Chapter Three

 To read the first two chapters, click the label at the bottom of the page.

The Unnaturally Cold Place is an endless labyrinth of underground tunnels, or it is if you get lost. Fortunately we had a guide. Unfortunately, we had lost our compass and the torches. We had to make do with the candle lantern Christmas had brought for emergencies. Most of it wasn't too cold, except in a cavern we passed through, where it was snowing.
Apparently there used to be a volcano there which died and became the home of an ice fairy. She must have vanished or gone on holiday and forgot (or couldn't be bothered) to remove the spell she had cast.
We walked for some time in almost absolute darkness, led by Star, who would bark every now and then to let us know where she was.
Some of the tunnels we traveled down were naturally formed, from what I could see of the walls. Others appeared to have been carved out by pickaxes. Still others had what looked like old murals painted on the walls, roof and floor.

 It was a strange thing to see down here. More often than not we found ourselves splashing through tiny underground streams, or climbing uneven steps, covered in old, rotting carpet. Christmas didn't like it at all. She kept close to me most of the time. I didn't find it all that pleasant either. Star was the only one completely unperturbed.
It's hard going hours without any light but candlelight, not strong candlelight either. We took turns carrying it.
Anything we said echoed eerily back at us. We didn't talk much down there.
With no end in sight and no way to determine our progress, I began to question Star’s guiding abilities. However, when eventually we saw a speck of light ahead, my misgivings vanished. How could I ever have doubted her? I would never feel uncertain on this point again, no never. I would- wait, Star was leading us away from the light. That couldn't be right. We had come so far. That speck of light was obviously the way out, wasn't it?
“Star, it's that way.” I said, as I walked toward the light. Star looked at me and barked.
“Maybe we should follow her, Robert,” said Christmas, “she was right about the stuff in the flower.”
“But there's light over there, and warm air,” I stopped and shouted back, (I'm not actually sure there was warm air, but I wanted to believe there was). “And that tunnel,” I added, pointing, “is as dark and cold as all the others.” It all made perfect sense to me, why didn't Christmas believe me?
Star dragged at my trouser leg.
“Robert,” Christmas sighed and put her hands on her hips. “I think we should follow Star.” She sounded tired, not in the mood to argue. To make things worse, the candle lantern burned out. I shouldn't have kept objecting, but I wanted to be right for once. Jamal was always right at home, now the fox was always right. I was sick of it. I took it out on Christmas.
”Okay, you can follow the fox if you like, and never get out of here, I'm going this way and you don't have to come if you don't want to.” I walked resolutely toward the light. The others followed reluctantly.
It was so dark we couldn't see anything except the tiny dot of light in the distance. If we had still had the light of the lantern, we would have seen that it was not, in fact, the end of the tunnel.
As we continued to walk, Star began again to pull on our trouser legs, but to no avail.
We walked straight into a wall of tiny spikes. Tiny spikes which began moving as soon as we touched them. They felt like sea urchins. The light we had been walking towards went out. Long tentacle-like things wrapped around my ankles. More spikes pierced my wrist. Christmas let out a long, shrill scream. It was cut off abruptly. I leapt back. The tentacles let go. One of the spiky things was still crawling on me. I tried to brush it off. It bit me. Everything went fuzzy. I felt my legs running without me telling them. The ground and the air felt like cotton wool, suffocating me. My eyes closed. I felt myself falling a long way down.

“Robert!” I was lying on the grass outside my house.
“Robert!” I got up. There was no one in sight, but someone had called my name, twice.
“Robert!” It was Christmas!
“Where are you?” I shouted.
“In the swimming pool!” I don't have a swimming pool, and neither does Christmas, but I did not consider that.
“I'm coming!” I called, and ran, or flew, I'm not sure which, around the house.
There was the swimming pool. It was enormous. There was Christmas, swimming in it, fully clothed.
“Come in,” she said, waving. I was about to, when I discovered, to my embarrassment, that I was wearing my pajamas. I turned to go into the house. Blocking my way was an antlered fiery tailed tiger. It opened its mouth to blow ice at me, but I dodged behind a convenient tree. I crouched down, trying to be as small as possible. The swimming pool had disappeared. Evil laughter came from the road. It came nearer, and nearer. A tall man in black and green came into view. He had a bow and arrows. I sat still and hoped he wouldn't see me. He turned to look straight at me, continuing to laugh. He drew a long arrow from his quiver and shot it toward the tree. It only just missed me, but exploded on contact with the ground at my feet. I leapt up and ran for the house. When I got inside the door was too small for the door frame. I tried to get it to fit, but it wouldn't. I gave up and started looking for a place to hide. I ran through the house and found myself in Jamal’s room. Jamal was lying on the floor.
“Robert!” he said, as I entered, “Help me!” A rushing sound came from above. Water began dripping from the light fitting. The whole ceiling burst open, flooding the room. The water was over my head. I saw hundreds of sharks below me in the water as the room disappeared. I was swept down, down, down into the jaws of-

