The Journey to Northumberland and the Rise of the Undertoads

by Kenneth Mullinix

  *

  After traveling leisurely for the better part of six hours inside the Kingdom of Gwynedd and away from the wellbeing of the Deganwy castle all safely reached the outskirts of their empire. Broomstick the Unicorn, Dulinnor the Hummingbird with Atamo the Astral Fairy, Glorandal the Porter and the wee folk of the Tlannatar clan, little Tolthe reached a comfortable resting spot by the side of the dirt road, under the canopy of a large twisted tree, right in front of the entrance of Bramble forest in Northumberland.

  Gathering himself the best he could Louis turned to his friends to bid them all goodbye, for the journey for each had ended.

  "I know you all have families and friends that you must now return to. Your friendship and direction on this short but memorial journey will never be forgotten. This is my quest now, this is now my responsibility. I got myself into this clutter, and I will get myself out again if your words to me along our journey ring true" said the pocket-sized little wizard.

  "Stick to the road, it is still the safest place to be for the time being, and travel mostly during the daylight hours of the blue moon, because most of the unworldly creature that live in this god forgotten forest tend to lurk about in the night" said Glorandal as he gave Louis a heartfelt hug.

  "I will be back for another bath in a few days if all goes well. You can see by looking at this place, I will surely need one. Hopefully you will be my porter again" alleged Louis as he in turn gave a warm hug to his new friend.

  "If the others don't mind I will speak for us all; Glorandal, Tolthe, Dulinnor and Atamo wish you all the best my brave friend. Don't let anyone bully you, stand your ground and be brave in the face of danger. That is the only way you will succeed in your future endeavors" stated the intellectual little unicorn Broomstick as he gave Louis a loving nudge with his long nose.

  "I am beginning to understand this more clearly the older I get. There will always be someone bigger and tougher, meaner or nasty who wants to thwart you along your pathway through life. I cannot let them divert me to a wayward direction along my journeys, and the outcome I need to happen to be happy.

  Even though I am small in stature, I as well have participated in some of this activity even if I knew it directly or not at the time. I will correct my behavior on this, and do the best I can to correct this in myself and others when I see this happening again. But now it is my duty to navigate into this twisted forest which stands before me and meet my own destiny, be it good or bad. Again thank you all for your help, and I will see you all in a few days or weeks if the stars will align for me in this strange world" stated a forlorn and worried Louis as he turned to face his future.

  Turning backwards towards his friends Louis waved a glum goodbye as they all turned away from Louis, now heading directly back down the road to their own homes in Deganwy castle.

  High overhead a large archway stretched across the road, made of an olden and very ancient wood, in broad raised letters it read:

  BRAMBLE FOREST

  ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

  HOME OF:

  FFJ

  WITCHES, HOBGOBLINS, TROLLS AND OTHER UNPLEASANT CREATURES

  "This does not look good at all" whispered an ever more alarmed Louis as he passed underneath the large archway looming overhead.

  The well-worn winding earthen road led indirectly towards the snowy mountains found off in the far distance. Wrapping his wizard robe a little tighter around his mid-section, and over his exposed face, Louis hunkered down for what may come. His heartbeat quickened with each footstep he took. The more he thought through his predicament, and the weight of his position in life, this seemed to slow his decent into the dark, twisted forest. Each footfall took Louis further away from his friends and more into the uncertainty of this very troubling forest.

  No song birds were heard singing in the trees about him; only a few large odd looking mayflies flew past him, going about in no particular direction. They were black in color and appeared sickly. No friendly small rodents scrambled about the forest floor underfoot. The woodland air was thick and distasteful as it passed in and out of Louis's nostrils. There was no movement of any kind really, except for the sounds of shallow breath and heavy heartbeats coming from the troubled fairy tender.

  "Why is it always me...why is it always me...?" asked Louis to himself over and over again as his voice trailed off with each step forward.

  After traveling for the better part of three hours into the ungodly forest Louis became weary, he needed to rest and eat something. A small shallow stream followed the road that Louis had been traveling on. It looked neither inviting nor clean; nothing honest or good lived in its waters. Louis could not drink the water or he would become sick, he knew this. A few large tadpoles swam to and fro.

  Upon reaching into a medium-sized satchel given to him by Glorandal earlier in the day, Louis took a few gulps of clean water, relishing in its taste. He found a relatively flat area by the steam to sit upon then ate a quick lunch of fruit and elf-bread giving to him by Broomstick.

  Since no harm had come to him so far, and no unclean animals or foul beasts had approached him yet, he felt safe enough to get some rest. He began to read his books in the dim blue moonlight found inside the dark, dank forest.

