“But I’m not a man. I’m just a young girl,” Polly bitterly wailed.
“And a really stupid one at that,” sniped Soogara, betraying her utter contempt towards Polly.
“Both of you should have counted the cost before you so readily stuffed your faces with my cotton candy. The price for such greed is that I now own the two of you lock, stock, and barrel, and therefore I am free to do with you as I please,” she spat.
“Grovelock, Grubstick, come here now, boys,” she screeched, beckoning both dogs to come to her side. “Now, my precious pups, stand and watch over them until I return.”
Both dogs circled Polly and Dodo, presumably to prevent them from running away, not that Polly could have escaped even if she had wanted to, for the pain inside the pit of her stomach was worsening by the minute. She looked over in Dodo’s direction and was shocked to see his limp body was no longer moving.
“Dodo, wake up,” she cried, but no answer came from his lifeless body.
Polly closed her eyes and waited to die. “Someone help me, please,” she whispered. Then everything went blank.
Chapter 28
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
WHEN POLLY FINALLY came round she was horrified to find herself tied up with thick rope in a dark, dank, rat-filled dungeon. The only light was a narrow shaft that was coming from a small high window that had large and very rusty iron bars. As she squinted, she could see that Dodo, as well as Langdon, had also been taken prisoner. Both were tied up to another wall on the other side of the dungeon, and Langdon looked a really sorry sight, for he had a ball and chain around his neck. Polly was horrified.
“Oh Langdon, I’m so sorry. What have they done to you?” she cried. “I’m to blame for this awful mess, so I must think of a way out.”
Polly felt quite terrified by what might happen to them all. She was powerless to do anything, save silently pray for a miracle.
After what seemed like a very long time, Polly heard footsteps, followed by the soft padding of many feet. It was Soogara and the dogs coming down to the dungeon to check on them.
“Well, Polly, how does it feel to be a prisoner? Not very nice, is it?” she crowed. “I see your friend here is in very bad shape; in fact, I am of the opinion that he will not make it,” she said, walking over to where Dodo was slumped with his hands tied behind his back.
She pressed her foot against his chest, and then with the point of her foot, she rolled him over so his face was in the dust.
“Yes, dear Polly, I think I am correct in saying that Dodo here,” she said, tapping his back with her foot, “will never fill his face again; no never again!” Soogara then broke out into hysterical laughter that echoed through the chamber.
“Soogara, please let us go,” Polly pleaded. “We have done nothing to upset you.”
“You don’t need to have done anything wrong, my precious one, but had you agreed to stay with me when I begged you, well then, I would never have been forced into this position. Sadly, you left me with no choice, and I have to admit that I do get such a kick out of seeing others suffer. It does much to make me feel good and oh so powerful.” She wickedly smirked. “Besides, Vanaspi was counting on me to trap and enslave you, so he will be most happy to hear the good news of your capture.”
Polly shuddered and let out a small whimper as she suddenly had a flashback to the terrible night she had been taken hostage. “Vanaspi! Oh my goodness! Hadn’t that terrifying beast been the commander of the plane in which she had almost been taken hostage? He had mentioned the name Soogara, hadn’t he?” Now everything fell into place and became perfectly clear. Soogara was definitely the name he had mentioned, and for Polly to be taken captive was part of the sickening plot that had been hatched that terrible night. How could Polly have forgotten that? She could have kicked herself for being such an idiot, and she would have done so if she had not been well-and-truly tied up.
Soogara continued to ramble on.
“Polly dear, I will tell you a little secret of mine: not only does Piadora exist, my child, but Vanaspi as well as my good self have been banished from that kingdom. Yes, banished forever. We can never set foot inside it ever again,” she informed Polly, pretending as she did to weep piteously. “So you see, my dear, if I can’t go there, then neither, my dear, can you,” she snarled. “Yes, all’s fair in love and war. So enjoy your very long, or maybe rather short, stay with us,” she cackled with a wicked gleam in her eye as she observed the rats congregating in a corner, ready to attack their prey. “Come, my pets, it’s time to leave Polly to slowly rot and die, provided the rats don’t eat her first. However, we must hurry and leave instantly, for we have other children we need to seduce with candy and then enslave, and time is of the essence,” she said chillingly as she moved toward the door, anxious to leave. “For it wouldn’t do to keep our good friend Count Vanaspi waiting, would it?” she said smoothly as she bent over Polly’s body, placing the long, sharp fingernail of her index finger under Polly’s chin to tilt it upwards.
