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Welcome back to another fun chapter! I hope you enjoy! :)
"Golly!" King Edmund suddenly exclaims, "It's so awesome!"
"What's awesome?" I question immediately.
"Just hurry up, then you can see what I'm talking about!" My eyebrows furrow as I crawl as quickly as I can through the last of the tunnel. There's a bright light before my eyes can make out what's in there. Suddenly they widen though as the room is revealed to me.
Chapter 13: Grovos and Mermaids
I don't think I've ever seen a room as colourful as this. Pillars of basalt rock stretching high above our heads and dotted at each corner of the room are flooded in all the colours of the rainbow. The floor, which is covered in green moss, is covered in splotches of bright hues. Large, furnace-like fireplaces have been carved into the rock and surround the outskirts of the room; red-hot fires burning within them. Dug into the ground are well like holes, each hole flowing with deep, bright, colourful liquids, not unlike the ones that we saw in the well room. The room is also swarmed with those creatures, each one exactly the same as the other, but, at the same time, different. I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it's the way they're splotched with colour. None of them look the same. I'm also kind of surprised by the height of it. It's quite large; I'm able to stand up straight in it. I feel Abby shove me forwards so that his Royal Majesty can get through as well as her.
"Golly, if I would've known this was here, I would've visited this place a million times over already!" King Edmund exclaims as he begins to wander around aimlessly, staring at all the colours in the room while carelessly walking into the creatures, who are giving him dirty looks despite his royal status. Abby follows him around like a puppy and I can't help but giggle. She's grown rather fond of the young king over the last few days. The strange creature that we followed here begins to gesture us over to him though, so I tear my attention away from my adorable sister and carefully stroll over to where he's standing, trying not to trip over any of the other creatures. Once I reach him, I smile. Okay so maybe he's not going to kill us, but you can't blame me for being cautious. The little creature looks up at me with his wide eyes before he gestures to the whole room.
"We Grovoloniks. Me Greven; you in Grovo," he says in his strange voice. I raise an eyebrow. Grovoloniks? What in Narnia is a Grovolonik?
"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Alia. May I ask what you are doing down here?" I ask, just as the other three join me.
"Grovolonik collect and find gems in caves. Aslan use them for castle and His country."
"So you're a little bit like treasure hunters for Aslan?" Abby suggests as she takes a step towards the small creature.
"Yes, hunters of gems for Aslan. Greven show you what do. You follow Greven." He begins to silently waddle over to one of the wells then, easily pushing past all his fellow Grovoloniks, before he stops next to a green one. We walk over to him quickly, cautiously trying to avoid all the small creatures again. Once there he starts to dip his shovel hand into the colour. The water suddenly starts splashing wildly before he picks out a salamander, his shovel hand now stained green opposed to the purple it was a second ago. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Abby pull out her notebook and flip through the pages; her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Alia, the wells we saw back in the other room are exactly like the ones here."
"Well obviously," I retort as I reign in an eye roll before giving my attention back to the Grovolonik. He holds the salamander in his hand before he begins to pry open its mouth with his normal hand. The Salamander – I'm just going to call it Kreto for the time being – coughs once before it spits out a shiny rock. Greven smiles brightly before dropping poor Kreto back into the green liquid without a care in the world. I'm happy to see little Kreto swim below the surface again.
"Greven have emerald. You want emerald?" he offers me. And who am I to say no to such a generous offer? I hold out my hand before he ever so gently places it on my palm as if it's the most fragile thing in the world.
"Thank you, Greven. I must ask though, what was it doing in Kreto's mouth?" I question as I roll the emerald around in my palm, staring at it in wonder. It's extremely shiny and is actually pretty big for a gem stone.
"Kreto?" the High King inquires. I look up to him with a blunt expression.
"Yes Kreto; I named the salamander. I'm sorry if that's not allowed in your country!" I snap at him before turning back to Greven. "Now about the gem in the salamander…" The oldest King stays quiet, but I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my face.
"When Grovolonik find gem, gem is buried in rock. Grovolonik use claw and shovel to get rock back to grovo. We use hot flame in fire pot to soften and burn rock. Creatures clean off dirty rock and polish up gem. Grovolonik then collect clean gem from bottom of liquid and put in treasure room for Aslan," he explains.
"How clever," Abby murmurs to herself quietly as she begins to study the liquid inside the well.
"What causes the colour of the liquid then?" King Edmund asks as he stares at the gem in my hand.
