Chapter Seven: Door to the Dark Past

             Buddi had to strain to lift the trapdoor. It was heavy. His strength was coming though. Before, the cub wouldn't have been able to budge it. Even now it was a struggle. He wished he had Ursa's strength. She would have lifted it with one arm.

            "Go, I can't hold this forever."

            Sunni pushed Cubbi ahead of her into the trapdoor. They heard a falling sound and then,

            "Ouch."

            "Cubbi are you okay?" Sunni asked as she started down the ladder that Cubbi'd missed.

            "Swell, it's always fun to land on a stone mattress."

            Sunni smiled at Buddi as he came down behind her,

            "He's fine."

            Buddi knocked the door back enough so it stayed open and then headed down after Sunni. He helped Cubbi up and then drew an old candle from the wall, lighting it swiftly with two rocks. At least something Ursa taught him, he used.

            But immediately he wished he hadn't lit it. Sunni grabbed his upper arm. Cubbi grabbed him around the waist. Of the present gummies, he was the one who seemed the toughest so the two other cubs turned to him.

            All around the room was stained blood.

            Swallowing hard, he whispered,

            "Come on."

* * *

            Sir Plucki sat polishing his weapons. It honestly bugged him being away from Gummadoon but he knew that there wasn't a chance Igthorn could take it. He was occupied. Also he knew that Celina couldn't take it, not at the moment. She was still imprisoned.

            Inwardly, he hated the fact that he had snapped at his youngest knight a week or so ago. They were staying here to help the gummies adjust and help with repairs. Still, he often forgot that Cubbi was a child. Children were naturally curious, he wondered if he should have simply told the child what was in the room beneath the Glen.

            No! No, he simply couldn't…no cub could handle that…

* * *

            Ursa sat up, unable to sleep. She hated the fight she and Buddi had going on. It seemed that they were always arguing now. She missed that close relationship they'd had when he was younger and before…

            "Before Cupid's infernal arrow pierced him," Ursa hissed to herself.

            She stared down at her hands. They were older, more mature. She had started her career as a 'mother' when she was twenty. Now she was thirty-four. She laid her forehead in her palm and sighed deeply. She didn't want to lose her cub.

            "You're pushing too hard Ursa," she scolded herself.

            "Can you blame me, Sunni's too weak for him."

            "But she makes him happy."

            Ursa sighed and said, "You're definitely working too hard, Ursa Marie, you're talking to yourself."

            She got up and walked over to her nightstand. Opening the lowest drawer, she withdrew an old ragged mixture of leather and fur. It was an old stuffed wolf cub, the one that had been Buddi's loyal friend when he was younger. He'd named it 'Wolfie.'

            Ursa had kept it. She wasn't sure why. But now as she looked at it, saw patches of fur that had faded and that the stuffed animal's eyes had since fallen out. It had been almost six years since Buddi'd last openly played with it.

            Ursa sighed deeply,

            He was growing up. This coming birthday he would be fifteen. His second muscle spurt had come a few days ago. He had been reluctant to tell her. But she had merely given him some herbs for it. She had hid her emotions.

            She didn't know what she was feeling. She knew that if she kept him from Sunni he would be miserable but on the other hand he would hate her. That was the last thing she wanted. But on the other hand, Sunni was a glen and weak. They didn't fight; they took the easy way out and surrendered. That was the way of cowards and she was not willing to lose her cub to a coward.

            Still, she had to talk to him. She knew he would most likely be awake.

            Ursa's heart froze when she came to his room. His bed hadn't even been slept in. she growled,

            "Buddi.."

* * *

            Buddi walked forward, keeping a hand around Sunni and Cubbi's elbows. He was the eldest and felt it was his job to be brave but it was so hard. He was terrified. He glanced around and felt his blood run cold.

            All around, etched up on the stonewalls were long deceased corpses. Some still had their mouths locked open in a silent and unanswered scream. Spears were pinned through their bones in the legs and arms. That was what kept them pinned to the walls.

            Glancing around, the cubs saw that some of the spears had been jerked about. Obviously their ancestors had found this room and attempted to free these bodies to bury them properly. But the spears were pierced firmly. The cubs walked on. The room was damp and musty. The air was stale.

            Cubbi stopped and stumbled back, covering his eyes. The others cubs swiftly saw why. There ahead was a collection of bones and torn fur, thrown together. It was obviously deliberately arranged, almost like a twisted collage. Buddi fought a wave of nausea.

            He delicately picked his way by the collage and found himself by a mirror, coated with a black glass. He found several sheets of paper in front of the glass but they were so badly faded it was almost impossible to read.

            "What's it say?"

            Buddi shrugged, "I'm not sure."

            Sunni shivered, "Let's hurry and get outta here, this place gives me the creeps."

            Buddi nodded and read aloud,

            "Emi had fled to the world beyond the mirrors, to a world where time itself is a tangible thing, a land of mist that allows her forward and backwards in time. We don't know the kind of damage she can do. She has already killed over a dozen of her own kind, including little Naomi, the youngest of her own cousins!"

            Buddi shuddered inwardly and read on, but there was no more detail on the type of gummi she was but skipped ahead to say,

            "Using a dangerous spell, our wizards trapped her in the realm so she could merely watch as lives went by. Trapped behind a glass of night, she could enter for brief amounts of time into the real world but was not a real danger…"

            "Buddi!"

            The boy turned, as did Cubbi at Sunni's shout. She had found a collection of other journal entries. But as they started to run, Cubbi tripped over the edge of the table and was sent sprawling into the mirror, shattering the glass. But amazingly he felt no pain just an ice-cold chill. He scrambled away swiftly.

            A misty plane was behind the mirror. He was petrified and demanded to no one in particular,

            "What did I do?"

            A cold laugh answered him.

            Looking ahead, a form emerged from the mists. She was a gummi about Gusto's height. Her fur was coal black and her hair fell in darker black waves to her waist. She wore a dark black dress with a darker black belt and knee high black boots. Her eyes…they froze the soul. Her lips curled in an evil smirk.

            Slapped around her wrists were golden chains. She smiled.

            "You freed me, Cubbi. You freed me."

            That said, Emi Gummi laughed and snapped the chains that bound her…

END OF PART ONE

TO BE CONTINUED…