A Tale That Could Not Be

Selvina, Goldilocks, Wendy, and Rapunzel stood at the edge of a rocky slope, gazing down at the wide valley before them. The mountainous terrain curved to their left like a hook and in the center of that hook was a massive rock in the shape of a skull. It was almost a mountain of its own and spread out before it was more jungle and a large lake.

“I have a feeling we’re heading right to that skull mountain,” Selvina said dismally.

“You would be right!” Pan exclaimed as he hovered in the air over them, peeling a fruit and dropping the skin pieces on their heads.

Selvina brushed up a piece of fruit from her hair and looked up at Pan, frowning. “What will we find once we reach there?”

“A portal.”

“A portal? To where?”

“To a land of great wonder and the woman I am offering you all to.”

Goldilocks scoffed. “Great, more walking…”

Rapunzel took a step back and pointed down in the valley, her face pale and her eyes wide. “There is something down there.”

Pan, curious, raised an eyebrow and looked at where she was pointing as he munched on his fruit. Selvina and the others did as well and noticed that from the far right of the valley the trees were shaking violently in a pattern that suggested something was coming directly toward them. Whatever it was it had great strength, and possibly size, to be shaking entire trees with its passage.

“Well,” Pan said as he quickly tossed his fruit aside, “get moving now! Head to the skull mountain and run as fast as you can!”

“What is it?” Selvina asked fearfully as the other girls hurried down the slope.

“It’s the real king of this jungle, Selly, and if you don’t start running I’ll push you down myself!”

Selvina raced down the rocky slope, tripping and slipping and scraping her legs more times than she could remember. By the time she reached the other girls at the base of the slope her legs were burning from all the cuts and bruises. She took a moment to rest but it didn’t last long as Pan came streaking by, shouting at them to run. The sound of something huge crashing through the jungle could be heard and with every passing second it grew louder and louder.

The girls leapt over fallen logs blanketed in moss, charged through dense jungle foliage, slipped and stumbled over wet rocks and earth, and kept their eyes aimed at the huge skull of rock in the distance, its empty eye sockets staring at them through breaks in the jungle canopy. Selvina couldn’t help but feel as if they were trading one danger for another.

Pan, who had tailed them the whole time, suddenly cursed and turned around and headed back the way they had come. The girls stopped at the top of a rise and looked back, wondering why he had left them. The sound of crashing stopped for a moment before a terrible roar full of rage and ferocity thundered through the jungle like a storm. Pan suddenly came streaking by like a launched arrow, slamming into the side of the rise with a bone-shattering thud. What would have killed any normal man only seemed to daze him and he got to his feet soon after.

Now’s your chance, Selvina thought. He is weak. Attack him. Kill him. She almost acted upon it too, before she considered what her options would be after he was killed. As horrible as it was, Pan was their only defense against whatever was coming toward them. If he was killed she and the others were at the mercy of the monster that chased them. As repulsive as Pan was, he had to stay alive, at least for now.

“I told you all to RUN!” Pan growled as he stood straight and flexed his neck and shoulders. The girls nodded and left just before Pan flew into the jungle once more.

They descended the slope on the other side and burst through the foliage into a clearing full of ferns, tall grasses, boulders, and shallow pools of water. On the other side was more thick jungle but the skull-shaped rock was now closer than ever. It spurred the girls to keep running despite their bodies sweating like rainclouds and their faces red from exhaustion.

Halfway across the clearing there was another loud roar and Pan was shot out of the jungle again. He slammed into the ground, skidded along it for several feet, leaving a deep groove behind him, and then splashed into a pool of water. Selvina watched him slowly struggle to his feet, his knife still somehow clenched in his hand, and wipe wet hair from his face as he breathed heavily. She had never seen him so weary and the urge to sink his own knife into his chest was nearly unbearable. Maybe I have time, she thought. The pursuer might be far enough to give her time to kill Pan and still make it to the rock skull before it reached her. Selvina altered her course, heading straight for Pan.

She regretted it immediately as a massive shadow suddenly covered her and Pan. She looked back and felt her heart jump in her throat. Leaping into the air was a massive gorilla, at least thirty feet high, with black fur, a body made entirely of muscle that was covered in a myriad of scars, and a bronze-colored eyes that burned with fury. It landed directly behind her, making the ground shake and causing her to stumble and fall. It glanced at her for a brief moment before setting its gaze on Pan, its primary target. Selvina pushed herself off of the ground, covered in mud, and dashed behind the nearest boulder.

