Ark Of Hope: Beyond The Dark Horizon

by Roger David Francis

  “Brett,” Cassie said in a small voice, “We don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

  “Don’t say that!” Brett spoke sharply. “Of course she is.”

  “What about Robbie? He’ll never find us in here.”

  “For Christ’s sake, Cas, could you be any more negative?” He stared at her stony faced. “If finding the Challis of Truth is our best chance of getting Jade and Robbie back then that’s what we’re going to do.”

  Cassie flushed. She was only facing up to the possibility they might never see their friends again, she thought Brett was burying his head in the sand.

  They seemed to be alone but Brett had the uncomfortable feeling of being watched as they made their way to the end of the cave. He could see water dripping down the stone walls mixed with what appeared to be algae, it looked slimy and unpleasant. He felt an uncomfortable tingling in his spine and heat beginning to build in his stomach. The cave was creating the same feeling in him he got when he was in an enclosed space. He tried to breathe as evenly as he could, if he panicked he would turn and run and there were a million reasons why he couldn’t do that. One of them was walking beside him. Sometimes you just had to get on with it.

  Cassie slipped her hand in his and he felt the tingling sensation ebbing away. He stopped abruptly. In front of them was a hole about three feet in diameter.

  “I’m not going down there,” Cassie breathed, her voice slurred with panic, “It’s just black, you can’t see where it ends.”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Brett said, peering down into the hole. He squeezed Cassie’s hand a little tighter. “I can see some sort of a rope ladder. You wait here, keep watch for the Choolies, whatever they are, and I’ll go.”

  “No! God, that’s worse, you can’t leave me on my own. Go on, I’ll follow you.”

  “Good girl, don’t be scared, it just another cave.” Brett hoped she couldn’t hear the fear in his voice as he swung his body down onto the ladder.

  Cassie was scared, terrified, her heart thumping like it was about to burst out of her chest, and she could feel herself trembling all over as she hesitantly followed Brett, her foot on the first rung of the ladder, feeling it shake as she began to descend.

  The sand seemed to be getting wetter and Robbie could feel his feet being sucked down into it. Every time he lifted his foot up his shoes made a squelching noise. There were no footprints to guide him to Jade, just spaced out ridges of hard glistening sand. He thought he could hear people shouting, frightened, their voices raised in terror but he couldn’t see anything. He didn’t want to think it was the holiday makers from the Princess May dying for the second time because of Gary Wurner, it was too cruel.

  Robbie wondered what time it was. He cursed himself for not having a watch but like most people he knew, time pieces had been abandoned to the bottom drawer years ago in favour of a mobile phone. Now he had neither. He guessed he’d been away from Brett and Cassie for about an hour but it had gone from dark to light in seconds and for all he knew he could have been wandering around for several hours. He felt okay but he didn’t trust that the drugs weren’t still messing with his mind. It was possible Brett and Cassie had got fed up waiting for him. He just hoped he could find them when he retraced his steps.

  Not that he intended to go back, not until he’d found Jade. He was a long way from accepting that she’d drowned in the sea or been destroyed by the giant Spickler.

  He loved her.

  Robbie stood still for a moment and contemplated the thought. Even though he’d said those words to her several times it was only now that he realised how much he meant them.

  He loved her.

  There was no way he wasn’t going to find her and take her safely home so turning back wasn’t an option.

  He glanced upwards and could see the moon floating overhead in the middle of the blue sky, and strangely it had purple veins running through it. He shook his head and scowled. That wasn’t the moon, what was he thinking? He lifted his arms up, shocked when his fingers touched the rolling ball. Just a balloon, he realised and plucked the end of it pulling it down onto the sand. It was larger than he’d first thought and seemed to be pulsing.

  Robbie pulled out his small silver torch and shone it onto the balloon. He gasped and recoiled backwards in horror.

