Queen Miraza Rainbow. Part Three. Dark Land, And The Journey To Queen Azarim's Castle.

Azzet clamped his hand over my mouth to stop me screaming out loud at poor Notna’s bloody body lying on the ground, now a dinner for a hideous invisible monster from Dark Land. Then he pulled his sword out and ran on ahead, waving his sword about in case he came across any invisible monsters. Rewolfnus and I followed.
Dark Land was very different from Robinson Land. At first, I thought it was dark because it was nighttime, but I remembered what Queen Miraza had told me. That it was always dark in Dark Land, because of permanent black clouds looming in the sky. The effect of Queen Azarim Thorn’s black personality.
I remembered that Queen Miraza had given me the magic golden sword and shield. I held my shield out in front of me, pulled my sword out, and copied Azzet in waving it around as I ran ahead, with Rewolfnus following right behind me. The shield was quite large, so it covered the pair of us easily.
As we followed Azzet, I could hear horrible screeching every now and then, from where he’d struck a monster. I also heard screeching from near me, where I’d also struck down a monster. I found out why my sword and shield were magic. Azzet was pushed to the ground a few times, whereas I wasn’t. After a while, I couldn’t hear any screeching at all, and Azzet stopped waving his sword around; he didn’t put it away, however.
“Looks like we’ve got past them for now,” he told us. “But we may come across more later on.”
I noticed he had a deep wound on his hand where he’d been injured.
“Azzet, you’re injured,” I said. “How come you’re not dead.”
“Those things only kill you by biting you. Those things just scratched me with their claws.”
“Well, I’ll cure it, before it gets infected, and you do die.” I pulled the magic ointment, Loplac, out of my pocket, and Azzet took a couple of sips. In a couple of minutes, his wound completely vanished.
“Thanks,“ he smiled at me. Then he went on ahead, with me and Rewolfnus tagging along behind.
“What are these monsters actually called?” I asked Rewolfnus, just to make conversation.
“They don’t really have a name,” Rewolfnus replied. “They’re mainly just called the invisible monsters of Dark Land. Unlike our Retsnoms of Robinsons Land. They say that Queen Azarim has a pit of them in her castle somewhere that she feeds disloyal members of her court to.”
“That’s terrible!” I exclaimed.
“Not only that, but she also has two trained ten foot vultures caged up somewhere, that she also feed disloyal subjects to.”
I pulled a face. “She’s disgusting,” I said. “Utterly horrid.”
We caught up with Azzet, who was standing still, looking up at the sky.
“What is it, Azzet?” I asked.
Azzet said nothing, just merely pointed upwards with his sword.
Rewolfnus and I looked up to the sky as well. At first, we couldn’t see anything, and then I could make out two objects circling around. I couldn’t see what they actually were, but they were quite large, so I knew they were two ten foot vultures. Possibly Queen Azarim’s pets Rewolfnus had just told me about.
“What are we going to do?” I asked, my voice giving away how scared I was. “Can we just keep walking?”
“No,” Azzet answered. “I’ll hold them off with my sword, and you two carry on. I’ll catch up with you once I’ve dealt with these creatures.”
“But Azzet,” I said. “My sword and shield is magical. We’ll have more chance if I use them.”
“Then I’ll use them,” Azzet told me. “You are too precious Rahc, you are Queen Miraza’s decoy. I’ll use the golden sword and shield. Then I’ll catch you two up.”
“Okay, if you’re absolutely sure,” I said. I handed Azzet my sword and shield. All the while, the two vultures up ahead were still circling us, biding their time, waiting for the chase.”
“When I run in the opposite direction, and the vultures chase me, you two run in the direction of the queen’s castle.”
Azzet started running in the direction we just came from. The vultures, sensing that what they were waiting for had just happened, gave chase. With the two birds chasing Azzet, me and Rewolfnus started running in the direction of Queen Azarim’s castle.
We both ran really fast, then, when we were both out of breath, we both stopped, and sat down for a break.
We’d ran into an area full of large rocks and boulders, and ugly black flowers. Rewolfnus, with my help, climbed up onto a boulder, then I climbed up onto the one opposite him. Then we sat and waited for Azzet’s return.
We waited for what seemed like hours, then, at last, Azzet appeared.
“I managed to kill those birds. You’re right, Rahc, the gold sword and sheild are magic, they didn’t hurt me once.”
“Just as long as you’re safe,” I said. “Do you want to rest up for a little while, or shall we carry on?”
“I’m fine,” Azzet answered. “Let’s carry on.”
“I’ll give you back your sword and shield. We’ll probably run into more of those monsters. We’ll do as we did before. Hold our shields out in front of us, and wave our swords around as we run.”
So that is what we did. Azzet ran on ahead in front of us. Once again, the gold shield covered me and Rewolfnus completely. And, as before, I could hear screeching from up ahead where Azzet was killing the ceatres, and I heard screeching quite close to me where I was killing loads myself. And then, once again, the screeching stopped. Azzet slowed down, to let me and Rewolfnus catch up with him.
We stopped for another break for ten minutes, then carried on. Eventually, we all came across a really tall building. It was just as tall as Queen Miraza’s palace, and had a drawbridge in front, which we crossed to get to the castle.
“This must be Queen Azarim’s castle,” I pointed out.
All three of us found ourselves in a little courtyard. There was a fountain in the middle. I stole a drink from it, and immediately spat it out. The water was dirt and nasty tasting.
“Can I help you?”
We all turned, and a hunchbacked ugly dwarf was stood there, glaring at us. I recognised him as Odom, the dwarf who came to Robinson Land with Queen Azarim’s message.
“Yeah, hello. I am Miraza Rainbow, the queen of Robinson Land,” I said, my heart thudding fast.
Odom peered at me with his tiny eyes. “Why is your face covered up?”
“I caught this face infection,” I said. “I looked at someone else with it. You can catch this infection just by looking.”
“Okay. But how can you see out of it?”
“It’s a magic cloak.”
Odom stared at me. I didn’t think he believed me at first. Then he nodded. “I shall go get my mistress, Queen Azarim Thorn.”
He disappeared for a few minutes, then he came back, followed by Queen Azarim Thorn. She was a few inches smaller than Queen Miraza, and she was extremely ugly. Her face was really green, and it was covered in large, black warts. Two of them had burst and was oozing yellow pus.
Queen Azarim stood there, staring at me for a few seconds. Then she suddenly smiled, showing black, cracked teeth.
“Welcome to Dark Land, Mother,” she said to me.