Chapter 12 - The Quest Begins!
******
A/N - Hiya! Extra long chapter today. My imagination got a little carried away.
Augusta - That was a very good idea about Trin and I might use it as a sub-plot. Cheers! In reference to your question, Caradoc is a Celtic word meaning 'beloved'...or Gaelic, I'm not sure!
******
After hours of continuous research the journey was eventually planned. Hilarity
looked at the map with disbelief as the amount of ground they had to cover was
roughly the same size as Ukraine. Basically they had to reach what was known as the
transition world, known to the locals as Nemuria, where the living and the dead
walked hand in hand. After that border, closely guarded by the Uscat Mountains, was
crossed any kind of magic the traveller might possess was immediately taken away
from them and they had to continue the journey on foot. Then they must follow the
River Tartarus backwards till they found its source. The entrance lay near there but no
one was sure where. Finding the Land of the Dead was not at the top of these
Geographers' agenda.
"Good God! That's difficult!" cried the girl with despair. "Isn't there any other way?"
"We could die, of course. Would you prefer that?" said Jareth, there was an
embarrassed silence. "I didn't think so."
After they had finished their planning, Sarah reluctantly agreed to stay behind and
look after the kingdom. It had actually taken about three days worth of convincing but
she was in no state for travelling that kind of distance and her protection was vital.
They were about to leave, backpacks at the ready when Thomas suddenly grabbed
Hilarity y the ankles and
refused to let her go.
"I guess we should let him come." she said.
"That waste of space?!" cried Jareth angrily.
"He could be useful. He's much more intelligent than he looks!" Hilarity objected.
"How come the alien can go but I can't?" Sarah complained.
"Because he hasn't just given birth, that's why."
"I told you, I'm fine!"
"And I told you no."
Eventually Hilarity convinced her friend to let her pet come along and the original two
became three as they were transported to the Underground/Nemurian borders. The
pass was tiny and you had to climb about two hundred feet just to get a glimpse of the
other side. The two jagged mountains stood ominously like guards on either side of it,
each one nearly four thousand metres tall. The midday sunshine of their current world
seemed to end abruptly as it reached the top of the mountains and was faced head on
by seething black clouds as unstable as uranium.
"Are you sure this is the easiest way in?" said Hilarity frostily. "Couldn't we just
knock?"
"It's the only way we can get in without actually dying." said Jareth "And even then it's
pretty risky."
Hilarity blinked nervously "Well, here goes." She said and they began to climb the
rocky path. The further they went the steeper the path became and the healthy trees of
the foothills thinned out to become spindly corpses of their former selves until the
land was almost bare. Incidentally the mountain on the left side of the pass was named
Bear Mountain due to a minor yet serious spelling error. It didn't matter in the long
run but the place received much more tourism than it really deserved. This was a place
where witches met, upon the foggy crags and severed branches. The sun began to set
and a frail yet powerful voice echoed between the two worlds: "You mean everyone
brought coleslaw!"
"What was that?" Hilarity whispered, she was already feeling quite jumpy, the
vegetation or lack thereof had left her slightly distressed.
"It's a Sabbat meeting." explained Jareth "There's tones of them around here. Don't
worry, witches don't harm people if they don't bother them....or if you refuse to offer
them tea and biscuits." Hilarity smiled. Jareth wasn't her favourite person at the
moment, but it was nice to have familiar face around, especially one who knew what
was dangerous and what wasn't. They carried on in silence, partly because of the
exhausting climb and partly because their rage had not yet calmed down. Arguments
could still be spotted on the horizon and neither of them wanted to jeopardise the
other's forgiveness. They finally reached the top and were encountered by a large
stone wall that blocked whatever gap there was between the two Uscats. There was no
way through except for an iron gate with hundreds of very nasty looking spikes along
the sides and top. Next to it was an unusually modern toll booth! As they got closer
they noticed a tiny demon sleeping inside it.
"Excuse me?" said Hilarity and the creature suddenly jumped three feet in the air and
let out a little squeal of surprise.
"Yes?" it said after it had composed itself.
"My friends and I would like to cross this border please."
"You putting me on!" said the demon in disbelief. It was obvious that they weren't.
"Well, it's you're funeral. Pun intended." he laughed fiendishly.
"So, are you going to let us pass?"
"It's not that simple." said the demon "First you must answer my riddle."
"Can't we just give you our passports?"
"No! Answer me this : When you want it, you can't have it and when you have it, you
don't know it..."
Hilarity and Jareth thought about this for a moment but no inspiration came. Thomas
soon got bored watching them trying to work it out and started to curl up in the long
spiky grass.
"Tom! Bad time to go to sleep!" his owner scolded.
"That's it!" cried Jareth.
"What? Thomas?"
"No, sleep. That's the answer."
"Of course! He hardly ever sleeps during the day. He must've been trying to tell us the
answer." she turned back to the demon "Is it 'sleep'?"
"Bugger it!" said the demon crossly and pulled a large lever inside the booth. The
gates swung open with an eerie creak. On the other side lay hundreds of miles of the
harshest terrain the three travellers had ever seen. Acres of barren fields, mixed with
vast expanses of black forbidding forests, dotted with tiny, sombre villages dwarfed
by mountains and the huge castles that lay at their highest point. Everything was dark
and stormy and thoroughly depressing.
"Christ! It's like that bit in the Wizard of OZ only backwards. We've gone from
Technicolor to black and white!" mused Hilarity.