  There was a face looking out at him from inside the thin membrane! It looked like an old man’s face, the mouth wide open and screaming soundlessly. Small thin hands began clawing at the inside of the balloon and watching the way the mouth was moving it was obvious to Robbie that the man wanted him to let him out of the strange balloon.

  What harm could it do? Robbie thought. The man was no more than two foot high, he could hardly hurt him. He groped in his trouser pocket and found a tiny pin. Cassie told him off for carrying bits of a shed around in his pockets but he always swore to her one day it would come in handy. That day had arrived.

  Robbie sat down on the wet sand and popped the balloon, rocking back with amazement as a strange little man uncurled his body and crawled out from under the latex cover, shaking himself. Looking closer at him Robbie realised he resembled a goblin from his childhood fairytale books. He had a wizened little face that was puckered up as he stared around. His hands and feet were tiny and he was dressed in an all in one red and white tight fitting outfit. He wore a green cap over spiky yellow hair that stuck out like bits of straw above his eyes.

  “You’ll have to carry me,” The goblin told Robbie in a tiny squeaky voice.

  “Why should I?” Robbie asked, “You’ve got two perfectly good legs.”

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid, that’s what all giants are. I’ll sink in the sand.”

  Robbie stood up and the goblin cowered back.

  “Okay, you’re not stupid; I am for getting caught in the balloon.” The goblin held his hands out in a placating gesture. “My name’s Binkle, rhymes with tinkle. I know who you are and what you want. You’re here with your gang to steal the Challis of Truth. One sniff of the Island and here you are.” His expression turned cunning. “I can show you where it is.” He looked around fearfully, “Did you hear that?”

  “What?”

  “Vibrations. The giant Spickler’s coming!”

  Robbie bent down and scooped the little man up and began running, or at least trying to, the wet sand kept trying to slow him down.

  “Take off your shoes,” the goblin yelled at him.

  Stumbling, Robbie slid down onto the sand and quickly untied the laces of his trainers, kicking them off, after only a moment’s hesitation he also pulled off his socks and threw them on the sand.

  Binkle danced around his feet, his eyes darting about. “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” he chanted.

  Beginning to panic; even thought he couldn’t see anything coming, Robbie grabbed the little man and began running, faster this time until he reached the forest. He set the goblin down.

  He was sweating. “I didn’t feel any vibrations,” he said.

  “You’re too big to notice, by the time you’d feel your feet start to tingle it would be too late.” Binkle informed him solemnly. “The giant Spickler would make a fair old meal of you.”

  Robbie shook his head in disbelief, “A sand monster that eats people, really?”

  “Sucks them up into tiny particles, that’s why it keeps getting bigger.” Binkle replied with relish.

  “Never mind that, I need to find my friends,” Robbie said.

  The goblin just stared up at him.

  “Okay, you win.” Robbie picked him up again and hitched him onto his shoulder. In honesty he didn’t weigh much but he kept drumming his legs on Robbie’s neck.

  “Do you live on the Island?” Robbie asked.

  “Might do.”

  “Don’t you know?”

  “Okay, I did live on the Island until they sent me off in the balloon to punish me.”

  “Ah,” Robbie almost grinned. “So what did you do?”

  “I found a c
ucumber and ate it.”

  “And?”

  “It’s against the law. Only Queen Bebo is allowed to eat cucumber.” He dug his small foot into Robbie’s neck, “Sometimes she lets visitors eat them but that’s because she’s hoping they’ll find the Challis of Truth and give it to her.”

  “You’re one of her subjects?” Robbie asked, weaving his way along the path. He should be near to where he’d left Brett and Cassie.

  Binkle swiped his small hand across the top of Robbie’s head. “Wrong, wrong, wrong, I’m from the Oogaloo tribe.”

  “Of course you are.”

  “Have you got a name or are you Mr Nobody?”

  “Robbie.”

  “Robbie, Robbie, Robbie, pathetic.”

  Robbie stopped and directed his torch onto the ground at the boulder lying in the middle of the path. He swung the goblin down onto the ground and picked up the piece of paper under the stone. It was wet and soggy but he could just make out the words. Binkle climbed back on his shoulders.

