TARA
Croc and Oshie awoke early the next morning. Rather early, in fact. They rushed outside, determined to see the sun rise. They raced out of the palace, tripping now and then, knocking things over.
King Rufus had stayed up very late in the festivities (as he is the king) and had hoped to sleep in until at least lunchtime. But when it was still dark out, he awoke to a great clamor from the hallway. He woke with a scare. “What in the name of all things bright and beautiful is that terrible noise?” He held his blanket up to his eyes. But soon enough, the din retreated, and Rufus slipped back into sleep.
The best place on the island to watch the sunrise was on top of Oshie's hill. The duo climbed straight up the face of the hill (as that was more exciting than walking up the pathway) to the top, where Oshie's garden was. Most of the flowers still had their petals closed as they slept.
“Wow.” said Croc, looking down at Gobbo Valley. “This is also the best place to see sleeping Gobbos.” Indeed, many Gobbos had stayed up too late last night, drinking a new imported drink called Ginger Soda. They had simply passed out on the ground, and there they slept.
So the two friends scrambled everywhere they could on the hill to try and find the maximum sunrise viewing place. They found it on top of a mossy rock. They sat fidgeted and talked while waiting for the sunrise.
“How could you let this happen to me?” Baron Dante angrily growled at Sinistrox for the umpteenth time.
“I-I'm s-so sorry, your E-evilness, but I was wa-washing my jammies, like you asked.”
The Baron squinted at him. “Sinistrox, you know what? You are just not scary enough. Scary people don't wash their pajamas during an assault. And your name is too scary for a pajama washer.”
“No,” Sinistrox whispered. “You don't mean...”
The Baron grinned evilly. “Oh, but I do mean. From now on your name will fit your terror effect. From henceforth, you will be known as Ernie. And take out those plastic fangs.”
“Yes. Sir.” Sinistr-I mean, Ernie muttered.
“Now Ernie, the Gobbo menace will likely attack again today. We must get them first.”
“Huh. Yes sir.”
Back on Forest Island, the boys ran around, either waking or playing pranks on the passed-out Gobbos.
“Good morning starshine!”
“The earth says 'Hello'!”
“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!”
“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!”
“All aboard to reality!”
“Mm... What a delicious morsel! If it doesn't come to, this could be a great breakfast!”
“Are you gonna make this easy, or do we hafta slap ya?!”
“It seems the patient only has hours to live...go, go have a great end of your life.”
Most rude awakenings were greeted with things like 'What in the name of all creatures great and small are you doing?” Or “Aah! For the love of mustard!!” But some just groaned and rolled over.
Later that afternoon, Croc and Oshie helped themselves to a picnic under the huge oak tree. The sun was shining, and the glitterbirds were singing.
Oshie pulled out his favorite food in the entire world, a pickled garlic sandwich. He bit into it, slowly, savoring it. After a few minutes of these nausea-inducing eating habits, Croc asked “So. Pickled garlic, huh?”
“Mmm hmm. Ambrosia!”
“What's ambrosia?”
“Beats me. My dad called his Ginger Soda ambrosia, so I think it's a good thing.”
“Oh. Uh, Oshie, how did you find out about pickled garlic sandwiches? Did you just run into the kitchen and, uh, put the most disgusting things together to see if you liked it?”
“No. My mom did.”
“Oh. Was she punishing you?”
“No. She just wanted to get rid of all the food grandma keeps sending us.”
“Oh.”
“Hey Croc! Let's search for buried treasure!”
“Yeah! Do you have any shovels?”
“No...but we have these two sporks we brought!”
“On with the digging!”
Needless to say, sporks are terrible eating utensils, let alone shovels, but they only needed to dig a few inches to find their treasure.
“Jeepers, Croc! I found a doorknob!”
“Is there a door connected to it?”
“I dunno. C'mon, help me!”
Sporks in hand, the duo dug around the doorknob to reveal part of a solid wood door painted dark green. After they discovered this, they dug until they uncovered the entire door.
“Wowzers, Croc. Someone buried a door.”
“I wonder if it opens?”
“Hey! Let's try opening it!”
They gripped the doorknob with both of their hands, and started to turn it... but the doorknob wouldn't turn.
Croc sat down in defeat.
“It's no use. It's locked.”
Oshie put his eye to the keyhole and peered through.
“I can't see anything. Croc, where's the key?”
Croc was about to open his mouth to snap “How should I know?” when he remembered Rufus's rather large key collection. “Well, I know where it would be!” Croc shouted, running gleefully down the hill to the palace. Oshie followed because he didn't know what else to do.
“You want to see my collection?” King Rufus asked, puzzled.
“Yeah,” Croc said quickly. “We've always admired it. And besides, we are looking for a key. You know, to open a door we found buried in the ground?”
“Well, I can't say I'm surprised,” Rufus chuckled. “My collection IS quite amazing. All you need is a key to a door in the ground? I've probably got a million of those!” he bragged. A door in the ground was just another way to prove his key collection to be worthy.
The room holding the key collection looked like any other room in the palace, except for a long red curtain covering two of the walls.
