Underground

At this point in our journey, the circumstances are so remarkable that I am afraid that I am at a loss for words as to how we got here and what exactly is going on. Once we dove into that hole, we had to keep going because the giants’ hounds were right after us. So we kept moving further into the cave. Then we fell. And fell. And fell some more. With our incredible luck, we managed to find a slope covered in shale and rocks and loose gravel that was so steep we couldn’t help but slide right down it and it just kept going and going so we kept going with it.

Once we reached the bottom, we were so worn out with falling that we just sat there for awhile until we heard a voice out of the blackness ask us who we were and where we came from. That’s where things got interesting. The speaker ended up being a Warden or some such of Underland and he had about a hundred of the most serious chaps I have ever seen with him. I had it in my head that they intended to kill us with those pointy spears of theirs, but instead they took us with them, and so we went. We walked and crawled and walked again some through some of the oddest places that I never would have imagined existed (there were flabby fungus-trees and animals and a sleeping giant, all underground!) and then we they put us on boats in an underground lake, and we were rowed across for what seemed like an eternity. We weren’t able to get much out of our ‘guides’ either. They didn’t talk much except to say “many sink down to the Underworld, but few return to the sunlit lands.” The Warden seemed quite fond of that phrase.

We stayed in that boat for quite a long time, but I cannot say with any certainty exactly how long that time was. After that very long time though, we came to a very quiet city. I have a feeling that these Earth-people things don’t talk unless spoken to. Once we docked, they marched us along again through the city of silent creatures until we came to a castle. Then we were taken into the castle, into a hall where it looked like we were going to be traded off and taken away as prisoners, but then a human voice called out from above and bade the Earthmen to bring us up to him.

That is where we are now. In an underground castle, with some human Underworld prince. He seems to be under the impression that he is enchanted and cannot be unenchanted until he rules over an Overland kingdom. He was also the suit of armor that we saw with the green lady all that time ago. According to him, he and his lady are under here until they can dig and break out into the world above, conquer some land, and then rule it with their army of Earthmen. He’s not remorseful or sad about it at all but seems to think it rather funny.

I don’t trust him. Certainly, he seems nice and harmless enough, but living in a castle underground isn’t natural and is bound to do things to your mind; also, I don’t believe I like this lady of his though I haven’t met her properly yet. There will be no telling what will happen whenever she appears (considering she was the one who sent us to those giants who intended to eat us); likely she’ll have us imprisoned or executed or fed to some terrible underground beast. Whatever happens, I’m fairly certain that we won’t be seeing the sun again.
At the moment, we are in room apart from him. He says that at a certain hour every night, the enchantment comes upon him and he raves like a lunatic and transforms into a serpent and foolishness like that so he has to be bound to a silver chair while he is under the effect of the enchantment. So we are in a different room waiting for the earth people to leave after tying him to the chair. I'm half afraid to go in there in the case that he breaks loose and devours us all. Though I'm not certain whether being eaten by a serpent would be better than lying in a prison underground, just waiting for death and no hope of ever seeing light ever again. Neither way seems pleasant but I'm not seeing any other options here.