Another Notice

This Blog is on hold until I choose to revive it. See you then!

Notice

I will be taking a break from blogging from now until the end of the Christmas holidays.
That will allow me to work on the various projects I need to get done, and let me continue planning posts for next year.

Goodbye!

I'll be back at some point

By the way, if you want to know as soon as I post next, click the follow button on the web version, and you'll be notified when I come back. Until then, goodbye.

Things I have been doing

Sorry for not posting last week, I completely forgot about it. I was busy making dolls.

And drawing pictures.

What could this be?

I wonder...

Oh look! Baby rabbits!

A broad bean!

Another baby rabbit!

What great distraction skills I have.

Anyway, that's all for this week.

Bye!

Well...

To read the rest of the story, click the label at the bottom of the post.

We set off again, unsure whether to be worried or not; after all, the object of our journey had just been handed to us by our enemies. We felt we had a right to be suspicious.

The journey back was uneventful until we reached the jungle of vines.

We camped in one of the yellow tent-like flowers again, high in the canopy overlooking the giant leaves that would be our path tomorrow. Only one more day of travel and we would be back home and Jamal would be better. Life could go smoothly once again.

We arose bright and early and broke camp, looking forward to seeing Jamal that evening. As was our habit since leaving the castle, we took the slipper from my bag to make sure it was still there. Christmas had it first, and turned it over, admiring the embroidery and beadwork.

“What do you think Jamal wants it for?” she asked, handing it to me.

“I don't know, maybe he- Oi! Star, give that back!” Star had snatched the slipper from me. She ran onto a neighboring leaf and stood at the edge with the slipper in her mouth.

“Hey! Bad girl! Come back here now!” Christmas shouted, angrily waving her arms.

Star put her head over the abyss and shook the slipper.

“No! Bad fox! Don't you dare!” we both yelled with all our might.

Star didn't move. I began to run towards her. Seeing me, Star opened her mouth and dropped the slipper. I watched in horror as it dropped down, bouncing off vines and sliding over leaves until it faded from view in the blackness of the forest floor below. Star dashed away into the jungle. We shouted as many insults as we could think of after her, but neither she nor the slipper reappeared.

It was a long climb down. The slipper could be anywhere. We searched all day but couldn't find it. Finally we found a tiny scrap of embroidered velvet on the ground by a large rock. We decided to take that back. We were a very gloomy pair that evening as we trudged down the road, past Christmas's house and up to my front door. I knocked, not expecting an answer, just out of habit, and entered. It was dark inside, but I didn't bother turning the light on. Christmas, following behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the kitchen door. The light was on and the kettle had just finished boiling.  As we neared the door we heard someone put down the jug. I opened the door. There was Jamal, calmly making himself some coffee. I was so surprised I stepped back onto Christmas's foot. He looked up as if he'd only just noticed we were there.

“Oh, hello Robert, Miss White. Did you have a nice trip?”

“A nice trip? You…”

“Oh that.” said Jamal, dismissively, “That was just to get you to propose to Miss White.”

I couldn't believe my ears.

“You… how…?  but…”

“I… I'll go back to my house, okay?” said Christmas, and left, a tiny smile on her face.

When I next spoke, my voice was angrily quiet.

“You sent us on a big long journey, making us think you were going to die, and the only reason we went was for us to get engaged?!” The last words were a shout.

Jamal was infuriatingly undisturbed.

“That's my job.”

The end

Randomness

I apologise for the lack of a post last week;
I was away from home all of last week and didn't make an effort to get anything done.

Instead of what I might have posted, here are some drawings instead.

This man's name is Roderick Compton. He makes things. At night he goes to bed like a civilised person.

Now it's night time. Night time is when fairies come out and cause trouble. 

They may be pretty...

But it doesn't mean they're nice.

Sometimes they bring things to life for one night to scare people.

I wonder what will happen tonight...

Hmmmm...

Uh oh

I think mr Compton left his key behind

Oh dear

Well, that's a shame

Goodbye until next week!

Chapter Five

Sorry for the delay. Click the label below to read the rest of the story.

The fairy king and queen’s castle. Very few ever see it. I wish I could have gone there without the weight of my friend's possible death on my shoulders, I would have appreciated it more. Although, sometimes, we managed to forget the nature of our errand. It is built completely underwater. Through enormous glass windows you can watch the fish, and sometimes even mermaids swim by. Christmas said I had been brought in unconscious a day ago with bites on my shoulder and ankle. I had been well looked after, it seemed, since my wounds appeared practically healed.

