Adventure One: Belamy Consults the Monster
The scenery of this particular dream consisted of a small clearing in the middle of a heavily wooded area. In the clearing was a tiny town of white houses and shops, and each of these had a front door that faced the center of the clearing. These buildings only had three walls out of your usual four, like doll houses, so Belamy could see all the people inside.
As she walked through the middle of the clearing, she could see a woman baking in the kitchen in one house, children playing in their rooms upstairs in another, and a barber trimming a man's beard in a second story loft. When she peered at them, they peered back at her. When she peered at the playing children, they immediately ran to the edge of their room to lay flat on their bellies, propped up on their elbows, to watch her curiously as she passed. Each and every one of the townspeople she passed, however, kept glancing anxiously at the sky every few minutes, as if something dangerous would come streaking out of it at any moment. This is what had bothered Belamy during her previous night's sleep.
Since the town was so tiny, it didn't take Belamy long to walk the length of it to the very last building on the edge of the wood, and that building just happened to be a Hall of Justice. The Halls of Justice of Belamy’s dreams were always large structures with heavy double doors out front. This one was made of marble, and the doors were so heavy that when Belamy trotted up the swirly marble steps (two at a time), she had to push with all her might to even open one of the doors a crack. At last, she was forced to forget about the doors and walk straight into the foyer, and she thanked her mind for leaving the front walls out of this particular land.
At an ominous desk immediately in front of her sat a receptionist, a graying man with a bushy moustache and spectacles that enhanced the chilly glint in his eyes. Belamy approached this desk bravely, and the man, whose nametag read Handford, glanced down at her.
"May I help you?" Handford asked, his stern voice echoing around the marble Hall of Justice.
"My name is Belamy," she started, her voice so small that it did not reach the walls to bounce back to her in an echo. "I have been to this town once before, and although it seems very peaceful, it also seems as though something is the matter. All the townspeople keep looking up at the sky as if they are afraid. I wanted to come to you, the receptionist of the Hall of Justice, to ask why anyone would have reason to fear such a place."
During the course of this speech, the man Handford did not blink, and when Belamy had finished, he was frowning.
"Yes," was all he said at first, which confused Belamy because she hadn't asked a question requiring a yes or no answer.
But Handford continued.
"Yes, the people do fear their town, but they did not used to. They look up not because they are afraid of the sky, but because they are afraid of what comes when the sky grows dark. There is a nocturnal monster, you see, which haunts this town."
"But this is the Hall of Justice," Belamy told him, in case he had forgotten. "Couldn't you stop the monster?"
"We have tried, but every trap we set for it is evaded," Handford told her. "The monster is too clever."
"Couldn't you confront it?" Belamy asked.
"There is no man willing," Handford said. "They are much too afraid."
"The Hall of Justice was made to keep this town safe," Belamy reminded him.
"Young lady," (When people begin to grow cross, they tend to become more formal, Belamy noted), "the Hall of Justice is only safe on the inside. Those who venture outside its walls are subject to the monster's terrible wrath."
"What terrible thing has this monster done," Belamy said, "that makes you and everyone else in this town so afraid?"
"Animals disappear when it is lurking about," Handford informed her. "The townspeople can hear it grunting as it crawls down the clearing on four massive legs. They say it will kill any man who steps in its path, and its shadow is so cold and black that it will snuff out any light close by, so nobody has ever seen but a hulking silhouette."
"That doesn't sound too horrible," Belamy said, but Handford, even from behind his desk, could hear her heart pounding.
The bespectacled man smoothed back his gray hair in a satisfied manner and said, "I would kindly leave now, if I were you."
Belamy took a deep breath and turned around, as if, thought Handford, to leave. But in fact, Belamy had just turned to pull a handsome chair from its spot on the foyer, and she dragged it, screeching and echoing, to the reception desk. She climbed atop the chair so that she was eye level with the gray man. Handford's face flickered with astonishment.
"I am going to find this monster," Belamy said to him plainly. "Then I will talk with him, and tell him to stop haunting your town."
"What is this nonsense?" Handford asked.
"Please, tell me where the monster comes from," she said. "No man may be brave enough to stop him, but one girl is, and I'm positive I can do it without getting eaten."
