Chapter 22- the Pleasure Dome
I'm so sorry for the VERY long delay in uploading this chapter. I have been very busy with real life things this past number of weeks and just didn't have the time in writing. After all, they are more important so I must prioritise. Furthermore, I wanted to redo my Deviant Art project with some character redesigns and re-uploads and that took a long time too. Looks like my uploading of the chapters of this story is going to be quite slow as it will depend on if I can find the time due to other things to do.
Early next morning
The sun was just coming out of the eastern sea horizon to mark the new morning. However, it was only just peering above the eastern line, its first sliver sparkling in the azure magic carpet-like surface of the sea like liquid gold. The darkness still dominated the sky further west but that will soon melt away by the Narnian sun's light as the sun (which was not a star or burning ball of plasma like in our world but a biosphere in its own right, and one of the nine Realms of Narnia) climbed further into the eastern sky. Though the world of Narnia was like a blocky disc in a glass dome instead of a sphere like our earth, it still had a day-night cycle and the sun rose in the east and set in the west. In Cair Paravel in the Narnian country, the voluntary quest goers were preparing to go out on their quests to gather the exclusive ingredients for the Nine-Realms Potion, the only antidote to High King Peter's condition. The quest goers had not had much sleep last night but Martian wanted them to start as early as possible if they are to save their High King from spiralling down the long and painful process of death from Jadis' poisoning caused by the cursed cake. Throughout the night, the medical team and Martian's assistants had been monitoring the High King in the medical quarters and to their gladness, he was stable though he was still a sickly green in the face and unwell but they knew that this would not last. The medical team was tasked with caring for High King Peter and keeping him stable for as long as possible by treating his symptoms and tending to his needs. While they did this, Martian had sent Wan and his team off to a Bifrost Transporter pad that will send him to the underground world of Bism, a Realm that was in the deepest bowels of the Narnian land.
Bism was usually accessed via the Bifrost Transporter, a powerful magical device used in transporting travellers between realms in a short amount of time via a wormhole-like rainbow tube. Travel to other realms via any other way took ages, often days and since Bism was at the VERY bottom of the Narnian disc block, travel to it via ways other than the Bifrost Transporter would take days as it would mean finding a way to the underworld and then an opening to the area. The Bifrost Transporter itself was so powerful; it was lethal to certain species, among them most Extra-Narnians like humans and if any human were to use the Transporter, they would be fatally disintegrated during transport. Because of this, Martian did NOT want Queen Lucy, a human, going on ANY of the trips that would have to involve the Transporter and so put her life at risk, so he had put her with the group that was to go on the Garden of Youth quest for this reason. However, there were few Extra-Narnian species that were immune to the deadly effects of the Bifrost Transporter. Jadis, the White Witch, was totally immune to the Transporter's effects and would have easily used these high speed transporters to expand her conquest. Because of this, the Bifrost Transporter pads used in Narnia had been disabled to prevent the Witch from accessing the other domains, especially Bism and the Sky Domain for the sake of the inhabitants and also to contain the Witch's lust for power and territory and that would have been bad for Narnia's reputation and relationship with those areas. However, since the Witch's vanquishing specifically by Aslan, the Transporters had been reactivated and now can be used without the fear of tyrannical monarchs spreading their conquest to other regions. The only time one Bifrost Transporter pad had ever been used during the Eternal Winter was to transport any kidnapped member from the other eight domains of Narnia back to their rightful places such as the Moon Viscacha and Moon Cabbits back to the Narnian Moon. After that, that Transporter had been disabled for the rest of the Age of Winter.