"Dirty colour come off gem as purified, liquid and creatures get rid of dirt," he says before he walks around to a blue well and pulls out a sapphire. Once again, his hand is re-stained blue. I have to hold in a chuckle. No wonder they're all so colourful. This liquid stains anything! He waddles back to us then before placing the gem in the High King's hand. We all look at it curiously. Immediately I can see what he means. The blue of the sapphire is bright and clear, whereas the blue of the liquid is a murky sort of blue; it's still bright, but you can see how dirty it is also.
"What do you do with the dirty liquid? I mean, wouldn't it get too dirty to be of any use after a while?" the High King asks.
"Aslan come with clean liquid often. Replaces dirty with clean." My eyes widen automatically.
"Aslan comes down here?" I say surprised. What a strange place for the King of all Kings to come.
"Aslan check up on Grovolonik often. Take clean gems to use." Well I suppose that does make sense.
"How do you know what each gem is though if it's embedded into rock?" Abby inquires.
"That why Grovolonik burn off soft rock. Grovolonik wait till it see colour before putting it in well. Grovolonik get it wrong sometimes though," he replies as he walks over to the purple well. Instead of pulling out an amethyst though, he pulls out a ruby. "See what Greven mean." I nod once in reply as he places the ruby on the palm of an over excited Abigail.
"May I please keep this gem? I would love to scientifically study it and see if it reacts to any particular substances." Greven smiles at her and nods gleefully.
"Greven don't mind. You keep. All you keep gems," he tells us happily.
"Thank you so much!" I acknowledge as I tuck the pretty emerald into my satchel. Abby copies and gently places her ruby in her small bag.
"Humans, feel free to look around. I get back to work," Greven says before he huddles away. I furrow my eyebrows and stare after him before he vanishes into the crowd of Grovoloniks. Well, that was rather abrupt. What are we expected to do now? I have a feeling that's what everyone else is thinking as we all look around the room wondrously. There must be a reason why we're here.
"Everyone look around. Try and see if you can spot a clue anywhere," I command before walking over to the fire pits and searching the stones and things around it. I take a quick glance over to the others quickly, just to make sure they're doing what I said. Thankfully, they are – well most of them anyway. Abby's searching the basalt pillars, the High King's checking each well, and King Edmund is – well he's being King Edmund; he's trying to talk to the Grovoloniks in the way which they speak. Most of them don't seem too happy that he's basically, unintentionally, insulting their language and way of speaking either. "King Edmund, go and search the walls for any obvious trails anywhere," I call over to him, dragging him away from his attempt at trying to talk about chickens to a female Grovolonik. He looks up at me and smiles happily. "Sure, I shall do that now, boss," he replies before casually strolling to the wall and beginning his search. "It's like trying to control an army of mongooses," I mutter to myself, irritated, before checking the fire pits again. Flames are spitting out in every direction and the stones are burning hot. Somehow I don't think a clue would be here; it would burn within a second if it was. I sigh and check the stone support system that's beside it. My eyes immediately land on a small, round hole embedded into the rock. That looks promising. I reach into the hole cautiously before I pull out a rolled up piece of parchment. Un rolling it, I read over the words and smile brightly.
'Yent hir bjeajc hoq deo jopli mo eparirl, bilw aneorocl kajn hir aon caiend poaj.'
"I found a clue, everyone! Abigail, it's in code again, are you in the mood for translating?" She runs over to me excitedly. I have a feeling translating is one of her favourite parts about this trip.
"Of course I am. Hand it over," she answers. I place it in her outstretched hand before she rolls it out and reads over it. "Give me ten minutes." And with those words she walks over to a well, sits down, and leans against the stone as she buries her nose into the parchment. I sigh and lean against the wall, waiting for Abby. As I look around the room, I can't help but sigh. This place is beautiful – even I have to admit that. The bright colours everywhere make me happy and, I must say, I'm enjoying having other creatures around me besides the Kings and Abby, even if I don't really talk to any of the other creatures at all. I hear footsteps approach then before I sense someone lean beside me. Please be King Edmund! Please be King Edmund! I look slightly to my right and groan. No such luck. The High King and I stand in silence for a few minutes before he turns to look at me.
"This place is quite nice I must say and, Athalia, I'm glad you let us come with you. Besides our quarrels, this adventure has been quite enjoyable, so thank you." I frown in confusion. Where did this come from? This is not like him. We should be arguing by now.
"I never wanted you to come along, Your Majesty. This was Abigail's doing. I much would've preferred it if it was just her and I. I don't know why you're being nice to me all of a sudden either, but I don't like it. So save your words, because I don't like you, nor will I ever like you, you obnoxious, spoilt, arrogant King," I spit out. I can see him smirk out of the corner of my eye before he gives out a slight chuckle.
