Freiyon Fables A Tail To Remember

Book Three: The Switch between Stories.

A few hours later, while Micklang and Abrigail where still asleep in the crow’s nest, Frebil was still steering the ship on its course through the water, when he saw something ahead that he hadn’t seen before.

At first he thought it was the sun rising, but when he saw the small sun-dial they had, he knew it couldn’t be.

“What is that?” He wondered, trying to figure out if he should avoid it or not.

He steered slightly to the left, hoping to avoid whatever it was, but it seemed to follow the ships. He steered sharply to the right, as the strange light got closer to the ships, but once again, it appeared to be following them.

Micklang rubbed his head when Frebil turned the ship to the left sharply again and wondered what was going on. He saw the bright light ahead, but knew immediately that it wasn’t the sunshine.

“Frebil, can’t you avoid that?” Micklang called down to the mouse.

“’fraid not, sir. It appears to be following us.”

“I was afraid of that.”

The light was so bright and unexpected that it made Micklang cover his eyes as they went straight towards it. Abrigail woke up from the light and tried to squint to see where he was, but it didn’t help. The light covered the ships and then disappeared suddenly. The ships grinded to a rough stop and Micklang was sent sprawling forward and would’ve fallen over the edge if it weren’t for Abrigail.

“Frebil, what the HELL was that?!” Abrigail shouted, pulling Micklang back into the crows’ nest.

Frebil was still recovering from the blinding light when they all heard a big voice boom at them.

“You dare enter my domain! What is your purpose around here?”

Micklang decided that since it was him that was leading his friends along, it should be him that did the talking.

“Please, sir, we are simple travellers on a venture through the sea. I am Micklang Lightning-tail, and I do not mean you any harm.”

“I have not heard of any creature named Micklang before. Do you realize you have managed to enter the under-sea kingdom that belongs to me?!”

“The Under-Sea Kingdom? Oh, no, not again.” Abrigail exclaimed.

Micklang stared at Abrigail.

“You know of this?”

“Aye, my uncle came to find the Under-sea Kingdom a long time ago, when I was very young. I was with him at the time. that was my first time out at sea. I don’t remember coming through a light like we did then, but I know one thing for certain, once you get into the kingdom, you won’t get out.”

“Even if you weren’t an enemy and wanted to just pass by?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Yet you got out.” Micklang pointed out.

“I was lucky; I saw the dangers about to happen and escaped as soon as possible, much to my regret.” Abrigail replied.

“You have entered my kingdom, and you will never get out. Micklang Lightning-tail, welcome to my kingdom!” The king announced.

Everyone gasped as they saw the kingdom ahead of them; it was like nothing they had ever seen before.

The whole kingdom was completely covered in golden clams, weeds, sea-flowers and other sea-living plants. The biggest building, the palace, stood out most of all because of the huge, clam-like doors leading into the building and the pink, black and purple emblem above it. It was a picture of a king mer-man with a triton in his left hand, and two mermaids in his right.

“Um, don’t mean to sound a little out of place here, but how the HELL are we breathing?” Frebil asked, still steering the ship through the blue water.

Micklang turned around at Frebil, knowing he had a point.

How were they breathing?

Then he saw something that terrified him.

At first, he thought it was the king. But what he least expected was a big octopus-like creature with a triton, six tentacles and two huge, ugly, black eyes and a crown on its head.

What REALLY struck Micklang was the fact that the eyes didn’t look like animal eyes; they looked more like, well, human eyes. Micklang had enough experience with humans to know what their eyes were like.

“You have found favour with me, Micklang Lightning-tail. You and your friends have been given my special gift while you are in my Kingdom. If you may, can you make your way to my palace? I would like to talk to you in person.” The king announced.

So that isn’t the king I’m looking at. I wonder what it is, then. Micklang thought to himself.

“Should we captain?” Frebil asked, turning to Abrigail.

“Somehow, I don’t think we have a choice, Frebil.”

