The Lost Barkscrolls by Chris Riddell

Author:Chris Riddell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446498309
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK

In front of her, the clam remained resolutely shut, the join between the two shells now a zigzag line without even the hint of a crack. High above, the surface of the upper shell was like a vast garden, home to countless flowers, ferns, and towering treelike plants that swayed in the ever-shifting currents of water, just as the massive trees of the Deepwoods forest did in the air far above. And as she sat there, Keris watched intrigued as dim shafts of moonlight from far above struck the striped fish and tusked eels which swam in and out of the fronds; at the rock lobsters scuttling along the ridges of the great blue shell – and on an ungainly creature with twelve spindly legs and a disc-shaped head which tottered imperturbably through the lush vegetation …

All at once there was a tremendous rumbling sound followed by an unearthly creaking. The fish all round darted for cover in the underwater vegetation. The rumbling became louder and stronger, vibrating through the rocks beneath her feet and stirring up the mud once more. The water itself seemed to tremble.

At last! thought Keris, gripping the sides of the flat rock with a mixture of excitement and fear.

As the two shells of the giant clam slowly parted, the dazzling blue light shone out once more, flooding the lake bed all round with its intense radiance and pouring into Keris’s wide, unblinking eyes. Slowly and sedately, the clam yawned open, to reveal a vast interior of mottled blue pleats and folds.

And there, nestling deep at the centre of the gaping clam, was a pearl. A huge, opalescent pearl. Flawless and spherical, it was the source of the light which was bathing Keris in its intense blue glow.

Keris was mesmerized and transfixed. Unable to stir herself and pull away, her senses were completely overwhelmed. Now there was nothing but the pulsating blue light, filling her eyes, her mouth and ears, seeping through her pores, banishing any thought of time or place.

It was as if she was dissolving. Her conscious thoughts faded; her sense of herself disappeared, like warm bubbles of breath rising up and being carried away on the lake currents.

She was no longer Keris the slaughterer girl, far from home and full of questions.

Instead she was now the great blueshell clam, sharing its memories of the very start of its long existence …

A tiny insignificant speck, she was, being blown through the great empty void on strong currents, for ever. Back and forth, journeying restlessly through the endless tracts of Open Sky. On and on, gathering speed and power …

An intense and pulsating brightness. Tiny yet inexpressibly powerful until …

There was a blinding flash and great black storm-clouds swirled up overhead. There was a crash of thunder. And then came the sensation of falling, falling down towards the thirsty earth.

Then blackness. Everything quiet, muffled. Trickling slowly through rock, deep below the surface of the earth. Moving through cracks, over crevices, into pools – gathering speed, gaining momentum.

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