Chapter One

　

Cold dampness penetrated his flesh, seeping into the cloth of his brown, cotton pants and the back of his white shirt where his bottom touched the cold, muddy floor and his back rested against the cruel, jagged rocks of the wall behind him that had become insistent on biting into the thin cloth of his shirt and trying to draw blood out of him. Small runnels of freezing cold water dripped down the rock he leaned against, covering his back in cold, uncomfortable moisture. His bare toes curled under his feet, seeking warmth and digging into the mud they found there. It squished between them with a sickening sound and felt like sludge against his skin. The heavy, metal manacles about his ankles and the thick metal collar about his neck hurt from the tightness of them, just cutting into his flesh enough to make him feel it, but not enough to make him bleed. Heavy chains ran from these restraints into the wall behind him, keeping him securely in place. He couldn’t have escaped even if he had wanted to. He was now too weak to hope to pull the restraints from the wall. The smell of filth filled the air all around him, hurting his eyes to the point that they would have watered had he not already been crying, and making him gag each time he sobbed, which he couldn’t seem to keep himself from doing from time to time. His arms were wrapped about his knees, and his head rested on the support created there by both. His eyes were swollen and red with his tears of fear and pain. He wanted to go home. He desperately wanted that more than anything else in the world; to go back home to his uncle, a warm and loving place that he had cherished long before he had been brought to this terrible world. He cast his mind back to how all this had started, desiring an escape from this reality somehow, and if that escape was to be found in memories, so be it.

 

He had been riding on his uncle’s estate, enjoying the feel of the spring breeze against his skin and whipping through his longer than fashionable hair. His uncle had told him time and again to cut it, but he had always refused, saying it was the hair of a free spirit, and that was exactly what he had always wished to be, free. The horse he had been riding was a brown gelding his uncle had given him shortly after he had come to live with him. The beast was good natured and was always in a wonderful spirit when it came to being ridden about the pasture.

 

He had lost his parents in a tragic vehicular accident only a year before at the age of sixteen, and his uncle had immediately taken him in. Uncle Allen was a physician, and a very good one at that. He had taken David under his wing, and had taught him a few, rudimentary things concerning medicine, hoping to prepare the boy for the life of a doctor. David had taken to his uncle’s lessons with a passion. Remembering how little interest his own parents had taken in his upbringing, he clung to the knowledge, Uncle Allen provided him, with a tenacious air that could not be denied.

His uncle owned a very large estate that had been in the family for a very long time, and David had taken to riding a good portion of it on horseback nearly every day. He tried to keep to the open pastures as much as possible, but that day he had caught sight of a strange glowing light off in the woods bordering the eastern part of his uncle’s lands. Curious, he had turned the horse in that direction to see what it was. Jangling along, the horse had trotted easily enough up to the wooded area, and the boy had thought there was nothing to fear. It was obvious that nothing was bothering the horse, so why should anything bother him? Weren’t horses supposed to be spooked by supernatural phenomena, or even a foul scent in the air? Wouldn’t it have some sixth scene that something was a foot if there were something truly dangerous in there?

 

Once they had reached the woods, he realized Thadius, his great and gentle steed, was too big to fit between any of the trees at all, and had dismounted, tying the reins of the horse to the tree closest at hand before heading in by himself. He headed off cautiously, stories of fairies and evil sprites dancing in his head as he moved deeper and deeper among the trees. It was deep into the woods that the light was coming from, and once he reached it, he could see that it spanned a good deal of space, taking up several yards of land and extending up into the tops of the trees. It appeared white, but as he drew closer he could see that it swirled with a rainbow of colors that was almost hypnotic to look at. Small tendrils of light had been snaking off from it, reaching up into the trees and down along the ground, but he made sure to stay away from these as they writhed along the ground about him. Suddenly, a strange dizziness passed over him as he stood staring into the glaring, white light, and he passed out without making a single solitary sound. Not even his mount had heard him collapse deep into the woods.

 

When he awoke, it was to find himself in a very dark and very dank tunnel with little lighting except for an occasional, flickering torch. He felt sore and uncomfortable and could only assume it had been caused by sleeping on the muddy floor, although for the life of him he could not remember how he could have possibly have got there.

 

He had slowly stood up, and looked about him in bewilderment and confusion. He squinted into the dim lighting, but could make out very, very little other than the sides of the tunnel and the fact that he could not see either of its ends from where he was standing. The ground beneath his feet was of a cold, flat stone that was coated in muddy tracks here and there, and the walls seemed to be made of an equally unfriendly substance although they were a bit bumpier. The entire corridor seemed to have been made of natural formations in the caves, simply sculpted to serve some sort of purpose that he could not yet figure out.

