BONKI's Adventure

Where was she? How did she get here?  Slowly, Belle followed the narrow, barren path in front of her....

Bonki screamed. The scream was smothered by Tiki’s large, soft arm. She pointed to the sky.

“What are those things?”“Well, these are their holes. They are the Strattadunder. They roam the skies over the forest and pick up new ones to keep the forest happy.”“New what?”“Well…new animals, new ones like you and me. New ones who are not already there.”

Carefully, so carefully, Bonki closed her hands around the fairy. But instead of feeling the fluffy soft fairy, her hands filled with black smoke! Frightened, she  opened her hands again. The fairy was gone and the black smoke floated away in the soft breeze. 

Bonki looked down and saw the enormous Strattadunder approaching fast, whizzing through the air straight towards them. They were close now, throwing their long tentacle-arms at her.....

Bonki shivered. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere the Grollers wouldn’t see them. Everywhere she looked, the white and flat scenery stretched on. She glanced over at Muffin who was even bluer than usual. Slowly, she looked up.

Askia was completely deserted and nearly silent. But sometimes Bonki could hear a squeaking sound far away, like the squeak from slowly letting air out of a balloon. The sound made the hair on her arms stand straight.

Suddenly, something changed. Bonki could feel it in her bones. The ground she sat on started quaking. The ladies, who had been frozen, began to tremble and the fishtails on their heads made a clicking sound that they hadn’t done before. Bonki peaked between her legs at her feet. Where had she ended up?