The Journey to Northumberland and the Rise of the Undertoads

by Kenneth Mullinix

  ~Chapter 4~

  Digger the Blue Moon Hare

  Louis slowly stirred; he finally had awakened from his most unnatural sleep. The supernatural mushrooms he ingested early had taken their toll on his mind and spirit. His head spun and pounded as he reached a sitting position. His head felt like a blacksmith had been hammering on it for days on end, his mouth and throat were dry, his nerves were frazzled. He tried to swallow but he could not. Thirst entered his clouded and confused mind. Upon rubbing his eyes open, the ocular nerves found at the back of his eyes were at first blinded by the weird and wonderful fluorescent blue lights of the underworld.

  Looking about his odd surroundings he could not fathom what he was seeing. There was no sun, no moon, no stars, no clouds, no winds, and no expected heavens. There was only earth and what appeared to be thick lingering blue fogs hovering high overhead. All was light blue in color.

  All was silent.

  At first not a creature could be found, not a burrowing earth-dweller below or a flying creature above. The Leprechaun and the Hobgoblin and the Bully could not be seen, they had vanished with the closing of the earth above them. Louis looked up but could not see the earth on top of him or the slippery, dank, and wet wormhole that he had just fallen through. Louis now deliberately stood upon shaky legs. As he looked about...the farthest the fogs would allow...he could tell he still stood in the necrotic zone of his fairy circle. He was still cloaked in his wizard robe, his wizard hat was found close by lying on the ground, and the quagga-tail switch was still clasped in his left hand. He reached into his pocket to find his pocket-watch, the clock read twelve straight up, the second hand did not move. He shook the watch to see if the hands were stuck, then listened to the inner-working of the mechanism. The pocket-watch was ticking but the hands did not move.

  He was stuck in time.

  Neither forwards, sideways or backwards did the hands of the watch move. Louis could not think through his situation yet, his mind was still foggy from the gestation of the magic mushrooms, and the over-whelming visual stimulus that his eyes were recording. The stillness of this world was all encompassing and over-whelming in its motionlessness and peacefulness. Louis had never encountered a place like this in his books, his travels or in his thoughts. He was just too young and in-experienced in this life.

  "The heavy blue fogs surrounding you will lift soon, and so will your spirits with their passings" said a smallish voice that entered Louis's ears from a near distance. Louis quickly turned to his left and then to his right, he could not decide from which direction the voice was coming from.

  "As the blue moon rises as it always has at midnight each day, the fogs will lift and dissipate" said the friendly and yet oddly familiar voice. Louis heard the words more clearly this time then responded in kind.

  "Are you a person of humankind or form, a unclean creature of this strange world or an unnatural going-against-nature beast that is going to eat me? I am a little small for my age and have had many nightmares about being eaten, as most kids of my age have had" related Louis as his senses became more keen and his mind evermore clearer. He tried to swallow again but his mouth and throat were still too dry to quench his growing thirst. His palms grew sweaty as his eyes narrowed to find the face behind the voice of the stranger.

  "No I cannot eat you because I am smaller than you are, and I only eat vegetables."

  Louis thought that to be a strange thing to say but did not further the conversation as he strained to see the intruder. The heavy blue fogs began to lift above and about him. As the fogs disappeared before him into emptiness the true world around him was revealed to his inquiring eyes, and now little by little more stimulated mind.

  The fairy circle was still intact except for the mushrooms that the children had eaten earlier. The sky now appeared to him, it was a lighter blue than the fogs. And a full blue super-moon hung at its apex in the sky. There was neither a cloud nor natural sunlight. It appeared that only the blue moon lit the skies and the heavens above, and that this was this world's only light.

  Now scanning the area more clearly all became more truly clear to him. A light blue clear water stream trickled over small river rock to his left. The sounds were peaceable and comforting to his soul. His thirst drove him towards the inviting waters. As the fogs continued to dissipate more was revealed to his wondering eyes. Six foot tall daises of off colors oranges and yellows appeared; ten foot tall water-lilies lined the steam, with lily pads three foot across sparsely populating a medium-sized lake at one end of the slow moving stream. All were bathed in a sea of light blues.

