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The Land of the Secret Door
By Kara Siert, Age 9,
Started
March 31, 2005
Chapter One
The Secret Door
I dipped my rag into the bucket that held soapy water and scrubbed harder at the tile floor I was trying to clean.
I worked with other girls at Mrs. Clark’s house.
Mrs. Clark was a very nice person, but she was strict when you first came, for she wanted you to know who was boss.
Like all the other girls, I was an orphan.
We earned our keep here at Mrs. Clark’s property. The place we lived was called, “The Garden Palace”. Even though it wasn’t a palace, it was big and the people in the town where I lived had small houses, so they thought it was surely big enough to be a palace.
Mrs. Clark had first bought it thinking that she would not be bothered by anyone in it. Her husband had died and she sold her small home and used all her savings to buy The Garden Palace.
She thought she could never, ever see anyone except her servants who went out and bought her things that she ordered them to get her. She only talked to the servants when she had to.
That is, until one day when a young girl came to her house looking for a job.
Mrs. Clark, though she might not look or sound like a very nice person, let the girl stay for the night and hired her as a maid. Mrs. Clark actually was very kind and loving.
She started to love the girl and care for her as if she was her own child.
It turned out; the girl had been sent away from a distant orphanage because she was too young to do the hard work they wanted her to do to earn her keep.
The girl had grown up in an orphanage, but she got too old and was sent to the one that had sent her away.
Mrs. Clark adopted the girl, whose name was Emily, and from then on, became a friend to everyone in the town – neighbors, servants and so on.
She was very kind to the servants and usually went out to buy things for herself instead of letting the servants do it for her.
Mrs. Clark took more girls that could not fit in other orphanages or were too young or too old.
She took girls from the streets and looked for their parents.
She had been doing this for years when I came in.
Now, as I scrubbed the floors, I thought of when I had come…
My parents could not keep me anymore – they did not have enough money to buy food for their family.
I was the oldest. The youngest was one year; the second youngest was three years old. I was five.
I don’t remember my parents at all.
They dropped me off and I’m sure they were crying.
Mrs. Clark said they were very good people and that they moved away after that to a much smaller house they could barely afford.
I cried when I first came.
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THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR
Mrs. Clark said that I would say I wanted my mommy a lot when I was sleeping or playing.
But, I grew up and got used to orphanage life.
Mrs. Clark looked and looked for a family to adopt me, but she could not find one, so I got older and turned nine.
I went to school where Mrs. Clark’s first girl that came to The Garden Palace taught us our lessons.
Mrs. Clark had told me about when I was younger.
I was glad that I knew about it.
I was seven when I started scrubbing floors and I have done it for two years now.
I saw Mrs. Clark out of the corner of my eye and then I realized why she was coming.
I had been scrubbing the same tile while I was thinking about what Mrs. Clark told me about my childhood!
“Grace, is there something wrong with that tile?” Mrs. Clark asked.
“Why no, I just…I just…” I trailed off and looked fearfully up at Mrs. Clark.
But instead of scolding me like she usually would she smiled and said, “I didn’t ask you to scrub the floors, today, Grace.”
“You – you didn’t?” I asked, surprised.
“No, I didn’t. You assumed I wanted you to,” replied Mrs. Clark.
“I – I’m sorry –” I began.
“Don’t apologize, my dear. I wanted to see if you remembered to do it,” Mrs. Clark smiled, “But now, get up and dump out that water.”
“Why?” I asked, “I’m not finished!”
“Just do as I say, Grace,” said Mrs. Clark.
“Yes ma’am,” I said and then did as she told me to.
Soon, I was standing on a puddle of water where I had been scrubbing and not had a chance to wipe up the water.
Mrs. Clark looked down at me through her glasses.
She was wearing a dark purple blouse and a light blue skirt. Over her blouse she wore a sweater that had the color of her skirt and her blouse mixed with some pink and bright green.
She had light brown eyes and dark brown hair pulled up in a bun at the back of her head.
“Grace,” she said, “Come with me.”
She started to walk down the hallway and I followed.
She saw Hannah, who was one of the other orphans, on the way down and said, “Hannah, go to the room with the tile and finish cleaning the floors.”
