone had placed either a hand or claw upon the Translocator, Warren then twisted it again. In an instant, the group found themselves getting pulled through space, as the surrounding yard of Fablehaven magically melted away from view.
Next, the group's destination suddenly came into focus. From what Kendra and Seth could gather, they were now standing in the middle of a jungle somewhere. The warmer climate hit them like a ton of bricks. Exotic plant life surrounded them in every direction, including tall tree trunks and vines dangling from the foliage above.
"Cool," said Seth. "We're in the jungle!"
"Exactly where are we?" asked Ingrid, as she glanced around, displaying a confused look on her face.
"We're in the the Republic of the Congo, about a mile away from Growler's Grove," replied Warren.
"How far is Gargantuar supposed to be from this point?" asked Bracken.
Warren winced. "Probably an hour's flight from here, give or take a few minutes. "You dragons understand where we're headed?"
"Basically," replied Firesquall. "We've memorized the coordinates of the entrance to Gargantuar. Guess we might as well head out and try to reach it."
Kendra, Seth, Ingrid and Warren all got onto the backs of Raxtus, Skyfrost, Geminus and Firesquall respectively. Likewise, Bracken made himself disappear.
"All right," said Raxtus. "Here we go!"
The four dragons all extended their wings, then took off and proceeded to fly up into the air. They rose up over the highest part of the canopy, and kept going until they were several hundred feet above the ground. Now that they were high up, Kendra could see that the jungle expanded towards the horizon in every direction.
Once they reached a certain altitude, the dragons ceased their accession, and proceeded to fly straight, presumably in a northwesterly direction. One thing Kendra realized was that since their new location was in an earlier timezone than it was at Fablehaven, the sun was no longer in the east. Instead, it was closer to the center of the sky, slightly to the left from the group's current perspective.
The flight itself proved to be a fun experience, just watching the jungles below as the group soared over them. It was actually rather relaxing, and Kendra partially wished that they could just continue flying all day. However, they would ultimately have to enter Gargantuar, where they would undoubtedly run into some sort of threat.
Eventually, the dragons began to descend towards the ground. As they approached, they slowed down, passing through a layer of foliage, before landing in another jungle area. Warren then proceeded to glance at his tablet.
"If our coordinates are correct, then the entrance to Gargantuar should be close by," said Warren, looking around at the surrounding area.
"Are you sure?" asked Seth. "This jungle looks a lot like the one we arrived in."
"How will we know once we reach the entrance?" asked Ingrid.
"Guess we'll know it when we see it," said Kendra. "The paper didn't say anything about a safeguard to conceal the entrance."
"Let's just look for it and see what we can find," said Skyfrost.
Their riders still seated on their backs, the four dragons began to walk through the jungle.
"Think there's anything around here we should look out for?" asked Ingrid.
"I dunno," replied Firesquall. "Warren, are there any magical creatures in this jungle?"
"Probably not," replied Warren. "At least nothing I'm aware of."
"Oh. Then there's nothing to worry about, Ingrid."
"Out here they're not a problem. But within Gargantuar? That's another story."
"Hey, what's that up there?" asked Skyfrost.
The wyvern proceeded to dash forward several yards, then came to a halt. Once he stopped moving, Seth noticed that Skyfrost had stopped in front of a large hole in the ground, at least twenty feet in diameter.
"Hold on," said Geminus, as Seth gazed down into the hole. It was a direct drop, which extended deeper than he could actually make out.
The rest of the group then caught up to where Seth and Skyfrost had stopped.
"Look at that thing," said Ingrid, staring into the hole. "Wouldn't want to take a tumble down there."
"Is this the entrance to Gargantuar?" asked Kendra.
"Looks like it," said Warren, looking over his tablet. "All the pieces fit."
"This is the entrance to Gargantuar?" asked Seth. "Doesn't seem very welcoming."
"Stan did some research on Gargantuar last night," said Warren. "He didn't find a ton of info, but he did point out that long ago, some explorers stumbled upon Gargantuar by accident. Now, they never did close off the entrance, but some time later, a distractor spell was set around it."
"Of course, we were able to bypass it without any trouble," said Raxtus.
"So, is this it?" asked Ingrid. "Do we just head down that hole?"
"Looks like it," said Kendra.
"Not a very wide hole," said Raxtus. "With our wingspans, there's not a lot of room for maneuverability. Kind of a tight squeeze."
At that moment, Bracken suddenly reappeared next to everybody. "I've got an idea. I can fly under my own power. Let me check it out first."
"Go ahead," said Raxtus.
Bracken nodded, then proceeded to jump straight into the hole.
"Bracken!" gasped Kendra, watching as the fairy prince plummeted downwards.
"He's fine," said Geminus.
"I know," said Kendra. "But watching him do that, it felt like my heart just skipped a beat."
