The Quests of Grandakar: 11 Quests, #3

By Barnaby Quirk

The magical, flying city of Grandakar is falling apart.

 

Eleven-year-old friends Quilleen and Swish have a plan to save the city. Everyone else in the city seems to have a plan, too, because they want to win a contest created by the mayor. But those plans keep failing spectacularly.

 

When Quilleen, Swish, and their new friend Zinnia discover that it may be effects of climate change harming the magic of the city, they realize just how much danger Grandakar is in.

 

Can they make an invention in time, or will Grandakar crumble and fall into the sea?

 

If you love mystery, magic, and adventure, you'll love The Quests of Grandakar.

 

The Quests of Grandakar is three books in one! Inside, you'll find The City That Moves, The Grandakar World Tour, and A City of Air and Water.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blazing Things
• Release date: Sep 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201909369

Book preview

Chapter One

The Edge of Town

"I ’m telling you, Swish, there is a scrimpch in Grandakar," Quilleen told her friend, glancing up at him as she walked. Her bushy orange eyebrows were scrunched together in annoyance as she held up a gleaming silver object twisted into a perfect knot. Her square, metal-rimmed glasses reflected the shiny knot back at a large boy walking next to her.

His right hand reached up to brush his shaggy hair away from his eyes. Are you sure your brother isn’t just splashing water in your face? Swish asked, pausing to get a better look at the object.

He wouldn’t dare! Quilleen said, her orange eyes flashing. No way would he mess with my Quest. Every dwarf from Underice learns about the Quest for Beauty and Value well before they get to Riven’s age.

Swish nodded and resumed walking. "Did you see a scrimpch? I thought the magical border was supposed to keep them out."

No, but I did notice that the pole for the street sign at Gnome Corner was tied in a knot, too. I wonder why they do that. Scrimpches, I mean. Why do they tie everything in knots?

Swish shrugged. I have only read a little bit about them. I think people flush them out of town before they get a chance to study them. I shall make a note to find out more.

He reached into a pocket at the side of his brown kilt, which looked something like a skirt, and pulled out a small pad of paper and a piece of wrapped charcoal. His blue sleeveless shirt was dotted with occasional gray splotches, likely from the charcoal. Quilleen watched as he scribbled something on the paper. Swish caught her looking and quickly shoved the paper back into his pocket.

Quilleen grinned at him. I’m always amazed that you’re able to understand what you write on that.

Swish’s voice sounded a bit tight as he said, "I told you before, it only matters that I can read it. Nobody else needs to or should be reading what I write there."

I know, I know. I was just teasing. Sheesh. Come out of the caves a bit.

They had reached the end of Gnome Corner, where the street stopped abruptly at a twelve-foot-tall wall. The wall had been built from tan bricks many years before, and Quilleen didn’t think it had been built well to begin with. A wooden pole, slightly taller than the wall, stood in front of the children. Hanging from a metal bar sticking out of the pole was a banner which read, Danger! Do Not Climb. A signature taking up the bottom half of the banner spelled out Mayor Bright in a flowery script.

Quilleen’s hands and feet immediately went to gaps between the bricks or on top of unevenly placed bricks. She quickly climbed to the top, grabbed on to the pole with the Do Not Climb banner and flung her legs over to sit atop the wall, facing away from the city. She slid to the right to make room for Swish.

Swish looked back down Gnome Corner, studying the people going about their business. He waited as a man carrying a loaf of bread turned away from Swish and entered a building.

Quilleen rolled her eyes. "Oh, c’mon, Swish. No one cares if we’re up here. I don’t know how many times we’ve been here, and no one has ever bothered to talk to us. Besides, it’s our own fault if we fall off."

Swish just nodded and climbed up the wall a bit slower and less gracefully than Quilleen had.

The friends sat in silence for a minute, as they usually did, just taking in the view. The sights changed every day. It was morning, and the sun was to their right. A few puffy clouds floated lazily through the sky. Looking down the wall, they could see an outcropping of rock, a bunch of open air and, far below, the Great Wall of China. They could just barely make out a few skyscrapers of Beijing poking up through the smog many miles away.