As they went down towards the palace, Micklang noticed that there were lots of strange sea-creatures swimming around, none of them seeming to be bothered by the two ships going through the sea.

At that moment, Harriet woke up from the strange booming noise she had heard out-side.

“Micklang, what was that odd noise?” She called, trying to look for Micklang.

Micklang looked at Harriet in panic and ran towards her, trying to stop her from seeing what was happening.

“Uh, don’t worry about anything, Harriet, everything is alright.” Micklang said, stopping right in front of Harriet’s cabin before she got out.

Harriet knew when something wasn’t right, and Micklang was obviously trying to hide something.

“Let me pass, Micklang, I have to see what’s wrong.”

At that moment, the ships grinded to a rough stop, just outside the kingdom gates.

Micklang and Harriet were sent sprawling forward onto the deck.

“Open the gates, we have visitors.” The king ordered, Micklang noticing that his voice was softer now that they were closer.

Harriet jumped up and looked around in surprise.

“Where are we, Micklang? What’s going on?” She asked, looking really worried.

Micklang didn’t answer, but knew that she would find out sooner or later.

As soon as the gates were open, the ships continued to sail through the water, as millions of curious eyes watched them pass.

“What kind of creatures are they, Abrigail?” Micklang asked, pointing to a school of strange looking fish as they swum by.

“Aye, I’ve not seen any such fish before. Would you look at those noses? How weird. They look like bells.”

“And their eyes are as big as ostrich eggs. Gosh, they’re strange fish.” Micklang pointed out.

The ships came to a slow stop at the steps going to the palace and the palace doors swung open inwards.

All the time that they had weaved their way towards the palace; Micklang had noticed the strange octopus creature was following them, keeping an eye on them.

Now, however, it disappeared into a dark corner and went to sleep, its job done for now.

“What do we do now?” Abrigail asked Micklang.

“Might as well say hello to the king, he wanted us to see him anyway.”

Abrigail turned to the crew who had came out when the king’s voice had first boomed at them, noticing they were afraid to leave.

“Well, we’ve come this far, we’re not gonna back out of this now. Come on, crew, let’s see what’s going on,” Abrigail announced.

Abrigail turned back to Micklang and was about to ask if they should leave via the boats, when he saw something coming towards them, a strange ocean-blue-and-green fog that was descending very quickly over them.

“What is that?”

Micklang turned and saw it too.

Abrigail’s crew saw it and freaked out, but they didn’t dare to jump off the ships. Brushtail’s crew saw it as well, but they were more prepared and ran inside as quickly as possible.

The fog stopped right above the crows’ nest of both ships, and then, much to everyone’s surprise, it exploded and fell on top of both ships.

Harriet stared in wonder as the dust from the fog fell on her and her children, while everyone else wondered if they should try and shake the stuff off.

Below deck where most of the crew were hiding, the dust managed to get in as well and land on all of the animals on board both ships.

Micklang turned to Abrigail in wonder, as did Abrigail.

Harriet was the first to notice the sudden change across both crews.

“Um … Micklang, you’ve got a fish’s tail, same as you Abrigail.”

Micklang realized that both his back legs had disappeared and that a silver fish tail had filled in half of his body, and the same had happened to everyone else.

“Wow! We’ve become mer-creatures.” Micklang exclaimed.

“That’s right, like I said Micklang Lightning-tail. I have given you a special gift for your visit here, so you and your friends know what it’s like to be like me and my subjects.” The King announced from within the palace.

“Is it just me or is his voice getting softer as we get closer?” Abrigail asked out loud.

Micklang chuckled as he swum around in circles.

“This is so cool! Come on, guys! Give it a shot!” Micklang cried, spinning through the water.

Harriet swum up and joined him as he kept spinning up and down, round and round both ships.

One by one, both crews joined them as they tested out their new ability, enjoying it very much.