  After about an hour his eyes became weary, and his eyelids heavy, a well-deserved sleep soon overtook him. His eyelids slowly closed as lucid dreams overtook his mind. Dreams of his family, his friends his school, all of these thoughts engulfed him as he lie alone in the last place he thought he would ever find himself.

  Sleeping for the better part of three hours Louis awoke to almost complete and total darkness. He had slept well into the night. He was now fully exposed and helpless in Bramble forest. He had to find shelter before the evil creatures of the night fully awake then begin their nightly prowling. Thinking of Digger the March Hare, he began to hollow out a burrow in some soft dirt at the side of a large rock found embedded in a nearby hillside. Making it large enough to crawl into and further enough into the hillside to thwart a long probing arm and fingers, Louis huddled up in the far back side to sleep for the night.

  A chill hung in the air as thick blue fogs settled upon the forest and all that reside there. Wild animal cries and screeches which Louis had never heard before entered his ears, they echoed throughout the forest.

  Death and murder was in the air.

  Louis did cower inside of his home for the night. He dared not to light a fire it might bring unwarranted attention from the forest inhabitants. The adder-stone's light, he dare not use that magic yet again.

  Louis slowly closed his eyes again, trying the best he could to sleep for the night, knowing that tomorrow the liar of T?ngarar Spadefoot was in reach. Spadefoot's mind reached out to Louis as he slept, pulling at his sub-conscience thoughts. His dreams this night were troublesome and lawless. He knew what he had to do in the near future, and this troubled him so.

  A restless night's sleep and restless dreams followed him into the early morning hours. Crawling out of his den at the new dawns light Louis stretched his arms and legs. A few bites of bread and another drink of water and Louis were ready to begin anew. There would be no warm bath, or hot breakfast on this morning. This would be the first of many on this journey. His robe was wrinkled and dirty. He gathered his belongings, and he was away again, off down the road towards the heart of Bramble Forest and T?ngarar Spadefoot's home.

  The odd blue moon could barely be seen through the large canopy of heavy branches hanging overhead. A cool gentle wind now began to blow in off the Northumbria mountaintops, this lightened Louis's mood and cleaned away the heavy air as Louis continued on forwards towards the very center of the forest.

  The small forest steam Louis was mirroring by the side of the road now widened before him. Many small tributaries added to the flow and speed of the now deeper and more turbulent waters. Still nary a bird or ground creature was seen by Louis the entir
e time he walked onward. No forest sounds were heard. It was as if the thick forest had died many years ago, and the trees were just deathly sentinels, standing hollow and lifeless around him.

  Louis tried to play his flute to lighten his mood, but it did not help, he just had too much on his mind; Molly, Chug, Short Stack and Tessie Whitman were still missing.

  Coming around a large bend in the road, the stream ended, falling away into a calm lake and a large clearing covered in short grass. The sky opened up to Louis and the warmth of the blue moon radiated down on him. He entered the vast clearing only to see a large sinkhole in the very middle. Many large odd-looking footsteps were scattered about the mud. They had the same depth and size as the footsteps Louis had seen around his fairy circle a few days earlier.

  This alarmed Louis once again.

  Looking downwards into the broad and deep mud-hole, a wide wormhole was seen in the very center. Hot steamy water percolated out of the center, it rose upwards like a boiling pot of water sitting over a stewing fire. The blue moons, blue light did not penetrate the center.

  Standing back now at a safer distance, Louis was perplexed at what he was seeing. "This appears to be the center of the forest", he spoke aloud to himself "this can't be..." The thought crossed his mind, he had found T?ngarar Spadefoot lair. What a dirty caldron of slimy ooze and filth. What foul and monstrous creature could call this place home", believed Louis as he recoiled in fear at the thought.

  "I see you have found Spadefoot's home. I will let him know you have arrived" said Digger as he popped out of a nearby rabbit hole.

  "Digger it's you!" shouted out a relieved Louis "a friend in need is a friend in deed. I have been so alone for so long in this dark forest. I was worried, if I was lost, on the right path or worse, was I going to be someone's meal shortly.

  "I am only here to announce your arrival, because only I can travel into the underworld since I am a creature of the underworld myself. Please ask no more of me now. He will arrive shortly." With this said Digger dove into the center of the wormhole, quickly disappearing from view.

  "Digger wait...Digger...Digger!"

  Backpedaling away from the edge Louis's mind began to race. Should he run away as quickly as possible? What have I gotten myself into?

