The Weekly Muse #22
Chapter Three: In Which Lucy is Trapped Until She Isn't, and We Meet an Owl
For new subscribers, the past few weeks in the Weekly Muse I’ve been posting chapters from my very first novel, Quest for the Lost Island, the manuscript of which I thought had been lost and very recently rediscovered. I wrote this in the late ‘90s, so I was early-teens or thereabouts. Last week, we hit chapter two, in which main characters Lucy, Sean, and Conrad went one-by-one into a mysterious tunnel behind a waterfall, with the chapter ending as the entrance closing up and Lucy realizing she is trapped inside. Or is she? Let’s find out!
Lucy lay, exhausted, on the floor of the cave. She had been hysterically screaming for the past thirty minutes while she frantically tried to find a way out of the cave, but to no avail. She had finally stopped screaming, partly because her voice was becoming hoarse, and partly because she had realized the hopelessness of the situation. She was totally, completely, and utterly trapped.
For a while, Lucy just lay on the floor of the cave, wondering what she should do. She wondered if the entrance would open up again, if Mr. Redmond would realize she was gone, if someone would eventually realize what had happened and try to rescue her, and what on earth had become of Sean and Conrad.
Something about the cave vaguely disturbed Lucy. Something about the cavern wasn't quite right. Suddenly it hit her. She could still see the cavern walls! But how could that be? When the entrance had closed, all light should have been blocked out. But she could clearly see the walls, the floor, the ceiling, even herself, almost as easily as she had before the entrance closed.
Lucy concentrated hard, trying to find the source of the light. Eventually she realized that it was coming from the small doorway set into the opposite wall from the entrance. She got up and walked towards it, hoping that she would find another way out.
The doorway opened into a long dark tunnel. Lucy made her way cautiously down it, carefully holding on the rock walls in case she slipped. The tunnel gently sloped down for about a hundred feet before it leveled out. As Lucy walked farther down the tunnel, she noticed that. the light in the tunnel was gradually getting brighter. Lucy was encouraged by this, hoping that she would soon reach the end of the tunnel. But it went on and on and on until Lucy began to wonder if she should turn around and go back. Just ahead, the tunnel turned sharply to the left. Lucy rounded the bend and gasped in astonishment, as a. blaze of sunshine met her. Just a few yards ahead, the tunnel abruptly ended in a small cave, beyond which Lucy could see a small patch of bright blue sky.
She felt a surge of joy. At last, she was out of the tunnel! She raced for the opening as fast as she could, and exploded out into the sunlight. At first, she was dazzled by the brightness of the sunshine. Then, as her eyes gradually became used to the light, she looked around,
Lucy was glad that she had stopped where she did. The ground went on for a few more feet, then abruptly terminated at the edge of a steep cliff. Lucy wondered where exactly she was. It appeared she was on some kind of mountain, but there were no mountains near the Park. She knew of some fairly high hills nearby, but none with steep precipices and long underground tunnels. She walked gingerly out to the edge of the cliff, hoping to see some clue as to where she was.
For a moment, Lucy wondered if she was dreaming. She had expected to see the friendly, familiar woods of McPherson Park, or maybe a view of the nearby city of Forestview, her hometown. She had never expected this!
Before her stretched a wide landscape of gently rolling hills, gradually sloping out to meet a wide plain. At the far southern edge of the plain, Lucy could see what looked like a large, gleaming city. She made out several lofty towers and what looked like a high rock wall encircling the city.
To her left, the plain, after stretching on for miles in a wide expanse of flat prairie, dissolved into a slender line of flat sand. To her right, the plain was bordered by a long, thin, sparkling streak, which Lucy realized was the edge of an ocean. Several medieval castles and tiny villages dotted the plain, and Lucy saw a broad ribbon of bright blue, which she made out to be a river, flowing across the plain and down towards the city.
When Lucy looked around her, she realized that the mountain she was apparently on was part of a large range of mountains, which stretched from the sea to the desert, where they dropped off in a series of high cliffs.
