Chapter 5 The Dungeon
The dungeon was dark, naturally, although there were fiery torches on each of the four walls that illuminated the cave-like room. Tommy hit the hard ground faster than he had a chance to even scream a word of surprise. He needed a moment to process this new experience so he sat dumbfounded for a few minutes. He had been astonished to see the little man eat the coins. Why would he do that? And if Luruss coins weren’t allowed here why had the old woman given them to him? He thought he knew. He was a visiTOR and he could be tricked.
Well, he thought, he had gotten himself out of every other predicament here; he would just have to figure his way out of this problem, too. He rose up and took the torch from the closest wall. He held the flame close to the floor, the wall, the ceiling, then moved around and slowly examined his prison. When he had thought he had made a complete circle he realized that there were still four torches on the walls plus the one he had in his hand. He couldn’t be sure that he had checked all the walls. They seemed identical. He removed another torch and stood staring at the empty wooden torch holder half expecting another torch to magically appear. Nothing happened. With a burning torch in each hand he made the circuit again, glancing back at the empty holder from time to time to keep his perspective. But instead of examining four walls he found that there were five walls this time and the room was much larger though there was still no door, no window, no hole, no escape.
Tommy decided he had made a mistake the first time. The dungeon couldn’t have grown. He glanced back toward the empty torch holder, but another flaming torch was burning there. He shook his head and counted all the torches along the walls. Now there were six plus the two in his hands. The room was larger yet, but no brighter even with the extra torches. He wondered just how big he could make this place. He set the two torches down in the middle of the area and ran from wall to wall collecting and pitching the flaming sticks into the center. He counted as he circled the great room. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. The pile in the center was beginning to grow larger than any bonfire he had seen at camp. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. He was getting tired and running out of breath. Sixteen, seventeen. So much fire now and smoke, too. He couldn’t throw the torches all the way to the middle anymore; it was too far. Tommy stood at torch number eighteen and looked. What once had been a small square room was now huge and almost round. Flames from the far opposite walls looked like matches.
Tommy rested his hand on the base of the eighteenth torch, but didn’t lift it up out of the holder. “I wish I hadn’t done that,” he mumbled aloud.
“Who’s there?” someone demanded.
Tommy stiffened. His eyes searched the dimness madly, but there were only flame shadows. “Just me.”
“Who’s me? Where are you?” the voice softened. It sounded like another boy his own age.
“I’m Tommy. Tommy McArthur. I’m in the dungeon.”
“Oh, the dungeon. Well, why are you there? What did you do?”
Tommy felt silly talking to thin air but he replied just the same, “I tried to pay the toll at the gate with two blue coins, Luruss coins, that weren’t allowed. The gate keeper pulled a lever and sent me here.”
“Oh, are you from Luruss?”
“No, I’m not from anywhere around here. I kept taking the left fork trying to get back home somehow, but stuff keeps happening.”
“The left fork, you say? Are you a visiTOR?”
Tommy didn’t want to lie though he wasn’t sure telling the truth would help him. He hesitated then decided on the truth. “Yes, I am.”
“Then I want to meet you. Come out of the dungeon at once,” the young voice ordered.
“But how?”
“That’s easy. Blow out one torch and they’ll all go out.”
That’s silly, Tommy thought, but he obeyed anyway and took a deep breath. The eighteenth torch withered and faded as he blew, as did all the rest of the torches. In an instant the dungeon went black.
“Open your eyes, visiTOR.”
Tommy did and found himself in a lavish palace chamber. He was standing as he had been in the dungeon, only his hand now rested on a lovely glass sconce that shed a pink light about the room. He could hardly take it in. The furniture was plentiful and luxurious. The floor was covered with furs and on the walls hung tapestries and great paintings. The high ceiling was golden with beams the size of oak trees.
A voice behind him made him jerk his head around. “There! You see. You’re out of the dungeon. And even I can’t send you back. Well, I could, but now you know how to get out so, well, uh . . .”
The two boys stared at each other. They were opposites. Tommy was thin. The other boy was stocky. Tommy had short, short hair. The other boy’s hair was long and curly, down to his shoulders. For an instant Tommy was confused. The voice had sounded male, but the long curls shouted female. He had to at least ask for a name. “Hi, like I said, I’m Tommy. What’s your name?”
“I am Hackley, Prince of Doldale.” He swept a large feathered hat off his head and bowed deeply. Tommy wanted to laugh as the prince’s curls dangled over his face. The whole gesture, the look, the hat, everything reminded Tommy of the three Musketeers.
But Tommy politely bowed, too, and said, “Pleased to meet you.”
The prince waited expectantly then prompted, “Well, do you have a gift for me?”
Tommy thought quickly then pulled a package of gum out of his pocket. “This is for you, Prince Hackley.”
The prince frowned at such a small and simply wrapped gift. Then he brightened, “What is it? Is it magic?”
