Category: Illustration (Prompts)

Allie May tried to keep her eyes on her friends as they spiraled deeper and deeper but it was no use. The river seemed to have dumped them into an underground sea. Allie May tasted salt water as she gasped for air in the funnel. She felt it could quite possibly be her last when something dove through the swirling wall of water and stopped her descent. At first she was too disoriented to know what it was, but she grabbed hold anyway. She held on tight as they swam away from the whirlpool. It did not take long for the darkness to start to recede as they moved up towards warmer water. They started seeing fish moving through the water, and then a bright and bustling coral reef stretched out in front of them. Hugh, for it was the Coypu who had rescued her, brought up Allie up to the surface of the water to catch her breath, then they both dove back down to look in wonder at the beautiful color and textures of the reef.

“I’ve always wondered where this river might flow. Now I guess I will finally know.” Cleo said with a sigh as she surfaced. All three were strong swimmers and they had no trouble following the current of the underground river as it meandered through dark tunnels. But the lack of light meant that they had no advance warning of the whirlpool that had formed ahead of them. No matter how hard they paddled to try and get clear of it they were no match for the powerful swirling funnel of water.  They were soon all so dizzy and exhausted that there was nothing they could do to keep from being pulled down into the center of it.

Most of the animals ran back towards the cave they called their outpost but Allie May had noticed a ledge with an opening near where she had been working. As the sky had darkened she thought she had seen flickers of blue light from within it. It reminded her of the will-o-the-wisp. She pulled herself up and peered into the darkness. After just a moment the blue light appeared again. She rushed after it. Cleo saw her go and gasped. She called to Hugh and told him they needed to follow and quickly. They clamoured up and rushed after her.

“Wait! Stop! Don’t run anymore! I have to tell you about the trap door!” Cleo tried to shout above the sound of the rain, but Allie May could not hear her. She was so focused on the blue light that she did not notice when the rock floor turned to a wooden bridge. But she definitely knew when the planks swung out from under her and once again she was falling. 

The water Allie May landed in was incredibly cold and deep, but she could still see the blue light glowing above her. She was able to swim towards it and get her head above water. She tread water and looked up at the booby trapped bridge. Cleo and Hugh had just arrived at the gap in the bridge. They only paused for a minute and first Hugh and then Cleo dove in after her.

The three introduced themselves and compared stories of their slides into the cave. Cleo the Armadillo had actually been in the cavern for quite some time. She had tried climbing up the walls at least a dozen different ways, but each time she had fallen back down into the sand.

“I guess I’d better taken you to meet the crew. We’re not the only ones that have fallen through,” she told them and pointed to a low opening in the rock. They crawled through into a passageway that led through many small caves. It finally opened up into a high roofed cavern with an opening to the bright blue sky far above.

“Here is our outpost where we stay. Though soon we’ll get back to the light of day,” Cleo explained. The cave was a flurry of activity, most centered around a large scaffolding. Cleo announced the new arrivals and soon they were surrounded by other animals that wanted to meet them.

“Have you told them about our plan?”
“Will they help?”
“Do you think they can?”

After a flurry of questions, and many animated interruptions, Allie May and Hugh came to understand a rocket was being built to try and get back to the surface. The trapped creatures had spent a lot of time exploring the labyrinth of connected caves and collecting a strange assortment of objects. These were being used to construct the oddest vessel Allie May had ever seen. She could not understand how it could possibly fly, but she kept her doubts to herself as she watched the animals continue with their work.

Note: At the halfway point of Inktober it seems both the words and images are struggling a bit. I find myself in need of a day off, so I combined today and tomorrow’s prompts. I’ll be back with “Storm” on Saturday.

At first the hole was nothing but a tunnel of darkness. Allie May could not see Hugh or anything else. She kept reaching out hoping to find anything she could grip, but there was nothing. After what seemed like several minutes of sliding through wet blackness there seemed to be a bit of light ahead of her. The tunnel opened up and for a moment she was flying instead of sliding, then she was on her back on a bed of cool sand. She tried to sit up but instead rolled over and across a huge sand dune. When her movement finally slowed enough she could see she had landed in an enormous cavern. There was hole way above her that let in enough light to see a roof of glistening stalactites, walls of dripping stone, and just a few yards away her friend’s long tail sticking out of the sand. She half crawled, half rolled her way across the sand to dig him out. She smiled when she heard him call her name, but it sounded like it was coming from the wrong direction. She turned and saw Hugh somersaulting down the sandy hill.

Allie May climbed up to the limb from where Hugh had thrown the acorns.

“Thank you so much for helping me out, you saved my life without a doubt!” he said to her as he gave her a hug. “Look how I am still shaking with fear. That beast is not supposed to be around here.”

“Has he bothered you before? I hope we can still explore,” Allie’s breath, heart rate, and curiosity were returning to normal. “Let’s climb higher in this tree. I wonder what all we’ll see.”

She did not wait for him to answer but immediately started up towards the top branches. Her new friend came along right behind her. Once they got to the top the view was just as magnificent as Allie had hoped. Hugh was still trembling slightly but the beauty of the scenery in front of them soon calmed him. It was turning into a lovely day. Allie was glad to remember she had put a sandwich in her pocket before leaving her basket. She gave Hugh half and they enjoyed a tree top picnic. The sky above them was blue and clear. Below them the canopy of trees spread out like a patchwork quilt. It felt like there was no end to the possible adventures in store for them.