The group stood around, waiting for Bracken to return. Kendra tried not to worry about Bracken. Was he okay? Did he get hurt? Was he trapped? She did have Bracken's special coin on her, but didn't want to distract him while he was busy. Still, she wished that he would at least make an effort to contact them. If he was even capable of doing so.
"Guys!" came Bracken's voice through the coin that Kendra was holding in his hand. "Come down here! You won't believe it!"
"Is it safe to jump?" asked Firesquall.
"Don't jump. Just fly down. As long as you're careful, you'll be fine. You have to see this!"
"Guess we better just trust Bracken on this one," said Geminus.
"Last one down is a rotten demon!" blurted Skyfrost, as he plunged himself into the hole head first, with Seth still seated on his backside.
Seth held on tightly as Skyfrost dove down the hole. Although he trusted Skyfrost with his life, Seth knew that the wyvern needed to be careful, as a sudden wrong move in a tight tunnel could end up hurting them severely. Even though Warren had the Sands of Sanctity on hand, there was always the possibility that the impact of a crash could kill them outright. Bracken did state that the hole was safe, but he for one had not flown down at a high speed.
Soon Seth could see light flowing in from the bottom of the hole. Skyfrost zeroed in on the light, and ultimately flew directly into it.
After flying through the hole, Skyfrost appeared to have emerged... in the sky? Seth did a double take. They appeared to be in the air, several hundred feet above a jungle. But something about it felt different.
"There you guys are!" said Bracken, who was floating in the air nearby.
"What is this place?" asked Seth. He looked back up at the hole, and saw that it was actually floating in the sky, almost like a portal. At that moment, Firesquall came speeding through the hole with Warren in tow.
"Crazy!" exclaimed Warren, as he looked around at the jungle below. "There's a whole other world down here!"
Shortly thereafter, Raxtus and Geminus emerged from the hole, bringing with them Kendra and Ingrid.
"How did we get... up here?" asked Kendra.
"I don't believe it," said Ingrid. "I just don't believe it!"
"What is this place?" asked Geminus.
"Gargantuar, I suppose," replied Warren.
"Where's the Grand Temple?" asked Kendra.
"Who knows," replied Seth. "The parchment didn't say where in Gargantuar the temple actually was."
"It's strange," said Kendra, looking around at the world before her. "There's a blue sky down here. But there's no sun."
"This place is magical for sure," said Warren. "I've never so much as even heard of anything quite like this. But I can't make heads or tails of anything from up here. Let's land and try to figure out where we are."
The dragons flew down towards the ground, opting to land in a clearing. As they neared the ground, Kendra and Seth noticed just how large the trees actually were. The trunk of one was probably too wide to fit through the hole they had just passed through.
"Look at this thing," said Seth, as he walked up to a vast tree. It's huge!"
"It's bigger than a sequoia," said Kendra, looking up at the foliage. "But it isn't one. I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, but it looks a lot larger than it should be."
"What are those large plants?" asked Ingrid, pointing everyone towards something she had spotted.
Indeed there were a number of plants where Ingrid had been pointing. At first Kendra through they were large bushes. But upon closer inspection, each bush was actually a hibiscus plant. However, the red blossoms on each plant appeared to be at least two feet in diameter.
"Holy!" gasped Warren, his jaw gaped open. "Those flowers are huge!"
"Everything's enormous here!" exclaimed Kendra. "It's like we shrunk! Or we entered some sort of land of the giants!"
"Look, up there!" said Ingrid as she pointed up towards the branches the trees.
Kendra and Seth looked up at where Ingrid was pointing. It took a moment to spot, but there appeared to be a red parrot perched upon one of the branches.
"Wow," said Seth. "It's hard to tell from down here, but that bird's probably the size of one of us!"
"Wonder if he's one of those talking parrots," said Warren. "Maybe then he could tell us where to find the Grand Temple."
"Something tells me we're just gonna have to find the temple for ourselves."
"It's might be hard to find if we fly above all these trees," said Skyfrost. "Maybe we just ought to stay close to the ground."
With their riders still seated on their backs, the dragons proceeded to fly through the jungle, but remained fairly close to the ground. What Kendra had pointed out earlier seemed to be true. They did appear to be in a land of giants, as far as their perspective was concerned.
"You think this temple would be easy to find," said Seth. "If everything here is big, why not the temple?"
"Hard to say," replied Warren. "Everything we've seen so far is organic. A temple would've been man-made. So the size of it might be questionable."
"You think there are any giant-sized humans living down here?" asked Kendra.
Before anyone could answer, a huge figure pounced out from behind a tree. Kendra and Seth looked to their side and saw that a humongous black panther, one that towered over everyone, had just assaulted Geminus, and pinned her to the ground.
"Help!" shrieked Ingrid, who was lying on her back next to Geminus. The fairy dragon was trying to force her way out of the panther's grasp, but comparatively speaking, she was like a mouse trying to escape from a cat's clutches.
"Hey!" roared Skyfrost. "You leave them alone!"
"Easy," said Bracken. "Allow me".
