Kairos

Golden Door Chapter 16 Beth in Flight, part 2 of 2

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“We should have fair weather.” Zinnia suggested.

“But sometimes in June we get a brief storm or two.” Mistletoe guessed.

“Yes, but this does not look like a brief storm to me.” Mrs. Aster pointed, and the girls finally looked to see a massive dark gray cloud on the horizon, coming on fast. Beth thought she saw a bit of lightning. But before they could respond again, before Beth could ask what they might do to avoid the storm, Holly came rushing up, followed by the other two girls.

“Carrion eaters!” Holly shrieked and zipped back to Beth’s shoulder to hide in Beth’s hair. Beth looked, and there were indeed, a bunch of black spots coming rapidly toward them from the opposite direction. The carrion eaters looked something like vultures and something like people, and they were between them and their objective; or at least in the direction they were headed.

“Geese!” Hyacinth said sharply. She pointed toward the storm, and indeed, it looked like a whole gaggle fleeing from the weather. “Swans!” The fairies cheered, and Beth wondered until Mrs. Aster explained.

“The swan people have not given into the demon-goddess, and they despise the carrion eaters.”

All the same, it looked like they would be in the middle of the fray when those two opposing forces met. Beth became suddenly frightened, until she got distracted from above. Three new fairies descended upon them.

“Dogwood!” Mistletoe shouted at the one dressed all in white, and she zoomed ahead which let Beth know just how much they had actually slowed down to accommodate her much slower air speed.

“The others are Pinoak and Cherry.” Holly whispered in Beth’s ear even as Beth realized that these were men, or perhaps young men. Holly still hid in her hair. Zinnia joined her on Beth’s other shoulder, as the young ones seemed shy in front of the men.

“Straight up! This way!” Pinoak shouted and Mrs. Aster agreed. Of course, fairies never fly in a straight line, but in this case, they tried as that line of darkness started coming on much too fast, and the closer it came, the more frightening it looked.

They started up, but soon realized that Beth was going too slow.

“We aren’t going to make it!” Dogwood yelled over the growing din of the storm as he came back to grab Beth’s hand, or her finger. Cherry grabbed her other hand, and they began to drag her up.

“Hurry!” Holly shouted as the black clouds were almost on them. She and Zinnia followed Mistletoe to where they began to push from below. Beth could hardly register a complaint, though, before the girls shrieked and zoomed past her. Dogwood and Cherry also had to let go at the last as the blackness enveloped Beth.

Beth held her breath and felt more like she was underwater than in a cloud. She was instantly soaked, and almost had to swim to the surface more than fly. When her head broke free, she heard Mrs. Aster and the girls. “Beth! Beth!” Beth did not stop at the surface of the wet, but broke free and continued upward only to be enveloped almost immediately with real, black storm clouds. The rain started to pour with very little preliminaries, and once again Beth could hardly see, though at least she could breathe.

“Beth.” She heard Mrs. Aster again and saw a bright light beside her. The others came to that light, surrounded her, and began to generate their own fairy lights. They glowed like little angels in the darkness. Beth did her best to add her glow to the mix, but it seemed a pitiful thing next to the fairies.

“We have to get above the storm,” Dogwood insisted. Again, Mrs. Aster agreed, and so they still went up and up. They had to stop, though, when a great stroke of lightning flashed through the darkness not a hundred yards above their heads. The thunder sounded deafening.

“Tornado!” Daffodil spotted the terror barreling down on their position as if it had a mind to find and destroy them. The fairies bravely rushed between Beth and the monstrous whirlwind, as if somehow to protect her. Beth turned and saw Fluffy and Flitter close by; or at least she thought it was them, with about ten more and they were holding hands, or cloudy mittens and dancing in a circle. They began to chant.

“Nimbus, Nimbus, come and save us,

Hear our cry through wind and rain.

Nimbus, Nimbus, Kairos’ daughter

Come before we call again.”

Of course, they repeated the chant over and over until Beth saw a blackness darker than the storm clouds; dark enough to rival the black water below. Beth gasped, but the blackness first passed over them and seemed to strike the tornado to send it spinning away in another direction. Then the blackness turned, and Beth felt sure this thing had something to direct it. In a breath of time, it had swallowed them all.

Inside the blackness, Beth and the fairies found a chamber of sorts, completely cloud free. The first thing Beth noticed, however, was the silence, as the fury of the storm became suddenly cut off from their perception.

“My thanks, Lord Nimbus.” Mrs. Aster breathed heavily. “I am getting too old for this.” The other fairies, men and women, said nothing. They hovered quiet and appeared respectful.

“We all are,” Beth said.

Beth jumped when she heard the voice she expected, though not the way she expected it. The voice itself rumbled, more softly, but like the very thunder which moments ago had frightened her half to death. Then she saw a face form on one of the walls of the chamber. It appeared a full bearded face that looked stern, though not unkind. “Kairos’ daughter. Let me look at you,” the face said. Beth found herself unable to move until Holly and Zinnia gave her a little push from behind. “Yes. Turn around.” Beth hardly had a choice as the wind caught her and turned her twice. “I see,” Lord Nimbus said. “She has been given gifts. Flight ought to be a natural thing, but the beauty I don’t understand.” Beth turned once more. “But now the sight? You fee have eyes of eagles, better than eagles; but I would have guessed this was beyond your magic. She has eyes to scan the surface of the sun.”

Mrs. Aster shook her head. “We did not do this,” she said. “It was the glorious one.”

“Eh?”

“The Servant of the Source,” Mrs. Aster said quietly, and she was going to say no more.

Lord Nimbus paused. “I see.” He spoke with utmost seriousness before he brightened. “Still, with all that, she is hardly in a position to defend herself if that should prove necessary.” Without asking, a bolt of lightning shot from the eyes of the face on the wall, struck Beth in the solar plexus and knocked her back against the far wall, which fortunately stayed cloud soft. Beth felt dazed, but fine as the fairies all gathered around her with worried looks. As Beth stood, she began to glow with a glow as strong as the fairies.

“There,” Lord Nimbus said. “Now she can make her own light, I should think, though I suppose it will not likely make a difference in the castle. She should have a little left over as well.”

“Like this.” Mrs. Aster tried to get Beth’s attention. She stripped the glow from herself and held a glowing ball in her hands, like holding a lit light bulb.

“This?” Beth shook her head to clear her thoughts. She held out her hands and tried to concentrate, but that started to give her a headache, so she just let it happen, and shortly, she had a much larger glowing ball in her own hands.

“Now let it go,” Mrs. Aster said, and she let her ball float free.

Beth also let go and watched her ball float up toward the center of the room to give light to all.

“Now enough.” Mrs. Aster said, and she clapped her hands and her ball of light dissipated. Beth also clapped her hands, but her light sparkled first before the electricity went off.

“Very good,” Mrs. Aster said; but by then the words of Lord Nimbus caught up to Beth’s mind.

“What do you mean a little left over?” she asked, but the face had gone, and in a moment the whole crew got ejected onto a field of grass. The sky still rained, and the wind felt horrendous, but they seemed to have been deposited on solid ground, and there did not seem to be any more tornados about.

“Ash,” Mrs. Aster identified something that looked to have turned the grass gray. Beth thought it was just the lighting under the storm, but Mistletoe agreed, and the fairies went to the edge of the field. They saw a dull orange light far off down below. Holly named it.

“Volcano.”

It looked to Beth like one of the mountaintops down below cracked open, and then she thought to step back from the edge, even if she could fly.

In truth, she found a castle in the sky, and one not made out of clouds. The grass out front and in the court looked just as lush, and the hills out back looked just as forested, and with real trees, and while the number of spires and towers on this castle could hardly be counted, it seemed curious because some of the tops of towers appeared to come up through the clouds from some other castle down below.

Golden Door Chapter 16 Beth in Flight, part 1 of 2

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“But Mistletoe,” Beth said in a sudden surge of common sense. “How long will I be able to fly?”

Mistletoe was not sure. “A year at least,” she said. “More? Honestly? Probably your whole life. But anyway, it has the virtue of stopping only when your feet are firmly back on the ground. The magic won’t stop when you are still in the air.”

Beth was not sure if that sounded quite right. She remembered in the back of her mind that the little ones, as Mistletoe called them, could be tricky; but the feeling of flying felt too exhilarating to think anymore. She happily followed Mistletoe right up to the clouds.

When they arrived at cloud level, they found Hyacinth, Daffodil and Holly playing “swirlies” in the cloud. They spun around and around as they slowly fell to make little whirlpools in the white fluff. Mistletoe and Zinnia tried it once before they prevailed on Beth to try. She was flying big, of course, and she made such a whirlpool, the others squealed in delight. Beth was delighted in turn by the sound of their fairy laughter, which is known to be a powerful enchantment, but then Beth made the mistake of looking down. This did not agree with her at all, and so she began to look to the left and right instead as she tried to get her head to stop spinning.

She realized again that they were indeed on an island. She had caught sight of the distant sea on her way up, but she was not exactly sure even then if it was an island or a peninsula because there were some very high mountains in the distance, so she thought to ask.

“It is an island. The hills rise up to the mountains before falling away again to the sea,” Mistletoe explained.

There were also other islands Beth could see in the distance.

“The archipelago,” Holly said. She zoomed up to Beth’s ear to try out the word.

“The islands of the Kairos,” Mistletoe continued to explain. “No one knows exactly how many islands there are. Some fall away now and then, but there are more being added all of the time.”

