Orville Mouse and the Puzzle of the Capricious Shadows (Orville Wellington Mouse Book 3) Read online

  An Orville Wellington Mouse Adventure

  ORVILLE

  MOUSE

  and the Puzzle of the

  Capricious Shadows

  by Tom Hoffman

  -

  Copyright © 2017 by Tom Hoffman

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Tom Hoffman Graphic Design

  Anchorage, Alaska

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Tom Hoffman

  Visit my website at thoffmanak.wordpress.com

  Email: [email protected]

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing: 2017

  ISBN 978-0-9971952-8-6

  -

  Books by Tom Hoffman

  Paperback versions available online

  at Amazon or Barnes & Noble

  The Eleventh Ring

  The Thirteenth Monk

  The Seventh Medallion

  Orville Mouse and the Puzzle

  of the Clockwork Glowbirds

  Orville Mouse and the Puzzle

  of the Shattered Abacus

  Orville Mouse and the Puzzle

  of the Capricious Shadows

  -

  With lots of love

  for Molly, Alex, Sophie, and Oliver

  A very special thanks to my wonderful editors

  Beth, Sophie, Oliver, Alex, and Amanda

  for their invaluable assistance

  and excellent advice.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 Mendacium

  Chapter 2 The Snake

  Chapter 3 Orville’s New Hat

  Chapter 4 Red Snackles

  Chapter 5 Orville’s Wardrobe

  Chapter 6 The Experiment

  Chapter 7 Handsome Mortimer

  Chapter 8 Mysterious Madam Molly

  Chapter 9 The Book of Shadows

  Chapter 10 Haukesworth Mouse

  Chapter 11 Haukesworth’s Journal

  Chapter 12 Red Sea Rising

  Chapter 13 Isle of the Serpent

  Chapter 14 The Cave You Fear

  Chapter 15 The Farmhouse

  Chapter 16 Proto’s Discovery

  Chapter 17 Forest of Thorns

  Chapter 18 Down Under

  Chapter 19 So Cute

  Chapter 20 Searching for Orville

  Chapter 21 Light Worms

  Chapter 22 Sailing, Sailing

  Chapter 23 Sophia’s Lost Ring

  Chapter 24 Tickets, Please

  Chapter 25 Up, Up, and Away

  Chapter 26 Just a Thought

  Chapter 27 Chief Master Orville

  Chapter 28 Under the Mountain

  Chapter 29 Village 113

  Chapter 30 Castle Caligari

  Chapter 31 The Dark Wizard

  Chapter 32 Mendacium’s Tale

  Chapter 33 The Others

  Chapter 34 The Road

  Chapter 35 Three Questions

  Chapter 36 Brimbleberry Juice

  Chapter 37 The Silver Eye

  Chapter 38 Ebenezer Mouse

  Chapter 39 Every Word

  -

  “We shall not cease from exploration,

  and the end of all our exploring will be

  to arrive where we started and

  know the place for the first time.”

  - T.S. Eliot

  -

  “All that we see or seem is but

  a dream within a dream.”

  – Edgar Allan Poe

  Chapter 1

  Mendacium

  “I’m telling you, it’s the same castle I dreamed about on Varmoran.”

  “Quiet, do you hear that?”

  Orville Wellington Mouse stopped short, his ears perking up. “That pounding sound?”

  “Yes, like a heartbeat.”

  “Um… that might be me. Not that I’m scared or anything, but sometimes if I get anxious, my heart starts pounding.”

  “It’s not your heart, ninny, it’s coming from down below, from the dungeons.”

  “Why am I dreaming about this creepy old castle again?”

  “Don’t ask me, it’s your dream, not mine.”

  “You’re the real Sophia, right? Not a dream Sophia I made up? You seem a little cranky.”

  “Pay attention, please. I already told you I was the real Sophia. I was having a lovely dream about Madam Dulcifer’s Pastry Shop when I got pulled into your spooky castle dream.”

  “And that’s why you’re cranky?”

  “I’m not cranky, Orville. All I’m saying is I’d rather be dreaming about a plate of yummy brimbleberry tarts than some moldy old castle with creepy pounding noises coming from the dungeons.” Sophia paused, listening intently. “It’s muffled, but it sounds like a big machine, maybe an old fashioned steam engine. It could be a duplonium powered generator, but that seems out of place for an old castle like this. This is getting interesting, let’s go see what it is.”

  “Sophia, I don’t think we should go poking around down there. In my dream on Varmoran it was weirdly dark in the dungeons. I woke up when the purple flowers started biting me, before I could see what was there.”

  “Remind me again what your inner voice said about three minutes ago?”

  Orville groaned. “Descend into the darkness and learn the true meaning of fear.”

  “Let’s go, then. Let’s descend into the darkness. The stairs are over there. I’ll lead the way.” Sophia flicked her wrist and an orb of light shot out from her paw, illuminating the circular room. “Look at the mosaic on the floor, a rabbit warrior in silver armor battling a blue lizard.”

  “That was in my dream, too. We walked across it and went down a spiral staircase.”