Hannah obeyed and I wondered why Mrs. Clark didn’t let Hannah use the water and rag I was using.
Mrs. Clark stopped at a door and I almost bumped into her.
The door she had stopped at was the one that she had forbidden any of us to go inside.
I wondered why she had stopped there.
She turned the handle and walked in, holding the door open and revealing a medium-sized room with a dresser, a bed, two bookshelves with books in them, lots of papers on a desk and a closet.
I was not sure if I was supposed to come in, so I stayed outside the room until Mrs. Clark
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asked if I was coming or not.
“Am I…am I…uhhh…” I wasn’t sure how to say what I wanted to, but Mrs. Clark understood.
“Come in, dear, come in,” she said, “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Is it…is it…Am I in trouble?” I managed to say.
“Why no, honey! You’re definitely not in any sort of trouble. Now, do come in.”
I stepped into the room and Mrs. Clark asked me if I liked adventures.
Now, I really liked adventures and I often played I was in a secret land when I was scrubbing the floors or doing other chores.
“Oh yes,” I replied, “Adventures are my kind of thing.”
“Good,” said Mrs. Clark, “because even though you might think I’m crazy like many others, I’m telling you the truth. Under my bed there is a tunnel and it leads through the wall into a swirling liquid. If you climb into the liquid then you’ll be whisked off to another land.”
“Have you tried it yourself?” I asked.
“Of course,” said Mrs. Clark, “I wouldn’t be sending one of my girls to another land if I hadn’t been there first! Now, would you like to try it? You can always come back. And I’ll tell you how – you can explore for a bit, or, if you would like to come straight back here, just say the magic word, and back you’ll come, wherever you are. The magic words are the Sunflower is blooming.”
“How did you find out these things?” I asked.
“I read them in a book! My grandfather went into the land and got lost and for a month or two, he never came back! Finally, he found someone who told him the magic words. He got home, all right, but he wrote a whole book about it and gave it to my mother, his only child. But she was too timid to go exploring in other lands, so she locked it up in a chest and when I grew up and was ready to move away, she told me about it and when I asked if I could have it, she gladly handed it over. And now, I pick you to go into the land.”
“Are you going to come with me?” I asked.
“I wish I could, honey, but when I first went in, I didn’t have an orphanage! I have to run the orphanage now and I can’t just disappear! I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go alone. I’m not going to let any of the other girls come because I just don’t trust them. Now, would you like to go, or not?”
“I – I – I’m not so sure,” I said.
Actually, I really wouldn’t mind going, but then, what if I met someone who was evil?
I had read all the books that were available at the orphanage from cover-to-cover at least ten times! But of course, they had bad people and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to meet a bad person in another land! But, then, I could just say the magic words and then I could come back.
Mrs. Clark smiled a smile of understanding, “I know, I know, dear. It would be hard to decide.”
“What would you do?” I asked.
“Well, I’d go. I would watch out for danger and maybe try to see if I could come back using the magic words, you know, just to make sure,” replied Mrs. Clark, “But, it’s your choice, and you can either go and then come back, or stay here. But whatever you choose, don’t tell anyone, unless I give you permission to. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am,” I replied.
“Good. Now, what do you think?”
“I’ll do it,” I said.
“All right, then,” said Mrs. Clark,
“Take this book of information with you.”
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Mrs. Clark handed me the book and I took it.
“And also,” she added, “Don’t let anyone have it, unless you’re in danger. It is a very important to me and to anyone else who wants to go into the other land. Now, climb under the bed and I will show you the secret door.”
A little while later, I scooted the book of information Mrs. Clark had given me in front of my hand and listened carefully to the directions I was being given.
“Now, follow the path until you reach the circle of whirling liquid. Stop when you get there,” Mrs. Clark said.
I did what she told me to and when I reached the circle of liquid, I almost freaked out.
“Mrs. Clark, I don’t know if I want to do this after all. Please let me out,” I said.
“Now honey, it’s not as scary as it looks. Please try it, dear. Wouldn’t you do it for me?”
I thought of all the things that Mrs. Clark had done for me – let me live in her house, hired a teacher for me and some other girls, provided food and clothes for me if I did chores and been like a mother to me. I had to do this for her. I just had to.
