The Other Side

by Alan Hotchkiss

  The King was dressed in a kind of uniform, similar to the one the guards who lined the chamber and stood menacingly around the throne wore. Unlike the others however, the King donned a long, black cloak that was lined with gold. He had a long, dark beard, a face that showed signs of being involved in many a battle and mean, suspicious eyes. This looked like a serious, no-nonsense kind of person — which did nothing to ease Eric’s nerves.

  ‘King Drer, said Doogard as he slightly bowed his head and crossed his right hand over his left side of his chest, beating his fist against it. The King merely nodded his head in return, then focused his gaze upon Eric once again. ‘So…this is the boy then?’ said the King, in a slow, deep, gruffly voice.

  ‘Yes…this is the one they call Eric,’ said Doogard.

  ‘And what of the other one?’ asked the King.

  ‘I’m afraid the fairies got to him first. To be honest my King, they had Eric here as well, it was only when they entered one of the portals that Eric’s signature brought him to our side instead of their intended destination,’ replied Doogard.

  ‘Really?.........that’s interesting,’ said the King, as he glanced at Eric and raised one of his big bushy eyebrows.

  ‘Also, it appears that the boys have been living in a house all this time under the care of fairies,’ said Doogard.

  ‘Under the care of fairies?’ said the king raising his voice slightly. With a puzzled look on his grizzled face he continued, ‘then why have they remained hidden and not been brought over to our side years ago?’

  ‘I do not know my King,’ answered Doogard.

  ‘And what does the boy know of our land?’ questioned the King.

  ‘Although raised by fairies, they have appeared to have kept the boys in the dark about our side of the portal and the boys therefore seem to know nothing about our lands,’ said Doogard.

  ‘Nothing?’ exclaimed the King.

  Eric was beginning to feel a little invisible as the King and Doogard had their conversation regarding him as if he were not standing right beside them. However, suddenly sitting forward on his throne the King turned his gaze from Doogard to Eric, then bellowed,

  ‘Is this true boy, do you know nothing of our world?’

  ‘Erm……no……I mean yes… it’s true, I know nothing of your world……I don’t have a clue what’s going on to be honest,’ said Eric, surprising himself that he managed to speak without squeaking like a little mouse.

  ‘And you believe him, do you?’ said the King, returning his questions to Doogard.

  Doogard paused and slowly looked around at Eric for a few seconds. Then returning his gaze to the King he said, ‘Yes, I believe he speaks the truth my King.’

  ‘Hmmmm you do, do you,’ said the King to himself as he sat back in his throne and began to stroke his long beard, as if pondering what to do next. ‘Well I guess we’ll find out for sure what he knows soon enough,’ he spoke again to himself more than anyone else.

  ‘Guards,’ he raised his voice whilst pointing two fingers at them and motioning towards Eric. Two of the guards who were standing around the throne marched over to Eric and stood either side of him. ‘Take the boy to the dungeons,’ ordered the King.

  ‘Dungeons?!’ exclaimed Eric in a shocked voice. Doogard stepped forward.

  ‘My King, I do not believe there is any need to place the boy in the dungeons. He is of no threat to anyone and has no reason to try to leave the castle as he wouldn’t survive the conditions without guidance. The cold would kill him within hours. So I would ask that he be afforded the honour of staying in the castle as a guest rather than a prisoner?’

  The King looked at Doogard with a rather amused look, ‘Well it’s just as well I pay you for your fighting skills and not your thoughts then Doogard, eh.’ The king had a little laugh to himself, then said, ‘You must be getting soft in your old age Doogard, maybe it’s time for me to relieve you of your duties as chief of my army and let Riezgar take the position he so craves.’ Eric looked up at Doogard. His jaws were clenched, with a look of pure anger on his face. Eric thought he was about to say something, but appeared to think better of it and kept his mouth shut tight.

