Chapter 21: Turtle Recall
Kendra, Warren, Bracken, Bright, Raxtus and Geminus all gazed in awe at the four serpentine creatures, presumably enormously-sized electric eels of some nature, as they emerged from the shell of the gargantuan turtle that lay on the floor of the vast chamber.
"What are we going to-" began Kendra, only to stop talking as the eels all charged towards the group. Everybody swam off in different directions just to avoid getting electrocuted by one of the eels.
"We can't attack them physically," said Raxtus, swimming in circles, trying to evade the eel that was nearing in on him. It was roughly three to four times the length of the fairy dragon's body.
"Warren," said Kendra, "we've gotta fend off those eels!"
"Let's not," said Warren, who was trying to swim away from one of the other eels. "Metal swords and electric eels do not mix."
Bracken screamed, drawing the rest of the groups' attention. An eel had successfully charged at him, and had wrapped itself around his body, releasing more and more electricity into his body.
"No!" shrieked Kendra, who didn't know what she could do to save her friend.
Mariana lunged at the eel that had constricted Bracken and sunk her teeth into its body. The eel released its grasp on Bracken, only to unleash a massive electrical surge upon Mariana.
"Mariana!" screamed Kendra, as one of the other eels began to pursue her, chasing her to the entrance of the chamber. Unable to focus, Kendra immediately swam out through the entry tunnel, with the eel hot on her tail.
Kendra swam as fast as her fins could propel her, as she was fighting against a current that was pushing against her. Fortunately, the eel had to contend with it as well.
Not letting herself give in, Kendra pushed forward until she made it to the upcoming intersection. She quickly dove into the nearest tunnel, then stopped to catch her breath. Feeling as her gills took in air and pumped oxygen into her lungs, Kendra watched as the pursuing eel, who failed to notice her, erroneously swam down another tunnel.
A moment later, once Kendra had finally caught her breath, she saw Warren emerge from the previous tunnel. She then swam out into the intersection to meet him.
"Kendra," said Warren, who seemed startled by her presence. "You startled me. I though you were that eel. Except you're way too pretty."
Kendra blushed. However, she then saw a second eel swimming up through the tunnel that led to the turtle's chamber.
"Warren!" gasped Kendra, as the second eel approached.
"We've got double trouble," said Warren, directing Kendra's attention to the tunnel that the first eel had swam through. It was now swimming back towards them.
"Let's get out of here!"
Warren grabbed Kendra's hand and together, the two of them swam down another tunnel. Looking back, Kendra could see that the two eels were both swimming after them through the tunnel. They soon reached the next intersection.
"This way," said Warren, pulling Kendra into a seemingly random tunnel. Kendra glanced back and saw that the two eels were still following them through this next tunnel.
"Oh no!" cried Kendra, as the eels pursued herself and Warren, electricity visibly surging through their bodies.
"We can't stop them!" exclaimed Warren. "I'm sorry you got stuck with me, Kendra. I can't beat those eels."
"But you've always been clever! Maybe you can outwit the eels?"
"How? By challenging them to Trivial Pursuit?"
Kendra and Warren soon arrived at the next intersection, but were uncertain as to which tunnel they should swim through next.
"We'll never outrun these guys!" said Kendra.
"We could escape using the Translocator," said Warren, as they swam down another tunnel. "But I've got the feeling we need to eliminate these eels in order to proceed."
"If our weapons are ineffective, what can we use?" asked Kendra. "We have to do something!"
Warren reached into his bag and pulled out a corked vial. "Maybe this will work."
Soon they reached the next intersection, and Warren let go of Kendra's hand.
"I need you to distract the other eel," said Warren. "Keep it busy, but don't leave the area!"
As the two eels emerged from the tunnel, Kendra began swimming away from Warren, drawing the attention of one of the eels. As it chased her around the room, Kendra watched as the other one went after Warren.