I regained my courage and asked for further directions.
“Now, remember everything that I’ve taught you and told you just now. And the magic words – they’re in the book. But let me tell them to you now – the sunflower is blooming. Can you remember that?”
“Yes, I replied, “I can. The sunflower is blooming. The sunflower is blooming. I got it. Now what should I do?”
“Step into the liquid,” came the reply.
A shiver ran over me, but I wanted to do this for Mrs. Clark.
“Oh, and take notes, also,” Mrs. Clark added.
I put one foot into the whirling pool of yellow liquid and I felt my whole body being sucked in.
I tried to stifle my scream, but I had both hands on the book of instructions because I didn’t want the liquid to pull the book away from me.
But, by the time the loudest part of the scream came out, I was in another land.
Chapter Two
The Butterfly
I looked around me and wondered what land I was in. I had forgotten to ask Mrs. Clark the name of the land I was going into.
I didn’t see a sign, but I did see lots of nice, green grass.
The place was rather flat, but it had a few hills here and there.
I saw a couple nice-looking trees and I sat down under one and began to look at the book Mrs. Clark had loaned me.
It had lots of information about the land I was in and it was all very interesting.
Although I loved to read, I really wanted to explore at that moment and I set the book
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down.
I examined the tree I was sitting by and then, seeing nothing of interest to me, I walked towards the hills in the distance.
Half and hour later, I stood at the top of a hill. It wasn’t an ordinary hill (at least that’s what I thought) because it was the biggest of all the hills in the distance and bigger than the one I had climbed over to get to it.
And, standing right in front of me was a palace!
It was palace with a gold fence surrounding it. Everywhere I looked, I saw beautiful stars – there were stars on the fence, stars on the door to the palace, stars on the windows and much more!
I had never seen anything so fine.
I thought that Mrs. Clark’s place was not even half as good as this!
The palace was huge!
I wished I could go inside, but I knew that that wish probably wouldn’t be granted.
But, I was curious about what or who was inside, so I put my hand on the gate and tried to push it open.
To my surprise and delight, the gate easily swung open and I eagerly walked inside.
The courtyard around the palace was lovely. There were hedges and flowers of all kinds. Bees and butterflies flew around the flowers taking a bit of nectar and pollen from one flower to another.
A swallowtail landed on my shoulder and then sat on my hand.
I thought it would fly away, but it stayed and I didn’t really want to shake it off.
So, I walked up to the door of the palace with the butterfly on my arm.
I put my hand onto the star-shaped doorknob of the gate, when the butterfly, which had been riding on my shoulder, quickly flew over to the door handle I was about to turn and tried to push my fingers away from it.
“Why, little butterfly!” I exclaimed, taking my hand off the doorknob, “What’s wrong?”
I knew that the butterfly would not be able to answer, but I asked it anyway what on earth it was trying to do.
Of course, it didn’t answer and I sat down on a gold bench.
The butterfly sat in my lap and I looked at it for a long time.
But suddenly, I heard a noise.
It sounded like someone murmuring.
It was coming from the butterfly!
Chapter Three
The Star King
The murmuring got louder and I could distinctly hear the words, “It’s dangerous! It’s
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dangerous!”
“If it was possible that butterflies could really talk, I would believe you,” I said, “But I know I have a big imagination.”
“I am talking!”
I again looked at the butterfly and there was silence.
Then, the voice came again.
“Me! The butterfly! I’m talking to you! It’s dangerous to go into that palace! Many people go in and never come out!”
“You are talking?” I cried incredulously, “But you’re a butterfly!”
“Yes, but here in the land of the Secret Door, everyone can talk! Even the flowers can!”
“They can?” I asked.
“Or course! Everything that is alive talks – trees, bees, bears, tigers – everything and everybody!” exclaimed the butterfly.
“This is impossible,” I muttered.
“Did you say that awful word?” asked the butterfly in a terrified voice.
“What word?” I asked, “Impossible?”
“Yes, that word,” replied the butterfly, “We aren’t allowed to say that word here. So please stop saying it!”
“Who says I can’t say it?” I asked, “It’s true – lots of things are impossible!”
“Oh, why haven’t you heard of the king?”
“No,” I replied.