Micklang came to a stop and looked towards the palace, knowing that the answers to the questions they had lied within the palace.

“Abrigail, Brushtail! Come on, you guys. Let’s find out what’s going on here.” Micklang announced.

The crews and everyone else with them followed Micklang as he headed for the palace.

As soon as they entered the palace, everyone gasped at the amazing sight in front of them.

Seated upon his throne with two huge seals next to him was the king of the under-sea kingdom himself.

King Joshua the mighty.

Micklang bowed at the king and everyone else did the same.

King Joshua smiled.

“So, you are Micklang Lightning-tail? Why do they call you that, I wonder?” King Joshua asked, his voice not booming any more.

“Before you turned us into mer-animals, I had a lightning-shaped tail that made me see some of the future and have strange abilities. But now, because you have turned us into mer-animals, I have a fish’s tail like you.”

King Joshua nodded, understanding perfectly.

“Well now, Micklang Lighting-tail and friends. I am King Joshua, and this is my kingdom. I rule the whole sea in this world, and everything in it listens to my commands. But things have not been going well lately.” King Joshua explained.

“How do you mean, King Joshua?”

“There have been many travellers that have come across my kingdom have mysteriously disappeared without a trace, and I know they couldn’t have gone back to shore because none of my subjects have ever seen them leave, and they would have said good-bye if they were leaving. This place isn’t as bad as you may have heard, Micklang.”

“You think they might be kept prisoner somewhere?”

“Well, that seems to be the case, but the question is where and by whom? If they WERE prisoners somewhere, my subjects would know.”

“Unless it was one of your subjects that DID it,” Micklang mumbled, but then decided to say something else. “Who was the last one of your subjects to have seen the last visitors?”

Joshua looked somewhat shocked when Micklang said this.

“Why, me of course. They had come to dinner with me and said they had enjoyed every bit of the dinner and would love to stay. Then they went to their bed chambers with my butlers and when it was morning they were gone!”

“But you WEREN’T the last one to see them before they disappeared, your butlers were.”

“Well, yes, but they don’t really count and they would never do anything like that.”

Micklang turned to Abrigail and Abrigail nodded, understanding the look.

“Sounds like another mystery to me.” Micklang said, turning back to the king.

“We will need to talk to whoever your butlers are and their boss, if you don’t mind your majesty.” Abrigail said.

King Joshua clapped his hands and three creatures appeared from one of the four corridors on the left of the room. Two were lobsters who wore butler-style clothes and the third was the six-tentacle octopus, which was now looking very angry from being woken up.

“These are my two butlers who were with the last visitors before they disappeared. This is their boss, who I give orders to. What I tell him he tells them. Come forward, Grinto,” King Joshua announced.

The octopus came forward and did a funny looking bow, which Micklang noted was with little enthusiasm.

“You may ask him any questions you wish to know, but know this, he has already told me he had nothing to do with their disappearances.”

Micklang nodded and then replied.

“Right. Abrigail, Oscar, Oliver and Brushtail, you will accompany me in the same chamber where the last visitors were, the rest of you stay here and keep your eyes out for any secret passages or doors that might lead to the prisoners. Grinto, you will come with us for questioning. You two butlers, wait here until we have finished with Grinto. If you really had nothing to do with the disappearances then you have nothing to worry about. But I have a way to finding out what I want, when I want. So be careful.”

King Joshua didn’t object to this, because he knew that a good investigation meant looking in places where they (usually) weren’t meant to go.

Grinto, though looking slightly objective, didn’t say anything as he followed Micklang and his friends.

Unknown to any of them, two pairs of eyes watched from the darkness and sniggered as Micklang disappeared into the bedchamber with his friends and the suspect.

“We shall have fun with these creatures, my friend. They won’t suspect either of us until it is too late. And then we’ll make them ours as well, eh?” one of them whispered to the other.

“You are alwaysss the sssmart one, missstresss.” The other replied.

“And don’t you forget it.”

