The Wonderground

22 - Elephants & Castles

They had thought The Portal Gate station was high until the wind buffeted their bodies as they stepped from the Shadow Kiss onto the Elephants & Castles platform. A smoke-grey painted railing, five metres high, skirted the edge of the platform, presumably to prevent anyone falling to a horrific death. Each railing post was shaped like an elephant's head with a trailing trunk to the floor. Nobody else exited the train and the platform was deserted. The tracks terminated at a pair of buffers next to a yawning pair of gates wrought in the style of two castle towers. Spanning the top of the gates was an iron arch that read: 'Elephants & Castles – please keep left.'

There was no staircase, escalator or lift beyond the gates. There was just a sheer drop. The wind picked up again and Isla grabbed for Charlie. "I don't like heights," she squealed, burying her head into his shoulder.

"Is there no way off this ledge?" asked Jack.

Eeleye and Tog were perched on the steps of the final carriage. Eeleye's watch cap was hanging from one of the platform railing posts. Tog was tucking into a hard-boiled egg that was a disturbing shade of green. Eeleye was peeling the skin from a horseshoe-shaped piece of orange fruit.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Rose.

"We wait," munched Tog between bites.

"I don't mean you," retorted Rose. "I mean us. There's no way off the station."

"Tog is correct," said Eeleye. "We wait. We all wait."

"Wait for what?" asked Charlie.

Eeleye looked at them incredulously. "For an elephant and a castle of course!"

It was bleak in all directions. The sun was beating down on the scorched open grassland. An occasional withered tree punctured the monotony, but they were few and far between. On the horizon, shimmering through the heat haze, was a range of purple-grey mountains. One of the hills was moving. Elliot concluded it was an illusion, a trick of the heat. To their right, the elevated train tracks curved on an immense stone viaduct towards a tunnel that bored into the nearest mountain. Each stone arch was carved in the profile of two elephant heads facing away from each other. Their trunks formed the columns of the vast bridge. Except the viaduct did not appear to be bridging anything. The ground far below was bare. Not so much as a stream trickled beneath them. They could not understand the need for such a structure.

Amelia tried to instigate a game of 'I Spy', but it ended quickly when Jack annoyed them by playing 'another cloud' for a word beginning with 'A'.

They had been sitting, more and more impatiently, for an hour. Elliot lay face down and placed his palms flat to the platform. "Did you feel that?" he asked curiously.

"Feel what?" asked Charlie.

"There it was again," said Elliot nervously. "I felt the platform shake."

"Don't say that!" wailed Isla, grabbing the railing behind her.

When Elliot remarked about a third vibration, their eyes widened. They had all felt it.

"Finally!" proclaimed Eeleye, rising from his seated position.

Tog polished off a curried cupcake, licked his lips and headed towards the engine compartment.

More vibrations rippled up from their toes.

"Is this platform safe?" asked Isla.

"Perfectly," replied the train conductor. "This station has survived far worse than old Loxo," he said with a chuckle.

"Who, or what, is a 'Loxo'?" questioned Elliot.

"What do you think?" said Eeleye sarcastically. "The only castles that move are in the game of chess..."