 

He placed his hand against the right side of the tunnel, feeling the hard wall and its biting cold beneath his fingers, and slowly started to walk along it, having no idea which way he should go, where he was going or where he even was. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to find anyone in the tunnel, not knowing if they would be friendly or not, but he did need help to find his way out and so started looking in hopes of coming across someone who might know what had happened to him and who would prove to be friendly towards his needs. He didn’t call out, though. He tried not to make a single sound at all. He was still too afraid of the sudden change of location to bring himself to do that much.

 

He came to an intersection, and turned right, deciding it would be best to head in the same direction until that proved either a bad idea or impossible. Only a few short steps down this way, a large, strong hand fell upon his shoulder. He had seen no one when he had looked down the left hand passage only a moment ago, and screamed out of sheer terror over the sudden, horrifying thought of what could have grabbed hold of him in the dark.

 

“What are you doing here?” demanded a loud, gruff voice from behind him and way above his head. It was like the creature was speaking from far above in the ceiling instead of right behind him.

 

David spun his head about, now terrified beyond words and having no concern for the whiplash he might cause himself with this motion, to find the most hideous creature he had ever seen in his life with its hand clamped down upon his shoulder. The thing stood easily seven feet high, and could not have weighed less than a good sized horse, a very good sized horse. Its grotesque body was coated in a foul smelling flesh that was slick with a thin layer of slime. Its belly was enormous, hanging out over a dark brown, leather pair of short pants that ended just below the knees and was ragged with disrepair. Its limbs were wide and well muscled to the point of being grotesque to look upon. Its head was shaped much like a melon, although a bit misshapen and squished looking in places, and it possessed no visible hair at all. Its eyes seemed not to sit in a straight line across its face, but rather one seemed much higher than the other. Its nose was a broken, misshapen affair and the nostrils did not line up right at all. Disgusting mucus oozed out of its nostrils at a near constant rhythm, and he felt sure that the creature would keep on ignoring it as long as the boy was before it. Its teeth were jagged spikes in its wide lipped mouth. Its lips were a dark blue color, the color of death, and its skin was a sickly green with purple blotches all over the place. Spittle hung from one corner of its mouth, trailing down almost all the way to its chest. Its enormous nails were blunt and very black, but cracked in several places, creating white lines in the ebony surface. It possessed only four digits at the end of each limb. It wore no shoes, so David was sure of this fact. A large, wooden club was swung over one, broad shoulder. Strips of dark brown leather ran from one hip to the opposite shoulder. Its eyes were sickly yellow orbs with black centers that seemed to be staring straight into his soul.

 

David cringed from the horrid beast, wanting to scream, but was so terrified that no noise would now escape his lips. The hand tightened about his shoulder in a more than painful grip, and he was unceremoniously dragged down the hall without another word in the direction he had originally been heading in. The creature had him so flustered, that he could not seem to get any words to come out at all as he was bullied along. He managed a few frightened moans and grunts, but that was about it.

 

The creature led him into a larger hall with more of its kind tramping up and down it. None of them paid the two the least bit of attention as the creature continued on its way, dragging the boy with it. Several dark openings led off this hall, and the brutes were going in and out of them as if they were at a market, heading in and out of the various stores. The two soon passed the hustle and bustle of that hall, and came upon an open area with a large, stone door at one end. Two of the monstrous beasts stood beside the door as if guarding it. The one holding him motioned to them, and they took hold of heavy, metal chains set into the walls on either side of the door, and pulled. The stone slowly split down the middle to reveal a single, large room beyond.

 

That single room was the largest one David had ever seen in his life. It was even larger than the church he and his parents had gone to before their unfortunate accident and that place had been absolutely enormous. The floor seemed to be made of a single, giant, greenish blue crystal that shone with a polished shine of many hours of care and cleaning and rang beautifully with every step they took. The walls looked as if they were rocks that had started to melt and flow down from the ceiling some time ago to collect against the floor in small piles of molten rock that had hardened again once they had reached the ground much like an old glass pane will start to run if it is left in extreme heat for too long. The only light seemed to emanate from the crystal floor, casting an eerie, pale green glow about everything in the room. The room held one piece of furniture, a large, flowing, stone throne that stood about eight feet high on a tall dais in the very center of the grand room.

The room was populated with a host of creatures. A number of the things, like the one still holding him, stood about the edges of the rounded room, glaring menacingly at him as he was brought in. They growled and grunted amongst themselves, never taking their eyes off him, but he couldn’t understand a word they were saying and so he couldn’t be sure if they were talking about him or not. He thought of them all as being male, but he couldn’t be sure as he had never seen such beasts before in his life.