“There’s Dragon Island, and Amazon Island,” Daffodil said.

“The isle of the pretty maids.” Zinnia posed in mid-air and the others razzed her.

“There’s an island for the centaurs and fauns, one for the Were people, and even an island just for horses, though the dragons visit there once in a while to keep the population down,” Hyacinth said.

“And there’s a gypsy island, though it isn’t tied down,” Holly said.

“All the islands move once in a while,” Mistletoe said. “You can never be completely certain which one is on the horizon.”

“But the gypsy island moves all the time,” Holly said.

“Like that?” Beth pointed out to sea. But no, she thought that looked like three islands moving along and kind of bobbing and weaving through the water. All the fairies looked, and all screamed at once.

“Sea Monster!” They hid in the folds of Beth’s clothes, except Holly who rushed to hide in Beth’s hair. Beth laughed.

“Now I really don’t think that monster can reach all of the way up here. Besides, it does look to be moving away from us.”

Daffodil spoke first. “I knew that.” She said, but the others laughed at her because, to be sure, she had not thought of that.

By then the game of swirlies was forgotten, and Holly started pulling again. “Come-ony.”

The next cloud up looked covered with a field of beautiful pink colored puffs, like cotton puffs died a soft shade of sunset. It looked to Beth that the girls were picking and eating the pink fluff, like cotton candy, or little pink strawberries. Zinnia came up.

“Try one,” she encouraged. Beth first looked at the fairy closely, but then opened her mouth and closed her eyes. Zinnia threw the biggest one she could find into Beth’s mouth. It did, indeed, taste a little like a strawberry, but sweeter and without the grit or seedy skin. She marveled at the flavor when she heard the word of protest.

“Hey! No stealing the puffberries. We worked hard to grow them, isn’t that right Fluffy?”

“Right you are, Flitter.” Beth heard the female voice, but she could not see who was speaking. “Hard work it is, too, so no pinching them.”

All the fairies, except Mistletoe, darted behind Beth’s back and looked like children with their hands caught in the cookie jar.

“Flitter! There’s a ground clunker up here!” The female voice sounded astonished.

“So there is, Fluffy. A clunker for sure.” Flitter responded, and Beth finally recognized the speakers. They looked like little clouds, except with animated arms, legs, and shaking heads which stuck up slightly from the rest of their cloud-like bodies. They had cute little faces too, and Beth had to try hard to hold on to a serious expression.

“We are very sorry,” Beth said. “I did not know these were yours. I apologize.”

“Well, they’re not ours, exactly,” Fluffy said.

“Not exactly.”

“But, Hey! How did you get up here?”

“Yea, how?”

“Kairos’ daughter,” Mistletoe said, as if that explained everything. Beth saw the male remove a hat which she had not even realized he was wearing.

“Oh, well, that differentiates things,” Flitter said.

“All differentiated.” Fluffy agreed as she gave a little curtsey. They were agreeable creatures, to be sure, and the fairies came out slowly from behind Beth’s back.

“Can you show us the way to the castle?” Mistletoe asked to change the subject.

“Why sure,” Fluffy said. “Just one trail up. Can’t miss it.”

“Sticks up right there.” Flitter pointed at a misty shape through the cloud. “Run right into it.”

“Plenty of puffberries there,” Fluffy added.

“Puffberries every night,” Flitter said, plainly.

“Thank you kindly,” Mistletoe said for all as the girls that already dashed ahead.

“Thank you.” Beth echoed Mistletoe while the sprites bowed and went back to their puffberry field. Mistletoe started out and Beth followed right along; but her mind felt perplexed as every encounter seemed to raise new questions. The cloud or air sprites raised a whole host of thoughts. “So how can there be a real castle in the sky?” she asked out loud. She thought of a cloud castle like she might have seen from the ground. “If it was a real castle, wouldn’t it fall through the clouds and go crashing down to the earth?”

Mistletoe shook her head as she screwed up her beautiful face. This was clearly something she never considered before.

“All connected,” Zinnia said. “The castle here and the castle on the ground are all connected.” That did not really explain much.

“You have a room here, and down below. Same room,” Hyacinth said.

“I do?” Beth felt surprised to hear she had her own room in the castle, though not surprised if her father was indeed this Kairos they talked about.

“All goes together.” Daffodil tried to explain better. Beth wondered if it would be too unsteady to make her home in the clouds.

“But not connected at the same time,” Mistletoe added in a serious tone. “Junior’s castle in the sky is also an island in the chain of islands. When you stay here, you will find it a castle on an island surrounded by sea.”

Beth looked around and saw the blue sky around the clouds, but it did not seem like water in the least.

“Hard to explain.” Holly tried very hard to be serious, like her sister, but she was not entirely successful. “Everything here folds and curves in new and crazy ways, and it is not like back on Earth.” Holly stopped and touched her head like she might be getting a little fairy headache.

“You just got to be here,” Mistletoe said. She flitted over to hug her sister which brought back a smile. “You get used to it.”

One more cloud up and they rejoined Mrs. Aster. She hovered to wait for them and concentrate on something in the distance. “I don’t like the look of the sky,” Mrs. Aster said as they started moving again. The sun was out where they were, and the clouds looked soft and white, so the others did not know what she was talking about.

************************

MONDAY

Beth runs into trouble but find the castle in the clouds. David finds the castle under the sea but getting in proves difficult. Until Next Time, Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 15 Chris in the Camp, part 2 of 2

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There followed a half-dozen waves altogether, but the last ones got progressively smaller. The underground sea calmed and Deathwalker yelled at Crusher to turn toward the castle as quickly as possible. “The ash and steam are almost upon us!”

Chris stood and separated again from Silverstain who looked suddenly innocent and demure and returned to her seat. Chris brushed himself off while the others began to rise, except Watcher who appeared content to hide under his hood.

“Incoming!” They all heard the word, but it took a second to realize Heathfire had abandoned the furnace, and Broomwick was with her. They struck Chris, still in fire form, and Chris became covered in flame. He was on fire, but curiously not burnt, and as soon as Heathfire and Broomwick retreated to the furnace, the fire began to go out. Heathfire spoke again out of the furnace, and it had the metallic echo Chris expected.

“Volcanic ash burns. Now Chris will be able to make his own fire,” she did not explain as the ash slowly settled into the sea and began to sizzle all around them. A number of flakes hit the boat and Redeyes, Crusher and Silverstain received a few burns, but none seemed severe. Chris felt some on his head and arms and put his hand out to catch one. It felt plenty warm, but no worse than a warm rain, and even his hair resisted the flames. The boat, however, caught fire in a few places and they had to douse the flames while Deathwalker, Redeyes, and a reluctant Watcher joined in some magic that put something like an invisible umbrella over the top of the ship.

Crusher kept them pointed toward the castle island while the fire sprites turned up the steam.

“More faggots!” Broomwick echoed from inside the furnace. Stalker made to reach for Watcher, but Watcher jumped back.

“Not funny!”

The goblin laughed, a truly evil sounding laugh, even as Deathwalker hit him in the shoulder, and they turned to feed the furnace with more coal.

Chris reached for Silverstain’s hand. “Let me see it,” he said, but she turned her arm away from him.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Come on,” he insisted.

Redeyes butted up with a bit of sarcasm. “He just wants to hold your hand.”

“Oh,” Silverstain breathed and gave her brother an evil look, like only a true goblin can give, and held out her arm. Chris examined the small blister and thought to kiss it, but his tongue got ahead of him, so he ended up licking the burn. The blister immediately shrank and disappeared, and the redness went away. “Oh,” Silverstain breathed again, but this time it sounded like surprise. Deathwalker spoke to Redeyes.

“He is the son of the Kairos. The attraction can’t be helped.”

Redeyes nodded. No doubt he felt it too, but his mouth shouted something else. “Kraken!”

A long strand of seaweed came up over the rail of the ship, but it slithered like a snake. It wrapped around Silverstain, and she screamed—a chilling, earsplitting sound. A second strand grabbed Crusher around the leg. A third and fourth strand flopped on to the deck, but Heathfire and Broomwick were right there to flame the seaweed tentacles, and they quickly withdrew, not liking the fire at all.

Chris grabbed the weed around Silverstain while Redeyes grabbed his sister to keep her from being dragged overboard. Chris felt the flame, having caught Heathfire out of the corner of his eye. In a moment, his hands were on fire and something at sea let out a low moan that rapidly rose to a high-pitched squeal. The strand of seaweed uncoiled from Silverstain, but it was damaged, and the fire did not go out until it struck the water.

Crusher snapped the weed around his leg and tossed the dead end back into the sea. Deathwalker shouted at the sprites. “Get those paddles moving. It is far off, but it will get closer.” He had a sword in his hand. Who knew where he got it from, but as Chris looked, he saw the whole crew was armed. There were two axes along with the sword, and several wicked looking knives.

“How do you know how far away it is?” Chris asked as Silverstain pulled a stiletto from some unseen pocket. Chris imagined she did not have enough clothes on to carry such a weapon, but Redeyes distracted him with an answer.

“Very small, leading-edge tentacles. The closer it gets, the bigger the tentacles will get.”

“Great,” Chris said in his best sarcastic voice, and he began to look around for a weapon of his own. The next ten minutes were spent hacking, chopping, and burning Kraken tentacles which were indeed getting larger, but then Watcher shouted into the dark.

“Firedrake!”

