Chapter 6
“Don’t worry it’s not half as bad as it looks.” Nala reassured them. “I just hide the ring there so it won't get stolen.”
“I don’t know it looks kind of dangerous.” said Amanie, knitting her brow into a furrow.
“Me either.” said Botog. “It looks haunted.”
“Miou, miou!!” cried Tidimew in despair.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” asked Amanie.
“Of course it’s safe, I live here.” Nala reassured her.
“What! You live here!” exclaimed Amanie, scarcely able to believe her ears.
“Don’t look so surprised, it’s not that bad.”
“But it's so scary. I mean if that tree doesn’t eat us something else probably will.” said Amanie, her heart suddenly filled with dread.
“Nonsense! Don’t be silly, it’s perfectly safe. Besides I’ll take care of you.” Nala reassured them, sounding a tad impatient.
“Couldn’t we just wait here while you go inside and fetch the ring for us?”
“Yeah since you know where it is. No point in us all going down.” said Meo.
“No I’m afraid not, this is a very dangerous part of the forest, it wouldn’t be safe without me here to keep an eye on you. It’s best if you come with me, unless you want to get eaten of course. Besides the sooner we get this over and done with, the sooner you can start making your wishes. Now come on, chop chop.”
“But...”
“Uh uh! Life’s too short for buts.”
The children did as they were told and accompanied Nala to the mouth of the tree, which seemed larger and all the more frightening the closer they got.
“Come on Amanie! Pull yourself together. You didn’t come this far just to chicken out now, did you?” muttered Amanie, psyching herself up.
Tidimew grimaced, partially suppressed a squeak and shut her eyes.
“Please let us get out of this alive.” mumbled Botog, praying there weren’t any more monsters down there.
Meo sniffed cautiously at the air and peered as far down into the mouth of the tree as she could, staring down a rugged staircase of roots and irth into the depths of a what appeared to be a dug out room.
“Come on don’t be shy, down you go.” instructed Nala, smiling benevolently.
“Aren’t you going to go first?” Amanie asked nervously.
“No I thought I’d let you have that honour. Besides someone needs to watch your backs.”
“You are still coming though aren’t you?” asked Amanie.
“Of course I’ll be right behind you. Now come on, chop chop. No time like the present.” she clapped, placing her hand on Amanie’s shoulder and steering her towards the staircase.
Amanie did as instructed, leading Tidimew, Meo and Botog down the rugged staircase into the room below. Nala kept close behind. The staircase was cold, damp, awkward on the feet and easy to lose ones footing on. The darkness sent a shiver down Amanie’s spine, filling her heart with dread and causing a sense of foreboding, as she stopped at the bottom of the staircase. The others soon joined her, looking anxiously around and surveying the room at a glance. The room itself was faintly lit by a strange breed of Fireflies, which Amanie had noticed earlier floating around the forest, glowing pink in the shadows. Handful’s of adults were imprisoned in glass lamps, many others hung around of their own accord, probably searching for a mate or somewhere to lay their eggs, their larvae peppering the octopus like roots which hung from the ceiling or sprouted from the walls. An ominous pool of water lurked towards the back of the cavern, an eerie drip of water disturbing its stillness, sending ringlets rippling across the surface.
“Where’s the magic fairy ring?” asked Amanie, wondering how on Irth Nala could live in such a dreadful place.
“It’s over there. I hid it in the corner underneath some leaves.” said Nala, pointing towards a shadowy recess at the far end of the room where the foul smelling water lay.
“Can’t you get it?” inquired Amanie, peering up ever hopefully into Nala’s ghoulishly white eyes, hoping that she would.
“No I’m afraid not. It was very brave of you all to come here, but you still need to prove yourselves worthy. And it’d be a shame to let yourselves down now by chickening out at the last moment. Just think how disappointed you’d be if you failed now, especially after you came all this way.”
“But, but… it’s so dark.” sniffed Amanie, on the verge of tears.
“Miou!” squeaked Tidimew, peeping out of the corner of her eye and promptly closing it again.
“Don’t worry you’ll be fine. Meo can see pretty well in the dark and I’m sure she'll not let anything happen to you between here and the end of this room. Will you Meo?”
“Erm... no I suppose not.” replied Meo, her hair standing up on end.
“And how about you Botog? You won’t let anything happen to your friends between here and the end of this room, will you?”
“Not if I can help it.” said Botog, sounding uncharacteristically brave.
“There you see, nothing to worry about? As long as you all stick together, what could possibly go wrong?”
“Don’t know.” said Amanie, shrugging her shoulders reluctantly and hugging Tidimew so hard she thought she was going to suffocate.
“Nothing! Now go on it’s perfectly safe.”
“Miou!” whined Tidimew.
Amanie felt like she wanted to cry more than ever. The cool lifeless, black water at the end of the room held something sinister about its shallow depths, striking fear into the very core of her being. The shadows seemed to whisper unspeakable horrors to all that who knew how to listen. Bug studded roots hung down like dormant, grey tentacles waiting for some poor, unsuspecting creature to stumble unwittingly into their grasp.
“Go on.” said Nala pressingly.
Amanie wanted to object but her desire to obtain the ring, coupled with her reluctance to upset Nala, slowly drew her to the pool, her friends nibbling at her heels like a bunch of reluctant sprout munchers, trailing her all the way. Nala resided over them like the all important dinner lady, egging them on bit by bit. Amanie had barely gone more than a few feet however, before she turned back, looking for reassurance.
“Come on don't stop now, you were doing so well. A little bit further and the ring’ll be yours?” added Nala encouragingly.
