Emajen

by Ashley Ledigo

  ‘Someone’s been ‘ere recently,’ whispered Saddler. ‘Look, these ones ‘aven’t long been lit!’

  ‘Maybe that’s what the scraping sound was,’ said Destiny. ‘They’re quite high. Maybe someone had to bring a stool or a ladder or something and dragged it on the ground?’

  ‘You could be right. What we don’t know is whether that somebody is friend or foe. We’d better be on our guard!’

  The passage continued for some way before disappearing around another bend. At varying intervals on either side, other tunnels could be seen meandering off into the distance. One or two were also lit by lanterns. Most were not.

  The passage they were in led gently, but steadily downwards. When they reached the bend, Saddler motioned the other two to hang back while he peered cautiously around the corner.

  He snapped his head back so quickly, Destiny was amazed it didn’t give him whiplash.

  With a finger to his lips, Saddler beckoned them forwards. What they saw took their breath away. It was a cavern which must, virtually, have been as high as the hill itself. It was vast. All around the curved walls, lanterns burned. The light from these was reflected in myriad prisms, which had been cleverly placed high up on the walls and around the ceiling itself, parrying the reflected light from one to the other. The effect was stunning and the whole chamber was lit as though it were a glade on a bright, sunny day.

  Thankfully, the cavern was empty, save for a raised platform at the far end on which stood a long table and some chairs.

  ‘What do we do?’ whispered Destiny, who suddenly felt very nervous about leaving the relative safety of the dim passage. Once they stepped into the cavern, there was nowhere to hide if someone came along.

  ‘I think we should go back,’ said Anthony, but looking at Saddler’s radiant face something told him this was probably not an option.

  It came as rather a surprise when Saddler turned and led them back up the passageway. He ducked into the first unlit offshoot, flicking on his torch as he did so, and followed the beam until they came to a small alcove. Here, there were several small boulders resting against the walls, as though they might have been deliberately put there for people to sit on.

  With a sigh, Saddler plumped himself down and his face took on a dreamy, faraway kind of look. Anthony and Destiny sat down next to him and Anthony shone his torch at Saddler to jolt him out of his daydream.

  ‘What’s going on? Did you know about this place?’

  ‘No, no.’ Saddler immediately looked chastened. ‘I mean, I did know of it, at least I’d ‘eard that it existed, but I didn’t know precisely where … and then what with the passages and the great chamber and all …’

  ‘What?’ Destiny and Anthony both clapped their hands over their mouths at the same time realising that, in their frustration, they had both yelled out.

  Anthony continued more quietly, ‘What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense!’

  ‘Sorry, sorry, no I’m not am I?’ Saddler visibly pulled himself together and began to explain.

  ‘You know by now that there are other worlds in existence apart from your own. And you also know that it’s possible to travel between ‘em if you ‘ave the know ‘ow. It’s not something that too many people know about, which is just as well.’

  ‘Why’s that?’ asked Destiny

  ‘Well, the Prof told me all about the wars in your world and ‘ow different countries ‘ave invaded each other throughout ‘istory. Imagine the chaos it would cause if you ‘ad several worlds vying for supremacy over each other!’

  ‘That’s true.’

  ‘Anyway getting back to the point, worlds only have a certain length of life; they live a long time, but not forever. New worlds are being born all the time. Your world is pretty old and your keeper, so Nebiré tells me, is getting a bit weary with all the devastation ‘umans keep causing.’

  ‘Our keeper?’

  ‘Yeah, you know … uh what d’you call ‘er. I read it only the other day …’

  ‘You mean Mother Nature?’ asked Anthony

  ‘Exactly that! Mother Nature. What your world needs now is a few more in’abitants like yourselves. A bit more Earth-friendly like. Give your keeper a bit of a ‘and, take the strain off so to speak.

  Anyway, some while back, the Prof told me about some creatures called ‘Creations’ ‘oo come from a very strange place.’

  ‘Creations?’