The Bifrost Transporter was also extremely dangerous to some Narnian-born species like the Dwarfs and Curupira so they could not use this device either, so any member of these species who will be going on the quests, together with Queen Lucy, will be riding on Magical Talking Beasts capable of rapid transport such as the eight-legged Sleipnir Horses, the Pegusi and Longma. The rest of the quest-goers able to use the Bifrost Transporters without worry of the risks of using them will be taken to the Transporter pads by escorts. After all, the Transporter will be needed for faraway areas like the Narnian Moon and Bism as it would take FAR too long to travel there manually. Not good for High King Peter's sake. Magical creatures like Centaurs and Kitsune, and even some non-magical Talking Beasts were able to use the Transporters for they were immune to the effects of the high speed transportation. Because of this, Cyllene and Beni the young Centaurs, Beaver, some Rabbits and some Pigs, among them Woody, Straw and Brick, some descendants of Trotterhoof, were able to go on one of the quests that will have to involve the use of the Bifrost Transporter. Anyway, this group was going on the Lunar Mushroom quest in which they will go to the Narnian Moon which was Martian's homeland, access a deadly cave called the Forbidden Cave of the Treasure of Vanity and retrieve the aforementioned ingredient for the 9-Realms Potion. There was indeed a LOT of organisation going on at Cair Paravel due to so many tasks to deal with including sending out search-and-destroy groups to hunt down and deal with the remnants of Jadis' surviving minions and searching for the kidnapped victims taken out to the Narnian Sea with the help of some Sea and Sky allies.
Then as soon as the eight quest goer groups were assembled, Wan's group having already departed to go to a Bifrost Transporter pad to go to Bism, Martian began to brief them on their instructions as a reminder of their aims and goals, as well as safety. While he did that, the medical team continued to watch over the sick High King Peter while King Edmund and Queen Susan continued to run the monarchy duties. However, they had bid their younger sister farewell and had told her to be brave and to obey her group leaders' instructions while she was on the quest. King Edmund and Queen Susan were going to miss Queen Lucy while she was out with her group, among them Neutrophil, Eosinophil and Basophil and also Tumnus and his cousin Guinan, to the Garden of Youth to retrieve some magical apples for the antidote for their oldest brother. As Martian continued to instruct the quest goers, an assistant Talking Budgie and Puss-in-Boots left the hall to check on the progress of the search-and-destroy groups.
"We're gonna check on how General Biter and the others are doing," chirped the Talking Budgie, a male of the azure variant (like our world's budgies, Talking Budgies came in a variety of colours and mutations) to Martian as he and Puss left. Martian flashed the pair a nod and resumed giving instructions to the quest goers. Puss and the Budgie continued towards the entrance of the castle, left via the doors and then hurried to a group of the search-and-destroyers lead by a fierce-looking ale T-Rex dressed in armour. With that group was a Gold-Fleeced Ram, Chrystós. As soon as the pair caught up with the group, the T-Rex, General Biter, turned and eyed them.
"Ah, Puss, Bobby, you're just in time," said the fearsome Dinosaur, his voice sounding like a fierce growl for Talking T-Rexes often talked in a growly voice. Behind the large Dragon-like Lizard, two Hadrosaurs or Duck-Billed Dinosaurs and a Bull (not a Minotaur, but an actual Talking Bull), walked in; carrying an Elf writhing in anger and pain. Nearby was a male Talking Platypus and the strange Monotreme Mammal glared at the Elf thunderously. Behind the Hadrosaurs and the Bull, a Stegasaur walked in with a cage similar to the one Chrystós and his team including Puss had before their prisoners broke free and attacked them during their attempts to interrogate them. In the cage were a Stinger-Rat, a Xenojaw and a Rokuokubi, a type of Yokai Hag that had the ability to stretch her neck to indefinite lengths and send her head far away from her body. Useful for spying on opponents unnoticed and Rokuokubi, together with their cousins, the Nukekubi who detached their heads from their bodies completely and floated around in disembodied head form, had been common members of Jadis' spy force. Around the Stegasaur were smaller bipedal Lizards and strange monkeys, resembling a cross between uakaris and baboons. These creatures helped to transport the three prisoners in the cage.
"Can you report to Their Majesties please," said General Biter to the Budgie, Bobby, and Puss, "We have managed to capture the most wanted Elf and some of his comrades."