Chris’ first thought was, great, with an extra dose of sarcasm. He imagined they had their hands full already. But when he looked, he saw some bird-like animal that glowed a deep red. It seemed hard to tell at that distance, like it was hard to tell what the Kraken in the distance might look like, until the bird, or whatever it was, spewed a great burst of flame. Something caught fire that appeared to be five stories high and as wide as a city block. The tentacles withdrew from the ship and Chris saw waterspouts shoot up into the sky and douse the flames that had to be on the Kraken’s head. The firedrake had to thread carefully between the spouts. It swooped over the ship and headed back out to flame the Kraken again from above.

“That’s Uncle Burns drake riding,” Heathfire shouted and clapped.

“Get this tub moving,” Deathwalker shouted back. “A single drake might startle the beast, but the Kraken will be back. It has touched soft flesh.”

“Can’t be talking about me,” Crusher said with a tusky grin, as he turned the ship back toward the castle island.

“They usually stay in the deep.” Deathwalker said to Chris. “The earthquake must have shaken it to the surface.”

“Earthquake?” Chris pointed at what he finally realized was lava pouring out of a crack in the wall.

“Volcanic result,” Deathwalker said. “That is how the firedrake got loose, but it has to go back now to refuel, you might say.”

Something bumped the bottom of the ship. “Get ready,” Redeyes said, though Chris wondered how ready they could get. That bump felt and sounded like a very big tentacle. Several smaller tentacles crept up the side of the ship and the ship stopped moving altogether.

“Over the side,” Crusher yelled.

“No wait!” Deathwalker shouted above the noise of creaking, cracking planks. Something blue, some electrical charge ran down the sides of the ship and the Kraken let go. They all heard the low moan again and saw when the moan rose to the shrill shriek. The Kraken in the distance became covered in blue sparkles, and Chris understood that something or someone was electrocuting the beast. He watched it submerge even as he lost his footing and collapsed to the deck. The boat got picked right out of the water and started flying toward the castle. Watcher lost his footing. Silverstain spread her legs and fell to her hands. Stalker, Redeyes and Deathwalker held themselves upright by gripping with their toes. Crusher, of course, had the tiller, and Broomwick and Heathfire still burned in the furnace until the ship steadied. They came out and took solid form which Chris then understood was not their natural form.

“Lady Alice?” Chris asked.

Deathwalker shook his head. “My guess would be Crystal, the oread of the mountain.”

They got deposited at the castle dock. It looked soaked from the tidal waves that went through, as was most of the hill, but they saw a woman on the dock, and she looked to be pacing despite the dock being slippery when wet. She also held one hand to her side like a person who might have a bad muscle cramp.

“Let me see him.” The woman did not shout, but she was heard by all. Stalker and Watcher got busy making the boat fast to the dock.  Redeyes, Silverstain and Crusher kept back. A demigoddess was not someone they wanted to mess with. Fortunately, Chris did not really understand the dynamics, so he was not put off when Deathwalker took him by the arm and moved him forward.

Crystal, the oread, walked all the way around Chris and complimented Deathwalker. “The disguise is good. He looks very average. And I see you made his lungs able to withstand the toxic fumes you sometimes encounter underground.”

“That was Stalker who came up with that,” Deathwalker admitted. “Lady Alice picked him.”

“And no doubt for good reason,” Crystal said, and she let out the hint of a smile. All this time, her hand remained on her side. Chris felt curious but held his tongue. This woman had skin the color of fine marble and hair that doubled for her clothes, but it was her eyes that intrigued Chris the most. The pupils were as clear and colorless as a mountain spring, but like prisms, they showed a kaleidoscope of every color, like little rainbows every time her eyes moved. Chris hardly paid attention when the woman said, “One more thing is needed.” He felt startled, briefly, when she raised her hand and placed it on his head.

“A gift?” Mister Walker asked.

“Insubstantial, but not invisible at Lady Alice’s insistence. She said she did not want her son’s molecules scattered all over creation.”

“Lady!” Redeyes gasped and spoke. They all noticed the bleeding gash on the Lady’s side where her hand had been.

“He will now be able to walk through the earth and stone, and castle walls.” She did smile while Chris looked quickly at her cut and then shot his eyes to the crack in the cavern wall where the lava continued to seep out and flow into the sea. “I am the mountain,” the Lady said, and vanished. The goblins and Crusher all bowed their heads, but Chris looked around and caught Silverstain’s eye.

“You have a mirror?” Deathwalker spoke quickly. Of course, she did.

“Now, don’t panic. You can take off the frightening aspect with a bit of concentration and look like your old, normal self whenever you please.”

“And put it back on again, whenever,” Redeyes added.

“But it will stay on without having to think about it until you deliberately take it off,” Deathwalker finished.

Chris examined himself as well as he could in the little pocket mirror. He had teeth to make a vampire proud, little horns of bone above his pointed ears, orange eyes with cat pupils that ran up and down, and a long, snake-like forked tongue to match Silverstain. His hands had something of a claw look to them as well.

“I like it,” Chris said, and practiced his trademark grin. Silverstain stepped up and hugged him, and Chris almost dropped the mirror.

“Seven years’ bad luck,” he said, but Silverstain shook her head.

“For us, that is seven years’ good luck.”

Golden Door Chapter 15 Chris in the Camp, part 1 of 2

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“Chris!” Chris heard his name and was grateful for the excuse to turn away from the melted creature. “You gotta be Chris!”

“Redeyes!” Heathfire identified the caller as she stepped up to help Chris back to his feet. Chris was more than glad to get away from the huge fellow with the big teeth.

“Chris!” A red face ran up the beach while a hand with rather remarkable claws waved. Heathfire snuggled against Chris’ shoulder and pointed. “Heathfire, leave him alone!” Redeyes hollered.

“What if I don’t want to?” Heathfire hollered back. Chris thought the wisest move was to let go of Heathfire’s hand and step away. He certainly did not want to start anything.

“Hey,” Redeyes said like a simple hello when he came to a screeching stop in front of Chris. Broomwick came up, grabbed Heathfire’s hand and gave Chris a jealous look. Chris put his hands up in surrender.

“Too hot for me to handle,” he said, and Broomwick smiled.

“She is that.”

“I must be losing my touch.” Heathfire commented to herself,

“The ship?” Deathwalker changed the subject from teenage foolishness.

“Fine. Hidden just down the shore,” Redeyes reported while Chris got a good look at the goblin. Redeyes had pink skin around those red, beady eyes, and two little red horns that stuck up through black hair. Chris could not help bending over, as he had with Deathwalker, to see if the goblin had the tail to complete the outfit. He did not.

“All right, Chris,” Deathwalker said as he placed his own claw on Chris’ shoulder. “Redeyes and Crusher.” He introduced the two newcomers and added one note. “Crusher is a troll.”

“Troll?” Chris asked, remembering they had traveled down a troll road.

Crusher got close to Chris’ face so he could not turn away, and he drooled a little as he spoke. “That just means I like my meat more raw.”

Chris returned his trademark grin, the same one he used on his younger brothers or when his parents asked him to do something around the house. It was Crusher who had to turn away. “Bless my stinky feet. That grin could scare a basilisk.”

“But where is the rest of the crew?” Deathwalker once again attempted to get people back on topic.

“Guarding the ship,” Redeyes responded, and he led the way. Until then, Redeyes kept standing on his toes. Being a bit short, he wanted to appear more Chris’ height. Oddly enough, Chris found that comforting as it reminded him of a short friend that lived down the street.

Deathwalker paced Chris and whispered as they walked, not that he thought the others might not hear, but to indicate that this was supposed to be private, so they all better keep their mouths shut. “Now, I don’t want you to be shocked when you meet the others. Stalker is more of a true goblin, you might say. His face is so dark it is hard to see his features apart from the glowing yellow eyes. He is a quiet one, but one Alice picked.”

“Alice?” Chris asked. “You planned all this ahead of time, didn’t you?” Chris just figured that out.

“Lady Alice did,” Deathwalker said and then clarified. “Your father. She brought me together with these young ones, more your age, give or take. She found us the boat and then she brought me safe to the others in the Golden Door. She said we had to pray for help, and not to her. She figured out that given the chance, you children would follow your mother into Avalon.”

Chris merely nodded. He had met the Lady Alice.

“Oh, and one more thing. Watcher is a hobgoblin. Watch out for him that he doesn’t steal your shirt. Most of our kind don’t care for the hobs much.”

Chris nodded again, but before he could ask what was wrong with the hobgoblins, they arrived and climbed aboard a small steamboat. Chris had recently seen the movie the African Queen, and thought this boat looked similar. Apart from the furnace amid ship that ran the small paddles on each side, it also had a small rigging for a sail and oars as a last resort. Chris imagined being reluctant if they were headed toward the ocean, but even with his dark elf enhanced senses, though he could not tell how far it was to the castle, he thought it was relatively close, and this underground lake, as big as it was, might be passable in that little ship.

“Here.” Chris heard a female voice and looked up to see her tap the seat beside herself. It was a young girl about Chris’ age, very pretty, and apart from her silver hair she appeared utterly human. Then the woman licked her upper lip with a long and decidedly forked tongue, and Chris knew better.

“Come on up front,” Redeyes encouraged Chris to follow, but he preferred the back, sat opposite the silver haired girl and only then realized that put him close to Crusher who stood on the tiller.

“Silverstain,” the girl said and put out her hand to shake. She smiled. She had ordinary enough hands and Chris decided the teeth were not too sharp. He reached across the boat to shake, but immediately found Redeyes on one side and an unknown on his other. He guessed the unknown was Watcher. The hobgoblin still had a bit of a goblin look about him, only not so much, and his ears were pointed, more like Inaros the elf.