Tommy explained about gum then added as an afterthought, “It is a type of magic in that you can chew it for just about forever. Try one.”
The prince gently drew out a stick and pulled the wrapper off. He sniffed it a bit and licked one side before setting it on his tongue. Finally he started to chew. He seemed pleased and Tommy relaxed.
“You can blow bubbles with it and make a loud popping sound, too. That really annoys teachers,” Tommy added.
“What are teachers?” the Prince asked.
“Teachers, you know, the grown-ups who teach you stuff. At school,” Tommy answered.
“School?” the prince echoed. “What is school?”
“Oh, man,” Tommy looked admiringly at the young prince, “you probably don’t have to go to school. You probably have tutors to teach you stuff like history, geography, English, and math. Oh, and science.”
The Prince chewed slowly on the gum and eyed Tommy suspiciously. “I don’t know many of these words you’re using. Answer my question. What is school?”
Tommy thought a moment then gave the most basic explanation he could think of, starting with the building itself, the classrooms, the kids, and each subject. As he gave more and more details the Prince sat down on a large round ottoman and gestured to Tommy to sit on the fur on the floor. Prince Hackley asked for more particulars and Tommy felt obligated to enlighten him on the finer points of a public education, like recess, art, music, and gym. It took quite a while and Tommy hadn’t even properly thanked him for releasing him from the dungeon yet.
“This is fascinating,” the Prince proclaimed. “I shall have to ask my father to institute a school for all the people in Doldale, young and old.”
“You might not be too popular after a while,” Tommy warned, “only girls like school.” For a moment he was afraid that the Prince was going to ask him what a girl was, but the Prince’s strange look was not about that.
“My jaws are tired,” Prince Hackley announced. He took the gum from his mouth and stared at the glob. “Can I save it for later?”
“Yeah, but it’ll get hard. Just throw it away and get a new one.”
To Tommy’s surprise the prince threw the gum straight over his head toward a wall where it smacked onto a colorful tapestry and stuck. Tommy thought to himself that he would have to be more careful of what he said.
“Prince Hackley,” Tommy began aga
in, “I’d really like to thank you for getting me out of that dungeon. Will you tell me how to get home?”
The prince shook his curls and got up from the ottoman. “VisiTORS always take the left fork. It’s as easy as that.” Hackley looked down at Tommy and asked, “Do you ride?”
“Yeah.” Tommy assumed he meant bikes.
“Come with me. I have a new Zeebian and you can ride my old one.”
Tommy didn’t protest and followed the Prince out of the lovely room and through one hallway and down another, past several large sitting rooms and through what must have been a ballroom. Then they stepped outside into a pink and blue garden. A winding path took them past several strange fountains that looked like prehistoric animals spitting up. Tommy kept close behind the Prince while still trying to take in all of his surroundings. The palace grounds were like none he had ever read about or imagined.
“Just ignore the Williants,” the prince said. “Don’t even answer their stupid questions.”
Tommy had no idea what he was talking about. Williants? Questions? He neither heard nor saw anyone else, but he decided not to admit that to the Prince.
Soon they arrived at a round enclosure much like a rodeo ring. Though the dirt was like blue dust the rest of the scene seemed familiar. A red barn, taller than most, stood at one end of the ring. A very tall door was closed and barred. At the other end of the ring was a gate that opened to a walled maze, only the beginning of which Tommy could see. The ring itself was enclosed with a very high fence, easily climbable by a boy such as Tommy. The Prince was already three feet up and continuing. Tommy followed. At the top both boys swung a leg over and balanced. The Prince removed his feathered hat and held it out at his side.
“Here, Willie, take this hat and bring me two riding hats.”
Instantly the hat disappeared and Tommy felt the rails wiggle as if someone were climbing down. He braced himself against the jiggling and noticed a series of footprints appear and disappear in the blue dust below. Then the tall barn door opened, but only at the bottom, like a pet door. A moment later the little door closed and Tommy spotted the footprints returning. Again the rails moved and suddenly there were two strange, pointy hats in the Prince’s hands. He handed one to Tommy and explained, “Queen’s orders. We can’t ride without these.”
Tommy took one and put it on. He no longer expected to be riding bikes but expected maybe something in the category of horse.
“Okay, Willie, let the Zeebians out.” And with that the rails rattled again, the blue dust quaked as the tiny footprints hurried along toward the barn, then the whole tall door slowly opened and Tommy had the surprise of his life.
You have finished reading the first 5 chapters of A TICK IN TIME. This book is available in paperback and digital e-book format. If you’d like to find out how to purchase this or any other of Debra Chapoton’s adventure books for kids, please go to Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DebraChapoton or visit the website https://www.bigpinelodgebooks.com
Please continue the sampling with our last selection from BIGFOOT DAY, NINJA NIGHT.
BIGFOOT DAY, NINJA NIGHT