Bracken extended his hands, and seemingly tried to exert magic of some sort. However, nothing happened.
"Uhh Bracken," said Kendra.
"My magic!" exclaimed Bracken. "It's not working!"
"Ingrid!" gasped Seth. Without hesitation, Seth whipped the Pyruby out of his bag. He then proceeded to blast a stream of fire directly at the panther's backside.
The panther roared in pain, then bounced up about one-hundred feet into the air. As it came down, the giant cat landed on all four feet, but was now standing directly above Geminus and Ingrid. It then pounced at Skyfrost. The force of the impact made Seth lose his grip on the Pyruby, causing it to fall down to the ground below.
"Seth!" exclaimed Kendra. "Skyfrost! Are you okay?"
Before anyone could react, the panther lowered its head and snatched Ingrid up with its teeth, with her dangling by her shirt.
"HELP!" screamed Ingrid, as the panther began to run away, still holding on to her.
"LET HER GO!" cried Warren, as he and Firesquall began to soar after the panther. Likewise, Skyfrost followed him with Seth still on his back.
The two wyverns pursued the panther through the jungle.
"BLAST HIM!" yelled Seth.
"NO!" cried Firesquall. "That panther's moving too fast! If I'm not careful, I could burn Ingrid, or start a forest fire!"
"Allow me," said Skyfrost, as he proceeded to exhale his icy breath towards the panther. However, it didn't so much as faze him.
"It's not working!" exclaimed Warren. "He's too fast and too big to really feel anything!"
"Let me try something," said Firesquall.
The green wyvern caught up with the panther's tail, then proceeded to clench his jaws down onto it. The panther let out a loud yowl, causing him to drop Ingrid to the ground. However, he was now fixated on a new target. Firesquall. It began to chase after Firesquall, who proceeded to soar up through the foliage of the trees.
This didn't stop the panther. It leaped up several dozen feet onto a high branch of a tree, and continued to chase Firesquall further upwards through the canopy.
Intrigued, Skyfrost followed the panther up through the canopy, until he rose above the trees. Grasping onto the highest branches of one of the trees was the panther, snarling at Firesquall.
"I can't get a good shot at this thing!" exclaimed Firesquall, who was keeping his distance from the panther, who in turn was trying to claw at him, but was too far out of reach.
"I've got the Sapphazure," said Warren, "but I'd prefer it if you didn't burn the trees."
I'll get him," said Skyfrost, as he went ahead and exerted his icy breath at the panther's tail. The massive beast let out a loud scowl, as his tail began to freeze under in a layer of ice.
"Nice job," said Warren. "He can't keep his balance with a frozen tail! Firesquall, bombs away!"
Seth watched as Firesquall blasted the panther directly in the face with a stream of fire. Letting out one more holler, the panther bounced out of the tree, then fell down through the canopy, crashing onto the floor of the jungle below.
Skyfrost and Firesquall flew down to where the panther had landed. The enormous cat got up onto his feet, then immediately bolted off in another direction.
"Take that, you stupid bully!" snapped Seth, as Skyfrost landed next to where Kendra, Raxtus, Ingrid and Geminus were waiting. Seth then climbed down from Skyfrost and knelt down next to Ingrid. "Ingrid, are you okay?"
"Somehow," replied Ingrid. "I got a few scrapes, but nothing serious. Didn't want Raxtus or Geminus to exhaust their power on me if they didn't have to."
"Thank god you're okay," said Warren, as he got down from Firesquall and proceeded to pour the Sands of Sanctity over Ingrid's body.
"I believe this is yours," said Kendra, as she presented the Pyruby to Seth.
"Don't mention it," grumbled Seth, accepting his relic from Kendra.
"Thanks for saving me," said Ingrid, looking up at Skyfrost and Firesquall.
"Our pleasure," said Firesquall. "You're like family to us."
"Warren was pretty clever though," said Skyfrost. "I had no idea that panther was so dependent on its tail. I know mine helps me fly, but I never considered balance."
"I know a lot about cats," said Warren. "If I wasn't already living on a preserve full of magical creatures, I'd probably own one or twenty. But no panthers, thank you very much. As if the guardian of the Inverted Tower wasn't enough."
"I wish I could've done more," said Seth. "All I did was irritate that panther and drop the Pyruby. Ingrid. I'm sorry."
Ingrid sighed. "Don't worry about it. We're okay now."
"No thanks to me."
"Calm down," said Bracken. "This isn't a competition."
"Bracken, how come your magic didn't work earlier?"
"I don't know," said Bracken, as he snapped his fingers. "It's like I can't utilize magic down here. I was able to fly in, because I triggered that power before entering. But I can't do it now."
"The Pyruby still worked," said Seth. "It must not be affected."
"Where do we go from here?" asked Geminus, looking around at their current surroundings.
"Well, the entrance was back that way," said Kendra, pointing back to where they had entered Gargantuar. "And we've gone a bit deeper thanks to that panther chase. We might as well keep exploring at this point."