 

Around the center of the room was a collection of even stranger, but much more beautiful, beings. Although these appeared feminine in their delicate, graceful forms, for some reason he thought they exuded a masculine presence, so he was not the least bit sure as to this group’s gender at all. Many of them were about five to six feet tall, and dressed in robes of varying color from reds to greens to blues that did nothing to hint at the fact that they were either male or female or both. None of them were talking, only staring quietly at him with large eyes of an unearthly color. A few of them were pacing slowly about on long, graceful legs that made the softest of tapping sound when they hit the floor, but they didn’t seem to be going in any particular direction, only ambling about aimlessly, covering the same four or five feet of space over and over again, so he assumed that they were simply pacing about for lack of anything better to do..

 

One of these beautiful things was dressed in long, flowing, purple robes that danced about its bodies like soft clouds, and it sat upon the throne. It was one of the taller members of its kind; even sitting down this was obvious. Its long, straight, white hair flowed down passed its backside, hanging loosely over the arms of the throne and looking very much like a sort of cape. Its face was long, giving it an almost horse-like appearance, but not marring its beauty like one would be led to believe. Its eyes were slanted, narrow and a very pale green that possessed a great deal of inner light and intelligence to them. It had no nose to speak of; only two, thin slits for nostrils that flared open and shut as it breathed, revealing a small amount of pink flesh each time it exhaled. Its ears, on exact opposite sides of its head, were long and narrow, standing straight up to point at the ceiling, sort of like a donkey’s ears just prettier to the beholder. Its mouth was a thin slit in the lower part of its face with no lips to speak of at all. The hands draped over the armrests were long and thin with delicate fingers at the ends and small, pointed claws that rested with an easy grace against the rounded ends of the chair’s arms. The feet that could barely be seen underneath the edge of the long and elongate robes were both hoofed like a horse, each hoof being surrounded by silky, white hairs. A thin tail with a puff of fur at the very tip slipped back and forth by the feet, curling slightly at the very end. The thing was nearly terrifying in its beauty, and sent a frightened chill down David’s spine as he gazed upon it.

 

David was dragged forward by the monster that held him, and hurled to the floor before the throne in a most unceremonious manner, he landed on both hands and one hip, jarring a few bones when he hit. He looked up from where he had fallen to stare into the beautiful thing’s light green eyes.

 

“I found this…thing wondering about the halls, M’Lord,” the creature that had dragged him here said in a gruff tone.

 

The purple robed thing leaned forward, its eyes widening before becoming thin, angry, green slits again. “Where did you come from?” it asked in a voice that sounded like the purr of some great cat. Its mouth was filled with small, sharp, pointed teeth, about three or four rows in both the upper and lower parts.

“En-en-England,” David answered in a frightened stutter. “Sussex, to be exact.” He continued to stare into the thing’s eyes, unable to look away. It was much like a snake hypnotizing a small, defenseless bird. He was not liking this feeling at all, the fear running through him as it seemed that those eyes were holding him to place, not letting him move away.

 

The thing leaned so far forward, that David thought it was sure to fall out of its throne. Cocking its head to one side, the mass of hair slipped over one shoulder, brushing against the boy’s face. The fibers of the hair were smooth and soft, very deceptive of the creature that they belonged to. “You are a member of the tribe of Arthur, are you not?”

 

“I’m…not sure what that means. King Arthur was one of our greatest leaders of my country centuries ago, if he’s the one you’re referring to.”

 

The creature sat back, a sneer on its face. “He is the very one. Why have you come to my kingdom?”

 

“I…I did not come here of my own accord, and wish to return home as soon as I possibly could. Could you perhaps send me home?” he asked hopefully, praying one of these creatures would be able to get him home, if he could only ask politely enough.

 

The thing rose out of the throne in one, graceful, fluid motion to stand above him, towering over him by several feet, even if he hadn’t been half lying on the floor. Its robes swirled around its body as it moved, brushing lightly against the boy who shuddered at the touch of the odd material. The material that touched him felt smooth and soft, much like silk buy only slicker to the touch. He tried to pull away from it and the creature before him, but the larger creature that had brought him here still stood stock still behind him, and he bumped his head against its hard, muscular leg when he tried to move back. He looked up at the creature to see it smiling quite cruelly down at him, spittle hanging from its plumb lips. “You expect me to believe that you have no knowledge of how you got here?” demanded the beautiful creature in the same calm voice it had used during the entire conversation.