Swish sighed. Still over land. I thought we were heading toward the sea.

Don’t worry about it, Swish, Quilleen said. We’ll get to the sea eventually. Hey! Did you see the posters about the town meeting?

Yes, I saw them. What about the meeting?

"What do you think Mayor Bright is going to talk about? I think he’s going to say that we’re heading to the sea. Grandakar hasn’t been underwater in years."

Grandakar hasn’t been underwater since before either of us got here. I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Quilleen chuckled. "If the city does go underwater, I really will have to hold my breath!"

Swish’s eyes suddenly opened wide and he looked down the wall in front of him. Quilleen’s eyes followed his gaze and then she felt it, too: a sudden rumbling. Chunks of rock were starting to tumble away from the outcropping just below them.

Quilleen quickly stood on the wall, turned around and gripped the Do Not Climb pole. Swish! Grab onto the sign!

Swish reached back and grasped the sign with one hand just as the rocks and the wall at the edge of town tumbled away from the flying city. He dangled precariously, a long fall just in front of him and the safety of the street a foot behind. Quilleen let go of the pole with her right hand and gave Swish a mighty shove in his chest.

Swish had not at all expected that, and yet he landed on the street lightly and did a smooth backward somersault to end up back on his feet. Quilleen was facing the street, so she swung herself forward and let go. Swish took a step in her direction and caught her, slowing her drop onto the brick-paved road.

People emerged from their homes and shops, some out of curiosity, some because the outer wall of their buildings had just fallen off and they wanted to be able to run for safety if needed.

Everyone, including Quilleen and Swish, couldn’t help but look down the road called Gnome Corner as clouds floated past the gaping hole where the wall used to be.

Chapter Two

Toole’s

W e should tell someone about this, Swish said, still facing the hole in the wall after thirty seconds of stunned staring.

Quilleen was standing next to Swish, trembling. I thought the magic could hold the city together through anything. She took a few deep breaths and steadied herself before turning to Swish. Who can we talk to? I don’t think Grandakar has a Department of Falling Walls.

We could talk to one of the grownups around here, Swish said, sweeping his arms to include the people who had come out of their homes. As he did so, he noticed that the normal sounds of people talking and moving about had returned. They were already hurrying back to what they had been doing before or rushing to figure out what to do about their missing walls.

Quilleen snorted. Look at them. They’ve got their own stuff going on and that’s all that matters to them. How about Polly? She knows everything about this city.

Polly, Swish said, snapping his fingers. I completely forgot. I was going to glide over and tell her about the town meeting. She is out on her own, so she might not have heard about it. I should go quickly, though, so that we can get to the meeting on time.

Swish started walking away from the city’s edge, and Quilleen followed. Just a minute before, he had performed an acrobatic somersault, but now his walking was stiff-kneed. Even so, Quilleen had to take each step twice as fast to keep up because of her short legs.

Do you want to come with me? Swish asked.

I can’t, she said. My parents want me to go to the meeting with my brother. Something or other about big crowds.

The road they walked on, Gnome Corner, had been named after the very sharp turn to the right which they were approaching. Almost all of the homes here were built and occupied by gnomes. They tended to be small houses with colorful roofs, white walls, and flowers in window boxes.

Just before reaching the corner, the two children approached a house that was unlike the others. It had smooth, gray stone walls with a gleaming silver door. Torches on either side of the door burned brightly, even though the sun was high in the sky.

Quilleen stopped at that door. Let’s meet up at the meeting, okay? I’ll try to leave my brother with my parents.

All right. Until later, then, Swish said.

Quilleen opened the door and went inside. After she closed the door, Swish took a moment to admire the picture that was forged into it, despite having seen it many times before. The engraving showed a detailed image of a steep cliff, a tall mountain in the distance and, in the sky, a hexagon that was made of smaller hexagons. Each of the small hexagons was angled differently from the others, causing it to catch the sunlight and reflect it back in many shimmering colors. The style of Quilleen’s house and the picture on her door were meant to give passersby a feel of Underice, the country they had come from.

