Chapter 3

After a good two hours climbing the steep rocky mountain Alan could tell he was close. It was now high noon and the sun shone straight down on Tock spire. It was ancient, with elaborate statutes carved into recesses along the outside walls, crumbling and covered with vines. Over a massive set of doors was a carving of a hideous skeleton holding an hourglass. The door was locked, the metal rivets studding the warped oaken surface rusting to red powder. He set down his knapsack. As he searched the door he found one slat was loose, which he pulled up and managed to wiggle under.

At first he couldn't see anything at all. It was cool and musty inside. Before his eyes could adjust he could faintly hear the sound of flowing water. He walked toward the sound holding his hands in front of him and eventually felt a cold moss covered stone wall. There was water flowing from what felt like a demon's face. He tasted the water, which was clean and refreshing. By now, he could make out the tall vaulted ceilings of the corridors. As he inspected what looked like a blank wall, his foot hit something. He looked down to see a faintly glowing symbol embedded in the stone floor in the shape of an arrowhead. As he stepped onto it he felt as if he was shoved into the wall. Next thing he knew he was standing in a different room, the wall behind him now. He looked frantically for another symbol and saw one at the base of the opposite wall. He walked onto it and found himself in a third room. He saw a passageway leading to the right around a corner.

Around the corner stood a glass sphere resting a stand in the shape of a raptor claw. It rested between three pillars in a triangle in the center of the room. A faint shaft of sunlight coming through a chink in the wall made the sphere look as if it were glowing with a golden light. Alan gingerly reached out and felt its surface. Smooth and warm to the touch. He had an eerie feeling someone was watching him. After quickly checking the area, he carefully lifted the sphere out of the stand, waiting for something horrible to happen. Nothing did. It wasn't heavy at all. He smiled and tossed it up and caught it again. Since he didn't want to push his luck further so he looked around for an exit and found another symbol pointing out.

He was now in a narrow corridor that seemed to run along just inside the outer wall. Sunlight was streaming in the cracks along the outer wall. Around the corner was the main entrance again. After crawling through the door, he picked up the knapsack in one arm and cradled the sphere in the other. Carmen lay in the valley far below to the west. It looked tiny and insignificant from this vantage point. He slowly clambered down the mountainside back towards home. At the base of the mountain he reached the edge of a grassy field. The roofs of Carmen were clearly visible over the trees on the far side. He began wading through the grass. When he was about halfway across he heard a rubbery bouncing sound.

"Hello?" inquired Alan uncertainly.

He heard the rubbery sound behind him and he turned to see a blue mass of goo bouncing up and down a few feet from him.

"A slime!" he yelled, fighting his rising panic.

Alan slowly began to back away but it took a bounce forward for every step he took back. He reached into his knapsack and threw some holiday fruit over it into the grass. As it pounced on the fruit he ran towards Carmen. He was running at full tilt when he tripped over a root and fell facedown onto the ground. In his pain he could vaguely hear the sound of shattering glass. He looked up, his face scratched and bleeding. The sphere was broken into a hundred pieces, spilling out glittering powder that was blowing away in the wind. Alan now realized he could hear the slime approaching. He got unsteadily to his feet and looked frantically for his knapsack. The slime suddenly stopped a few feet away as the golden powder swirled around it. It tried to absorb the powder but the tentacles kept missing. Suddenly the powder stuck to the surface of the slime and it trembled, then burst, spilling goop everywhere. The remains of the slime settled into the soil and were gone.

Alan got ready pick up his knapsack but stopped when saw the powder rise out of the ground and solidify into a solid mass. It quickly assumed a dome-like shape and it looked like another slime except this one was golden. He made it back to the gates of Carmen in record time.

He could see now the lights were on in the windows as dusk was falling. He ran quickly to the doctor's house. Kurt opened the door before he could knock.

"Where the hell have you been?" he began, but stopped when he saw Alan's face.

"There was a slime after me!" he said.

Kurt quickly pulled him indoors and shut the door.

"Are you alright?" he demanded.

Alan tried to catch his breath. "I think so Doc. I got the fruit."

He handed the knapsack to Kurt, who threw it into a corner.

"Forget the fruit!" said Kurt, "I'm just glad you're alright!"

Alan nodded and then started sniffling uncontrollably. Kurt took his hand and sat him on a chair. He used some stinging liquid to clean out the scratches on his hands and face.

"I should never have sent you by yourself," he said bitterly as he wrapped up Alan's cuts with strips of cloth.

Alan tried to speak but his voice wouldn't come amongst the tears.

"It looks like you only got some scratches thank Tyr," said Kurt, "I'm surprised you ran into a slime on the road. They usually prefer grassland."

Alan felt a stab of guilt but decided not to tell the Doctor where he had been. He merely nodded.

"Now go home quickly," said Kurt, "No more adventures!"

Alan nodded and collected his books. As he hurried home, he decided the doctor was right. He had tasted enough adventure to last a lifetime. From now on, he would stay in Carmen. Better to be boring and safe than exciting and dead.