******
A/N - Hiya! Extra long chapter today. My imagination got a little carried away.
Augusta - That was a very good idea about Trin and I might use it as a sub-plot. Cheers! In reference to your question, Caradoc is a Celtic word meaning 'beloved'...or Gaelic, I'm not sure!
******
After hours of continuous research the journey was eventually planned. Hilarity
looked at the map with disbelief as the amount of ground they had to cover was
roughly the same size as Ukraine. Basically they had to reach what was known as the
transition world, known to the locals as Nemuria, where the living and the dead
walked hand in hand. After that border, closely guarded by the Uscat Mountains, was
crossed any kind of magic the traveller might possess was immediately taken away
from them and they had to continue the journey on foot. Then they must follow the
River Tartarus backwards till they found its source. The entrance lay near there but no
one was sure where. Finding the Land of the Dead was not at the top of these
Geographers' agenda.
"Good God! That's difficult!" cried the girl with despair. "Isn't there any other way?"
"We could die, of course. Would you prefer that?" said Jareth, there was an
embarrassed silence. "I didn't think so."
After they had finished their planning, Sarah reluctantly agreed to stay behind and
look after the kingdom. It had actually taken about three days worth of convincing but
she was in no state for travelling that kind of distance and her protection was vital.
They were about to leave, backpacks at the ready when Thomas suddenly grabbed
Hilarity y the ankles and
refused to let her go.
"I guess we should let him come." she said.
"That waste of space?!" cried Jareth angrily.
"He could be useful. He's much more intelligent than he looks!" Hilarity objected.
"How come the alien can go but I can't?" Sarah complained.
"Because he hasn't just given birth, that's why."
"I told you, I'm fine!"
"And I told you no."
Eventually Hilarity convinced her friend to let her pet come along and the original two
became three as they were transported to the Underground/Nemurian borders. The
pass was tiny and you had to climb about two hundred feet just to get a glimpse of the
other side. The two jagged mountains stood ominously like guards on either side of it,
each one nearly four thousand metres tall. The midday sunshine of their current world
seemed to end abruptly as it reached the top of the mountains and was faced head on
by seething black clouds as unstable as uranium.
"Are you sure this is the easiest way in?" said Hilarity frostily. "Couldn't we just
knock?"
"It's the only way we can get in without actually dying." said Jareth "And even then it's
pretty risky."
Hilarity blinked nervously "Well, here goes." She said and they began to climb the
rocky path. The further they went the steeper the path became and the healthy trees of
the foothills thinned out to become spindly corpses of their former selves until the
land was almost bare. Incidentally the mountain on the left side of the pass was named
Bear Mountain due to a minor yet serious spelling error. It didn't matter in the long
run but the place received much more tourism than it really deserved. This was a place
where witches met, upon the foggy crags and severed branches. The sun began to set
and a frail yet powerful voice echoed between the two worlds: "You mean everyone
brought coleslaw!"
"What was that?" Hilarity whispered, she was already feeling quite jumpy, the
vegetation or lack thereof had left her slightly distressed.
"It's a Sabbat meeting." explained Jareth "There's tones of them around here. Don't
worry, witches don't harm people if they don't bother them....or if you refuse to offer
them tea and biscuits." Hilarity smiled. Jareth wasn't her favourite person at the
moment, but it was nice to have familiar face around, especially one who knew what
was dangerous and what wasn't. They carried on in silence, partly because of the
exhausting climb and partly because their rage had not yet calmed down. Arguments
could still be spotted on the horizon and neither of them wanted to jeopardise the
other's forgiveness. They finally reached the top and were encountered by a large
stone wall that blocked whatever gap there was between the two Uscats. There was no
way through except for an iron gate with hundreds of very nasty looking spikes along
the sides and top. Next to it was an unusually modern toll booth! As they got closer
they noticed a tiny demon sleeping inside it.
"Excuse me?" said Hilarity and the creature suddenly jumped three feet in the air and
let out a little squeal of surprise.
"Yes?" it said after it had composed itself.
"My friends and I would like to cross this border please."
"You putting me on!" said the demon in disbelief. It was obvious that they weren't.
"Well, it's you're funeral. Pun intended." he laughed fiendishly.
"So, are you going to let us pass?"
"It's not that simple." said the demon "First you must answer my riddle."
"Can't we just give you our passports?"
"No! Answer me this : When you want it, you can't have it and when you have it, you
don't know it..."
Hilarity and Jareth thought about this for a moment but no inspiration came. Thomas
soon got bored watching them trying to work it out and started to curl up in the long
spiky grass.
"Tom! Bad time to go to sleep!" his owner scolded.
"That's it!" cried Jareth.
"What? Thomas?"
"No, sleep. That's the answer."
"Of course! He hardly ever sleeps during the day. He must've been trying to tell us the
answer." she turned back to the demon "Is it 'sleep'?"
"Bugger it!" said the demon crossly and pulled a large lever inside the booth. The
gates swung open with an eerie creak. On the other side lay hundreds of miles of the
harshest terrain the three travellers had ever seen. Acres of barren fields, mixed with
vast expanses of black forbidding forests, dotted with tiny, sombre villages dwarfed
by mountains and the huge castles that lay at their highest point. Everything was dark
and stormy and thoroughly depressing.
"Christ! It's like that bit in the Wizard of OZ only backwards. We've gone from
Technicolor to black and white!" mused Hilarity.