Grinto slid into the bedchamber first and then Micklang and his friends followed.

Micklang sat on the bed and looked at Grinto, who was busy looking at shells and pearls decorating the room.

“You seem to be the only one acting scared of revealing anything. You’re hiding something from the King, aren’t you?” Micklang asked, still looking at the octopus.

“I don’t know what you mean, sir. I have no idea what happened to the last visitors. I hadn’t ordered the butlers to take them to this room on the night they disappeared.”

Micklang raised his eye-brow suspiciously, looking at Abrigail.

“The butlers disobeyed a direct order from you? Why would they do that?” Abrigail asked.

“How would I know? Just as soon as they had finished their desserts, the butlers took them away and brought them here. Well, that’s what they told me, anyway. They said ‘The Mistress’ had told them to.”

“Who’s the mistress? King Joshua doesn’t look married to me.”

“How would you know, squirrel? Are YOU married?”

“I am actually and I know the signs. Tell me about this mistress character.”

“There’s … rumours that a queen known as ‘The Mistress’ used to rule the sea-kingdom. But when an evil shark with a lightning on its chest decided to kill her and take her kingdom, she died and was never seen again. However, there are rumours that she is still around trying to take revenge on anything with lightning type marks on them, like you and your friends.”

Abrigail whispered to Micklang.

“They would have been hit by the lightning-tailed island curse like we were.”

“Possibly, but there are other ways something can get a lightning mark on them. Remember Libertas?”

Micklang turned back to Grinto and saw the octopus was now paying full attention to them.

“How long has this ‘revenge’ thing been going on for?” Micklang asked.

“Ten years now. But the strange thing is, everyone knows ‘The Mistress’ died at least a hundred years ago.”

“This means that we might be dealing with something or someone real here.” Abrigail said.

Grinto looked at Abrigail in surprise.

“I did not hurt those visitors! I never laid a finger on them.” Grinto said desperately.

“That would be hard to do, seeing as you have so many ‘fingers’, Grinto.” Micklang replied.

Grinto’s eyes shot open in shock.

Oscar inspected the bed carefully.

“Looks like Grinto is telling the truth though. Have a look at this.” He said, pulling the covers off the bed.

Micklang hopped off and stared at the note and the small amount of blood.

Grinto slid over and pulled the blankets back up, trying to cover the evidence again.

But Micklang was too quick and too strong for the octopus, completely taking the covers off the bed in one swift movement.

“Micklang, what do you think happened here?” Abrigail asked, looking at the blood and the note.

“I think that the visitors didn’t know they were going to vanish. I’d say they had a bit of struggle with whoever took them, and that creature had to result to a little violence and small bloodshed. I don’t know if the visitors would have died from this, but something tells me that we are closer than before.”

Oscar flipped the note over and saw the message.

“‘The Mistress will strike the king soon, and this time it will be real death.’ Sounds like ‘The Mistress’ is out for the throne, not revenge on any creatures. We’re getting close.” Oscar said.

Micklang turned to Grinto.

“Why did you try to hide this? Did you know of this?” Micklang asked.

Grinto shivered and looked around as if expecting something to jump out of nowhere and grab him as well.

“I did know, but I didn’t organize it. When I arrived in the morning to see the visitors had disappeared, I saw this and knew the king would think it was me if he saw it. That’s why I tried to hide it, I was scared he would kill me if he thought it was me.”

“But you told him and us that you had nothing to do with the visitors disappearance, yet this is clearly showing us that you had a little bit to hide as well. You say that those butlers weren’t following a direct order from you, but King Joshua said that they always did. So why would they not obey just this one, hmm?”

“To be awfully truthful Matthew and Mitchell have been acting rather oddly lately. Certainly not themselves. Almost like they’ve been hypnotized or something.”

“And how long have they been acting like this?” Brushtail asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t known them for as long as Joshua has.”