  Colorful butterflies and mayfly's a foot across fluttered by. Louis beheld a considerable sized humming bird in flight nearby draining the sweet nectar an oft-white trumpet lily. The flower willingly allowed the thirsty visitor within her lovely petals. It was all so harmonious and calm. Louis became agreeable with this new world and it appeared to welcome him into its' loving arms. Mother-nature was putting on a show for Louis to tangle in and entangle him in its beauty; Louis welcomed it as well.

  Looking off to his left he saw an enormous green forest of what appeared to be a strange off-shoot of; weeping willow, pine and birch trees. Off to his right was a colossal, high mountain range bathed in sea of glimmering virgin snows. Looking aloft even higher a large gather of migrating birds glided effortlessly across the sky. The birds were odd shaped like nothing he had ever seen before. They held the deepest colored reds in their broad tail feathers and the most stunning yellows found interlaced on the crests of their bulbous heads. They sung a lively song in unison as they slowly passed out of sight and hearing.

  Louis's mind was so completely emerged in this new world's beauty that he had forgotten about the stranger who had engaged him in conversation only a few moments sooner. After quenching his thirst in the glistening stream Louis began the conversation anew.

  "I am glad you are smaller than me, so I am safe then?" asked a curious Louis.

  "I did not say that. You are as safe as your mind believes you to be" said the thin voice.

  Louis followed the voice trying to find the source. Looking upwards perched below an outsized yellow daisy on an oversized rock sat an undersized blue short-haired rabbit. He was not much bigger than a common house cat and his ears appeared to be overly large for his head, which looked abnormal to Louis.

  "My you have large ears," stated Louis as he stood motionless before the wry rabbit.

  The rabbit spoke again, as he flicked his two ears forwards and rearwards in a rapid motion.

  "Yes they are large; they are my best feature besides my clever thieving ways.

  Louis spoke again to the adorable creature "So it does appear that you cannot eat me then?"

  "No I cannot eat you nor do I want to. I am only twelve inches tall and I eat only vegetables, which I told you so before now."

  "You are a thief?"

  "Natural born thief, just ask Mr. Beamer."

  Louis studied the rabbit in detail as his mind searched for distant memories.

  "I recognize you now. You are Digger the Rabbit who lives in Mr. Beamer's vegetable patch.

  "I am...The One and Only!"

  "Yes you are a thief and I good one I might add. I have been trying to catch you for years."

  "I know I am way too fast, and too clever for you that are why you can never catch me. Now I recognize you as well. Hattie May is your mother and your father has gone off to war. You are an only child, and like to make fun of overweight kids, as well as your friends do. That is why you have been banished to the Kingdom of Gwynedd, here on the outskirts of Northumberland" stated the intellectual little rabbit.

  "I am where...in Northumberland...and I have been banished by whom?" asked the questioning boy.

  Louis looked about his surreal and odd surroundings once again. It finally hit him that he was not in his own world, that even though this orig
inal world was beautiful to the eyes and engulfed his right mind, everything about this new-fangled world was foreign to him. The outlandish colored plants, the larger than day's flowers, the trees all were overly-sized. The birds all were foreign to him, and he was not acquainted with many of the species that he saw. Then and most troublesome to him was the blue mysterious moon hanging overhead, it was foreboding in some strange way even though its beauty was truly captivating. There was no sunlight only the soft blue lights generated from the dwarf planet hanging eerily above them. The blue fogs of a few minutes ago, and of course there was the talking rabbit. It all closed in upon his mind as he tried to think through this most worrisome situation.

  Louis inhaled a large breath of thick fresh air; now fully extending his lungs. His pulse quickened, which sent a stream of much needed adrenalin into his heart and mind. Clarity entered his thoughts as he spoke out again.

