Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia, only my plot and characters. ;)
Hi everyone! Just wanted to quickly say thankyou for all the support shown so far! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story! And on that note - let's get on with it. :D
Chapter 11: Where There's a Well, There's a Way
So far on this adventure I have discovered, not only the importance of proper communication, but also that caves, after a while, become dead BORING! Walking through a cave is like walking through a tunnel with no end. Endless darkness; endless stuffiness; endless whatever-those-things-that-stick-out-of-the-ground-are-called. In simpler words, it's not as fun as I thought it would be. The light illuminating from the candles in the lanterns is never ending too. It jumps off the walls in appealing, yellow swirls next to us as we round yet another corner. I groan as I realise that it's just another long, streak of darkness. When is this ever going to end?
"…Harrena told me that it was just a butterfly, but, at closer inspection, I realised that it was an anax imperator." Abby and the High King both crack up laughing at that. Apparently when you're smart that's a funny joke? They've been doing this for at least three hours now as we've zigzagged our way through the cave. I can't even remember who started the nerd jokes, but at least they're both entertained enough to keep Abby's mind off of her serious fear of the dark and enclosed, tight spaces, and leave me out of it. Thank the Lion's Mane for that!
"My brother once thought that he saw a Leopard when we visited the zoo. It wasn't though; instead it was a Jaguar!"
"How completely ludicrous! How can someone even mix those two up?" They laugh out loud again as we round another corner.
"Hey! That's not funny! You're making fun of me!"
"Sorry, Ed, but it was just too funny!" I roll my eyes as we go around another corner. Seriously, how curvy are these cave systems? I expect to find more of the same, but instead we find ourselves in an open room. I breathe a sigh of relief as I realise that it's a little bit airier in here than in the rest of the cave system; it's cooler and less claustrophobic. Both of the Kings and Abby stop talking as they come to enter it too. It takes me a second to adjust to the lighting, but I eventually notice a candle on the side of the wall. It's up fairly high and I'm just tall enough to be able to reach it. I put my lantern down and take out the glowing candle before lighting the one on the wall. Almost immediately the whole room lights up in the glow of the yellow flame. That's when I can really take everything in.
The room itself is not very big. Large, dark and light stones make up the walls, just like the rest of the cave systems. That's not what's weird though; what I find extremely unusual is the fact that there are eleven wells sitting in no particular order in the middle of the room. What's even stranger though is that each well is made of a different coloured stone and I'm not just talking about the usual greys and browns either, I'm talking about blue, pink, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, violet, silver, and gold. Now you know what I mean by unusual.
"How peculiar…" Abby trails off as she walks over to them.
"Golly, yes, definitely peculiar," says King Edmund as he runs eagerly over to the wells. I assume he's thirsty. I can't really blame him for that though; we've had minimal breaks on our long journey. "What's even stranger though is that the water in them is coloured like the wells. Somehow I don't think it would be a very smart choice to drink out of them." I raise an eyebrow at his words and walk curiously over to the purple one. Sure enough the water inside is purple, but I don't find that too weird; what I do find weird is how full the wells are. The water in them is almost trickling down the sides and it doesn't look too deep. I get brought out of my musings by Abby's words.
"Considering the fact that water colour takes off of the reflection of other colours, I say that the only reason the water looks like the colour of its well is because of the reflection of the colour of the stone into the water," Abigail comments as she walks over to the pink one.
"You're probably right, but I still don't want any of us to drink out of them, just in case," I reply cautiously.
"Okay then, why don't we keep going on? We probably shouldn't linger here for too long. It's making my skin crawl." For once I actually agree with the King's words. The room has an eerie feeling about it; I'm just waiting for a ghost to jump out of one of the walls. I look around for the exit quickly, but frown as I notice that there's only one way into the room and that was where we came from.
"I don't see any exits," I tell them as I walk around the edges of the room, looking for a lever or stone to push or something.
"Hmm…Alia, perhaps we have to do something with the wells." I turn to look at Abby as she curiously studies the insides of the wells.
"Maybe that clue over there will tell us what to do," I hear King Edmund say from behind me.
