The Road to Nowhere: Chapter Five

Chapter Five

            Soon they came to the residential part of town. The houses were all big and beautiful, with long, wide porches and well-kept lawns. The children gazed at the houses as they walked.

            Claydo, noticing this, said, “Go ahead, try it.”

            “Try what?” Levi asked.

            “The grass,” Claydo said. “It’s delicious!”

            “We don’t like grass,” Kyle said.

            “You’ll like this grass,” Claydo assured him.

            The three children looked at one another, then down at the ground. Finally, Levi dropped down on his knees and ate a handful of grass. “It tastes like chicken!” he shouted.

            Kara tried some. “It tastes just like roast beef!”

            “Mine tastes like a big, juicy cheeseburger!” Kyle called from across the lawn.

            “You’re right,” Kara told Claydo. “We do like this kind of grass!”

            “What is it called?” Kyle asked. “I want some of that for our yard!”

            Claydo shook her head. “That would never do,” she said. “This kind of grass is only found in fairy countries. It would be poison in your world.” So that was the end of that.

            They kept walking and walking and walking, until they came to an enormous palace. The building was all gold and silver and bronze, and it made the children breathless just to look upon it.

“Are we going to sleep here tonight?” Levi asked Claydo.

            “No,” Claydo laughed. “I just have some business to attend to.”

            The four travelers entered in through the polished gold gates and walked up the steep bronze steps. Among the tall silver columns were standing two guards, both dressed in identical gold uniforms.

            “Hark!” shouted one.

            “Who goes there?” demanded the other.

            “Claydo the unicorn, daughter of Aydo and Braydo,” Claydo answered coolly. “I have scheduled an appointment with the emperor for today at two o’ clock. And it’s two o’ clock now.”

            “How can she tell time?” Kyle whispered to his siblings. “They don’t even have clocks here!”

            “The dwarves told me,” Levi said. “They don’t need to look at anything to see what time it is. They just know.”

            Kara looked at her brothers and shivered. Suppose the creatures in this land just knew other things, too?

            “Very well,” the first guard consented. “We will let you in.”

            “Yes, yes!” said the other. “Enter, enter!”

            The travelers stepped across the threshold and entered a room made entirely of bronze, where a man clothed in silver ushered them into the waiting room. The waiting room was made of silver. The children sat down on a silver couch and the unicorn lay down on the polished silver floor. Everything shone so that one could see oneself whichever way one turned.

            The room’s heavy silver door opened. A man garbed with a golden robe entered and said, “The emperor will see you now.”

            “Now children,” Claydo said, “you may take one bite, and one bite only, of the red apples that we gathered earlier on our trip.”

            When Kara, Kyle, and Levi bit into the apples, their wardrobe changed so that they looked not like tired children, but rather princess and princes from another land.

            “Wonderful,” Claydo approved. “Now we shall see the emperor.” They all followed the golden-robed man into a throne room composed of solid gold. This room was the grandest of them all, and up against one wall was the golden throne, upon which sat the Emperor of Fairyland.

            “Yes?” inquired the emperor as the travelers entered the room.

            “I have three children here,” said Claydo. “They are from a land called Alabama, far away from here, and they must get back home. The only way they can do so is to get a scale from a certain fire-breathing dragon named Quasbed. I was wondering if we could get some help from you, sir.”

            “What can I do to help you?” asked the emperor.

            “I was wondering if we could trade you five pounds of glow-in-the-dark taffy for some weapons.”

            “Weapons?” said the emperor. “What kind of weapons?”

            “Water pistols,” said Claydo. 

            “Water pistols?!?! Are you sure the children can handle them?”

            “Quite sure. They are very trustworthy,” Claydo replied with a swish of her mane.

            “Very well,” the emperor conceded. He clapped his hands, and four servants entered the room from two gold doors. “Fetch three water pistols!” the emperor commanded. The servants disappeared, and a moment later they returned, holding three of the largest water pistols the children had ever seen. “Now the taffy,” the emperor said, and Kara handed him the case of taffy.

            Having done this, they departed.

            “What do we need the water guns for?” Levi asked Claydo when they were safely on the road again.

            “They are very important weapons,” said the unicorn. “You will know when to use them. I will not be with you when you enter Quasbed’s cave. I am not allowed in Nowhere.”