"You mean the one called Pettigrew?" asked Puss as Bobby began to examine the Elf in the clutches of the Bull and Hadrosaurs. This Elf was clearly the same Elf who had managed to capture most of Malachite's group. He wore the same smart clothes he wore at the time, only this time those clothes were now in tattered rags, evidence of a skirmish between him and his captors. Furthermore, he was covered in cuts and bruises but he was in agony, indicated by his gritted teeth and screwed-shut eyes. General Biter then began to explain.
"We have managed to set up a trap involving a false scene of some kids hiding in a cottage," the T-Rex told the Budgie and the Talking Cat who had some Bakeneko heritage in his blood and who wore boots like a certain cat in a certain story in our world, "We enlisted the help of some excellent mimics, such as Talking Parrots and Talking Lyrebirds, to imitate the sounds of young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures."
"And as soon as Pettigrew here and his comrades turned up, thinking there were children inside that building and got ready to lure them out with their insidious trickery," continued a Hadrosaur, a male, with a nod to the Elf prisoner, "We ambushed them and with the help of the war nets made by the Talking Babookari warriors, we managed to capture them," the Duck-Billed Dinosaur then nodded to the male Platypus, "Ovide there managed to land a Platypus Spur Dagger back kick to that wicked hobgoblin's hip and envenomate him to prevent him from using his magical binding string on us."
"The rest had fled but we managed to dispatch some of that Elf's comrades and capture those three," growled Ovide, the male Platypus with a nod to the Rokuokubi, the Stinger-Rat and the Xenojaw. Like our world's male platypuses, male Talking Platypuses were venomous mammals, armed with venomous ankle spurs which they sometimes used as weapons to incapacitate enemies. In fact, Talking Platypuses, mostly the males, practiced a form of martial art-like mode of weaponless combat that involved the use of their hind legs and thus their spurs like ankle spikes. One move they used was the Platypus Spur Dagger, a technique in which the male Platypus fighter would perform a back kick on their enemy and jab them with their ankle spurs to deliver the venom into them. It was a ruthless technique that not only inflicted a stab wound but also envenomation and Talking Platypus venom was not at all nice, hence why Pettigrew was in a LOT of pain. Not only did he have an extremely painful stab wound in the hip where Ovide had pulled off the spur-jabbing back kick technique, (and he was very skilled in the martial art-like mode of combat. He was, in fact, gold leaf, the highest rank of skill in the art, the equivalent to black belt in most of our world's martial arts like karate and taekwondo. Instead of belt colours, Talking Platypuses and other Narnian species used leaf colours for their various martial art-like mode of combat without weapons). Then Chrystós came in, a thunderous look on his face.
"We are gonna interrogate that Elf and his comrades regarding the disappearance of the young victims, among them Kushanku and Alexandrite and their families' grandkids such as Malachite, Seishan and Elsa," the Gold-Fleeced Ram said in a growl and a point of his sword to the Elf, "After all, he was behind most of the kidnappings so he should be a valuable source of information regarding the destination of those victims," the Ram then turned to the group, "Get those four to the interrogation room in the catacombs pronto, General Biter."
General Biter nodded obediently and barked to his underlings to whisk Pettigrew and three of his comrades to said area.
"Any news of the Cartoon Shadow Cat?" asked Puss. Chrystós, however, sadly shook his head.
"We've been too busy in setting up a trap to ambush and capture that Elf and his group with success with him and three of his comrades," said he, "and from what we have heard from the other search-and-destroy groups, they haven't seen that cat creature anywhere either."
"Bother," squawked Bobby in frustration at the news, "That Cat Beast is one of the most dangerous minions of the White Witch."
"It's also one of the sliest," added a Velociraptor, "and armed with deadly powers such as puppet-possessing individuals which works best on Feline creatures."