I awoke to darkness. Icy cold water splashed onto me. I sat up, painfully. My feet, hands and eyes ached. The bite on my arm throbbed dully. I could see nothing. I coughed water from my throat and moved away from the tiny waterfall I was under. The sounds echoed strangely. I tried to work out where I was. A hard thing to do in the dark, where the only sound is water.
“Christmas?” I croaked. No answer but the echoes.
“Christmas!” Something to my left moved. A cold thrill ran over me. I didn't dare move. Was I in some animal's lair? Was I going to die? The something forced itself under my arm. I almost screamed. But a whine told me it was Star. Relief swept over me. I wasn't completely alone. I picked Star up and hugged her for a long time. Finally she wriggled from my grasp and pulled on my trouser leg. I stood up carefully, feeling for the roof and walls. In the blackness I had to strain to see my hand as I felt in front of me. It seemed safe to move forward.
Star led me carefully around a few corners and out into blinding sunlight. Squinting against the glare, I saw the hill we had just emerged from. It was green and devoid of trees except a small grove at the base. It was so hot we hurried to shelter under them to acclimatize and think. Christmas was gone. Perhaps she was dead… no. That thought was too horrible. She couldn't be. I was alive, why shouldn't she be? She would be fine, right?  She was capable of looking after herself, wasn't she? I tried to think of something else.
That dream had seemed so real, as if it had actually happened. Compared to other dreams I had had, that is. Maybe it actually had happened. Maybe if I didn't keep going Jamal would die. That reminded me of Christmas; where was she? Would I ever see her again? How would I carry on without her? It was my fault we were separated. If I hadn't been so stubborn about that light… if I had followed Star, we would still be together. I would go back and get her, that's what I would do.
I walked resolutely back into the tunnel. However, when I searched for a way into the labyrinth, all I found was a wall of rock. But there had to be other ways in, right? I hunted for an entrance everywhere around the hill, but to no avail. All I found were dead ends. I searched until the sun set.  I still found nothing. I returned to the trees where Star was waiting for me. 

I couldn't go back to look for her now, it was too dark.

I had to get the fairy queen’s bedroom slipper, at least then I could save my friend. But life without Christmas, even if Jamal was there, would be extremely lonely.
“Star,” I said to Star, my voice trembling slightly, “I don't know what to do.” Her gaze was completely unsympathetic.
“Well, what do you think I should do?” I said, angrily. To answer my question, she pulled on my trouser leg and barked impatiently. I got up. There really wasn't much else I could do under the circumstances.

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Chapter Two

We set out. Walking along the road felt weirdly normal, as if I had done it many times before. Which I had. Jamal, Christmas and I used to go on many long walks through the colourful jungle. It felt the same, this time, but also somehow different.
A scratching, thumping, dog-like sound stopped us and turned us around. It was a wolf pup, charging toward us, its head bobbing up and down as it ran. It skidded to a halt at my feet and began running in excited circles around me.
"There's something on its neck. Look." Christmas seized the animal by the shoulders and grabbed the something.
The puppy sat down, panting and wagging its tail. It was about the size of a terrier.
"What is it?" I said, moving closer.
"A note." Christmas held it out. It was written on lined paper, torn horizontally at the bottom and tied around the puppy’s neck with cotton string. I took it and began to read aloud.


"Robert, this isn't actually a wolf. It is a full grown lotus fox which behaves like a puppy around wolves, for protection. She will do whatever you tell her to unless it puts your life in danger. She is extremely intelligent and knows exactly where you need to go.
Jamal
P.S. her name is Star."

