The Reluctant Adventures of Pigglebottom Broadsword

Chapter Seventeen

The Turtlebird continued to trudge its way, each step seemingly slower than the last, over the endless sand dunes of Desterlasioul. Pigglebottom was beginning to feel his sanity slipping from him as easily as the sand was falling from his poncho. The sheer boredom he felt sitting atop the strange beast for hours on end staring at a whole lot of nothing was really starting to get to him. He reminisced that he hadn't been this bored since all those times he'd had to wait for his mother outside of the doctors as she got her yearly toenail clipping. A few hours before, he had attempted to keep his mind together by forcing himself to try to recite the name of every person in his classes at school. He got as far as 'Ada Avancheh', which was not particularly far.

His mind slowly drifted from one thing to another almost by its own accord, one minute his mother's angry face was shouting 'What have you got yourself into now!" and then images of his father Baron, looking somewhat uninterested, peppered his psyche.

The sun was now at its highest point in the sky as Pigglebottom felt every muscle in his body crying, he was boiling hot but at the same time freezing cold. Astonishingly dry but also drenched in sweat. Just as he thought his body was to give up, he once again spied something peculiar-looking in the distance. This time it was straight ahead, and seemingly still. As they got closer and closer, Pigglebottom slowly began to see a small oasis. He nudged the Turtlebird a few times and it began moving slightly quicker than before until it too noticed the sight in the distance and suddenly revealed its top speed which was almost as fast as the one Mushandi had flown away on a few moments before. The sight seemed more unreal the closer it came into view, a large pool of glisteningly pure water surrounded by some tall overhanging trees which provided plenty of shade and delectable-looking fruits. There was also a curious thing just past the water, a collection of giant boulders which were arranged seemingly in the shape of an entrance of some sort, which housed a dim glow seemingly lingering deep within it.

Pigglebottom dismounted the Turtlebird as fast as he could and jumped down onto the blisteringly hot sand and clambered into the cool pure water of the pool. He did this so quickly that he forgot to even take his shoes off. His poncho bobbed up and down in the water as Pigglebottom breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed water on his face. 'If this is a mirage' he thought to himself 'that's fine with me!'

Pigglebottom remained in the pool for around 30 minutes or so and eventually realised he should have taken his clothes off first (something he quickly rectified). The water circled around his body and cooled his skin. His feet had been sweating profusely since entering the desert, a fact which was confirmed by the reeds in the water that all seemed to be pointing (almost attempting to tear themselves) away from the direction of his feet.

He bobbed up and down for a good long while, enjoying the reduced temperatures of the shade, and the moist bed he was floating in. The Turtlebird dipped its head in the water, then violently shook the droplets off of itself. As it did so, a spooked look came over its face. Quick as a flash, the Turtlebird's body stiffened before suddenly running full pelt away from the water, squawking and grunting as it did so and darting straight for the cave entrance. Jumping into the air the Turtlebird descended down into the cave mouth, it was now out of view to Pigglebottom, who was so relaxed he'd forgotten of the existence of the cave entirely, not that he would have even had the inclination to enter it.

Sometime later, Pigglebottom opened his eyes and it was suddenly dark, and there he was, still floating in the pool of water in god-knows-where in Desteralasioul. He recalled the incident with his bird, and, upon turning his head from side to side, couldn't see said Turtlebird anywhere. He thus decided that the best course of action would be to locate his transport. Curling the water around his blistered and cracked fingers, Pigglebottom's legs glided to the floor of the pool as he slowly, and somewhat begrudgingly, clambered onto the desert sands once more. Unfortunately, our hero's only option was to enter the now-increasingly worrying looking cave mouth, perhaps, he wondered, his Turtlebird had entered the opening to cool down from the harsh sunlight beating down from above. Dripping and breathing a heavy sigh, he clambered into the cave mouth, one foot at a time, and slowly climbed downwards over sharp rocks and the moist dirt that clung to them. Only until he reached the bottom of the entrance could he see just how vast the cave was, it was roughly the size of 3 Kroydomeian Flurtball Fields, and its ceiling housed countless gigantic shards of ice which dangled lifelessly whilst producing the occasional drip. There was no light in the cave, except for a strange glimmer which was reflecting from a pool of water in the far corner of the cave onto the ceiling. Pigglebottom's eyes strained to inspect every nook and cranny of the cave, and whilst doing so his eyes adjusted to what at first he thought was a giant boulder, but was, in fact, a Turtlebird's shell. Pigglebottom, somewhat reluctantly, slowly began to approach, every step feeling like a step backward. The closer he grew to the shell, the more Pigglebottom's legs began to shake, his eyes occasionally darted from side to side until he spied what worryingly seemed like a pile of bones, to which he decided to refocus on his destination for fear of wetting his already-damp trousers. At around the halfway point towards the shell, he noticed what seemed to be a giant egg in his peripheral vision, which on closer inspection appeared to be open. As Pigglebottom reached the edge of the shimmering pool, the light reflected into his eyes, momentarily degrading his vision. Upon arriving at the shell he gave it a gentle nudge with his hand, but alas, there was no movement. Pigglebottom crouched down to the floor, scrabbling around in the dark for the rest of the Turtlebird's body, however, all he found was just an empty shell.