A TAIL OF NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: The Throne of Antler and Oak

As I slither through the tunnel, there's nothing but me and darkness. I guess it could be worse, it could be me, darkness, and teeth waiting to tear my throat out.

Everything reeks of death and rot. Even though all my instincts scream in my head that I need to turn around and get out, I keep going forward. The tunnel opens up into a rectangular room that looks like it used to be a ballroom or something. How is this huge room all underground? It has stone walls, each one looking like it was carved out of a solid piece of marble. But that's not what gets my attention. There are a bunch of mosaics, each one made of small chips of different colored stones. One shows a king wearing a helmet shaped like a white stag's head, complete with antlers with several Stone Hounds kneeling at his feet. Other images show great courts with people in armor.

I'm not here to look at history. Kon doesn't have forever and neither do I. The farther I go, the more deteriorated things seem to be. Several of the mosaics have been ruined by claw marks.

I keep going until I come to a tattered curtain. The rest of the Once-Kingdom is waiting for me.

Uncertain, I push the fabric aside, and see that I've come to another big room. Where IS that light coming from? This place is still lit up like a Christmas tree. Looking up, I see huge gaping holes in what should be the ceiling. The moonlight sets everything on fire, reflecting off the jags of thick glass that inch up the walls. Water pours in from small streams, forming tiny waterfalls that have split the wall.

But it's what's to my right that stops me ... I must be at the base of a tree. There's a tangle of roots that stretches out to form a macabre spiderweb. A thing that used to be a man sits in the middle of it. He's mostly a skeleton now, though bits of skin still remain. Old fabric that might have once been a fancy cape has been draped behind the guy. He's wearing a helmet, though that doesn't match the remnants of jeans and t-shirt that cling to what's left of him. Antlers that still have chunks of meat stuck to them have been tied to the helmet, while tatters of old banners fan out from the poor son of a bitch like faded green wings, each marked with a white stag being chased by hounds.

I think of the mosaics. Tulip's making this place the way he remembers it, the way he wants it to be.

"Get a grip, Jack," I growl to myself.

With my back against the wall, I inch along and step over a busted tricycle with a wheel that looks like a monster used it as chewing gum. There's a shoe, one that might fit a five-year-old, up on its side and smeared with blood.

My mind whirls back to the picture of the little boy on the shrine at Momma & Daddy's store. His wasn't the only picture on that shrine. Focus on what's happening now and not being used as a Stone Hound's chew toy!!!

This is all my fault, but I'm gonna keep Tulip from hurting anyone else. Trying to make as little noise as possible, I step past more tattered clothes. And part of a head. I turn and puke.

Urging myself forward, I come across several rooms. Despite about a half-inch of water in each one, the old furniture looks mostly intact.

I'll be fighting Tulip on his territory, so I need to know it as well as he does. This is some kind of atrium. Besides the tunnel I came through, there are seven other doorways.

Each one is about eight feet tall and has what looks like an emerald hand sunk into the wall next to it. Six are dead ends. The seventh one has what looks like what used to be a pool in it and lots of statues. This room must have been an indoor garden at some point, though most of the plants in here now have long since shriveled. More importantly, though, it has a second doorway in it that leads to another atrium.