  ‘Yeah. You won’t believe this, Destiny you’re good at art right? Well, ‘ave you ever doodled, you know created odd sort of cartoon creatures?’

  ‘Yes of course, but …’

  ‘Well you can bet your boots that they’re alive!’

  There was a stunned silence while the children digested this bizarre piece of information. Then, in the dim torchlight Destiny grinned broadly.

  ‘Oh very funny. You really had me going there …’ But the smile faltered on her lips at the expression on Saddler’s face.

  ‘You’re not kidding, are you?’

  ‘NO!’ boomed a harsh voice from behind them. ‘He’s not!’

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Anthony, Destiny and Saddler all jumped around to see a most peculiar creature standing at the entrance to the alcove. Two beady eyes glared at them from above what could only be described as a trumpet like protuberance. The creature’s small, rotund body ended in two, largish three-toed feet.

  ‘This is private territory and you are trespassing!’ the creature boomed crossly. Destiny found herself once more having to smother a giggle, as she noticed a colourful mop of feathers flopping about agitatedly on top of the creature’s head.

  It waggled three tentacle-like arms in their direction and barked an order that Destiny couldn’t quite catch.

  In no time at all, they were surrounded by creatures of all shapes and sizes, some so incredible that Destiny thought she must be having some kind of fantastic daydream. But she only had to look at the others’ faces to know, if this was a dream, they were all dreaming the same thing.

  They were marched (hopped, bounced and slithered) back down the torch-lit passage until they stood in the vast cavern once more. Several more creatures sat at the table on the platform, seemingly deep in discussion. After a few moments, one of them stood up and came hurrying over.

  ‘There is much to discuss. The prisoners are to be taken to the “secure room”, while we decide their fate!’

  So saying, he turned on his hoof and hurried back to the table.

  The children and Saddler were led down more torch-lit passages until they came to a sturdy, wooden door. The door was evidently very heavy because a large creature with huge hairy arms and an elephant’s trunk stepped forwards and heaved it open with all his strength. The group were ushered inside and the door closed quietly behind them.

  On their own once more, the three travellers looked at each other stunned.

  At last Anthony found his voice.

  ‘What on earth just happened there?’ he said, shaking his head in wonder.

  ‘Well, for a start I think we were very slow off the mark,’ mused Saddler. ‘I ‘ave a feeling if we’d said “boo” loudly enough they’d ‘ave all run away!’

  Destiny exhaled a long, slow breath.

  ‘They were amazing,’ she breathed. ‘Did you see the one with the hair that looked like strings of pearls and …’ she set off on an excited monologue about the various incredible characteristics she had seen. She was so absorbed that she didn’t notice the heavy door opening once again, until a gentle cough startled her in mid flow.

  A small face beamed at her. A face she knew very well indeed. Destiny swallowed and felt her cheeks flush.

  Saddler and Anthony both looked at Destiny. They looked at the creature and back at Destiny. Anthony grinned.

  ‘It’s not, is it?’

  ‘Well I didn’t know, did I?’

  Turning her back on the creature, she hissed in Saddler’s ear, ‘They don’t know do they? I mean, who act
ually drew them or … or whatever?’

  ‘I’m not really sure, but I don’t know ‘ow they could. The Prof never mentioned that.’

  Plastering a smile on her face, Destiny turned slowly around until she was facing the creature, which was waiting expectantly.

  ‘Hi!’ she said.

  ‘Hi,’ repeated the little fellow in a voice that sounded eerily like her own. His little, triangle mouth widened into a cheeky grin.

  ‘I’m Boff. Pleased to make your acquaintance!’

  ‘Boff! That figures!’ Anthony smiled broadly at Destiny and then gazed wonderingly at the sizeable, complex brain that pulsed and glowed through Boff’s translucent skull.

  ‘Nice … er … nice shorts,’ Saddler said with a remarkably straight face.

  Small light bulbs flashed on and off around Boff’s head as he digested this comment. Finally, he grinned his triangular grin again.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said, smoothing the tartan material with one hand. ‘I’m very proud of them!’

