Stirring Adventures and Mad Mods! Saving the world one questionable decision at a time.
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, August 7th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children explore a new land.
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The river picked up speed descending through the woodlands into a valley. Occasionally their mushroom cap boat was caught in an eddy and spun round and round, causing Mirabelle and Bettina to whoop with delight, and Annabelle to shut her eyes and cling to the gills.
Gerhardt was watching the banks intently, and made them pull to the side whenever there were many rocks on the bank.
“What are you looking for?” Mirabelle asked.
“Stone to make into an axe, like the cavemen used.”
“That’s a good idea,” Claire said, “but you don’t want that kind. You want flint, or chert, or obsidian. I’ll help. I’ve much more geology than you.”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children have too much and too little imagination to enjoy their meal.
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The next morning the twins found something in their net. They called it a fish, for it wriggled and had fins and lived in water. However, the fins (there were six) were evenly spaced around the back of the thing, making a ringed sort of tail. It had three eyes on either side of its head, and a great rounded lower lip that protruded over its upper lip. It was a rusty orange-pink in color, with a pattern of pale purple spots beginning lightly at its head and intensifying so that it was mostly purple at the tail.
Mirabelle held it in the net while Annabelle hit its head with the side of the pick. She worked quickly so that no one (including her) could get attached to the creature and forget it was supposed to be food. When it stopped wriggling they examined it and made quick notes and sketches in Mirabelle’s observation book before borrowing a pocketknife from Gerhardt. (For all the tools and assorted objects in their pinafore pockets, they did not happen to have a knife, comb, or handkerchief.)
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the much tried and exhausted children make camp in the unexplored wilderness.
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Having no idea of the time of day, but a great deal of anxiety at the thought of being caught out after dark in this strange and dangerous land, the children decided to make camp on the small sandy beach. It wasn’t much bigger than the overturned mushroom boat, but they ventured into the woods and found sturdy fallen branches and propped up the riverside edge of the boat, making it into a lean-to shelter. Then they returned to the woods for firewood and soon had a cheery blaze between them and the water. Feeling thus secured from threats by land or sea, the twins shared out the last of the gouda.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» They called and hallooed much louder, to drown out the whispering vines and their own panic. They were answered at last by a splash upstream. Adolphus had thrown a branch in the water. They retreated upriver to parlay.
“How can we answer you back with all that shouting?” Adolphus demanded.
“Never mind that!” Mirabelle interrupted. “It’s all those nasty vines over here unless we push back into the woods.”
“Bettina found the boat!” Annabelle said. “We need to find a way to get you all over here.”
The vines waved in the air as though seeking the source of all the noise. Gerhardt eyed them with distaste, running his finger along the string of his ammunitionless crossbow.
“Or you could cut through the woods and we could float down to meet you.”
They discussed this option at length. Finally Claire refused to do anything that might separate them further.
“Aaagh!” Gerhardt shouted and pointed to the river. “It’s swimming across!”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» 
In which the children are separated in a strange and unknown place.
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They walked for hours. Annabelle made Bettina and Gerhardt hold her hands, glaring suspiciously at the underbrush for signs of attack. On the opposite bank Claire was anxious.
“What shall we do when it gets dark?”
“We need to all be together,” Mirabelle said. The river was wider here, but they could not see through the water.
“I’d like to know when it will get dark,” Adolphus said, staring up again. “I can’t see the sun! The whole sky is the same; there’s no bright point.”
“It must be behind the trees,” Claire said. “Oh! I wish we hadn’t lost all the rope!”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» Gerhardt fished in his pocket for his knife but the vines grabbed his hand. He managed to get two fingers on the knife and fling it towards his other hand. Luckily he was not bad with his left hand and managed to open the blade and start sawing away at the vines. Tendrils slapped his face and grabbed his hand but he slashed back. It pulled his feet into the mud. He kicked and shouted and slashed with his pocketknife.
Behind him the water exploded. A wave hit the bank, uncovering little Bettina’s buried face. She coughed and spluttered. Something sailed over Gerhardt’s head and landed on the bank with a thud. It was Annabelle! She jumped up and stomped on vines, shouting Italian curses.
Then there was an earthquake. At least that’s what Gerhardt thought when he found his eyeballs shaking. It was a roar, a deafening roar. Enormous brown hands plunged deep into the mud and tore out vines and children alike. Gerhardt flew onto dry ground and Bettina landed beside him.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children at last ascend to the surface of the earth, only to find themselves in more danger!
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The river did not quicken to throw them over a cliff. The cave broadened and the river slowed. The twins plied their oars for speed. Gerhardt, carving a name for their vessel into its hull, looked down and realized he had spelled “Mycelium” wrong.
“Hey,” he said, “there’s light.”
Ahead across the broad, flat water was a slit of blinding light, so welcome that the children stared into it until they had to close their eyes against it, and then saw the bright red impression of it against their closed eyelids.
They cheered and rowed toward it.
The cave mouth was low and they all had to lie down in the mushroom cap to pass through. With the yeti lying in there as well there was not enough room, so Claire and Adolphus jumped into the cold water and clung to the back of the boat, kicking to propel them back into the light.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which we discover what Claire found.
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“This narrow cave will open into an enormous cavern,” Claire said. “I don’t know how big, I couldn’t see very far because I only have one of Mother’s algae lamps.”
“So that’s where that went,” Adolphus muttered.
“Shhh! Go on, Claire,” Mirabelle said.
“But there was light there! I think there were cracks in the cave ceiling, or vertical tunnels, because there were patches of light beaming down. That’s where these mushrooms are growing. This is one of the biggest. I chopped it down at the base, then made the pole and oars out of the stem.”
“That was clever and brave of you!” Annabelle said.
“It is nice to have a boat that doesn’t leak,” Gerhardt added.
“But next time, please tell us,” Annabelle said. “We were worried.”
Adolphus opened his mouth to speak. There was the muffled thump of a sharp kick to the shins, so all he said was “Ow!”
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which we learn of Claire’s fate.
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Gerhardt was gone. Mirabelle grabbed the net, kicked out of Adolphus’ grip, and leaned over the edge to look for him. She expected to see him bobbing in the current downstream with only the hope of catching onto Claire’s rope to save him, but Claire’s rope was no longer stretching into the blackness downstream. Instead, here was Claire herself, standing in a perfectly round boat with a surprised Gerhardt sitting beside her.
Mirabelle turned back and leaped at her siblings. Adolphus and Annabelle caught her. She grabbed Gerhardt’s shoe and reassured her horrified twin.
“He’s safe! Claire’s back; it’s time to go.”
There was little left on the ship worth taking. They loaded up the rope, the last of the food and tools, the algae lamp and their sodden winter clothing, and last of all the yeti, dragged onto the raft with considerable heaving and ho-ing.
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This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which Bettina’s excellent idea puts her siblings in grave danger.
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“Net yeti,” said Bettina.
“Yes, dear, it was a nice yeti,” Mirabelle said.
“Net yeti,” Bettina repeated pointing up.
Gerhardt looked up. In the dim light he saw the dark square of the open trapdoor, through which he had ascended many hours, or possibly days ago.
“The balloon net,” he said. “She means the balloon net.”
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