Dormia (44 page)

Alfonso felt a sudden pressure in his chest and head, as if he were being smothered. He opened his mouth, but air wouldn't enter. He gripped the table and began to cough.

"What's the matter?" Josephus asked, his bushy eyebrows twitching with concern. "Yes, it's a terrible picture. But an important one, because it's the only picture that shows at least a part of Nartam's body. That hand is disgusting, isn't it? And the fingernails are positively revolting."

Alfonso felt the blood rush to his face, coloring it a deep red. He recognized the man in the drawing.

"Uncle Hill," said Alfonso. "Come over here—you need to see this."

Hill had been sitting on the other side of the desk and had been—rather absent-mindedly—staring at some maps on the wall. Now, suddenly, Hill knew something was wrong. He dashed over to his nephew's side and examined the drawing.

"Oh my goodness," said Hill. "That can't be—"

"It is," said Alfonso in a surprised, suddenly nervous voice. "Look at his whole body and then focus on his hand—with those long curling fingernails. Who does that look like?"

"Yes, yes, yes," stammered Hill. "That's the spitting image of Dr. Van Bambleweep from Barsh-yin-Binder."

Before anyone could process this alarming realization, however, one of Josephus's assistants rushed into the room and cleared his throat loudly.

"What is it?" asked Josephus irritably.

"I bring some upsetting news," said the assistant nervously.

"I just received a dispatch from the Somnos prison. Apparently the leaf-burner—the one they call Bilblox—has escaped."

T
HAT EVENING
, Alfonso sat alone, shivering, on the outdoor terrace. Just enough light remained so that he could see the white-cloaked Urals in the distance. Darkness was falling rapidly and there was still no word of what had happened to Bilblox. Where was he? And, more importantly, why had he broken out of jail?

For the moment, he could only sit and wait. Hill had gone to the Iron Pillow, at the invitation of several knights, and wouldn't return for a few hours. Most importantly, nothing could be done until General Loxoc returned. The general was currently in the countryside inspecting Somnos's outermost defenses and making some last-minute preparations before the bloom was planted. Upon his return, the general would learn two bits
of unwelcome news: first, Bilblox the leaf-burner had escaped; and second, Nartam was alive and living in Barsh-yin-Binder. What's more, he had actually brushed shoulders with Alfonso. Inevitably, this would raise a new set of suspicions about Alfonso and his party.

Alfonso continued to sit by himself on the terrace of the guesthouse, trying to relax, when he heard a sound floating up from below—as if someone or something was scratching the marble walls of the tower. Curious to see what was going on, Alfonso walked closer to the edge and peered over. At first he saw nothing, but then, not more than five feet below, he saw a snow-streaked head of hair. It belonged to a man whose face was pressed flush against the wall of the tower. His fingers were searching the marble for an outcropping or a crack or anything that might help him hoist his body up. Alfonso's heart began to pound. It was Bilblox, and he was only feet away from reaching the top of the tower!

Alfonso looked around. The terrace was empty. Everyone else was inside, probably getting ready for bed. Moments later, Bilblox pulled himself up over the railing and onto the terrace.

"Bilblox!" whispered Alfonso excitedly. "I can't believe it! What are you doing here? Did you climb all the way up the tower?"

Bilblox weakly raised his head and nodded. "All in a day's work," he said hoarsely. "Just thought I'd drop in and pay ya a visit." He coughed and slowly stood up.

Alfonso gave his longshoreman friend a hug. Bilblox was drenched in sweat and his muscles were quivering from the strain of the climb.

"Are you all right?" asked Alfonso. "How'd you get here?

"There's so much to tell ya," gasped Bilblox. He began to tell Alfonso about Clink and their escape from prison. Clink had agreed to guide his blind cellmate to the base of the tower, where Bilblox could use a fire escape ladder to climb up and avoid being seen. In return, Bilblox vowed that if he ever left Somnos—which seemed highly unlikely—then he would take Clink with him. At this point, the two of them parted ways and Bilblox began climbing the ladder. "The only problem was that the fire escape ended a third of the way up the tower," Bilblox explained. "So then I just had to climb straight up." He laughed. "I just did a whole lot of groping."

"Incredible," said Alfonso. "We've got to find some place to hide you."

