The World Outside The Shell

Chapter 5: The Plan

The StarGlave was on the kitchen table, but the map was gone. I looked around the room, unsure of what happened. The door was gone. The loud metal pounding on the outside of the shell was gone. I searched for other artifacts in the cottage, but time passed and I could not find another map or other clues about the world outside.

The crystal in the staff glowed and hummed a soft melody. I was curious about the ancient artifact and the stories Lady Ri shared during her brief visit.

The walls and floor shook and I fell to the floor near the StarGlave. I commanded the staff to open a door, but no appeared. Instead, I found myself standing in the rain.

Venn was holding me in one hand, while pounding the shell with a large rock.

I was lifted into the sack and carried out of the marshland and back to the forest. I tried to claw a hole in the fabric, but soon gave up the effort.

“Wake up,” said Venn, “Lady Ri commands you to return the StarGlave!”

The mood quickly changed when I heard the snap of tree limbs and the rush of water.

Venn ran into the forest, leaping through the overgrown underbrush and climbing the steep hill. “Turtle! The power of the StarGlave to stop the floods is gone from the world, and it looks like the end. I can see a wall of water flooding the marshland. The dams in the north have broken!”

I was unmoved by the changing mood and said, “The StarGlave is safe and in my possession at the moment. Are you a good cook Venn? I found a recipe for sweet grass salad and could help prepare dinner. Hungry?”

Venn lifted the sack to face and shouted a reply. “Hungry? At a time like this? I plan to meet Lady Ri at our camp and bring you to higher ground. She found the map you stole from the temple of our ancestors, but we need you to read the map.”

I said, “No.”

Vann was holding my torso in one hand, while pounding the back of the shell with a large rock. “The problem with you turtle, is the lack of concern for the danger. The floods will end our way of life in the human world  and you will continue eating sweet grass without a care in the world.”

I was too frustrated to respond. I was quickly dropped into the sack and carried out of the marshland.  

Venn laughed when I tried to escape. “Be still, turtle!”

I said, “The prophecy seeker has a flawed opinion of the world, being too concerned about keeping all things unchanged.”

The short bald man, Venn said, “Lady Ri is not the prophecy seeker, she is the prophecy.”

I said, “Are we lost?”

The world blurred and I sensed a change in the StarGlave. I was standing in the cottage, and Lady Ri was holding the staff and chanting in a monotone voice.

The room wavered into blurred mist and I was surrounded by the mirrors.

The person looking back at me was a young man in robes similar to the green robe patterns worn by the Lady Ri with the exception of a large turtle sewn with thread on the back. I watched as the two arms and two legs of a human form transformed into the legs of a turtle. The robe transformed into a green shell.

The mirrors dissolved and i fell to the floor. I noticed a sense of movement and the familiar damp air of the marshlands returned.

Ven said, “Turtle! The marshlands are gone. The lake is reborn, we must hurry.” He was holding me and talking, but I was too dazed to hear the words as he continued rambling on with a panic look on his round face.

I was dropped into the sack as the ground rumbled and shook outside.

The marshlands collapsed into a deep hole, the sides of the forest edge became a sheer cliff of rock and the hole quickly filled with water and a new lake was born as Venn raced into the woods, climbing to higher ground.

The roar of thunder rattled my shell.

© J. Bateman

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