~By the Lion's Mane: See You Again~

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Who’s there?” we all three shouted right away.

I shuffled around to try and face where I thought the voice had come from, and I felt around for a sharp rock. I grasped one that seemed about right, and held it at the ready.

“I am the Warden of the Marches of Underland, and with me stand a hundred Earthmen in arms,” the voice said, and I tried to swallow, but my mouth was suddenly very dry. “Tell me quickly who you are and what is your errand in the Deep Realm?”

I heard Puddleglum’s voice answer, “We fell down by accident.”

“Many fall down, and few return to the Sunlit Lands. Make ready to come with me to the Queen of the Deep Realm.”

“What does she want with us?” I asked, immediately regretting the way my voice shook. Pull yourself together, Scrubb. Someone has to put on a brave face, and it’s not going to be Puddleglum. I shifted my weight. And you don’t want Jill to get too frightened.

“I do not know,” the voice answered tonelessly. “Her will is not to be questioned but obeyed.”

Then there was a soft scraping sound and a hiss, and grayish-blue light fought its way through the darkness. But I almost wished it hadn’t because then my hope that the Warden had been lying about the army fizzled out.

They were like nothing I’d ever seen before, and were densely packed together and armed with some sort of spear with three prongs. They were pale, with skin that was sort of grayish white, but that was where the similarities ended between them. Some were short and squat, others taller and dreadfully thin, and with long noses, short squishy noses, and pointy noses; some had large orblike eyes while others had squinted ones, and some had horns protruding from their heads.

But their faces were most striking. They had such a look of sadness about them that it seemed as if the skin on their faces were slowly dragging down. For a moment my fear abated, and I wondered at what had caused them to be that way.

Their leader commanded us to get up, and then we were surrounded by them. I tried to get to Jill, but a few dozen Earthmen moved between us, and moved us forward like we were caught in a current.

We passed through what apparently was a large, natural cavern, from what I could see from the weak light. We continued down, and this made me uncomfortable. “How much farther could you possibly go?” I muttered to myself.

The cavern got lower and narrower until we came to a dark crack into which the Earthmen began to stoop and disappear. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, I’m not going in there!” I told the Earthmen around me, but they gave no sign they’d even heard.

 Then Jill caught sight of it. I heard her sharp intake of breath, and then she wailed, “I can’t go in there, I can’t! I can’t! I can’t! I won’t!”

The Earthmen were silent but pointed their spears at her threateningly, and I saw her shake.

“Steady, Pole,” Puddleglum said. He reasoned with her that the big ones wouldn’t have gone in if it didn’t get bigger later on, and besides, there wasn’t any rain to worry about.

She shook her head vigorously. “No, no, you don’t understand! I can’t!”

I shoved my way to her, ignoring some warning jabs from the spears. “Think how I felt on that cliff, Jill.” I held out my hand, and she clutched at it, clinging onto my whole arm. I opened my mouth to say something in protest about how it was too warm for that, but thought better of it.