  “What does it say?” Binkle tugged at his hair, his hot breath fluttering on Robbie’s neck, strangely smelling of fresh mint. “I like secret messages.” Impatiently he wriggled too far forward and toppled off landing on the ground. He howled in annoyance.

  Robbie blinked. It seemed Brett and Cassie might have a lead on where Jade was. “We have to follow this path and take a right turn at the end. We’re going to some caves.”

  The goblin began to jig around. “No, no, no, not me.”

  “Why not? I thought that’s where goblin’s lived, in caves.”

  Binkle drew himself up to his full height of one foot ten inches and planted his feet apart. “How dare you!” he squeaked. “I’m not a goblin, do I have big ears? No, I’m a little person, one of many, a warrior protecting the Island.” He kicked Robbie’s ankle. “Goblin, how dare you!”

  Robbie shrugged, “My mistake. It’s up to you. I can leave you here to take your chances or you can come with me.”

  “Think, think, think,” Binkle chanted. “I’ll come with you.”

  “Thought so. Just stop bloody kicking me.” Robbie hitched the little man up on his shoulders again and carried on along the path. He was beginning to feel lightheaded, probably from lack of food. He realised it was rapidly becoming dark; it was as if a switch was being turned down and with every step he took the shadows thickened into night time. He switched on his small torch and it began flickering and he knew he had only a matter of minutes to find the cave before he was plunged into darkness.

  Someone was coming. Jade could hear a shuffling sound close by. After the strange children had tied her up she’d been bought back to the dungeon and left on her own. The green haired man had treated her roughly, his large hands pinching her arms making them sore as he dragged her along the passageway. So much for Queen Bebo’s hospitality, Jade thought miserably. She’d been dumped unceremoniously in the stinking cave and the green haired man had left without a word. After she’d heard the rattle of a large bolt sliding across the door everything had gone quiet.

  This was the last place she wanted to be. Were they intending to leave her here to die? She knew she was lucky to be alive, how she’d survived being dragged under the waves was a mystery. Someone had bought her here through caves underneath the ocean, miraculously saved her, but for what purpose? Was she still underneath the ocean? It was more likely she was on the Island. She couldn’t imagine Queen Bebo paddling around underwater caves getting her huge feet wet.

  The appalling stench all around her seemed to have deepened; now it smelt even more like an abattoir. It had grown darker, the lights that had been on previously had dimmed to a miserable yellow glow. Something brushed against her leg and she screamed.

  “Don’t do that,” A little voice screeched back.

  Holding her breath Jade could just make out the form of a child.

  “Is that you, Hope?” she whispered.

  “No, no, no, my name is Binkle and I don’t want to be here anymore than you do so be quiet and let me think.”

  Jade felt him move a little closer and then a small face appeared in front of her. They stared at each other.

  “I suppose you’re Jade?” The little man said.

  “Yes, how did you know?”

  “I’m doing your friend a favour. I squeezed through the rat tunnel, he’s on the other side waiting for me to rescue you but you’re too big. What does he expect me to do, dig a bigger hole?”

  “Who, what friend?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. Robbie.”

  Jade felt a huge sense of relief. He’d found her, how, she couldn’t imagine but he was close by.

  “Are you sure I couldn’t wriggle through the hole?” she asked.

  Binkle pushed his face even closer to hers. “You’re a big fat old momma, no chance.”

  “I think you’re confusing me with Queen Bebo,” Jade muttered, annoyed.

  “The Queen’s allowed to be fat, she’s carrying important cargo.” The goblin shifted around, muttering under his breath. “I have an idea.” He said eventually, “I’ll be back.”

  Jade listened to him shuffle off and everything went quiet again. She closed her eyes, everything was going to be all right, Robbie was close by; she had to hang onto that, he would find a way to rescue her.