"It wouldn't be a normal day if you didn't send at least one insult my way would it, Alia?" Reign in your temper. It wouldn't do for you to kill him right now.
"Haven't I made it very clear to you that I don't wish for you to call me Alia," I say softly. The calm before the storm as the Narnian's say.
"You have. I just choose to ignore it. I usually would respect people's wishes, but you just push me to a point of no return," he replies back. I groan – loudly.
"What was the point of this conversation? You know I don't like talking to you unless it's absolutely necessary." He grins in spite himself.
"I just wanted to see if you ever let your guard down or whether you're always this snappy and uptight. Turns out you never do let it down, so, now that I've figured that out, I shall be going. Edmund and I are going over to look at the treasure chamber with Greven. If you wish to join us, do so, otherwise, we'll be back in five minutes." He walks away from me then, not even caring to glance back at me, while I glare daggers into his back. He'd better watch himself! I can't believe Abby talked me into letting them come; they've been nothing but nuisances! He did save your li –I don't want to hear it, brain! I rub my temples and close my eyes, trying to relax; even if it's only for a minute.
"I've worked out the clue, Alia!" Curse that child and her quick translating skills. I open my eyes and drop my hands back to my sides as I walk over to where she's standing.
"Good work. What does it say?" She clears her throat before she holds the parchment out in front of her.
"'Gaps in walls can be hard to find, but mermaids swim in the under mines,'" she reads out in a clear voice.
"Do you think there are flooded mines which you have to swim in?" I ask her. It sounds like the most obvious explanation. Why else would the clue mention mermaids?
"I don't know, perhaps we should ask Greven if there are any mines around here," she suggests. I smile and put my arm around her shoulders.
"That sounds like a good plan to me. Now let us go and find the two Kings and Greven." I've barely gotten the words out before the boys all walk in from another room. The High King seems to be back to ignoring me as he instantly turns to Abby and asks,
"Have you translated the clue?" Abby nods.
"'Gaps in walls can be hard to find, but mermaids swim in the under mines.'" I see Greven's face change into one of horror almost immediately, making me think that this isn't what we thought it was.
"Are there underwater mines around here, Greven?" I ask him. He nods once stiffly.
"Cave mermaid bad. Swim mines and take Grovoloniks to drown," he says, his voice shaky.
"Cave mermaids. We'd better be careful where we step." I see Abby and King Edmund nod at me, whereas the High King just ignores me. I huff. If he wants to be like that then fine! I suppose I'll just ignore him too! "We really should be going, Abigail, King Edmund. Greven, you wouldn't happen to know where these underwater mines are, would you?" He smiles at me and begins to waddle over to the other side of the room. We follow him as he speaks to us.
"Through gap wall here. Follow tunnel. Lead to water mines. Beware mermaids." I smile.
"Thank you, Greven, for everything. We really appreciate it," I say as I take a step into the tunnel.
"It okay. Visit again Grovo sometime. Good luck," he replies before waddling away. You know, these Grovoloniks are rather adorable. I giggle a little bit before I enter the tunnel fully. This tunnel is much like the other one. Small space, dark, weird glowing rocks, moss covered ground, only in some ways it's also better. For one we can actually stand up in this one and two I can feel a slight breeze washing across my sweaty face and I sigh in pleasure. I don't care where the air is coming from, as long as it keeps blowing, I'm happy.
"Athalia, would you mind if I lead us for a little bit, just in case we run into trouble, that way you lovely ladies have time to get away?" I stop abruptly and turn around to glare at him. Did he really just suggest that?
"What do you take me for? Some sort of weak child who can't look after herself? Don't ever suggest something like that again. I'm more than capable of fighting something I need to," I snap. He looks rather taken aback by my sudden outburst, but his expression only stays there for a second before it sharpens.
"I was just trying to be polite, Athalia, and if you weren't so proud maybe you could see that!" I grit my teeth.
"Proud? I am not proud, you're just frustrating! You agreed when we first started this trip that I was in charge and now you want to start taking over? Surely even someone like you can see why I'm annoyed by that!" I scream at him.
"I'm not trying to take over! I'm trying to be a gentleman! There's a difference!"
"Gentleman? Ha, that's a joke right?"
"No, it's not! Gentlemen are supposed to protect ladies and that's what I'm try – "
"That's what you're trying to do? Well guess what, you're failing – miserably!"