“Say ta-ta to everyone you know, and say good-bye to ever reaching Piadora, my precious little one,” she hissed, pulling down hard on Polly’s braid and breaking into convulsive fits of laughter that reached the most piercing decibels. “Beautiful, indeed! Well, I believe that would take a miracle of epic proportions,” she sneered. She then stood up and beckoned the hounds to her side. “Come, my little pups, it’s time to leave and go on another mission.”
Both dogs instantly obeyed, coming straight to her side. Their long tongues hung out as they growled fiercely. She then patted their wet noses while her other hand searched deep into her gown pocket for the extraordinarily large gold key to lock the door behind her.
“Now boys, quickly say good-bye to Polly, for the rats are getting very hungry for their lunchtime snack,” she cackled, simultaneously patting both hounds on their heads. “Good-bye, Polly. Oh, and before I leave, this is to encourage them to waste no time and dig in,” she sneered menacingly as she produced a large handful of bread crumbs from the deep pocket of her gown and scattered them over Polly’s limp body.
Soogara then turned on her heels and left the room, locking the creaky door behind her as she continued up the winding stone steps, her raucous laughter bouncing off the walls as she headed away from the dungeon. Polly listened intently until she could no longer hear their footsteps. She then turned her attention to the rats that were scurrying across the floor in her direction.
“Get off me!” she squealed loudly. “You’re not having me for breakfast, lunch, or tea,” she sobbed as she furiously fought to rid her body of the many rats that were now running up and down all over her.
She then looked over to where Langdon lay tied up and attached to a ball and chain. Polly immediately began to scream, for his helpless little body was entirely covered by hundreds of the evil little rodents, who were furiously biting into him and devouring large chunks of his fur. Dodo was also covered from head to toe with the hungry vermin gnawing at his clothing.
“Someone help us please!” she cried piteously as the rats continued to invade her little body, sniffing her and tickling her with their whiskers. Within moments they were tugging at her dress. Polly screamed louder than ever, but her empty cries produced nothing but echoes in the cold, damp dungeon. It was useless. She knew for certain that nobody would be able to hear her cries, so there would be no possibility of Dodo, Langdon, or herself being rescued.
Polly closed her eyes and whispered, “Good-bye, Dodo. I am so sorry to have done this to you.” She then looked over to where Langdon lay on the floor, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she cried, “Good-bye, Langdon. I love you, and I always will.” She then closed her eyes and prepared to die.
Suddenly she saw a flash and opened her eyes. The rats leapt from her body and scurried back into the darkness, for they had been frightened witless by the brightness of the mysterious light. Likewise, the rats that had been covering Langdon and Dodo followed close on their heel
s as they too raced back to the safety of their holes.
Polly looked down to where the bright light seemed to be coming from, and to her amazement there in the now-ripped-away pocket of her dress sat a huge, stunningly bright diamond with the word endurance engraved on its brilliant surface. Dodo’s penknife that he had asked her to hold for safekeeping lay beside the diamond. Polly felt elated, for she had quite forgotten that her pocket held these items.
Polly could only gasp as she realized that the pebble she had placed in the pocket before her dinner with Captain Humdinger had now miraculously transformed into this magnificent diamond that was lighting up the room like a candle, aided only by the shaft of sunlight that was streaming through the poky window above her. “No wonder the rats left in such a hurry,” thought Polly. “This diamond is truly awesome in its brilliance.