  ‘Very well, we’re done here for now. Guards, take the boy away. Doogard, return to your post,’ said the king dismissively, as if now bored. The guards either side of Eric grabbed an arm each and began marching Eric away towards another door off to the left of the throne. Too stunned and shocked to think of anything to say or do, Eric marched off with them without any real struggle. It seemed pointless to try, as they were much larger than he and were armed, so what choice did he really have. He glanced a look up at Doogard on the way out of the chamber. Doogard was looking at Eric with a mixture of anger — still smarting from the King’s comments — and also, an almost apologetic look, thought Eric. Then Doogard turned and began marching out the chamber the way they had arrived.

  Chapter 15

  It had predictably been Tala and her mother that had been knocking on the door of the tree house. When Finn had answered, they had told him that the Queen wished to see him again and that they would once again escort Finn to where he had to go. Despite the cryptic letter from his gran warning him to trust no one, Finn found himself warming to Tala quite quickly. This was admittedly somewhat down to the fact that she was very pretty, but also Finn found her nice to talk to, as they had been chatting away on their way to see the Queen. Mostly Tala had been asking things about earth, as she had never been, but had heard many tales from the other side, as she put it. Finn had found himself quite happy to answer her questions, as it temporarily made him put all the other thoughts to the back of his mind. They had travelled over many bridges linking one tree to another until they finally arrived at what must have been the largest tree Finn had ever set eyes upon. There was a long wooden bridge linking the tree they were on to the large tree which Tala had informed Finn was where the Queen lived. The bridge was far longer than any of the other linking bridges, double the size at least and standing at the end of it were two male fairies, who appeared to be standing guard with arrows and crossbows slung over their shoulders.

  Finn paused after spotting the weapons on the men at the end of the bridge, but Tala must have sensed why, as she lightly touched his shoulder and said ‘don’t worry, that’s just the Queen’s chamber guards, they’re not there for you. You will always find at least two of them there, in post at any given time. C’mon it’s okay.’ And with that Finn began following Tala as she started to make her way over the long bridge. Although built the same as the other ones, with just rope and wooden slats to walk on, the other bridges felt a lot steadier than this one, which tended to sway to and fro a little as they walked over it. Probably just due to the length of it thought Finn as he peeked over the edge and instantly wished he hadn’t. They were a long, long way from the ground and stood zero chance of surviving if they were to tumble from such a height. Thankfully this was not a concern as they arrived at the other side safely and now stood before a large double door with the two guards standing at either side.

  ‘Well this is where we must leave you Finn,’ said Tala, as she and her mother stood to one side and held out a hand, motioning for Finn to head towards the door.

  ‘What,’ exclaimed Finn, sounding surprised. ‘Are you not coming in too?’

  ‘No, sorry Finn, the Queen wishes to speak with you alone,’ said Tala.

  ‘Oh…..okay then,’ said Finn just as the large double doors creaked opened by themselves.

  As Finn pondered by the doors, Tala began to look rather anxious herself. ‘Please Finn, the Queen does not like to be kept waiting,’ she said, as she motioned Finn forward once again with her hand.

  ‘Oh….okay…..sorry,’ said Finn glancing at Tala, who had now bowed her head and was staring the ground. He stepped up to the doors and entered the Queen’s chamber.

  Chapter 16

  Eric now found himself in a part of the castle that he was not expecting to see, the dung
eons. It was cold, wet, dark and smelly. All in all, not a very nice place to find yourself. There were lots of individual cells and many of them appeared to have occupants, some with more than just one person within it. It was so dark that it made it hard to see anyone clearly, but Eric could definitely hear other people and some of the noises that were being made sounded like screams of pain, which did nothing to make him feel any better.

  He had pleaded with the guards that brought him here, saying he didn’t know why he was here and would more than happily go home and forget all about this place if they let him. ‘Shut up you little runt,’ was the less than polite answer that came back from the guards. They had then roughly thrown Eric into the cell where he now found himself.