“You haven’t?” cried the butterfly, “You haven’t heard of the great buffalo king? You’ve got to be kidding!”
I was about to ask more about the buffalo when a young goat ran up to us.
“Why hello, Ann,” said the butterfly, “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you say kid!” replied the goat, whose name was Ann, “I’m a kid and I thought you needed me!”
“Oh Ann,” laughed the butterfly, “I said, you’ve got to be kidding!”
“Who is this?” I asked.
“This is Ann the goat,” replied the butterfly, “She heard me say, kidding, so she came running! You see, goats are called kids.”
“Oh, I see,” I said.
“Good. Now, please run along, Ann,” said the butterfly.
Ann did run off and the butterfly said that her name was Beauty. I told her I was Grace.
Then, Beauty said that Rocky was a buffalo. He was the king of the land I was in.
“What is the name of this land?” I asked.
“This is Secret Door Land,” replied Beauty, “It’s called that because the way you get into this land is from a secret door and from a secret door only. Rocky got in through a secret door. He was with a buffalo herd, but he didn’t have any friends and his mother and father had gotten captured by humans. Rocky was just a little buffalo. He sat down by a tree and suddenly, something poked his back. He turned around in surprise and there was a door! It was opening and Rocky tumbled inside. He wasn’t quite sure how he made the door open, but anyway, it did. He came into this land and named it Secret Door Land. Actually, not everyone came through a secret door, but that’s what Rocky thought. He discovered that he was suddenly full-grown when he landed in this land. Anyway, he found a big hole and inside was all sorts of creatures – all the creatures that you have seen and are seeing. All the creatures like in your land. They were trapped in the hole. The evil Lady of the Sea had put them there because they refused to follow
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her command, which was always, always to do what she said. Rocky rescued them and then they all followed him. But, the Lady of the Sea, who we all call the Evil One, got four tigers and one lion to follow her. Now, the lion is dead, but the three tigers mated with each other and now she has lots and lots of tigers to hunt down those of us who follow Rocky. We don’t know where Rocky is today, but I think that he’ll be coming soon. Anyway, the Star King, whose palace courtyard you are sitting in, is always in a fight with the Evil One. He’s against Rocky and against the Evil One, though. He has his own creatures. I wait here in case someone would try to get into his castle – his castle is very bad. Many creatures go in and never ever come back out. I hear animal screams and crying from in there – I was just waiting for someone to come along for me to try to help. And that someone – you – came along and I’m warning you right now that if you ever step inside the Star King’s palace, you will never come out.”
“Wow,” I said, “I never realized how dangerous a palace and one man could be.”
“You mean one man and all his followers,” corrected Beauty, “The Star King has lots of animals that are on his side – against Rocky and against the Evil One – it’s awful. I don’t know if they would ever be able to get away from him if they wanted to.”
“Yikes,” I said, “Is the Evil One a witch?”
“Oh no,” said Beauty, “She’s all human.”
“Oh. Could you tell me more about the Star King?”
“Sure, Grace,” replied Beauty, “Let’s see…Well, he thinks he’s king of all the stars. Of course, he’s not – God is. But he doesn’t believe in God. The Evil One thinks she is queen of all the stars. But, she doesn’t want the Star King, as everyone calls him, to be king of all stars! So they’re always in a fight over who is in control of the stars.”
I was about to ask Beauty a question about the palace of the Star King (I’ll just call him that for now) but suddenly, a glittering string of lights appeared. The lights surrounded Beauty and I and then they started to get smaller and smaller and smaller until there was nothing left of them but a gigantic buffalo!
“It’s Rocky,” whispered Beauty.
Chapter Four
Rocky
I gasped.
I could feel Beauty’s feet gripping the skin on my hand tighter and tighter.
“Beauty!” I exclaimed as loud as I dared, “Loosen your hold a bit, would you?”
The butterfly did and then the great buffalo spoke.
“I am Rocky,” it said, “I have come to make peace between the Star King and the Evil One. But I must have helpers. Grace and Beauty, come with me.”
“How did you know my name?” I asked in surprise.
“There is no time to explain now,” said Rocky, shaking his head of buffalo hair, “Just follow me.”
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“Beauty,” I whispered, “What are we going to do?”