  Belching bubbles of hot steam shot out, out of the very center of the wormhole. Digger's message must have been delivered. Mud exploded outwards in all directions like a geyser, sending plumes of hot air and slimy mud high into the air over Louis's head. Ducking and darting about the clearing Louis evaded the flying projectiles.

  Louis grew deathly silent as one thick, slippery, oily finger appeared over the top edge of the mud-hole. Then another, followed by yet another finger, now came into sight, they were dappled brown and green in color, webbed, massive and partially covered in black greasy mud. His hand was over two foot across and embedded in the skin were moles, boils, warts and vile growths. The primordial beast began to emerge from its polluted cesspool. The front two arms were stout, well-rounded and sturdy, massive in girth. His eyes were a dull yellow and they protruded broadly from both sides of his bulbous head.

  He was bug-eyed.

  His gaze was menacing and piercing in intensity. The eyes had not spotted the little fairy circle tender yet. Louis was in hiding behind some grass, too afraid to confront his majesty, T?ngarar Spadefoot the King of the Undertoads and the ruler of all of Northumberland just yet.

  A toxic and putrid smell emanated from his skin, the awful smell assaulted Louis senses. Holding his nose Louis tried to fight back the odor of him, but it was too overpowering and uncontrollable, making Louis cough up spittle from his throat.

  At his widest point at the mid-section Spadefoot had to have been over twenty foot across. The rolls of slick fat hung off of his body in an unorganized manner. Hanging at will, the skin was as disorganized as his clouded and diluted mind. Moles, warts, lumps, and growths covered his body from head to toe. He had to have been over ten feet tall, and weighing in at close to three thousand five hundred pounds.

  Peering through the tall grass, the hideousness of him came into full view. Louis could not contain his emotions any longer, he blurted out a loud cry of pain, sending T?ngarar Spadefoot in search of the little wanna-be-wizard. Quickly, two nimble giant hops forwards and one sideways found The Toad King directly in Louis's gaze. Lifting his eyes again, brought pain deep into Louis's mind.

  The dreadfulness of it all...the horror...thought Louis as he tried to count the many rolls of fat hanging from Spadefoot's chin, he lost count at six. The King shook his rotund body back and forth, grabbing at his sides; he chuckled to his own amusement, and then sent a first salvo at Louis.

  "Not all can gaze upon my loveliness and beauty; I am so overwhelming within this beauty that all have to look away. I have seen your look before; it is one of disbelief and awe. Most, usually admit to my beauty right before I eat them, but by then it is too late. Are you enjoying my beauty now as I speak?"

  Trying to regain his senses and clear his mind to speak, Louis could not. His mind could not fathom what he was seeing or hearing. The Toad King was as clever and witty as he was unsightly. If Louis admitted his beauty then he would be eaten, if he did not he would be eaten. Clearing his throat and hiding his eyes once again, Louis mustered the blind courage to state his beliefs and intentions.

  "Your beauty is inherent and natural. If it is beautiful to you then why do you care what I think? Beauty is skin deep, and you have lovely skin" said the unselfish and untruthful little Louis as his pulse quickened under the strain of the beast with his vile appearance and gross odor assaulting his living soul.

  "You double-speak and twist my words back upon me. You are a born politician. Maybe I do not need you to do my biddings after all Fairy Circle Tender. The question I asked you...as you have figured out...it did not have a correct answer, and you knew that, that is why you are still alive. It was a rhetorical and a symbolic question."

  "Beauty to me lies in the heart of the ones who speaks the real truth, not in the beauty of their outer-skin. So you are indeed beauteous to behold because; I still speak, breath, see, and hear so your benevolence is tenfold more so than before. I thank you for that almighty Toad King. I am Louis the Fairy Circle Tender and Great Wizard, and I have answered your questions correctly. I now have answered your calling for me to arrive at your lair and provide you with my services. Digger the Rabbit, Atamo the Astral Fairy and Glorandal the Porter, amongst others have brought me to you this day."

  "They have served me well, just as you will now, that is if you want to re-gain your freedom from Northumberland and go back into your own world, into the world of above. Only I can show you the way to your salvation, but this will come at a cost. Are you willing to pay the toll to the Gate Keeper?" asked the Toad King in a sly voice meant to send chills down Louis's spine.

  As Louis began to muster the nerve to answer his calling is when he spotted another large black mayfly circling overhead, Spadefoot noticed this as well. Spadefoot opened his mouth, unleashing his long, black forked tongue. It uncoiled out of his deep throat then shot across his thick, slimy black lips with the speed of a raptor in a death spiral. The tongue speared...without mercy...the very heart of the mayfly, killing it instantly. Six feet of flying death recoiled with his pray held tightly in place. The mayfly disappeared over Spadefoot's welcoming lips then effortlessly slid down into his throat, followed by a loud, proud, repulsive burp.