“Hmm, alright, you may go, but call in whichever one is Mitchell now, let’s hear from him now. Thank you, Grinto.” Micklang said.

Grinto left in a hurry, blowing a sigh of relief as he went.

“What do you think, Micklang?” Abrigail asked.

“Something fishy is going on, and I don’t mean the ACTUAL fish. Let’s see if we can’t get anything out of the butlers.”

Mitchell, the butler with one blue eye and one orange, came in and bowed to Micklang and his friends.

“Sit down, Mitchell. We’d like to ask you a few questions,” Micklang ordered.

Mitchell seemed hesitant at first, but then smiled and sat on the bed in silence.

“Ok, let’s start from the beginning. How long have you worked for King Joshua?”

“A hundred years, sir.” Mitchell replied.

Micklang raised his eyebrow again and then continued.

“That’s a long time for a butler, and it appears you’ve had more than one boss, am I right?”

“That’s right sir, Grinto is my third boss since I started working here. Cleo and Silvia were my other two before Grinto.”

“Silvia being your second boss?”

“Yes sir.”

Micklang sighed and looked at Abrigail, then Abrigail started asking questions.

“Grinto tells us you disobeyed a direct order the night the last visitors were here, is that true?” Abrigail asked.

Mitchell went silent for a few seconds, then replied almost robot like.

“No, sir. That is not true. I listen to what my boss says.”

“Then what was Grinto’s orders the night the visitors disappeared?”

Once again, Mitchell went totally silent, but this time he didn’t reply.

“Mitchell?”

Not a reply.

“Mitchell?!” They all cried.

Still nothing.

Oscar stared at Mitchell’s eyes and saw something odd about them.

“Mitchell, please tidy the bed up.” He ordered.

Micklang looked at Oscar in surprise but then was relieved to see Mitchell move and start cleaning the bed.

“Oscar, how did you know he was going to do that?” Micklang asked.

“Guess he had a system overload.”

“What?” They all gasped.

“Look at his eyes. When he came in, the left eye was orange and the right was blue. But when you asked him that last question, the eyes flashed all sorts of different colours before stopping to a different position to before, if you know what I mean.”

“You mean like robots?” Micklang asked, remembering hearing about them in the human world.

“What’s a robot?” Oliver asked.

“Remember what Grinto said before? He thought they were acting oddly? He didn’t say for how long they had been acting like this, but my guess is when lightning marked visitors started to come here. I don’t think they are the real butlers, I think they are robotic replacements designed to do someone-else’s bidding without suspicion. Something tells me the REAL butlers are being held prisoners as well.” Oscar explained.

Meanwhile, out in the entrance room of the palace, King Joshua was watching carefully as Harriet and everyone from Abrigail and Brushtail’s crew looked around the room for secret doors or traps.

“I’m telling you, I know this kingdom like the back of my hand. If there were any secrets, I would have found them by now.” Joshua said, as Harriet lifted the bottom of a rug on the floor.

“Yet, even a king can be surprised what he finds in his own castle. Ah, what do we have here?” Frebil replied, uncovering a strange looking shield cleverly hidden behind a tapestry on the wall.

“Hey, don’t touch that. That’s our shield of arms, it’s not supposed to be sideways like that, turn it back the right way, mister.”

“I hadn’t even breathed on it, let alone touch it. Seems to me like it might be a lever for something.” Frebil pushed it into a different position.

There was a loud cracking noise and they all turned to see a wall moving outwards not far behind Joshua’s throne.

Joshua stared in amazement as he realized that this same secret door could’ve been the end for him if there had been anyone planning to take his place.

At that moment, Matthew the (robot) butler grabbed Harriet and tugged her towards the secret corridor, knowing it would close very soon.

“Matthew! Stop this instant! That is not the way to treat visitors.” Joshua ordered.

Matthew didn’t stop.

“Matthew, stop right now.”

“Does not compute.” The robot Matthew replied, still tugging Harriet along.