She looked over in Langdon’s direction. He was lying on his side, still tied around the neck by the ball and chain. Half his trunk was missing, as well as large bits of his rear end. Polly felt thoroughly sickened as she observed poor Langdon’s savagely-torn body. She wondered if he would ever forgive her for getting them into this terrible mess.
“Oh Langdon, I am so sorry,” she wept forlornly. “You deserved none of this, and I don’t know how I can forgive myself; really I don’t.”
Polly also observed that Dodo was still lying on the floor and not moving, and she felt in the deepest despair at her powerlessness to do anything. As she was pondering on the hopelessness of their situation a small white bird came to hover on the sill of the window, attracted, presumably, by the glistening stone. It stood hovering on the sill, flapping its wings and poking its long beak between the bars. Polly stared up at the bird and, as their eyes met, she suddenly felt she had a brainstorm. Her eyes began to scour the room in search of her schoolbag. She breathed a sigh of relief. She could see it lying over next to Langdon. Now, if only she could free herself from the ropes that bound her and then somehow lure the bird into the dungeon, she could write an SOS and tie it around the bird’s neck.
Polly looked at the penknife that was lying exposed next to the large diamond on her lap, and she thought that if she could somehow pry it open, then it could be used to cut through the ropes that were binding her wrists together. But how could she do this with her hands so tightly bound?
Polly struggled to pick up the penknife with her fingers. It turned out to be much more difficult than she first thought. Eventually, after failing numerous times, she finally had the penknife firmly between her thumb and index finger, and then she slowly brought the knife up to her mouth. Then, exposing her teeth, she placed the penknife sideways into her mouth, and once she had a firm grip on the blade, she pried it out of the protective casing.
After many attempts and an equal amount of frustration, the blade was finally released from its protective casing. She then let go, allowing the penknife to fall into her lap. She breathed a deep sigh of relief that the instrument had landed safely in her lap and had not fallen to the floor. Picking it up between her fingers again, she then set about the task of slowly cutting through the ropes that bound both her wrists together.
She had, on more than one occasion, given up trying, giving in to feelings of great despair. Then she would see Dodo’s limp body and Langdon lying so brutally battered and blue that she would find herself trying with renewed vigor to cut through the rope like a saw through a piece of timber. Finally the cords that bound both her wrists together fell to the ground. She was then easily able to free herself of the ropes that bound her chest. As these ropes fell to the floor, Polly took a deep breath. She was free at last, and it felt good.
Polly rubbed her sore wrists before creeping over to where Dodo still lay lifeless on the cold stone floor. Much to her relief she could see he was still breathing, albeit very shallow. She knelt down and cut through the ropes that bound him before moving on to attend to Langdon. Try as she may, Polly was unable to cut through the heavy iron chains and remove the large ball. No, she could do nothing except hold his bruised and battered body in her arms and weep.
Eventually, she tenderly placed him back on the stone floor and went over to where her schoolbag still lay on the ground. She rummaged through it until she came across her gold diary and pen. Tearing out a blank sheet from the back pages of her diary, she set about drawing a picture of a castle, not forgetting to add a dungeon.
Finally, with her red lipstick given to her by Annabel, she made a large arrow sign pointing toward the bottom of the page. Using large capital letters she wrote “WE ARE HERE!” at the place she believed the dungeon was located.
She then pulled the red ribbon from her hair, and, after making a small hole, threaded the ribbon through it.
“Now all I need is the bird,” she muttered to herself as she set about picking up all the bread crumbs that where scattered all over the floor. It was only a matter of minutes before she had collected herself a whole handful.
“This had better work,” she mumbled, “or we’re well-and-truly doomed.”
She then held up her opened hand towards the window and beckoned to the little bird to come and eat. At first the bird resisted, choosing to remain hovering on the ledge, flapping its wings excitedly as it kept its firm gaze on her pleading eyes. Polly felt very frustrated and had no idea what to do next.