  Destiny groaned. ‘I was only seven!’ she muttered.

  ‘To what do we owe the pleasure, Mr Boff?’ asked Saddler.

  ‘Oh, just Boff. I mean not Just Boff, just Boff!’

  ‘Okay not, Not Just Boff, to what do we owe the pleasure?’

  Light bulbs flashed.

  ‘Saddler!’ scolded Destiny.

  But at that moment Boff laughed. It was an appealing, infectious sort of laugh, so like Destiny’s that Anthony was prompted to remark, ‘Scary!’

  ‘A good joke.’ Boff laughed. ‘We’re a bit rusty on jokes down here.’

  He went on to explain that he had been appointed as their personal ‘comforter’, which meant that, whatever they needed during their stay, he Boff would do his level best to acquire it for them.

  ‘Can we back track a bit there?’ said Saddler. ‘When you say “our stay”, what exactly does that mean?’

  ‘Ah, well, you see you’ve caused a bit of a flap down here,’ said Boff. ‘As you’ve probably guessed, we don’t often have visitors from above; at least, not unexpected ones. The council of Eldons are meeting to decide what has to be done.’

  ‘And how long might that take?’

  ‘Oh, a day or two, I shouldn’t wonder. The Eldons will come up with several options and then of course we all have to vote for the option we think best and then—’

  ‘Listen,’ interrupted Saddler, ‘I need to talk to someone in charge, right now! It’s really important! We can’t afford to delay!’

  Boff blinked his eyes uncertainly. He looked worriedly at Destiny as though for encouragement. She smiled warmly at him and nodded.

  ‘We really, really do need you to help us, Boff,’ she said.

  This seemed to reassure him and in a flash he had knocked on the door and disappeared through it as soon as it opened.

  ‘Whoa! What are the odds of that happening?’ said Anthony.

  ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘Well you drew him, didn’t you?’ I mean it’s pretty far fetched for people’s doodles to be coming alive somewhere to start with, but what are the odds of meeting one … let alone one you actually drew!’ Anthony laughed. ‘By the way, what possessed you with the shorts?’

  But Destiny was spared answering by the return of Boff with an Eldon.

  The Eldon appeared to have a more or less human body with a donkey’s head. Destiny was fascinated by his eyes. They were huge and soft and framed by the longest, curliest lashes she had ever seen. She realized she was staring and quickly looked away. The Eldon sat gracefully on a boulder.

  ‘Boff here tells me you have some urgent information for the council. I agreed to come because he is widely respected among us for his sound judgement!’

  Boff’s brain matter flushed a delicate rose colour.

  Saddler wasted no time in telling the Eldon about what was happening on Emajen and why it was so important that he and the others be allowed to continue with their journey. The Eldon nodded from time to time, but passed no comment. When Saddler had finished, the expression on the Eldon’s face was grave.

  ‘If what you say is true – and even down here we have noticed certain stirrings of unrest – this is serious indeed! I will relay everything you have told me to the council. I can’t promise to speed up the proceedings, but I will do my best to impress on them that time is of the essence. In the meantime I will leave you in Boff’s capable hands.’

  So saying and with a graceful incline of the head, the Eldon was gone.

  It was impossible to tell how much time had passed since they had first found the opening at the back of the cave. They all realized however that they were feeling quite hungry. Boff hurried away to find them food and returned laden with goodies. He was about to leave them to eat, when Destiny touched his arm.

  ‘Boff, since we have time to kill, why don’t you stay a while. There’s far too much here just for us!’

  Boff looked closely at Destiny and realized that, for some unaccountable reason, he totally trusted her. A couple of his bulbs flashed.

  ‘That would be nice, thank you.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  They chatted idly for a while. Boff was full of questions about where the children came from. The light bulbs on his head flashed so enthusiastically that Destiny became quite anxious in case he got over excited and the light bulbs exploded. Noticing her increasingly alarmed expression, Anthony gave her a calming smile and turned to Boff.

