Diary of a journey through Hell

by Trudie Collins

  Days 15 and 16

  I woke to find myself in my tent, alone, with no idea how I got there. I remembered Kris curing my headache with his skilful fingers, but then I must have nodded off. I can only assume that he carried me to my tent and covered me over with the blanket.

  My headache had gone, but I didn’t feel like getting up, so I updated my diary. Writing about yesterday’s events made me shiver. I’m surprised I didn’t have nightmares.

  “Feeling better?” Kris asked cheerfully when I eventually left my tent. There was no sign of Robert.

  “Much. I greatly appreciate what you did last night.”

  “Any time,” he said. He had a strange smile on his face.

  “Want me to wake Robert?” I asked. The sun was much higher in the sky than I have been expecting and I was a little concerned that Robert had yet to surface.

  “No, leave him,” Kris told me. “He spent half the night drinking water then vomiting it back up. Dehydration can do that to you sometimes. Let him sleep a while longer.”

  We ate breakfast without Robert, each lost in our own thoughts. Eventually Kris asked me a question that had probably been on his mind for a while.

  “Why do you call the underworld ‘Hell’?” he asked.

  “I’m not really sure,” I replied. “Maybe because we are always taught that Heaven is above us and Hell is below us.”

  “What you call Hell, the ancient Greeks called Tartarus. It’s a dark and gloomy place, like a pit I suppose, that is used as a dungeon full of torture and suffering.”

  “Does such a place actually exist down here?” I asked.

  “No,” Kris said. “You have already seen the place where the nearest thing to torture takes place, but there are parts of the underworld that are dark and gloomy. We might be going to one today in fact, once Rob decides to surface.”

  Dark and gloomy? Wonderful!

  Robert did not look well when he finally emerged from his tent, but he assured us he would be able to continue on with the journey as soon as he had eaten something. A short while later the tents had been packed up, the fire put out and we were on our way again.

  The scenery was much more pleasant than it had been yesterday. There was nothing dead or on fire anywhere. Other than a distant mountain, we were surrounded by lush, grassy fields. To be honest I was beginning to get bored of seeing green everywhere and was pleased when a rocky outcropping came into sight.

  Kris stopped and pointed. “That marks the start of the mountains,” he said. “Unlike the previous mountain range that you derided for being small, this one is big, very big. It may look small from here, but that is because we are still a long way from it. We now have 3 options; around, over or under.”

  “What are the pros and cons?” Robert asked. He obviously wanted to take the shortest route, but had learnt to find out the dangers before deciding which way to go.

  “Around is simple, no hidden dangers, no hard climbing, just continuous walking, but it will take twice as long as going over.”

  I liked the sound of that. Robert didn’t, so he asked Kris to continue.

  “Going over is harder, but quicker. A lot of difficult climbing will be involved. If you are scared of heights or physical exhaustion, I would rule that one out.”

  “Which leaves going under,” I said. “What is the problem with that option?”

  “No problem, as such. It is definitely the quickest route, but I should warn you that the tunnels go through fairy caves.”

  Robert and I looked at each other. “Fairies?” he asked. “As in tiny female creatures with wings?”

  “Not exactly. Fairies are magical beings. They can be small enough to fit into the palm of your hand or they can make themselves as large as you or me. They do have wings and can fly, but they are not all female. The males can be very aggressive and dangerous and while the females may appear sweet and lovely, they too have a vicious streak, especially if they don’t get what they want.”

  “Will they object to us going through their caves?” I asked, not sure if I was nervous about potentially meeting a real fairy or curious.

  “No, they may even offer to guide us. The problem is they do not like light in their tunnels.”

  “Meaning?” I prompted when he said no more.

  “Meaning we will have to go through them in the dark. No lamps. No torches. No light source at all.” So that was what he meant by a dark and gloomy place.

  “Isn’t that a little dangerous?” I asked. “How can we walk through tunnels when we cannot see what is in front of us?”

  “I can get us through, but it will not be a pleasant experience. You will feel like you are blind. Are either of you claustrophobic?” We both shook our heads. “Good. Then it may be the best way to go.”

  Kris looked at me. I looked at Robert. Robert nodded. “Agreed,” he said. Personally I did not like the sound of going through the tunnels, but after Robert had done so much to get me through the flames the day before, I wasn’t going to insist on taking the longer route.

  “Caves it is then.” Kris led us to the outcropping and I was surprised to see a small gong there. He struck it 3 times and one of the rocks slid sideways, revealing a passageway. “Keeps the animals out,” he said before motioning us forward with his arm.

  Once we were all inside he pushed on one of the rocks next to the entrance and the rock that had moved to provide us entry slid back into place.

  I am embarrassed to admit it, but I screamed. It didn’t bang shut or anything like that, but as soon as the rock sealed itself into place all sunlight was shut out and we were in the dark. And when I say dark I mean complete blackness. I have never experienced it before and I never want to ever again. I knew that Kris was to one side of me and Robert the other, but I could not see them. I held my hand in front of my eyes and ended up hitting my nose as I brought it in closer, hoping to be able to see at least the outline.