Lucy stared out at the vast scene spread out before her, wondering where on earth she was. The nearest mountain range she could think of was the Rockies, but they did not reach to the Pacific. Besides, even if the mountains were part of the Rockies, that still did not explain the many castles doffing the landscape, or the great city on the horizon. She knew of no city in America that had high towers, or was surrounded by a stone wall.
She peered hard at the city, trying to remember where she had seen that style of architecture before. Then she remembered. It was in her history book! The chapter they had just covered in school had shown pictures of medieval cities and castles. Lucy wondered for an instant if she had fallen back in time, but she quickly dismissed the notion. This couldn't be real. She was probably peacefully sleeping at home in her bed, and any minute now her ballerina alarm clock would go off and she would wake up. Either that. or this was all a colossal joke by Sean.
At that moment, as Lucy was gazing out at the view, she noticed a tiny black speck in the sky, At first, she thought it was a plane or helicopter, but as it drifted closer, she realized with horror that it was a giant bird!
Lucy panicked. She dived back into the cave, wondering if it had already seen her. She peeked out at the bird from the safety of the cave and saw that it was a large white owl. As the bird gently glided closer, Lucy noticed that there was something very peculiar about the owl. For one thing, the owl was bigger than any other owl she had ever seen. Not that she had seen very many. However, she had heard about them in science class at school, and one thing she remembered from the lesson was that the biggest owls were usually about two-and-one-half feet tall. This owl was at least five feet tall!
Even more peculiar than the owl's size was the thin wire-rimmed glasses it wore perched on its beak. Lucy blinked, rubbed her eyes, and stared harder at the owl. No, her eyes had not deceived her. The owl was wearing glasses! Lucy wondered again if she was dreaming,
She crept farther back into the cave as the owl made a picture perfect landing on the narrow ledge outside the cave. The owl looked around for a moment, apparently looking for something or someone. Suddenly it did something very surprising. It opened its beak and called out in a cultured, polite voice, “Is there a juvenile female personage designated as Lucille Melinda Shackleford anywhere in the vicinity?”
Lucy was so taken aback that the owl was talking, in perfect English, that she hardly understood what it said. The owl waited for a moment, then it said, “I repeat, is there a juvenile female personage known as Lucille Melinda Shackleford anywhere in the vicinity?”
Finally, the meaning of the owl’s words dawned on Lucy. She assumed that since the owl knew her name, it had probably met Sean or Conrad. Reluctantly, she decided she would have to talk to the owl. She pulled herself together, plucked up her courage, and stepped out in full view of the owl. In a shaky voice, she said hesitantly, "I’m Lucy Shackleford. Who are you?” She put just a slight bit of emphasis on Lucy, hoping that the owl would take the hint.
The owl turned towards her. It quickly assessed her, murmuring quietly to itself, then, seeming to decide that she was really Lucy, smiled and stepped towards her. Lucy readied herself to bolt if it abruptly lunged at her.
"Greetings and salutations!" it said. "My name is Lutherian Antonius Julius Themarius, but if you so desire, you may address me as simply Luther. I am a Nyciea scandiaca of the scientific family known as Strigidae. In short, I am a white owl."
"Oh," Lucy said, not quite knowing what else to say. Then, she thought she should ask how he knew her name. Before she could ask, however, the owl continued speaking.
"I suppose you are speculating on the question of how I ascertained your entire appellation. The answer is this. As I was winging my way through the atmosphere earlier, I happened to notice two of your associates. They had found their way to this area, but they were unsure of how to proceed further. I flew down and introduced myself to them. In the interest of maintaining a friendly alliance with all members of humanity, I offered to convey them to my personal domicile, so that they could have some articles of refreshment and come to a decision regarding further explorations. They concurred with my proposal, so I transported them to my domicile, where (presumably) they have remained. They informed me about you and requested that I travel back here to discover if you were located in this area. If not, then I had planned to explore this tunnel to its termination point, to determine if you were inside a subterranean chamber that was supposed to be in existence at that point. They believed you might be outside the excavation, near a descending cataract of H2O solution. Fortunately, I have now located you, and I will be pleased to transport you to a reunion with your adolescent colleagues. I would like to proceed in a rendezvous with them myself. The one designated as Sean Christopher seemed remarkably intelligent, and I would enjoy having more dialogues with him.”
