LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES
deep southern jungle, 736 years ago
"Here… we… are," said Bogglesby.
A magic orb at the tip of his horn lit the darkness with a blue glow. Kopé took in their surroundings: a perfectly square corridor going off into the distance. Above, she could see the night sky through the equally-square stone chute they had just dropped down.
Ngala fluttered down, the microraptor settling on her customary place on Kopé's head, her front claws gripping the little okapi's horns.
"Walk with me, child," Bogglesby said smugly. "Everything we've done in the jungle thus far has been leading up to this moment."
"Ooooh," Kopé cooed enthusiastically. "What are we here for?"
The orange unicorn tossed his head cockily. "Not your concern. Follow."
He strode forward purposefully, Kopé at his side, eager as ever.
"It's nice to see you so cheerful for a change, Bogglesby," she said cautiously.
"You've no idea. All my dreams… years of hunting for the proper information, months of wandering through the jungle with an incessant talker, it's all going my way now and I am so far past thrilled that—"
"Cliff," Kopé said hastily. "Cliff!"
The floor ended abruptly, and Bogglesby nearly pitched over the edge into a deep chasm. Kopé caught one of his legs and pulled him back. He panted raggedly, looking down into the depths, shivering at the sudden adrenaline rush.
"Why didn't you warn me about that sooner?" he demanded.
"I thought you knew," she said helplessly. "You didn't know it was there from the echo patterns of our hoofsteps?"
His strange gray eyes bugged out at her incredulously. "No!" he exclaimed. "Damn it, foolish child, you could have gotten me killed!"
"Me?" Kopé said blankly.
"Yes, you!"
"I'm sorry—"
He scoffed. "Don't apologize, Kopé, just stop screwing up."
"Yes, Bogglesby," she muttered.
"Let's see what's on the other end of this chasm," Bogglesby muttered, flinging his orb of light down the tunnel. It raced across a long stretch of open space, before reaching the opposite end of the trench and flying past a barely visible skinny metal rod. The orb dissipated, and a new one appeared on Bogglesby's horn.
"Did you see that?" he whispered. "Looked like it could have been a lever."
"In an old place like this?" Kopé said doubtfully.
"Most intriguing, isn't it?" Bogglesby said with a devious smirk. "Now how do we get close enough to get a grip on it with my magic?"
"Did you see it, Ngala?" Kopé asked.
The feathery blue creature nodded and took to the air, her four wings undulating slowly as she made her way across the chasm. Bogglesby sent another orb of light floating across the chasm, illuminating Ngala as she pulled the lever.
From the chasm wall, a huge slab of rock rolled out, forming a portion of a bridge. It clicked into place, and another slab rolled out from underneath it, connecting with the first to bridge the gap further, followed by a third rolling beneath the first two.
Ngala flew back to Kopé, perching back on her head.
"Haha, well done, Ngala," Bogglesby said with a broad grin. He looked to Kopé. "If only you had quite so many utilities as your dinosaur, eh?"
He started across the bridge. Kopé followed him, grinding her teeth. Ngala warbled inquisitively. Kopé's big yellow eyes looked up into Ngala's beady black ones.
"One of these days," she promised softly, "he's going to cross the line into saying things I can't accept. When that day comes, I'm going to coconut him to death in his sleep, you have my word." She giggled. "But not today, nor any day soon. He's still the only thing giving me a good grip on staying sane."
She followed Bogglesby across the bridge, catching up to him as he examined a stone circle set in the back wall. He twirled his horn around the circle, lighting it up with his magic and slowly pulling it out of the wall.
He turned it over. Though featureless on one side, the side that had been buried in the wall was covered in glyphs and markings.
A circular door opened in the ceiling above, sliding open slowly.
"Quite a surprise," Bogglesby observed. "The ancients knew a thing or two about gears and mechanisms, and all made of stone. You may want to come up here if you don't want to be left behind."
Kopé hastily rushed to his side. A circular portion of the floor below their hooves started rising upwards into the circle in the ceiling. The two of them passed through the dark tube and back out into the starlit jungle.
"Oh, look, there's where we started," Kopé said, pointing to a square hole in the ground a fair distance away.
"Well, I'm glad the builders of that tomb were thoughtful enough not to make us walk all the way to the other side," Bogglesby said, licking his lips as his eyes darted over the stone disk. "This is no kind of time for that sort of character-building exercise. Would have killed the excitement of knowing that with this disk, I'm halfway to Mooneye Lagoon."
"What is it?" Kopé said curiously, peering at the stone disk. "Oh, I know that shape. It's just like your map. But something's different…"
Bogglesby hastily tucked the disk into his robe before she could get a good look at it. "As I said, not your concern."
Kopé scowled. "Um… actually, I think it is my concern. I've been with you for months and I still don't know a thing about why you're here and where you're taking me. And I have the right to know what I've been working for, because…" She snarled and shoved her face into his. "Because you couldn't have done it without me! You don't know a thing about surviving in the jungle, Bogglesby 'the Scholar'! I've navigated for you, fed you, healed you! I've been doing all the work! All I ask in return are a few words of explanation. Please."
Bogglesby growled at her. "You want to have rights, little jungle rat? Well, you had plenty of rights before you met me. Go ahead and return to that life without me. A free citizen, living in that silence and solitude that you crave so much!"
Kopé cowered.
"No, wait, you hated the silence and solitude," Bogglesby said snidely. "If you want that back, then by all means, keep asking me for more than your keep. But I have a feeling that's not what you want."
Ngala hissed and screeched at Bogglesby, causing him to back away in alarm, but Kopé scarcely noticed, her head hanging weakly. She muttered something.
"Say again?" Bogglesby challenged.
"I'm sorry," Kopé whispered. "Please let me stay with you."
"Good girl," said Bogglesby pleasantly. "Now keep your trap shut for a while as I determine where our course takes us next."
Ngala chattered, seething with hostility, but Kopé followed Bogglesby obediently.