Bot Story:
    Book 1 – Nancy and the Ferrets

Chapter 3

Nancy walked along while balancing the basket on her hip with her left hand, and eating the apple with her right. Weasy ran up from behind.

"Let me help you with that," she said and took one handle of the basket and Nancy kept the other. They walked side by side in silence while Nancy worked on her apple.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like a bite of apple?" Nancy asked.

"Its not too green is it?" asked Weasy. "Is it sweet?"

"Oh yes, just right," and Nancy held it down so the little ferret could reach it.

Weasy carefully gripped the apple in her free paw, sniffed it, and then licked at some of the juice. "Mmmm," and she took a big bite and handed the rest of the apple back to Nancy. The piece that Weasy had bitten off was too big for her small mouth, so she transferred it to her free paw. Then took smaller bites and ate those.

Nancy finished the rest of the apple and said to Weasy, "I can take this now, both my hands are free."

"Ok," and Weasy let go and fell in behind Nancy on the trail.

After a bit the trail dipped down closer to the lakeshore and Nancy could see an island at the west end of the lake. It had a large willow tree and a couple of docks. As they continued west Nancy began to notice a strange sound coming from the vicinity of the island.

Presently they reached the west end of the lake and the trail turned north. As they followed the trail around the end of the lake, the island drew closer and the noise got louder.

Nancy asked, "What is that sound?"

"That's the vortex," replied Sparkle, as she stepped off the trail and turned toward the lake. "We should dip the basket in the lake and refresh the crawdads so they stay alive. It is a ways back to our hole yet." The island was almost directly east of where she had stopped.

Nancy stepped off the trail next to Sparkle, then Weasy. The three of them waded into the shallow water. Nancy studied the lake carefully.

She could see the surface of the water was not flat, but dipped downward. A dock protruded out from the island and it had a kind of wooden crane built onto the end of it. An empty hook on a steel cable dangled three or four feet above the water's surface and this was were the water seemed to be dimpled the lowest. I small raft of floating leaves was circling the dimple, speeding up as it approached the center. Then it was gone. There was a kind of slurping sound.

"Wow," said Nancy. "So that's the vortex?" She lowered the basket into the water, but hung onto the handles.

"Yep," said Sparkle. "Round and round then slurp, down you go!" She giggled.

"Slurp!" Added Weasy, "and splash! Into the lake."

"Yes. The lake, but first a waterfall," said Sparkle.

"Oh yes," agreed Weasy, nodding her head. "You fall into a pool from the vortex. And water pounds down on your head."

"Then you are swept downstream," added Sparkle.

"And you go over a waterfall," continued Weasy.

"If you're careless," said Sparkle.

"Yes, if you're careless," agreed Weasy. "And then into the lake."

"Yes, then into the lake," said Sparkle.

"Wait, wait. You mean to tell me there is a lake under this lake?" asked Nancy. She looked skeptically at the two ferrets.

"Well, it is not a very big lake," said Weasy.

"But it is a pretty lake," added Sparkle. "And fun to explore too!"

"Yes, fun," said Weasy. "Lots of twisty little tunnels, and smells, and places to dig." She smiled happily.

"A lake, how do you know this?" Nancy still wasn't convinced. "Have you been down there?"

"Yes!" said both ferrets at once.

"And you got sucked down by the vortex?" asked Nancy.

"Yes!" they chirped together. "It's fun," added Weasy.

"Okay," said Nancy slowly. "How did you get back out?"

"Oh, we took the elevator of course," said Sparkle.

Nancy looked at Sparkle as if the little ferret had just grown a second head.

"Well, there is an elevator," said Sparkle, somewhat defensively. "Honest. It comes up over there." And she pointed northeast.

Nancy looked and could see a large building partly hidden in the trees. "What is that place?" she asked.

"The Creation Workshop," said Weasy.

"They make things there," added Sparkle.

"Of course," said Nancy. "That makes sense." She thought about what she'd learned of this world: Talking animals, a donkey selling ice cream, tigers that weren't, some fearful creature called Bluto, a vortex, an underground lake with an elevator, and blue crawfish the size of lobsters. That they made things in a workshop was about the only thing that did make sense. She looked down at the closed lid of the basket. "How will we know when the crawfish are ready to travel again?"