“And this,” Rufus said dramatically, “Is the key collection!”
He pulled on a gold tasseled rope and the red curtain was drawn back, revealing hundreds of keys.
Croc stared at it for a minute, then turned to Rufus and said “So where are the keys to the doors in the hills?”
“Well, I have a section of unusual keys. Maybe the key you are looking for is there?”
So there they searched, until Oshie found a key behind all the rest that had a tag tied to it.
“Found it!” He cried. They gathered around the tag to read it. It said,
Here is the key
it is to a door
a door in a hill-hey!
It looks like it is in the floor.-B.D. “Whoever this B.D. person is, he is not as good at writing riddles as I am.” Rufus bragged.
Oshie turned to him. “Why didn't you give this to us in the first place?”
Rufus shrugged. “I didn't know it was for a door in a hill!”
“It says clearly that it is for a door in a hill!”
Croc changed the subject. “Who is B.D?”
Again, Rufus shrugged. “Beats me. Bedtime Distress? Belinda Downy? Balloon Discount? Betty Dolores? Baby Dandruff? Barbie Doll?”
They just looked at him.
He shifted uncomfortably, and quickly handed them the key. “Now go and unlock that door...in the...ground... Wait, door in the ground?” But Croc and Oshie were already gone.
He chuckled. “Don't you two stop being adorable!”
Croc and Oshie climbed back up to the top of Oshie's hill, and back to the place where the door was.
Just before they unlocked it, Oshie put his ear to the keyhole. His eyes grew wide. “Croc! I can hear someone singing!” Croc quickly listened too.
“Quick, let's open it!” They stuck the key in the keyhole and turned. The door opened, and for an instant, the singing was louder than ever. Then that instant was over.
Meanwhile, Baron Dante paced in front of a large group of Dantinis that he had called to a meeting, to think up the best possible way to bring about revenge on the poor Gobbos. He was in a walled in courtyard, with dead vegetation along the walls and grass long dead from lack of sunshine under their feet. The perpetually stormy sky raged overhead, and several Dantinis conversed in low voices. Baron Dante turned and glared at the onslaught of Dantinis. “Well?” he demanded. The Dantinis cast their gazes to him. After a moment of awkward silence, one blue Dantini of average height stood up and cleared his throat.
“I propose that we build a really big cork that we could stick in the volcano at the top of Forest Island, and when the pressure builds, the island will explode!” He said dramatically. Baron Dante just stared at him. “You may be a part of the action once you have regained your stature. But until you become about sixteen times taller than you are now, Mungo, I suggest you sit down.” Mungo the Has-Been Gimungo sat down with a huff. One Dantini in a jester suit stood up, nervously. “As you all know, there is an island beyond Forest Island, Marble Island, in the opposite direction from Ice Island, only a little further? Its base is completely hollow. The outside appears intact, but after about one foot of stone, you hit the hollow inside. I propose that we ram something into the outside of the island until we crack through. Then the island itself will sink beneath the waves, and hundreds of Gobbos would be stranded!” The wicked creature rubbed his hands together. The thought of sinking an entire civilization into the ocean made him overjoyed. Baron Dante grinned. “Fantastic idea. Ernie, Mungo, and, uh, you! Dreycott! Come with me. We are breaking down a landmass!”
Croc was about to lower himself into the dark hole without a second thought when he heard a chipper voice. “Croc! Wait!”
Croc turned around quickly. He knew that voice.
“Beany Bird!” Croc grinned and held his hand out for Beany to land on. She did, and Croc asked, still smiling happily, “Where have you been?”
Beany sighed. “In the glitterbird tree, on the other side of the island. I wasn't allowed off of it till now.”
Oshie patted Beany's head. “We were just about to check out this mysterious hole in the ground. Would you like to join us?”
Beany's eyes got wide. “Wow! Really? I'd love to!”
Croc lowered himself down first, then Oshie. Beany fluttered down beside them.
After a few minutes of walking down dirt stairways carved into the dirt and stone, they could no longer see the light from the doorway. It would have been pitch black, but Beany, being a glitterbird, let out a soft light that they could see by. Every so often Beany's yellow feathers would emit a small, yellow spark that would spin through the air behind them before winking out.
Once they had walked through the tunnel for almost a minute more, small veins of glowing crystal ribboned the wall, providing enough light that the tunnel soon was filled with a soft yet full light blue glow.
After too many stairs, they finally hit the bottom of the staircase. The floor and walls were made of stone instead of the compact soil that the stairs had been made of. There were many more ribbons of crystal down there than there were in the stairway, so the passageway was lit brighter than ever.
Oshie had been reluctant to get down into the passageway, and would have been frightened to death if Beany had not been there to light up the tunnel during the darker part of the journey. For most of the trip, he had been scanning the passageway ahead, hoping for a dead end so they could turn back. Croc and Beany were talking to each other about what had happened since they had last seen each other, so they were not looking ahead. Oshie was the first one to see the end of the tunnel, the entire reason the tunnel had been built. At first he didn't believe what he saw, but as they got closer his sight was confirmed. He grabbed Croc's hand. "Croc! Look! There's a plant over there!" They scampered over, until they were standing right in front of it.
