Bad to Basics8
I'm on a ledge in the middle of a cliff with a cave entrance in the wall with Piper, Phoebe and Chris. We can feel the heat coming off the river of lava that's flowing at the bottom of the cliff. "Are you sure we're in the right place, Chris?" I ask.
"Yes," Chris replies, "Entrance to the caves of confusion, once we enter, we will not be able to orb out. Even most demons can't shimmer or teleport out of this place, only some of the upper level demons know how to get out of here via magical transport, so we're going to have to walk in and walk out. Be on your guard as many demons have wandered in here only to be trapped. Some say that this maze of caves was made as a separation zone between the upper levels of the underworld from the lower levels."
"So the underworld has a hierarchy or better yet a lower-archy," I interject, "and this is the way the upper level demons keep their living space clear of all the lower level riff-raff."
"You could say that," Chris says.
"So, how are we going to find our way out?" I ask.
"I can create light at will being part whitelighter," Chris replies, "I can put the light on an object or part of an object, so I can leave us a trail of lights as we go. I can also sense Paige as I'm sure Phoebe can to. We'll be the blood hounds on this trip."
"Oh Chris, thanks," Phoebe quips, "Just what I always wanted to be, a dog."
"And, a might beautiful dog at that," I add.
Phoebe turns to me and sticks her tongue out at me. "Don't stick it out unless you know how to use it," I continue.
"Oh! I know how to use it," Phoebe replies.
"Could have fooled me," I say as I move in closer to her.
Phoebe steps back and says, "Back off Jack! You had your shot but decided to play hard to get."
"Was I too hard to get or just too hard for you to handle?" I say as I wink at her.
"Oh, dream on Jack, dream on," Phoebe pithily comments.
"Yeah, but a day dreamin' of you is worth a 1000 days with a 1000 other woman," I retort.
"You two want to be alone." Piper finally interjects, "because Chris and I could find Paige without you and leave the two of you here to banter to your hearts content."
"Be alone with him," Phoebe replies, "Only in his dreams, but you're right Piper, we're supposed to be here for Paige." Both Piper and Phoebe look at me.
I smile back and say, "Ok, I'll be good, or as good as I can be. Hey, I didn't want to be here in the first place."
Chris starts off into the cave and the rest of us follow. When we get about 60 feet into the cave, Chris touched the wall with his finger and leaves a finger print sized area of light on the wall. This solves two problems: one it gives us light, and two it gives us a start of a trail to follow out. When we get to our first intersection, Piper and I stand watch as Chris and Phoebe confer on which way to go. We do this uneventfully for at least two hours when we stop at yet another intersection, I take up my guard duty when lightening comes out of the darkness and zaps me good. I tried to dodge it but didn't make it out of the way in time. Everyone else turns towards the source of the lightening just in time to see another lightening bolt coming towards us. Piper quickly freezes it just before it gets to her. I hit the wall and slump down to the floor involuntarily. Piper calls out, "Chris cast some light down that corridor so we can see what we're up against."
Chris throws an orb down the corridor, and we see a bluish colored humanoid forming another ball of lightening between its hands. When it sees that it's in the light it stops with the lightening and quickly retreats down the corridor. Chris and Phoebe come over to where I'm slumped over in a corner to see how I am. Phoebe opens her mouth and comments, "Look, there's drool running down on his chin. Man, where's a camera when you need one."
"Are you alright?" Chris asks me.
"Yoooo!" I babble, "Ush bah hoy."
"Well, he's alive," Phoebe says, "That could be good new or that could be bad."
"Come on Phoebe, be nice," Chris defends me, "He just took a lightening bolt for the group effort."
"Yeah, ok," Phoebe says as she leans over me to check my pulse and breathing. "He's still breathing and has a pulse." she announces.
"Well, is he going to live?" Piper chimes in.
"Yeah," I'm finally able to say, "I'll live and even be able to walk again in a few minutes."
"Glad to hear it," Piper replies.
A few minutes later we're off on our quest again. We traveled on for another hour or so when Chris sees a faint light source up ahead. As we get closer and rounded a few more corners, the light gets brighter until we come into a large cavern that is almost as bright as day with a tree growing in the middle of it. The tree has lush foliage on it and bright red fruit that look good to the eye. Phoebe walks towards the tree as she says, "Wow! What a wonderful looking tree. I wonder if the fruit is edible."
"Stop!" I say, "Don't go any closer to that tree."
Phoebe asks, "Why?" as she keeps walking towards the tree, but it's too late. The roots of the tree reach up and grab her and pin her to the ground.
Chris and Piper exclaim, "No!" at the same time and rush in to help Phoebe, but they are caught by the tree's roots also leaving me about 30 feet away smiling at this turn of events.
"Well, you two were a big help." I comment.
"Ok," Piper says, "All kidding aside, do you have any idea on how to get us out of this?"
"I do." Chris says as he orbs out but orbs immediately back in to where he was. "That didn't work." he says as he looks to me for answers.
"What, why do you all think I know anything about this." I say defensively.
"Well," Phoebe says, "You did know that I shouldn't approach this tree before I did."
"I was just being wary." I reply.
