Waterfall Walk

The jungle of Atlantis was never silent, some kind of bug was always chirping and singing along to the rustling of the leaves in the artificial breeze. Now though, another noise had entered the soundscape of Atlantis, a faint whisper that you had to strain your ears to hear. It was the sound of rushing water, indicating the fabled waterfall was drawing nearer. The trio of young raptors were following the Euoplo they had managed to befriend with a dramatic display of feathered movements. They still weren't sure if it was out of being genuinely impressed or if the stone knight had simply felt sorry for a struggling set of raptors the way Larry had. Lego was a strange one, not at all what they had been expecting for rock-like warriors from a hidden civilisation. She was soft, fluffy and softly coloured in gentle green, pinks and yellow. Her laugh was like a singing bird, soaring and carefree, and her voice was like a caring mother instead of a well-worn soldier. She didn't speak of her work around Atlantis, skirting the subject and preferring to educate the young raptors about the eclectic plant life.

"Thank you for leading us," Thistle piped up, ducking under the swaying Euoplo tail that they were following through the jungle.

"It's no trouble, really, you're perfectly harmless and the beauty of Atlantis should be shared," Lego said sweetly. She paused, "Don't tell the others though, not everyone thinks the way I do." Thistle had noticed the way they were taking these overgrown paths, making conscious turns to avoid the paths more well-travelled. They weren't supposed to be here, Lego knew it, Thistle knew it, and from the nervous glances she could see out of the corner of her eye, Tiramisu and Foxglove knew it too.

Misu was sniffing the plants where he could, nose crinkled at their foreign scent and the way they leaned towards him as he passed by. There was something in the smell of these plants that reminded him of plastic and the empty bottles of cleaning products they found in the old human settlements. They didn't smell right, at all, and the longer he spent examining them the more unsettled he felt. He wanted to duck back to walk side by side with Foxglove how weird this whole thing was, but he feared Lego hearing them and taking offence at the evaluation of her home. She was bringing them to a water path, a secret tunnel that led even deeper into Atlantis. Lego wouldn't tell them exactly what was on the other side of the tunnel, just that it was worth seeing since they had come 'all the way here'. He looked back over his shoulder again and saw Foxglove's nervous glances into the foliage around them, it reassured him somewhat that she was also feeling the weird vibe from this place.

"Oh!" Thistle exclaimed from her spot closest to Lego. The other two hurried to join her and their jaws dropped at the sight before them.

The waterfall was monolithic, stretching high into the hazy fog covering the canopy of the jungle. It fell over the side of the mossy cliffs, occasionally crashing against the outcropping of rock and splitting into smaller falls. It was the biggest waterfall any of them had ever seen, somehow under the sea and contained in a dome built by ancient humans. They had to stand in awe for a moment, taking in the sight, the way the foam spray in the air made prismatic light under the glare of the fluorescent lights.

"Isn't it glorious?" Lego asked rhetorically, breathless with awe. Thistle managed to nod and nudged the others to do the same. "We have no idea how this was made, it's been here since before any of us, or our ancestors, were born," the Euoplo explained, "That includes the tunnel too, it's just always been here." She walked forward, leaving the raptors in her wake as she picked her way along the ascending path along the cliffside.

"This place is weird," Tiramisu whispered in a hurry, hoping Lego was too far to hear him.

"It is, maybe we've gone too far in, we should go back," Foxglove insisted, but Thistle raised her claws to silence them both.

"We won't make it back in one piece if we don't have a guide," she reasoned, "Let's stick close to the Euoplos, that's our best bet for staying safe, Lego isn't about to bring us somewhere dangerous." It didn't do much to reassure TIramisu and Foxglove but they did see the logic in staying close to a walking boulder and using her as a shield. "We agree, then?" Thistle asked. The other two nodded and as a group they turned and ran to catch up with the herbivore's lumbering steps. They were glad of taking the time to discuss things when they did, as the rushing of the waterfall soon drowned out any hope of a subtle conversation.

"You may want to walk under me," Lego called over the noise, "Keep your feathers dry." She seemed to have little concern for her own feathers, walking slowly and patiently to make sure she didn't step on the juveniles she was shielding. Thistle kept her place in the lead and felt Foxglove grab her tail to keep them all together, she couldn't see in the dark but she assumed Tiramisu was doing the same. The spray of the falls still made their feathers damp as they passed through the veil of water but judging by the sound of the water hitting Lego's back they were avoiding a far worse fate.

The sound of the falls didn't lessen as they entered the tunnel, if anything it grew louder as it bounced back and forth in the narrow confines. Lego shook herself, sending a shower of droplets to hit the walls and soak the ground around her.

"We're okay to step out now?" Foxglove asked nervously.

"Yes, there's no more water in here, just a little dark and damp. Well," Lego chuckled, "not dark for much longer. Come along, I'll show you what I mean." Tiramisu raised an eyebrow but in the dark neither of his companions could see it. Still, with no better option, now trapped by a wall of water, he kept following the vague outline of the Euoplo's swaying tail. The tunnel began to open up, growing brighter like they were getting closer to the exit, but instead of the harsh white fluorescents it was a soft purple glow. Foxglove ducked around Lego's legs to see where the glow was coming from and was immediately starstruck by the glowing lavender petals of the flowers growing along the walls.

"Wht are these?" she asked in awe, not taking her eyes off the plants.

"One of the many wonders of Atlantis," Lego said, not elaborating any further. Tiramisu scooted up a dangling root to take a closer look at the blue mushrooms that sprouted from the ceiling, sniffing them and pulling back from the sudden burst of spores that reacted to his snout making contact. He sneezed loudly and fell from the root, landing on Thistle and knocking the wind out of them both. She shrugged him off easily and shook the dirt from her feathers, also enraptured by the unusual plants.

"Ugh, I'm going to be sneezing these out all week," Tiramisu griped, unimpressed by the glowing plants now he knew they were just as inconvenient as the other plants of Atlantis. "Hey," he nudged Thistle, "Focus. And don't pick them," he scolded Foxglove, "They could be poison, or they're hiding a mouth!" Lego couldn't help hearing his loud complaining but she didn't seem to take offence.

"He's right," she said gently, "It's best to keep your distance, not every plant is dangerous but they must all be respected. Now, we have a lot of ground to cover, I still have so much to show you." Buoyed by the pretty flowers that weren't trying to eat them, Thistle and Foxglove hurried to catch up to her while Misu followed with his typical reticence. He'd believe the 'beauty of Atlantis' when he saw it, so far it was just freakshow plants that gave him hay fever.