Creatures Caves

UPDATE: Part twelve has arrived.

Took me a long time to write, but it paid off (sorry for the idiotic, punny title.

)!

Chapter Twelve: Over the Quicksand and Through the Jungle

Henry and his siblings followed Muckstream out of the clearing. A little bit of glowing green slime landed atop Henry's head, grossing out the eleven-year-old Chichi Norn. What on Albia is this?! he thought disgustedly. He wiped off the green slop and rushed after his friends, who were by now a distance ahead.

Muckstream seemed determined as she confidently led the six Norns through the Jungle Terrarium. Romeo, as usual, was freaking out. Amber was drueling, wetting the mud and goo that covered the Norns' feet even more. Storm looked around, intrigued at all of the plantlife in this humid area. Flame was still muttering about them being led by a girl while Sandy glared at the wild plants as though to challenge them to get her.

Henry was mixed between the emotions excited and nervous; excited to go home and nervous about the Jungle Terrarium. The whole place around them seemed to be shrouded with shadows, with just a few beams of light peircing the seemingly endless darkness. Henry's fur stood on end. Was it just him, or where the trees whispering, telling eachother of secrets unknown by the adventurers? Henry shook his head. I must be hearing things, he thought, shaking away his doubts.

"Well," Muckstream called, breaking the silence, "We should be at the door to the Norn Terrarium in just a few moments. It should be just beyond these trees!"

"Well, it's about time!" Flame shouted rudely. Sandy, who was just behind him, kicked the Magma Norn in the rear, causing him to fly right onto Muckstream. The surprised Toxic Norn fell headfirst into the goop below.

Flame got off of the Toxic female and took the lead. Henry grabbed a hold of Muckstreams muddy arm and asked, "Are you OK?"

Muckstream spat out the muck and said, "I'm fine, thanks. But your friend is going the wrong way."

Henry's ears perked up and he shouted loudly "FLAME! You're going th wrong way!" Henry's blue eyes picked out Flame as he came back, his red eyes seeming to be on fire.

"I knew that," The Magma Norn muttered and he resumed following Muckstream as she continued to move forward.

"Storm," Henry heard Romeo murmur, "why is Flame so angry?"

Henry turned around to see Storm shrug. His dark gray eyes looked directly into Romeo's and said, "I believe he just woke up on the wrong side of the den. He's probably just having one of *those* days. He'll be his old self tommorow."

Romeo seemed to brighten and the two 'brothers' caught up with the group. Henry, who was watching his brothers, suddenly bumped into Sandy. The Hardman Norn female seemed to be in shock.

"What's u--?" Henry asked. But the Chichi didn't need an answer. Ahead of the travelers was an absolutely huge pit of quicksand. There was only a line of trees leading to one of the mossiest looking doors Henry had ever seen.

"How on Albia will we cross that, Muckstream?" Sandy asked in her usual gruff way. "You know how to do this kind of stuff much better than we do."

All of the creatures (except Amber, who was studying her toes) turned to look at Muckstream. Her blue eyes looked suddenly depressed and she confessed, "I'm afraid only Amber will be able to get across unless we can find another way. I won't be going to the Norn Terrarium with you; that's absolutely no place for a Toxic Norn. But if you want to go back to where Tabernaculo found you, I'd be happy to oblige."

"I think we've walked enough for a while," Henry decided. "It's about time we took a rest. While we rest our body, we can think of ideas on how to cross the pool of quicksand."

"Good idea." Storm agreed. The Norns sat down on a flat rock and started to think.

After a few minutes, Romeo suggested, "Amber can fly, right? Maybe she can fly us across!"

"Hmm..." pondered Henry. He then called, "Amber, can you fly us across one at a time?"

Amber looked up, stuck her tongue out and said in her idiotic manor, "I'll try, Henry."

They helped Amber to the rock and let Romeo grab onto her feet. Amber and Romeo looked nervous as the Gargoyle Norn female hoisted her wings and flapped hard. To the dismay of Henry, Muckstream, Sandy, Storm, and Flame, Amber didn't lift. Instead, her wings got tired and she fell on top of Romeo.

After Romeo got out from under Amber, the Pleasantville Norn followed Henry and his siblings and started to think again.

Henry wasn't thinking as much as he was studying the trees that seemed to form a conga line to the door. They had vines hanging down, and one wasn't too far from either shore. Suddenly idea struck. Henry thought, I read in the famous book Wonga-Taa, Lord of the Grendels that Wonga-Taa swang from jungle vines to get from place to place! I'll bet that WE can swing like Wonga-Taa!

"I have an idea!" Declared Henry. The Chichi Norn explained his idea to his friends and he saw Storm nodding.

"It does sound like a logical solution." Storm agreed. The Rain Ettin looked quite satesfied.

Even Muckstream looked happy. "Perfect! Why not we let Romeo try first?"

At first, the Pleasantville Norn refused, but eventually the pestering of his companions made him go. He took the vine and jumped.

Everyone watched in awe as the five-year-old Romeo swang across with ease and landed gently by the door. "Me next!" Shouted Amber.

Amber didn't even need the vines to get to the other side. She flew to Romeo to keep him company and to prevent him from getting too scared.

Storm had a slight spot of difficulty around the middle; his grip loosened and he nearly fell into the quicksand. Thankfully, he regained a hold of the vine and swang the rest of the way without trouble.

Flame was growling and muttering darkly the whole way through, but he was finished quickly. Sandy, like Romeo, had no trouble either.

At last, it was Henry's turn. He uncertainly grabbed the vine and looked at the pit of quicksand. It looked deep... very deep. Henry gulped, closed his eyes, and jumped.

He felt surprisingly light as he swang from the first vine to the next. He recalled always wondering how Wonga-Taa felt as he swung from vine to vine in the treetops. In no time, Henry had the whole thing down, and all-too-soon they were on the other side.

"Wow! Wahoo!" Henry whooped. He turned around and shouted, "Thanks for the help, Muckstream!" To the Chichi Norn's and everyone else's surprise, she wasn't there; the Toxic female seemed to have dissapeared.

But, for the first time the whole day, Henry felt like an explorer again. They marched through the jungle and braved the obstacle of swinging to the other side of the pool of quicksand. But now, Henry finally felt he could continue to be the best explorer he could be.

To be continued...

Hawksight