  "That could have easily have been you Louis the Coward. I see you shaking. Your knees are knocking and I smell the fear in your sweat."

  Trying to swallow; Louis could not.

  Trying to stop his knees from knocking; Louis could not.

  Trying to find his bravery; Louis could not.

  Fear gripped him while he felt the death of the mayfly and the death of his courage all at once.

  "You can smell
the fear upon me but that fear you are smelling is only the fear of me not being able to serve your every need, and of my fear inside of that failure. You have summoned me here for what reason?" asked Louis as salty sweat poured down both sides of his face.

  Mr. Spadefoot licked his slippery lips one more time then opened his mouth widely, he spit up the skinned carcass of the mayfly. Louis quickly stepped to the side, it narrowly missed him. The bones broke into pieces as they hit the ground at his feet.

  Louis shook his head in disgust.

  Spadefoot shook his body in delight.

  "Now where were we? Ah yes, why I have summoned you to Northumberland and into Bramble Forest. First off, I have all of your friends in bondage. They are safe for the time being. They are being watched by some...of...of...my more unsavory friends shall we say. You cannot free them because you do not have the courage to, the willpower, nor the knowledge. And I will not allow it. Do only as I say. DO NOT TRY TO FREE THEM OR ELSE! So they will be in this bondage until you do all that I ask of you. And if you do this then I will free them and you, and you will be able to return to your home in Centerville."

  Louis's face lightened and a thin smile returned to his face as he heard the first good words of his journey into Bramble Forest, "Centerville! My friends are safe? Where are they? What have you done with them?"

  "Calm down little wizard. They are safe that is all I can tell you."

  "Well for me to free them and for us to return home safely what do you want me to do for you that you cannot do for yourself?"

  "I can do anything!" shouted out Spadefoot in defiance "I am the ruler of this land, so do not provoke me or I will call off the task at hand, you will be dead, and I will take care of my troubles by myself, do not test me".

  Spadefoot regurgitated another part of his past meal at Louis's feet.

  Stumbling backwards, Louis by the slimmest of luck dodged the disemboweled entrails that shot towards him. As Louis regained his footing he spoke out again.

  "What do you need from me? I will do as you ask if you free me and my friends when all is said and done, agreed?"

  "Agreed upon then, you are to travel into the dark city of Elphame. It is a dead city now except for one resident who lives there, that is a thorn in my side. Noctuid The Black Witch has cast a delightful spell over this wasteland, so all that ever lived there are either dead now or have moved away. There is nothing left there for any of the past city-dwellers. Some have moved to the Kingdom of Gwynedd and into Deganwy castle, others that were brave enough slipped past Hydrarchos the Water Serpent while he was sleeping and now live over the Northumbria mountains inside the bastions of the west and into Cumbria. My powers and influence does not reach there yet, but soon they will, and soon this empire will fall just as the Kingdom of Gwynedd will soon fall into the hands of my toad armies, if I desire it."

  "How and why am I going to remove this thorn in your side? To slay is a deathly sin, I would never be the same again, to put to death someone would be doing the same to myself." said Louis as he shuddered in disgust at the thought of it.

  "You will kill or you will be dead where you stand, as well as your friends will be if you do not do as I ask, do I make myself clear? Plus you are now an Ogbanje...a changeling...you will soon learn the behavior of Spadefoot in more ways than you would like. I am sure of that...you will soon turn...so will your willpower, it will slip so it will actually be me driving your hand in this manner; you will not have a choice. You will take life for me!"

  Feeling a sharp pain in his foot Louis reached down to kick off his left shoe. Raising his robe up Louis reached at his sock, quickly ripping it off his foot. The bite mark was gone healed but still glowing red, and now in its place was a medium-sized very odd looking wart, with a small cluster of others warts in a long row connecting to where the bite mark use to be.

  "You see Ogbanje, I do not lie" said T?ngarar as a sneer crossed his face.

  "You lie! I have a few warts nothing more. A mild infection, this land is infected and this is just a byproduct of this impure world. It will go away..."said the alarmed Louis "all your words are as twisted as this place is foul."

  "Did your mother never tell you to not touch frogs or tadpoles, that you could grow warts? We will see won't we...? Now as for my offer of your death on the spot...?"

  Hesitating for a moment to think, Louis began to see the warped logic in Spadefoot's words. He could not overthrow Spadefoot where he stood, he was just too large, Louis did not have the courage to, and he still did not know where his friends were, and the bite being gone...his logic went missing on this. He would have to agree to the terms.

