Chapter 44

Dressed for Adventure

Boggo

Red besties with thick necks ambled about the tunnels. Their eyes glinted in candle and crystal light from beneath helmets made of black iron. They examined the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Some had been given the task of sweeping up the red fur in great big balls. Side tunnels were cleared of passersby. Residents of 1 section of the colony had been asked to temporarily relocate. Most besties were thrilled with the expansion of their chambers; however, other stubborn besties needed to be coaxed to participate in the sudden construction with a gentle “please, thank you”. What good mannered bestie could resist an earnest, polite request? As Ella and I ambled out of the area under construction, we passed by besties with polished iron helmets. They were employed in deciphering unraveled scrolls burdened with innumerable lines and diagrams and solved mathematics.

“Tunnel four hundred and five, chutes one thousand one hundred through one thousand two hundred cleared,” one bestie reported to their foreman. Diggers arrived right on time with sharp untrimmed claws. Their escorts stood on small stools and bleated a shrill warning as they came through. Ella and I slipped up a chute until they passed.

We resumed our amble out of the area.

Ella had on her pack and was fully geared. She had her tunic, hat, cloak, and booties on. We had already moved her things away from the area of construction, and I absently wondered why she was still dressed for adventure. She was quiet too. We both looked at our feet as we ambled.

At last she said, “What about a pickled acorn in a jar? Could that be a character in our game?”

The game. How could we keep working on that while seas apart? That was no good. We’d have to wait until we next saw each other. We could meanwhile work on things while we were apart and then confer when we met again.

“I think it should be,” she continued. “What should we call it anyways? Do you realize that we’ve never given it a name?…Boggo? Boggo?” She nudged me.

“Hm? I’m sorry.”

“Are you all right?”

“I’m just thinking,” I said.

“About the rest of your journey?”

“I knew the day would come.”

“I’ve been looking forward to it,” she said.

I looked up at her. I felt somewhat boggled. “You have?”

“A big adventure; sailing the world with goblins and a hurlicorn! I dream of adventure like that. It’s exciting, Boggo! I’m excited for you! That kind of adventure is an adventure worth looking forward to! It’s almost the best adventure!”

“I’m scared just thinking about it,” I said. “We were so cozy on the way to Lavenfauvish. Barnacle-eyes is hiring so many goblins! And she’s promoting many of them which means they’re getting boots…and boots hurt.”

She took my hand in hers. “What’s the saying you like? The one that Thrush told you?”

“Be scared. Do it scared.”

“That’s the one.”

We passed by a particularly bright tunnel without a lot of activity. Bright lanterns roared while flames. Cut and polished crystals set upon the floor distributed the light into splendid rainbows and sparkles.

My shoulders slumped and I sighed. It was time that Ella and I parted ways. There would be a great distance between us. Perhaps more than the distance between the blue and the red colonies. How much time would pass? Even with a few thousand years, was it worth it to miss out on 1 year with Ella? And with such an adventure looming before me, my possible death would mean that these last hours might be my last with her. How important was this goodbye going to be?

It wasn’t my healed rib that ached, it was something else that ached. I felt wistful and sentimental. Playing games with Ella, exploring above ground, mingling with red besties, making our own game, imagining monsters, sharing stories of our peculiar adventures…By bestie lore! This was a new pain. Parting with Ella was like suffering a cave-in. She was just the best. She was more family to me than my family had ever been. I wished we could travel together. Travel the world; go on endless adventures side by side. The ache in my chest deepened like a black hole. My thoughts fell into it until I was no longer thinking, I was only feeling. I’d rather be kicked again than feel such ache! …But perhaps there was a way.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I could stay!” I blurted.

“Of course you can’t,” she said.

“I could stay, Ella.”

“You have the opportunity of a lifetime! You were invited as a crewmember in the Friend position of Barnacle-eyes’ ship. You have to go!”

“But I’m going to miss you.”

“I already miss you, my Boggo. And we will miss each other until you come deliver beer again.”

“I could spend a year here.”