“Stop this foolishness.”

“He won’t listen to you; he was programmed for someone else.” Micklang announced, coming out of the bedchamber with Mitchell tied up behind him.

“What do you mean?”

“Your two butlers are fakes, they’re robots. The real butlers have disappeared and, I assume, are prisoners as well.”

Grinto looked in amazement at the butlers as the truth dawned on both of them.

“I knew there was something wrong with them.” Grinto said.

“And as it turns out, a boss before Grinto knew it too, but didn’t want to admit it. Didn’t want to give them up to the plot. Someone who knew very well about the strange rumours of ‘The Mistress’ and wanted to use them for her own purposes, a way to get in control of the throne. A way of getting revenge on a certain King who started out as a stranger as well. None other than the second boss of the butlers: Silvia.” Micklang announced.

Both robots stopped at the mention of the name.

“What a smart squirrel you are. And you only figured that out two hours after your arrival here. Well done, I must say.” An evil voice said from the darkness.

Out of the darkness appeared another octopus with six tentacles, except she had totally black, evil eyes and a small, but noticeable lump on her head.

“Silvia, I fired you a long time ago for other evil schemes you tried, how is it that you’ve come back?” The king asked.

“With a little help from my assistant, Seasnake, and the knowledge of all the secret passages in this castle. But you see, the reason I kidnapped all the visitors that came here was just one part of my plan. I would get your publicity down, start spreading rumours that ‘The Mistress’ had returned, and then when everyone didn’t want you as a king anymore, I would use my robot versions of the visitors to tell others of how good I was and then I would be queen, putting you out of the picture for good. Then, once you were out of the picture, I would let all my prisoners go, forcing them to admit it was you who had captured them and planned it all along.” Silvia explained, totally unaware that one of Micklang’s friends was sneaking up behind her.

“Maybe not an absolutely great plan, I can see a few flaws in that.” Micklang said, trying to bide time for Frebil, who was trying to find something to knock Silvia out with.

“Yeah, like what, Mr. Smarty-pants?”

“First of all, the prisoners might’ve escaped from wherever you’ve hidden them and release your plot. Secondly, another visitor, like me, would have found out one way or another and try to stop you and tell Joshua. Thirdly, those who know about the ‘revenge’ thing too much will see you’re making flaws in your part of it. And fourth, the secret passages in this castle would sooner or later be found and they would lead to where the prisoners are. You didn’t really think this through properly, did you?”

“Shut your face, squirrel. You think you’ve figured it out completely, you don’t know half of it yet. You’ll see, I’ll make you all pay for your stupid meddling in this.”

Frebil grabbed King Joshua’s trident from its stand and swum back behind Silvia without her knowing.

“Nothing is stopping you, you know.” Micklang said, trying to be as calm as possible.

“You’re right about that, squirrel. Let’s see you try and figure a way out of thi … oomph!” Silvia exclaimed as Frebil hit her and Seasnake out unconscious.

“Well done, Frebil. Jolly good work.” Abrigail congratulated Frebil.

“Yes, well done. But did you HAVE to use my trident? It’s brand new, you know.” Joshua said.

“Harriet, are you alright?” Micklang asked his wife, who was still being held by the robot.

“I’m ok, just a bit scared. Do you think that this robot was taking me to where the other prisoners were?”

“Only one way to find out. Abrigail, tie those two traitors to something and get Frebil and Joshua to keep an eye on them, Frebil should keep them quiet with that useful trident he has. We’re gonna check out this secret passage and see if that’s where the prisoners were. Shouldn’t be long, I think.”

“Not a problem Micklang.” Abrigail replied.

As Micklang, Harriet, Oscar and Oliver made their way down the dark passage with only one light in Micklang’s left hand to lead them; they could hear faint calls of help coming from further in the tunnel.

“Looks like you were right, the prisoners are down here.” Micklang said, turning to Harriet as they swam along.