Chris felt trapped and knew he would have both of his ears talked off for the journey, and now it was too late to change his mind. Stalker, the dark one with the yellow eyes took the seat beside Silverstain.

Heathfire caught the look between Chris and Silverstain and it was one look on two faces. She sighed. “I guess I better get this tub moving.”

“Can I come?” Broomwick asked permission and Heathfire teased him. She pretended to think about it.

“Okay,” she said at last, and smiled for the sprite. Chris watched as they both turned utterly to flame and shot into the furnace. It only took a moment after that to steam up and begin moving.

Deathwalker paced up front, marked their passage and communicated somehow with the troll on the tiller. Crusher got the messages and adjusted their course as needed, but that did not keep him from the conversation. Most of it was about raw meat and rock music. Crusher remembered Big Sur. Redeyes went to Woodstock. Chris dared not ask them how old they were; besides, his eyes kept returning to Silverstain even as his ears tuned out the topic of NASCAR. Redeyes finally noticed.

“My little sister,” he pointed at the girl. She looked up and Chris offered his grin, but she shook her head, sadly.

“You need the teeth,” she said before she stood and hauled Chris to his feet. “Hey Deathwalker,” she raised her voice. “I just realized. Chris can’t go into the castle looking all human, if you’ll pardon the expression.”

 Deathwalker turned to the group. Everyone stared at each other, dumbfounded, when he said, “Frightening aspect.”

“Will it hurt?” Chris asked as soon as the rest of the crew stood, grinned evilly and surrounded him in a threatening manner.

“No,” Mister Walker said. “At least I don’t think so,” and Chris ducked. Everyone roared and squealed and howled the most frightening noises, and they pelted him with whatever dirt and grime they could reach. Crusher slapped the back of his head with a piece of raw meat the troll had been chewing on. Then Silverstain stepped up and grabbed him around the middle. She pressed her lips against his and wrapped her long, forked tongue around his even as he felt his own tongue wrap around hers. She had something to say when they separated.

“Wow.”

“Want to go with me to the Prom?”

“Absolutely.”

Both grinned, when there was an explosion far to starboard, against the far wall of the huge cavern. The water began to churn.  Everyone had to sit or fall over. Stones began to drop from the impossibly high ceiling. A few boulders just missed the boat but struck the water near enough to send great splashes up on to the deck. A second explosion brought a light, as a great yellow-orange crack opened in that far wall. It lit up a great cloud of something black and moving that spread out from the explosion and headed in their direction. The crack itself looked like an open wound leaking down the wall and into the underground sea. Where the light touched the water, another cloud rose up and it also began to creep though the cavern.

Everyone started shouting and held on to something. Deathwalker staggered up to the tiller where he began to yell. “Turn it into the light! Turn the boat toward the light!”

Watcher, the hobgoblin pulled a hood over his head and tried to make himself as small as possible in his seat, but Stalker with the dark face and yellow eyes stood and grabbed Redeyes by the hand. Chris and Silverstain were still standing and holding on to each other as Stalker grabbed Silverstain’s hand. He joined Silverstain’s and Redeye’s hands and put one claw over top of the two. He put his other claw on Chris’ head, drew close to Chris’ stunned, unmoving face, and exhaled a great breath.

Chris caught the exhale full force. It stung his eyes, burned in his nose and down in his lungs, and tasted like rotten eggs in his mouth. Chris hacked and coughed as the three goblins backed up. Redeyes dropped his sister’s hand when Stalker let go and spoke in a voice as chilling as expected from a goblin.

“Now, no matter how toxic or poisonous the air, he will still be able to breathe.”

The boat shook, and everyone dropped to the deck and held on for dear life. The ship tilted left and then right, took on water from both sides, but not quite enough to swamp them. Chris worried briefly about Heathfire and Broomwick in the furnace. He feared enough water to put the furnace out might kill the fire sprites. But then he had no time to think as he wrapped his arms around the chair leg that was fastened to the deck, and Silverstain crawled up to wrap around him. They were pointed toward the light, a volcanic crack in the wall, and just in time. The first big wave came upon them.

The ship rose up and up at a precipitous angle to where Chris almost felt like he was standing upright. It flattened out again suddenly and with a crash on to the top of the wave before it shot down the back side of the water in one great rush. There came a moment of calm at the bottom of the wave.

“More waves coming!” Deathwalker shouted.

“Let’s do it again,” Silverstain whispered in Chris’ ear, and she licked his ear with that long, forked tongue. Chris licked his own nose with his own forked tongue and wondered what his grin looked like with his new, sharp teeth.

Golden Door Chapter 14 James and the Ogre, part 3 of 3

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James felt groggy, but he only had to sit down for a few minutes in the rain. The ogre, and that was what it was, apparently suffered the worst of it, being thrown back by the blue lightening to crash into the cave wall. Luckily, ogres are very hard to damage, and he rather damaged the stone wall of the cave.

“Are you all right?” Grubby asked James in most uncharacteristically impish fashion. Nature would have had an imp rolling on the floor with laughter over such an encounter, but James was the son of the Kairos.

James nodded, though one hand stayed on his head. The ogre shook his head and spoke. “That little guy is powerful. I never been beat up before.”

“First time for everything,” Grubby said, and puffed out his chest a little. “Storyteller’s son.”

“But my Ma and Da said to watch the cave and don’t let in strangers.

“His name’s James. Now he’s not a stranger.”

“At least not any stranger than you guys,” James mumbled while Grubby helped him to his feet and got him out of the rain. It looked ready to pour.

“James.” The ogre caught that much. “Good to meet you.” Warthead stuck out his tremendous hand and James’ hand got completely swallowed up in the big mitt. He would have been better to shake one of Warthead’s fingers. But then, James watched the handshake because he could hardly look at the ugly puss of the ogre, and besides, he did not feel altogether certain if there might be more blue lightening. It turned out to be safe enough, and James could not imagine anything more special than making friends with an ogre, so he looked up at last, but when the ogre smiled in delight, James had to quickly look away to avoid throwing up.

“Ma and Da aren’t here,” Warthead repeated himself in his gravel-deep voice. “They gone up to the castle for special visitor, I think. I don’t rightly remember.”

“Woah!” Grubby was by the entrance to the cave. “There must be a monster storm coming. Listen to that thunder.” They heard a dull roar in the distance, but it was growing. James paid close attention and after a moment he voiced his skepticism.

“I don’t think that is thunder,” he said.

Warthead, who was not particularly able to follow their thoughts, looked around instead and pointed at something else. “Spiders.” Grubby and James looked quickly. They were at the bottom of the mountain, quite a long way, but obviously excited as if sensing they were getting close to their prey. They began to climb the hill at a rapid pace.

“James!” The word came wafting down from above with the wind and the rain.

“James!” It was Mrs. Copperpot, Picker and Poker.

“Grubby! James!” Pug was with them, and the trio in the cave had to go outside to look up.

They were soon spotted, though the dwarfs and the gnome were quite high up the mountainside above them. “Up here, James. Quick! Tsunami!” Pug pointed in the direction of the roar which was becoming very pronounced. They began to hear trees crash in the wave.

James looked for a way, but there was no easy way. The cave was carved out of a small cliff. Meanwhile, Warthead scratched his head and Grubby had his eyes glued on the spiders. He saw when they abandoned the rush up the hill and began climbing trees in an attempt to get above the onrushing water.

“Hurry James!”

“There’s no way up!” James shouted.

Grubby picked up a stone and threw it at a spider which was ahead of its fellows. It cracked against the spider’s back but did no real damage. James spun around to see. The spider was almost as big as him, and he might have screamed at the sight if the water did not come first. With a great roar and something like the sound of freight trains, the wave crashed through the last trees like a flood breaking through a levy.

“Water!” James shouted, and Warthead moved. He grabbed Grubby in one big paw and James in the other and stretched his arms as high in the air as he could, which was almost high enough for James to reach the rock ledge above the cave mouth, but not quite.

“Spider!” Grubby shouted, as the water quickly rose above the ogre’s mouth. A spider had made the jump to Warthead’s arm and zeroed in on James. James panicked, but tried kicking first, and to his surprise, he caved in the beast’s head in a way that Grubby’s stone had not. A second kick sent the spider flying off into the drink, as the water was now up to Warthead’s elbows. It actually reached to his upraised wrists, and the water stayed up for a few minutes before it began to recede almost as fast as it came in. James understood that if the tidal water did not drown them or crash them and crush their bones against something hard while coming in, it could still do the same, or drag them for miles on the way out, and just as easily.

The time went by slowly, slow enough for Pug and Mrs. Copperpot to climb down almost within reach. Mrs. Copperpot looked full of fret and worry, but Pug seemed a rock of calm and kept assuring them that everything was going to be all right.

Warthead stood that whole time with his arms raised straight up to keep Grubby and James above the water. James felt a little surprised the ogre was not brushed aside in that torrent, but he was not. He stood like the stones themselves, unmoving, even long after James imagined the poor ogre drowned and had to be dead and gone. As the water went down somewhat slowly, it felt agonizing to watch the big creature, hoping against hope for signs of life. When the water was once again below the chin and it started to pick up the pace of retreat, Warthead looked like no more than a statue, and James imagined he might stand in that pose for a thousand years. He wanted to cry, and Mrs. Copperpot did not help with her words about the ogre’s bravery and heroic stand. Then Warthead shook his head and opened his eyes.