"What clue?" I inquire demandingly as I spin around. I keep my eyes glued on him as he walks over to the far wall and peels something off of it. He comes over to us again before placing the parchment in my flattened out hand. "Thank you," I reply curtly as I close my hand around the clue and open it. I'm momentarily shocked. For one, the clue is not in code, which is a shock to the system, and two, what it says surprises me.
'Throw away your bad, old habits, turn on your brain and use the buckets. The hooks are the final key, work out the puzzle and see me.'
"What buckets?" I murmur quietly to myself as the other three curiously look at the wells again. I look up from the clue wondrously, my eyes scanning every possible surface. My search comes up with nothing though. I frown. Perhaps it's a metaphor for something? Somehow, I don't think that's even a possibility.
"Athalia? Are you okay? You look frustrated," Abby says, wisely keeping her distance.
"Can you see any buckets anywhere?" She slowly shakes her head.
"No, why would we need buckets?"
"Don't ask me that! Ask the silly clue that!" I say as I throw down the paper and walk around like a girl on a mission.
"Buckets? Well it would make sense if the buckets are in the wells," suggests the High King. I look over to him. He's becoming an asset to our little team. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to bring him after all...what am I saying? It was a terrible idea!
"Well be my guest to reach in there and see, Your Majesty." And of course he does because he seems to enjoy making himself look better than me; stupid king. He rolls up his sleeves and reaches into the pink well until he's elbow deep in the liquid. His eyes grow wide suddenly and he instantly pulls his arm back out with a loud scream. King Edmund bursts out laughing at once and I can't help but join in. Revenge is sweet!
"What happened, Your Majesty?" Abby asks as she runs over to us worriedly. His face is drained of all blood and I can't help but notice that his whole arm is stained pink. Somehow I don't think that liquid is water…
"Something is in there and it was moving around my arm. It felt slimy; sort of like an eel or fish." I smirk. This could be fun. I put on a serious face then and look him dead in the eye.
"Slimy you say?" He nods. I gasp over-dramatically. "Oh no! They're real?"
"What's real?" both he and King Edmund ask at once, cautiously with wide eyes. I smile inwardly.
"Heemsivaculars."
"What's a heemsivacular?" King Edmund inquires with a frown.
"It's a type of fish that swims about in thick liquids in caves feeding on human skin. I thought they were just a myth, but it seems that I was wro –"
"Don't worry, Your Majesties. Heemsivaculars aren't real," Abby interjects mid-sentence.
"How do you know though, Abigail?" I say with a smile.
"Because it's a word that you just made up. I can tell by the way your eyes are shifting." The High King glares at me. I shrug, but can't hold the laugh off for long. For some strange reason he's angry with me.
"This isn't a joke, Athalia! Something touched my hand."
"I'm sorry! I do believe you; it's just so easy to mess around with your mind."
"I know! That's what I keep telling him!" King Edmund joins in.
"You believed her too, though, King Edmund," Abby pipes in. The young king frowns.
"That's beside the point." The High King shakes his head at our nonsense and lets out a loud huff.
"Can we put that little detail aside for one minute please? Did you find a bucket?" Abby questions eagerly. The High King's eyes go down at once.
"Well I did feel something wooden in there, but I didn't keep my hand in there long enough to figure out what it was," he explains.
"How are we supposed to find out then? Wait…is that a rope hanging from the top of that well?" Both Their Majesties and Abigail look over to where I'm pointing before nodding.
"Yes, it is. Maybe it'll pull up the bucket! Someone should test it out," Abby says. Three sets of eyes land on me immediately.
"Why do I need to – oh, fine! I'll do it. But don't expect that pout to work on me every time." I walk slowly over to the yellow well, wondering why in Narnia I agreed to do this. What if there's a giant monster in there that jumps out and kills me? Okay, Alia, don't lose focus. I take a deep breath in and experimentally pull the thick rope. Almost immediately there's a bucket in front of my face. Fantastic!
"I've found the buckets!" I yell happily as I lean forward and grab the yellow-covered, wooden bucket by its handle. I put it on the floor excitedly before looking inside it. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I assume that it's something inside.
"Alia, what do we do with the buckets?" Abby inquires, her voice dripping with inquisitiveness. I shrug.