Star looked at me, panting.
"Alright, Star,” I said, “let's go."
"Let's go," said Christmas.
The going was very easy at first. There was a clear path, and enough light coming through the gaps in the mass of multicoloured vines growing above us.
However, Star soon led us up onto the actual vines, which were thick enough to walk comfortably on, if you weren't afraid of heights, which I am. Sort of.
The jungle of vines had been there for hundreds of years. Why they couldn't think of something more interesting to call it in all that time I don't know. It extended for many kilometres in all directions and was home for a huge population of wolves, foxes, birds, insects, and many other things. Like spiders! The vines came in a wide range of colours, but the flowers were always yellow. The leaves were usually wider than I am tall, which probably isn't saying much.
We walked all day and still didn't reach the end of the vines. Christmas and I were exhausted, though neither of us chose to admit it. The evening seemed so lonely, with no Jamal to give me my hot chocolate, no Jamal to make my bed, no Jamal to check under it for monsters.
I had to express my thoughts to someone, and as Christmas was closest to hand:
"Isn't this peaceful, no Jamal to bring hot chocolate, no Jamal to make beds, no Jamal to check under them for- um, never mind."
Christmas nodded.
"Hmm."
She didn't appear to understand my subtle hints. I was trying to gain sympathy! Maybe she just wanted me to say outright that I was tired. That would be admitting defeat! Gaining sympathy the cowardly way! Although, now that I thought about it, not being brave enough to say I was tired, sounded cowardly. She might not have actually heard me at all.
Star led us to one of the trumpet shaped yellow flowers, which were as big as a good sized tent. The front end was blocked slightly by the pole-like black stamens, which held balls of pollen.


We brushed past them, covering our packs in yellow powder and sat down on the slippery petals which made the floor. Christmas began to unpack her sleeping bag. I felt too tired to do anything but stare at her face framed by her brown hair, which she had tied in a ponytail. Her dark blue eyes and long lashes (sigh).
Her lips, which were pursed as she spread her blanket over her sleeping bag.
I sat there, not wanting to move.
There came a growl from the open end of the flower, where sat a evil looking male wolf, his mouth open in an ugly snarl. His fur stood on end and his enormous tail switched back and forth like a cat’s. This flower must be on his territory. The fact that Star was nowhere to be seen hit me like cold water. Before we had time to move the wolf leapt toward us. I braced myself for his teeth to sink into my outstretched arm. Nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes. Why weren't we dead or severely injured? The wolf had rushed right past us, and was drinking greedily from a hole at the back of the flower. We sat frozen until the wolf had gone. My curiosity had been roused. Still wondering why the wolf had ignored us, I crawled to the hole with Christmas behind me. Star had returned. I felt her drag at my sleeve and whine. I shook her off and reached the hole. It was as wide as my hand and full of clear liquid. As Christmas and I bent over it, Star began barking frantically. She dragged at our sleeves and even nipped my hand. I am ashamed to say I hit her. I hit her and called her a bad girl. She looked at me sadly and whined.

I turned back to the hole. After that I don't know what happened. I think I drank some of the liquid, for the next thing I remember I was lying on the ground completely disoriented. I was alone, I ached all over and I couldn't see. Someone else might have thought: Oh no! Why did I drink that stuff? Now I'm lost!
But all I thought was: ow.
My sight gradually returned. I decided to move. It hurt a lot. I was not pleased with what I saw. It appeared to be early in the morning. What I could see of the sky through crack in the high canopy was grey. I was in a small clearing surrounded by the giant trunks of the vines we'd climbed through the day before. Or they might've been completely different vines, I couldn't tell.

I tried to sit up. As I lifted my head there was a savage growl from the edge of the clearing. I stupidly (But bravely!) continued to rise. A violent blow knocked me down again. I was face to face with a white fox, perched on my chest. Its claws dug painfully through my jacket. It snarled at me, showing me its sharp white teeth. I heard its tail waving to and fro threateningly. We stared at each other for an eternity, never breaking eye contact except to blink, each taking in every detail of the other’s face. I hardly dared to breathe for fear it would bite my nose off. Its gaze finally left mine as it leapt off me, for into the clearing came another fox, one that looked like Star. The white fox ran to her and bounded around in ecstatic circles. It must have forgotten me. I decided if I was ever to get away, this was the best time. I got cautiously to my feet and ran for it. I ran for some time but soon had to stop. I leaned against a vine to recover my breath. It felt like I had been running for hours. My heart was jumping and crashing against my ribs. All at once Star ran out of nowhere, crashed into me, climbed up my shoulder and bit my ear. Right behind her was Christmas, whose hair had mostly come loose. She slapped me on the cheek and hugged me, relieved and annoyed.
“Robert! What happened? You're shaking.” she said, stepping back and looking me up and down.

“I don't know.”

“I woke up at the edge of the jungle and you weren't there! And Star came and found you!”
“I think it was the stuff we drank last night.”
“Yes, I know that, but what happened to you?”
Star jumped off my shoulder. Christmas looked tired and untidy. I probably looked the same. I put my hands in my pockets.
“I don't know.” I wasn't going to tell her I ran away from the foxes, oh no. You don't go telling people that kind of thing.
“Well, come on, let’s go find our bags.” she said.