“You can’t miss out on seeing the world! What if there are besties on the other side of the sea? Imagine if you get to meet clear coat besties? Silver besties? Orange besties? Speckled?”

“Speckled?” I said.

“I don’t know. What if? No, you must go. How many besties have the chance to be invited to sail the world? I wouldn’t pass up an invitation like that!”

I must go? I sighed.

“Can I be honest?” I said.

“Of course.”

“It hurts.”

Ella put her hand on my weak rib. I felt a jolt of small pain. My tail twitched.

“Still?” she said.

“Yea that still hurts sometimes…but something else. I feel hurt leaving. I can’t explain it. When I got disowned by my family it was a different hurt. Leaving you hurts more.”

She hugged me and we let out sighs over each other’s shoulder. Sailing out would feel like forever, but forever wasn’t forever. I would one day sail back to Lavenfauvish. I would dash through red bestie tunnels with dozens of carved figurines in my hands. I would have hundreds of stories to tell and even more ideas to share about our game.

How strange was it then that we hardly talked on the eve of my departure? We held hands while we continued along the tunnels. When we arrived at the rocky shore beneath the docks, the impossible happened. The ache in my chest deepened.

We let our eyes adjust to the daylight. Ella then set down her pack. She was still in full gear and dressed as though for some big adventure. I marveled at that for a moment until she pulled out a crinkled brown paper bag from her pack.

I recognized it. “You bought this from Bailey!”

“For you.”

“Me?”

She handed me the brown paper bag. I began to open it.

“Will you do something for me?” she said. “Will you wait to open it? Open it in your crow’s nest.”

I was touched, and the ache in my chest sharpened until it produced the beginning of a tear. “I can’t wait,” I said.

I rolled the brown paper bag up and tucked it between my back and the waterskin slung over my shoulder. After everything was secure, Ella and I looked at each other for one long moment until a familiar monstrous voice rose out from Barnacle-eyes’ ketch.

“I smell him, he’s coming,” Thrush said. “Almost all accounted for!”

I slipped into my cloak and booties. I followed Ella up onto the dock. We dodged human feet until we arrived at the gangway. We shared a fierce hug. I took another long look at Ella, fully packed in travel gear, like she was ready for anything.

“Farewell my Boggo,” she said.

“I’m so sad.” I confessed such a simple feeling because I knew no other words at that moment.

“Me too. Go be scared Boggo.”

“I will. I’ll think of you.”

What else was there to say? A million things? I couldn’t say anything else. Ella put her hand over her heart. I made my way up the gangway. I turned back halfway up. Our eyes met and our tails simultaneously twitched. I smiled, she smiled.

At the top of the gangway, I bolted between goblin legs, beneath massive trumpet flowers, over vines as thick around as my belly, and around bulbs of gigantic onions. I screeched to a halt to let a diving bird sweep up a grasshopper. I shooed dragonflies away on my climb up the mast to my crow’s nest. I peered down at the docks and spied my yellow Ella. Her thumbs were tucked under the straps of her pack. She was adorable in her tunic and cloak. Her eyes were glossy and sad, but there were dimples in her cheeks and she wore a small smile. What a picture—the bravest bestie I ever met fully geared up for adventure! Her tail was raised behind her.

Thrush stomped along the prow. “We’re ready, Admiral!”

Barnacle-eyes stood at the helm. “Rig the sails! To Fiberthorn cove we go!”

“Aye Aye, Admiral!”chorused the goblins. The rest of her sloops awaited us upon the sea.

What a difference a crew of goblins made. I leapt from rig to rig like a flying squirrel. I dislodged stuck pulleys and helped goblins locate correct lines. We were sail ready in a flash.

Upon the mizzen mast, I blocked the sun with one hand and searched the dock for Ella. Her eyes were large orbs and her thumbs were still beneath the straps of her pack. Her little feet inched forward toward the ketch as the gangway was raised.

Goblins churned the capstan. Mooring lines were detached from cleats and hauled in. Barnacle-eyes leapt upon the ship wheel and spun it with a grunt. The ship lurched. Ella’s tail went limp and slowly sank to the dock.