Extinct Animals Come Back Alive–Or Maybe They Don’t, Because it’s 1500 BCE

A few hours later, the vegetation started becoming scarce.

Walter seemed gleeful about this, because they were nearing the desert.

But Mavis couldn’t understand his joy. After all, deserts meant no water, scorching heat and simple cooking of eggs, whose taste she hated.

The animals, on the other hand, wished Mavis had drunk that magic potion so that they could understand her. They didn’t know where they were even going, and their instinct was to walk away from the deserts, so why were they walking towards it?

Suddenly, the horses stopped abruptly and Mavis and Walter were startled.

‘Are you scared of the vegetation?’ asked Walter in surprise.

In front of them was a hedge that they couldn’t see past.

Mavis hopped off Star and brushed away the thick branches of a bush.

She peered through, and something surprised her. She turned to Walter. ‘You may want to see this.’

He shrugged and hopped off Peanut Butter’s back and walked up to the hedge. He peered through and his face swelled with joy.

Behind the hedge, was a small drop, beyond which, was the vast stretch of the desert. It seemed to stretch forever and didn’t look very inviting, for there was no vegetation in sight. But Mavis and Walter had been hunting for this place for ages, so it was almost appealing.

‘How wonderful!’ cried Walter in delight.

Mavis looked uncertain. ‘Once we go in, we may never return.’ ‘But Mavis, this is our only way of going home!’ protested Walter.

Mavis shrugged. ‘I guess it is. No point in turning back after all this. Come on.’

Walter looked troubled. ‘Mavis, I probably should have told you this before . . .’

Mavis looked up sharply. ‘What?’ Walter hesitated. ‘Well, we’re not supposed to touch the sand. King Antaniama said that it’s cursed.’

Mavis stared in disbelief. ‘But Walter! The horses and Snowdrop can’t fly across the desert without a break!’ Walter nodded sadly. ‘Do we have a choice?’ Mavis looked at the desert. ‘We are so dead.’

Walter shrugged. ‘Never mind. We should find a rock somewhere to land.’

He seemed doubtful, but Mavis didn’t argue.

They mounted their horses once again and flew down the drop.

‘Prepare yourself for the worst,’ Mavis whispered into Star’s ear.

Alpha was sitting on Snowdrop’s back. Ruby, who was flying by them, decided to take a break and perched on the dragon’s neck.

Like how Walter had predicted, they came across a lot of rocks on the way. They decided to make the most of them and landed on them, for thirty minutes. But the rocks were burning hot, so Mavis spread out their tents’ sheets on them.

Once, though, they came to a point where there were no rocks anywhere in sight.

The horses and Snowdrop were exhausted.

Mavis and Walter looked at them worriedly.

The horses’ heads sank low with tiredness. They were unconscious to the world and just beat their wings.

Snowdrop, not used to such heat, was ten times worse. Her head hung down limply and her eyes were closed. Once, she started sinking low and Walter cried out loud, bringing her back to her senses.

Mavis gave Walter a worried glance. The two knew they had to land somewhere. And if they didn’t, they were more or less already dead.

Suddenly, Star started to sink down.

Mavis yelped and tugged his reins. But he was oblivious to these tugs and drifted further down.

‘STAR!’ shrieked Mavis in horror.

But he had already landed. Just after landing, he collapsed of exhaustion.

Mavis fell off his back onto the sand.

‘Mavis!’ screamed Walter hovering over her on Peanut Butter.

Mavis sat up and jumped to her feet. The sand was boiling and she could feel her feet burning even through her boots, given to her by the Woodland Elves.

But, then, this was normal in a desert, wasn’t it?

Walter was sobbing now. ‘We shouldn’t have come here! We shouldn’t have!’ ‘Walter,’ said Mavis patiently, ‘this place is not cursed.’

Walter blinked. ‘Say what, now?’ Mavis kicked some sand away to prove her point. ‘See, nothing here. You can land.’

Walter didn’t even have to react. Overcome with jealousy, seeing Star relaxing on the sand, Snowdrop and Peanut Butter were already swooping down.

The moment their feet were on the ground, the two collapsed. Ruby and Alpha, on Snowdrop, stayed rooted to their spot, though, because the sand would burn their feet.

Walter gingerly poked the ground with his foot. ‘Nothing is strange about this. King Antaniama may have been talking about a myth.’

But he spoke too soon. There was a rumble in the distance. Feeling the vibrations of the ground, the animals lifted their heads.

‘What is it?’ asked Walter.

Mavis didn’t reply. She was craning her neck to see what was making the sound.

Then, to their shock, they saw a stampede moving towards them, in the distance. It consisted of what looked like a few flightless birds. They looked like huge turkeys with big sharp beaks like toucans. They were dark grey, but their beaks were pale yellow.

The two recognized them from their history textbook.

‘Dodos,’ gasped Walter.

‘Magestosos,’ corrected Mavis. You probably know that ‘dodo’ means ‘stupid’ in Portuguese. Well, Mavis hated that name and created another one: ‘magestoso,’ meaning ‘majestic’ in Portuguese.