Warren uncorked the vial that he was holding, allowing the purple fluid that had been inside of it to flow out into the water around him. Remaining perfectly still, Warren waited as the other eel swam up towards him and began chomping madly, revealing that it had elongated, sharp teeth.
Warren quickly zipped away from the attacking eel, just as it swallowed a mess of the potion that Warren had uncorked from the vial. It then continued to chase Warren around the room, as the other eel still pursued Kendra.
"Come on," said Warren, who was swimming around the intersection in circles.
Suddenly, the eel that had consumed the potion began shrinking down in size. Still trying to avoid the other eel, Kendra watched as the victim eel shrank down, until it was only a few feet in length, roughly the size of a king cobra.
Eyeing the eel, Warren drew his sword from his bag, then wielded it in one hand, He then slashed it down towards the eel, slicing its entire body in half. As Warren's sword made contact with the eel, Kendra noticed Warren's body taking a considerable jolt of energy.
"Got it!" said Warren, drawing his sword away from the bloody eel corpse.
"Now do the other one!" exclaimed Kendra. The eel had slowed down, now that it had two targets to deal with.
"That was my only shrinking potion," said Warren.
"Any other potions?" asked Kendra.
"None that would help," said Warren, as the eel proceeded to lunge at him, no doubt in retaliation over its fallen kin.
Kendra and Warren continued evading the eel. Fortunately for them, their merfolk bodies were quite speedy within the water. As humans, they could never outmaneuver the massive creature.
"We've got to get out of here!" gasped Kendra.
"Not when there's this eel we still need to deal with."
"We can't outswim it forever! My legs... I mean... tail, is starting to get sore."
"If we warp out of here, we'll lose the eel in the maze," said Warren.
"That's good," said Kendra.
"We need to defeat it..." said Warren. "So we'll just take have to take it with us!"
Warren whipped out the Translocator and twisted it, then held it out for Kendra to touch.
"What are you doing?"
"Just hold on!"
As Kendra and Warren floated on the spot while grasping the Translocator, the eel stopped and glared at them. It then proceeded to charge directly towards towards them.
"Warren!" shrieked Kendra, as the electrical monster charged directly towards her.
"Now!" said Warren, just as the eel made contact with him and Kendra. The moment it hit them, Kendra could see nothing but a massive white flash, as electricity surged all through her body.
A moment later, the electrical shock ended, and the bright flash faded. Kendra saw that she was no longer underwater, but on the ground in a forest somewhere. Warren and the eel were on the ground next to her.
"Warren," said Kendra, finding herself unable to stand up because of her tail, "where are we?"
"We're back at Fablehaven," said Warren, watching as the large eel flailed around on the ground.
"Why?"
"Well, eels are fish. By removing it from the water, it won't survive for very long out here."
"But why are we in this forest?"
Before Warren could answer, Kendra could hear massive footsteps in the distance, causing the ground to shake in a tremor.
"Fog giant," said Warren. "When he sees that eel lying around here, he'll be pretty satisfied we brought him something to eat."
Kendra couldn't help but smile. By using his brain, Warren had devised a way to get the eel killed without actually having to fight it.
"It's getting closer!" said Kendra, who could feel as the tremors started to get stronger.
"Then let's get back to the Floodmaze! Before that fog giant decides to have some merfolk for a side dish to go with this eel!"
Still holding onto the Translocator, Kendra watched as Warren twisted it. It then pulled them through, returning both herself and Warren back into the watery depths of the Floodmaze.
Back in the aquatic vault, Kendra and Warren found themselves in the chamber where they had found the turtle. Bracken, Bright, Raxtus and Geminus were all still there, and still appeared to be alive.
"Kendra!" gasped Bracken. "Warren! What happened?"
"Long story," stated Warren. "But we beat the two eels that went after us!"
"Really?" exclaimed Geminus. "That's pretty impressive. We just defeated the other two, and they gave put up a real fight, even though there were four of us."