Suddenly she came up with a pretty crazy idea to start singing in the hope of coaxing the bird to fly down. It worked! Moments later she saw the bird wriggle through the bars, and then it swooped down, coming to land in the palm of her outstretched hand. Polly stroked its neck with her finger as it pecked at the breadcrumbs. The bird liked the attention and happily nuzzled up to Polly. It then allowed Polly to tie the note around its neck, and then once all the breadcrumbs were gone, she raised her outstretched hand towards the shaft of light and begged her little messenger to fly away. The bird at first resisted, probably because he wanted to be stroked some more, but gradually it got the message that she wanted him to fly out of the window. It fluttered its wings and flew towards the narrow bars and then finally out of the small window. Polly could only wait and pray for deliverance!
She sat and waited, then waited some more. But after many hours with no help arriving, she began to battle with intense feelings of despair. She tried really hard to remain positive, but deep inside she was beginning to give up on ever being rescued.
“If we don’t get help soon, then there will be nothing left of us to find! Well, except half-eaten corpses or a large pile of bones,” she sighed.
Suddenly she remembered her book on survival, given to her by dear old Corporal Beanpod. She went back to her schoolbag for another rummage.
“There, I’ve found it,” she said, feeling rather pleased.
Polly then randomly opened it and her eyes fell on a fresh chapter entitled “Facing Danger.” As this fit in rather well with her present predicament, she decided to read on.
It is no use giving up. Only positive action can save you. People can survive seemingly impossible situations if they have the determination.
“Oh, that’s just great,” thought Polly rather glumly. “I think I have the will and determination, but somehow I don’t think that this will be enough,” she inwardly groaned as she continued to flick through the pages and read on.
The situation will no doubt put you under immense physical and mental pressure. [“Quite right!” thought Polly] You will have to overcome fear and anxiety, thirst, hunger and fatigue, as well as sleep deprivation, boredom, loneliness, and isolation.
“So what’s new?” Polly remarked with tongue in cheek as she thought back to her days at the orphanage.
As her eyes scanned down the long list of conditions to expect, Polly shook her head from side to side. “Yes, I think I can say without any fear of being contradicted that I, Polly Brown, am suffering from each and every one of these ailments,” she tearfully concluded as she browsed up and down the list, mentally ticking off each disorder.
W
iping away the fresh tears that were now forming, she continued to pay close attention to all the advice on hand, for she desperately needed all the encouragement she could get to help lift her out of the deep depression she was now feeling.
Confidence will help you to overcome these stresses, and physical fitness will also give you the resources to cope. Yes, the fitter you are the better you will survive, so start training now!
“Oh, yuk,” groaned Polly out loud. “I hate exercise at the best of times.”
It was at this point that she decided to move on to the food section. This lengthy section offered much useful advice concerning which animals were best to eat and which berries would provide sustenance in times of trouble. The book suggested various animals ranging from hares and rabbits to guinea pigs, lizards, snakes, boars, and numerous rodents, including rats. Polly shuddered as she read the list of suggestions.
“I’ve already been there with the hare,” she loudly exclaimed, at the same time thinking back to that terrible day at the orphanage. “And there is absolutely no way that I’m ever going to eat a rat! I would much rather die, thank you very much,” she snorted, feeling most disgruntled at her very limited options.
Her mood only worsened when she later read down the same page that rats carry diseases. She continued to read out loud:
So, when gutting, you must take the greatest of care not to rupture the innards. Cook thoroughly.
Polly shook her head and sputtered before deciding she was in well over her head.
“Oh, that’s really great,” she wailed. “One minute the rats are eating me, and now I’m expected to return the favor and eat them,” she sadly groaned.
She despondently continued to flip through the pages, hoping to find further advice on food that would be more appealing and therefore more palatable. She despaired when she discovered that none of the other suggestions were the least bit helpful either. No, there was no hope of her catching a camel or a crocodile or a raccoon for that matter, at least not while she was held captive in this dingy dungeon! So at the end of the day, it was either eat rats or starve! She therefore made the wise decision to hastily move on to the section that dealt with thirst.
Polly Brown Page 51