"Right!" All three of them say in unison as they look into my eyes as if they're not believing a word I say.
Just then we hear a groggy voice coming from the other side of the tree, "Hey, is somebody there?"
I walk around the tree to the other side and there in the dirt all tangled up in roots is Paige. When she sees me she exclaims, "Jack, what are you doing here? I should have known that you'd be involved."
"Hey, who's there? Jack is there somebody there? Piper interjects.
"Who have we been looking for?" I reply.
"What?" Piper responds.
"Not what, who?" I say.
"Piper? Is that you? I can't see you. I'm trapped by theses roots." Paige says.
"Paige," Piper responds, "We're trapped by the roots on the other side of the tree just like you. Jack's the only one of us that didn't get trapped by the tree. Chris and Phoebe are here also."
"Oh great," Paige says, "You know that I got lost down here while tracking Leirda. Funny how every time we run into that demonic seductress, we run into Jack."
"Wait a minute there," I reply, "I did not seek you out; Phoebe came to me. I didn't want to go on this vacation; you insisted that I come along."
"Yada, yada, yada, yada," Piper says, "Tell us something we don't know. It's just funny how you're always around just when we need you, and you know just the right thing to do as if you planned the whole thing."
"Right, I'm good but not that good." I reply, "Like I could have planned for Phoebe's visit, and you're insisting that I go on this foray, and that you were going to be captured by a Poison Tree."
"Ah ha," Phoebe interjects, "So you do know what this plant is which means you probably know how to bet us out, what are you waiting for?"
"Enjoying having you as a captive audience," I comment, "That's what."
"Argh," Paige growls, "When I get out of here, I'm going to do worse than dump you in a garbage dump."
"Will it involve whips and chains?" I reply, "Oh baby, oh baby."
If looks could kill, I'd have been a dead man on the spot. "Ok, ok," I respond rather sheepishly, "I'll get you out, don't get your panties all tied up in a knot."
"Hey, no panties here!" Chris chimes in.
"Watered with some bitter tears, now I spread the tears of joy, so that you can hold my friends no more." I say as I milk so tears out of my eyes and flick them on to the roots of the tree. The tree roots immediately start to retreat, and I make a path to Paige and then the others. Having found what we were looking for we beat a hasty retreat following Chris's path of lights to the entrance of the maze. Back in the manor I bid the re-united family good-bye.
"You know that you might be powerful witches but you still have plenty to learn. Read "A Poison Tree" by William Blake for instance and other artists and poets that come down to us as crack pots. A lot of them were witches like you with no other way to express their experiences other than through their art." With that I walk out the front door leaving it open.
I'm on a ledge in the middle of a cliff with a cave entrance in the wall with Piper, Phoebe and Chris. We can feel the heat coming off the river of lava that's flowing at the bottom of the cliff. "Are you sure we're in the right place, Chris?" I ask.
"Yes," Chris replies, "Entrance to the caves of confusion, once we enter, we will not be able to orb out. Even most demons can't shimmer or teleport out of this place, only some of the upper level demons know how to get out of here via magical transport, so we're going to have to walk in and walk out. Be on your guard as many demons have wandered in here only to be trapped. Some say that this maze of caves was made as a separation zone between the upper levels of the underworld from the lower levels."
"So the underworld has a hierarchy or better yet a lower-archy," I interject, "and this is the way the upper level demons keep their living space clear of all the lower level riff-raff."
"You could say that," Chris says.
"So, how are we going to find our way out?" I ask.
"I can create light at will being part whitelighter," Chris replies, "I can put the light on an object or part of an object, so I can leave us a trail of lights as we go. I can also sense Paige as I'm sure Phoebe can to. We'll be the blood hounds on this trip."
"Oh Chris, thanks," Phoebe quips, "Just what I always wanted to be, a dog."
"And, a might beautiful dog at that," I add.
Phoebe turns to me and sticks her tongue out at me. "Don't stick it out unless you know how to use it," I continue.
"Oh! I know how to use it," Phoebe replies.
"Could have fooled me," I say as I move in closer to her.
Phoebe steps back and says, "Back off Jack! You had your shot but decided to play hard to get."
"Was I too hard to get or just too hard for you to handle?" I say as I wink at her.
"Oh, dream on Jack, dream on," Phoebe pithily comments.
"Yeah, but a day dreamin' of you is worth a 1000 days with a 1000 other woman," I retort.
"You two want to be alone." Piper finally interjects, "because Chris and I could find Paige without you and leave the two of you here to banter to your hearts content."
"Be alone with him," Phoebe replies, "Only in his dreams, but you're right Piper, we're supposed to be here for Paige." Both Piper and Phoebe look at me.
I smile back and say, "Ok, I'll be good, or as good as I can be. Hey, I didn't want to be here in the first place."