 

“I am telling the truth, sir,” David said, for he felt sure that the voice of the thing was more masculine than feminine, and it didn’t try to correct him, so he assumed he had guessed correctly on that account. “I was riding on my horse on my uncle’s lands when a flash of light, like nothing I had ever seen before, caught my attention off in the far distance amongst some trees. I went to investigate it, and I woke up here after going to see what it was. I have no idea how I got here. I swear to you I don’t. I blacked out before I knew what was happening.” He felt it was vital, for some reason, that he convince the thing before him to believe him. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want it to think he had such powers that he would be able to travel from his world to its in an instant and back again. That would be a bit too dangerous for the thing to be having thoughts about, and he didn’t think he could recreate what had brought him here on his own anyway.

 

“Is your uncle some great wizard or magician?” it asked, narrowing those gorgeous, green eyes as it comfortably leaned back against the throne, resting its long arms at its sides.

 

David shook his head. “No. He is a doctor.”

 

Its expression darkened with anger, the eyes narrowing even more and the teeth pulling back into a snarl. “Gunth!” it cried as it turned back to sit in its throne with a swirl of purple robes dancing about its thin, graceful form.

 

One of the larger of the giant, green creatures stepped forward. This one wore a collar of gold about its neck and a gold armband about its wrist.. “Yes, Lord Xorin?”

Xorin pointed to the frightened boy lying on the ground before him. “Take that one to the dungeon until I have decided what to do with it. Perhaps a prolonged stay in one of our cells will loosen its reluctant tongue.”

 

Gunth nodded. “Yes, Lord Xorin.” It stepped forward, took David by the scruff of the neck and led him out of the room.

 

 

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

 

 

After the thing had been dragged away by the captain of the guard, Hothe Corcorin, Xorin’s most trusted aide, stepped up to his side.  His light green robes flowing about his slender frame with an ease that was almost creepy.   “You should have it killed,” Hothe whispered softly in his ear as he leaned close to his king, insuring that their conversation would not be overheard by anyone else in the room.

 

“I want to know how this creature came into our lands,” he hissed back, twirling one lock of his pale hair between his thin fingers, a habit he had when thinking.

 

“What if he is the one Merlin spoke of all those many years ago?” Hothe hissed back, fearful of the ramifications of letting such a creature as this continue to live.

 

“All the more reason to learn its secrets.”

 

“You tempt the fates, my lord.”

 

“Is it not tempting them more not to find out how this creature invaded my fortress without being detected? What if there are more of these things lurking about in its world, just waiting to come over?”

 

“Merlin spoke of only one, and you place us all at great risk with keeping even the one beast. Get rid of it, my lord,” whispered Hothe, his ears drooping slightly at the thought of not being able to control Xorin’s mind in this decision.

 

“It is my place to put my people at any risk I see necessary to insure our place in this world,” Xorin hissed angrily at his aide. “After it has told me all it knows, then I will dispose of it, but not until then.”

 

“Let us hope that it is not too late by then.”

 

 

***********

 

He had been brought to the terrible cell he was in now, where he had been stripped of his clothes and given new ones to wear that would not protect him from the elements found in the dungeon as well as the old ones would have. His boots had been taken away, and he had been given nothing else to wear on his feet. He wondered if they even had any sort of footwear at all. None of the things he had seen so far appeared to have any use for shoes. After he had changed he had been secured to the wall by Gunth before the thing had left him all alone, cold, confused and frightened. He had been offered no food, water or even a thread worn blanket to keep off the cold. That had been many hours ago that he had been brought here, and he was starting to wonder if they meant for him to die in this cell. Silently he wondered if that wouldn’t be the better way to go. He had nothing to tell them, and he was sure that would upset Xorin. What would the creature do to him if he proved useless? Probably kill him, and David felt sure that the thing wouldn’t make it a swift and painless experience either.

 

A sharp cry sounded from without the cell, and he craned his neck as best he could to try and see down the hall, but it was no good. He was too far from the bars of the cell to see anything except the cell door across the way from his. All he could see was the flicker of the torches that lined the hall, lighting it with a ghostly light. A shadow fell upon the wall, and he could see that it was one of those green, monstrous creatures. It came into view a few moments later, holding something small and furry in one, tight fist. The furry thing was twisting and turning, snapping wildly at the hand that held it with small, sharp teeth. David was certain the thing was hitting its mark with each bite, but the creature carrying it showed no signs of the pain it should be feeling from such an assault.

 

The green thing opened the cell door to his prison, and tossed its prisoner in. The thing hit the floor with a loud thud, but sprang up almost immediately and spun about to cry out in a sophisticated accent, “How dare you, you stupid beast?! Do you have any idea who I am? I am royalty, and you will treat me as such!”