  “Why is my light orb dimming? That shouldn’t be happening.”

  “It’s the same as my dream, it got really dark.” Orville extended his paw and a sphere of radiant light appeared in front of him. Seconds later it had dimmed to the brightness of a flickering candle. “Something is absorbing the light.”

  “Remember what the Thirteenth Monk told you? It’s your dream, so you’re the one creating everything in it, everything you see and hear.”

  “Why would I be making the orbs go dim?”

  “Maybe there’s something really scary down in the dungeons that you don’t want to see.”

  “I feel kind of sick. Are you sure my inner voice is always right?”

  “You know perfectly well it is. You have to keep going no matter how scared you get. It said you’re learning the true meaning of fear.”

  Orville crept forward, his paw pressing against the rough castle wall, his heart pounding. When they reached the bottom of the staircase he sent his light orb around the perimeter of the room. “It’s not bright enough. I’m going to try something else.”

  Orville concentrated deeply, creating a dozen dense thought clouds, then converted them simultaneously to brilliant orbs, shooting them out in all directions. The vast chamber was illuminated just long enough for Sophia to get a glimpse of the room.

  “The chamber is about a hundred feet across in both directions. Stairs to the
left. We have to go down to the lowest level. Something is waiting for us down there.”

  “What do you mean, something is waiting for us? What kind of something? Why would something be waiting for us?”

  “It’s just a feeling I’m getting, and I’m never wrong about my feelings. There is definitely something waiting for us down in the dungeons.”

  “This is the worst dream ever. Why does something have to be waiting for us?”

  “We’ll be fine. On our last adventure we had to jump into a volcano filled with molten lava. What could be scarier than that?”

  Orville glared at Sophia. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe something waiting for us in a dark creepy dungeon?”

  They continued down the twisting irregular stairway, Orville leading the way, gingerly searching for the edge of each step with his foot.

  “Okay, that was the last step. Creekers, that thumping sound is louder than ever. It’s coming from the other side of the room. It does sound like a giant heart beating. That’s not possible is it?”

  “Go left, but whatever you do, don’t go toward the giant evil beating heart.”

  “What?? Why did you call it that??”

  Sophia snickered. “I’m being pulled to the left by my inner self. That’s where we need to go. We’re looking for two big doors.”

  Orville sent out another cluster of brilliant orbs. They vanished like the others, but not before Sophia had spotted two massive obsidian doors on the left side of the cavernous hall.

  “Take my paw, I know where we have to go.”

  “I can’t see you. I don’t like this.”

  Sophia felt around for Orville’s paw. “Let’s go. Remember, this is just a dream. You can’t get hurt in a dream.”

  Step by step the two mice crept across the dungeon floor, drawing ever closer to the monstrous pair of black doors. Sophia whispered, “Above the doors.”

  Orville looked up. He could just make it out, a shadowy gold medallion bearing the image of a coiled snake.

  “I think I’m going to throw up. Do you think the thing waiting for us could be a giant snake?”

  “You can’t throw up in a dream.”

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t have a stomach, your body is just a thought. Focus, please. Let go of your fear. We need to understand the deeper meaning of what we’re seeing. Remember what the Thirteenth Monk taught you about dreams, they have form and they have content. The form is the shape of the thing you’re seeing, the content is the true symbolic meaning of the object.”

  Orville’s observant mind flicked on, his eyes sharp. “Okay, we know it’s the same castle I dreamed about on Varmoran, but I woke up before that dream ended because the purple flowers were biting me. I could be having the dream again because there’s still something my inner self wants me to see down in the dungeons. It’s probably something really scary, and that’s why I’m making the orbs of light go out.”

  “Well done. What does the golden coiled snake on the door mean?”

  “A coiled snake or serpent could symbolize great–” Orville never finished the sentence, his train of thought cut short by a low rumbling sound. The two massive obsidian doors had groaned open.

  “What is that??” Orville’s eyes were riveted on a shadowy form surrounded by an aura of purple shimmering light. “It’s really tall, taller than Proto. The light’s getting brighter, I can see it!”

  Sophia was not easily frightened, but the sight of the spindly abomination filled her with an almost paralyzing sense of dread. The strange entity stood twelve feet tall, wrapped in a flowing purple robe, a long dark golden sash draped around its waist. Its face was shrouded in darkness, hidden within the nebulous shadows of a floppy hood, but there was no concealing its burning yellow eyes. The creature directed its gaze toward Orville. Sophia grabbed his arm.“Don’t wake up, it’s just a dream, we can’t get hurt. Pay close attention to what it says.”

  “Why is it looking at me?” Orville jumped when a gnarled wooden staff topped with a fiery orb appeared in the creature’s paw, sending wildly flickering shadows across the cavernous room. Three times the beast brought the great staff down with a thundering crash, shaking the castle walls. A sickening fear flooded through Orville, twisting and turning his insides until they squirmed like a hundred writhing serpents. This was worse than anything he ever could have imagined. He could not move, could not turn away from this hideous mesmerizing apparition, held captive in the unrelenting grip of its burning yellow eyes. This was magic, dark and deep, an impossibly powerful unyielding force that no shaper in this or any other world could hope to overcome.

