Ever After (ONC 2024)

Chapter 13 - Lots of Climbing

Arthur found a door that led to an outside terrace filled with sculptures and fountains. Just beyond it lay a flower garden that didn't appear to have been well tended for quite some time and was starting to grow a little wild. This seemed like as good of a place as any to plant the beans. Hamlet helped him dig a little hole in the soil and he dropped them in. They both kicked some dirt over the top.

"So how long is it supposed to take for something to happen?" Hamlet asked.

"I think-" Arthur started to respond, but was cut off as the ground began to vibrate violently and a giant beanstalk burst out of the ground and stretched its way up to a puffy white cloud that lay directly overhead. "Well, I guess the next step is to climb this thing."

"You mind if I tag along?" Hamlet asked. "It was nice of the prince to offer me the usage of a guest room, but I'm not super stoked to start working in the stables."

"Well, we've come this far together," Arthur said. "And I could use the company. Are you afraid of heights? Because it looks like our destination is a long way up."

"You know, I don't mind heights that much," Hamlet said. "Depths are much worse, if you ask me."

Arthur's palms were sweaty as he began the ascent, but there were numerous sprouts and branches that were easy to grab onto and after a bit the main stalk itself formed a sort of gently spiraling pathway that was wide enough for them to walk on. Arthur found that it wasn't really so bad, as long as he didn't look down. It did take almost two hours to reach the top, but they got there eventually.

They burst through a cloud and found that, seemingly impossible though it was, there was a castle perched in the middle of it. It wasn't nearly as large or grand as Prince Charming's castle, but it was still plenty imposing. It appeared to be constructed from large gray slabs of stone, and Arthur had no idea how someone had hauled them up here or why they were able to be supported by a cloud, but he figured "magic" was the go-to answer here. He didn't want to plummet through the cloud himself, but he figured if it could hold a castle, he was probably safe. He dared to set one foot down on the cloud, and although it gave a little, it felt solid enough. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the other foot off the known safety of the beanstalk and set it on the cloud. It felt a little like he was walking on a trampoline, but he became increasingly confident that whatever magic held the castle up extended to people, too.

Hamlet didn't show any nervousness at all and bounced up and down on top of the cloud. "Whee! This is fun!"

"You might want to keep it down," Arthur said. "Supposedly a giant lives in that castle, and if he's like everything else around here, he's probably going to want to eat us. Let's see if we can sneak in, find that gauntlet, and then get the heck out."

Hamlet mimed zipping his lips and the two of them made their way to the entrance. There was an enormous door that was closed, and the handle was higher than Arthur could reach. But an oversized door also meant an oversized gap at the bottom, and they discovered if they got down on their hands and knees they could crawl right under it.

The first thing Arthur noticed once they were inside was the pungent odor. The entire place reeked of old garbage and rotten meat. They were inside some kind of living room, but all of the furniture was gargantuan. The legs of a nearby chair were as tall as a good sized tree and about as wide around. There was an enormous table on the other end of the room. It was difficult to see the top of it, as it was about as high up as a two-story house, but there were just enough glints of light shining down from up there that Arthur was pretty sure it was covered in treasure. It seemed like the most logical place to start looking for the gauntlet. It was just going to require some more climbing.