“Follow him, of course,” answered my friend.
“But one of my friends said that buffaloes are very dangerous,” I argued.
“You come from your land,” said Rocky in a grand-sounding voice, “But here in Secret Door Land, all animals eat plants. Look behind you and you will see what I mean.
I turned around and there, to my surprise, was a bear and a lamb, laying side by side and talking to each other like the best of friends!
“Have faith,” said Rocky, “have faith like your friend, Beauty. You are a human and you should easily trust me. But you did not. Beauty, who is only a butterfly, had faith and trusted me. Now, are you ready to help me make peace in this land?”
“Yes,” I replied.
But I didn’t really know what I had just said “yes” to. I was too busy thinking about how Beauty trusted Rocky and I didn’t. I was very ashamed.
“I know how you feel,” said Rocky, “And I know you’re ashamed. But it is all forgiven now and I need you to go summon the other creatures in this land. Now, make haste and meet me right here tonight at 5:00 sharp.”
I was about to ask him how we were going to get everyone to come and besides that, find the creatures!
But, the glittering lights appeared again and they got smaller and smaller and smaller and as they disappeared, Rocky did, too!
I gasped.
“I never thought that I would see Rocky,” whispered Beauty in amazement.
“You mean you believed in him when you never saw him?” I asked in surprise.
“Of course,” Beauty replied.
I sighed. I was still ashamed.
“Now,” said my friend, “Let’s be off and do what Rocky said.”
At five o’ clock sharp, Beauty and I, followed by a long line of animals, sat down with our backs to the Star King’s Castle Courtyard wall.
We waited for at least five whole minutes for Rocky to appear. But, he did not and we all wondered what had gone wrong.
“Perhaps he was captured,” suggested a squirrel.
“Yes, maybe so,” agreed the squirrel’s mother.
Then there was a lot of murmuring among the animals.
It had been easier than I thought to get the animals.
We told them our story and all of them believed us.
None of them were the least bit skeptical.
“How trusting these animals are,” I thought, “If only I could be that way.”
Time past and soon the sky began to darken.
We all drifted off to sleep.
In the morning, though, everything was different from the night before.
We awoke by shimmering lights and lots of shouting.
The animals began to frantically make their noises – the horses whinnied in fright, the pigs snorted, the squirrels began to chatter in an afraid tone of voice and all the other animals not mentioned made their sounds, too.
I suddenly screamed in terror.
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Chapter Five
The Castle
A huge monster – like creature towered over me.
I couldn’t tell what it was.
I looked a little like a bear on its hind legs, but of course, it was too big to be a bear!
I screamed again and the huge creature bent down and made a grab for a moose. The huge creature’s face was as big as a lion in our world.
It roared a terrible, deafening roar and I covered my ears. I could still hear it through my hands, though.
Suddenly, a great noise was heard.
It was almost as deafening as the gigantic creature’s roar.
I looked over to my left and there was Rocky, the great buffalo.
The huge animal turned from all of us and as it tried to get at Rocky, I could see it clearly. It was as tall as a five-story high building and its paws were about five feet long! It had claws about a foot long.
It must have been a gigantic, humongous, terrible bear!
“Rocky!” it bellowed, “Retreat and no one will be hurt.”
“No!” cried Rocky, “Never! When the Evil One and the Star King are out of power, I still will not retreat!”
“You will never be able to defeat the Star King!” the bear exclaimed, “Retreat!”
“No!” shouted Rocky above all the noise of animals and the Star King’s army.
The bear did not argue anymore. Instead, it reached down one of its terrible paws and made a grab for Rocky.
This time, he did not miss.
The big bear carried Rocky off in its paw.
A few hours later, only about ten animals were left by the Star King’s courtyard wall.
The rest had gone off to tell others what had happened. (Not all the animals were able to come, if they wanted to, some were sick, others were hurt.)
I wondered why it had taken Rocky so long to meet us.
I thought it was strange that he had shown up right at the time the bear came.
Then, finally, I realized it.
When Rocky had first appeared to us, he had said to bring the animals “right here”. That “right here” was up in the Star King’s castle courtyard!
We had been leaning against the courtyard wall!