Christmas and I were in different rooms and given access to certain areas. A lady who said she was the housekeeper showed us which doors we could open and which ones we couldn't. We could use our own suite of rooms, the library, and the conservatory among others, but we were forbidden to pass through the door at the end of the main hall unless given express permission. She said that door led to the king and queen’s rooms, and if we opened the door, an alarm would go off. She also said I shouldn't use my left leg too much, or I would strain it, since that was the leg the mermaid had attacked. We weren't sure what we should do after she left. We were spoiled for choice, and in this kind of situation, whatever you choose will feel like the worst option, unless you convince yourself otherwise. We chose the library. After reading aloud to each other for an hour, Christmas touched my arm and said,

“Tag!”

Of course I had to tag her back, but by now she was out of my reach. I leapt from my seat on the floor and ran after her.

We played tag in the library, the art room, the conservatory, everywhere.

Eventually we had to stop, since my shoulder and leg were beginning to hurt. We sat down in the library again to discover it had been an hour and a half by the clock. We decided we were starving and returned to our rooms to hunt for food. The results of this search were a small bowl of chocolate almonds on one of the tables, a small box of shortbread in one of the kitchen cupboards and a bottle of sparkling grape juice in the tiny fridge. Of course the things you’d find in a motel were there too; tea bags, sachets of sugar, coffee, salt and hot chocolate, but they don’t count as food. Once we had finished our quest for nourishment, we treated our limited supplies as if they were our last rations, or at least for the first few minutes. After you’ve eaten one almond, it’s difficult not to eat another. The same can’t be said for shortbread. Soon there were only ten almonds left.

“We should probably stop.” said Christmas, reluctantly.

“Well…” I surveyed the remaining almonds. She was probably right. “Yeah.” I agreed.

“We just managed to stay alive with ten chocolate almonds and one bottle of fizzy between us!”  We had found a torch and a wardrobe to hide in until our food came.

“We opened the bottle with great care, so as not to spill it on the clean white carpet we found in this cave.” Christmas said, pretending to remove the lid from the bottle. “But, as one of us looked up, she saw behind her partner… a monster!”

“Oh no!” I turned quickly to look behind me. Before I could turn back, Christmas threw a blanket at me.

“Stunned by the monster, he fell to the floor and died!” I said, falling over carefully.

“And I, being the only one left, will get to lunch first!” Christmas leapt up and sped out of the wardrobe to the sitting room, with me close behind her.

It was weird, that in all the time we spent there, we didn’t think of Star.

We had to come up with a plan to secure the slipper, but we couldn't get through the door to the royal rooms.

“Well, what are our options?” Christmas asked, as we sat in our sitting room after lunch, overlooking the floor of the lake.

“We have access to all these rooms,” I said, pointing to the map we had been given, “and we don't know how to leave. We are going to see the king and queen tomorrow, maybe we could ask to be shown around and take it then.”

Christmas thought for a minute.

“Well, we could just ask them for it.”

I wasn't sure how to answer this, so I remained silent.

The next morning, we were led into the throne room, through the forbidden door. Shortly after, we were led back through it, stunned and confused.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Christmas remarked.

We put the slipper on the kitchen table and looked at it. The queen had just given it to us, saying it was a tradition for her to present visitors with her bedroom slippers. That couldn't be right. People don't do that. That was just weird. It must be a trick, but how would we know?

They had said we could stay until my leg was better, but now we wanted to get home as soon as possible. Who knew what might be happening to Jamal while we wasted our time here.

As soon as we were allowed out we felt better. A servant took us to the edge of the lake through a tunnel, which led up a steep set of dimly lit steps and into a small cave, where he left us. From there we found our own way out into the open, where we were met by Star, patiently waiting for us. We had a joyful reunion, and continued on our way.

Comment if you liked it. Expect more next Tuesday

No!

What happened?

Well, this is weird.

What's that over there?

Hmmm

Ooh black paint!

What happens if I put my hand in it? Surely nothing bad.

Bwa ha ha!

Cool!

I wonder if I can change my clothes that way.

I can!

If I can change my hair, maybe I can change other things!

I can be a cat!

Or a bird!

Or this!

I like this, I'm going to explore!

I want to go over there!

Pop!