"Ya ain't gonna hide me anywhere," vowed Bilblox. "In fact, I'm gonna turn myself in. But not until I tell ya what I saw in prison. It was durin' a moment when I could see again. Do ya know who I saw? Ya'll never believe it."

"Who?" asked Alfonso.

"That nutty old quack from Barsh-yin-Binder," replied Bilblox. "Ya know, Dr. Van Bambleweep."

Alfonso turned pale. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Bilblox. "How do ya think he got here?"

***

Alfonso summoned a messenger and sent word that General Loxoc should return to Somnos immediately—the enemy had been sighted. He and Bilblox waited nearly an hour in the dark until they heard the heavy clatter of the general's chariot pulling up to the front of the guesthouse. The general hopped out of his chariot, dunked his head in a bucket of cold water that was attached to the back of the vehicle, and exclaimed, "Arrrgh—I really hate waking up this way!" Then, with his head dripping wet, he knocked on the front door of the guesthouse.

Alfonso and Bilblox met him in the entranceway. The general looked at Bilblox and shook his head in disgust. "We were wondering where you were," the general said coldly. He turned to his driver. "Return to the barracks immediately and bring ten soldiers. We've found the blind leaf-burner."

"Bilblox escaped for a good reason, General," Alfonso said. "There's something we have to tell you. Somnos is in danger." Alfonso quickly outlined their suspicions that Dr. Van Bambleweep was actually Nartam, and then, Bilblox's discovery of Van Bambleweep walking near the prison the night before.

Loxoc listened intently. After Alfonso finished explaining, Loxoc nodded slowly but said nothing. "Sounds fishy to me," he finally said. "Bilblox regains his sight for a few minutes, and by chance he sees this Van Bambleweep character? Sounds like an excuse to escape. It's not that I believe Bilblox is a bad person or servant of Nartam or any of that hysterical, moralistic nonsense. That kind of talk is utter rubbish in my opinion. Still, I don't trust Bilblox. It's not his fault. It is what the purple ash has done to him. I simply don't trust him and I never will."

Alfonso sighed with frustration. "If he just wanted to escape or deceive you why would he insist on delivering this news directly to you?"

Loxoc said nothing.

"General Loxoc," Alfonso continued, "a mistake or two does not destroy a person."

"It depends on the mistake," said the general.

"We have to go to the prison," Alfonso said. "Maybe we can find a trace of Nartam before the trail goes cold."

The general's face was a stony mask. Finally he nodded at Alfonso and said, "All right. You and Bilblox will accompany me to the prison." He looked at Bilblox. "I hope that you are right. I would like to believe you, Bilblox—I truly would—but I remain highly skeptical."

Bilblox remained defiant. "Ya may not trust me because my eyes are white," he said in a voice quivering with emotion, "but Dr. Van Bambleweep—Nartam—is here in Somnos. There's a battle comin', whether ya like it or not."

T
HE RIDE
to the jailhouse was a quick one. Alfonso and Bilblox followed General Loxoc into his chariot and all three of them held on to their seats with tightly clenched fingers as Ivan—the general's sleeping charioteer—drove them speedily through the night. They stopped only to switch the chariot's wheels with skis, and then flew through the darkened, snow-covered countryside toward the large and gloomy stone prison. It was a perfectly clear night and the moon cast a pale light on the building. In front, two guards were sitting on wooden stools, warming their hands in front of a small fire and chatting quietly. As soon as they saw the general, they rose to their feet and offered a salute. "Welcome, General Loxoc," said one of them nervously. "What brings you here?"

"What brings me here are two prisoners who recently escaped under your watch!" said the general angrily as he stormed out of his chariot. "Maybe if you had done your jobs—and stayed fast asleep as you were supposed to do—these prisoners wouldn't have gotten out!"

"Sorry, sir," muttered the guards.

"All right, now get to sleep!" barked the general. "You can wake up when you get off work." Upon hearing this, both of the guards promptly closed their eyes and commenced snoring.

As soon as they had all clambered out of the sled, one of the now-sleeping guards led the way to the jail cell where Bilblox had been imprisoned. They all walked through a large stone entranceway that narrowed into a long corridor lined with torches whose flames cast a flickering glow against the dank, moss-covered walls. The ground was soft and muddy and more than a few rats scurried underfoot as they made their way deeper into the prison. Eventually, they came to a large cell whose door was wide open. The entire group entered the space. Bilblox groped his way over to the prison cell's window and gripped the rusting iron bars, just as he had done the day before.