“Warthead!” James and Grubby shouted together.

“Are the spiders gone?” Warthead asked. “That one tickled and I almost laughed.”

“But how did you?” James could not decide what to ask. “The water was up for a half hour at least, or twenty minutes or more. How?”

“I held my breath,” Warthead said, in an intuitive moment—a very rare thing in an ogre.

“Good choice.” Grubby praised the ogre’s thinking. It was a fifty-fifty proposition of Warthead coming up with the notion of holding his breath underwater.

James twisted his face. “I thought after so many minutes without oxygen the brain cells started dying.”

“No fear of that,” Grubby said, and waved off the whole problem with his hand. “He hasn’t got any to lose.”

Warthead grinned and nodded and began to wonder why he kept holding his arms straight up in the air.

It was still an hour or more before Picker and Poker found a way down from above and the water went down enough to gather in the cave entrance. The others were a bit leery of the ogre, but he seemed such a good fellow, and Mrs. Copperpot recognized how young he was. Why, converted to human ages, she imagined that Warthead might be the youngest of the lot, despite his hulking size.

“You know,” she said, as she sighed and accepted that she now had five, a full handful of boys to watch. “Now that the spiders are washed away, the path to the gate should be open.”

“At least for a little while.” Pug agreed. “And we ought to go before it gets dark.”

Mrs. Copperpot looked up at the sky where there was a genuine stroke of lightning and boom of thunder, and the rain began to strengthen. “Yes.” She agreed, before she added, “And I don’t like the look of that sky.”

************************

MONDAY

Chris boards the ship to cross the underground sea but the cavern wall cracks and the volcano bring up a monster from the deep while Beth flies above it all and gets to taste sweet puffberries. Until Monday. Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 14 James and the Ogre, part 2 of 3

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“Look.” Picker pointed to the sky. They saw shadows now and then since about mid-day, observable even in the darkening sky. Everyone looked. Something paced them, flying overhead, and likely several somethings, but it seemed impossible to tell what by looking up through the trees.

“I don’t like the looks of that sky.” Mrs. Copperpot repeated her comment from earlier, and while James agreed that the heavy, dark clouds closing in overhead did not look good, he now realized that even her earlier comment had been intended to disguise the fact that she saw something overhead, shadowing them. No doubt, she did not want to frighten James, as if anything could be more frightening than those snakes.

“Shh!” Pug stopped their progress. They heard a clicking sound ahead. “That’s new here,” he said. “But I am not sure what it is.”

“Not animal?” Mrs. Copperpot asked with some surprise. She felt that surely the gnome would have been aware of any animal that might make that sound.

“Not machine.” James breathed in his quietest voice. At least not any machine sound he ever heard. This click-clicksounded like someone tapping sticks together, and he said not machine because he kept trying to think of what, other than an animal, might make such a sound.

Click-click. It became pronounced, and they began to hear a kind of chittering with it. It sounded like a hundred squirrels tapping their teeth all at the same time.

“Better wait here while I check see.” Pug said, and not even Mrs. Copperpot would argue with that good advice.

They waited for what seemed like a long time, but what was probably a rather short time. The clicking never went away, though it did not sound like it got any closer. The chittering sound came and went, but it also seemed to keep its distance. Then there came a terrible crashing though the bushes, and James and the boys backed up and prepared to climb or run behind trees, while Mrs. Copperpot pulled out her magical spoon, apparently, her only weapon. What came from the woods was a great bear, and it reared up momentarily as it reached the path. Mrs. Copperpot almost did something to the beast but held back just long enough to see the beast return to all fours and Pug seated firmly on the beast’s neck. Even as Pug shouted, Mrs. Copperpot already scooped up Picker and Poker, one for each arm, who protested being treated like sacks of flower.

“Hurry! Get up! Spiders coming!” Those were Pug’s words and all the explanation they needed. Mrs. Copperpot leapt on the bear’s back and James climbed most of the way up, holding on to Mrs. Copperpot’s dress as the bear passed by, but barely paused. Only Grubby looked close to missing the ride.

“Wait up!” Grubby yelled, but Pug would not stop, and neither would the bear as the clicking and chittering sound came suddenly much nearer.

“Grubby!” James yelled back and grabbing tight with one hand to a great tuft of bear hair, which the bear hardly felt, he reached his other hand out and back as far as he could. Grubby ran, and in one great effort of speed, he managed to grab hold of James’ hand. They rode that way for a little bit as the sound of clicking and chittering receded into the distance. Grubby bounced on his feet like a frog while James held on as well as he could, but for all their effort, the imp seemed unable to get up on the bear’s rump. Finally, James thought to slide back a little to better help the imp, only his grip on the bear’s back slipped altogether and both he and Grubby went teetering off into the bushes. The bear did not stop. The twins kept yelling and so they likely did not hear the boys fall, and neither did they see them, looking only ahead toward safety.

“Ugh!” Grubby rubbed his head. “I think I smashed into the tree, but lucky it was only my head.”

James also moaned, but he had crashed into a bush, which frankly, broke his fall. Otherwise, he certainly would have broken something else. “Where are we?” James looked back to be sure they were out of range of the spiders, even as he got slowly to his feet. Grubby took a good look around.

“I think I know,” he said. “This is the ogre way. Come on. I’ll introduce you to a friend of mine.” Grubby also looked back in the spider direction. “We better hurry,” he added as he started off at a good pace. James had to hustle, but he felt well worn by then and could not really keep up with the imp who might not have had elf speed, but certainly moved faster at a jog than James could run.

“Wait up.” James had to call after a little way, but Grubby did not hear or did not listen. James stopped anyway, put his hands on his knees, and took a number of deep breaths. It did not take long for the young man to recover, but he thought he better walk after that, at least for a little while.

James did not feel happy about being left alone in the woods again, especially on the edge of the Craggy Mountains and ogre land. Then again, he had never seen an ogre. He had seen spiders and imagined they were giant spiders, so he really had no choice in the direction he went. He came to the first stone filled rise almost immediately, and he thought he saw where the path wound its way up between the stones; but it appeared hard to tell. He decided to sniff. He looked for Grubby and figured that Mrs. Copperpot and the others were likely out of range by then. This time he decided to trust his sixth sense.

“A little to the left,” he said out loud to himself.  It appeared as if Grubby had deviated off the main path about halfway up the rise. James began to climb, sometimes needing his hands to help pull himself up, and in this way he eventually came to where a smaller path separated from the main ogre way. “Grubby,” he said out loud, pointed down the smaller path and started out that way without hesitation.

The way remained rough, mostly up hill, and James began to wonder if maybe he was in the mountains already. He finally had to stop and sit on a rock for a fifteen-minute break. Of course, he saw the shadows pass overhead the minute he stopped, but he ignored them with the hope that they would go away. When they did not, he moved on, thinking that his break seemed like a very short fifteen minutes.

James paused. He raised his head and sniffed, almost without thinking about it. His mind kept thinking of Grubby and he felt a strong sense that Grubby was close, up off the left-hand side of the trail. Not far from there, he came to a place on the side of the mountain covered with stone and the occasional hardy bush. He found a cave a little bit further up the side, and it looked dark. James looked overhead. The sky also seriously started darkening now, like it might start raining at any moment. James tried to convince himself that the cave looked dark because of the sky. Then a few drops of water fell on his head, and he decided he had no choice. He did not realize that Grubby was still pulling him forward.

James got to the cave entrance before the downpour started, and then he heard a voice.

“Who is the stranger in my door.” The voice sounded terribly deep and frightening to hear. James dutifully screamed.

The deep voice screamed in echo of James’ sentiment, and James caught a glimpse of a giant who put his hands to his ears while James started to scramble away. Unfortunately, the rocky side of the hill had not been designed for a rapid escape. A giant fist shot out of the cave, right over James’ head, and would have smashed James flatter than a cracker if it hadn’t bounced off. There were great blue sparks, like lightening, that passed between the giant’s fist and the boy’s head. At the same time, Grubby hollered as loud as he could.

“No, Warthead! No!” He yelled too late.

Golden Door Chapter 14 James and the Ogre, part 1 of 3

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 “Step up. Keep close.” Mrs. Copperpot said over her shoulder. The twins hustled up. James and Grubby brought up the rear. “I don’t like the look of that darkening sky.” Mrs. Copperpot said, a bit more softly.

“Me neither.” Picker and Poker spoke in unison.

James looked, but he had no way of judging the sky except to say it looked like it might rain. He looked at Grubby, but Grubby ignored everyone.

“The twins are dwarfs?” James tried to make conversation.

“Yep,” Grubby responded to James’ question. “But I don’t hold that against them.”

“And you’re an imp.” James tried again.

”Yep,” Grubby said, and he puffed out his chest a little, but said no more.

James fell silent. He was naturally quiet and somewhat shy, so it felt easy to concentrate on walking and ignore the others. Besides, he had walked all morning and started to get tired and ready for a bite to eat, if anything should be available. He decided to save his breath and keep watch on the woods. Fortunately, Mrs. Copperpot picked up the string of the idea.