"Are you all okay?" asked Kendra.
"We're fine," said Bright. "Nothing a bit of our own magic couldn't fix."
"Well, the four eels are gone," said Warren. "Last one should be dead any moment now."
"That just leaves the main head of the turtle," said Raxtus, pointing down at the huge, limbless turtle that lay on the floor of the chamber.
"We can't get near it," said Geminus. "If you try to get close to that thing, it'll snap at you."
"And if you try to use magic on it," said Bright, it just hides in its shell, which seems to be magic-proof."
Warren swam closer to the turtle, only for its head to lash out at him. Barely missing Warren, it was no larger than the heads of the eels.
"Whoa!" gasped Warren, narrowly avoiding the turtle. "I think that thing's not a turtle, but rather a fifth eel! But, being the main head, this poor guy won't come out of his shell."
"Well," began Raxtus, "without limbs, that turtle... I mean eel, is a sitting duck."
"We may not be able to hurt it," said Bracken, "but with that shell weighing it down, it can't do too much to hurt us."
Kendra then noticed that the large shell was slowly starting to rotate in a circular manner. "Um, what's it doing?"
The shell started spinning faster and faster, almost like a top. Suddenly, the spinning shell rose up off the floor of the chamber, then charged towards the group at a high speed.
"Look out!" shrieked Bright, as everybody scrambled to get away from the shell.
"It's fast!" gasped Warren, as the shell backed up and slammed into Raxtus. Still spinning violently, it had the fairy dragon pinned against a wall.
"Raxtus!" cried Geminus.
Mariana lunged at the spinning shell and clamped it together with her teeth. She successfully stopped it from spinning, but Kendra could tell that it was still trying to move. It was like a fan that couldn't spin its blades despite being turned on, because something was physically holding them in place.
"I'm all right," said Raxtus, swimming away from the wall. His impact with the wall had actually left a small indentation within the bricks.
Mariana appeared to be struggling with the shell. Despite the fact that it was no longer spinning, the turtle did appear to be putting up a fierce fight, as she could not keep her head still.
"I don't think Mariana can hold that turtle forever!" said Kendra.
"We need a plan," said Warren. "It might be too dangerous to try using the Translocator on that thing if it starts spinning around."
"But that shell is impenetrable," said Bracken.
"Warren," said Kendra, "what other potions do you have?"
Warren hastily foraged through his pouch. "I've got a growth potion, a strength potion and a gaseous potion."
"I got it!" exclaimed Bright. "Give Mariana the strength potion!"
"It wouldn't work on a creature her size."
"The shrinking potion worked on that eel!"
"It was significantly smaller than Mariana," said Bracken.
"What if I drank the strength potion?" asked Raxtus. "Maybe then I could break open that stupid shell."
"The strength potion is formulated for humans," said Warren, "it wouldn't do much for a dragon."
"I've got it," said Kendra. "Warren, you claim that the turtle head is actually an eel, right?"
"I think so."
"Then maybe it's not physically attached to the shell."
"What are you getting at?" asked Bright.
"Warren, try feeding the gaseous potion to the eel."
"What good'll that do?" asked Warren.
"Just try it," said Kendra.
"Okay," said Warren, "Mariana, I need you to try and keep the turtle in one spot. Can you manage?"
Still holding the shell within her mouth, Mariana roared, then pushed the shell down to the floor of the chamber, holding it in place. Even from a distance, Kendra could see that the shell was still wriggling around.
"Here goes," said Warren, as he swam down towards the shell, potion vial in hand.
As Warren approached the head of the shell, the eel within it poked itself out and snapped at Warren again. Keeping his distance, Warren uncorked the vial and allowed the contents within it to flow out into the water.
Warren taunted the eel again, prompting it to stick itself out and snap in his direction. As with the other eel, it proceeded to chomp away at the potion that was floating around in the water.