  How about you, Boff? How do you and your … um …’

  ‘Fellow Creations …’

  ‘Yeah, Fellow Creations … How do you come to be here?’

  ‘Ah, it’s a long story,’ Boff said, shaking his head sadly. His brain wobbled slightly from side to side as if in agreement.

  Destiny found herself feeling very protective of Boff and it hit her almost like a physical pain to see the sad look on his face.

  ‘Poor Boff,’ she cried. ‘You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to!’

  ‘I bet it’s a fascinating story,’ prompted Saddler. ‘I ‘ear you’ve got an interesting way of coming into being so to speak!’

  ‘And it appears we’ve got a fair bit of time on our hands,’ Anthony chipped in, ignoring Destiny’s look of disapproval.

  Boff tapped a long, tapered finger thoughtfully on his pursed, triangular lips.

  ‘Well, of course I don’t know how you come into being, so that might be interesting too. To us, the way things are just seems normal, although I suppose that doesn’t always mean the same thing as good.’

  ‘Does coming into being h-hurt at all?’ Destiny stammered nervously.

  ‘Not that I recall, I think it’s just like waking up.’

  ‘But you didn’t come into being here though?’ said Anthony.

  ‘Oh no. Our world is … was called Doodland. It used to be a lovely place – a happy place.’ Boff sighed.

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘Somebody created a cruel leader. Crevitos his name is!’ Boff shuddered at the thought. ‘It seems he was destined to rule us all. He even changed the name of our world. Doomland it’s called now and a very fitting name too, I should say.’

  ‘You know about being “created” then?’ asked Anthony surprised.

  ‘Oh yes, in fact I have a good friend – up there.’ Boff pointed a willowy finger above his head. ‘A very clever man, who was so taken with me when we first met that he did some research. He even drew a few of us himself!’

  ‘Not called the Prof by any chance?’ asked Saddler, sounding not even remotely surprised.

  Boff brightened visibly.

  ‘You know him?’

  ‘Has the Prof ever been to Doodland?’ asked Anthony, by way of reply.

  Boff looked cautiously from one to the other before obviously deciding they could be trusted.

  ‘Yes,’ he said quietly. ‘In fact he helped some of us to come here!’

  Looking from one expectant face to the other, Boff sigh
ed, a little dramatically but not, Saddler thought, unpleasurably.

  ‘I’d better start at the beginning I s’pose,’ said Boff.

  Boff yawned and stretched vigorously. He opened his eyes to blue sky and those scuddy, white little clouds that make you want to pluck them from the heavens and give them a big hug. He was lying on his back on grass that felt cool and soft to the touch.

  How he knew it was his back he was lying on, or that it was grass beneath him and sky above him, he wasn’t sure. He just did know and it felt good. Good to be … well … alive. Yes, he was alive!

  Boff grinned to himself and felt the corners of his mouth stretch. That was a good feeling too. He let his mouth relax and then stretched it into a grin again. Stretch. Relax. Stretch. Relax. It felt marvellous.

  ‘Great feeling, eh, son?’ chuckled a throaty voice. It was accompanied by a chorus of laughter and the next thing Boff knew, many hands (tentacles? Paws?) were helping him to his feet.

  The next few years were a delight. Doodland, as Boff discovered his home was called, was just the best place to be. He was surrounded by friends, creatures all very different to him physically, yet all bound by a common desire to exist peacefully and happily in their own little haven.

  Nobody could really pinpoint when the changes began to happen. Some said it was when the gentle, pattering rain that only fell at night-time and nourished all the plant life, began to fall in harsh bursts during the day.

  Before they knew it however, creatures were appearing which seemed to have only one aim point in mind – to cause misery and destruction wherever they went. The landscape began to change. Once colourful, fresh, picturesque views darkened. Where there had been trees and grassy glades, there was now only wasteland. And that wasn’t the worst of it.

  Creatures which called themselves ‘Crevitos henchmen’ appeared on the scene. The gentle Creations of Doodland quailed before such menace, such evil as these creatures represented.

  And so life on Doodland changed immeasurably.