Croc cocked his head. "It looks like...a sunflower." He stared at it. "But its head is drooping. I bet it's sad." The sunflower was on top of a rise in the floor that had a few steps leading up onto it. It was planted in a tan-orange terra-cotta pot. Next to the pot was a rusted watering can. It was close enough so that the sprinkler head was resting over the soil in the pot. Every now and then a clear drop of water would fall from the sprinkler head and into the soil. The crystal ribbons were highly concentrated around the sunflower, so much that it looked more like the walls were crystal with a few veins of rock running through them.
"You bet I'm sad."
A clear, strong woman's voice reverberated around the stone walls. Croc and Beany looked around wildly, Oshie just stared in awe at the sunflower. Croc trotted over to the watering can.
"Hello? Watering can? I'm Croc! Can you talk?"
"Uh, Croc? I think it's the flower talking."
Without looking up from examining the can, Croc exclaimed "Don't be silly. Flowers can't talk. Some can sing, but I don't think any can talk. Hello? It's okay, Mr. Can, I won't hurt you!"
Then Croc looked up. The sunflower's head was lifting up to face them, slowly but steadily, and soon enough they saw the face of the sunflower. It had two sad almond colored eyes in the middle of its face and mouth with a pair of full red lips. It also had a small, pointed yellow nose.
Croc stared in curiosity. "Who are you?"
The sunflower regarded him. "I am Tara, the sorceress."
Oshie regarded her dubiously. "You are a sorceress? No offense intended, ma'am, but you are a sunflower a million feet underground. How are you a sorceress?"
Tara looked up with her strong, hazel eyes. "Would you like to hear my story?"
Beany spoke up. "If it means you can explain yourself, and if we can help you, then yes. We would like to hear your story."
Tara took a breath and began. "I was once a Gobbo. I was born and raised on Prairie Island. Castle Island used to be Prairie Island before Dante took over. Soon, all the Gobbos on Prairie Island were kicked to Desert Island. Including me. I met an old Gobbo named Dustin who claimed he was a wizard, and an oracle, at that. At first I believed him only to be crazy. Then he foretold the rise of the Dantinis." Tara took another breath, scanned the group with her nut-colored eyes, and resumed. "Soon, their place of exile, the once-peaceful Castle Island, then named Prairie Island, became their seat of power. Then Dante came and took control. Without him they were nothing but a bunch of wild animals; with him they were an organized society. All the Gobbos were booted from the renamed Prairie Island, to the barren Desert Island. Enough stones were pulled from the ocean to build a mighty and awesomely huge castle that covered the entire land. Then Dustin slowly began teaching me sorcery, and after a year or two I graduated as a sorceress." Tara sighed. "I was young and impulsive. Almost immediately after I graduated I rowed to Castle Island to fight Baron Dante. He finished me off before I could strike a blow. He condemned me to the worst thing imaginable. He changed me into a sunflower that can't see the sun!" Her eyes began tearing up, and she lowered her head. All three friends glanced at each other. They knew what they had to do.
Beany fluttered over to Tara. "We can bring you up to the surface. There's a beautiful garden on top of a hill, with trees and flowers and grass and..." Tara cut him off. Sobbing at this point, she exclaimed
"Say no more! Yes, yes! Please! I was with you as soon as you said surface!"
Croc carried Tara up the stairs in her pot. Oshie carried the watering can, and Beany Bird kept conversation with her.
"My name, Tara, means 'hill' in some language or another. That's why I was buried underneath a hill. Baron Dante thought he was so clever. Using my name as my condemnation. Ha! But we've showed him!"
Oshie almost rolled his eyes at the incessant babble, but instead found it in him to smile and nod.
"I haven't had anyone to talk to in so long! It's such a relief to talk again!"
Once they had reached the top of the dirt staircase, Croc heaved the pot to the top. He heard Tara cry out with joy.
"Sun! Mmm! It's so warm! I haven't felt the sun for too long!" Oshie and Croc climbed out of the hole, to see the state Tara was in. Her petals had blushed a brighter yellow, her leaves a deeper green.
"You look beautiful," Beany stated.
She smiled bashfully. Croc assumed she was a brave warrior in sunflower form, but now she was acting like a happy child. So far, she seemed nice. And fun to be around. With one of her two leaves, she beckoned Croc and Oshie over. They followed her guide, and were enveloped in a joyful hug. They both thought it awkward, but hugged her back, anyway. It was strange hugging a flower.
After a fulfilling breakfast of tummyfruit jam and crumble strudel, Croc and Oshie donned shovels and spades, rounded up some help and began planting Tara in Oshie's garden. At first, everyone was mystified by the strange, living flower. But before soon, they all were entranced by Tara's strange stories and sense of humor. Before long, she was firmly planted in the rich soil.
Delighted at being able to stretch her roots, Tara cried out "Oh, my, oh my oh my! The soil is so tasty! The water is so sweet! Forest Island is simply delicious!" And everyone laughed.