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THE KISS-DIAMOND... Part Three. THE KISS-DIAMOND... Part Three. “What is that noise?” I called. “I can tell you.” shouted Woodpecker, flying even lower so that he seemed to skip along the waves. “It is a sight to see!” he shouted, flying back up to join us. “Those white tips down there are tiny white horses. They are racing along the tips of the waves, each faster than the other while the cheers and whistles are from Junior-Crackers, tiny Water-Voles and Mice who work to keep the river-banks and forests clean. From what I heard between the shouts was that the race is always run on Sugary-Tuesdays, which happens to be today.” “And what does the winner get?” I asked as we flew onwards, leaving the racing and cheers behind. “I have no idea.” replied Woodpecker. “I suppose we can always ask the Otter-Folk, if ever we see them.” “What is that smoke?” asked Golden-Eagle, its sharp eyes catching sight of a spiral of smoke coming from behind a banking of bushes. We flew on, turning right where the Sparkling River banked and Golden-Eagle stopped, to hover in the air so Oberon, Titania and Woodpecker came to a mid-air halt, hovering beside us. There on the bank of the river were stretched out six Otter-Folk all lazing on their backs and each with a small white clay pipe jutting from its mouth, from out which spiralled bubbles of smoke. “Hallo!” shouted Woodpecker, diving down at breakneck speed. Suddenly, becoming aware of Woodpecker’s dive and shouting, the Otter-Folk screamed in alarm, the pipes falling from their mouths as they jumped up and all dived into the river, leaving only silent ripples which widened out into pools of liquid colour. Landing on the bank, we stared down at the water, seeing only some rising bubbles and hearing loud popping noises. “Now what shall we do?” asked Titania, angrily looking at Woodpecker. “If it had not been for your shouting, Woodpecker” she said. “The Otter-Folk would not have left. Now we cannot ask them where the Dark-Lands are!” “It’s not my fault if those Otter-Folk were cowards and not as brave as I am.” replied Woodpecker. “Now let’s not argue.” said Oberon, disliking rows and disputes. “What we have to do is for one of us to dive into the water, to see if we can find and talk to them.” “Well, I certainly can’t dive into the river.” said Woodpecker. “I’m a bird and if I get my feathers wet, I will never fly again… And that goes for the Golden-Eagle.” he finished, bringing in the Golden-Eagle to back up his statement. “Of course, you are right, Woodpecker.” soothed Oberon. “And it goes without saying, that the Golden-Eagle cannot dive in for the same reason.” “Why are you looking at me?” I asked, suddenly aware that Woodpecker was staring at me with wide eyes. “Because, Pucker-Up, I do believe it’s your turn to do something. I have led the way so far, while the Golden-Eagle has carried you on his back. And we cannot expect our royal King and Queen to dive into the river for fear they may never come out again.” Suddenly, Woodpecker turned to look at the others, before turning back to me with a sly look on his face. “Unless, of course.” he said. “You’re scared!” I had never been so insulted in all my life! Me, Pucker-Up, the Turner of Good Fortune accused of being scared! “I will go into the river.” decided Oberon, seeing my face turn red with anger and offering to dive in before I could have an argument with Woodpecker. “No, your Majesty.” I said quickly. “Woodpecker is right. I have done nothing to help yet and so I will dive in.” Saying this and not waiting for anyone to speak I went to the bank and, holding my nose, I jumped into the river. Holding my breath, I opened my eyes to behold a swirling mist of brilliant colours, of blues, reds, purples and orange. The blaze of colour was so vivid that I could not see an inch in front of me. My mouth opened so that I swallowed some of the water and struggling back to the surface I spluttered out some of the swallowed colour and climbed back onto the bank. Oberon, Titania, Golden-Eagle and Woodpecker knelt around me, slapping my back till I had brought up the rest of the water. Gasping, I told them about the swirling mists below the surface and that it was impossible to see. We all lapsed into silence, wondering what we could do. The silence was broken by the sound of music which came from the bank opposite. As we looked we saw a most remarkable sight, for, coming into view was the sight of a Cat-Fish dancing with a Dog-Fish. They were waltzing together to a tune played on pan-pipes by a small beautiful Angelfish. “I’ll shout over and ask them how we find the Otter-Folk.” said the Woodpecker. Titania held a hand up. “No, Woodpecker. That last time you shouted you frightened the Otter-Folk away. I will ask and so, please stay quiet.” she said. Woodpecker muttered under his breath then stopped when he saw Oberon give him a stern look. Meanwhile, Titania had walked to the edge of the river bank and sweetly called out. “Excuse me, over there!” The music stopped, the Angelfish hiding behind the dancers, staring out with frightened eyes. “What do you want?” answered the Dog-Fish, still holding onto his dancing partner. “And