  The cell consisted of large iron bars at the front and sides, and the back wall was made of solid concrete. He was almost grateful that they had at least given him his own cell, as he had no idea what other kind of people, or even creatures, lay within the other cells. When thrown in, he had noticed shadows moving around in the adjoining cells to his, but it was so dark all he could detect was movement.

  Now sitting down with his back to the wall, knees pulled in tight to his chest, he cradled his head in his hands. ‘What in the hell just happened over the last few hours,’ he thought to himself. ‘Only a short time ago I was happily walking down the main street in Penzance with my brother, enjoying the summer sun, not a care in the world. Fast forward half a day or so and now I’m stuck in a dungeon beneath some castle that belongs to a race of rather unfriendly elves apparently, I’ve lost my brother in a different universe and I’ve no idea how to find him or even how to get myself out of here to begin with.’

  Eric realised he must have been saying his thoughts out loud as he suddenly became aware of someone in the adjoining cell moving closer to the bars that separated their cells.

  ‘Pssst……pssssst.’ Eric jumped a little as whatever was in the cell next to him hissed through the bars at him. Screwing his eyes to try and see better in this impenetrable darkness, all he could make out was a dark shadow moving around at the bars to his left hand side. ‘Hello?’ Eric called out nervously. No answer. ‘Hello?’ he tried again. Silence followed for about ten seconds then again came the hissing noise, ‘Pssssst.’ Eric sat up onto his knees, trying to get a better look. Unable still to see any better, he started to inch forward slowly.

  ‘That’s it, come closer boy till I see you better,’ came a raspy, old-sounding voice from the next cell. Eric froze on the spot.

  ‘Wh-wh-who’s there?’ stuttered Eric.

  ‘Just a fellow prisoner like yourself,’ said the raspy voice. ‘The name’s Bron. Don’t be afraid, I’m of no harm to you. Come closer so I can see you.’

  Feeling very unsure Eric looked all around his cell, as the darkness made him feel like someone would jump out on him any second now. Unable to make out any other imminent dangers, he looked at the shadowy figure ahead of him and inched forward a little bit more. He could now make out the outline of what he assumed to be a man in the next cell.

  ‘Where are you from boy?’ said Bron.

  ‘Erm……why’d you ask?’ asked Eric, trying to sound calm even though his heart was beating so hard he thought the person would be able to hear it.

  ‘Because it doesn’t sound like you’re from around these parts.’

  Eric could now make out that the person looked like they had long, straggly hair and appeared to be wearing a mismatch of blankets thrown together. He inched forward a little more trying to get a better look at the person’s face, but it was still cast in shadow so he inched forward yet another bit, when suddenly a large hand grabbed at his face. Eric horrifyingly realised he had gotten too close and had become within grabbing distance of the shadowy person called Bron. As he instantly tried to jump back, another hand caught hold of his t-shirt and with seemingly great ease he was pulled in towards the bars where the other person lurked. The hand that had grabbed at his face to begin with, now held Eric with a vice-like grip at the back of his neck and the hand that had held his t-shirt now moved to his face and started to feel around. Eric struggled as hard as he could, but this person was obviously much, much stronger than he and held him at bay with some considerable ease.

  The hand that was now on his face felt cold and rough and smelled of soil or mud. As Eric shouted ‘Get off me,’ he could taste the dirt which wasn’t nice at all. The hand felt around his head and seemed to fumble over his ears for a bit before both hands suddenly relinquished their grip. Eric scrambled back into the middle of his cell. ‘Urrrgh…..what the hell mister?’ he said spitting out saliva trying to get rid of the horrible taste in his mouth. ‘Sorry about that boy,’ said the raspy voice, ‘but I had to check you out and I didn’t think you’d be very agreeable if I had asked: do you mind if I have a feel around your head?’ chortled Bron, clearly finding the whole affair a lot more amusing than Eric did.

  ‘Check me out for what?’ exclaimed Eric, starting to feel angry as much as he did frightened.