Chris starts off into the cave and the rest of us follow. When we get about 60 feet into the cave, Chris touched the wall with his finger and leaves a finger print sized area of light on the wall. This solves two problems: one it gives us light, and two it gives us a start of a trail to follow out. When we get to our first intersection, Piper and I stand watch as Chris and Phoebe confer on which way to go. We do this uneventfully for at least two hours when we stop at yet another intersection, I take up my guard duty when lightening comes out of the darkness and zaps me good. I tried to dodge it but didn't make it out of the way in time. Everyone else turns towards the source of the lightening just in time to see another lightening bolt coming towards us. Piper quickly freezes it just before it gets to her. I hit the wall and slump down to the floor involuntarily. Piper calls out, "Chris cast some light down that corridor so we can see what we're up against."
Chris throws an orb down the corridor, and we see a bluish colored humanoid forming another ball of lightening between its hands. When it sees that it's in the light it stops with the lightening and quickly retreats down the corridor. Chris and Phoebe come over to where I'm slumped over in a corner to see how I am. Phoebe opens her mouth and comments, "Look, there's drool running down on his chin. Man, where's a camera when you need one."
"Are you alright?" Chris asks me.
"Yoooo!" I babble, "Ush bah hoy."
"Well, he's alive," Phoebe says, "That could be good new or that could be bad."
"Come on Phoebe, be nice," Chris defends me, "He just took a lightening bolt for the group effort."
"Yeah, ok," Phoebe says as she leans over me to check my pulse and breathing. "He's still breathing and has a pulse." she announces.
"Well, is he going to live?" Piper chimes in.
"Yeah," I'm finally able to say, "I'll live and even be able to walk again in a few minutes."
"Glad to hear it," Piper replies.
A few minutes later we're off on our quest again. We traveled on for another hour or so when Chris sees a faint light source up ahead. As we get closer and rounded a few more corners, the light gets brighter until we come into a large cavern that is almost as bright as day with a tree growing in the middle of it. The tree has lush foliage on it and bright red fruit that look good to the eye. Phoebe walks towards the tree as she says, "Wow! What a wonderful looking tree. I wonder if the fruit is edible."
"Stop!" I say, "Don't go any closer to that tree."
Phoebe asks, "Why?" as she keeps walking towards the tree, but it's too late. The roots of the tree reach up and grab her and pin her to the ground.
Chris and Piper exclaim, "No!" at the same time and rush in to help Phoebe, but they are caught by the tree's roots also leaving me about 30 feet away smiling at this turn of events.
"Well, you two were a big help." I comment.
"Ok," Piper says, "All kidding aside, do you have any idea on how to get us out of this?"
"I do." Chris says as he orbs out but orbs immediately back in to where he was. "That didn't work." he says as he looks to me for answers.
"What, why do you all think I know anything about this." I say defensively.
"Well," Phoebe says, "You did know that I shouldn't approach this tree before I did."
"I was just being wary." I reply.
"Right!" All three of them say in unison as they look into my eyes as if they're not believing a word I say.
Just then we hear a groggy voice coming from the other side of the tree, "Hey, is somebody there?"
I walk around the tree to the other side and there in the dirt all tangled up in roots is Paige. When she sees me she exclaims, "Jack, what are you doing here? I should have known that you'd be involved."
"Hey, who's there? Jack is there somebody there? Piper interjects.
"Who have we been looking for?" I reply.
"What?" Piper responds.
"Not what, who?" I say.
"Piper? Is that you? I can't see you. I'm trapped by theses roots." Paige says.
"Paige," Piper responds, "We're trapped by the roots on the other side of the tree just like you. Jack's the only one of us that didn't get trapped by the tree. Chris and Phoebe are here also."
"Oh great," Paige says, "You know that I got lost down here while tracking Leirda. Funny how every time we run into that demonic seductress, we run into Jack."
"Wait a minute there," I reply, "I did not seek you out; Phoebe came to me. I didn't want to go on this vacation; you insisted that I come along."
"Yada, yada, yada, yada," Piper says, "Tell us something we don't know. It's just funny how you're always around just when we need you, and you know just the right thing to do as if you planned the whole thing."
"Right, I'm good but not that good." I reply, "Like I could have planned for Phoebe's visit, and you're insisting that I go on this foray, and that you were going to be captured by a Poison Tree."
"Ah ha," Phoebe interjects, "So you do know what this plant is which means you probably know how to bet us out, what are you waiting for?"
"Enjoying having you as a captive audience," I comment, "That's what."
"Argh," Paige growls, "When I get out of here, I'm going to do worse than dump you in a garbage dump."
"Will it involve whips and chains?" I reply, "Oh baby, oh baby."
If looks could kill, I'd have been a dead man on the spot. "Ok, ok," I respond rather sheepishly, "I'll get you out, don't get your panties all tied up in a knot."
"Hey, no panties here!" Chris chimes in.
"Watered with some bitter tears, now I spread the tears of joy, so that you can hold my friends no more." I say as I milk so tears out of my eyes and flick them on to the roots of the tree. The tree roots immediately start to retreat, and I make a path to Paige and then the others. Having found what we were looking for we beat a hasty retreat following Chris's path of lights to the entrance of the maze. Back in the manor I bid the re-united family good-bye.
"You know that you might be powerful witches but you still have plenty to learn. Read "A Poison Tree" by William Blake for instance and other artists and poets that come down to us as crack pots. A lot of them were witches like you with no other way to express their experiences other than through their art." With that I walk out the front door leaving it open.