hurry up!” snapped the Cat-Fish. “It’s our Waltz-Love dance time and we don’t like being stopped.” she finished. “We want to know if you can tell us how to speak to the Otter-Folk?” Titania called back. “What do you want to ask the Otter-Folk?” demanded the Dog-Fish, starting to dance with his partner again. “We want to know where the Dark-Lands are?” Titania answered. “I’ve never heard of them and if I don’t know of the Dark-Lands then the Otter-Folk won’t certainly have heard of them!” returned the Dog-Fish. The Cat-Fish let go of her partner and began to dance on her own. The Angelfish put the pan-pipes to her lips and began to play. “Don’t be so ignorant!” shouted Woodpecker, stamping up and down the bank. “If I could swim then we would not even have to ask the likes of you!” “Don’t listen to him.” implored Titania, pushing Woodpecker so that he nearly fell over. “Can’t you just please tell us how to reach the Otter-Folk?” she begged. Both, the Dog-Fish and the Cat-Fish had stopped dancing, outraged by the Woodpecker’s outburst. But now as they heard Titania’s pleading they started to dance again. Then the Dog-Fish gently patted the Angelfish on the head, saying…,“Just swim down to the Otter-Folk and advise them that there is a party who wish to see them. Now hurry up and then come back to play the Pan-Pipes.” The Angelfish put her Pan-Pipes down and nodded before diving into the river. We all stared down into the water and waited. It seemed ages before the Angelfish suddenly popped up, her head gleaming as colours from the water cascaded from her. Swimming close to our side of the bank, she said… “I have just spoken to Officer-Crab, who has instructed me to tell you that you will have to dive right down to the bottom of the river and report to him.” “We can’t do that.” I said, alarmed. “If we go right down to the bottom we will drown. We cannot breathe under water.” “Of course you can.” smiled the Angelfish. “You simply have to have faith. You will be able to breathe under water as long as you have faith in yourself. That is the first thing we fish learn at school. We learn to have faith that we won’t drown under water.” “That’s right.” said Titania. “No-one can fly, not even Fairy-Folk, unless they have faith and that goes for all birds as well.” “That’s true.” said the Golden-Eagle and Woodpecker, together. “Then I have faith!” I exclaimed. “I have faith in justice and the need to bring back the Kiss-Diamond, for the love of the Mortals. You may all stand there, if you like but I am diving in!” “We have faith don’t we, my dear Lord Oberon?” asked Titania to which the King of all Fairy-Folk kissed her and replied… “We shall all dive in and meet this Officer-Crab!” “May Golden-Eagle and I wait here on this river bank till you come back?” implored Woodpecker, “You must know we will lose our flight if our wings get wet.” “Of course, Woodpecker.” replied Oberon in an understanding way. “You both have been very brave to come this far and we will be grateful if you both wait here, till we get back and then help us return to our own lands of the Flower-Ring.” “Let us hold hands and jump into the river.” I said. “And may we have such a strong faith, that we can breathe underwater.” “Thank you for your help!” called Titania to the Cat-Fish and Dog-Fish on the other bank. The Angelfish had swum back, to pick up the Pan-Pipes and begin playing again so the Fish-Folk danced their Love-Waltz, taking no more notice of us. “Are we ready?” I shouted and clasping hands with Oberon and Titania we all jumped into the river. I felt the water cover me, filling up over my head and I kept my eyes closed for an Ever-Time before slowly opened them. We had all sunk beyond the mist of colours and now I saw that the water was like liquid glass, so clear that I could see for miles. “Isn’t it beautiful!” exclaimed Titania, letting go my hand and kissing Oberon on the cheek. “It’s so clear!” exclaimed Oberon, now opening his eyes and looking around at the shoals of striped Bee-Fish who played around us with huge darting eyes. The thought suddenly struck me. We were miles under water yet we were breathing and even talking, as if we were on dry land. When I spoke my thoughts to Oberon and Titania they both looked amazed at first then laughed in delight as they swam in circles, touching the giggling Bee-Fish, who swam between their fingers. “Halt! Who goes there?” demanded an angry voice, so loud that the Bee-Fish sped away, their yellow and black striped scales changing to a frightened pale white. We had come to the bottom of the river, our feet sinking into a soft bed of silver sand. Before us stood a most fearsome sight. It was a giant Crab, dressed in a suit of armour. His face was an angry red while his eyes stood out on stalks. I began to shake, afraid of this Officer-Crab. Although both Oberon and Titania showed no fear at all, which gave me the courage to stand up straight. 
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Officer Crab - the keeper of the gate?
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The Otter-Folk sure have the right idea, smoking and relaxing on the river bank. Wish I could join them  
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