Shadow Land

1

“Look out Doobly!” I shouted.  Doobly looked up to see a monsterous creature appear out of the emerald water.  It was a magical silver colour and seemed to glisten of diamonds in the light.  Despite its beaty, there was a dangerous look in its giant ocean-coloured eye.  Doobly had just enough time to swerve out of the creature’s way.  As we drew closer to the land of shadows I became increasingly nervous.  As Smruff slept beside me the dark skyline slowly ascended toward us.  I laid down in Doobly’s warm feathers, as bright as the sun and as soft as a kitten.  Eventually I fell asleep to the sounds of the sea churning under us.  2

I awoke suddenly; my skin turned to ice.  The sun was gone. Underneath us the sea was black, and thick, no longer full of magical sea creatures. The sharp crests of the waves had turned dull and round.  Not too long after the shadow engulfed us Doobly landed on the hard, sharp surface with a sudden stop.  Everything was dark.  Well not so much dark as it was dull and cold, but an immense, never-ending shadow that stretched beyond imagination.  Silence flooded over us.  I could feel the sadness wash over me as if a pebble in a sea of depression.  “Be brave, don’t let the shadow take you, you have to fight it.” Dooby whispered to me.  Just then Smruff woke up and make a squeeking noise.  We heard someone coming so we hid behind a large dead bush.  A dark creature wearing a purple robe seemed to float past us.  Smruff made a noise and the thing turned around.  Just as he peered over the bush his hood fell down by his shoulders.  What I saw made me shake.  What seemed to be a human face was a pale, almost greyish shade, and had eyes so sunken in as if dark from a century without sleep.  My eyes were then drawn to the worst part, two dry, parched lips were tightly sewn together with silver thread.  Their eyes drove right into me and they caused me to collapse, the last thing I saw was Doobly being surrounded by six other creatures in purple robes.  3

When I awoke hard dark walls of a dungeon surrounded me.  My head was throbbing.  The silence of this place pierced my ears louder than the roar of a volcano or ten thousand crying infants.  I wanted to scream but I couldn’t.  Something was stopping me.  I reached my hand up to feel what should have been my open mouth.  I could feel my lips, I knew they were there, but what accompanied them astonished me.  I felt a hard thread like substance weaving in and out of my skin, threw my lips, over and over again.  My mouth had been sewn shut.  I pulled and scratched at the string as hard as I could until my fingertips were soaked in blood.  As I cried my tears mixed with the streaming blood running down my face and onto the cold stone floor.  I missed tasting the saltiness of my tears.  Most of all I missed being able to scream.  That’s all I wanted to do.  Scream as loud as I could! I had to break the silence - I dragged my hands all over the floor - crawling, looking for anything that I could make sound with.  There was nothing.  I knocked my fists into the floor and wall, but nothing.  I ended up in a corner so there I sat.  My tears, and blood flowing, and dripping…  falling… dripping… drip… drip… drip...  I could hear it! The drips hitting the cold floor were making sound! As I sat in the corner contently listening my eyes adjusted to the darkness.  That’s when I realized I wasn’t the only one in the room.    There were strange creatures everywhere, reeking of intense sadness.  I could feel myself begin to soak it in.  I tried the hardest I could to keep it out.  The other creatures stared at me.  Their mouths too were sewn shut.  They all looked so tired.  I had to remember.  Remember… “Why was I here? Why was I where? In the dungeon? No. Why was I in the Shadow land.  Margaret.  Margaret! I had to find Princess Margaret.  But I couldn’t.  You just can’t.  How will you find her, you’re in a dungeon you idiot!  I’ve got to, I said I would! What about Doobly and Smruff, I’ve got to help them too! You can’t, you can’t even help yourself. YES I CAN!” and just like that the sadness was gone again.  I couldn’t let its tide take me in and wash me back on shore, shivering and cold.  Just like all these other poor creatures, shivering and cold, all washed up in this dungeon.  I had heard stories about this place, about the silence.  Nobody but the prince could speak.  If a being was to make a noise its mouth was to be sewn shut.  Not too many tried nowadays.  After the shadow crept in and took over it sucked the happiness out of everything.  It was creeping further and further out into the sea.  Soon the shadow would take over the whole world.4

“Get up!” I looked around, “I said Get up!” I could hear Doobly’s voice, but he was no where to be seen.  I realized the voice was coming from inside my head, I thought I was going mad. “You’re not crazy, I’m speaking to you telepathically, now I don’t have much time before they notice.  You’re in the castle, near the princess, but you are in one of the prisoner cells, you have to get out! Next time a prisoner is thrown into your cell sneak out.  All you have to do is look one of those purple robed creatures into their eyes and think your happiest thoughts, I must go now, good luck.”  And then his voice was gone.  I wanted it back.  Doobly’s voice was like a flute.  Every time he spoke it was like a song with a wonderful melody.  The last notes still rung in my head as if hanging in time.  I waited, and waited, and waited.  5

Eventually a quivering grey old man was brought to the cell.  Sure enough it was a purple-cloaked creature escorting him.  I stood up and walked over to it, my knees shaking with every step. The pure emptiness emoted from the creature and made me weak.  Almost paralysed with fear I looked into his eyes.  Everything went black for a second and then I heard myself speak, “Concentrate! You can do it! Just think!” I pictured myself in my head on Doobly’s back flying over the sparkling blue sea back home.  We flew higher and higher into the clouds.  I opened my eyes and the creature was gone.  Only the open door of our cell remained.  I looked around at all the other creatures, motioning to them that they could leave.  In their eyes I could tell that they weren’t there anymore.  Only sadness was left inside of them, and it paralysed them to the point they couldn’t think.  The old man who had just arrived was still able to think.  He dashed out the cell as swiftly as his knobbly old legs could carry him, his mouth with fresh stitches.  Okay, time to find the princess.6