The Dare

Now that they were inside the shop, there was no turning back. The bookseller pulled down his reading glasses to the bridge of his nose and looked at them curiously. It had been earlier in the day that the Bookseller’s Association had sent out a notice stating that bookstores around town were noticing a spate of shoplifting. The shopkeeper shook his head in despair, honestly summer break spelt nothing but trouble, with school kids having nothing to do but indulge in mischief. After all an idle mind was a devil’s workshop.

Jim and Sean had been dared to shoplift as many books of the adventure series ‘Gargoyles and Aliens’ as they possibly could. The series were a craze with all seventh graders and the resale value on bookazon.com was very high. Jim was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of stealing but to be a part of the coveted neighborhood group called the Cool Aid Gang, the dare was a part of the initiation.

“Do you have the ‘Gargoyles and Aliens’ series?” asked Sean holding the bookseller’s gaze. Jim looked away fugitively, he wished he could be any place else than here. The bookseller nodded and pointed towards the other corner of the room. 

The shelves were lined with copies of the series. The colorful spine showing the initials G&A and the title of the book in white italics. The boys inhaled the musty smell that is peculiar to bookstores and with thudding heartbeats and sweaty palms they rummaged through the shelves looking for titles they did not own. Oh, there was one that had been out of stock for months now, Sean quickly grabbed it. Then he grabbed two, the issue would fetch a lot of money online. Both of the boys could possibly hide two books each in the waistband of their shorts. Their dark loose t-shirts would hide the bulge. 

Jim looked over and saw that the bookseller was still watching them steadily. “Oh man, he keeps looking our way. We possibly can’t steal the books,” whispered Jim. “I’m telling you this dare will get us in a lot of trouble.”

But just then they got their chance, a young woman in her late teens walked in and engaged the bookseller in an animated conversation.

The two boys hurriedly grabbed the books and stuck them in their waistbands. They intended on getting away while the bookseller was preoccupied. They both waddled to the door as one does when one is balancing something in his waistband and does not want it to fall. Sean pulled the door and took one step out.

Thud! Sean and Jim froze in their spot. The bookseller and the woman stopped their conversation. The book lay guiltily face down at Sean’s feet. Everything went still... other than the quivering of the bookkeeper’s gray moustache.

Both the boys looked at each other in horror. What would the bookkeeper do now? Hand them to the police? Oh the shame of it all! Their parents would surely ground them for the rest of summer. 

Sean mouthed “Run,” silently to Jim. The bookkeeper was old and portly and would have a hard time catching them. The thought had barely crossed their mind when the strangest of things happened. 

A whirling wind swept howling through the shop. Books started to fly off the shelves around the room like flying saucers. The boys ducked down and covered their faces with their hands, scared of being hit by the flying books. They only opened their eyes when the howling had stopped. But it seemed that they weren’t in the book store anymore. They found themselves in a thick forest where the sunlight barely reached the ground and a thick fog lay suspended amongst the trees. 

“Where are we?” asked Jim rubbing the goosebumps on his arms as he shuddered partly in fear and partly with the cold. 

Sean put his finger to his lips, they could hear the sound of approaching hoof beat. Quickly they hid in the undergrowth and watched for the approaching sounds. A deafening roar filled the air as a rider dressed in an armor riding a black stallion and carrying a sword which dripped with blood rode by, followed by what seemed an army of cheering men. The men had dirt and blood streaked faces and matted hair. Some had a gnash over their face while others were missing an eye or an ear or a limb. The smell of their unbathed body permeated the air and the boys almost threw up in revulsion. They were the most unattractive lot the boys had ever come across. 

At the end of a procession was a horse carriage, not the grand ones which the lords and ladies travel in. This was a rickety wooden carriage, with a door at the rear end. The top half of the door had metal bars and looking out of those bars was a young woman. She had a deep cut on her left cheek which was still bleeding. She looked bemused and then as if sensing their presence, she turned to look towards the undergrowth and stared straight into Jim’s eyes. Her eyes lit up in recognition. 

“That woman’s life is in danger,” said Jim sensing her silent plea for help. “She needs our help.” 

“Are you crazy!” exclaimed Sean. “Did you see that lot? If they catch us, we will be missing more than just an arm or a leg. I suggest we find our way out of this dreadful place and go back home.”

“Whether you come with me or not, I am going to help her,” said Jim determinedly. 

Sean realized that he had no other choice but to go along with Jim. They both followed the procession making sure that they stayed off the path and stayed hidden. Jim could see the woman’s eyes following them. It was dusk when the procession went through a huge gate beyond which lay a village of stone homes with soot covered chimneys. The boys could see the oil lamps burning on the kitchen tables through the windows. Just beyond the village on a hill stood a tall fort. The horse cart carrying the prisoner was trudging up the hill, towards the fort. The boys safe in the anonymity of the dark were now no longer hiding but wandering openly. 

But they knew they had a huge problem. This place that they had somehow reached seemed to be still living in the dark ages and people wore clothes that were old fashioned. The men wore tunics made of rough wool tucked into their pants and the women wore long dresses with bonnets on their head. The boys would stick out in their rock band t-shirts and shorts. They had to find clothes that would make them fit in. As they wandered they found themselves behind a stone cottage, the daily washing was fluttering on a clothesline. The boys silently crept up and snatched a tunic and pants each. 

“Hahaha…you look like you stepped out of the pages of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,” said Sean doubling with laughter.