  “You weren’t lying about feeling like I was blind, were you?” I said, more to make sure one of my senses was working than any real need for conversation.

  “Are you alright?” Kris whispered in my ear. I hadn’t heard him move and his voice coming from so close to me took me by surprise, making me scream again, which made him chuckle. I hit out at where I thought he was, but he must have moved again because my hand stuck rock.

  “Best not to do that,” he advised as I rubbed my injured hand.

  “So how are we going to do this?” Robert asked. “Do you expect us to follow your voice or will you rope us together?”

  “I can do that if you like. Alternatively, Rachel can take your hand and I can lead her. There are no high ceilings and none of the tunnels are narrow so you won’t walk into anything as long as you stay directly behind me. If you lose your hold on Rachel for any reason, don’t move. Call out and I will find you.”

  I felt Kris slip his hand into mine and I gripped it tight. There was no way I was going to be letting go of that until I was able to see again.

  “How long till we see daylight again?” I asked, wondering how many hours we would be wandering around in the dark.

  “A few days,” Kris replied.

  “Days?” I spluttered. “You never warned us we would be down here that long.”

  “No, I didn’t, did I,” he said, then moved away. I felt him tug on my hand and had no option other than to follow him. I groped around with my other hand until I came into contact with Robert, then felt down his arm until I reached his hand.

  “Come on,” I said and pulled him after me.

  Time stands still when you have no way of measuring its passing, or so I discovered. At one point I tripped and pulled my hand loose from Kris’s in order to catch myself as I fell, but he soon found me again. I momentarily panicked when I realised that I had become disconnected from our guide and I have never felt so glad about being touched by a man as I did when I felt him grasp my hand once more.

  Kris made us stop regularly, insisting we drink lots of
water, and we ate twice before he decided he had found a good place to spend the night. The tunnel had opened up into a cavern, providing enough room for us to lie down without running the risk of becoming separated too much while we slept.

  Tents were pointless so Kris provided us with sleeping bags and pillows and we all went to sleep. I enquired about posting a guard, worried about being attacked in the night by fairies, but Kris saw no need, so I didn’t argue.

  Eating in the dark was also a strange experience. It took a long time to get used to putting food into my mouth without being able to see either the food or where my mouth was. Luckily none of the food was hot or I would have ended up scolding myself on it.

  Part way through the next day (at least I am assuming it was the next day), we spotted a light up ahead. It was only a faint glow, but it was all I could do to stop myself running toward it.

  “Stay here,” Kris instructed, dropping my hand and moving away. He headed toward the light and I really hoped that he was checking that it was a way out.

  It wasn’t.

  “Fairies,” he said when he returned. “One of their caves is up ahead and they have invited us to join them for a meal.”

  A horrible thought occurred to me and I could not stop myself asking, “What do fairies eat? When you say ‘join them for a meal’, you do mean share a meal with them as opposed to us being the meal, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” Kris replied. “Why would you think they would want to eat you? Fairies never eat meat.”

  “I don’t know,” I snapped. “Maybe because until yesterday I never knew that fairies actually existed. I have no idea what they are really like and wandering around in the dark has made me paranoid. OK?”

  “Calm down,” Robert said, pulling me toward him and hugging me tight.

  “I just want to get out of here,” I said into his chest.

  “I know. Me too,” he said soothingly. “Me too.”

  “Come on you two,” Kris said. “Just head toward the light.”

  There was no need for Robert to hold my hand any more, but he did so anyway, for which I was grateful.

  I half expected the light to grow brighter as we approached, but it didn’t; it stayed a warm glow. It was enough to see the edges of the end of the tunnel by and soon we found ourselves in a huge cave filled with people. They were all bustling around, going about their business without making any noise whatsoever. It was amazing. I thought I had temporarily gone deaf until one of them spoke.

  “Welcome to our home,” she said in a musical voice. She was slim and athletic, dressed in what can only be described as a sparkling leotard. Looking around I could understand why the light was so dull. All of the fairies were dressed the same, even the men. If the light had been any brighter the reflections off the clothes would have been blinding.

  Standing in front of us, the fairy seemed like a normal human being. Other than the two sets of wings on her back, of course. They were not transparent like they appear in all of the children’s books; instead they were solid and covered in multi-coloured patterns, like a butterfly’s. And she was beautiful. Her long blonde hair flowed past her shoulders and her pale skin emphasised the blueness of her eyes.

  I glanced at Robert and he was actually gaping at her. I rolled my eyes. “Thank you,” I said politely, unsure of the proper etiquette when talking with a magical being.

  “Rachel, Rob, this is Fee,” Kris said. “Her mother is in charge of this particular colony.”

  Fairies live in colonies? For some reason that sounded really weird. I decided it would be best not to voice my opinion though.

  “Follow me,” Fee said. “Kris has told us all about your quest and my mother is dying to meet you.”

  She led us through the throng of fairies to an alcove on the far side where an elderly fairy was sitting behind a table. “Please, take a seat,” she said, indicating the cushions surrounding the table with her arm. She was sitting cross legged and we chose to do the same. The table was laden with fresh fruit and steaming vegetables and a loaf of bread was to one side.