"You're the smart one, you work it out." She frowns at me.
"Didn't the clue say anything?"
"It did say something about using hooks or something, but I don't see how that will solve anything." I look up at her with grimace.
"Perhaps the clue is talking about these hooks," the High King proposes as he grabs hold of a hook that is hanging from a wooden plank which is hanging from the wall. How did I not see that before? I experimentally pick up the bucket and move it over to the hook. It's quite a large bucket and is made of thick wood, which is coloured the same as the well which I pulled it out of, so I get the King to help me hang it from the hook. I watch on curiously as the hook starts rattling before the bucket drops onto the floor, spilling all of its contents. The High King and I both get splashed with yellow liquid as it starts flowing like a river into some sort of small hole that's built into the floor underneath the hooks. I lean in closer to look at the liquid, wondering whether I can tell what it is by looking closer, and suddenly spot things wiggling around in it. I scream and jump back as I suddenly realise what they are.
"What's wrong, Athalia?" King Edmund asks me worriedly. I point to the liquid on the floor.
"Le – Le – Le – Leeches!" I screech as I run over to the other side of the room and begin flicking all the liquid off of me in a hurry only to discover that the colour doesn't actually come off, in fact it does just the opposite. He smirks.
"Now you understand why I screamed when I felt them wriggling around my hand," the High King retorts while laughing at me.
"It's not funny! I hate leeches!" This just makes him laugh harder though. I scowl at him.
"Okay, so now that we've established that there are in fact living creatures in the wells, let's work out what to do with the hooks and buckets, because nothing happened when you hung that bucket up beside it dropping to the floor." I nod in response to Abby's comment.
"Good idea. Let's all go and sit down over here and we can start thinking," I suggest. Abby looks contritely at me before giving me a tiny smile. "What?" I ask her, narrowing my eyes.
"Well I've already come up with a few options, one of which, I think, is probably the most obvious way to go." I grin slightly at her.
"Okay then, tell us your ideas."
"Well I was thinking, maybe there's a particular order the coloured buckets have to go in."
"You really are a bright, little child, aren't you?" I comment. She glowers at me.
"I'm not little or a child, I'm nine!"
"And I'm sixteen. Now, can we please just get on with it?" I hear her mumble unintelligible words under her breath as the High King pipes in.
"I think Abigail's right. We should try putting them in colour order. That's the only logical explanation."
"Alright then, I think the first course of action to take is to line all the coloured buckets up on the floor. That way we can see what we have to work with." Everyone agrees to this idea, so we all head over to different coloured wells and begin pulling on the ropes. As each colour pops us, we grab hold of it and pull it out the well. We're all very careful not to touch the liquid; knowing that there are creatures in there and that the colour stains is enough information to keep us as far away as possible. After around half an hour, all eleven buckets are lined up in a line on the floor.
"So how do we know what order to put them in?" King Edmund queries curiously. I shrug my shoulders. How does he expect us to know that?
"I suppose we'll just have to use trial and error. Alright, Your Highness, help me lift the blue one onto the sixth hook, please," I pretty much command the High King. I'm thankful to see that he listens to me and happily helps me lift it up. Once again, the hook trembles before the bucket falls onto the floor. We all groan.
"This is going to take us fore –"
"Wait!" Abby interjects while putting her hand up to stop him from speaking. "Look at the blue liquid. I do believe they're…frogs? Alia, Your Majesties, each different colour has a different creature in it!" I look closely at the liquid and sure enough there are little, blue frogs jumping around everywhere.
"So I wonder what we have to do with them then," I contemplate out loud.
"I think we're doing the right thing; we might need to remember what creature is in which colour though. Abigail, keep track why don't you. As each bucket falls, write down the colour of the bucket and the creature that you can see in it," the High King advocates just as I'm about to suggest the same idea. Even I can't complain with his idea this time. How unusual! She beams at him.
"Great idea, High King! I'll get on it at once! King Edmund, would you like to help me?"
"Sure, I'll help you, Abigail! Come along." They both go and sit down over near one of the wells before Abby gets out her quill and parchment. King Edmund is leaning over her with a smile, looking at what she's writing.