Chapter one

• This story started with this picture.

I had bought a pack of crayola pencils and wanted to try them out. I thought just coloured leaves was a bit boring, so I drew these bizarre creatures. I decided they were wolves that lived in a forest of vines. I liked the picture so much, I drew more like it.

I began copying pictures of wolves and huskies.

Soon after at my friend's writing club, the members were challenged to write a short story in two weeks using writing prompts. Mine was this:
Renee:
Dialogue: "You know what you should do? Go up there and tell her you love her."
"You act like it's so simple!"
"Or you could just wait years and forever be nothing. Which would you prefer?"
Story idea: while cleaning your attic you find a box of glass balls with names on them. You accidentally drop one, and as soon as it shatters, a person appears.
This was the perfect opportunity to use my pictures! I would manage it somehow.
I wrote my story in four weeks. Recently I revisited it and edited it. Here is the first chapter. Enjoy.


"Well, you know I can't!"
"Why not?"
"One: she is busy tidying her garden;
Two:... Well, she'll probably say no."
"When has my advice not helped?"
This argument had been going for about three minutes and already I was losing.
Jamal could always win an argument against me.
Jamal is... Well, if I describe him you'll need the whole story.
One day, about a year ago, I was cleaning my attic. I had just moved into my new house, which I bought from an old lady. In one corner of the attic I found a wooden crate with foreign writing on it. It contained beautiful glass balls with strange names on them. I picked one of them up to look at. Almost as soon as I had done so it began vibrating. I dropped it. It broke. And there was Jamal. He says he has to protect me and be my friend or he'll be stripped of his powers and banished, or something. It was weird at first, someone just living in my house whom I didn't know. When I asked him to leave, he said he couldn't. But we became friends after a while so it was okay. The reason we were having this argument today was because of Christmas. She is our closest neighbour for a few kilometres around. Not many people choose to live in a jungle of vines, wolves and other things. Christmas and I see each other a lot. I like her a lot. Maybe even love her...
Anyway, I knew Jamal was right that his advice always worked, but this was different! It's not the sort of thing you want to take chances on.
"What if she doesn't say yes? What'll I do then?"
"Then you'll know it just wasn't meant to be, and you can look somewhere else."
"And how many times have you done this?"
"I've never done it personally, but I've seen it work all the time. Just go and tell her.  I'll come with you."
"Alright." I said.
"Okay." He headed for the front door.
"Wait! We're not going now are we?"
"If we don't go now then we never will. Come on."
He opened the door and walked out. I followed, seeing no alternative. As we walked down the road I began to feel sick with nervousness. I wanted to run straight back to my house and go to bed.
Christmas was sitting by the red trunk of a vine patting a big black wolf. My heart turned into a butterfly and tried to escape my chest.
"Good afternoon, Miss White."

Jamal is always so formal when visiting.
"Robert," (that's my name) "and I thought we'd just drop over to see how your garden is getting on, and if we could help with anything."
One of the good things about Jamal is he has tact. He doesn't say: "Robert has something important to say to you."
And then stand and watch while you struggle to explain yourself.
Christmas looked surprised,
"Thanks... do you want a drink or something?" she said, rising.
"Yes, thank you," said Jamal.
I wasn't sure what to say, or what to do with my hands. We followed her to the house and waited on the veranda while she got our drinks.
Jamal turned to me. "If you need me, I'll be admiring Christmas's puppies," he said, and disappeared around the corner of the house.
My moment had arrived. I felt frighteningly unprepared. I could hear Christmas returning and began rehearsing what I would say in my head. My hands shook and I began to sweat. She reappeared. I cleared my throat.
"Christmas," I said. I meant to sound impressive, confident, but what I said, I must say, sounded a little strangled.
"Where's Jamal?" she said. I waved my hand stupidly in the direction he had taken and tried to say where he was, but all that came was,
"Um."
She either understood or didn't care, for she put his cup on the railing and gave me the other. She was always so relaxed about things. I pressed on.
"Christmas."
"Yes?" she said, nodding slowly and earnestly.
"Um..."
"Yes?" she smiled expectantly, and, dare I hope, excitedly.
"Um..." I put my drink down. I couldn't swallow anything just now. I ran my hand over my hair. What should I say? What I thought of before had completely gone from me at this point. I hid my hands in my pockets and glanced around. I needed to get out of this situation somehow. My throat and chest had gone all tight. I spotted Christmas's tiny windowsill cactus.
"Your, uh, garden is, uh..." stop talking about her garden!
"Christmas." She looked at her feet and then at me. I took my hands out of my pockets and hid them behind my back. I wanted to take a deep breath, but then she'd know I was nervous.
"Uh, can I have a look at your garden?"
Christmas looked a tiny bit annoyed.
"Sure, of course you can." She smiled.
"Do you want me to show you the new bits?"
I nodded. I couldn't say anything.
At the end of the visit I headed to the gate mentally punching myself in the face. Jamal stood there, patting a female puppy he had found.
"So it didn't go all that well?" he said, not looking up.
"No," I said. I opened the gate and began walking down the road with Jamal behind me.
"Why have you still got that puppy?" I asked, when I saw he hadn't let it go.
"Because no one else wanted it, not even its parents. And it likes me." The puppy did look extremely thin, and happy to have Jamal carry it.
We reached home in silence. I aggressively pruned the vines which grow on my house for the rest of the day, angry at myself for being scared of asking for something.
The following morning I found that Jamal hadn't made breakfast. He wasn't even out of bed so far as I could tell. This was weird. What could be the matter? I would see if he was in his bedroom.
The only light in the room came from a tiny tealight burning on the bedside table.
Jamal was in bed. I couldn't see him that well in the gloom, but he didn't look happy.