Handford admired Belamy's determination, and he almost strained his frown into what might have been the beginning of a smile, but he finally just shook his head at the small girl before him.
"I'm sorry," he said to her. "I cannot put a child in danger. What kind of an example would I be setting for the townspeople?"
"I will make you a promise," Belamy answered him. "If I get eaten, I won't tell the townspeople that you let me know where the monster lives."
Handford thought about this.
"All right," he said after a long pause. "I will tell you where the monster lives. But you must at least take arms to protect yourself. Here." The man disappeared behind his desk and reappeared a few moments later with two golden arms. He gave them to Belamy, and she admired them.
"These," Handford continued, "are to be used to attack the monster if he draws near. They will be stronger than the small, weak arms attached to your body. Now, the monster lives deep in the wood. Every night, he crawls out of the forest from behind this Hall of Justice. You will walk until you reach the thickest, darkest part of the forest, where the sun cannot shine, and it is always night. That is where you will find the monster."
This was a frightening thought for Belamy, whose imagination was so vivid that darkness helped her eyes adjust to monsters more clearly.
"Which is worse?" Belamy asked Handford, after confiding in him this detail about her young eyes. "Being able to see monsters, or not being able to see monsters?"
"The fact is that they are there," Handford said shortly. "But at least you will know where to aim your arms. I would urge you to reconsider this foolish notion of yours, but I see that there is no stopping you. So I wish you good luck on your journey, Belamy; you will need a full supply of that."
Belamy thanked the stern receptionist and set out straight away into the wood. As soon as she stepped out of the clearing and away from the comfort of the town, it was as if there never had been any clearing at all. Trees surrounded her on all sides-- deep green, tall and beautiful, with knobbly trunks. She walked on a path of moss, and the sun shone in such a way that she could see dust flying around lazily where it came through the canopies of the trees. She heard the mysterious call of a bird of fantasy in the distance and she thought that this was one of her most favorite and peaceful dreams.
The further she walked, though, the tougher her journey became. The moss beneath her feet soon gave way to brownish clay that made her feet slide and stick. The trees grew thicker and more menacing, and the path grew narrow. A cold breeze pushed at her face and made her squint, as if warning her to turn back while she still had time, before she met the monster. Belamy gripped her golden arms tightly and kept walking, sure that her ability to see monsters in darkness would prove to be an advantage.
The trees were now so close around the path that she felt prickly pine needles sticking her on either side of her face as she walked. At one point, she felt the tender gauze of a spiderweb over her face, which startled her so much that she jumped back, lost her footing on the slippery clay, and plunged off the path into the trees, where she fell on splintery bark. When she fell, she lost her grip on her arms, and they tumbled away into the darkness. Now she was unarmed, and she could not see where she had left the path.
Belamy felt fear rise up in her heart, and she crawled frantically on her hands and knees deeper and deeper into the forest. When her situation seemed most desperate, she crawled suddenly onto foot-trodden earth. It was very dark now, as dark as night, just like Handford had said. She craned her neck and looked up, but there was no sky; only a high ceiling of stone. She had crawled straight into a cave. This, she thought, must be where the monster comes from.
Belamy got to her feet and felt her hands and knees. There were several splinters, and she took a few minutes to pull them all out, but she was otherwise unharmed.
For now, she reminded herself.
"Hello," she called into the cave. This time, her voice did echo back to her. "If there is a monster in here, please answer."
There was no answer.
Belamy took a few timid steps into the cave, and stretched out her hands so she would know when she ran into anything; and then--
Her hands touched something incredibly large. A massive breathing figure, which must surely have been the monster. But what her hands also felt was warm, soft fur. She immediately relaxed.
"Why didn't you answer when I called for you?" Belamy asked the monster. It was so astonished at having been addressed so naturally, that it turned on a small light, which looked like the moon, to see what more fearsome creature stood before it. That is when the monster met Belamy.
Once the moon light was turned on, Belamy could see the “monster” clearly, even more clearly than any grown up could see it. Because, while a grown up would see a monster, Belamy only saw a wolf; a great, shaggy, chocolate-colored wolf with black, black eyes. He reminded her of her shepherd dog, Bernard, who looked very scary, but was much kinder than most humans.