"Yes, good idea, now please help me put up the rest of the buckets." The High King smiles lightly at me before he helps me put the violet one onto the first one. Almost immediately I hear something smash onto the floor. I knot my eyebrows together in confusion before curiously looking around the room. That isn't the sound of a bucket falling. My eyes go wide as I notice a section of light that has suddenly appeared in the south wall. I run over to it quickly before realising that a stone has popped out of the top of wall. How strange! I peep curiously into the round hole in the wall, which is just above my head, and smile brightly. It's extremely light in the other room and I can feel heat coming out from it. Sunlight, it's the only explanation! "I think Abby's right; we need to put them in colour order. Just start putting the buckets on whatever hook you want, we'll work it out eventually," I say as I rush over to them and try picking up the gold one. I put it on the last hook, but it smashes to the ground releasing thousands of tiny sardines.
"Here, let's put the green one on the second hook," the King suggests. I nod and watch on as he picks it up before placing it on the hook. It drops as salamanders flow out from the liquid. "Athalia? Abby? Edmund? Can anyone else feel water at their feet?" he asks suddenly.
"No, I can't feel water, Your Majesty. So how about you stop imagining things and instead think about the task at han…" I trail off as I feel my feet suddenly starting to get wet. I look down with wide eyes. No, surely, he can't be right again! Sure enough, there's suddenly water flooding the ground. I look up to the King with alarm before looking over to King Edmund and Abigail, who have both wisely decided to stand up. "Abigail, King Edmund, come and help us!" I shout desperately.
"We're kind of busy writing down what's in each colour, Alia!"
"That's not important! Do you two want to drown in water? I didn't think so!"
"Relax, Alia. It'll just flood into the rest of the cave system." I feel myself relax physically as I realise that she's right. Yes, what are we worried about? I look over to where there used to be an exit, but of course it's decided to close itself up. I freeze before I begin to panic again. Great! Now we're going to drown in a room full of coloured water and…creatures. My head whips around to the wells in alarm as I notice the water already starting to move up them. But if the water reaches the top of the wells then…
"The way we came in is now closed and we've got to figure the way out before the water reaches the top of the wells!" I say hurriedly as I pick up the orange bucket and place it on the sixth hook. Another stone pops out. "Two out, nine to go!" I shout out. It seems that the fear of being drowned with leeches and salamanders has suddenly sunk in with us all. The buckets are all feeling lighter and I eagerly pick up the turquoise bucket before placing it on the ninth one. It drops un-mercilessly but I don't even wait to see what's in it before I'm grabbing the pink one and placing it on the eighth hook. "Three!" I yell out as another large stone drops out.
"Purple is the fourth one up!" I hear the High King tell us all.
"Good!" I reply as the silver one goes on the second hook. It drops. The water is almost up to my knees now as the King places the red one on the seventh hook. Bingo! Another stone drops out.
"What do we do now? All the buckets are empty!" Abby and King Edmund screech at the same time as they run around like headless chickens. The water's up to my thighs now. If it reaches my waist, then we're doomed!
"Um…um…" I panic.
"Try refilling them, Edmund! Abby, you can help him too," his Majesty says, rather calmly if you ask me. Somehow, he's managing to keep a level head even in a situation like this. So, in other words, it's good that he's here? This doesn't change my attitude towards him at all! I still hate the fact that he's here, even if he has helped us somewhat. We all do as he suggested though and grab the empty buckets before going over to their colour and filling them up. I struggle to carry the blue one over to the hooks before placing it on the first one I see which is the third one. I hear the familiar plonk as a stone drops out. "Athalia! Abby, King Edmund, and I will pass them to you while you try putting them up. If one falls, hand it back to us and we'll refill it," the High King says between puffs. The buckets are still heavy, even though they don't feel as heavy as when we first picked them up. I get passed the gold one next and put it on the second one. It drops. I pick it up and pass it back before I grab the green one. I place it on the fifth one. Plonk. Fantastic! Another one out of the wall. The silver one I place on the second last. It drops, I hand it back. The water has now reached the top of my thighs.