“But all young boys have a little imp in them, I think. Isn’t that right, James?” James nodded, but when he said nothing out loud, Mrs. Copperpot changed the subject. “We will come to a cross path in a minute if I’ve judged correctly. To our right, and not very far at all, we would find the Craggy Mountains where the ogres make their homes, but straight on, we should come to a little used back door to the castle, like a postern gate. If I remember, it leads to the third court by the bailiff’s tower, and I imagine it might be a door that the goddess has ignored if she even knows about it. I could not have chosen a better gate for our chances if I had thought all day.” Mrs. Copperpot sounded happy, but the boys had no way of judging. They would have to wait and see. “And here we are.” Mrs. Copperpot finished and stopped which brought them all to a halt. She pointed down a very wide, but leafy and overgrown path which James imagined led to the ogres. He did not want to go that way.

“I’m hungry,” Picker said, as soon as they stopped, and Poker agreed.

“I could go for a bite,” Grubby admitted.

“James?” Mrs. Copperpot asked, but again James merely nodded and verbalized nothing. “Then I think we might do lunch. Once we get into the thick there is no telling when we will have time for another meal. She sent the boys to collect firewood and somehow found a copper pot almost big enough for James to sit in. James wondered how she could have carried that without his noticing, or if perhaps she produced it by some magic. Mrs. Copperpot filled it with water from a nearby stream. By the time the fire got started, she started stirring something in the pot with her cooking spoon. James decided that had to be magical. In only a few quick minutes, they all got bowls of a rich, brown soup full of mushrooms and lentils, and they had a whole loaf of warm bread to go with it. James got more than enough, and it tasted wonderful; but for whatever reason, the others called it merely a snack. James got stuffed, but the others were not satisfied until they sopped up the final juice from the bottom of that big cauldron.

“Now, there’s some eating.” Mrs. Copperpot said, and a moment later, the fire went out and the pot vanished somewhere along with all of their bowls and utensils. Unfortunately, James missed seeing how it all went away because his eyes were trained on the forest which seemed to be moving on both sides of the path.

“Did I eat something I shouldn’t?” he wondered and whispered the words to himself. Mrs. Copperpot heard.

“No, James. I know what human people like.” She smiled for him before she got caught up with the concern that looked written on his face. “Why?” she asked and dropped her eyebrows to show concern on her own features.

“Because the forest looks like it is moving, all swirling around.” He waved his arms, and Poker saw what it was.

“Snakes!” Poker shouted. As if in answer, a rattlesnake came up across the path behind them to effectively cut off their retreat. Two great black snakes with red marks on their backs slithered up on the path in front and that left only the ogre way to the Craggy Mountains open. James did not want to go that way, but they had no choice. They all began to back down that path and kept as much to the center as they could with one eye on the leaves that covered the way in case those leaves should move on their own.

“Yikes!” Grubby jumped away and spoiled the strike of a python which reached out from behind a tree.

“There must be thousands of them!” Picker shouted, and with that word still fresh in their ears, they heard the “Toot! Toot!” of a little horn in the distance. Only a moment later, a little man rode up on the back of a fox, and a whole troop of weasels and mongooses and other such creatures came with him. The swirling in the woods stopped, though slowly, and many of the snakes started to crawl off, but many did not. They heard the sound of battle, such crashing and squealing in the woods as James had never imagined.

“Many thanks,” Mrs. Copperpot breathed.

“Glad I arrived in time,” the little man said, got down to bow to the dwarf lady, and then bowed also to James. “Name’s Pug, a common gnome. The Lord of the woods said you were headed this way, but I’ve had my eye on the postern gate for some time, and I knew the snakes were lying in wait. That demon what’s got the castle under her thumb is a sly one, she is.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Grubby said, but the words sounded hollow.

“Yes, well.” Pug did not contradict the imp, but he had more to report. “My friends will keep them back for a time, but the path you were on is not safe to travel, and the snakes will come back soon enough. Come. There’s another way around to the gate, and so far, it has been clear of guardians.”

“Double thanks.” Mrs. Copperpot returned a little bow to the gnome.

“Yes, well. I’m just a common gnome.” Pug spoke while he took the lead to get them out of that area. “But even I can see that you’ll never set Lord Noen free, nor the ladies going by that path.”

Pug proved surprisingly quick and nimble for someone who stood only two feet tall. James had a hard time keeping up; but it was not long before they found a side path which appeared very overgrown and looked like it hardly ever got used.

“I hope you’re right about this way being safe.” James still shivered from seeing that python make a grab for Grubby.

“Yes, well. I didn’t say safe, young master,” he said. “But safer, I think. I haven’t found anything too bad this way yet.” And, of course, James wondered what might be bad, even if it was not too bad.

Golden Door Chapter 13 David to the Sea, part 2 of 2

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Mickey danced from one slippery stone to the next, as sure footed as a mountain goat. The others had to be more careful to keep from slipping and injuring themselves, especially David, and this made their overall progress very slow.

“Where dey go?” They heard the Cyclops as it finally pulled itself up to the top of the cliff.

Feeling good with the world, Mickey began to sing a little tune as he danced, and sometimes helped the others.

“Hi-dee, Die-dee, Diddly-dee.

Fiona love please marry me.

We’ll sail across the briny sea,

And make our home in Timbukthree.”

“Help!” Oren shouted between making horrible gurgling sounds. “Help! Help!” He got very loud, and Inaros and Floren had to make a mad dash to grab the boy who had slipped into a small pool where he could not get a grip. He swirled around and looked ready to slip on down the mountainside. Once Inaros caught the boy by the scruff of his collar and hauled him up to safety, Mickey continued.

“Hi-dee, Die-dee Diddly-do.

O’Mac my love I’ll marry you.

And promise ever to be true…

“Hey!” David interrupted. “I thought the place was Timbuktu.”

“Oh, ye heard that one.” Mickey disappeared into a dark opening beside the river.

“Found you.” They all heard the voice above and looked up to see a tremendous hand come grabbing down into the crevasse. The Cyclops could not reach them, but it did knock several boulders free, stones which were just waiting for the chance to let the water send them crashing down to the sea. David watched one as big as his chest pass inches from his face.

“In here.” Mickey stuck his head out from the dark and disappeared again. Floren hustled Oren and Alden into the dark. Inaros grabbed David’s hand and pulled him along.

“I can’t fit in there.” David protested, seeing the place as dark and foreboding. They looked up. The giant hand started coming down again, ready to make a more accurate grab at them.

“Rabbit warrens and gopher holes…” Mickey O’Mac chanted but David did not hear it all as he found himself shrunk to the size of a rabbit, if not a mouse.

“Curiouser and curiouser, Alice said.” Inaros added some words of his own as he shoved the young man into the dark and followed.

“Supper! Come back!” They heard the words before they heard pounding on the rocks with the tree trunk the Cyclops carried around for a club. The water worn rocks crumbled and that moved them deeper into the cave where it opened-up and where they heard the sound of breakers crashing against some rocks down below.

“Watch your step,” Mickey said, as they walked around the corner and came into a true grotto where they found a large opening to the sea, with wind and light above and swirling waters below. The rocks remained slippery wet from the sea mist, and the way narrow against the cave wall, before it opened out into a full-fledged ledge above the water. Inaros, Floren and the boys got big again, returning to their normal size. Mickey, of course, was naturally only about two feet tall, but David protested.

“Hey! I can’t do that!” He gave the little man a hard look, eye to eye as it were.

“Sure, ye can,” Mickey said. “Get big or little as you please, it makes no matter to me.”

Floren reached for David’s hand. “You just have to decide in your heart, and you can be your regular size again.” David tried it, and it didn’t work at first. He began to panic, but Inaros slapped him hard on the back, nearly knocking him over, and shouted at him.

“Put some gumph into it!”

David did not know what gumph was, but the slap made him mad and immediately he became his normal size again and might have said something improper to the elf if he had not noticed. “I did it,” he shouted instead.

“Yes, you did,” Inaros said, with a smile.

“Hey! Look at this!” Alden called them over. They had been looking at the crystals in the walls that reflected the light that came in over the sea. The light made so many rainbows of color they were hard to count. And that happened with only dim light from a cloud filled sky, David thought. The cave on a sunny day had to be spectacular.

“Cool!” Oren shouted, and the others looked more closely. Someone had arranged a number of crystals to make pictures, like one might expect a caveman to paint on a cave wall, but here, in the shimmering light, the animals depicted seemed to move. David could imagine the whale spouting and the dolphins leaping high above the water line. He saw the tentacles of the jellyfish swirling around, and the school of pilot fish darting into the coral to escape the jaws of a shark that looked all too real.

“Awesome,” Alden added, and up to a point, David agreed, as long as he did not focus on the shark. He hardly had time to say so, though, because three things happened in quick succession. First, the pounding on the cave entrance in the crevasse became marked and regular like the Cyclops became determined to dig out his treats. Several stones and a few crystals crumbled and fell from the ceiling, and while no one initially got hurt, they knew they did not have long to decide what to do. A few stones clattered on the ledge, though most fell into the water. Floren pulled David back from beneath a rather large stone which looked a bit like a loose tooth.

Then the water level began to drop. It may have been dropping slowly all along, only they really noticed as they watched the ceiling stones splash into the drink. It sped up, looked a bit like someone pulled the plug, and in a very short while the entire cave would be emptied.

Then third, there came a brief flash of light, not as bright as the light that surrounded Angel, but just as intense in its own way. A figure rose-up from the water, a woman, and she did not look too pleased with what she saw or heard.

“Enough!” The woman shouted with a voice of command that echoed in the cave loud enough to make David throw his hands to his ears. When he looked up, he saw Inaros and Floren bow, Alden and Oren pressed back into the wall in the hope that they might not be noticed, and Mickey O’Mac whined.