 

The thing laughed at the furry one that looked a bit like a ferret to David. “Royalty? A fuzzy snack is more like it. Stay in there until you rot.” It tramped down the hall, and was soon out of sight.

 

The furry creature, perhaps about half David’s size, turned around, and looked at him. It couldn’t have been more than about three feet high if even that much. Its fur was black down the back, brown along the sides and white down the belly with black paws, of which it stood on the back two and seemed to use the front two much as a human would his own hands. There was a white tip to its long, twisting tail. Its eyes were a dark brown with a deep amount of emotion to them right now. It had a thin, red, leather belt about its waist, aside from that, it wore no other clothing. “What in the world are you?” it asked indignantly, as if insulted that it had been put in the same cell as he.

 

“My name’s David, David Alexander. Who are you?” David asked, trying to sound more polite than the ferret had and wondering in there was a single civilized being in this place.

 

The thing pulled itself to its full, less-than-impressive height, puffed out its chest, and said, “I am Surith Blackfoot, second cousin to the queen of the Blackfoot tribe. What tribe are you from?”

 

David shrugged. “The tribe of Arthur, I guess.”

 

Surith stepped back, inhaling deeply, but quickly recovered himself. “Well, what are you doing here of all places?”

 

“I don’t know. I was riding about my uncle’s estate, when I saw a bright light, and went to investigate. I passed out and found myself here. I don’t even know where here is.”

 

“The most unlucky place in the world you could be, I’m afraid. This is the Ifling Fortress. You’re quite fortunate that you haven’t been killed yet.”

 

“Why would anyone want to kill me?” David wanted to know.

 

“Your kind is not well liked by the Iflings. Are there no stories of Arthur’s actions here in Tresworld where you come from?”

“Not that I know of. We have legends of Arthur, but they all take place in and around England, not this strange place,” he said, looking around as if meaning to indicate the entire world he was now in.

 

Surith sighed deeply, as if the weight of the world had fallen on his shoulders. “Well, I suppose I must help you escape.”

 

“Is there a way out?” David asked excitedly, turning back to the ferret with bright, hopeful eyes.

 

“Of course,” replied Surith as indignantly as ever. “There is a way out of every prison, if you only know where to look. The Trolls trust this structure too much, but I have found ways, in and out, that they know nothing about.”

 

David twisted his legs about to show off his bound ankles. “But what about these? I can’t walk this way, and I’ll need to walk to get out, won’t I?”

 

Surith moved close, and produced a small bit of wire from a leather pouch hanging from the belt about its waist. The pouch was so small that David had not noticed it until the ferret had started rummaging through it, and he doubted that the trolls would have noticed something so small at all. It leaned close to the manacles, and, using the wire, picked the lock. It did the same thing for the collar about his neck. The little thing worked with skill and efficiency, leaving David to believe it did this sort of thing quite often. What sort of royalty made a habit of picking locks? “Now then, all done. Ready to go?”

 

“Oh, yes please. This place is very, very distasteful.”

 

Surith walked over to the far corner, and started to fiddle with a large rock there. As it worked, David was drawn to the bars of the cell by a strange noise coming from across the corridor that he had not noticed a few minutes ago. It was sort of a loud, snuffling sound as if something was sniffing about the cell across from him. He looked into the cell opposite the one he and Surith were in, but could see nothing due to the darkness in it. “What is in there?” he finally asked after several moments of looking in at nothing, straining his eyes to try and catch a glimpse of what he could hear moving about over there.

 

“A Goragorfax,” answered the busy Blackfoot ferret.

 

“What is a Goragorfax?” David asked as he continued to look in that direction.

“Oh, it is a dreadfully terrible creature that would happily kill both of us in a second if it got the chance,” the ferret answered without looking up from its work. Its voice was calm and assured.

 

“Sounds awful.”

 

“It is, but they are afraid of the light, any light. Even the torches bother its sensitive eyes, and as long as it is in that cell, it cannot get to us. If it cannot get to us, it cannot hurt us. Come now.”

 

David turned to see that the ferret had loosed a large rock from the wall somehow, revealing a decent size tunnel that they would both be able to slip through with some ease.

 

Smiling, David said, “Surith, that’s wonderful.”

 

Just then a draft coming from the tunnel the ferret had uncovered blew passed them, ruffling David’s hair, and put the torches out.

 

An angry roar filled the cell.

Reviews

[Kelleth Metheus]

Great work. I'm very curious to see where you're going with this one. You have my attention and I will be back very soon.