the tunnel was growing brighter.
A few moments later the water level began to drop. We were soon able to raise our heads above the water line. The farther we traveled, the lower the water got. We went from swimming underwater, to swimming on the surface, to walking along the bottom. That answered my first question. Faar may have been underwater, but it was dry. That was cool. I didn’t like the idea of hanging out in a fish tank.
The water got low enough so we felt comfortable taking off our air globes. We were now standing in the tunnel with only a few inches of water lapping at our feet. I looked forward and saw that the tunnel was about to make a right turn. The bright light that came from around the bend up ahead told me that we were soon going to see the Lost City of Faar.
We took off our fins and our spearguns, placing them in a safe pile along with our water sleds.
The fish-man we had been following then walked back to us. Yes, I said walked. On two legs. I had a brief memory ofThe Creature from the Black Lagoon, that goofy old black-and-white horror movie. But if this guy wanted to do us any harm, he would have done it back in the water so I wasn’t scared. Much. He reached up to his head and began to peel away the green layer of skin that covered his whole body. It made a wet, sucking sound as he tugged on it. For a second I thought I would puke. If this were some kind of snakelike skin-shedding ritual, I’d rather not have to see it, thank you very much.
But after a few seconds I realized what was really happening. As the light green layer of skin came off, it revealed a guy who was very much human. The green stuff wasn’t skin after all; it was some kind of fish suit. It reminded me of those tight suits that speed skaters wore in the Olympics. It was absolutely formfitting. But unlike speed skaters, this suit also gave the swimmer webbed feet and hands. Once the suit was pulled off, I saw that the guy’s hands were normal too. No webs, no scales. Underneath the fish suit he wore a blue, also formfitting, suit that went from his neck to almost his knees. It wasn’t all that different from the clothes we had on ourselves.
As it turned out, there was nothing unusual about the guy at all. He was short, not much over five feet. But he looked strong. Not a lot of fat on those bones. I couldn’t tell for sure how old he was, but I’d guess he was around thirty, in Second Earth years. He was also completely bald. Michael Jordan bald. That wasn’t all that weird, but something about his face wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t figure it out at first, but then it struck me: He didn’t have eyebrows. You never think about eyebrows until somebody doesn’t have them. It’s kind of freaky-looking. Not horrible, just freaky. Adding to the freaky quotient was the fact that his eyes were the lightest color blue I had ever seen. I actually had to look close to see that there was any color in them at all. His skin was also very white, which didn’t surprise me since he lived underwater.
In all, he was a fairly normal-looking guy, with a few strange characteristics. But nothing that would give me nightmares or anything. Things were looking up.
The guy finished pulling off his suit — it was all in one piece — and walked up to us. “My name is Kalaloo,” he said with a warm smile.
“Are we in…?” Spader asked, a little dumbfounded.
“Faar?” the guy said. “Yes. This is Faar.”
We all exchanged quick glances that said, “We made it!”
Uncle Press said, “My name is — “
“Press, yes, I know,” said Kalaloo. “And you’re Pendragon,” he said to me. “And you’re Spader. You look like your father.”
Whoa! Underwater-guy knew who we were?
“You knew my father?” Spader asked in wonder.
“I was sorry to hear of his death,” the guy said with sympathy. “He was a friend.”
“Time out,” I said. “How do you know us?”
“Spader’s father told us there would be others. We have been expecting you for some time, and watching you as well.”
“I knew it!” I blurted out. “I saw one of you under Grallion when we were escaping from the raiders!”
“Yes, that was me,” he answered. “I wanted to make sure nothing happened to you. I almost failed when you were being pulled into the engine of their ship.”
“That was you?” I said in shock.
He smiled and nodded. “It was very close.”
“Well, uh, thanks,” I said.
“Thanks” didn’t cover it.
The guy had saved my life. My head was spinning. It felt like we were three steps behind, again.
“How do you breathe underwater?” I asked. “You don’t have gills or anything, do you?”
Kalaloo let out a warm laugh and said, “No, but sometimes I wish we did.”
He lifted up the green suit and showed us that built into the fabric was a small, shiny silver mouthpiece.
“This pulls oxygen from the water; it’s very efficient.”
This looked like a smaller version of the harmonica thing on the back of the air globes.
“I was hoping that Osa would be with you,” Kalaloo said. “Will she be joining us soon?”
I looked to Uncle Press, who answered the tough question.
“Osa is dead,” he said solemnly.
Kalaloo looked genuinely hurt. “She had a daughter,” he said.
“Her name is Loor,” I said. “And she’s everything her mother wanted her to be.”
“I am saddened to hear of Osa’s passing,” said Kalaloo. “She will be missed.”
There was a silent moment of respect for Osa, then Kalaloo said, “We should go. They’re waiting for you at The Council Circle.”
“Who is?” asked Uncle Press.
“The Council of Faar,” he answered. “They are anxious to hear from you.”
The three of us exchanged looks. They were waiting foruslThis was all very strange, but there was no reason not to play along, so we followed Kalaloo toward the light.
As we walked I noticed that the ground was now completely dry. When we rounded the corner of the tunnel we stepped into an area that looked like a locker room — Faar-style. There were several people there, all pulling off their green fish skins. They must have been the swimmers we saw outside. They all had the same look as Kalaloo: light skin, bald, no eyebrows, and bluish eyes. It was kinda freaky, but I was already getting used to them. What should I call them? I wondered. Faarites? Faarmers? Faarbarians? I soon learned to refer to the people there as “Faarians.”
They hung their swim skins on hooks and then put on these soft, white tunics that had a little bit of an ancient Roman feel. These gowns pulled down over their heads and went to above their knees. They tied them tightly at the waist with pieces of cloth that varied in color from rich green to deep red. Nobody wore shoes, not even sandals.
As Kalaloo led us past them, many of the people smiled and welcomed us.
I said “hi” back as many times as I could. I wanted to show them that I was cool too. It got to the point where I was walking backward to keep eye contact with them. I kept walking backward until I walked right into Uncle Press.
“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to — ” I turned around and froze. The words caught in my throat. That’s because I had just gotten my first glimpse of the Lost City of Faar. Or maybe I should call it the Found City of Faar. Maybe I’ll just call it Faar. Or maybe I’ll just call it… phenomenal.
Where should I start? Yet again, I was about to enter an entirely new and amazing place. I had to keep telling myself that according to legend it once existed on the surface. If that were true, then this city would be plenty cool. But when you factor in that we were sitting hundreds of feet below the ocean — well, then it became unbelievable.
As strange as this may sound, I was looking out at a rocky mountain. I know, that’s impossible, but that’s what it was. The city was built into and around the craggy ledges of a small mountain. The mouth of the tunnel was closer to the top than the bottom so we were actually looking down at most of Faar.
The city had an ancient feel to it. There were no modern buildings, no cars, and no sign of technology anywhere. But there were plenty of birds. Can you believe it? Birds were flying in this underwater cavern!
The buildings had an ancient Greek look with marble staircases that led up to the columned entryways of domed structures. They were perched all over this craggy mountain and ranged in size from huge, impressive