"ALIA!" I look over to Abby, fury burning deep within me. I hadn't realised how close I had gotten to the High King either until she shouted at me. I take a good four steps back to get away from him. "The next time you start a fight with the High King I'm going to cut off your head in your sleep!" My eyes widen in shock. That was oddly graphic for Abby to say. "And as for you, Your Majesty, if she picks a fight, just be quiet. Alia feeds off of peoples replies. I've learned over the years that it's best to just shut your mouth and keep it closed until she's not around anymore," she tells the High King with a polite smile. I roll my eyes. I do not feed off of people replies.
"If we're all done picking on me, I'd like to get a move on, please. And no, Your Majesty, I don't wish for you to lead; I'm leading." He grimaces, but wisely keeps his mouth shut as I turn back around. We start walking again, but, this time, in silence. Abby's hand links onto mine after a while and I can't help the small smile that tugs at the corner of my lips. She really is like a little sister to me. I pull her next to me and give her hand one, little squeeze as we round a bend. The refreshing breeze is still blowing onto us and before I know it, I can see an open room. We exit the tunnel slowly, making sure that there is actually a ledge for us to stand on, before we step out and look around. It's a room where the floor is basically water. The roof is high and has a small hole in it; obviously that is where the breeze is coming from. There are also stepping stones dotted throughout the water. Over at the opposite end of the room is another tunnel, obviously that's where we're going next. Now we've just got to get over there…oh fun.
"That's a lot of water! And it seems quite deep too. I don't think we should go swimming," King Edmund says as he joins us. I almost jump at the sound of his voice. For some reason, I forgot he's even here with us. I think it's because he's been so quiet since the Grovo, which, I must say, is quite unusual.
"Alia, something in the water just moved!" Abby screams suddenly as she jumps away from the edge. What? I look into the water, but can't see anything moving. That could be due to the lack of light mind you. It's quite dark in here.
"It was probably one of the mermaids that the clue and Greven mentioned, Abigail. Remember, don't go in the water!" I warn her and King Edmund as the High King finally joins us again. He gently steps around Abigail and comes to a standstill next to me.
"Shouldn't we be trying to figure out a way across already, Ali – Athalia?" he catches himself as I begin to glare at him.
"Yes, we should. It's not too hard of a puzzle though, just go from one stepping stone to the next," I say as I take the lead and step onto the first one. I look at the next two available options then and decide to go to the right. I look behind me and see Abby stepping onto the first one. She locks eyes with me and smiles. "Good job, Abby. Follow my lead," I say gently. She nods at me just before I jump onto the third one. She easily hops onto the second stone, her small feet helping her keep traction on the stone. I hop onto the fourth one now and wait for Abby. She lets out a deep breath before she jumps onto the third one. I turn back around and am about to jump onto the fifth one when I suddenly hear a scream followed by a splash. I spin around immediately.
"ABBY!" I shout as I see her getting dragged down by a white thing. She's going to drown! I have to do something! I make a split decision and dive into the water myself. I can barely see anything in the murky water, but I can see the vague outline of Abby a little bit deeper than me. I relax my body and swim down after her. Got to save her. Got to save her. I reach her not two seconds later. I manage to get a grasp onto her arm and try to drag her back up but the mermaid has got her in such a tight clutch that it makes it almost impossible. Resorting to my final release tactic, I use my foot and kick the mermaid as hard as I can in the face, causing the freaky, pale white thing to let her go. I instantly grab Abby in a bear grasp and rush to the top of the water. I can sense the mermaid chasing us, making it even more impeccable to get to the surface. I shove her above the water line and surface myself quickly, sucking in lungs full of air. The High King grabs Abigail immediately and sets her on the stone floor – for they had managed to get across the stones while we were under water. Suddenly something grips me though.
"Your Maj – " I get cut off as the mermaid drags me under water by my legs, faster and faster it goes. I struggle to hold my breath, so therefore struggle to try and break free from the thing's grasp, but I know, deep down, that the only thing that is going to keep me alive is if I relax and calm myself down. Someone will save me, I know it. I feel the mermaid pull me further and further down and I can vaguely see the shape of someone jumping into the water. Before I have time to even get a good look to see who it is though, I'm pulled down into a sort of cavern. There's a tiny bit of light suddenly and I feel myself starting to drift from lack of air, before I'm shoved to the surface of the water. I gulp in the air as if it's the only thing in the world before I feel myself get shoved out of the water. I bang my face against a rock floor hard before I hear a grinding stone. I sit up way too quickly and try to make sure the rock doesn't close, but it's already too late. The water entrance is suddenly gone and I'm trapped in a tiny, skeleton filled cave with no way out.
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- narnia and beareject fan 1