Part 3 of Untitled Novel, Day 20 - Words to go: 3566

Part III

Goldie made a mad dash to the end of hallway and turned through the doorway on her left. She stopped at the top of the wooden stairs. They were too far apart. It was like giants lived here!
Mm, well, Kiffen kind of was a giant, but this was ridiculous. She looked around for an easier way to get down the stairs, then started jumping one by one. Her heart was pounding. She wasn't sure that not being able to be seen was the same as not being able to be heard, so she wished again that her approach would be quiet. Suddenly, she laughed to herself. Dangerous mission or not, it was silly of her to forget that she was actually still very small. Small enough to ride on Floyd's back. She wished to be her normal size and the stairs were much easier to manage after that.
She studied the strange wood walls as she navigated the stairs. They were much like in the tunnel, except there was a lot more light here to see by. It was interesting the way the branches intertwined with each other so tightly and yet still formed little alcoves every few steps along the stair that housed burning candles. There, not to far from one of the alcoves was a branch twisted into a heart shape. Everything was so well-shaped as if the trees had naturally grown that way. She knew they hadn't, though, because Floyd had told her it happened because of all the curses the dark fairies had placed on the trees. So many trees and they were still alive and growing as far as she could tell.
She ran her hand along the wall. These stairs lasted forever and they weren't even the ones that led straight into the dungeon. Floyd had said those would be stone stairs. She should be encountering a room soon that's what he'd said. On and on down the stairs.
Wait. Hadn't she seen that tree branch before? It was the one shaped like a heart. Huh. Maybe they had twisted heart shapes as their decoration. She imagined the dark fairy queen picking out the theme for the castle. "I want pink frilly curtains," she probably said. "And hearts twisted into the cursed wood. A big huge one on the outside. Oh, my goodness, I love it!"
Goldie squatted near the heart and pulled a piece of bark off of one of the thinner switches exposing the green innards. Definitely still alive. She'd use that as a marker, just in case. She started down the stairs again. When it seemed like she'd walked down about three stories, the heart shape appeared again, exactly as she'd left it, with the piece of bark peeled off.
She wanted to get out. She thought it. I want to get out. She checked her pocket for the fairy blessing. The compact was still there. Ok. She walked down the stairs again, but found the heart shape, once again. OK, then. She turned and walked up the stairs, but didn't find the door that way, either. A long way up the stairs, her heart showed up again.
She sat down on one of the stairs to think.
Either there was a magic here greater than her fairy blessing, the fairy blessing that Floyd said was greater than any fairy magic in the entire world of fairies, or there was something she was missing. She wasn't frustrated yet. She was only seven years old, but she was up to a challenge. Maybe the door was hidden. Maybe the door was fairy magic. Was it a fairy doorway? What did Goldie know about fairy doorways. The only one that she remembered being through was the one in the halfway world but the only thing she really remembered about it was that it was marked with an etching of a fairy, possibly scratched by Goldie when she was captured by Kiffen's fairy ring. When Floyd, Kiffen, and Goldie had gone through together, they had just pushed on it with all their strength.
She doubted that this was one of the esoteric doors that would shoot her out into just anywhere. Because it was inside a castle which was inside fairy world. It would make no sense. So, just a door. A hidden door. She chose the heart as the door marker. A strange door marker for a doorway that led into the room that led to the stone stairs which led to the dungeon, but this was the dark fairy kingdom. She didn't know much about it, but she wouldn't put it past them. She stood on the step that the heart was resting above, put her hands on the wall, she gritted her teeth, and pushed against the branches with all of her might. She pushed again, her face was almost against the wall, she was exerting as much energy as possible, because that's what it seemed like the door would feed on. Last time, she AND Kiffen pushed and she was sure that Kiffen had plenty more strength and, therefore, more energy than she did. I need more energy, she thought, and suddenly she collapsed into the great room that Floyd had told her was just above the dungeon.
She shreiked as she fell onto the hard stone floor and then again when she realized there were at least six dark fairies in the room with her. She covered her mouth and scooted back against the doorway she had just come through. It was just a wall and yet a door. Crazy stuff. These dark fairies must be the guardians of the people collection in the dungeon. She wondered if it was usual to have this many guards or if that was special because she was in town? Not a single one of the dark fairies even looked at her. She was invisible, and now that she'd tested it, she could tell that she was soundproof as well. That was a relief. She could see the door to the dungeon on the other side. If she opened it, would they see the door open? She was invisible, but that didn't mean she wouldn't have an effect the objects around her. She wasn't a ghost, though, to the dark fairies in this room, she might as well be. She assumed that if she bumped into any of them, they would notice her presence, so she stayed as far away from them as she could. In a room as big as this one, it wasn't too hard, although, one stood up so quickly that she nearly tripped over his tail as he walked by to talk to one of the other dark fairies.
She managed to jump over the top of the tail as it swung by. That guy had an upredictible tail. When she reached the door she wondered if she'd need a key. Probably not. Goldie's personal dungeon cell would only allow one person to open it. Not the king, not Kiffen, it could only be opened by Goldie. Not a problem. Goldie was both inside and outside of that cell. It'd probably be the easiest one to open. So, no need to steal the keys. She eyed the door. It didn't look like it had a latch, just a pull handle. Good, that'd make for a quick entrance, now she just needed to draw their attention away from the door for a moment.

Up on the ceiling, lanterns were suspended from hooks. Perfect. She pointed at one hanging near the dark fairy farthest away from her. I want that one to fall, she thought. And it did. Right before it shattered on the floor, Goldie squeezed through the door and into the cement stairwell.
The first thing that hit her was the stench. The horrible, horrible stench of rot. How could anyone who came down to see the king's people collection stand the smell long enough to even look at the people he'd stolen from their lives on planet earth? She covered her nose. It didn't help, so she fixed her nose with her fairy blessing before proceeding down the stairs. She didn't need to sneak because no one could see her and no one could hear her, but somehow it seemed appropriate here in the dungeon. She walked with less surety. She didn't care if she encountered more dark fairies. They had no abilities if they didn't know what they were fighting. She was suddenly dreading seeing the captured Goldie. Would she know who Goldie was? Would years of being holed up in a stone cold box have driven her crazy? What should she expect? Floyd had said she wouldn't like it, but she wanted to appear strong - to look like a hero to all of them and to save them all. She didn't want to have one of her usual nervous breakdowns with no one to offer comfort.