The Kingdom of Scribbles

Welcome to Scribbles

Jackson stared at the book he was reading till he realised he wasn't actually reading it. Instead, he was recounting the events that lead him to his position. Queen Sabrina made him the royal herald. He didn't have to do much work, so he devoted most of his time to observing the odd inhabitants of the castle, each quite odd, but none as strange as the queen herself.

Jackson left his room to go explore the castle some more. Just like the people that lived there, the castle didn't make much sense. There were many corridors that go in a thousand different directions, stair cases didn't quite go straight and some didn't go anywhere. All in all, it was easy to get lost, but Jackson was determined to map it out.

"If I take this stair case, I should end up in the great hall." He said to himself trying to follow his map.

The stair case didn't lead to the great hall. Jackson tried to figure out where he was to no avail. He was lost yet again. Jackson wandered the corridors a bit longer before deciding to take a stair case down. The stairs at first were like any others in the castle, brightly lit, purple carpet, but as he went further it became a spiral and the lighting dimmed and the carpet gave way to stone. When he got to the bottom, he realised he was probably somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. Turning to go back up the stairs he discovered they were gone, so he had no choice but to go further down the tunnel.

After a bit, the tunnel opened up to a dimly lit room. The cold, dank atmosphere gave it away; he was in the dungeons. This is where he met Brandon, the judge and warden. If you committed a crime in Scribbles, he was the one who would determine your punishment and the one who would carry it out - unless you were to be executed. Jackson only learned about him afterward from Lady Jessica.

Suddenly, something grabbed Jackson by the shoulders. It lifted him off the ground and literally flew him up and out of the dungeons. When they reached the top of the stairs, Jackson was unceremoniously dumped on the floor. Jackson looked up to see Brandon. He looked like a living shadow, wearing a black hood that covered his face. The only part of his face Jackson could see were Brandon's blood red eyes glowing with anger.

"Don't ever go down there again. Unless, you are willing to face the consequences." Brandon growled before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Jackson sat where he had landed before getting out his notebook, that held his maps and other information about Scribbles. 'Avoid the dungeon at all costs!' He wrote across a blank page. He got up and brushed himself off before seeing he was in a totally different part of the castle. Deciding that he would need to find someone who could help him, he knocked at one of the doors lining the hallway.

"Coming," a voice answered from inside. Jackson recognized the voice as female and hoped that she would be friendlier than the last person he encountered.

The door opened to reveal a young lady with a mass of curly brown hair wearing a green dress. "Sorry, was taking care of my babies." She said. "Who are you? I recognize you from somewhere."

"I'm Jackson, I recently became the royal herald." Jackson explained.

"Oh yeah, you're from Vernon."

"Venad,"

"Right," just then Jackson saw a large animal behind her. Jackson leaned over to see inside, and he saw a set of orange and black stripes.

"Is that a tiger?" Jackson exclaimed.

"Yeah, this is Kishan, one of my sweet hearts."

"One?"

"Dhiren," she called, and another tiger, this one slightly smaller, came padding up to her. "I'm Lady Catherine by the way." She rubbed the tiger's cheeks. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I got lost." Jackson explained, his focus back on his original problem.

"Why don't you use the map?"

"What map?"

"No one gave you the map of the castle?" Jackson shook his head. "Here, I know where to get you one. I'll be back soon." She said the last part to her tigers.

She closed the door and pulled out a piece of parchment, showing Jackson. "This is the map." She explained. "You just say where you want to go or who you want to find, and if it is in the castle it will guide you to them or it."

"How?" Jackson asked in disbelief.

"Map me a path to Lady Victoria." Lady Catherine commanded the map. The map came to life scribbling a path from where they were to where they wanted to go - amazing Jackson. For, he had never seen anything like it.

"Come on," Lady Catherine said to Jackson before making her way down the hall, Jackson following after her. "How do you like Scribbles so far?" She asked him.

"I mean it is definitely interesting." He said trying not to be rude. "I went down to the dungeons on accident, and someone threw me out."

"That was Brandon. He's the warden and a grouch." She explained energetically.

"What do you think of the queen?" Jackson asked her, trying to get a better understanding of Queen Sabrina.

"She's awesome, a little crazy, but she's accepting." She answered genuinely. "Except when she's mad, she is terrifying." She stopped at one of the doors and started pounding at the door shouting, "Biku I know you are in there."

The door opened to reveal another young women. She was quite a bit taller than Catherine, who was the queens height. Something about her appearance reminded him of a panda, even though he had only seen drawings of pandas. Maybe it was her black hair or pale shin or slight pudginess, he wasn't sure if that was actually a word.

"What is it Catherine?" The lady asked before noticing Jackson. "You're Jackson, right?"

"Yes," Jackson replied. "May I ask your name?"

"This is Lady Victoria." Lady Catherine shouted, answering for her. "Biku, no body got Jackson a map."

"Just give me a moment." Lady Victoria said before disappearing into her room.

"Victoria draws the maps." Catherine explained as they waited for the lady's return. "Good thing too. I have lived here almost my whole life, and I still get lost in this castle. In fact everyone does except Queen Sabrina and the prince."

"Prince?" Jackson had not heard anything about a prince.

"The queen's brother, Prince Trevor." She explained with sight disgust. Then, Lady Victoria appeared in the doorway.

"Here you go." She handed him the parchment. "Just say 'map me a path to' and where ever you want to go."

Just then, a grandfather clock sitting in the hallway chimed signaling ten at night. How long had he been lost? "Thank you, Lady Victoria, but it is getting late. I should go back to my room. Thank you again."

The ladies waved goodbye as Jackson used the map to find his room. When he got there, he compared the map with one he had drawn only to sigh in frustration. The official map made no sense.