QUALA
(Book 02)
ESCAPE FROM HEADHUNTER ISLAND
by
Mark Richmond
Co Written by
Robert Watts
Illustrated by
Skidone
PUBLISHED BY:
Quala (Book 02) – ESCAPE FROM HEADHUNTER ISLAND
Copyright © 2010 by Mark Richmond
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Mark Richmond would like to thank.
My Mom and Dad for all their support and not thinking that I am crazy for doing this! Sulan Dussault, for putting up with my late nights, and for strenuously editing my writing into something enjoyable to read. Robert Watts, for the many hours of discussions with Rum and Cokes in hand, and honing this story into something epic and spectacular. The sculptures are also insane to look at!
This story will continue on a bi-monthly basis so please return to the website each month to get the next chapters.
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Jah Nayabingi – The Narrator
Greetings Mon, Kimi an Quala mek deh way outta di favela an into dem boat headin’ out to di sea. Quala, him knocked out cold an Kimi protect him from di elements inside the covered bow of di boat.
Meanwhile in di heavens, all tings are quiet, Orchid is in a confused state, for di pirate mon, Vivaldo is nowhere to be seen. She know him up to something, but she cyaant do nuttin bout it. She must trust in Kimi to make di right choices and she meditate toward Vivaldo’s whereabouts to see what him up to.
Vivaldo is up to a new plan to take over the heaven’s, but even he must track down Kimi, and win her over to defeat di Queen and rule di heavens and Earth.
Now we join Kimi and Quala in deir floating world with whereabouts unknown, they just drift, an drift, an drift…
December 27th - 30th, 2012 (time & date in a blur)
Kimi & Quala floating out into the abyss in a rickety old fisherman’s boat, with little protection, and even less to eat and drink.
Kimi has lost track of how many days they’ve been out to sea, the half day windy storm only helped a little to push them out of the coastal region of Rio. Seemingly heading north they have slowed way down now that the tiny outboard motor has ran out of gas, and the once full sail is now ripped to shreds from the mast breaking apart from the winds. Kimi uses the leftover parts of the sail to cover the dormant Quala underneath the bow of the boat, and to cover herself from the harsh elements of the sun. The fresh water from the water balloons is gone and so are the cans of sardines she grabbed along the way, Kimi hasn’t slept and is now so exhausted, she falls into a deep sleep.
Drifting and drifting through the calm waters, sunset and nightfall take their course and Kimi enters into a deep dream state. Kimi lies underneath the bow cover, curled up next to Quala with arms wrapped around him. Her eyes moving side to side beneath her eyelids, flashes of all that has taken place overwhelm her dreams. As if everything was moving a hundred miles an hour, she vividly relives the moment waking up to Quala telling her they need to run, the exploding toys, the squirt guns, the helicopter, and then the boat. Then the dream starts to slow down, everything turning black except for a distant rosy colored orb that is floating her way growing in size as it gets closer. Finally the rosy orb flows right through her as it surrounds her and tingles like an slight electric current passes through. Suddenly it’s daytime and the boat is flying high up in the clouds. Wide awake standing in the middle of the boat with her torn candomble dress flowing in the wind. It isn’t hot or cold out, and no sense of gravity pulling down, just flying through a beautiful sky passing clouds along the way. Up ahead is a giant cloud with something huge planted in the middle of it. As she gets closer she begins to see that it is a massive tree, at least 300 feet wide and the top of it goes so high, the clouds break apart to reveal the darkness of space, stars and planets. She floats even closer and there is a massive bee hive hanging down off a bridge sized branch that bends towards her. The boat slows down as it approaches a long wooden dock intricately engraved with honeycomb shapes intertwined with bees and vines. Rose bushes exploding with red, yellow and white roses line the sides of the dock creating a fence. Two 7ft tall honey bees standing on their hind legs, dressed in very elaborate armor welcome Kimi at the end of the dock.
Bee: With a slight buzzing sound to its deep voice “Hello Kimi, we have been eagerly awaiting your arrival, don’t be alarmed, we are here for your protection and to escort you to see Vivaldo, we are all here to help you.”
Kimi says nothing, a little afraid, grabs Quala wrapped in sail, places him into a carriage fit for a king that sits on the dock. She gets into the carriage, and the bee knights tow the carriage down the dock to a huge honeycomb shaped gate. A strange buzzing noise is emitted and more large bees fly out from above and open the gate. They continue into the hive castle, passing 5 story engraved columns, rolling over what looks like marble floors lit by 55 gallon drum sized candles that make mountains of drippings to the floor, and a honey colored glow light up tens of thousands of gold vases full of flowers, she feels as if she’s in ancient Rome made of wax. As they continue down a long corridor, there are rows of more bee knights bowing to kimi as if she was there queen. At the end of the corridor, another honeycomb shaped doorway opens up to a grand ballroom lit by candles, waterfalls of honey flow along the sides, a long table overflowing with food and at the far end of the table, a throne that befits a king of kings. Sitting upon the throne is Vivaldo, wearing a large golden crown and a long furry black and yellow striped robe. Holding a golden scepter topped with a stylized golden bee, he tilts it and the bee knights escort Kimi from the carriage to a seat at the table facing Vivaldo. The bees place Quala in a chair next to Kimi and then proceed to guard the doorway.
Vivaldo: “Hello my little bubblegum! And welcome to our castle.” (All the while, small and large bees alike buzz around preparing plates of gourmet foods for Kimi , Quala, and Vivaldo. 18 inch gold plates stacked with honey glazed ham and pineapple, sweet potato, and steamed yellow carrots topped with honey butter. The smell of the warm honey scent mixed with the salty, smokey ham has Kimi so hungry she can barely pay attention to the whole magical moment and what Vivaldo is saying. He steps down from the throne, walks over to Kimi, gets down on one knee and gently holds her hand. “I am unable to come to you for now, but you are able to come to me just as you have today. You will always have a safe place here, for now you must be hungry, so please eat to your hearts desire.”
Kimi only hearing, “please eat”, digs in, forgetting the fork and knife, stuffs her face rapidly by hand. The hefty Vivaldo laughs deeply and takes a seat at the head of the table and proceeds to eat as well.
Vivaldo: “I see that your little friend is unable to dine with us tonight, unfortunately there is nothing I can do about that here, but I can tell you that he is going to be fine, he just needs a good rattling when you get back to dry land on Earth.”
Kimi thinking to h
erself now that she has polished the plate of food, and is in a bit of a food high state, (Am I not on Earth right now? Where am I? Why is Vivaldo being so nice? What does he mean “our castle”? Where’s the bubblegum?) Then her thoughts abruptly stopped by a large golden mug of fresh cold water, sweetened with the nectar of honeysuckle. She gulps it down, half it spilling all over. As soon as she sets the cup down, worker bees fill it back up for her.
Vivaldo: “Kimi, I can only protect you if I know where you are, but you have to close your eyes and think of me, I thought I had lost you for a bit, in fact I’ve been searching for you since you where a baby. Something was triggered a few nights