Chapter 8 – The Tunnel
"Wake-up, sleepy-head," said Callisto, shaking Kitty gently until she groggily opened her eyes, "its sunrise."
Kitty shook her head to clear it, and sat up slowly on her bed, "How can you tell down here?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"You get used to it after a while," said Callisto with a slight shrug, "meet me in our meeting hall as soon as you're ready," then she left without a backwards glance.
"She really has to work on her people skills," Kurt muttered from the adjoining room where he was bathing, "she could be a really great leader if she wasn't so, well, abrasive all the time."
Kitty yawned, and got out of bed, "I think that's just the way she is," she said thoughtfully, "I guess you have to display a certain amount of strength when you're the leader of a group of rebels like the Morlocks."
"Strength's one thing," Kurt said, returning to the bedchamber, "but both Margali and Xavier can show strength while still demonstrating compassion."
Kitty kissed Kurt gently on the cheek, "It's just the way she is," she assured him, as she stepped into the adjoining chamber and had a quick shower. Kitty got dressed and hugged Kurt, "Still, I guess we had better not keep her waiting too long, I really don't think I would like to see her if she were to be truly angry."
Kurt nodded and followed as Kitty made her way towards the meeting hall. It seemed much larger than it had done previously, now that it was practically deserted. The only Morlocks there were Spike and Callisto, and by their side, in human form once more, was Klaus.
Callisto looked Klaus up and down for a moment, "You look good in human," she said after a moment.
Klaus gave Kitty a confused look, but she just shrugged.
"That's just her way of saying hello," said Kurt, "how are you feeling?"
"Truthfully?" Klaus asked, "Like someone dropped a house on my head and then set me on fire just to make sure."
"Good, that means that the medicine we gave you is working," said Callisto, "if it wasn't working, it wouldn't hurt."
"See what I mean about her bedside manner?" Kurt whispered to Kitty.
Kitty giggled quietly, and then turned her attention back to Klaus, "What do you remember?" she asked.
"It's sort of fuzzy," Klaus admitted, "I remember that we were talking, and then you asked me to turn into a wolf. Then there was this strange sort of scent, and I could not seem to stop myself from running towards it. The rest is sort of muddled, but I think I was shot at some point."
"We call them Siren Scent bombs," Callisto said, "We've lost quite a few of our people thanks to them. Clever things, smart invention of our enemies, those Siren Scent bombs. Release one into the air, and any mutant that smells it when in the form of an animal cannot seem to resist running towards it. So our enemies get an easy target, a Morlock running straight towards them, straight towards his doom. Luckily for you, we found you here first."
Klaus gave Kitty a slightly confused look.
"I don't know about these Siren Scent bombs," she admitted, "but we've been staying with the Morlocks since you've been sick. They're our friends," she gave Callisto a sideways look, to see if she would disagree with this, but Callisto did not seem to notice.
"When you've quite finished with all this chit-chat," said Callisto, "we have a sleeping king to go and see. He's been waiting over a thousand years for an audience with you; do you really think that we should keep him waiting any longer?"
"I'd have thought that, if he's been waiting that long, a couple more days wouldn't have made that much difference," Kurt whispered to Kitty, but quickly turned his attention back to Callisto when he saw her glaring at him.
"The tunnel leading to Avalon is this way," she said, pointing to her left, "I take it you can talk and walk at the same time?"
"Fine, I understand," muttered Kurt, "I just wanted to make sure that Klaus was well enough to travel with us."
"I'll manage," Klaus assured him.
"Good," said Callisto, and then turned her attention towards Spike, "You're in charge until I get back. Hopefully there won't be a revolution in that time."
Spike gave a little laugh, "I'll try to keep some degree of order while you are gone," he assured her, "although it may not be easy."
"Nothing worthwhile ever is," Callisto replied, and then turned her attention back towards Kurt, Kitty and Klaus, "Well, are you three coming?" she asked, as she lead the way towards the tunnel.