"We look," said Weasy. She edged toward the basket and carefully lifted the lid, peering inside. "Lively, I think they are ready to go." She clapped the lid shut again.

"Shall we ladies?" said Sparkle, and she turned toward the trail and waded to shore.

Back on the trail the ferrets and Nancy shook the excess water from their clothes and fur. Nancy looked at the short fur on her arm, then crossed her eyes and looked down her broad muzzle. "That is another weird thing about this world, here I am a cowgirl," she thought. "Quite literally, a cow-girl. Oh well, I've been far worse in other worlds. Being a cowgirl is not so bad." She picked up the basket by the two handles as the last of the water drained through the wicker. She could hear the crawfish rustling around inside.

Sparkle had been watching and when Nancy picked up the basket, Sparkle turned without a word and started walking northward on the trail. Nancy followed and Weasy fell in behind.

Shortly the trail began to rise as the lake fell behind them. All around were giant sycamore trees. As the land rose the soil became stony and further up the hill Nancy could see a band of a light colored rock several feet high, which the trail wound past.

Suddenly Sparkle froze, her body tense. Nancy and Weasy stopped, watching her. She slowly turned looking over her shoulder at them. She held her finger up to her lips and winked. She looked around and spotted a large tree just by the side of the trail a short distance ahead. She scampered to it, taking up a position behind the trunk.

"What is she doing?" Nancy whispered.

"Shhh," whispered Weasy. "Act normally."

Sparkle unbuckled her sword belt and carefully laid it on the ground, as silently as she could. Then she removed her hat and laid it on top of her swords. She flattened herself against the trunk. She seemed excited; her tail was all fluffed out so that it looked like a bottlebrush.

Weasy took a few steps forward, passing Nancy. "Stay behind me," she whispered. "This'll be fun."

Nancy wondered, "what in the world?" Then she heard a whistle up ahead and she saw a movement on the trail. When recognized who it was, panic rose in her throat for just a second. She forced herself to remain calm. "I am neither a rodent nor bird," she thought to herself, remembering what Milliscent had told her. Fizzgig was striding toward them, a toothy grin on his face.

He stopped when he recognized Nancy, he looked surprised, then embarrassed. He recovered his composure quickly and said, "Hi Weasy. Where is Sparkle? She must be around here somewhere." He sniffed the air. Then added, "Oh hi again," addressing Nancy.

He had stopped just before he'd gotten to the tree Sparkle was hiding behind. Nancy tried hard not to look at Sparkle, but she could not help but notice that Sparkle was taut like a coiled spring and her tail was vibrating with anticipation.

Weasy casually said, "Oh yea, she's around here somewhere." Then she looked over her shoulder past Nancy, back the way they had come.

"Ah then I've found her," Fizzy said. He hooked his thumbs into his belt and strode forward.

"FIZZY!" screamed Sparkle, as she dove at his midsection. Catching him completely by surprise. Driven sideways by the force of her tackle he lost his balance and they both went down, rolling over and over in the leaves. He tried to scramble away, but she had her arms wrapped tightly around his chest. Her face pressed against his neck.

"OW, OW!" he yelled. "Let go. Ow, stop that." He tried to wiggle away, his legs kicking, but she had his shoulder tightly gripped in her jaws. She shut her eyes, clamped her teeth even tighter, and shook her head; a look of bliss on her face. "OUCH!" then "Sparkle, please," he whimpered. He was flat on his back, his hind legs in the air.

She let go of his shoulder, sat up on his stomach and grinned down at him. "Hi Fizzy," she said lightly, then giggled. She licked her lips. "Oh, you taste yummy. Let's do it again!"

"No," he moaned. She started to bounce on his stomach. "Stop! Not there, I'm not build for that."

"Oh sorry," she said. "I forget." She shifted her weight forward and put her paws on either side of his neck. She leaned in closer her nose almost touching his. Fizzy was grinning up at her. His lips parted slightly in anticipation.

"Ahem," Weasy loudly cleared her throat.