When the owl had finished speaking, Lucy (who hadn't understood a word he said) asked, "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but could you say that again? Maybe in English this time?”
Luther shook his head and sighed wearily. "Oh, all right," he said, "I shall limit myself to small, simple words so that you can understand me. What I meant to say was that as I was flying through the sky earlier, I saw your friends here. They had come to this cliff, but could not decide whether to try to climb down to the ground, or to go back to the cave and rejoin their class. 1 flew down and introduced myself to them. 1 asked if they wanted to come over to my nest and have some lunch, while they thought about what to do. They agreed, so I took them there. They told me about you and asked if I could fly back and see if you had followed them into the tunnel. or had remained behind at the waterfall. I was going to fly down the tunnel and explore the cave. but I found you here. If you like, I will catty you to my house, where you can meet up with your friends. I wanted to talk to your friends again, particularly Sean, as he seems very intelligent "
"Oh, said Lucy again, "Really? That’s what you said?”
"Affirmative, that is precisely what I had communicated Now, if you are sufficiently prepared to depart, please mount onto my back, and we can proceed with the aviation experience."
Lucy had to think for a minute, then she felt a pang of fear as the meaning of the owl's words finally dawned upon her. "You mean, you want me to... um, I don't think, I mean, I’m not sure about..."
Before she could finish, however, Luther moved to the edge of the cliff, spread his wings, and prepared to leap. He looked back; evidently surprised that Lucy wasn't on his back yet. "If you do not object, would you please be so obliging as to get on? We are squandering time! We must travel to my aerie posthaste! There may be Tara Raiders about! Now, get on!”
Propelled by the urgency in his tone, Lucy climbed on the owl's broad back. She clung to tufts of feathers and got her knees tucked under his wings. Lucy tensed herself for the takeoff All at once, she thought of asking the owl what the Tara Raiders were. Just as she started to ask, without warning, Luther leaped into space!
Lucy screamed aloud in sheer terror as she and the owl plummeted downwards. The ground rushed up to meet them at an alarming pace. Lucy frantically wished she was dreaming, because she knew that usually in dreams where you are free-falling from a great height, you always wake up just before you hit the ground. She rapidly began reciting to herself, “This is only a dream, I'm going to wake up, it's only a dream, I'm going to wake up!”
Just when it seemed impossible that the owl could pull out of the free-fall, there was a great flurry of wings! Lucy nearly lost her tenuous grip as the owl pulled up sharply and soared upwards. Lucy felt a rush of exhilaration. Luther had done it! She was flying!
Editorial Notes:
Okay, looking at this from the modern-day view, you’re probably wondering if this sounds like a little like that Other Famous Story where a child finds their way into another world and meets a talking owl who flies them to meet with the child’s friend.
To which I say, oh ho ho. Just you wait.
Meantime, yes, in retrospect, I went overboard on the Completely and Utterly Trapped! bit, which sounds a bit silly two paragraphs latter when she sees the doorway in the cave wall. Also, yes, Luther sounds like he ate a dictionary. I modeled him after a character on a radio show, Adventures in Odyssey, which I listened to as a child. Any AIO fans in the audience can probably guess which one.
Also, I wasn’t Tolkien (and I’m still not), so I didn’t go to the trouble of inventing an entirely new language for the other world. I did try my hand at dialects, though, which comes in later. Oh boy, does it come in later.
Anyway, that’s all for this week. Next week: chapter four! The adventure continues!
This is a great idea--what a fun way to revive the writing of our younger selves!