Through the Mirror Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Zizi was led through the doors, with a guard in front of her and a guard in back of her. The doors had opened with a large groan. There were cobwebs almost everywhere, with red huge spiders crawling all over the walls. She decided to make some conversation. “So…why all the spiders?”
The guard in back of her answered. “No talking.” But the guard in front of her turned around and glared at the other guard. “She can’t do any harm by asking questions,” he looked at Zizi, “The reason spiders are here, is to scare away intruders. But I warn you, they are dangerous.”
“You speak the language pretty well,” Zizi remarked.
“Many know the language, some don’t care to learn it that much, and some barely know it because of it.”
“May I ask why all you are different colors? If I’m not intruding any…”
The guard looked back at her. “Yellow is the normal color of our people. It means we are content. White means we are scared, green means envious, and we try no to be envious a lot. Black is the color of the evil ones. You can see here most of the guards here are grayish black. That means they are well trained. Most of them aren’t that nice.”
“You’re being nice to me,” Zizi commented.
“That’s because I’m old and I’ve gotten soft-hearted. I used to be like the guard in back of you. You can see I’m mostly gray now. Old people get gray. When you get sick, you also turn white.”
“Do you turn blue?”
“When you choke on something and can’t breathe.”
“Ah. Then I hope none of your people turns that color.” Zizi was quiet for a little while. They were walking a great distance. She decided to ask one last question. “Are we under ground?”
“Yes. Are whole kingdom lives underground,” The guard looked a little sad telling her about it.
“Why?”
“We were driven out of our land.” The guard turned away. Zizi felt like she shouldn’t continue.
The spiders grew less and less. The cobwebs did too. They came to stairs in a huge empty room. Zizi looked down and saw that the stairs went down for quite awhile. They started descending.
The nice guard started talking again. “You know, you people always one color. You not elves, by your ears, and they same color as you. Always peach color and dark skinned…”
“Well, I guess we don’t. But we do turn white when sick, and blue when you can’t breathe, and sometimes a color when you’re dead.” Zizi giggled. “We can turn green with envy, but that’s just a phrase.”
“Ah.” He kept quiet till they reached the bottom. Once they were down, he told her, “You have now entered the throne room of our queen. The queen is all that was down here, while all the citizens homes are in the wall around you. You just can’t see the houses, or the stairs leading to the houses. We have cast a spell on that so you can’ t see it.” He pointed to the door that was at the bottom of the stairs, which was right in front of them. “In there is the queen, she is expecting you.”
The guard that had walked in back of her all this way looked at the nice guard fiercely. “Why are you telling this girl all of our secrets to our homes? We can’t trust her.”
The nice guard looked at him. “I have a feeling we can trust her.” He opened the door and they went in. Zizi looked around the room. It was fascinating. The room was huge, with fountains in each corner, pillars on each side leading to the throne at the other side of the room. The floor was marble, the walls made of stones, and the ceiling a round dome. She stood gaping. The mean guard nudged her forward, and when she looked ahead near the throne, she saw Tyler in a little cell, next to the throne.
“Tyler!” she yelled.
Tyler looked over to her. He gave a little smile. It wasn’t a nice smile. It looked evil. Zizi got the chills when he did it. Tyler looked over to the king and the queen. The king looked well enough, but he looked young, and yet, he had a color of an old person. The queen just about looked the same. The king’s hair was a brownish yellow, while the queens was silver. They both had a staff, the kings one longer, but the queens more magnificent. They both wore flowing robes, the kings a pale blue, the queen’s silver, like her hair. When Zizi got closer, it seemed like her eyes were even silver. She had pearls in her hair, and on her forehead, she had strap around her head, was a circle symbol with another tiny circle in it. The king’s eyes were blue, and he wore a crown with pearls mostly on it. The queen and king gave a little nod to Zizi.
The guards both bowed, and they turned around and walked away. They stood by the door, one on each side. Zizi tried to do a little curtsey, which didn’t turn out so well.
The king spoke in a soft voice. “What is your name?”
“My name is Zizi Neverending,” Zizi said in a wobbly voice.
The king looked at the queen. “Neverending? I have not heard that name for some time.”
“You know about my name?”
“Yes, ancestors served under me a very long time ago.”
Zizi stared at him blankly. “What?”
The queen spoke this time. “Before we were banished, men used to live here. Your ancestors were one of the very best of fighters, for humans. They helped us fight against the dark mer-people.”
“How long ago?”
“We try not to remember, but maybe 500 years.”
“You are that old?” Zizi couldn’t help but asking.
“We can live to be over 1000 years old, dear child,” the king said, “The mer-people are vicious sea creatures. Half human, half fish. Only the mer-people with feet could fight on land. For that reason, they are now breeding more and more mer-people with feet. Their leader, a mermaid, is cruel. You would not want to get in the way. It is said she is immortal and deadly. That is why, I think, you have come.”
“Why I came? I found a door in my ceiling at home; I opened it and found a mirror. Tyler and I found out we could go through it. Tyler went in first, and then pulled me in.” Zizi explained.
The king shook his head. “You coming here is no coincidence. Your destiny is chosen; you can help defeat the evil mermaid. I know you could do it, you have your ancestors blood!”
“But what about Tyler?” Zizi asked.
Tyler got to his feet. “Yeah, what about me? Your are just focusing on her, ignoring me completely.”
“Your friend can go with you, stay here, or go on alone to wherever he wants, but beware, it is not safe alone.” The queen said.
The cage disappeared around Tyler. Tyler walked over to Zizi. “Zi, I’m sorry, but it looks like you have a job to do. I will go on alone.” Zizi started to object, but Tyler held up his hands. “I will go on alone Zi, I can take care of myself. May I go?” he asked the king and queen. They nodded. Tyler grinned at Zizi, then turned and went out the door, up the long steps.
Oh, I do wish he wouldn’t make trouble, Zizi thought. If I stay here, I could find a way home, or I could just stay here! There is not much to go home to, anyways.
Zizi looked at the king and queen. “I will stay and help.”