"We'll deal with the Cartoon Shadow Cat subject later," said Chrystós before his gaze turned in the direction of Pettigrew as he was whisked off to the catacombs for interrogation by General Biter and his group, together with the caged Rokokubi, the Xenojaw and the Stinger-Rat close behind, "For now, we need to focus on extracting information from those four minions regarding the destination of the kidnapped victims out in the Eastern Ocean."
Puss and Bobby nodded and with that, they returned to the castle to report Pettigrew's capture while Chrystós and company entered the catacombs to prepare to interrogate Pettigrew and three of his comrades.
Back in the castle, Martian had finished his briefing on the quests to the quest-goers and had sent some assistants, among them a Blue Man, to pass the word to the assistant escorts and transport group waiting outside the castle and ready to take the quest goers on their trips. Kushanku left to check on Pteranodon, Tarzan and the three Alicanto Birds as they continued to keep in touch with the Sea and Sky spies still tracking the boatmen and their kidnapped victims.
"Don't be too long, Kushanku," called Athos, one of the Warrior Mice as Porthos, Aramis, Squea'tagnan, Sordward and Shielbert prepared for the trip and said goodbye to their wives (except Squea'tagnan who is not yet paired) and friends. The wives of Porthos and company were due to birth the pups of their fathers soon and will likely do so while their husbands were away on the Lunar Mushroom trip. Thus they will be taken to a safe area for the sake of their newborn pups, along with any other expectant mothers or those with nests of eggs. Kushanku flashed Porthos a nod before disappearing in the direction of the room where Pteranodon and his group were. In the room, Pteranodon talked with a Cloud-Man, a tall, white, silver and grey fluffy creature with long limbs and large black eyes, from one of the Sky spy groups through the crystalline communicator screen.
"Have you managed to track where any of the boatmen have gone exactly with their kidnapped victims, Cirrus?" the Pterosaur asked the Cloud-Man.
"Not at all," replied the Cloud-Man named Cirrus on the rhomboid-shaped crystal sheet that served as a communication screen, "Each group seems to mysteriously disappear in either a smoky flash or a blinding light. I believe they may be using blinding smoke or some spell that produces a flash of light to conceal their path so that we cannot follow them to whatever destination they are headed. Some Cloud Birds even tried to follow them but to no avail."
As the Cloud-Man spoke, a male Kitsune with red fur smothered by metallic red patches and a set of six tails walked in, a pondering look on his face, arriving at the same time as Kushanku.
"Okay, well if you manage to pick up even the smallest piece of evidence of their destination, Cirrus, please report back to us at once," said Pteranodon, "Even the most insignificant piece can give us important clues."
"Okay, Cirrus out," said Cirrus and with that, the crystal screen went blank as the communication was cut off. Kushanku walked in as Pteranodon's assistants, an Orang-utan named Tarzan and the three Alicanto, began to ponder.
"How are the Sea and Sky spies doing in their missions, Pteranodon?" asked the Nekomata.
"They still keep losing the boatmen's path to their destination out in the Eastern Sea, Kushanku," replied Pteranodon, before the Bird-like Reptile's glare hardened as suspicion showed itself, "But there is one thing we have found regarding these boatmen and where most, if not all, the kidnapped victims are taken."
"They are being shipped out int' the Eastern Ocean t' somewhere," added Tarzan, "But we don' know if tha' 'somewhere' is an island or some ship or what."
"Well, whatever that destination is, it's clearly not good," said Kushanku with a frown, "especially if those boatmen are aligned with Jadis' minions as we've seen with that Elf's group during our confrontation with the Cartoon Shadow Cat on the beach while we were trying to rescue Malachite's group from them with partial success..."
As the Nekomata spoke, the male six-tailed Kitsune came in, a pondering look on his face.
"Umm, the Pleasure Dome..." the Magical Fox murmured to himself. The others gazed at him in perplex.
"'Pleasure Dome', Takehiro?" repeated Kushanku in curiosity. The Kitsune named Takehiro looked up at him.