They merely nodded and then followed Callisto into the indicated tunnel. For a long while, they travelled in silence. The tunnel seemed surprisingly well lit, and Kitty wondered if this was because it contained some form of bioluminescent plants or other life forms. She wondered if Callisto knew the answer, but Callisto did not seem to be in the mood for talking, as she seemed to be intent on keeping moving along the tunnel at an impressive speed, without any unnecessary distractions. Kitty felt suddenly glad for all of the training sessions that she had had with the X-Men, all of the times that she had had to race against mutants larger and more athletic than herself, for she was sure that she would not have been able to keep pace with Callisto otherwise. Finally, after what felt like maybe three or four hours of constant walking, Callisto stopped so abruptly that Kurt bumped into her. She turned around, glared at him momentarily, and then handed him a flask of water, which he silently accepted. "We will have a quick break here, unless there are any objections," she said, handing another flask of water to Kitty and then one to Klaus, "the tunnel becomes narrower as we pass closer to the lake, so we will have to crawl on our hands and knees. I hope there are no objections to this."
"No objections," said Klaus, after a moment of awkward silence, "but one question, how do you know about all of this?"
Callisto gave him a wry smile, "Oh, I've been here before, werewolf, quite a while ago," she said, "when I was much like your friend here," she nodded towards Kurt, "idealistic and naïve. That changed when I lost my eye. Still, I was apparently luckier than many, at least I only lost an eye; so many have lost much more than that. They were comparatively tolerant towards me, realised that everything that I wanted to do was to help my people, the Morlocks. They have little sympathy for those who come to them with purely selfish wishes, but are more sympathetic towards those who want to help their kin." She sighed, and shook her head, "I failed, but who knows, maybe you will succeed where I could not. In his own way, the sleeping king plays fair, no discrimination, no prejudice, and no tolerance of time-wasters, or those who simply want a quick way to get rich and powerful. But they won't let me into the mountain again."
"Why not?" asked Klaus.
"You get one chance, and one chance only," Callisto explained, "and if you fail, well, that's it, no second try allowed. It's fine, I really don't want to go there again anyway. Besides, I doubt very much, werewolf, that you would be allowed inside."
"Why not?" this time it was Kurt who asked the question.
"Because this is your quest," Callisto explained, "ultimately, you will have to fight alone, because that's the only way that you will prove whether or not you are worthy of the sleeping king's help. How else could he tell, after all, unless you were to be tested alone? He would just be testing your companions, rather than your own strength. And though having companions who are willing to stay with you and help you all they can is necessary, it is hardly sufficient to earn the sleeping king's aid."
"But surely I can come with him?" Kitty asked, "Even if no-one else can help him, surely I should be allowed to assist him?"
"Moments of truth are always faced alone," Callisto replied, giving a small shrug, "but I doubt even the sleeping king could keep you two apart for more than a few moments, it's as if you're joined at the hip."
"Thank you," said Kitty.
"That wasn't a compliment," Callisto replied.
Kitty gave her a wry grin, "I know," she said.
"Take it any way you want," said Callisto, giving her a wry smile, "but we had better get moving again now that everyone has had a chance to get some rest." With that, she turned around, and made her way once more along the tunnel. They had been travelling for maybe an hour when Kitty could finally see light shining up ahead in the distance. Callisto nodded towards it, "The light at the end of the tunnel, if that isn't too much of a cliché," she said, "that means that we're nearly at this great mountain of yours." She reached inside a pouch at her side, and pulled out a small, purple key, which she handed to Kurt.
Kurt examined it carefully, "It's a key," he said.
"And the prize for stating the obvious goes to the blue acrobat," Callisto said sarcastically, "you'll need that to get inside. Once the lake parts, you'll come up to this great big oaken doorway. Just press that key to the hinges, and the door will open, it took me far too long to figure that out last time, and I believe you're on a tight schedule here."
"Why are you giving it to me?" Kurt asked curiously.
Callisto shrugged, "Last time I came to this place, I was told to give it to the next person who came looking for the sleeping king, providing I thought that he seemed worthy enough to get his help, that is. You speak in fancy words, and you seem to believe what you say, I guess that makes you worthy enough."