Swish’s family had moved to Grandakar five years prior, and he never tired of looking at the variety of buildings, each representing a different part of the world and the personalities of the people who lived there. Space in Grandakar was scarce, and a family would come, find an available spot, knock down whatever was there, and build a house that matched their traditional style. All of that construction was done without much planning, so streets would narrow and widen randomly, take sudden turns and, every so often, end unexpectedly. The city council and mayor tried to make sure that the streets connected up properly, but it didn’t always work.

Swish remembered the time a couple of years ago when a family of elves had been sternly told to move their house, which they had built in the middle of one of the busiest streets. After a couple of days of snarled traffic and people just deciding to walk straight through their house, the elves hired a wizard to levitate their building onto some logs they had stretched over the street. That fixed the traffic problems, but the newspaper reported that Mayor Bright fully expected to see a bunch of new houses popping up on top of the streets and wasn’t looking forward to it.

The constant movement in the streets and never-ending collection of construction projects made Swish nervous sometimes, but this city of magical creatures was quite safe for all ages. People universally felt like they had just arrived, could use a helping hand, and would want to help in turn.

At Gnome Corner, Swish saw the knotted signpost that Quilleen had mentioned and remembered that he really should go to the library and learn more about scrimpches. Maybe he’d even come across this particular scrimpch and learn things about it which weren’t even in the books yet.

The sweet and yet terrible smell of cabbage bread filled Swish’s nostrils. Mingy’s Unique Baked Inventions had a prime location in Gnome Corner. Swish figured that someone must like shopping there, but the smells that came from Mingy’s bakery always kept him from entering.

Mingy herself stood in the doorway of her bakery, smiling broadly at him. Hello, young man! the gnome said cheerfully, straightening her bright blue, hexagonal hat. I’ve got something really special today, in honor of the town meeting! Would you like to try a free sample of my Snail Tracks Buns?

Swish paused. Snail Tracks?

Oh yes! My helpers have found some of the most aromatic snails in the world. At least three snails crawl across the dough before we bake the buns, and then we have them do it again after baking! The snails are working on another batch right now, if you’d like to watch.

Swish’s face paled. That sounds — um, uhh — sorry, but I need to get somewhere before the, uhh, meeting. He quickly strode to a button that sat alone on a thin strip of wall between Mingy’s and the house next to the bakery. Swish could only imagine what it would be like living next to a store that produced goods with such unusual scents, and he forced himself to stop imagining it as soon as the thought came to him. 

He pressed the button that sat beneath a sign labeled Toole’s. A drawer containing a small metal hammer slid out from beneath the button. As he reached in and picked up the hammer, a bell slid out from a double-doored panel that opened above the button. Swish put a finger in one ear and then, ever so gently, tapped the bell with the metal hammer. He cringed as a huge reverberating gong rang out from the little bell, then quickly dropped the hammer back in the drawer.

The hammer drawer closed, and the bell retreated behind the doors, and then … nothing. Swish looked around, a little self-conscious because of the loud noise he had created. The people around him continued to go about their business, completely unbothered by the sound. Swish had done this many times before, but he never got used to the bell and the waiting.

Finally, a square of ground under his feet separated from the rest and pushed upward rapidly. A tall pole extended farther and farther from the ground, leaving Mingy’s far below. Swish knew better than to look down. When the pole reached a point just above the rooftops, the ground under Swish’s feet angled forward and tossed the boy into what looked like a giant, padded funnel.

He found himself zooming quickly through twists and turns on a smooth, metal slide. Sometimes there was open air above; other times he slid through enclosed tunnels. He mostly kept his eyes shut, every now and then opening one to see if he was almost there. He reached an open-air stretch in which the slide leveled out and slowed him down before dumping him through a hole in the roof of one of the buildings.

His ride had come to an end in what appeared to be a storage room. Shelves extended from floor to ceiling, filled to overflowing with boxes of tools. The room felt way too small to Swish, though he knew that was because it was built for a gnome.

The gnome for whom