  "Digger tell me again where I am, why I have been banished and most importantly of all where are my friends; Molly Jenkins, Tessie Whitman, Chug Martin and Short Stack. And what happened to Frank Fatbottom?"

  "So many questions, I can truly understand your concern, it is written across your worried brow. What is in this for me and why should I help you? I am just a lowly thief living in this world as you do now. I could try to explain your situation to you."

  "Please do little rabbit. You will be rewarded one day I assure you if you help me. Remember a good deed has its own rewards, and is natural in nature."

  "You are correct in your thinking. My reward will be my good deed today that is enough for me at this moment in time. Thank you for reminding me about doing a good deed each day. "A good deed a day keeps the doctor away", now let me explain a few things to you Louis. You were banished for your bad behavior as I have been for mine, because of my thievery of Mr. Beamer's vegetables. I can only travel back into our expected world during a full blue moon and for only very short periods of time, this is allowed so I can see my family that lives above us. That was the deal I struck with T?ngara Spadefoot, who rules the dark world of Northumberland, more about him later.

  The full blue moon which we observe now as we speak will only stay visible in the nighttime skies for a few more hours so I must be going now, or I will not be able to see my family. I only stopped to say hi and show you the way to your next destination, and your possible deliverance from this position in your life. I am here now to try to help you, because if I do I can help myself out of my problems as well, that as well will be my reward, you know the good deed and the doctor and all. You see I understand this world and you do not. I shall return to you later with more answers. My family comes first; I must leave now."

  Digger began to hop off towards a small burrow in the ground that was only a few yards away from them.

  "Can I come with you?" asked a now ever-more-so worried Louis.

  "No you are too large to enter my burrow and that is not your fate. You have been sent here by T?ngara Spadefoot to bid his tidings. He has a quest that he is going to send you on. There will be more on that later. I can answer all of your questions upon my return in a few hours. Your fate will not be determined by me in this new world. You must first find Atamo the Astral Fairy. He is the ruler of this land here called the Kingdom of Gwynedd. You must find Atamo first, he will show you the way towards Northumberland and help you with your deliverance from this Underland."

  Digger entered his burrow once again; his ears began to disappear from view, then his furry tail.

  "Wait Digger, wait!" shouted out Louis as he began to scurry towards the vanishing rabbit "where do I find this Atamo the Astral Fairy?"

  "Follow the stream northwards. His kingdom will appear to you in a few hours, he can help you find your friends" understood the little blue rabbit as the last of his tail was lost from view.

  The rabbit hole began to close behind him.

  "No Digger, come back, come back. I have so many questions to ask of you still."

  The rabbit hole disappeared completely from view as the ground closed behind the cynical blue haired rabbit. Louis frantically scratched at the soft ground where Digger just disappeared. It would not open to him. It was not his fate to be released from his newfound prison at this time. The way back home was lost from view. Centerville was further away from him now than it had ever been before, as were his loving family and good friends. What had become of them, where was Molly, Short Stack, Tessie Whitman and Chug Martin? Where they still alive? Does his mother even know he went missing yet? Are there foul and unsavory creatures in this beautiful new world that would like eat Louis?

  There were so many questions to ask; and so few answers to be found and his only apparent new friend in this world had just vanished.

  Louis sat slowly down on a nearby medium-sized rock lodged at the side of the streambed. His emotions began to overwhelm him. The horror of his situation completely engulfed him all at once; he began to sob uncontrollably. His shoulders heaved up and down as he lowered his head in shame. Tears of sorrow and fright flowed freely from his sad eyes. He was alone and lost and full of worry in the most wondrous place he had ever seen before. What would befall him? What did fate really have in store for him, in the next few hours or even days, months or years? Was he doomed to live here alone for the rest of his natural born life, or had the clever rabbit given him a glimmer of hope? Who is this T?ngara Spadefoot? Who is Atamo the Astral fairy?