Rocky wanted us to learn to follow orders exactly. If there was a battle or anything like that and we didn’t follow orders exactly, we could have all been killed, seriously wounded or not help Rocky win by going to the wrong place!
Rocky did not protect us when the big bear came because we had not followed his orders right.
Now, Rocky had been carried off to some place besides the Star King’s castle (I knew Rocky had not been taken into the Star King’s palace because I saw them take him somewhere else) and I was responsible!
Beauty had forgotten, too.
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But still, I felt responsible.
I told my story to a gray horse standing near by me.
Fortunately, he understood and offered Beauty and I a ride.
“We might be able to find out were that big bear took Rocky,” the horse said, “A big bear like that must have left some kind of trace.”
So I climbed onto the back of the horse with Beauty in my dress pocket.
I wasn’t so sure how to ride, but the horse, whose name was Monarch, told me to grab hold of her mane and hold on tight.
So, we started off at a rather slow pace, for we had to look for clues of where Rocky had been taken, and pretty soon, we started to see big marks in the dirt which must have been the footprints of the bear.
We followed the footprints for a long time and Monarch said that she would have to speed up.
Beauty was already being bumped around and jostled, so I found a thick vine hanging around a tree and Monarch managed to rip off a good long string of it. I made something similar to a bridle for Monarch and put it on her.
I then put my arm through the spot on the bridle that you usually hold onto and with my other hand I made sure Beauty was okay in my pocket.
Finally, we reached a large, menacing castle.
It was made of very dark-black stone. I didn’t like the look of it and something inside me told me that it meant trouble.
The tracks of the huge bear stopped outside a moat that was surrounding the big, dark castle.
I wondered why the castle up on the hill where I had first met Beauty did not have a moat.
But I didn’t really have time to think much about it because we were all faced by a big decision.
“Well,” said Monarch, “I think we should decide what we should do. I mean – who is going in? We can’t all go in because what if one of us gets caught? Then there is no one to go get others to rescue the caught creature.”
“I guess we should use the process of elimination,” I said.
“What is that?” asked Beauty.
“Process of elimination helps us decide who goes in,” I said, “How it works is we think about what would happen if Monarch went in.”
“I think I’m a little too big,” said Monarch.
“Right,” I said, “And besides, Monarch is the only one who can run fast enough to get help. Now what we just did was using the process of elimination.”
“Neat!” exclaimed Beauty.
I nodded in agreement to Beauty’s comment and then said, “Now what about Beauty?”
“Don’t you think I’m a little too small?” asked Beauty.
I was about to say that she was too small when a sudden thought came to my mind.
“No,” I replied, “You’re not too small for the job I’m going to give you. Listen up– I’ve got a plan. What we do is this – Beauty flies into the castle and tell us what is going on – she’s the scout. Beauty, you go in and see if they are holding Rocky in there – if they are, then go see where and memorize how to get there. Then you fly back out and I will sneak in there. You will distract the men, Beauty and I’ll sneak in. Don’t let them catch you – stay out of their reach. You’ll tell me the directions and I’ll write them down in the notebook Mrs. Clark gave me–”
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I was interrupted by Monarch. “But Grace,” she said, “You told us the story of how you got here while we were following the trail of footprints. But you don’t have the book with you, Grace. Where is it?”
I then remembered I had left it by the tree when I first got into Secret Door Land. And now, somebody could have stolen it! Mrs. Clark said to make sure it got back safe and sound.
I told my two friends what I had just realized.
“You’ll have to do without it, Grace,” said Monarch, “Right now, Rocky’s life may be in danger. You’ll have to remember the directions that Beauty gives you.”
I nodded my head in agreement.
“Continue, Grace,” said Monarch.
“As I was saying,” I continued, “Beauty will distract the people in the castle and I’ll sneak in and see about Rocky. Then I’ll get out and Beauty will fly away. I probably won’t be able to get Rocky loose, but we will know where he is.”
“Why do you need to know where Rocky is if he’s in there, and I do to?” asked Beauty, “I mean, if he’s in there, why can’t I just go in there and you stay out here with Monarch?”
“Well,” I said, “What if you accidentally got something mixed up? You probably won’t, but just in case you do, I would really like to have both of us go into the castle.”
“Oh, I see,” said Beauty.