"I used to be a sailor before the Age of Winter and had interacted with a lot of the Eastern Ocean inhabitants such as the Merpeople, Talking Sea Creatures, Sea Fish-People and Ichthyo-Centaurs, and also the Creatures of some of the islands that we managed to visit and meet," he replied, "During one of our seagoing trips in which we were charting the area; we sailed upon a strange-looking vessel drifting through the water like an iceberg... except the vessel wasn't made of ice..."
"What was it?" asked Pteranodon. Takehiro entered thought again as he searched his memory of that sailing trip.
"It had been very foggy at the time but we had just managed to get a glimpse of it. It drifted through the water like an iceberg but unlike an iceberg which is made of blue and white ice... that vessel had a domed appearance, like a Giant Tortoise or Toraton, but with a vertical cone sticking out from its top. NO iceberg is shaped like that. Smoke emerged from this cone, indicating that cone to be a smokestack, something icebergs DEFINITELY don't have and because of that smokestack, we assumed it to be some kind of ship. Its surface glinted like the surface of shining silver and gold with additional sparkles sprinkled on the dome. We approached that strange looking vessel cautiously as it rocked gently with the waves," shivers then coursed down Takehiro's spine, "But despite its beautiful appearance with those glitters on its surface, we felt a wave of unease wash over us and we felt unsettled, especially when we realised that it was definitely not a ship like ours for ships aren't shaped like that, but its rocking with the waves revealed to us that it was definitely an ocean vessel. We then identified that vessel as being the ocean vessel described in the stories of the Merpeople and other Aquatic Creatures and even the inhabitants of one of the islands we had visited, the Island Curupira, Brownies and Dwarfs and their co-inhabitants which included a roost of Deathgleaners (giant Bat-like creatures) that lived in a cave on their island, and a clan of Rattlebacks who sometimes go out to sea to fish with the Deathgleaners catching fish from the air by using tailing lines with bait attached at intervals to lure in fish. The latter described to us that they had seen a 'strange looking metallic turtle' with a smoking stick on its top drifting gently past the island over a number of days but its unusual appearance had caused unsettle among them, even the creepy-looking giant Deathgleaner Bats and they avoided going out into the ocean for that time period until it passed for fear that it could be dangerous."
"Did you manage to get a glimpse of what the ocean vessel looked like under the ocean?" asked Kushanku.
"Our Sea Otter diving squad did," said Takehiro, "They dove into the water to examine the vessel underneath but they didn't spend too long in the water and returned to us, but they did describe to us that the ocean vessel was like a giant, shadowy beast with lights and sparkles and that suggested to us that it was definitely an ocean vessel. However, we wanted to sail away from that creepy looking dome as soon as we could. Sometime after that, we met a Talking Dolphin pod and the matriarch told us that we had seen the Pleasure Dome."
"Pleasure Dome?" asked Tarzan the Orang-utan while Pteranodon exchanged confused looks with the others with him including Kushanku.
"The Merfolk and many other Seafolk called the ocean vessel the Metalburg," said Takehiro, "While the Deathgleaners living on the island we had visited had named it the Smoking Sea Giant's Head Without Eyes and according to all those observers it is apparently a place for some 'rich and famous' people to go and have some 'apparent fun' as some have observed the vessel rise out of the water, extend a 'tongue' and receive a line of people from some 'true' ships. We eventually coined the term 'submar-ship' to describe the vessel. It is like a ship but most of its body is under the water like a water vessel in the humans' world they called a 'submarine'. Also, according to the observers of the submar-ship, those that went into the vessel never came back out, EXCEPT two who had managed to escape: a Troll and a Human, a male or Son of Adam."