  “Wine?” our host asked and we all said yes. After travelling for so long in the dark, I could use a good drink.

  As we ate we told Fee and her mother all about our travels so far. I almost referred to the underworld as Hell once or twice, but caught the warning look on Kris’s face and managed to stop myself in time.

  Fee and her mother seemed fascinated and the fairies kept interrupting with questions. Fee, I noticed, only ever spoke to Robert. She did not take her eyes off him the entire time. Kris remained quiet. He seemed uncomfortable in the fairies’ presence. As soon as the meal was over he politely thanked our hosts and announced that we had to be going. I was really not ready to depart. I had gotten used to the dim light in the fairies cave and did not want to go back into the dark.

  Fee leaned over and whispered something in her mother’s ear. The elderly fairy shook her head. Fee whispered something else and her mother sighed. “Oh very well then. If you insist.” She turned to address Kris. “My daughter has volunteered to guide you through the caves,” she said. “She also wishes to accompany you until you have completely passed out of our lands.”

  “I am not sure that is a good idea,” he said cautiously.

  “I agree with you, but she insists. You know how the young are. But the decision to allow her to accompany you is entirely yours.”

  “Will she provide light?” I asked before Kris could turn down the offer.

  “Of course I will,” Fee replied. “That is the whole point of me going with you.” The way she said it made me think that there was another reason that she was not mentioning. Maybe Kris was right and we shouldn’t take her with us.

  “With light we will be able to go faster,” Robert said. “I vote she comes. Rachel?”

  I really wasn’t certain, but I could not bring myself to go against Robert’s wishes, so I agreed with him.

  “I didn’t realise this was a democracy,” Kris muttered, but didn’t object.

  Fee stood up, clapping her hands together in glee. “I just need to pack a bag. I’ll be right back.” She took to the air and flew away.

  Her mother looked at Kris, a strange expression on her face. “Keep an eye on her,” she said, though I am not sure whether she meant to make sure she was safe or to watch our backs.

  “I will,” Kris said.

  Fee soon returned and led us to a tunnel at the opposite end of the cave to where we had entered. It was very dark inside and I hesitated before entering. Fee took hold of Robert’s hand and walked into the tunnel, pulling him in after her. As soon as Fee entered the darkness it was filled with the same faint glow that was in the cave. It was only then that I realised that the light came from the fairies themselves.

  Kris was about to follow, but I held him back. “What’s the problem?” I asked quietly. “Why don’t you want her with us?”

  He looked around to make sure that nobody was close enough to hear us before answering. “I don’t trust fairies. They always have a hidden agenda. And as I said earlier, they can become vicious when they don’t get what they want. They are magical creatures so are very dangerous when crossed.”

  “Are we in any danger?” I asked in concern.

  “I don’t know yet,” he replied, then walked into the tunnel after Fee and Robert.

  We stopped regularly for water and Fee took us through many beautiful caves, some filled with sparkling gems, others with waterfalls and other scenic features. I had been dreading the mind-numbingly boring trek through endless tunnels and Fee’s slight detours, though increasing the length of the journey, made it much more bearable.

  Whenever we took a break I noticed that Fee always sat close to Robert and insisted on holding his hand whenever we were moving. She seemed to take extreme delight in showing off the more beautiful parts of her home to him. She practically ignored me and Kris.

  When we entered a particularly large and splendid cave, I took Kris
to one side. “I think we have a problem,” I whispered, glancing across at where Fee was talking animatedly with Robert.

  “I noticed,” he said. “I think we now know the real reason for Fee joining us. She is rather enamoured with your friend.”

  “Do you think he knows?”

  Kris shook his head. “It doesn’t look like he has a clue. And we had better leave it that way. Fee knows that we are on a journey to find the love of his life, but we don’t want him reminding her of that fact, at least not until we are out of these caves. She may end up leading us in circles so we are stuck down here forever if he upsets her.”

  “What do we do when he finds out? We both know he is going to reject her if she makes any advances toward him.”

  Kris looked concerned. “We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, all we can do is keep an eye on her and pray that we get out of here before he says anything to upset her.”

  I grinned at him. “And which particular god do you want me to pray to?”

  “We are in the underworld, so I guess it had better be my grandfather.” He did not grin back.

  Later in the day we stopped for a meal. Fee provided the food, handing around bowls filled with fruit and other such tit-bits. No meat though, unfortunately.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, what is this?” I asked, holding up one of the items in my bowl.

  “Mongongo,” Fee said, as though the word should have meant something to me.

  “Huh?” I said, making Kris chuckle.

  “It’s a type of nut found in parts of Africa. It’s very nutritious.”

  At least that is what I think he said. I heard the word ‘nut’ and my brain went into panic mode.

  “Robert,” I shouted out. “Don’t eat it.” But I was too late. I watched in horror as he took a handful out of his bowl and placed them in his mouth, chewed and swallowed.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as his mouth was empty.

  “Nuts,” I said. He went pale.

  “What is the problem?” Fee asked with concern. “You act as if I am trying to poison Rob. I would never do such a thing.”