“But how are you two going to get across the moat and into the castle?” Monarch asked.
Now this was something I hadn’t thought of.
“Well, I don’t know,” I said, “I really didn’t think of that, but maybe, just maybe if we had some strong kind of animal–”
My voice was suddenly lost in a roar. I screamed.
Of course, no one could really hear me, but I screamed a second time.
I could feel something get into my pocket and I figured it was Beauty.
I couldn’t really look though, because whoever or whatever it was had stirred up so much dust that I couldn’t see a thing!
I groped about for Monarch’s back, but I couldn’t feel anything.
I opened my mouth to scream, but all I got was a mouth full of dust.
I did not know what to do!
I didn’t want to open my eyes, because all the dust and dirt would get into them, but I opened them anyway and looked around.
The dust still got into my eyes, but it was settling and I could make out the shape of an enormous lion.
Chapter Six
Andrew
The lion roared a terribly loud and terrifying roar and I covered my ears, though that really didn’t help much.
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Only one thought was in my mind right then – I had to get away from the lion.
I had no idea how I was going to do this, since the only thing that I could do was run since I couldn’t find Monarch.
But, I put one of my hands on the opening of the pocket Beauty was in so that not so much dust would get inside.
Then, I ran as fast as I could.
But actually, I couldn’t run very fast. And since the lion was so big, he could easily catch up to me.
I just hoped he wouldn’t want me.
I also hoped Monarch was safe, but I couldn’t see her or anything.
Suddenly, I heard a horse neigh behind me.
I had to look back. I saw the lion, which was about as tall as a six-story apartment standing on its feet, holding Monarch in its paws.
Again, I felt responsible.
If I had led all the animals to the courtyard of the Star King’s place, then Rocky would have come and everything would have been okay. We wouldn’t have had to go to the big, dark gloomy palace to see if Rocky was there. And the terrible lion would not have had Monarch.
I wished I could do something to at least let Monarch know that I cared.
But all I could do was stand there and watch.
The lion sat down on all four legs and I figured it was getting ready to eat its lunch – Monarch.
But suddenly, the lion began to put Monarch down!
Gently, Monarch slid off the lion’s paw, which was about three feet across and three feet wide.
I crept a bit closer and Monarch spoke a few words to the humongous lion and then galloped over to me.
“That big lion is Andrew,” said Monarch, “He’s a very good lion. Come over and meet him.”
“But he’s dangerous, isn’t he?”
Monarch laughed. “He’s a very good friend of Rocky! We’ll find ourselves a bite to eat and then he’ll just take a bit out of the wall so Beauty can get in, and then when it’s time for you to go in, he’ll just swim across the moat, scare away all the crocodiles in the moat, and then pull down the big bridge for you!”
Beauty poked her head out of my dress pocket and coughed up some dust. “What a great idea!” she cried, “Yikes – that’s a big lion.”
“But isn’t someone going to hear the lion getting the bridge down?” I asked.
“Have faith and trust,” replied Monarch, “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the lion.”
One hour later, the lion, whose name was Andrew, took one of his big one-foot long half-a-foot-across claws and carved a small hole in the wall just big enough for Beauty to climb though.
Beauty squished herself in and then we all went back into the bushes where Monarch, Beauty and I had first come up with our plan to get into the castle.
“I sure hope she’ll be okay in there,” I said, “Maybe I gave her too dangerous of a job.”
We had all told Andrew our plans while we were eating some raspberries Monarch had found. I told him of how I had gotten into Secret Door Land and then Beauty and I told him of how the bear had come and taken Rocky away.
12
THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR
“I think she’ll be fine right now,” said Andrew, “But I don’t know about her second job – distracting the men while you sneak inside – I don’t know if they’ll be too interested in a butterfly.”
“You mean that they might find me and then find you and Monarch?” I asked.
“Well, Monarch would be able to get away fast enough and, unless they bring the big bears out, I’ll be okay, but you won’t,” said Andrew, “If they have the bears in that castle, you know, the big, big bears like the one that took Rocky, I won’t be able to break in and get you out. You could be trapped.”
“Oh dear!” I exclaimed fearfully, “Is there a big chance that could happen?”
Andrew nodded his head gravely.
