The three of them stood still in the deep, thick silence. Arnie looked back at where they had come from, the noisy, voice-filled land beyond the wooden sign. There was nothing to see. It looked empty and lifeless and there was no indication of where the voices came from.
"That's where your voice goes when you lose it?" Isabelle said.
"It seems to be." he replied, unsure.
"Show us the map again Arnold." Flimgog said. Arnie pulled the map and they all looked at it. The mountains corresponded with the map perfectly and Arnie noticed that the range stretched across the map from one side to the other.
"It is clear we need to cross these mountains and enter this area." Flimgog pointed at the grey point beyond the mountain range. "Magnus said we would find the Queen from there. I cannot see any reason to delay. Shall we simply try to cross here?"
Arnie and Isabelle both nodded. Arnie couldn't think of anything else they could do. "We'll go up a ways and then travel around to the left." Arnie said. "I'm not sure how easy it's going to be, but we don't have a lot of choice. There definitely isn't a way to go around the mountains."
Flimgog nodded and Isabelle spoke. "Aye, let's try it."
"Let me go first." Flimgog said. "I can test the ground and you can easily catch me if the need arises."
He didn't wait for an answer but instead started walking up the cone shaped mountain. Arnie and Isabelle followed behind. The ground provided remarkably good grip in its coarse red state. It was steep though and it didn't take long for Arnie's legs to feel tired.
As they climbed Arnie found it getting a little easier although there was no visible reason why it should be getting easier. In fact, he thought it should be getting harder as they went up. Nonetheless they continued up. Arnie looked back from where they came and was astonished by how high they had come. He looked out at the landscape they were leaving behind. It looked unchanged as far as his eyes could see. He looked up the mountain but the top was still invisible.
"Flimgog how far up do we need to go?" Arnie called.
"I don't know, the ground feels unchanging so far." Flimgog called back. Arnie saw him look at the neighbouring mountain. "We are probably high enough to start going around the mountain now. We seem to be far enough away from the next one."
At ground level, all of the mountains were side by side and touching. As they went higher, due to the cone shape, they were further apart thus making it possible to go around.
"Ok, let's do it!" Arnie said. He was feeling a lot lighter now and a lot more relaxed.
Flimgog stopped going upwards and instead began edging around the side of the mountain. Because the incline was steep, Arnie felt reassured by the gripping quality of the ground but still found himself with visions of tumbling down the mountain. He pushed the thought from his mind and slowed down even more. He looked at Isabelle and saw that she seemed at ease.
He continued inching round the mountain and took comfort in the fact that Flimgog didn't seem to have encountered any problems, the ground seemed to be holding up so far.
How long they moved round for he wasn't sure, he had sort of drifted into dazed, repetative movements, edging round small step by small step. He almost walked into Flimgog who had stopped up ahead.
"What's happening?" Isabelle asked from behind as she noticed they had stopped.
"There is some kind of hole in the mountainside here." Flimgog said. Arnie saw what he was talking about. It was a hole in the side of the mountain about the size of a swimming pool water slide. It was dark, but there did seem to be some kind of metal shoot within the hole. "Seems to be a slide of some kind." Flimgog continued.
"Can't we just go above or below and get around it?" Arnie asked.
Flimgog moved up to try and go around it. "It moves up and down with me." he said. And sure enough, as he tried to go below the hole in the mountain it followed him down making it impossible for him to pass.
"Let's see if I can pass by above it." Arnie said. He reasoned that it wouldn't be able to be in front of both of them at once. He moved himself up the mountainside a little way and then stepped forward so he was level with Flimgog. No sooner had he come level with Flimgog when his very own hole appeared in front of him, blocking him from moving on round the mountain.
"Well, that didn't work out very well." he said, a little exasperated. Mixed with the exasperation he felt the little tenticles of fear and worry begin to wind their way through his body.
"That doesn't leave us a lot of choice!" Isabelle said. "We either go back or we go through the hole."
"I don't think going back is going to make any difference." Flimgog said, thoughtful. "From the map I would guess we have to go through the hole. It seems like the only way through the mountain to the other side and that's where we want to get to."
Arnie was worried but he didn't see an alternative. He didn't say anything for a little while as he rummaged through his mind looking for alternatives. Eventually he gave up.
"Ok. I suppose we don't have a choice. But I don't want us to get split up or separated. Can we all fit together?" he asked, looking at the hole.
