THE SEVEN KINGDOMS (DISCONTINUED)

The Dark Kingdom

Nuru, usually, was excited to share her knowledge on the kingdoms. She could go on for hours as they travelled to their next destination and it was much to Varian’s pleasure. Varian quite enjoyed the trivia that the princess would talk about. As much as he hated to admit it, he also loved Hugo’s brief interjections. And of course, Yong’s shouts of excitement always made the man happy. He was glad everyone seemed to have at least some interest in their journey; It kept the travelling lively.

This time was different. Nuru was unusually silent and it put a feeling of disease in Varian’s throat. All Varian had to listen to was the ‘clip-clop’ of Prometheus’ hooves against the ground. He cleared his throat before speaking. “So, Nuru, anything interesting to report about the Dark Kingdom?”

Nuru shook her head but spoke anyways, “Interesting, sure, but not exciting… the Dark Kingdom is notorious for rotting crops and… well… death.”

The group went back down into pure silence. “Ha… can’t be that bad, right?” Varian tried to lighten the mood but it fell flat. A dreary feeling of dread fell over the group as they approached the kingdom in the distance.

Still, Varian grinned as he saw the looming tower in the distance. Sure, it was somewhat intimidating and still very dark but it had looked better than what Rapunzel had described it as when she was on her journey to find the moonstone. Yet, he couldn’t shake that unease. “Come on guys! I can see it in the distance! Let’s go!” He shouted and the gang began to pick up their pace.

______

The group of friends were almost to the tower when they came across a large ravine and a gondola to get across. Varian sighed as he recalled Rapunzel’s tale of getting the moonstone. She had mentioned this and he was hoping that Edmund had built a bridge by now but that was not the case. He felt slightly anxious as he had remembered how Rapunzel had mentioned how the wire had snapped while they were attacked on the gondola. Had Edmund really chosen to fix it instead of the much safer option which was a bridge?
He hopped off Prometheus and pointed to the gondola with his staff. “Okay… We’re going to have to take that across to get to the Dark Kingdom.”

Hugo let out a squawk of surprise before interjecting. “Listen, Goggles, no offense, but I am not getting on that thing. Remember the whole thing Nuru said about this being a place of death? Well, I’m not about to punch my own ticket. Thanks for the offer though!”

Varian rolled his eyes at the blond man’s thematics. “Yeah, well, it’s the only way across. Sorry, Glasses.”

Hugo was going to speak up again when he was interrupted by Nuru. “Okay! We are not arguing about this! Hugo, let’s just go. It’ll be fine.”

Yong piped up, “Yeah! It’ll be cool!” Everyone except Hugo seemed to be on board.

Varian tapped his foot and looked at the blonde man. “Well?”

“...Ugh, fine!” The taller male agreed but not without angrily stomping his foot on the ground.

“What a baby…” Varian thought to himself as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes once more. He led the group up to the gondola, leaving Prometheus behind as they all got on. The floor of the gondola creaked as the gang clambered on and Ruddiger let out a chatter of protest. Varian gave a soothing pet to the raccoon. “It’s fine, buddy. We’ll be okay!”

He noticed the lever near the end of the gondola, and walked over to it. He wiggled a finger, signaling for Hugo to follow him. “Hugo and I will get us all across.” He said in a calm tone, trying to reassure the others. He could feel the anxious air in the room.

The ride across the ravine was silent. Nobody spoke. Varian could tell everyone was stiff with fear as everytime they cranked the seesaw lever a large ‘CREAK’ came out. The gondola would shake from time to time, causing the gang to hold their breath for a moment before releasing it in relief once the minor quaking stopped.