"Hurry up!" I shout out, stressed beyond belief. I get passed the turquoise one and place it on the tenth. It doesn't fall off. Another stone falls in the water. "Another one down! Pass me the next one!" I receive the yellow one next and have a feeling that it's the last one. Apparently, it's not though. I pass it back before I receive the silver one again. I place that one on the last one now. It stays. "The silver one's up! Next!" I receive the gold again.
"Alia, I can't do this for much longer! I have to carry the buckets on my head!" Abby screams at me. This is it. If I don't get this one, we're done for! I put it rather nervously onto the ninth one, hoping with all my heart that it's right. It stays.
"I got it! Pass me the yellow one, hurry!" I shout at the High King who is refilling it. I start to feel things swimming around my legs suddenly and start unconsciously shaking. None of the colours seem to mix together either, so the water is now a rainbow of coloured swirls. "Please tell me you've refilled it!"
"It's refilled, don't spill any though, the water is over the wells now!" He passes it to me, since Abby and King Edmund are practically swimming now, and I place it instantly onto the second one. I hear a whoosh of sound, almost like a wave at the beach, before the water level lowers drastically. I notice that all the water is moving towards me, so, with some help from the High King, I move out of the way. It all gets washed down into a large section that has opened up in the floor where the small hole used to be under the hooks and buckets. Once all the water's gone, I stand there in shock for a moment before a tiny giggle escapes me. His Majesty looks at me like I've grown a second head, but I don't pay attention to him. I look down to Abby, who's starting to laugh too. As soon as we lock eyes, we're laughing our bottoms off. I don't know whether it's from joy or just complete shock, but it takes us a good ten minutes before we finally stop laughing. Until we look at each other again, that just sets us off for another five minutes. Obviously the two Kings don't see the funny side of this situation though, so they just stand there and watch us like we're the biggest idiots alive. It doesn't help that each of us is splotched with all the colours of the rainbow either. Whatever that liquid is, it stains clothes and skin.
"I can't believe we just did that!" Abby exclaims as we finish our laughing fit.
"I know! We almost died!" We both start laughing again until I feel a tap on my shoulder. "Yes, Your Majesty?" I turn around to face them, just as the noise of something grinding rings out throughout the empty space. It sounds a little bit like a stone moving.
"Shouldn't we probably get a move on? We do have a time schedule after all since someone else is after the prophecy." I know he's right, but I can't admit that out loud because that would be complimenting him – again. Hmm, what to do?
"I'm sorry, but I didn't quite hear you. We don't have time to chitchat though, so let's start going again. Now where's that exit..." I reply as I look around the room, ignoring the scowl he's giving me. It only takes me a second to spy the new gap in the wall; obviously that was the grinding noise I heard earlier. It's hard to miss the opening with the bright light shining from inside it. "Come on, Abby, King Edmund – this way." I stroll casually over to the gaping hole and curiously peer inside it. It's a huge cave, with high ceilings and cold rocks. There's nothing inside the cavern. I look up, expecting to see a hole in the ceiling that is letting in the light, but see nothing but the dark stone and vines hanging down from it. Where's the light coming from, then? I glance around curiously before my eyes land on the walls. They seem to have light illuminating from them, from the stones I mean. I tilt my head in curiosity. That's strange. I hear, rather than see, the others come up behind me.
"Hmm, it's just an empty room. Let's go inside," King Edmund suggests as he goes to take a step inside. I grab his hand and pull him back though. Better to be safe than sorry.
"We're not going anywhere until we're positive that there are no traps in this room," I reply cautiously as I take another look around.
"I happen to agree with Alia this time. We need to be cautious," the High King says, coming to as stop next to me. It looks pretty safe, until I see a small plant in the very middle of the room. The plant has purple leaves and a few fancy-looking, red flowers blooming from it. I've learned a few things on this trip, but the main thing I've learned is that anything colourful or small usually turns out to be deadly, so to say I'm cautious is an understatement.
"Alia, look there's a small plant!" Abby exclaims as she runs into the room. She loves botany; unfortunately.