"I did not answer you," the wolf said in a growly voice, "because you asked if there were any monsters here. I know this cave better than anybody because it is my home, and I can assure you that there are no monsters within it. But that would not stop anyone from thinking so."
"That is very true," Belamy said. "My name is Belamy. What is yours?"
"Rowen," he said, touched. "No human has ever asked for my name."
"Has a human ever asked to pet your muzzle?" Belamy asked.
"No."
"May I pet your muzzle?" Belamy asked. It looked very soft.
"You may."
Once she had done so, they were friends, and both were very happy to have found one another.
"What brings you to this cave, Belamy?" asked Rowen, the wolf.
"I was told the most awful stories about a monster that comes into the nearby town," she said. "I was told that this monster makes fear in everyone, that it eats animals and men alike, and that its shadow is cold and puts out every light. I came to find the monster and ask him to stop making the people fear, but I lost the path and the arms that were given to me at the Hall of Justice."
During this speech, the great wolf had sat back on his haunches and tucked in his front legs so he looked quite regal. He gave a knowing sigh.
"That is me," he said. At the worried look that Belamy gave him, he continued. "Rather, that is what the people say about me. I must go into the white town to find food, as there are only birds in this wood and I cannot catch birds, even though I can leap very high and far. Wolves were not created to catch birds, but ground prey, like cows and sheep and pigs. Those are only found in the clearing. So, yes, I will admit that I must hunt the animals in the clearing-- that much is true. But my shadow cannot put out light. That is foolish nonsense the townspeople created in their imaginations, for they cannot see me as you can, and horrible things are easily imagined.”
"What about the humans? Do you kill and eat them?" Belamy asked him. Rowen looked troubled.
"I have never killed a man," he said, but he still looked troubled. Belamy waited patiently for him to continue.
"One night," Rowen said, "a man crossed my path on the way to his house. I had just finished hunting, so my fur was sticky with blood. When the man laid eyes on me, he died instantly of fright. I killed him, but indirectly and unintentionally. I am gentle to conscious creatures such as myself."
"I believe you," Belamy assured him. She looked into his dark eyes. There was the unknown deep within them. Belamy understood why the townspeople would fear him.
"There must be a way to make everyone happy," she said at last.
"If there is, I have not yet thought of it," Rowen replied.
Belamy knew she would have some advantage in coming up with a solution to this problem, because this was her own dream, after all. After a short amount of pondering, she thought of something. One night, not too long ago, she had dreamt that she was flying high over ragged mountains, which dropped into dense river valleys after a few miles. When she had looked down on the valleys from her place in the sky, she had seen herds of small dinosaurs rumbling among tall, thin trees, which were bare except for a pompom of leaves on every canopy. Although there were no dark shelters in the valleys, there had been many caves in the nearby mountains.
"If you would not mind leaving your cave to come with me," Belamy said, "I can take you to a land that is full of ground prey, far away from the town in the clearing."
"Is this so?" The wolf looked thoughtful. "I have never been out of this wood except to enter the small clearing. I did not know there was a land beyond this one. The wood stretches on seemingly forever."
"The wood does go on forever in this land," Belamy said. But it was hard to explain. "If you can direct me back to the path, we can leave fairly quickly."
The trusting wolf rose up on all fours and walked past Belamy. He was so large that his back came up to her shoulders, and his head was higher than her own.
"Follow me, Belamy. If what you say is true, I have found a friend in a great traveler, greater than any of the men I have ever crossed."
Belamy beamed with pride as Rowen turned off his moon light. The cave was instantly dark again.
"Hold onto my tail," he said, swishing it into her hands. "I will guide you into the daylight."
They walked for several minutes through the forest, and the more they walked, the lighter it became until finally Belamy could see again. She let go of Rowen's tail and he guided her back to the path, which was moss once more. They walked side by side.
"Does the daylight hurt your eyes, Rowen?" Belamy asked the great wolf.
"No," he replied. "But I am naturally a creature of stealth. It makes me uneasy to walk in such light."
When they reached the clearing, Rowen hesitated.