‘Mavis, this is not the time,’ groaned Walter.

‘True. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!’

She leapt onto Star, who was now up, trying to work out what on earth those birds in the distance were. Tugging his reins, she galloped away.

Soon, she was joined by the others. Walter was on Peanut Butter, and Alpha and Ruby were on Snowdrop, who was running even though she was slow at it. No one was able to fly because their bodies hurt when they did so.

But, however fast they ran, the dodos were faster. They were slowly gaining on them.

‘This place is so cursed!’ shouted Walter.

Mavis felt her hands turn cold. She didn’t notice though, because she was too busy panicking. But she did notice when blue sparks flickered around her fingers.

‘What the–'

Suddenly, a blue blast of light shot out of her hands. She lifted them in horror. Blue light blasted everywhere.

It nearly hit Walter’s head, but he ducked just in time.

‘Mavis, what is going on?’ he shrieked.

‘I don’t know!’ wailed Mavis looking tearful.

Just then, Walter realised that sparks were forming around his own fingers. Control it, he thought and clenched his hands into a fist. He felt his hands turn warm again and was relieved.

‘Control it, Mavis!’ he called to her.

But Mavis was in no state to be controlled. Blue light blasted out of her hands all over the place. She was screaming in fear and Star was neighing loudly, exciting the other animals.

‘It’s magic!’ Walter shouted. ‘Everyone has magic in them. Something has triggered it in us!’

But this made Mavis worse. ‘Magic? There’s magic in me? I don’t want magic!’ She was hysteric.

Walter hurriedly rode Peanut Butter towards Star, dodging the magic as he went.

He grabbed Star’s reins and made him turn around. The magic from Mavis started to blast the magestosos down.

‘WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?’ shrieked Mavis.

Walter shrugged. This was out of his hands now. A few counselling sessions and she’d be all fixed up.

He watched as the magestosos were blasted down one by one. But the problem was that, when one got blasted down, the other would come.

They were unstoppable.

Walter decided that they needed more power. He looked at his fingers doubtfully.

Mavis and Walter blasted down the magestosos. There were still more, but the stampede was weakened. After some time, the birds stopped running. They stood where they were for a moment, then turned and fled.

‘Oh, they’ve finally given up,’ said Walter, relieved.

He looked at Mavis.

She was still panicking and blasting her magic all over the place.

He managed to calm her down and she was able to stop her magic.

‘Let’s fly,’ she begged. ‘I don’t want any more of these powers.’ She watched blue sparks dance about her fingertips.

Walter sighed. ‘Well, I don’t think that’s the idea. We got our magic because it was triggered. The desert just has a lot of magic in it.’

‘I don’t care,’ snapped Mavis. ‘And anyway, if we stay on the ground, we’ll be chased by dinosaurs next.’

Walter looked at their animals. ‘Well, they’re in no state to fly now. It must be exhaustion.’

Mavis sighed. ‘Then let’s prepare ourselves for more curses.’ She tried to climb onto Star’s back, but her feet were stuck. ‘Uh . . . Walter?’ But Walter had the same fate as hers. ‘Don’t struggle,’ he warned; ‘you’ll only sprain your ankle. We’re in quicksand. This place is totally cursed.’

‘You don’t say.’

Walter looked at his feet. Thick mud had come only up to his ankles, and yet he couldn’t move. ‘Listen,’ he told Mavis. ‘I know how we can get out.’

‘Go on,’ said Mavis. She was rapidly sinking and mud was now up to her shins.

‘We need to lie down flat.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Come on, they do it in movies!’ ‘People can have laser eyes for that matter.’

‘Mavis, trust me.’

‘Well, I’d rather die quickly.’

The two lay down flat on the mud.

‘See, we are spreading out our weight. We’re now lighter and won’t sink further,’ smiled Walter.

But Mavis looked doubtful. The mud that was previously up to her ears, was slowly rising. ‘This isn’t working,’ she said slowly.

Walter looked horrified. ‘It isn’t working! We’re going to sink faster now that we’re flat!’ The mud was rising.

Mavis didn’t even have time for last prayers. ‘Goodbye, world,’ she whispered.

Mavis landed with a bump in a huge underground chamber. It was pitch dark and she couldn’t see. She fumbled about and found Spark lying in a corner. She lit a light on the weapon’s tip and shone it around to see where she was.

She found herself in a stone room. Above her, was a ceiling made of mud. She was startled to find a pair of legs sticking out. Not only that but the legs of two horses, the legs of a little dog and a long white tail.

She realised that the quicksand was floating above her and her friends were sinking and would soon reach the chamber.

She wiped off the dried sand from her face. She could see clearer now.

There was a crunch under her foot.

She looked down, and to her horror, found a skull on the ground. She yelped and stepped back.

More crunches.

She nearly fainted to see the bones of humans decorating the ground.

I don’t stand a chance.

There was suddenly a loud thud.

She saw Walter lying on the ground. She walked up to him.