  "How am I to kill this person and where does he live?" asked Louis.

  "I did not say it was a person you are to kill."

  "What is it then...if not a person...?"

  "You are to kill a land draug...she is The White Queen; an Ice Queen. Her name is Elphen...she is the Ignoble...she is an after-walker. She resides in Hagby the Black Tower, in the heart of the city of Elphame."

  "What is a land draug?" asked the small fairy circle tender.

  "In the high-ancient times the Queen of Elphame, Queen Elphen rode glorious white horses around the kingdom of Northumberland, she and her other companions, the other royals had human shapes, "yet they were known to be as shadows", and that they would play, and dance whenever and where ever they pleased. They were always found to be clothed in all white linen. They held many dark powers but were mostly good. They ruled the land for eons. As the years passed I defeated all of their kind during many long battles. But I could not totally defeat their ruler, The Queen of Elphame because she is a Brawlie, she is different and her powers were much stronger.

  She is a Shape-Shifter.

  She is the Queen of the Dead" brashly stated the toad king.

  "How am I to destroy this shape-shifter, this dark queen and why?" asked an impressed Louis.

  "Yours is not to question why. All I can tell you is she questions my rule, and that is not allowed. I am to be the complete ruler of this land, although her powers have been diminished she still is a threat to me and must be destroyed. Only then will the evil spells that she cast over this land be shattered and life will return to the lands, the blue moon will set and life-giving sunlight will once again warm Northumberland, all will return to the way it was. Trust me on this, and I will be the out-and-out ruler of these lands once again.

  But I only choose to rule Northumberland. I will leave the Kingdom of Gwynedd, their people and the Deganwy Castle to rule for themselves. But only if the White Queen can be resurrected, her soul purified, and she bows down before me again, then she can be allowed to sit upon her regal throne once again inside of the castle. Me and my toad army will stay only in Northumberland and not leave the boarders. Also I will release all of the lost children that she rules, or are held hostage in the Morpeth caves or in Northumberland, and that is all I will barter with, nothing more."

  Knowing this to be mostly false after talking with Atamo the Astral Fairy and his other friends, Louis knew the blue moon darkness and evil would engulf the land even more, should the White Queen die. Louis was caught in the middle of a long battle that would soon be ending. He was the cog in the mechanisms of this world, how could this be?

  "You will bring me the White Queen's crown, and if you like her black heart that way I know she is truly dead, and her powers are no more. Go at once to Hagby the Black Tower. Follow the same road that took you into my lair" said his majesty the Toad King as he pointed towards the road heading northwards.

  "But how am I to defeat one as very powerful as her? Have you no words of wisdom for me, or does she have any weaknesses that I can expose during battle?"

  "Her weakness is your strength, because I hold the key to your courage, and because I hold your friends as ransom with the fear of death hanging upon their heads. That w
ill give you the courage and willpower you will need to destroy the land draug. Your love for your friends to survive this is to be used by you, as your badge of valor and gallantry. Also, I will allow you to see your mom again, Hattie May and Mr. Beamer and Mrs. Beamer. I will send you home back to your beloved to home."

  T?ngarar Spadefoot grinned from ear to ear as he rubbed his slimy hands together. The cleverness of it all; the world he lived in was a large oyster shell opening for him and he was the slimy oyster crawling out of it with stolen pearls in each hand.

  "Now run!!!" shouted out the demented Toad King at the top of his voice. The leaves on the nearby willow trees shook along with the ground Louis stood upon. Louis was knocked off his feet, landing face first into the mud. His eardrums pained him. His teeth rattled violently along with his nerves.

  "The land draug's tiara or black heart, bring it to me!!"

  Louis shot to his feet as his fearlessness failed him. Thick wet mud covered Louis's face and wizard robe. He stumbled about crazily, in a state of panic, trying to regain his footing. As Spadefoot shouted out again and again, the rolls of fat on his neck shook wildly about. Louis began to run away as rapidly as a lightning bolt shoots across a stormy sky. As he looked backward at Spadefoot a gold pendant came into full view out from under a layer of thick fat on Spadefoot's neck. Three large letters were seen hanging off of a wide golden chain...FFJ. As quickly as Louis saw the pendant, was as quickly as it disappeared again. Without the time to think through the meaning, Louis went missing down the road just as fast as his skinny legs could carry him.

  With his lungs gasping for air, and hot sweat mixing with the mud on his face, his eyes began to burn as much as his lungs were wheezing for air. One mile down the road, then two, Louis could not tell how far he had run. Never looking backwards again Louis ran for his life and for the life of his friends with Spadefoot's words still ringing violently in his ears.