“Micklang, what’s that there?” Oliver asked, pointing at something ahead.

“Some sort of light, let’s find out what’s causing it.”

When they got to the source of the light, and the cries slightly increased, Micklang saw there were two tunnels, one to the left and one to the right. The right tunnel was where the light was coming from, and the cries were coming from somewhere beyond the end of that tunnel, Where Micklang could see various amount of things scattered.

“Oliver, go with Harriet and check out that tunnel, while me and Oscar will check out this one. If you find the prisoners, just call my name ok?

“No problem.” Oliver said, taking Harriet down the left tunnel after taking a fire-torch off the wall and lighting it from Micklang’s.

Oscar followed Micklang down the right hand tunnel as they came into the small, messy cave Micklang saw the light coming from.

“Why are we in here, Micklang?” Oscar asked.

“Because, if I’m not mistaking, the cries of the prisoners are coming from beyond this wall. And, unless the other tunnel somehow weaves its way to them beyond here, I think that this is a moving wall. All we have to do is find a lever like Frebil found and see if I’m right. And, while we’re here, we might found a way to get out of this place. I like being under water, but I’m a land animal, always will be.”

Oscar nodded and started to pick things up, checking them out before throwing them away. Micklang did the same, but decided to do it closer to the wall.

Sometime later, Micklang came across a letter with some sort of strange code on it, and he tried to figure out what it meant.

“Hey Oscar, have a look at this.” He said, beckoning Oscar to him.

“What’s up?”

“Have you ever seen a code like this before?” Micklang asked, handing him the note.

“‘I.h. k.i.n.g.c.l.a.m h.e.t r.i.s.e.r.s.n.o.p r.e.a n.i. h.e.t l.e.n.n.u.t y.o.n.d.e.b s.i.t.h l.l.a.w, l.l.a o.y.u v.e.a.h o.t o.d s.i d.i.n.f h.e.t k.o.b.o o.u.t.a.b o.y.u d.n.a t.u.p t.i n.i h.e.t l.o.t.s n.i h.e.t l.l.a.w. from I.o.r.a.w.r.r k.i.n.g.c.a.l.m.’ well, the only word that makes sense to me is ‘from’. But you’re right, it’s some sort of code. Wonder what it says?” Oscar said after reading the note.

“Wait, I think I can figure out some of it. Ih must mean ‘Hi’. Het is definitely ‘the’ … I’ve got it! They are normal words, just switched around in a code so someone will think it is nonsense. Ok, let’s see. ‘Hi, King-clam, the prisoners are in the … um … tunnel beyond this wall, all you have to do is … err … find the … book?’ Yes that fits. ‘The book about you and put it in the slot in the wall. From I.o.r.a.w.r.r. King Calm.’ How does that sound?” Micklang asked.

“Well, I think you’ve got most of it worked out to make sense, but King-calm and King-clam are still the same and you didn’t figure out the I.o.r.a.w.r.r. one yet.”

“No, I know. That one is confusing me. Hmm, let me see. Oh, how stupid of me! It’s WARRIOR! I.o.r.a.w.r.r. is WARRIOR! This means that King calm and king clam are actually … oh, well that’s weird.” Micklang suddenly looked worried and surprised.

“What is it?” Oscar asked.

“It’s me, the message was for me by my warrior self!”

Oscar shook his head, trying to figure out what Micklang meant.

“What do you mean? You couldn’t have sent it to yourself, that’s just weird. Maybe it’s from a creature called warrior king-calm or king-clam.”

“No, listen. Take the word king-clam and my name right? So you’ve got Micklang and king-clam, it’s my name in a different way. There is no king-clam, you know that better than I do, and there certainly isn’t any king-calm. Rearrange the letters properly and both ways you get my name. It’s for me, by me, telling us where the prisoners are.”

“You mean, like a future version of you sending something to you in the past, or our present?”

“Maybe, but that is what’s so strange about it. How could my future self send a note to me, in the past at this exact same spot?”