"Robert." he said, as I entered the room.
"Yes?" Jamal had never been sick before. What could be wrong with him?
"Robert, listen carefully," murmured Jamal faintly.  "Far away, on the other side of the jungle of vines, past the Unnaturally Cold Place, and over the crystal lake with the mermaids in it, there's an underground castle. In this castle are a fairy king and queen. Once I made them really angry at me and I thought they'd forgiven me, but it turns out I was wrong... To save me from eternal suffering you will have to steal the Queen's left bedroom slipper and get it back here. You can't do this by yourself. Get Christmas to go with you."
During his speech I had moved closer to the bed. Now Jamal reached out and held my hand weakly in both of his.
"Are you sick, Jamal?" I asked, worried.  "Can I get you anything?"
"No, just go..." breathed Jamal.
"I will go." I said.
"Thank you." Jamal lay back with a groan and closed his eyes.
As I walked up the road to Christmas's house again, I thought about Jamal, and what it would be like not to have him around. It was such a terrible thought I tried not to think it. This was impossible.
When I got there I sat down with Christmas on the old sofa with the crocheted blanket on it and told her everything Jamal had said. She was very concerned. It seemed she felt the same way about Jamal as I did.
"But won't someone need to, you know, look after him while we're gone?" She asked, when I had told her about the fairy king and queen,

"So you're coming?"
"Course I am." She leaned forward and clasped her hands.
"Wow. Thanks so much." It would be so much easier to make the journey if she was there.
"So will Jamal be okay if we leave him behind?" She asked, her worried blue eyes staring into my soul.
"He'll be alright. He once told me that he could easily go without food or water for a very long time." I said, to reassure her.
"Are you sure that's true?" Her brow furrowed sceptically.
"Yes." But just now I wasn't sure.
"I'm going to pack." She said. We rose at the same time.
"Same." I said. There was silence while we contemplated what we were about to do.
"So, tomorrow?" I said, at last.
"Yeah." She brushed a lock of hair from her face.
"See you then."
"See you."
I trudged back to my house. This week would be interesting.
(End of Chapter One)

PS you remember the post from a while ago with the pictures of the doll and the spooky house? http://reneethestoryblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/experimental-drawings.html?m=1
That story will be the sequel to this one.
Comment if you liked it.

Bonus Post

Because Mondays in our house are so busy, I will be moving the schedule to Tuesday. So this is a fill in post, and the actual post will be tomorrow.
I will show you what I was doing while at a conference. Sorry for the otago polytechnic logo showing through the paper.

Here's a random picture of my art figurine that I took on the way to the conference

This was actually done before the conference, I was trying a new way of drawing things, and it was so fun I drew a whole lot more.

The grease spots are because I was eating.

This is the first one i actually did at the conference

Then I said to myself, "They look like robot hands, so I will make them robot hands, and make them scare some fairies too. Oh yes, and there'll be a robot spider under the table, just because I want there to be."

Oh yeah, and that doll character, let's throw her off a cliff.

and we'll make an evil scientist who imprisoned a whole lot of fairies

and this happened to them!

how about a happy picture.(Until you realise she's standing in the same position as Venus in the seashell! ... it was an accident.)

Anyway, here is a picture of the new and improved doll

And a random picture of the doll in a scary place.

And a teaser for tomorrow.

Comment if you liked this post.