“Your cap’s changed colour.” said Amanie, squinting her eyes.
“My what?” frowned Nala, sounding irritated.
“Your cap it’s changed colour.” repeated Amanie timidly.
“Has it? Well I expect it’s just the light playing tricks again. It has a habit of doing that.” said Nala.
“No it’s definitely changed colour. It was pink before, now it’s purple.” added Meo, butting in.
“Really? Well never mind that, it’s probably just my clothes acting up again. Now come along, chop chop, stop wasting time.”
“Okay.” agreed Meo.
“Okay.” said Amanie.
Once again they turned to face the stagnant water at the back of the room, their anxiety felt renewed, their legs trembled and quivered beneath them, struggling to place one foot in front of the other, as a fear of the shadows threatened to overwhelm them.
All four gulped, Tidimew included, who shut her eyes and burrowed her head fast into Amanie’s chest, as they made their way to the water... Nala watched them every step of the way. Meo could make out what looked like a pile of old clothes lying not far from the corner, piled up messily, one on top of the other, strewn with leaves and twigs and soiled with dirt, and spread out messily in a flattened heap on the floor, like a bed.
Meo thought it a little odd that someone as beautiful as Nala could sleep in such an inhospitable hell hole, but then she did choose to live in the dark forest, which was kind of a strange choice in itself, given that most of the creatures there had little or no choice, since they were usually allergic to sunlight, preferring the undying shadows of the north to that of the white forest, though presumably Nala suffered no such ailments.
The children’s eyes gradually grew accustomed to the dark, their walk through the forest having helped prepared them for that. However only Meo saw clearly on account of her being a cat, her feline eye’s being better attuned to the dark than the others, for although the fireflies gave off an adequate glow, much of the room was shrouded in almost impenetrable darkness.
The children tentatively approached the water, Amanie at their helm, Tidimew bound to her breast. The others trailed close behind. The shallow water seemed no less frightening up close than it had from afar and felt every bit as foreboding. Noticing a small heap obscured by the darkness Amanie bent down to examine it, terrified that something grotesque might leap out of the water and grab her at any moment, despite Nala’s assurances to the contrary.
The heap turned out to be a muddy pile of leaves and twigs. Undeterred however, Amanie delved into it, summoning all her courage, as she rifled through the disgusting heap with her fingers, loathing every second, hoping it wouldn't be long before she found what she was looking for.
“This is disgusting.” she whined, rifling through the pile with one hand, holding Tidimew tightly in the other. “I can’t even see what I’m looking at. What is this?” she asked, holding out a scrunched up piece of rag between her fingers. “Eurgh!” she screamed, throwing it down. “It’s not a rat is it?” she winced.
“Keep your knickers on! It’s just a screwed up piece of rag.” answered Meo.
“Thank goodness for that! For a moment I thought I’d picked up something really disgusting.” said Amanie with a sigh of relief.
“Well I wouldn’t look too relieved if I were you, it still looks pretty revolting.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. I’m the one who just picked it up remember.”
“What’s that?” asked Botog, pointing at something protruding from the water with his foot.
Meo took a look at what he was pointing at, which was partly obscured from view by a root dipping it’s tentacle like tip into the water, staring at it intently for a few moments, as she struggled to figure out what it was she was looking at. Meo blinked her eyes several times. Her heart went cold, her body froze and her expression turned to fear. She took another look, lest her eyes be deceiving her, but in her heart of hearts she knew they weren’t.
“What? What is it Meo?” said Botog, already in a panic.
“Meo, what’s the matter?” inquired Amanie.
“It, it, it’s.” she stuttered, struggling to articulate herself.
“What is it?” Amanie reiterated, pressing her for an answer.
“It, it’s a skull.” said Meo at last.
“A skull.” repeated Botog.
“Yeah a skull and not just any old skull either.”
“What? You mean.” guessed Amanie.
“Yeah fungi.”
Amanie gulped, Botog shuddered, Tidimew squeaked.
“Nala... what’s a skull doing here?” asked Amanie nervously, who dared not turn around, lest the answer be unfavourable.
“The same thing yours’ll be doing, if I forget to throw it out.” answered Nala in an unfamiliar voice.
Startled by her sudden change in demeanour, Meo and Botog spun around, shocked by what they saw. Nala’s long, luscious blonde hair had gone. Her pretty features vanished. Gone too were her long shapely limbs, her soft lily white skin, her convivial smile and stripy cap. So too were her skirt and top. All that remained of old were her ghoulishly white eyes and all their egg white pallor.
“Oh crap!” exclaimed Meo, who felt like she was going to cry.
Botog was too stunned to say a word.
“What? What is it?” blubbed Amanie, who suspecting the worse had already begun to tear up.
“I... I think you’d better turn around.” said Meo, whose voice was starting to falter, barely able to keep from crying.
Amanie bit her lip and gulped.
“I, I can’t.” she said, holding onto Tidimew for dear life.
Meo didn’t reply, her whole body felt frozen like she were suffering from premature rigormortis or something.
In spite of herself, Amanie turned around, dreading what she might see.
“Miou!” cried Tidimew, forcing her eyes shut, as tight as they would go.
Amanie’s
heart nearly
stopped dead. Her
eyes almost
popped out of her skull, as
a cold sweat
broke out across
her forehead. She
gasped and
almost certainly would’ve
screamed,
had she not lost
her voice. Squeezing
Tidimew so hard, she opened her eyes, squeaked and
then squeaked again, when she saw what used
to be Nala.
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