The Journey to Northumberland and the Rise of the Undertoads
by Kenneth Mullinix
This book is dedicated to all the children in the world who have ever been in their young lives: bullied, picked on, harassed, pestered, hassled, badgered, hounded and annoyed by anyone; bigger, tougher, or meaner, or nastier, or unkind, or despicable, or heartless, or cruel and shameful. Written for middle-readers and adults. This is fast, exciting, and fun read. Please write a review for me.In another world an underworld, not so far away, or so far below us, lying in union are very strange and perplexing happenings. One world has un-matched beauty, serenity and peacefulness. Most of the inhabitants who live in this underworld reside in inviting and quaint villages, built upon rolling hills and dales, interspersed with tall green grasses, fields of over-sized yellow and orange daises found growing amongst, inviting slow-moving, peaceable streams. Soft, gentle winds blow up from the south regularly pushing large puffy clouds slowly by, all keeping time with the heartbeat of the friendly elves, diminutive fairies, workingmen, unicorns and brownies that live there. In the other darker underworld is found an evil and unclean world filled with, watery fire-bogs, vast and swift-moving rivers, filled with infected and brooding waters. Surrounding this wasteland lay high un-passable mountain ranges, and deep wide canyons, all cloaked above by shadowy skies filled with godless flying creatures. Living within this craven world are; pocket-sized evil fairies, giant black forest trolls, stone trolls, and malovent elf's, living amongst wicked hobgoblins. There are revolting witches, foul-tempered swamp ogres, and life-stealing water-serpents. All of which are ruled by an army of very mean-spirited, and fatted, bug-eyed toads, called...Undertoads. Long so long ago, in this under-land, a dark spell had been cast upon them all by a very powerful black-hearted king. His name is Túngarar Spadefoot. He is the King of the Undertoads. Found inside of this impure world stands an impervious and foreboding black tower. It is made of unbending black-pearl granite. And held entrenched within this bedeviled and wicked tower is the Tower Keeper. She was once the noble and powerful queen of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. This queen alone nurtured and created the Toad King, giving him his unlimited powers to rule the land for all the good of the residents who resided there, but the Toad King as his power grew realized the unlimited powers that he held. Unclean thoughts were allowed to enter his weak mind. He twisted his power against his people and turned towards the fiendish and depraved, he veered towards the worst side of power; he craved more of it. Unlimited power in the hands of the weaker amongst us always has the chance of turning towards the evil side. The Toad King raped the lands to the north, of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. This area became known as Northumberland where all things turned towards the evil side of man and beast. The land died, the skies, the water, and the creatures that lived there became as sinful and revolting as there malovent leader. As the years passed by, loneliness and solitude engulfed the former queen, thus destroying her mind and infecting it with even more hatred. She became consumed by odium, and hate, now seeking only revenge and more power, so she could one day revenge her great loss to Túngarar Spadefoot, the Toad King. She now lays in a state of constant torment and anguish because she waits in haste for the innocent, and the unknowing to someday, wander into her lair. For on this one day, on this most fortunate of days, she hopes to be unceremoniously un-locked from the powerful and dark magic that holds her steadfast in place. The dark city is called Elphame. The White Queen; is an Ice Queen. Her name is Elphen, she is the Ignoble. She is a land draug, an after-walker. Do these worlds exist? Is this all believable, possible, likely or plausible? Does it only happen in fairy tales, legends, myths, long-winded tales or tall-fables? But in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, and in the underworld of Northumberland, and to a young redheaded boy, with an impish smile and bright red freckles, it is a story he never wants to remember, and one he can never forget. He, by the slimmest of margins, lived to tell the true story of this strange underworld, and the eventual outcome of Northumberland.