“Maybe my plan is not so good as I thought,” I said, “Is there any way we can look in and see what’s happening with Beauty?”
Andrew shook his head.
“All right,” I said, “I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out.”
Fifteen minutes later, a roar was heard. And it wasn’t just any roar; it was the roar the big bear had made when it tried to capture Rocky!
One of the gigantic bears like the kind that had captured Rocky stormed out of the castle, breaking the bridge that went across the moat.
The bear quickly waded through the water and stomped on one of the crocodile’s head so that all the other crocodiles would run away.
I quickly mounted Monarch and put the reins on her.
“Go!” I exclaimed, “Run, Monarch!”
Monarch ran as fast as she could, but we knew we would be no match for the big bear and its companion, a much bigger bear that was just climbing out of the castle.
A big crack was heard and I looked back and saw the big, black castle tumble to the ground.
“Beauty!” I whispered, “Please be safe, please do. If Rocky was in there, he could have been killed and I really don’t want to be held responsible for the death of two creatures – Rocky and you, Beauty!”
Chapter Seven
The Bears
Monarch and I raced along through the woods as fast as we could, but Andrew lay down so that we could climb on his back.
Monarch grabbed Andrew’s mane with her teeth and held on as tight as she could.
I did the same as Monarch, except I used my hands to grip Andrew’s golden mane, not my teeth.
I could barely see a black heap of stone through the trees once in a while and hoped that
13
THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR
Beauty and Rocky were not buried underneath the pile.
A chorus of bear roars was heard.
It did not sound very far away from us and I could hear the bear’s feet pushing down the underbrush about half-a-mile away from us.
Half-a-mile might seem a lot to us humans, but for humongous bears and lions half-a-mile is not very far away.
Andrew suddenly roared and I looked back behind me. One of the bears had grabbed Andrew’s tail and was holding it tight in its teeth. Another was making deep wounds on Andrew’s leg, but it quickly ran off to tell other bears that were lagging behind.
I could not look at the terrible sight, but I knew the longer the bear sank his teeth into Andrew’s tail, the more severe Andrew’s wound would become.
I wanted to so something, but I had to think what.
If I was responsible for Beauty’s death, Rocky’s death and Andrew’s death, I would feel miserable all my entire life! (And I should feel miserable, but I didn’t want Rocky, Beauty and Andrew to die!)
I had to do something.
Suddenly, I had an idea!
One of the other bears (there were five in all) got into a fight with the bear that had gotten hold of Andrew’s tail, so the first bear let go of Andrew’s tail to give the second bear a big scratch on the nose, which gave me some time.
“Monarch,” I whispered, “I’ve got a plan.”
The reason Andrew just couldn’t run off was because he was so stunned that the bear had almost ripped off his tail that he couldn’t move. And also, the very first bear had made very bad wounds on Andrew’s leg.
“Chew off that big fat vine,” I instructed, “And do it quick.”
Andrew’s back was near a very thick tree and it had a big, fat ten-inch wide vine wrapped around it.
“Get me a bunch of that,” I added in.
Now a horse in our world would not have probably liked the kind of vine I was telling Monarch to eat off and even if it did, it would take a very long time to chew it off.
But, horses in Secret Door Land loved the kind of vine I was telling Monarch to chew off and also, they can eat through things that are thick very, very quickly.
Soon, the vine was off and I also had Monarch get me some jagged-edged stones.
Now, Andrew’s stomach was touching the ground for he had sunken down on all four legs from the pain in his tail and left leg.
The bear fight was over and both of the bears had forgotten about Andrew’s tail and we were busily scraping Andrew’s leg.
Andrew roared a roar of intense pain and as I heard it, I knew it was time to strike.
All five of the bears, for some unknown reason, had all been fighting over one of Andrew’s legs.
When the bears all made a grab for Andrew’s right leg, he had kicked a few of them away so now there were only two.
I found a nice, fat, and very jagged rock and aimed it at one of the bear’s head.
I threw the rock and fortunately for me, it didn’t miss (And .why shouldn’t it when the bear’s head was as big as Rocky the buffalo himself?).
Now, the rock I threw was a big one and I had trouble lifting it.
He roared in surprise and pain and looked up at its thrower.