Kushanku and Pteranodon and his group continued to listen to Takehiro's account as he continued. "When we returned to the mainland after that sailing trip, we met the Son of Adam (who was well on in his years) and he described to us what went on inside the submar-ship. He told us that everyone was treated like guests and they gorged themselves on food and indulged in a wide variety of every fleshly pleasure we could think of, including pleasures that veered into the White Witch's territory in some cases (that was how we coined the name 'Pleasure Dome' for the submar-ship). And then when he saw the fate of some of the 'guests', he told us that he felt the Lion Above All Lions stir his heart and to be out of there as soon as he could. In other words he knew something was totally wrong about the place, so he managed to escape. Then after escaping the Pleasure Dome and was in the ocean, swimming as far as he could to get away from the place, the Lion Above All Lions waited for him by standing on the water with a boat with food and water next to him and as soon as the Son of Adam was in the boat, the Lion told him to row to an island nearby where the inhabitants will help him. The Son of Adam did so, eventually reaching said island, got the help as directed by the Lion and soon, he was sent back to the mainland which was his home. Since then, he had given his story to a LOT of people, Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures. However, many dismissed him as being loony and a madman and didn't believe him."
"That sounds like the Metalburg Mackerel and Perla described to us," said Kushanku while Pterandon exchanged intrigued looks with his comrades including Tarzan, some of them shrugging, "It's also reminiscent of that object in those old-looking poster ads we found pinned up on the tree trunks and walls..."
Takehrio gazed at the Nekomata. "It probably is and I am disturbed to hear that it could still be in existence, especially since the picture of that object in the ad pics closely matches the shape of the vessel and I have a bad feeling about this. Based on how the Son of Adam escapee's description of the activities inside the Pleasure Dome, whether the Pleasure Dome has any ties with the White Witch or not, I can't say but I can say one thing about it, the Pleasure Dome is NOT a good place to be based on his account despite its beautiful appearance and how inviting the activities are."
"Did he describe th' fate o' those that eventually 'disappeared' if he can remember how they vanished?" asked Tarzan. Takehrio shook his head.
"I'm afraid he didn't Tarzan," replied the Six-Tailed Fox, "He said he couldn't remember and told us that they just 'disappeared' after some time of complete and utter indulgence and he never saw them again."
"Perla once told us of a legend of some sailor actually going up to the entrance of the Metalburg and knocking on its door to see if anyone would answer, before leaving when he got none," said one of the Alicanto. Just then Alestomeria's voice called out to Kushanku.
"Kushanku, it's time for you to go with your group and meet with your escorts," the Nine-Tailed Vixen called from outside the room. Kushanku flashed the ivory and metallic yellow furred Fox and turned back to Takehrio, Pteranodon, Tarzan and the three Alicanto.
"I better go," he said, "Our quests are starting up."
And with that, he left to join his group bound for one of the destinations of the Nine-Realms Potion ingredients, Asgard Sky City in the Narnian Sky.
"Make sure you stick to the strict safety instructions on your quest, Kushanku," said Takehiro to which Kushanku flashed a nod as he exited the room. Pteranodon looked on.
"Wish I could accompany the quest goers on their trips," he said.
"Your place is here," said Takehiro, "as by the orders of Their Majesties King Edmund and Queen Susan."
"Yes, we're t' keep an eye on those boatmen and their shipping o' their victims to some destination an' possibly finding th' latter with our Sea and Sky assistants," said Tarzan. Pteranodon breathed a sad sigh and resumed his duty with the Orang-utan and the three Alicanto while Takehiro prepared to move on.
Then as soon as the quest-goer groups were fully set after packing some food and other equipment they will need for the journey such as weapons and medical kits, including Queen Lucy with her fire flower cordial, they were ready. They were led out of Cair Paravel castle and were met by their escorts and transporters in the courtyard. Then as soon as they had bid each other farewell with Queen Susan and King Edmund saying goodbye to their younger sister once again and strictly telling her to be careful out there, the groups left the castle while Queen Susan, King Edmund, Hagrid, Alestomeria and the others returned to their duties with Martian and his group setting up a communication centre in Cair Paravel's hall to keep in touch with the quest-goers to advise them and check on them.