  ‘Just checking to see where you were from, as I know you’re not from around here and I’ve just checked to see if you were from up north, which you ain’t, so that leads me back to the question of where exactly are you from boy?’ said Bron.

  ‘Errmm……I’m from Penzance,’ said Eric as he wiped his face with his sleeve.

  ‘Pensants you say eh! Nope can’t say I’ve heard of that one. Oh well main thing is you ain’t a fairy, otherwise I wouldn’t fancy your chances of surviving long down here boy. Anyway, where’s this Pensants then?’ enquired Bron.

  ‘It’s…..well……in England,’ replied Eric.

  ‘Engerlind you say eh……..nope not heard of that one either.’

  ‘Great Britain?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Europe?’

  ’Nope.’

  ‘Eeehhhh…..I’m not sure where else to say,’ said Eric starting to feel exasperated. ‘Surely you must have heard of Earth?’

  ‘Earth…earth…earth,’ said Bron out loud to himself, as if trying to remember where he had heard the name from. ‘You mean earth, as in earth from the other side?’

  Eric was beginning to feel as if Bron was pulling his leg, but any humorous thoughts were quickly dispersed due to the horrendous place in which he found himself at this moment in time, so he merely answered with the truth. ‘Well I don’t know of any other earth so yeah, that’s the one.’

  ‘Really? Now that is interesting, I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone from your side over here. What you here for?’ asked Bron through the darkness.

  ‘I’m not here for anything,’ said Eric a little annoyed. ‘Up until….’ He paused, suddenly trying to think how long ago it was since he had to flee his house and jump down the well into this place, wherever it was. With all that had happened he was rather disorientated. ‘Up until a day ago,’ he figured that couldn’t be too far off the mark, ‘I was quite happily living my life oblivious to this…side and everything else. I only came here because I was forced to by people from your side. And quite frankly, it’s been nothing short of horrible since I set foot in your damned country.’

  ‘No need to be like that now,’ said Bron, feeling slightly offended. ‘We ain’t all like that evil buffoon of a king that sits up there. He just happens to be the one in charge at the moment, but that won’t be forever.’ Lowering his voice to a whisper Bron continued, ‘and between me and you, it could be a lot sooner than he thinks.’ Bron let out another chortle of laughter.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,’ said Eric, ‘it’s just that I’ve lost my brother. We were split up when we travelled through…..well whatever it was to get here and I have no idea where he is or where to find him. I nearly froze to death in the snow and I have been thrown in a dark, cold smelly, dungeon. So you can see why your land doesn’t exactly fill me with warmth.’

  Bron roared with laughter, making Eric jump a little, ‘that’s the spirit boy, at least ye haven�
�t lost your sense of humour eh.’ Still chortling a little he said, ‘well I tell ye what boy, I can’t do much from in here but as soon as we manage to get out, I promise I will help you find brother and try to restore some pride in the name of the Elvish people. How’s that sound to you?’

  Eric suddenly found himself sporting a smile despite his horrible surroundings and felt gratitude towards the first kind act he had encountered since arriving in this strange land. ‘That sounds great, thanks Bron. Errmmm just one thing though, how are we going to get out of here?

  ‘I’m not sure yet boy, but don’t worry, we’ll think of something,’ replied Bron confidently, to Eric’s liking.

  As their chat appeared to be over for now, Eric had moved back to positioning himself sitting with his back against the rear wall of his cell. Just as he did so the distinct noise of a door being unlocked and opened from further down the hall became apparent. Eric could hear an exchange of words between two men but could not make out what they were saying. He then heard the door slam shut again and the sound of footsteps drawing nearer, bringing with them a source of light, that slowly began lighting up the dark dungeon. The footsteps grew louder and louder until they abruptly stopped right outside Eric’s cell. His eyes strained to see who was before him, as the light coming off the flaming torch the person was carrying was so bright it took a few seconds for them to adjust. When they finally did, Eric realised it was in fact Doogard who stood outside his cell.