Kurt gave her a small smile, "You know, despite your rather abrasive manner, you can be pretty nice sometimes," he said.
"Well, don't tell everyone, I have a reputation to keep up," Callisto muttered irritably, as they reached the end of the tunnel. "Once you get inside, there will be this impressive corridor with loads and loads of doors coming off of it. There will be writing on the doors, but you won't be able to understand most of it. That's fine; those are doors to other worlds, other stories which are not yours, so you can ignore them. Some of the writing that you can read also won't make a great deal of sense to you, but that's fine too, those also don't lead you to where you want to go. I don't really pretend to understand it, but somehow this mountain isn't quite in any world, but a sort of place between worlds, a place where you can reach other worlds that are not your own," Callisto shrugged, "but you can just ignore all of those doors anyway. Just keep going until you find one that means something to you."
"What will it say?" Kitty asked.
"How should I know?" demanded Callisto, "This is Kurt's quest, Kurt's story, not mine. It will mean something to him, but it probably wouldn't mean anything to me. Now, we've reached the lake; let me do the talking when we get outside."
"We're relying on her people skills?" Kurt whispered sceptically to Kitty, who merely giggled as Kurt helped her out of the tunnel.
For a moment, Kitty found the sun blinding after spending so many hours inside the tunnel, and it took her a few minutes to adjust to the light. When she could see properly, she noticed a beautiful lady, dressed all in white, and apparently walking across a lake towards them.
Callisto did not look impressed. "Never mind the theatrics, Lake Lady," she said, "water bugs can do that just as well as you can."
"You should not have come back here, not after your warning last time," the strange Lady of the lake spoke quietly, but there was nevertheless a note of threat in her tone of voice.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist," said Callisto, "I'm merely a guide here, I don't want to enter your precious mountain." She then stepped aside, and pointed to Kurt, "he does."
"Ah," the strange lady moved forward, and looked at Kurt curiously, "and do you think that you are worthy to meet with the sleeping king?" she asked him.
Kurt looked down for a moment, his tail thrashing wildly behind him as it always did whenever he was nervous or unsure of himself. "Truthfully?" he asked, "I really don't know. But if there is even a chance that I can save my family, then I have to take that chance, and I'm willing to try this or anything else, if that is what it takes."
The mysterious woman merely nodded, "An honest answer," she said, "humble but determined; it will do. You and your lady alone may enter."
Kurt turned to Klaus, suddenly feeling unsure, but Klaus merely shrugged, "It's fine, we knew I wouldn't be allowed inside anyway. Besides, the wolf within me has been scenting something out here, and I really want to investigate it."
"As long as it isn't another Siren Scent bomb," Callisto muttered, "they caused enough trouble last time."
Klaus shook his head, "No, it's not one of those, and don't worry, if I do scent one, I'll just turn human again before it has a chance to have any effect."
Kurt nodded, "Are you scenting any danger?" he asked.
Klaus looked uncertain, "Perhaps," he admitted, "but it's also familiar, and I think I understand how to deal with it now. Don't worry about me; your quest is inside that mountain, not out here."
"The truth has been spoken," said the mysterious Lady of the Lake. Then she pointed towards the lake, which parted when she waved her hand towards it, revealing a small, narrow path leading up towards the mountain.
"More theatrics," muttered Callisto, giving a meaningful yawn.
Kurt smiled at Callisto, "Thank you for your help," he said sincerely.
"You can thank me most by succeeding in this quest of yours," she replied, "now if you'll all excuse me, I have a load of Morlocks that I have to attend to," without a backwards glance, she returned to the tunnel from which she had recently emerged.
Kurt gave the Lady of the Lake a small smile, "She's quite nice, when you get used to her," he said.
"Indeed," she replied, "but now you must face the challenges of the sleeping king of the mountain, and she can aid you no more with your quest. Enter now, before the lake returns to the way it once was."
Kurt took Kitty's hand, and together they made their way along the path towards the mountain.