"Oh!" said Sparkle, as she turned her head toward Weasy and Nancy. "Oh, sorry." She got off of Fizzy and stood up, brushing leaves from her fur. As Fizzy started to scramble to his feet, she reached down her paw to help him stand.

"Fizzy," Sparkle said. "This is our friend Nancy Drew," waving her paw in Nancy's direction. "Nancy, this is Fizzgig." Then she turned back to Fizzy and lowered her voice, "We don't prey upon our friends."

Fizzy looked down at his feet, he kicked at a pebble.

"Hello Fizzgig," said Nancy, "pleased to meet you." She curtsied as best she could while holding the basket.

He looked at her, "And I am honored to meet you too milady." And he bowed stiffly at the waist. "What is that you have there?"

Weasy spoke up, "She helped us catch some crawdads. We got a mess of 'em."

"And," added Sparkle, "she has a famous recipe she wants to try tonight. Crawdads boiled in ale."

"Really?" asked Fizzgig. "In ale?" His eyes got a little bit bigger. "I am truly honored to make your acquaintance." And he bowed again, more deeply than before. "And I know Marley will be too. I'll make sure of that." He looked around and spied his hat retrieved it, and then studied it before replacing it on his head.

"Check your daggers love, we don't want you losing any," said Sparkle.

He patted his waist and his vest, "All accounted for," he said. "Let's get going."

Holding paws and walking side-by-side, Fizzy and Sparkle started walking up the trail toward home, Nancy following with the basket, and Weasy taking up the rear. Fizzy and Sparkle had their heads together whispering and occasionally giggling out loud.

"Hey," yelled Weasy, "if you two aren't going to watch where you're going why don't you let me take point and you take rearguard."

Fizzy stopped and turned around, "Oh, sorry. Maybe you're right."

"Or better yet," continued Weasy, "why don't you two carry the basket awhile. I'll take point and Nancy can have rearguard. She's carried it a long way already."

"Thanks," said Nancy, "but I don't know anything about 'rearguard'. What do I do?"

"Keep alert," said Fizzy. "Make sure we are not attacked from behind."

Nancy set the basket down on the trial. "Attacked? Can that happen here?"

"Umm, well..." said Weasy. "Probably not, but one can never be too careful." She walked forward past Nancy and the basket as Sparkle and Fizzy came back to where Nancy was standing.

"You may want this," said Fizzy, and with a quick fluid motion he produced a dagger and held it out to Nancy, the hilt in his palm toward her and the blade lying along his forearm. "You never know..."

"Uh thanks," said Nancy. She took the dagger and stepped back, giving room to Sparkle and Fizzy who took up positions on either side of the basket.

Weasy had been watching and when Fizzy and Sparkle bent down and picked up the basket she turned and continued the march up the trail. The little group was again on the move. The trail went up a gently sloped rocky hillside through some really large sycamore trees. The forest had a pleasant open feel, like a park. A few clumps of wild flowers were scattered here and there.

Presently they reached the top of the hill and the trail leveled out. Nancy had been nervously clutching the dagger and scanning all about looking for danger. "Why am I doing this," she thought. "Surely there is not any real danger, is there?" She pondered why the ferrets seemed to think it necessary to take such precautions, and then realized maybe it was just their nature. After all they were pirates and thieves, perhaps pirates and thieves felt a need to be always wary.

Nancy studied the dagger Fizzy had lent her. The blade was about eight inches long and symmetrical with two sharp edges. Something had been done to the steel to make the surface a kind of dull blue-black color; only the very edges themselves were polished and silvery. The hilt was too small for her hand, but probably just right for Fizzy's paw. It was made of brass and set with some dark-red stones. "Maybe garnets," Nancy speculated. The hilt was wrapped with black leather and spiral wound with brass wire. Most of the hilt had a dull brownish patina except where it was worn and polished through constant handling. She smelled wood smoke and looked up.

Weasy had walked out of the forest and was headed down into an open glade; Sparkle and Fizzy were just at the forest edge. Nancy looked to her left and saw several red brick chimneys that seemed to be growing out of the grassy soil, a wisp of wood smoke curled out of one of them.

<end of chapter 3>