“Lady, dear lady. It is not what you think.” David barely had time to notice the pounding on the cave had stopped before he heard the lady answer and saw a very slim, wry smile cross the lady’s lips.

“And what do I think?”

“Oh.” Now Mickey bowed, deeply. “These fine people were about to be tasty morsels for the Cyclops, and I thought, kind heart that I am, that the Lady would not mind her place used to save such noble lives as these. Oh.”

“And yes, I have a kind heart,” the lady said. “But you have trespassed.” The lady paused in the pretense of thinking. “I should say letting you off for invading my sanctuary will be fair payment for the lives you have saved. Do not ask them for further payment of any kind, is that clear?”

“Oh!” Mickey wailed. “I’ll be beggared! I’ll starve!”

The lady pinched her fingers and Mickey continued to make noises, but his lips got sealed shut. “Now, let us see what noble lives you have saved.” She waved, and Inaros, Floren, Oren and Alden were drawn into a line as if they were soldiers waiting for inspection. David also felt the pull, but he resisted and stayed where he was; and then he regretted resisting as the lady looked at him. He should have run to stand behind the line instead.

“Inaros, old friend.” The Lady looked back at the line of elves.

Inaros bowed a second time. “Lady Alyscia. Always a pleasure.”

The lady returned a slight tip of her head and turned to Floren and the boys.

“Floren, mum.” Floren bowed. “My brother Oren and his friend Alden,” she finished the introductions.

“I see,” the lady said, seeing more than just the names. “Daughter and son of Lord Galadren, and friend. You are welcome to my sanctuary.” She turned toward David. “And what have we here? Were he not able to resist my simple will, I would have guessed he was mortal flesh and blood.” She stepped toward David, and to his credit, David stood his ground.

She set her hand gently against David’s cheek and appeared surprised. “Human, mortal, and yet not. Gifted with every ability of the elves of the light, yet he is not aware of it and has much to learn.”

Inaros made this introduction. “Lady Alyscia, naiad of the grotto, may I introduce David, son of the Kairos.”

The naiad’s eyebrows went up and that stern look changed back to that sly little grin. “But what brings you to my sea? Why have you come?” She pealed her eyes away from David and turned them again to Inaros which allowed David to let out the breath he had been holding.

“We had thought to find some way to reach the Palace beneath the waves. Our mission is to free Lord Galadren if we can, and the ladies that are held prisoners in the dungeon. Sadly, we got only this far before the Cyclops nearly had us for supper.”

“Oh, but Inaros friend, there is far worse coming,” Alyscia said. She took the old elf’s arm and lead him to the edge of the ledge. “You see, the sea is drained.” And mostly it was. “And that means much more will be along shortly.” She did not explain. “But perhaps I can help.” She paused for the touch on her garment. “Fine, Mickey, fine.” She said and snapped her fingers so Mickey’s mouth could come unglued. He gasped a great gulp of air as if he had not been breathing through his nose. “This should do it,” the naiad said as she touched each one on the head. When she came to David, though, she paused, and a look of concern crossed her face.

“Do not resist.” Inaros spoke up. “Let her have her way with you and trust that it is for your safety, like the rest of us.”

David paused, but he felt willing to trust the old man. He closed his eyes and felt a brief touch on his head and something like golden sparkles tingle through his body. When he opened his eyes again, the lady had gone. Then the water came back in a furious torrent and David barely heard Floren shout, “Tidal Wave!” Before the water reached the ceiling of the cave and they were all in over their heads. David might have balked at that, but it happened so fast, he was breathing underwater before he realized what he was doing.

************************

MONDAY

At least James gets a good lunch in before the trouble begins and they run into the ogre. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 13 David to the Sea, part 1 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

It took very little effort to convince Floren, Alden and Oren to follow along on the quest. Floren seemed anxious to get out from under her charge to watch the boys, and she imagined, perhaps falsely, that the boys would be more respectful of the older gentleman among them. The boys were bored and ready for the chance to break the tedium of hiding out and eating fish every day. They immediately began to fend off pretend dragons and imaginary monsters in the deep. They tried to get David interested in the game, but for David it started becoming all too real and he felt loath to imagine the dangers that might lie ahead. Still, he felt glad for the company and thought the more, the better; while Inaros, for his part, appeared content to sit comfortably and reminisce about real adventures he had in his younger days, perhaps with Captain Van Dyke, or Lady Margueritte, or some other person of the Kairos. In fact, after a good helping of fish, he easily reminisced himself into a nap.

“Hush.” Floren quieted the boys. “Let him sleep. We are only an hour from the sea and the day is young yet.” The boys hushed for a few minutes, but soon erupted in sword fights with fallen branches and imaginations run amok. Floren took a deep breath, but let it pass. The elder elf did not even twitch.

After Floren cleaned up, and before she could call the boys in and wake the sleeper, the ground began to tremble. The quake came. The boys screamed, and Inaros had no trouble waking.

“Hold on to your feet!” Inaros shouted when his eyes popped open. Floren literally bounced her way to where the boys trembled on their hands and knees. David and Oren looked scared, and rightly so, but also excited as if this shaking, in a way, was fun. Alden appeared simply frightened out of his wits, so it was toward Alden that Floren made her way. She hugged the boy when she got there, and Alden grabbed on for dear life, even as the shaking quit. It rumbled again, and after a few minutes, a third time. It brought an evergreen down not far away, but then it seemed over.

“Everyone still whole or have you all shaken to bits?” Inaros called out since they were out of sight behind some trees.

“Okay.” David yelled.

“All ship shape,” Floren said. She had clearly been thinking about going to sea and no doubt wondered how they were going to go under the sea to the Golden Palace of Amphitrite.

“Glad to hear it.” Inaros appeared tall, leaning on his staff and he grinned at them as they were still splayed across the ground. “I should say we had best get going. No telling when the next ground buster will strike.” Floren agreed and got right up. The boys bounced up, except Alden who did not like the term ground buster. They walked, the boys sometimes out front and sometimes following, but never far away, and always elf quiet, a condition Floren imposed on them lest she magically zipper their mouths.

When she had a moment where Inaros’ ears were all hers, she spoke what pressed on her mind. “That quake felt worse than the night before. I thought aftershocks were supposed to be less intense than the original.”

“Eh?” Inaros spoke rather loudly. Floren had to repeat herself with some volume, and unfortunately, David heard and came to join them. Oren and Alden were not far behind.

“But you see.” Inaros raised his hands, staff and all. “Sometimes there are small preliminaries before the big eruption!” He raised his hands to express such and mimed an explosion, but quickly returned the staff to the ground before he stumbled. That was not what anyone wanted to hear, and after that Floren decided not to ask any more questions.

David did smell the sea before he saw it. It smelled of salt-brine and centuries of seaweed. It remained a good deal below their elevation. He could only hear the dull roar of breakers against rocks in the eternal dance that would one day turn rocks to sand and drag the sand down into the deeps. The small river they followed dropped out of sight at that point into an ever-deepening gorge that it had carved over the centuries and that brought it swiftly to the sea. It looked like an excited lover who could not suffer a gentle slope. David did not know if their path would take them to an easier decline to the sea, but he knew the small river would get there first.

“Ah! The Western Cliffs,” Inaros announced. He took a great whiff of the air. “Sadly, my nose is not as it was.” He touched his nose. “Despite the fact that my nose appears to have grown larger.”

David looked, carefully around. They stood amidst the kind of shrubs and hardy grass that can only prosper in a salty mist, and it appeared that they had indeed come to some cliffs. The sea came in waves, a sheer thirty feet or more below them.

“All I sbell is rotten kelp.” Oren held his nose to exaggerate his expression of disgust.

“Seal People!” Floren interrupted.

“Where?” Oren and Alden together drowned out David’s, “What?” The young elf and brownie nudged right up to the edge to see. David went a bit more careful, and Inaros came to put his arm around the young man and point with his staff while he spoke.

“No one knows where they came from. Like the Centaurs of old, the Were and Mere people and others, some think they came from the stars, you know, another world altogether. See how the young frolic in the shallows. The birthing happened earlier this spring. Look, there.” Inaros raised his staff and pointed, but David was already looking where several of the hundreds that littered the beach, stood up, suddenly having legs and arms, and appeared to be in the shape of men. “Sailors used to fear the seal people, though I suppose that is like saying water is wet. Sailors generally fear anything different and strange. They are a very superstitious lot.”

“But are they seals or people?” David asked.

“Hard to say,” Inaros answered. “They have always kept to themselves and communicating with them has been a rare event. I understand your father, when he was Gerraint, he spoke with them once on an isle off the north coast of Scotland, but that was before my time.”

David looked down at the stone and sand, a very narrow strip at the base of the cliff. It looked gray in appearance, even as gray as the clouds that were beginning to gather overhead to dim the light of the sun. As such, the seals were very hard to see—unless they moved.

“They are also very seal-like.” Inaros appeared to be thinking out loud. “They fall prey to sharks like any seal and have never seen fit to make tools to defend themselves, though from all accounts, they could. But who can know the mind of such a strange creature?” The elf patted David on the shoulder and David thought, look who’s talking.

There came a rumbling sound from down the beach and Alden leapt back from the lip of the cliff in fear that the Earth might start shaking again.

“Cyclops!” Oren shouted and pointed in excitement even as his sister dragged him back from the edge.

David saw the Cyclops. It had to be more than twenty feet tall, and looked human enough, or something like a giant apart from the one bulbous eye in the center of the forehead. It appeared naked, but its hand, three fingers and a thumb, held fast to a club as big as a tree. David needed no encouragement to get back from the edge of the cliff, and on second thought, he imagined even Bert the giant would look like a shrimp next to this monstrosity. In a moment, it got worse.