“And you look like Merlin the wizard,” replied Jim tartly. Both the boys felt like they were dressed for Halloween. 

As they walked up to the fort, they were assailed by the smell of meat being barbequed. Their stomach growled in response, they had barely eaten all day. Sitting by a fire were some guards drinking ale and laughing at crass jokes. A pig was roasting on a spit. The boys sat down beside them, hoping to be offered some food. The men were hospitable and plied the boys with food.

An old man with a flowing gray beard, who looked oddly familiar, was keeping the guards amused by regaling them with stories of his travel. He told them about distant lands and the mystical creatures he had encountered. He spoke of the magic that existed in every living being.

Emboldened by a full stomach, Sean volunteered to also narrate a story. He told them about a fantasy land of the future where people lived in tall houses that almost touched the sky, where there was no need for oil lamps for the house would get lighted by the turning on a switch. People spent their days rushing here and there; doing this and that. People of that land went around in wagons of metal which ran on fuel. The land had giant birds of metal that flew in the air and carried people across oceans and land. The people had the world in the palm of their hand in the shape of a small thin box, through which they could also talk to others who were not nearby. 

The audience gasped in awe. It surely seemed like a magical place!

“Oh didst thou hark they caught a witch?” asked the old man to the group. 

“Aye. She is locked in the dungeon,” was their reply. “We will sear her at the stake tomorrow.” Everyone laughed and drank some more ale.

With a sickening heart Jim realized that time was short, these people intended to burn the young woman. They had to act fast but they had no plan, how were they to save her? In the meantime, the guards were captivated by Sean’s stories about a world so different and so far, into the future that it was fantastical. Noticing the guards’ distraction Jim realized this was his opportunity to look for the woman. He quickly whispered to Sean to keep the guards enthralled.  

He quietly left the group and walked towards the fort. He looked around the dark stone walls and wondered where the dungeons were. They had to be close to where the guards sat drinking.  As he tiptoed and peered through the dark windows he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. Jim almost screamed as he jumped up in fright but a hand clasped his mouth tight. 

“Shush you will bring the guards here,” said the old man with the flowing beard. “I know where she is being held. Follow me.”

Jim’s stared into the man’s gray eyes and his jaw dropped in astonishment. The old man took off his long beard and he was no other than the bookkeeper. “What are you doing here? Did the wind carry you here too? Why the fake beard?” Jim’s mind was racing with a million questions.

“A long time ago I discovered a secret passage. That passage takes me on time travel. When I go down the passage I never know where I will reach. One time I reached the ice-age,” was the bookkeeper’s astonishing response. “I was upset with you boys for stealing the books and wanted to teach you a lesson; so I opened up the passage and here you are. Unfortunately, the gust of wind pushed the young woman who had come into the shop down the passage too. I followed her to take her back but I was too late. Before I could reach her, the Army of Brutes had seen her and because of her unusual clothes and different way of talking, they assumed that she was a witch. It is imperative that we get her out before morning or else an innocent woman will be burnt on the stake.”

The old man led Jim to the dungeons, where the most degenerate of the society lay chained to the thick iron rings. Some lay senselessly oblivious to the world, while others snarled and cursed them. Some begged to be freed. At the extreme end of the corridor was a bolted chamber, looking through the bars they saw the woman kneeling in the corner and weeping inconsolably. Hearing the door unbolt she looked up in abject fear. 

Her face lit up in recognition at the two visitors. She hugged them in relief.

“We better hurry and get you out of here before the guards come on their rounds,” said the bookkeeper, hurriedly unchaining her.

They silently crept through the dungeon amongst the curses and the snarling.  The old man had bolted the door of the chamber where the woman had been held to trick the guards. They heaved a sigh of relief as they got out of the dungeons.

“You both stick to the forest path that zigzags till it reaches the edge of the forest. Remember to stay away from the straight path” instructed the old man, “I will get Sean and meet you both at the forest edge. The passage opens only once a day and that is at the first light of dawn, so if Sean and I don’t make it, you both still must leave.”

Jim and the woman nodded but Jim knew that he would never leave without his friend Sean. They walked through the dense forest on a path so crooked that it was making them dizzy and after what seemed like hours they reached the edge of the forest. Jim could have sworn he heard hoof beats on the straight path. Maybe the guards were looking for the woman. In abject fear they stayed hidden on the zigzag path. 

The sky was starting to lose its darkness and the stars were starting to fade. Dawn would soon be upon them. Where were the old man and Sean? If they did not reach on time, Jim would tell the woman to go down the passage alone. He would wait for his friend.

At the first light of the day, a pink streak splashed across the sky, and before they knew it the ground under their feet gave way and a passage opened. The young woman went down with a whoosh. Jim tried holding on to stop himself from going down, he wanted to wait for Sean but the gravity was pulling him down. Soon he found himself landing on the floor of the bookstore. The young woman had reached safely too. But where was Sean? Was he lost in the dark ages forever?

Just then there was another whoosh and there they were, the bookkeeper and Sean. All four of them hugged each other in relief. The nightmare was finally over. 

"Where were you guys?" asked Jim. "We were so worried."

"Dude that is a long story for another day," replied Sean. "We are just glad to be back."

As the boys walked back home, they could not believe what an adventure they had been through and to think that it had all started with a dare! They no longer wanted to join the Cool Aid Gang for they were simply too cool for it.