Isabelle leaned forward and looked at the hole. "Yes, I think we'll all fit at a squeeze. But I think a squeeze is better than splitting up." she said. Arnie was relieved about that. He wasn't sure he could face them being separated down a dark tunnel in the side of an unknown, red, mountain.
Flimgog leapt up and landed on Arnie's shoulder. He swung himself around the back of his neck and wound his arms around to hold himself on. "You go ahead Arnold and Isabelle use your legs to hold together."
Arnie moved cautiously towards the hole and sat down in front of it. He readied himself to push in but didn't put any of his body in the hole until Isabelle was safely in place, holding tightly with her legs and arms. Arnie felt his stomach fluttering and his heartbeat speeding up and he wasn't sure if it was becuase of unknown they were about to experience or because of the fact he could feel her every breath on his neck and he could feel the gentle rise and fall of her body that accompanied each breath.
"I'm ready." she said quietly into his ear.
"Me too." Flimgog said. Arnie had almost forgotten the pencil was clinging to his neck.
"Here goes nothing then." he said.
They edged forward towards the hole. His legs were over the metal slide. Arnie peered into the hole but he could see nothing. They continued to edge forward until they were both perched at the top of the hole looking down into black darkness. The dark was thicker than a forest in the Scottish highlands on a winter's night.
Arnie hesitated. As though feeling his hesitation, Isabelle nudged them forwards, still holding tight, and they were over the edge and away, sliding down.
Immediately they were consumed by the darkness. The metal beneath was sliding away with increasing speed. It felt like a playpark slide that kids love to play on.
Arnie felt it as they turned to the left, still heading down, down, down.
He tried to speak, to say something to the others but his mouth was filled with the cold rushing air that was hitting his face. It was starting to sting.
He moved his hand slightly to see what he could feel, his hand brushed the wall on the right and he pulled it back when he felt something crumble. It felt like dry earth.
The descent continued and continued. He grew calmer as it went on, as time past them by. If you'd asked him he couldn't have told you how long they rushed down that cold, dark tunnel unable to speak and consumed by silence. It was long enough, however, so that he got entirely used to it and felt totally at ease.
As soon as the last of his panic and worry left him something changed. Up ahead, a pinkish glow had appeared. It was dim but definitely there. They rounded a bend up ahead and the scene changed completely. Arnie heard Isabelle gasp behind him. What seemed to be glass now surrounded them on all sides. The metal floor had also been replaced by glass. And outside the glass was what looked like water. The clearest, although pink coloured, water Arnie had ever seen. The visibility stretched on and on.
There were creatures there too Arnie noticed. Fish of some kind. It was hard to see due to the speed they were moving but they looked like regular fish of many different sizes and colours.
He managed to look down and through the glass bottom of the slide, he saw the pink bed of this body of water. There was something else down there. A collection of round things he couldn't quite make out.
"Arnold! We must stop!" Flimgog managed to call out. Arnie looked up and saw the slide was coming to an abrupt end up ahead. It seemed that there was an opening straight into the pink water and that they were about to be launched into it. It opened into the depths. Somehow the water was not coming into the tunnel, but they seemed to be nowhere near any surface.
Arnie pushed both hands against the glass in an effort to stop. He felt Isabelle let go with her arms and assumed she was doing the same. His hands began to burn as the friction rubbed. He felt them slowing slightly but knew it was too late. The wall of pink was approaching very, very fast.
"Nooooo!" he managed to get out just before they reached it. "Hold on!" He felt Isabelle grab hold of him again as they hit the wall of pink with a splash. It felt like jumping feet first into a warm swimming pool. They were propelled forward for several feet but the water quickly slowed them down and brought them to a stop.
Miraculously they had managed to stay attached and he felt Isabelle let go and swim around in front of him. Flimgog kept his hands around Arnie's neck.
Arnie pointed up, indicating that they should try to reach the surface. Isabelle nodded her agreement and together they kicked off upwards. Arnie felt a pull at his foot and he looked down. Someting was grabbing at his foot. He kicked out in panic, but it made no difference. He couldn't shake the creature. It was a bronze looking, round shape, with extended arms. He was several of them hovering around his feet and more still at Isabelle's.
He tried again to kick them off and push towards the surface, but they held fast. He felt himself being pulled downwards. Struggle as he might, he moved steadily down. He saw Isabelle was also sinking. There was a look of terror in her eyes.
He couldn't shake the pulling hands.
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