Fixing a Hole

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

Ringo slowly stirred, and he yawned loudly. He attempted to stretch as he awoke, but was shocked to find this action very hard. He remembered falling asleep in Sythildin's living room, but now he was quickly noticing that his scenery had changed considerably. 

He was in what looked like a dank cellar that was dimly lighted by fire hanging from lamps on the walls. What shocked him more than the cellar was that he was inside a cage with iron bars all around him. He tried to move, but found he was shackled to the back cage bars by his hands and feet. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a mirror image of himself entered the room. It was Sythildin. 

"Ey! Help! What's going on?" he asked, but Sythildin only watched him with cold amusement. "Sythildin, help me! What's happening?... Why are you staring at me like that?" 

Ringo shifted uncomfortably as Sythildin stared him down, and he began to become exceedingly tense. "Sythildin?" he asked nervously and suddenly Sythildin approached the cage sharply.

"Don't call me that." he snarled, and Ringo stared at the man he'd believed to be his friend. 

"Um... What's going on?" he asked, "And what else would I call you?"

"Well, I suppose since you'll never be getting out of this cellar, alive, I am safe telling you my real name. I am Rathiard, the dark magician, but perhaps I'm better known for being the very first 'craver'." He observed Ringo's shocked and horrified expression, and he grinned wickedly and said, "I see you've heard of me."

"But... But you look like me! And you've got to be ancient by now! And Thodron said you'd died in an explosion!" Ringo stuttered. 

"My brother is still alive?!" Rathiard shouted, and Ringo timidly asked:

"Your brother?" 

"Yes, Thodron was my brother, but he should have died long ago! I had a spell to keep me young, but he didn't, or so I thought! He just had the ring..." Rathiard's eyes slowly traveled to Ringo's finger, and he suddenly tore open the cage door.

He grabbed at Ringo's finger and yanked hard, and Ringo gave a pained, "Ow!"

Rathiard stared at the ring, and he gave another tug to which Ringo gave an aggrieved whimper.

"It seems," Rathiard ground out slowly, "That neither of us were truthful about our identities, 'Ringo'." 

Ringo turned his gaze to Rathiard, and then winced in pain when Rathiard slapped him hard across the face. 

"I'll have to figure out some way to get it off your finger." he mused quietly.

"What all do you want with me anyway? Why'd you have to lock me up and everything?" Ringo pleaded, fear taking over his entire being.

"Well, besides the fact you have the ring, we look the same, if you haven't noticed. I don't simply want to travel to your world, where it would be easy for me to take control; I need people to go with so I can fit in somewhere. I need to get a feel for 'Earth' before I start using my magic against you humans, and your three friends fit the part very well. I've already been told plenty about your life, so it won’t be too hard for me to make the switch for a short amount of time. Nobody will be the wiser, until I decide the time is right that is. Then I can, say, dispose of your buddies, and take over your Earth!" Ringo shook his head wildly and cried out, "No! You can't do that!" but Rathiard simply gave a sharp laugh and then closed his eyes in concentration, and then blue sparks zipped between Rathiard's fingers. 

Ringo watched with horrified fascination, and then he felt the ring seem to melt off his finger. Moments later, Rathiard held up his hand and smiled uncontrollably as the ring melted into the view on his finger. Rathiard turned his hand around, and Ringo saw that 'Ringo' was still inscribed on the back. 

"They'll never know the difference, until it's too late!"  Rathiard cackled, "Now, I'd best get up there before my new band members wake up.’Ere Oi go," he said in a perfect Liverpool accent, and he waved his ringed hand back at Ringo as his clothes slowly faded to match those of the drummer. 

"Goodbye, Ringo." Rathiard cackled, and he ascended the stairs and locked Ringo into cave darkness and Ringo felt his eyes fill with tears. 

***

George felt himself wake up slowly and he yawned as sunlight streamed onto his eyes. He looked around his surroundings, and was slightly chagrined to still see that he was in Sythildin’s living room. He’d been hoping this was all a strange dream.

Slowly he got up, and he glanced around to see John and Paul still sleeping soundly, Ringo was gone, but someone was in the kitchen humming quietly to himself.

“Good morning,” George got up, and the person in the kitchen turned.

“Oh, morning George!” ‘Ringo’ smiled, “Sythildin already left for the fields, but he left out a little food for us!”

“Oh good,” George smiled, his stomach felt very empty. He headed over to grab a piece of bread, but ‘Ringo’ frowned.

“Shouldn’t we wait for John and Paul to wake up?” he asked, and George grinned.

“I suppose so,” he nodded, but just then John stretched and got up, quickly picking up his hat from the ground and placing it on his head.

John glanced over at sleeping Paul, and he shook his friends arm declaring, “Wake up Macca!” unnecessarily loudly.

“Uhh,” Paul groaned, and he got up slowly. “Are we back in the hotel room yet?”

“I wish,” George replied.

“It appears to me, me lads, that this is a bit more than a dream,” John announced, and George shrugged as he grabbed the piece of bread.

“At last the food’s real,” he grumbled to himself, and Paul and John gathered by the table to also get a bit of food.

‘Ringo’ sat down as well and asked, “Should we be off after this? Sythildin did teach me how to use the ring after you all fell asleep last night.”

“Oh, we can’t even say goodbye or thank him?” Paul asked, and ‘Ringo’ shrugged.

“I think he’s going to be in the fields all day, so there’s no real reason to hang around.” ‘Ringo’ told his friends, and they shrugged.

“Ok,” John nodded, “So, can we go home now, or do we have to wait a while.”

“Well, we have to travel to this special cave he told me about, and he gave me a map, see!” ‘Ringo’ produced a map from his pocket, and the other Beatles looked at the map carefully. It was written in the language from this world and English.

“That looks pretty far,” George commented, “Is it a real long ways?”

‘Ringo’ shrugged, “About three days,” he told the others, and they glanced at each other.

 "Brian must be worried sick,” Paul sighed, “I wish we could just get home.”

“Well then, we’d best be on the road quickly so we can get lots of travel in!” ‘Ringo’ declared, and his friends nodded as they got up from the table.

“Let’s go!” John declared, and they headed out the door, a secret smile on ‘Ringo’s’/ Rathiard’s face.