"Abby, no! Be careful, it's a probably a trap!" I scream as I run in after her. I listen to the sound of the King's footsteps as they follow us in afterwards. Before I even have time to turn around and warn them not to follow us through though, the sounds of stone sliding against stone rings out. I groan loudly. "Good one, Abigail! Now we're trapped again!" I exclaim loudly as I huff and sit down on the floor. From where I'm sitting, I can see all around the cavern. There are no other exits.
"Well I didn't know the wall was going to close up when we entered it!" she argues back.
"Really? Well you should've listened to me when I said be careful!"
"Girls! Let's just find a way out of here," the High King interjects. I roll my eyes at him.
"Fine!" I snap irritably. I'm tired and worn out and really can't be bothered to find a way out. Maybe we can just sleep in here for a while…
"I have a feeling this flower is our way out," he says as he walks over to it. My eyes grow wide.
"Your Majesty! Don't touch the flower!" He looks at me and laughs before raising an eyebrow and reaching down. I narrow my eyes at him. "You're going to regret this. It's going to open up a trap and we're all going to die. Please, just stop!" His hand stops its movement for a moment while he weighs up all his options. We all look around. There's nothing else in here.
"Well I don't see any other way out of this room and since it's the only thing in here it would make sense for it to be our exit," he explains. "I promise you, as your king, that nothing will happen if I pluck a leaf off of this plant." To demonstrate his point, he leans forwards before he plucks a leaf from the plant. It withers almost immediately in his hand.
"See, Athalia. Nothing happened. We are all fine!" King Edmund butts in while happily sitting down on the ground. I feel a rumbling under my feet as soon as the words are out of his mouth, almost like an earthquake, as I get thrown to the ground. My sack flies over to the other side of the room and I quickly jump up and run, rather messily, over to it. I grab it up into my hands and toss it over one shoulder and over my neck before I get tossed to the ground again. Abby, who had been very quiet during our exchange, suddenly screams. I look up and over to her worriedly, only to realise that the ground is breaking beneath her feet. It splits into two suddenly as she drops down into it.
"Abby!" I screech as I try to get up, rather unsuccessfully if you ask me. I feel the earth splitting beneath me too suddenly before I'm dropping into the ground. All at once, I feel myself hit something crumbly. I look down and can't help but close my eyes in disbelief. Sand. I try to free myself, but find myself sinking into the sand instead. So, it's not only sand then, but quick sand!
"What is this stuff?" Abigail inquires as she struggles to free herself. How does she not know? Isn't she supposed to be the smart one? I feel hopeless as I watch her sink further and further down into the quick sand. We are going to die. There's no way around it. And just to make matters worse, King Edmund decides to spread his knowledge and give her some wise words of wisdom. Great, just great!
"It's quick sand, Abigail! The more you move around in it, the further you sink into it and, if you sink too much in it, then you'll pretty much drown to death." I glare at him, angry for the first time at the youngest King. Why did he tell her that? Is he stupid or something?
"Sink? DEATH? Oh my, we're going to die! We're going to die!" She is starting to panic even more now which is causing her to start sinking deeper. Just calm her down, Alia. You can do this.
"Abigail! Calm down, no one is going to die. I promise. Just stop moving and stay as still as you can while we figure out a way to get out of here," I say, trying to relax her. She's already up to her chest in the stuff. If she sinks any further than I'm going to start freaking out. "Of course, we wouldn't even be in this position though if the High King would've just listened to me," I add on under my breath. In the corner of my eye, I see the eldest King's head whip in my direction. His eyes are cut into a glare as he stares at me venomously. Whoops. Apparently, I was louder than I thought.
"Me? How is any of this my fault?" I turn my head to look him dead in the eye at his reply.
"Because you're too proud to listen to me!" I retort, anger starting to build up in the pits of my stomach.
"Pride has nothing to do with this! You're far too superstitious about things and so I was trying to show you that nothing would happen if I touched the plant."
"Well you proved your point – and failed! Are you happy now?"
"Oh, sure; put all the blame on me why don't you! After all, I've already saved your bottoms on more than one occasion."
"That's beside the point! You were the one who pulled off the leaf and caused the ground to split in half and now we're all about to drown in quick sand!"
"Well if you would've stayed in the other room like I said – "
"Like you said?! I was the one who told everyone to stay out of this room and to keep away from the plant, but, no, apparently it's too hard to listen to me!"