“We can figure that out later, but right now we’ve got to get to those prisoners. Where’s that book?” Oscar started to look through the mess again.

Micklang sighed, as he simply bent down and picked up a book with a furry tail on the cover.

He opened it and had a peek at the first few lines.

’Micklang appeared to be an ordinary red squirrel that lived in a large, very well protected zoo in Sydney. But the squirrel was not ordinary on the inside.

Unlike other squirrels, Micklang had emotions that got him out of trouble in the zoo. Fear was the first emotion he had discovered, when he had almost been killed by a piece of shattered glass thrown at him from strange beings called people. Sadness was another, and disgust was the third, which he used heaps, especially when it came to being fed. He hated the strange round things the ‘zoo-keepers’ gave to him for food.

It was strange. While all the other enclosures of the zoo had animals being taken care of in a proper and caring way, the squirrel enclosure within which he lived was always badly kept, hardly watched over and quite often had no visitors either, aside from som-times annoying kids that insisted on pestering poor Micklang and the other squirrels that were in the same enclosure. Sometimes, if he was very lucky and smart, Micklang could be quick enough to steal food from these kids to have for himself, by swimming across the pond that separated the squirrels from the humans.′

Micklang gulped when he read this. The book was precisely about him. It was HIS life so far! Everything was in it he had experienced. From the escape from the zookeeper, to the bridge fight with Quasapoor, and even, to Micklang’s surprise, up to the very moment he set foot in the sea-kingdom.

“Oscar, I think you should come and look at this.” Micklang said, shivering slightly.

Oscar came over again and looked at the book Micklang was holding, scanning a few lines.

“Hey, this can’t be real. This mentions everything we’ve done together so far.” Oscar said, finding his own name in the book several times.

“Someone, or something, knows about what I’ve been doing and has been recording it every step of the way. But look, there’s more. It actually has an ending to it.”

Oscar flipped through the pages to the very end of the book, only to find the pages completely blank.

He flipped back a few pages, to where the writing finished.

‘As the body of Micklang set off into the sunset, everyone who had ever known him watched and cried silently, knowing the brave warrior was never to live again.’

Oscar looked up at Micklang, shivering.

“Micklang, this book ends with you … dying!”

Micklang struggled to fight away a tear.

“I know, Oscar. But if this is the EXACT same story about my adventures, then I can’t avoid fate. Oscar, I have to know, where is the part where we find the prisoners here?” Micklang asked, shivering as well.

Oscar flipped back a few pages until he found a chapter called ‘the sea-kingdom mystery’.

He then read through it quickly, noting that everything that had happened was precisely recorded into the book.

But there was something different.

Oscar looked at the last few lines before the next chapter.

“Micklang, this book ISN’T exactly the same. Look, this is the part where we found the note supposedly from your warrior self, right? But listen to this. ‘Micklang mumbled as he tried to work out the code. “Hi, King-clam, the prisoners are in the tunnel to the left, get out of this tunnel as quick as possible. This is a trap. Leave now, from I.o.r.a.w.r.r.” Micklang said, finally. “What do you think?” He asked Oscar.’ It’s NOT the same, Micklang. This clearly shows that this book isn’t following your adventures. If you look carefully at other important parts of our progress so far, you’ll see that there are a few mistakes in names, grammar, and what creatures said. Micklang, this book ISN’T about you. It’s a trick!”

“You mean … ?”

“Yes, this book Micklang is an alternative version of you. It’s about the Warrior Micklang, not Micklang the warrior. It’s about your other self, not you.”

“Which means that I won’t end up dying?”

“Not if we prevent it. Come on; let’s get this mystery wrapped up. I think our king friend has a lot to answer for.”

Micklang blew a sigh of relief as Oscar slid the book into the hole and the wall moved away, revealing a passage going further down.

Micklang pulled the book out of the wall as Oscar went forward into the passage and they begun walking again.