Chapter 83

Wow What is This?

Boggo

Thrush loomed over us on the galleon amid giant fog laced plants. Ella and I had just given him a couple of high fives. Securing a Merchant Contract deserved a good high five, and I told him as much.

…But Thrush was behaving quite unusually. He pet me on the head. He regarded me with something like fondness. He even thanked me for being alive!

“Okay, buddy,” I said. “What’s going on? You’re acting funny.”

“I ate something funny. Boggo, I think meeting you was another one of the best things that’s ever happened to me in my whole long life.”

“Aww, Thrush. Well, I feel the same about you. Happy to have you as a friend. A good true friend.”

Thrush’s throbbing eyes turned their horrible gaze to Ella. “I feel connected to you too, Ella. To the besties underground too.”

“Underground?” said Ella. “Here?”

“Hundreds of thousands. I feel them all.” Thrush’s ears switched backward toward the coast. “I hear them.” The nostrils of his snub nose flared. He filled his lungs with air. “I smell them and their minerals too.”

Ella bounced with what could only be excitement. After Thrush announced he was going fishing, Ella and I packed for adventure! We scampered down the gangway in our boots and booties. Our backpacks jostled as we skittered down the docks. Our cloaks flapped as we trampled down the beach of black sand.

It was terrifying to pass Goblin Come Here Inn. At least a hundred goblins cavorted about. They dashed this way and that through the fog. Bare feet cleaved through the fog. Giant boots came stomping out of nowhere.

“Careful!” said Ella.

“Watch out!” I said.

“Oop!” said Ella, tugging me passed the underside of a descending big black boot.

“Eep!” I shrieked when a goblin tumbled through the sand and fog, separating us for a moment too long. But we found our hands again and held tight as we raced down the shore.

“They’re sure having a blast, aren’t they?” said Ella.

My response was shaved away by a sudden gale. Air and fog blasted my fur. I squinted as water collected in the corners of my eyes. We leaned into the wind and pushed on. Ella du one boot in the sand after the other. I dug one bootie in the sand after the other. The fog suddenly cleared; the gale stopped. And having been leaned so far forward against the wind, we fell face first.

“The sloop besties?” said a familiar forlorn voice.

“Pinky-chew?” said Ella. “What are you doing so far out by the water?”

“I’m on the Wind Shaper quest path now. I’ll never lose another goblin ever again; nope not ever again. I’ll work as hard as I can to save all the goblins from ever going under!”

With that, she took a deep breath. Her chest expanded like Thrush’s chest did when he inhaled hard. Her chest expanded to be barrel-round. Her head sat on her new chest like it was one big pillow. Then she blew! The sand before her sprayed into the wind. The waves of the sea were beaten back. Pinky-chew dug her heels into the sand, and she slid backward. Her blown breath was strong enough to move sea waves in the opposite direction! That sudden ale returned and blasted my fur.

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Ella giggled and might have said something close to “C’mon!” before yanking me after her.

We spent hours—oh, hours!—scouring the foggy beach by the line of squat trees up the slope. We turned over rock after rock, sniffed spot after spot, and took break after break because my rib was starting to hurt. Always in minute intervals, sudden gales dispersed the fog. Boy was it hard to keep up with Ella. The further we strayed from Goblin Come Here Inn, the more nervous I got. I wrung my hands, I checked over my shoulder, I flattened my ears…We were too exposed! I had to say something

“Aha!” said Ella.

With a great grunt, she turned over a slab. There was a hole in the ground and it gasped. Ella gasped; I gasped. Two eyes then appeared in the dark of the tunnel.

“Whoa…” said a soothing voice. “A yellow one. A blue one. …Whoa… Calla, come here. Look.”

Another pair of eyes then appeared. They blinked. “Whoa…” said a relaxed voice.

Ella introduced us. Ibbi introduced himself and his fellow guards-bestie Calla. They warmly invited us in, and the slab was slid right back into place.

For a moment all was dark, but I still had my blue bestie eyes. My sight adjusted to the darkness. The tunnel opened up to be as wide as the inside of Hawkin’s barrels. Thrush could even squeeze through! Green glowing crystals lined the walls on either side. And in that light I could make out the most spectacular pair of besties I had ever seen.

Their fur was pumpkin orange. They had tufts of fur at their necks which were longer than the rest of their fur. Most remarkable were the splashes of violet colors in their fur. It begged the question.

“Splatter besties, of course,” said Ibbi. “You’re one of the monochromes. Lots of monochromes around here. Never seen mono blue, nor mono yellow. Chief Yuyu ought to meet you two! Right this way, follow.”

As Ibbi led us through large tunnels, Calla gave us the tour. Hot aquifers lay just down this tunnel and that tunnel. Storage lay down that there tunnel. And if you went down those tunnels, that’s where the northern residences were. Tons of splatter besties trickled in from myriad tunnels.

“Everyone looks so relaxed!” said Ella.

“Not one trouble,” said Ibbi.

Everyone was so welcoming! But more than once, Ella and I exchanged glances. Every splatter bestie that said hello said so slowly. They bowed. Even the little ones were slow and unusually well behaved for besties their age. There was no clamor, only quiet oohs and aahs. It was so relaxed, we even stumbled upon besties asleep along the tunnel walls. And every one of them had half chewed leaves in their hands.

“Here are mediation chambers,” said Ibbi.

We passed by chamber with vaulted ceilings. Each one was filled with splatter besties on poofs of splatter fur. Many held hands with their neighbors. Some were lazily engaged in soft conversations.

Suddenly, a number of construction besties crossed an intersection. “‘Scuse us,” said one of them. They were the only ones who didn’t seem so relaxed. They moved quickly, but with smiles and quick bows, carting ores and gems.

While Ibbi and Ella were engaged in a conversation about our side of the world, I gaped at the tunnels and green glowing crystals. I tuned in every now and then when Calla or Ibbi asked about the blue besties. After almost an hour of travel, we entered a chamber with vaulted ceilings and crystals that glowed a range of different colors. That room was cast in stained glass light. Meditating in the middle was one of the biggest besties I had ever seen. Ella would have to stand on my shoulders just to get at eye level with him! What’s more, the chief had a splotch of red on him!

“Chief Yuyu,” said Ibbi.

The chief took his time opening his eyes. When he did, they were bloodshot. “Boggo the blue bestie, and Ella the yellow bestie.”

“How did you know?” I said.

“I can feel you. All besties are kin. All are connected.”

“You can feel us? What do you mean you can feel us?” But the chief closed his eyes and went quiet. “What does he mean he can feel us?”

Ella shrugged.

“Please join us for a ceremonial bite,” said the chief after a moment.

Splatter besties filed in from other tunnels. At their request, Ella and I smoothed out poofs of our fur and plopped ourselves down. Long thick green leaves were passed around. Ibbi and Calla too sat with us.

“I’d like to share something from the yellow besties,” said Ella. “Chiqui nuts!” What she fetched from her backpack looked like popcorn kernels, except they were as large as a grain of rice.

“Oh, me too!” I said. I unstrapped the water skin of warmwarm root beer from my back and pushed it between us and Chief Yuyu.

The chief smiled warmly and nodded first at the offered Chiqui nut, then at the waterskin. Then he raised his thick green leaf horizontally before him.

“Welcome,” he said. He took a slow big bite from the middle of his leaf. All the attending besties did the same. After sharing looks of excitement, Ella and I began chowing down on the leaf. It tasted like sage, lavender, anise, and greater wormwood.

“Wow!’ I said. “What is this? I’m honored—we’re honored.”

“This, my new guests,” said Chief Yuyu, “is raw woolbane leaf.”