  A low hissing voice slipped and slithered from the creature’s mouth. “Heed my warning, mouseling, for the fate of your world hangs in precarious balance. A great darkness shall vanish, taking with it a thousand worlds. Those left behind shall suffer my terrible wrath, forced to endure the endless horrors of my spectral demons. Fear my darkness with all your heart, for I am Mendacium, great and terrible wizard of ages long lost.”

  Something that felt like claws grabbed Orville’s neck. He tried to speak, tried to tell Sophia to wake up, tried to warn her this was the darkest of all magic. Much to Orville’s surprise, the only thing that came out of his mouth was a horrific scream of unbridled terror.

  Chapter 2

  The Snake

  Orville sat up in his bed, his neck still stinging from the dreadful grasping claws. His eyes darted across the shadowy room for any sign of Mendacium the Dark Wizard. “Creekers, that was the scariest dream I’ve ever had. I hope I didn’t scream out loud.”

  Orville groaned when he heard the heavy footsteps running up the stairs, followed by a gentle tapping on his door.

  “Orville? Are you all right?”

  The voice belonged to Proto, the ten foot tall robotic rabbit he and Sophia had befriended while solving the puzzle of the clockwork glowbirds. Proto was the most advanced Rabbiton ever created by the Elders, a race of enormous rabbits who departed this universe fifteen hundred years ago for Mandora, a peaceful new world of their own creation. Proto was a pinnacle of engineered intelligence, a prototype Rabbiton equipped with the revolutionary Expanded L7 Sincere Friendship Simulation Package.

  “Orville? I heard the most dreadful scream coming from your room. There wouldn’t by any chance be a rather large yellow striped scaly creature in there with six legs and venomous fangs?”

  “I’m fine, Proto, I just had a bad dream, that’s all. Wait, why are you asking about a yellow striped scaly creature? Did you let something get through that photonic barrier thing?”

  “Oh my, no, nothing like that. No need to worry at all, I’m just chattering on. Breakfast is almost ready. Tasty oatmeal with brown sugar and snapberries. Doesn’t that sound delicious? Hurry down before it gets cold.”

  Orville shook his head. Proto’s skill in the art of misdirection was unrivaled. “I’ll be down in a couple of minutes. I have to get dressed.” He glanced anxiously around his room. The last time he had a dream this scary he woke up to find his bedside table covered with six inches of snow. He scanned the table, looking for anything he might have shaped in his sleep.

  “Nothing new. That’s good, it was just a bad dream.”

  Unfortunately for Orville, when he hopped out of bed his foot had a sudden and extremely painful encounter with an unknown irregular shaped object. “AGGHHH!! My foot!! What in the world did I–”

  A quick glance revealed the source of his foot’s acute discomfort. Protruding out from under his bed was a hideous coiled golden snake. With a sharp yelp, Orville skittered backwards, tripping over his chair and tumbling to the wooden floor with a resounding thud, his eyes never leaving the ominous looking serpent. A powerful sphere of defense popped up around him, an impenetrable field of energy shapers use to protect themselves from malevolent forces, including uninvited golden serpents. The scaly reptile had not moved, its eyes frozen on Orville.

  Orville rose to his feet, studying the gold
en serpent warily, cautiously approaching it. He let out a nervous laugh of relief. The snake was not real, it was only a brass figurine.

  Once again Orville heard footsteps on the stairs and a tapping on his door. “Orville? Are you quite certain you’re all right? What was that dreadful crashing sound?”

  “I’m fine, Proto, I just tripped getting out of bed and knocked my chair over. There’s no big scaly yellow creatures in my room. I’ll be right down.”

  “Very well. Don’t dally, your oatmeal is getting cold.”

  “I won’t, thank you!” Orville groaned, rubbing his leg. He ran his paw across the brass snake. This was bad. When he shaped something in his sleep it always held a deep significance, usually marking the beginning of a new and perilous chain of events. He had to talk to Sophia as soon as possible. He shivered, remembering the terrifying purple robed creature from his dream. Mendacium the Dark Wizard. Why had he dreamed about a frightening dark wizard of ages long lost, and what was the great darkness which would vanish? “Maybe Sophia will know something about this.” He threw on his clothes, pushed the snake figurine under his bed, and ran downstairs.

  “Morning, Proto. Where’s Mum and Papa?”

  “Papa left for the Metaphysical Adventurers headquarters already. He said he is working with Master Marloh to organize a great hodgepodge of journals left by past Metaphysical Adventurers.”

  “He mentioned that yesterday. It sounds kind of interesting, some of those journals date back over five hundred years. It would be fun to read them, I bet they had some amazing adventures back then. Where’s Mum?”

  “She had to run some errands before work.”

  “This oatmeal is really good, different. What’s that new flavor? It tastes almost like snapberries, but sweeter.”

  “How lovely of you to notice. I added a few tasty vegetables from my garden to the recipe.”