"Please work," said Kendra under her breath, while keeping her distance.
Everyone waited for a moment, then watched as the eel's solid body underwent a transformation into a gaseous state. At the same time, the shell that Mariana was still holding down in her jaws had stopped moving around.
"Well, that did stop the shell from moving," said Raxtus.
"We're not done yet," said Kendra. "Mariana, shake that eel out of its shell."
Acknowledging Kendra's request, Mariana held up the shell, then proceeded to recklessly shake it around back in forth. The gaseous eel then slipped out of the shell, its entire body now fully exposed.
"That did it!" said Bracken.
"We need to wait for that potion to wear off before we can attack the eel," said Kendra. "In the meantime, let's make sure that it doesn't get back into the shell."
"Leave it to us," said Bright. "Mariana, please drop the shell."
Mariana let out a light roar, then opened her mouth, allowing the shell to fall back down onto the floor.
A moment later, the gaseous eel suddenly reverted back into its proper solid state. Now naked without its shell, electricity started to surge all over its body. It appeared to be furious.
"It's still too powerful for us to take out," said Warren.
"We did manage to take out two of the other eels without help," said Geminus. "Watch us stop this one!"
Geminus then placed her claw upon Raxtus. Using her power, a brilliant pink aura appeared around both herself and Raxtus.
"This will shield us from that thing's electricity," said Raxtus, as he and Geminus each swam around to one side of the eel.
The two fairy dragons dove directly into the eel on opposite sides. The eel unleashed electrical blasts in an attempt to ward off the dragons, but it proved to be ineffective. As this was going on, Raxtus and Geminus used their claws to rip through the eel's skin and inner flesh.
A moment after blood started flowing out from the eel, Raxtus and Geminus both backed away from the fish. No longer moving, its bloody carcass began to float up towards the top of the chamber.
"You did it!" said Bright. "You stopped the last eel!"
"That was all of them?" asked Bracken. "The dragons defeated two of the other eels before this one, so that's three."
"I killed one of the others by shrinking it," said Warren. "And the other one got transported to a fog giant back at Fablehaven. No way it's still alive now."
"I can't wait to hear that story," said Bracken, unable to hide a smirk.
Kendra looked around the chamber, trying to figure out what they should do next.
"This was the guardian of the vault, was it not?" asked Kendra.
"I hope it was," said Raxtus. "This room is a dead end otherwise, and I really don't want to have to take on anything significantly stronger than this turtle eel thing."
"The shell!" said Kendra. "Maybe there's something inside the shell!"
Kendra swam down towards the fallen shell. With no more eels alive to protect it, she could see the massive shell for what it truly was. Each of its five holes were large enough for even for Raxtus or Geminus to slip through.
Kendra went into one of the holes. It was quite cavernous inside, although it came as no surprise, given that those five eels all shared the shell as their home.
Kendra then noticed something glimmering on the floor of the shell. It appeared to be triangular in shape, and was giving off a vibrant blue hue. Intrigued, Kendra swam down towards the object.
Picking it up, Kendra saw that she was now holding some sort of treasure. The triangular object she held was several inches long, with a sapphire embedded in its center. Although shaped like an equilateral triangle, one side of the object curved inwards.
Kendra then swam out of the shell through a hole, where the rest of the group was waiting for her.
"Is that it?" asked Warren, looking at the object which Kendra had retrieved. "Did you find the Necromaster?"
"I... I guess," said Kendra. "Is this what the Necromaster is supposed to be?"
"Wish I knew," said Warren.
"It has to be the Necromaster," said Raxtus. "I mean, why wouldn't it be?"
"Whatever this is," said Warren, "it doesn't exactly have malicious tool of destruction written all over it."
"It's still quite a find," said Bracken. "Let's just get this thing back to Fablehaven and have it examined further."
"I'm with you," said Kendra.
"All right," said Warren, pulling out the Translocator. "We got what we came for. Let's go home!"