Queen Miraza Rainbow. Part Two. The Journey To Dark Land.

The next day at dawn, Queen Miraza dressed me in a long cloak that covered every inch of my body, including my face. Accompanied by Queen Miraza’s two bodyguards, Notna and Azzet, along with the queen’s magic golden sword and shield, and Loplac, the magic healing ointment, I set off on my long trek to Dark Land, to see Queen Azarim.
I was given directions by Queen Miraza. I had to come out of the palace and the court, go through the Field Of Sunflowers that lay just before the palace. Keep going until I came to the Pool Of Golden Water, turn right there, and keep going until I got to Dark Land. I was already told by the queen that it would take one day to get to Dark Land, and another two to actually get through Dark Land to Queen Azarim’s castle. And that was if I didn’t stop at all on the way. If I had to stop for any reason, it would take me an extra day.
“Good luck,” the queen waved to us as we left.
I started my way through the Field Of Sunflowers. The sunflowers in question were really tall, taller than me, way, way taller than the two bodyguards, and they towered over me. The flowers were really bright yellow, maybe not as bright as the sun, but still quite bright. Notna and Azzet wanted to cut them down with their swords, but I didn’t let them. All three of us pushed our way through, when suddenly Notna stopped and pulled his sword out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There’s someone, or something, following us,” Notna answered.
“Are you sure?” I asked, the field was absolutely silent.
“Yes,” came the reply. Then suddenly, Azzet also pulled his sword out.
All three of us stood there in silence. “I still can’t hear anything,” I said.
And then I heard it, a slight rustling through the sunflowers, and a little creature popped in view.
It was a smaller sunflower, but it clearly had a face. Eyes, nose, mouth. The mouth was contorted into a look of confusion.
“Hello,” I said. “Who are you then?”
Then the creature’s face looked relieved, and it answered: “I am Rewolfnus, the captain of the Sunflower People’s Army. Not very many people come through our field, but when they do, it is my job to find out if they are friendly or not.”
“My name is Rahc,” I told Rewolfnus. “And these are my two bodyguards, Azzet and Notna. We are headed to Dark Land, to see the queen there, Queen Azarim Thorn.”
“Then you are very brave,” the Sunflower Person told me. “For nobody from Robinson Land has ever gone to Dark Land, and come back alive.”
“Queen Azarim Thorn wanted to see Queen Miraza Rainbow,” I said. “I am Queen Miraza Rainbow’s handmaiden, and I offered to go as her decoy, as it is a dangerous quest.”
“Then I’ll go with you. I may be very small, but I am skilled with battle techniques. I can protect you from the many dangers of Dark Land.”
“We appreciate your offer, but that is we are for,” Notna told Rewolfnus, quite rudely.
I got a little angry at this remark. Yes, I was a woman, but surely I had a tongue, and I could speak for myself?
“I would love you to join us,” I said, in spite of what Notna had just said.
“It will be my honour to join you,” the Sunflower Person said.
So then there was four of us going on our way to Dark Land.
Rewolfnus knew his way through the Field Of Sunflowers. He told the three of us that some of the sunflowers were genuine flowers, but that some were Sunflower People posing as genuine flowers, in case of threats.
After a bit, we’d exited the Field Of Sunflowers altogether.
“Where are we now?” I asked.
“The bit between the Field Of Sunflowers and the Pool Of Golden Water,” Rewolfnus answered.
We all walked along a pathway with large rose bushes on either side of us.
“Where do all the people of Robinson Land live?” I asked.
“You see these rose bushes on either side of us?” Rewolfnus asked me. “”Well, you cut through them, and you can then take your pick of all the many villages and towns, and even markets that people shop in of Robinson Land.”
Having lived most of my life in the queen’s palace, I’d never had the chance to roam around Robinson Land. But I knew I couldn’t do it at the moment.
The four of us trundled on along the pathway for many hours. After a while, I started to see something yellow ahead of us.
“Hey! What’s that?” I exclaimed. “That patch of yellow up ahead.”
“It may be the Pool Of Golden Water,” Azzet answered.
“Do any of you know the story behind the Pool Of Golden Water?” Rewolfnus asked us.
We all shook our heads.
“A long time ago, before Queen Miraza Rainbow was queen here, a nasty witch called Sidaj ruled here. She had a daughter named Ycul who wasn’t nasty like her mother, but lovely. Now Sidaj had a curse placed on her by a demon years back that made her nasty, for she was just as lovely as her daughter once, and having a lovely daughter while she was horrible was part of the curse. Sidaj wanted to be a nice person, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. Over time, she started to grow resentful and jealous towards Ycul, and one day she paid one of her servants to take her daughter as far away from her castle as possible, and kill her!”
“Oh, that’s horrible!” I exclaimed, interrupting Rewolfnus’s story. “Did the servant do it?”
“No, she didn’t. She wasn’t able to because she was one of the millions of people who loved Ycul, and she couldn’t kill her. Now the servant was half witch, from her mother’s side, and she could do an unlimited amount of magic. She cast a spell on Ycul, that Ycul wouldn’t die, but that she would live forever, as a pool of water. The water became a gold colour, because of Ycul’s lovely personality.”
“Just like our queen’s personality has an effect on the weather,” I pointed out.
As Rewolfnus’s story came to a close, we arrived at the Pool Of Golden Water. It was a really pretty sight. The water was indeed golden, and it looked so magical.
“Does it do anything to you when you drink it?” I asked.
“No,” the Sunflower Person answered. “You can drink it if you are thirsty, but it doesn’t do anything to you.”
“I’m thirsty,” Notna said.
We all stopped for a ten minute break, and had a drink out of the Pool, and then carried on our way. The water was really refreshing, and after I’d drank I felt like I would never need another drink again.
We walked for another couple of hours, and then it started to get dark. Queen Miraza had told me that we would get to Dark Land by nightfall if we didn’t stop at all. We’d all only stopped once, for ten minutes, and that was for a drink at the Pool Of Golden Water, so I couldn’t see how that would affect us getting to Dark Land by nightfall.
We carried on walking. It got darker, but none of us knew if the sun was going down, or if there were black clouds in the sky. Then suddenly Notna yelled out, and fell to the ground, blood gushing out of his head. He was dead.
Azzet grabbed my mouth to stop me screaming out. It seemed that Notna had bee killed instantly with the bite of a ferocious, invisible creature. Which could mean only one thing.
We’d entered Dark Land.