‘Ugh, where are we?’ he groaned.

‘In an underground chamber. Don’t look down.’

‘Why not? OH MY GOD! ARE THESE BONES? WHY ARE THERE BONES ON THE GROUND?’

‘Well, we won’t end up like them,’ said Mavis soothingly.

Another thud.

Another.

Another.

Another (It’s strange the ground didn’t crack).

The horses, Alpha and Snowdrop were lying on the ground. They were dazed but relieved to see that Mavis and Walter were with them.

‘All but Ruby,’ said Walter. ‘How will we get her to come?’ ‘I know a way,’ grinned Mavis.

She pulled out a jade bottle from her pocket and had a sip of the liquid in it.

‘Ruby, come down here!’ she shouted.

‘You’re speaking in Horse!’ cried Star in disbelief.

‘Sorry, wrong language. Ruby, come down!’

‘Now it’s Dog. You really need to work on your communication skills.’

‘Sorry. Ruby, come on down!’ ‘Mavis?’ came the reply from up.

‘Ruby, listen we’re all safe down here. Come down.’

There was a flutter of wings. Everyone saw Ruby’s head appear above them.

‘Oh, my Gawd. You went head first?’

‘Yeah. Why are there skeletons on the ground?’ Mavis pretended not to hear.

After some time, Ruby came down.

‘If ya keep drinkin’ that potion, ya gonna finish tha’ bottle,’ she remarked.

‘I drank only a teensy bit,’ said Mavis. ‘Your grammar is all wrong. It’s wearing out.’

She turned to see Walter staring at her in disbelief. ‘You can talk to animals?’ Mavis showed him the bottle. ‘This potion lets me. But it soon wears out. A rat gave it to me.’

A few months ago, Walter would have raised an eyebrow saying: Sure he did. But now, Walter had seen enough to believe anything. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘It would be helpful.’

He looked around thoughtfully. The underground chamber was built with a stone wall, probably to make whoever was inside cool and relieved from the desert heat.

‘There,’ he said, ‘we can pull out those rocks.’ he pointed to a few loose rocks on the chamber’s walls. ‘There would be sand behind them, which we could dig a tunnel out through.’

Mavis looked doubtful. ‘It’s desert sand. It would be so loose that it would probably collapse onto us.’

‘It’s still worth a try, right?’

‘There should be an easier way. Why don’t we wait for the horses’ wings to heal, and fly through the quicksand?’ ‘Nah, wouldn’t work. We could get stuck in halfway.’

‘Quicksand is just loose sand. We could easily fly through.’

‘And yet it’s floating above us.’

‘Magic?’

‘Yeah, why not. Magic. So why can’t we get stuck because of magic?’

Mavis sighed because she knew she was defeated. ‘Any other ideas?’ ‘No. Not really.’

‘So basically, we’re trapped in here,’ said Mavis.

‘There has to be a way out!’ protested Walter. ‘There must be a tunnel or something leading out!’

Mavis sighed, giving in. ‘Well, no point in giving up after all this. I’ll help you search.’

The two hunted around for the tunnel, shivering in the cold.

Walter lit a small fire by shooting his arrow on the floor of the chamber, but this gave them little warmth.

Mavis looked up at the ceiling of the floating quicksand and jumped up suddenly.

On the walls of the chamber, was a small tunnel. She couldn’t make out what was inside because it was too dark, but there was no other way of escape.

‘Walter,’ she called.

He made his way to her through the bones.

She pointed to the tunnel. ‘I found it.’

Walter seemed uncertain. ‘Mavis, that tunnel is so dark. We have no idea of what’s in there.’

Mavis shook her head indignantly. ‘Do we have any other way of escape?’

Walter still seemed unsure, so Mavis made an offer. ‘I’ll go in first,’ she said. ‘If I meet my doom, you can decide against going in.’

Walter opened his mouth to object, but shut it because he knew Mavis would win the argument anyway. He said nothing.

‘Good. No objections? I’m going in.’

She looked up at the tunnel. She was not bad at rock climbing, but these walls were too slippery, dripping with underground water. She didn’t want to give up now, though, because Walter would laugh.

She waited for him to stop her.

No such luck.

She pulled out her silver spider rope, looped it on one end, and chucked it to the tunnel. It lassoed a rock, but after a while, slipped and fell to the ground.

She tried again.

It fell.

‘Okay, looks like we’re doing this the hard way.’

She grabbed a rock above her. Her fingers slipped and she was relieved that her feet were still on the ground.

She tried again, gripping it as tightly as she could, and hoisted her legs up. She went climbing up till her hands were grasping a rock right under the mouth of the cave.

She didn’t whoop, because she had read a lot of books where the comedian would stupidly punch the air when halfway up and find himself falling to his doom.

She put her left hand on the bottom of the tunnel to pull herself up, but unfortunately, it was flooded with underground water on the inside.

Her hand slipped.

Luckily her right hand was still holding on.

Slip.

‘Gaaaaaah!’

Mavis found herself falling.

Walter shrieked from down.