The Cyclops opened its mouth and let out a glob of drool that fell, a bucketful that strung almost to his feet. Then he spoke. “I smell me seal meat for me supper.” The voice boomed. The eye scanned the rocks where the seal people were already evacuating the beach with all haste. But there were many young among them that could hardly move fast and so Floren moved fast for them. Before the Cyclops could bend down or lift his club for a smashing blow, an arrow shot out from the cliff top and pierced the creature’s ear. The Cyclops swatted at the sting, like a man might swat at an annoying insect, and the second arrow struck like a thorn in his hand. The Cyclops turned his head and David turned to run. He missed seeing the third arrow that just missed the creature’s big eye.

“Waaa! I see me wee folk for me desert.” The Cyclops roared and the club came faster than David would have thought possible for such a lumbering beast. It struck some on the side and some on the top of the cliff and broke loose several David sized boulders that crumbled like dust to the monster’s feet. “I be getting wee folk and eating wee folk.” The Cyclops roared again, but since his head stayed below the cliff top, and since the travelers ran, the impact of that roar did not sound as strong as the first. Then David turned and saw a great hand rise-up and slap down on the cliff top to search for wee ones to grab and gobble. With all his running, David got just barely far enough away so as not to be caught.

“Which way?” Floren asked, the bow still in her hand.

“Inland,” Inaros said. “But it will still follow, and even if we reach the trees, it will simply brush them aside to get at us.” Inaros seemed exceptionally sharp in the face of danger, and while it encouraged David who had been thinking of him as a doddering old man, what Inaros said did not encourage David at all.

“If I may suggest.” The voice came from roughly two feet off the ground in the direction of the river where it first started to carve the gorge down through the cliffs. David looked hopefully at the little man, but Floren held David back. She looked wary. “Old one-eye can’t get his hammy hands down into the gorge in most places and there’s caves near the bottom where we can be out of his reach altogether.”

“Mickey O’Mac!” Inaros knew the little one, and Floren relaxed, but just a little.

Mickey O’Mac leapt to the nearest boulder not yet swallowed by the running river and the boys all laughed because it made him look like his head stuck up out of the ground. “Well?” He disappeared down the gorge.

“Come on,” Inaros said, with a glance at the cliff’s edge.

The Cyclops had both hands up on the top by then with one up to the elbow. It had started to pull itself up and that terrible one eye was about to get a good look. Inaros hurried them, and they stepped out into the river and began to climb down among the rocks. They tried to keep out of the swirls, jetties, and avoid the mini waterfalls that followed the precipitous drop to the sandy beach below.

Golden Door Chapter 12 Beth through the Mist, part 2 of 2

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Beth felt very shy in the presence of these perfect specimens of the female nature. All the same, she smiled. She felt she could hardly help it, though it came as much from relief as anything else. She could not imagine these women meant her any harm.

“I said she was nice,” Daffodil reminded the others.

“Yes, you did.” Mistletoe spoke before the others could respond, and she smiled to match Beth’s smile, but that made Mistletoe’s beauty almost too much for Beth to bear. She nearly fainted and only got hold of herself when a thought crossed her mind.

“But where is Holly?” she asked.

“I’m up here!” Holly’s sweet little voice came down from an upper tree branch. Beth looked, but she could not find the girl. “Mistletoe says I can’t show myself unless I get big.”

Beth looked again at Mistletoe with the question written all over her face. “What does she mean, get big?” Mistletoe turned to the treetop and the look on her face appeared stern. Beth’s eyes wandered down the row of other girls, but they betrayed nothing, except Daffodil, who tried not to giggle. Beth remembered Mrs. Aster and realized that these must be more fairies. “I don’t mind if she stays little,” Beth said out loud.

“Goody!” Holly shrieked and a flash of light shot out of the tree to hover between Beth and Mistletoe. Beth got a good look. Holly appeared a pretty little fairy, and more fitting with Beth’s imagination, having bumble bee type wings and being about seven or eight inches tall. She fluttered her wings with a speed too quick to see except as a blur. “I don’t mind if you don’t mind,” Holly said, joyfully.

“Holly!” It sounded like Mistletoe’s scolding voice, but Holly whipped around and faced the woman. She placed her little fists on her sides and spoke defiantly.

“Just because you’re the big sister, doesn’t give you all the say so.”

“But wait,” Beth said. “Mrs. Aster. The hippogriff.”

“We made this mist to hide you from the hippogriff,” Hyacinth said.

“Lady Alice came to us in the night and told us you were coming. We are to go to the Castle above, I believe.” Mistletoe spoke graciously. She tried to keep the seriousness in her voice, but the joy which she embodied could not be kept down. Beth looked up once again and collapsed because of the vision of loveliness.

“What is it?” Holly asked in sudden concern and fluttered right up to Beth’s ear.

“You are all so beautiful,” Beth breathed to the little one. “I feel so ordinary.”

“Is that all?” Zinnia heard every whispered word.

“Why, that’s easy,” Daffodil said.

“It is a cloak we wear,” Mistletoe said. She stepped near to lift Beth by the arm. “We hardly think of it unless we are traveling on the earth. We take it off then for our own protection.”

“It does strange things to human men,” Holly said, as she came to rest on Beth’s shoulder like it was the most natural thing. She held on to Beth’s hair in case Beth should move suddenly.

“It drives them mad with desire,” Zinnia confided, and she and Holly giggled a little like any young girls might. Beth knew then that they were the youngest.

With Beth standing again, Mistletoe took a step back. “Let me show you.” She did, and she changed in some imperceptible way, but when Beth looked, to be honest, she hardly noticed a change. Mistletoe looked as beautiful as ever which Holly confirmed with a whisper in Beth’s ear.

“Isn’t she a stinky-stinker.”

By then, the other girls crowded around. Hyacinth had already picked up a leaf of some sort and Zinnia had picked up a stick. “All right,” Mistletoe said and let her cloak come back. She reached for a flower, but Daffodil made them wait while she retrieved a little water from a nearby stream.

“Goody,” Holly shouted. She vacated the shoulder and pelted Beth with some kind of dust. The others touched her and pressed up against her with their things while Daffodil anointed the top of her head; and they sang the most lilting, sweetest tune which made Beth want to cry and smile for joy at the same time.

“Okay,” Mistletoe said suddenly. “Done.”

“Oh, yes.” Holly hovered up in Beth’s face. “Now you are very beautiful.”

“But can I take it off?” Beth wondered, thinking of what Holly and Zinnia said about the strange things it did to men.

“Of course, you have to decide is all.”

Beth took a deep breath and tried. It worked, and she could put the beauty back on as well. Then she let out her breath in a great exhale while Holly clapped in joy. The others seemed equally delighted until Mrs. Aster showed up. Then all together, the fairies dropped their eyes and curtsied, Holly curtsying in mid-air.

“Well,” Mrs. Aster said sternly. “I see you have shared the important thing with our young charge.”

“Yes, mum.” The girls echoed each other.

“And this cloak of beauty is going to take us to the castle in the sky?”

“No mum.” They echoed again after they thought about it.

“How could it?” Daffodil asked.

“Indeed!” Mrs. Aster scolded, but Beth could tell that she really liked the girls. “Beth, dear, there is nothing as flighty and frivolous as the mind of a fairy, and rather shallow when it comes to young fairy women.” The fairies all cringed a bit; even Mistletoe. “And I ought to know since I am a fairy. And I was young once too, believe it or not.” Beth hid her grin, but the other fairies all looked up with expressions of surprise on their faces. They had been responding to Mrs. Aster like a grumpy schoolteacher and never thought that she was a female fairy too.”

“Were you really young once?” Holly asked with appropriately big eyes.

“Yes, Holly dear,” Mrs. Aster said in a voice that Beth thought sounded remarkably like Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Beth only avoided saying, “Toto too.”

“And now that we are all here.” Mrs. Aster looked around to be sure all the girls were paying attention. “We must release Beth’s wings.”

“Wings?” Beth started and Zinnia and Hyacinth reacted with the same word.

“I think she means we must give her flight,” Mistletoe explained, and looked at Mrs. Aster who nodded her approval of the explanation.

“Please get little,” Mrs. Aster added and suddenly Beth became surrounded with a troop of flitting, fluttering little ones who began to sing again, a chanting song, while they pelted her with gold dust, or fairy dust, or anyway, something like dust. Beth sneezed because they used so much of it, and she started to protest, but fell silent when she lifted two feet off the ground, and she did not even have to think a happy thought.

“Come on-y,” Holly chirped, and raced up to the treetops. Hyacinth and Daffodil were already ahead of her, and Zinnia spun happily around Beth’s head. Beth rose more slowly and Mrs. Aster stayed right beside her. Mistletoe kept back as well. Beth could not hold back the smile that came to her lips. The feeling of being weightless, or rather being able to fly felt like a heady experience. Then again, when they started to rise above the treetops, Beth decided not to look down.

“Bring her along, and don’t dawdle,” Mrs. Aster said. “I think I better go ahead and see if the way is clear.” With that, Mrs. Aster shot up and off like a rocket and Beth watched until the little fairy vanished in a cloud. It did not occur to her then just how sharp her eyes had become. She thought instead about being left with a bunch of flighty fairies. She looked at Mistletoe, but Mistletoe simply smiled at her and said nothing.