"The men will not be so afraid of me in this light," he said. "They will try to capture me and tame me."
"I will protect you," Belamy said, with such conviction that Rowen made a growly laugh. Together, they walked past the Hall of Justice. When Handford spotted the unlikely pair through the open front wall, his mouth fell agape and he pushed the heavy front doors open. He stood in the doorway-- frozen, watching, disbelieving. The little girl and the great wolf walked between the houses and shops, and every person stood in their doorway. The children who had been playing before, when they saw Rowen and Belamy, rushed down their stairs and stood by their mother, so that all the people of the town in the clearing were standing with their doors wide-- frozen, watching, disbelieving. Then, the girl and the wolf seemingly disappeared into the trees beyond.
The townspeople broke from their dumb expressions and immediately began to cheer for the girl who had saved their town from the fear of the twilight hours. Had Belamy heard their happy cries, she would have been very pleased, but she and Rowen were already back in her bedroom.
"You must be very quiet," Belamy whispered to Rowen, who was far too large for her small room. His claws scratched the hardwood floor a little, and his tail brushed her bedside lamp over. The bulb broke with a little tinkling. He instantly crouched and tried to become as small as possible.
"This is not the land you were telling me about?" Rowen asked faintly.
"No, it isn't," Belamy assured him.
"I'm sorry about the broken glass. Was it valuable?"
"Shhh," Belamy hushed him. His growls carried even when he was trying to whisper. "No, it's all right. We should have time to venture into the other land. I have to check." She squeezed around the wolf, who took up most of her room, and cracked the door open a little. She took a deep whiff of air to sense if her mother had started to make dinner yet, and when she smelled nothing, she knew she had time. Rowen did not comment, because he thought she was sniffing for danger, and he didn't want his voice to get them caught.
Belamy shut her door again and whispered, "It's all right. We can go now."
She inched around Rowen again, taking care not to step on his tail, and knelt down in front of her square of blue chalk. She looked at the portal, then to Rowen, then back to the portal again.
"It'll be a tight squeeze," she said. "But I think you will be able to get through."
Rowen did not reply, remembering to keep silent, even though his mind was lost.
"I will need you to close your eyes," she instructed him. He did so, and flicked his grand ears a few times. "Now I am going to take hold of your mane, and I want you to follow me across the floor very carefully. Stay crouched, and crawl on your belly. I will tell you when it is safe to open your eyes again."
Without another word, and hoping her plan would work, Belamy took the fur on Rowen's shaggy neck with care and guided him behind her. She closed her eyes and crawled awkwardly through with only one hand in front of her. She felt the familiar terrain of the dream world, and besides getting stuck for a few moments, Rowen followed with little difficulty.
Belamy blinked her eyes and gazed upon the mountains she had once flown over. It would take a long time, she knew, to reach the valley land on foot with a wolf who could not fly.
"You can open your eyes now, Rowen," she said.
He did so, and gazed up at the mountains. "They are perfect," he said. "Where is the ground prey?"
"Just over those snowy peaks," she said. "We will walk together."
"I would like that." Rowen studied the small girl. "But it may take the two of us a week to cross those mountains. I can make the journey in just more than a day if I lope."
"Then you should lope," she said. "I know a short cut that only small creatures like me could use to reach our destination. I will meet you on the other side of those mountains the day after tomorrow."
Rowen nodded, and took off at a breathlessly fast canter. Belamy watched after him until he was a small speck in the distance, then she pumped her arms and rose off the ground, floating and bobbing on the wind like a bird. Flying was Belamy’s very favorite thing to do in her dreams. She took off into the sky, using motions of swimming to propel her through the air toward the mountains.
She was so happy to be flying that she let it escape her that once she was no longer dreaming in the usual fashion, her dreams obtained a certain amount of freedom from her own mind. Which is why, as she floated under the clouds, carelessly oblivious to any dangers, she was hit hard, all of a sudden, by something that was also flying, but had been doing so in the exact opposite direction. I say had, Dear Reader, because neither was flying any longer; Belamy and the unknown other were plunging through the sky toward the ground, and they were quickly coming to meet it.
Adventure Two: The Man with the Red Wings
Copyright 2010