  Chapter 19

  “It’s not too far down,” Brett’s voice was muffled but Cassie heard him stamp his feet. She was several rungs above him and it seemed to her they’d been climbing down the ladder for ages. She felt his arms reaching out to her, wrapping themselves around her legs and she sighed with relief when her feet touched the ground.

  “What now?” She asked.

  Brett was shining his torch around. There wasn’t much room in the circular cave and at first he didn’t see the small opening in the stone wall. It stunk of dead mice, the cloying death smell circled up his nostrils and he coughed, blinking the swirling bits of dust from his eyes.

  Cassie was eyeing the opening with distaste. It was just a black hole created by removing several bricks. A small narrow tunnel leading God knows where. Her stomach flipped with fear. There was still light shining down from the cave above their heads but even with Brett’s torch the small area they were standing in was gloomy.

  “I suppose we have to crawl through,” Cassie’s voice held a note of resignation. They really didn’t have a choice. If they went back empty handed it might affect their chances of getting their friends back. We need to hurry up, she thought, so we can get back to the hotel, there’s Karaoke in the bar tonight. A few drinks to relax after a day out enjoying a boat trip around the Bay, wasn’t that what was supposed to happen? It sounded nice and ordinary, a long way from this frightening dark place she was standing in, not knowing if she’d ever get out alive.

  Had they really had any choice? Cassie wondered. They couldn’t have stayed on the Ark of Hope because of the storm, and they’d had no option but to embark from the Princess May onto Sandy Island. Maybe they should have stayed on the beach, not wandered off along the path and knocked on Queen Bebo’s door. But if they’d done that then the giant Spickler would have come after them, so maybe they really hadn’t had a choice.

  Everything had to be happening for a reason though, Cassie reflected, and wasn’t it possible they’d been led to this Island because it was their destiny to find the Challis of Truth?

  Somehow Cassie found that hard to believe. Shivering in the cold dark cave, she thought it was more likely they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “I’ll go first,” Brett said. He dropped onto his hands and knees and holding the torch out in front of him began crawling through the tight black space. Cassie was right behind him, her lips pressed tightly together so as not to suck up any of the foul air.

  The beam from the torch began to dim.

  Brett shook it and it flickered on and off. “Damn!” he cursed. He was beginning to feel his clothing scraping against th
e sides of the tunnel and realised it was getting narrower. It wasn’t meant for someone as large as he was to crawl through, he realised. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He had to stop thinking like that.

  He’d read somewhere that to get over your worst fear you had to confront it head on. Well, he was certainly doing that now, and maybe it was working, a bit of sweat wasn’t exactly a panic attack, he reasoned, but then another more terrifying thought struck him; What if he got stuck? Couldn’t move backwards or forwards? He would die horribly in this stinking hole but worse than that he would be leaving Cassie alone to deal with the unknown monsters who lived underground in the caves. He began to take great gulping breaths feeling his heart pounding.

  “Brett? Are you okay?”

  Cassie’s voice seemed to come from a long way away and Brett tried to fight down his panic. He stopped, attempting to breathe more normally.

  “I’m all right,” he gasped. “It’s just getting harder to breath and the torch keeps flickering.”

  “I know, but it can’t go on for much longer.” Cassie tried to sound upbeat but her voice was muffled and she thought if they didn’t get out of the tunnel soon she might faint.

  They kept up a steady shuffling pace that seemed to go on forever but it was probably only a few more minutes before the tunnel came to an abrupt end.

  Brett rolled out into another larger cave. He turned and helped Cassie out of the hole. Shining his torch around his shoulders slumped in despair. It looked the same as the last cave just slightly bigger. There was one difference though; Right in the middle of the floor was another large hole.

  “Oh, no,” Cassie wailed.

  “Well, you didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you?” Brett bit his lip, “We’ve got no choice, we’ve come this far we have to go on.”

  There was a scuffling noise and a large rat like creature scurried across the floor. Cassie screamed as it dived head first into the hole.

  “Okay, stop that,” Brett said sharply, “we can’t give up now.”