"We saw the doctor—uh, Nartam—right through this window," said Bilblox. "He was about fifty feet outside the prison wall. It looked like he was just walkin' around."

"Wait," said Alfonso. "I think I hear something." He paused. "It almost sounds like it's coming from the ground." Alfonso entered the hypnogogic state and put his ear to the ground to listen. At first he was overwhelmed by countless different sounds—earthworms squirming through the soil, the pitterpatter of rats scurrying to and fro, and even the sound of water
particles crystallizing into ice. Suddenly he realized that something was missing. The soil seemed too thin.

A thought struck him: the ground beneath was hollow. There must be some kind of cave or cavern directly below them. Then, just as he figured this out, there came another noise. Alfonso heard a dull, rhythmic thumping followed by a slight splashing.
Thunk! Kirsplish! Thunk! Kirsplish! Thunk! Kirsplish!
Where had he heard this sound before? It seemed so familiar. Suddenly, he found himself thinking of Minnesota in the summertime. Why had this memory come to mind?
Thunk! Kirsplish! Thunk! Kirsplish!
He knew this sound well. He was certain that he had heard it somewhere near the lake by his house. Why the lake? Of course, thought Alfonso, it's the sound of oars paddling through water. Someone far beneath him was rowing a boat through the water. But this made absolutely no sense. What was going on?

"Is there some kind of sewer pipe or tunnel beneath this room?" Alfonso asked quickly.

"No, I doubt it," replied the general. "The ground in this part of the countryside is too muddy and soft for tunnels."

"Well there is something down there," said Alfonso. "Will you help me dig?"

"Dig?" said the general curiously. "Well, I suppose we can." He looked at the prison guard and ordered him to return immediately with shovels.

The guard ran off and soon returned with a few shovels. In no time, the entire group was breaking up the ice-flecked soil on the floor of the jail cell and burrowing down into the earth. They worked steadily for fifteen minutes until they reached a depth of about four feet, at which point, they unearthed what
appeared to be a shiny green board. Alfonso pressed his fingers against it and discovered that it was soft and moist to the touch.

"What's that?" asked Alfonso.

"It's a root of the Founding Tree," whispered the general. "We can dig no further."

Alfonso hopped down into the hole and ran his hand across the root. He looked up at Loxoc.

"I've got to get a glimpse into that root," said Alfonso. "Something is happening inside. I'm certain of it."

"Impossible!" replied Loxoc. "No one is allowed into the Founding Tree's root system. What's more, it is strictly forbidden to tear or cut open any portion of its roots."

"How could somethin' be happenin' inside a tree?" Bilblox asked incredulously. "These are roots we're talkin' about, not tunnels."

"The tree's root system is massive," explained the general. "They can grow to be hundreds of feet wide and, sometimes, the roots take on strange geometric shapes. I once saw a picture of a gigantic triangular root. And they're long. I remember Dr. Nostrite saying that the longest root they ever found was just under a thousand miles in length. It makes sense, doesn't it? The tree itself is the largest living thing in this world and it needs a massive root system to sustain itself."

"General, please," said Alfonso. "We need to take a look down there."

"We could all be banished from Somnos for considering something like this," said Loxoc angrily.

"The hole will be very small," said Alfonso. "
Please.
"

The general sighed heavily. "This will be the end of me. Go ahead and be quick about it."

For the next several minutes, Alfonso used a pickax to cut through the outer wall of the root. He worked the blade of the ax carefully until he had made a hole that was roughly three feet across. A faint light radiated up from this hole. A very loud thumping sound was now audible to everyone. The entire group peered down into the enormous root and together they discovered an astounding scene: a river flowed along the bottom of the root as far as the eye could see, and on this river floated a string of small wooden ships filled with soldiers. The ships were laden with wagons, chariots, catapults, battering rams, cannons, cannonballs, bales of hay, enormous stacks of wood, goats, dogs, and what looked to be giant vats of oil. Some of the boats were large enough to carry dozens of armed horsemen. These horsemen were dressed in armor covered with feathers and metal helmets with pointy beaks. Some of the soldiers pushed the boats forward with long wooden sticks, while others carried torches in both hands to light the way.