"No, I told everyone to stay out!"
"No, you're trying to save your bottom because I was the one who told everyone to keep out."
"Well I wasn't the one who ran into the room, it was Abigail. You were the one who followed her though; I was just going in because you both did."
"Keep Abigail out of this! She studies botany so when she sees an unusual plant of course she's going to run over to it. Besides, you were the one that caused the stone to close! This is all your fault!"
"Of course it is! Because everything is my fault, isn't it? The monkey door was all my fault, the tree sap was all my fault, the well was all my fault, the stone closing was all my fault. There is no pleasing you is there, Alia!"
"Don't you dare call me Alia! Only my friends call me that and you are clearly not my friend!"
"Well that's good to know, because you're not my friend either."
"You're acting really immature right now, Your Majesty."
"Well you are too, Athalia."
"When I get out of here, you are dead!" I scream.
"It's not good luck to send death threats to your King."
"I don't care! I wish you never came with us! I wish you would've just kept out of our business! In fact, I wish you never came to Narnia and became our High King! I think I prefer the White Witch to you!" Everything goes silent suddenly. I see Abby and King Edmund looking from the King to me in shock; both of their mouths wide open so that they're in the shape of an O. I look back to the High King, but regret it immediately. His glare could cut butter. Maybe that was a step too far. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. That got a little bit out of hand," I apologise while looking down.
"Yes, it did, but it's too late for apologies. The damage has been done. Let's just figure out a way to get out of here so that we can find the prophecy," he replies in a firm tone. I breathe deeply, trying to calm myself down and stop myself from going off at him again, before I look around the room. There's nothing around, but a few vines and some of those weird rocks that point out of the ground. Their called stalagmites, Alia…I don't care, subconscious! I can feel sand starting to seep into areas that I really don't want to talk about and it's beginning to get extremely uncomfortable. We're all quiet for a good twenty minutes as we think. Either though we're not moving and are keeping as still as possible, we're still sinking. I can feel that it's up to my chest now. Much to my joy, I find that Abby hasn't been sinking nearly as much as either of the Kings or I. It hasn't moved up much on her from when I last looked at her. Thank Aslan for that! I sigh loudly before I look to my right. A single vine hangs down from the rock ceiling. I raise an eyebrow and follow it up with my eyes to see where it leads. My eyes grow wide before I squeal loudly. A gaping hole in the wall, that's where the vine leads.
"What is it, Athalia?" King Edmund inquires, finally breaking the silence between us all.
"A cave! There's a vine next to me that leads up to it. If I could just grab onto it, I might be able to pull myself out and use the rope that's in my satchel to help you all out," I tell him. Now how do I grab onto the vine? Unfortunately, one of my arms is stuck in the quick sand so it looks like I'm going to have to do this one handed. Oh, fun! I reach over only to find that it's just out of reach. I groan and relax a bit before pushing myself towards it. I grab it between my fingers and smile brightly as I manage to grip it with my hand. I tug on it a bit before yanking hard on it, testing its stability and strength. It doesn't move thankfully. I then try to grip a little bit higher before I pull my body up. I manage to drag myself out and find myself lying on the sand. Somehow, I'm not sinking. Thank the Lion's Mane! I use my other hand to grip a little bit higher before pulling myself up. I start to climb up the vine, trying to ignore the fact that I'm swinging meters above lethal quicksand, and eagerly await the moment when I'm able to see inside the cave. Instead of seeing the cave though I feel things starting to move around on my hands. I look at them worriedly before I scream.
"What is it, Athalia?" Abby screams up as I frantically begin shaking my hands. I let go of the vine with one hand so that I can flick the creatures off of it, before doing the same with the other one. "Alia!"
"SCORPIONS!" I screech as I hurriedly begin to climb up the vine. I can feel my hands folding over some of them as I grip the vine tightly before a sharp pain in my left hand causes me to let go. I keep my mouth shut and eyes closed as I brace myself for the sure smack that I'm about to receive before all goes black.
Oh no! What's going to happen to Alia?! Found out next week or throw up some guesses! ;)
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- narnia and beareject fan 1 xo