The huge gorilla roared at Pan and then slammed two fists at him. Pan, nimble and quick as ever, dodged the attack and shot toward the beast’s head, slashing at its eyes with his knife. The gorilla closed its eyes in time and swatted at him as if he was a fly. Pan avoided the massive fingers well and slashed and stabbed at them when they got too close. This enraged the gorilla even more and it leapt back, gaining some breathing room, slammed the ground with his fists, roared another time, and then charged. Pan flew high, out its reach, and laughed at it, further infuriating the irate beast.

Selvina glanced at the edge of the clearing, noticing that the other girls had already reached it. They were waving at her and urging her to run. She could do it if the gorilla kept its attention on Pan. Selvina eyed the battle once more, considering her options.

The gorilla, furious with its inability to damage the annoying insect that was Pan, eventually found a solution to the problem. It grabbed the nearest boulder, pulled it out of the ground and with its amazing strength launched it up at the hovering, orange-haired pirate. Pan avoided the first boulder but the second one came in quicker and more accurately, and he narrowly dodged it. The gorilla grabbed any boulders it could and launched them like a catapult, ripping them out of the ground as easily as a gardener pulled weeds.

Selvina shrieked as the inevitable happened and it wrapped its huge fingers around the boulder she hid behind. She tried to run away but felt a cold rush of fear when her feet remained stuck on the ground. Looking down, Selvina discovered that as she had hid behind the boulder her feet had slowly sunk into the mud. The mud was now halfway up to her knees and it took great effort to even move her legs a fraction of an inch. The boulder was lifted up out of the ground and Selvina tried harder, praying to anything that would listen that the beast did not see her. After enough effort she miraculously managed to pull one of her legs out of the mud.

A deafening silence fell across the clearing and it was only broken by Selvina’s grunts and whines as she struggled to free her other leg. She soon noticed this and slowly turned her head to see why. Her body froze as the huge gorilla, still holding the massive boulder in its hands, looked down at her with curiosity. It placed the boulder back on the ground and reached for her instead. Selvina screamed and struggled with even greater intensity, flailing about like an animal caught in a trap. The gorilla wrapped its hand around her waist and pulled her up, easily slipping her leg out of the mud but leaving her shoe behind. Selvina watched the mud slowly fill the hole her leg had left behind, burying her shoe and hiding it from the world forever.

How prophetic, she thought, as the gorilla brought her closer to its face. Like her shoe, she too would soon be hidden from the world forever, buried deep inside the beast’s digestive system.

Instead, the gorilla only studied her. It appeared almost fascinated by her and with a finger from its other hand it gingerly brushed back a few strands of Selvina’s golden hair. The girl could only stare back, her body rigid with fear, and wait for death to come. The gorilla grunted, as if trying to talk to her, and all Selvina could do was continue to stare. It cocked its head to the side like a confused dog and poked her shoulder with one of his huge fingers. Selvina winced and moaned from the slight pain. Why wasn’t it eating her? What was it doing?

The gorilla sniffed deeply, the rush of air entering its nostrils taking a few loose strands of Selvina’s hair as well. It grunted softly and then flipped Selvina upside down and rubbed her feet with one of its fingers. Selvina cried out as she was turned over, startled by the sudden action. She looked up, seeing the ground, and tried to squirm out of the gorilla’s grasp. She was so close. If she could just…

The ground suddenly raced toward her as the gorilla roared and let her go. She hit the muddy ground hard but immediately got to her feet and began running toward the other girls across the clearing. She glanced back, wondering why the gorilla had let her go, and watched with mixed emotions as Pan held tightly to the fur behind its head with one hand as the other, holding his dagger, pumped furiously, stabbing deeply and shedding blood. The gorilla spun around, trying to reach behind its head and grab Pan but the nimble little man held on and kept sinking his blade into the beast’s skull.

After Selvina reached the other side of the clearing she and the other girls hurried away from the scene. They could still hear the sounds of struggling and Selvina couldn’t help but feel pity for the beast. It had almost appeared gentle as it held her in its hand. Was it not so much a villain but perhaps just a guardian? Perhaps it had chased them because they were getting too close to the rock skull. Pan had mentioned that it was the king of the jungle and maybe all it was doing was protecting its kingdom. Tarzan had held no love for Pan thus it was possible that all inhabitants of this island knew of his treachery and wanted him killed on sight.

After many minutes and untold miles of running the girls finally gazed up the huge skull of rock. It towered over them like a small mountain, its gaping may and eye sockets pools of complete blackness.

“I’m guessing this is Skull Rock?” Goldilocks asked, glancing at Wendy.

“It would appear to be,” the older woman answered.

“Do we wait for Pan or just go inside?” Rapunzel asked, fearfully glancing back into the jungle, as if expecting the huge gorilla to appear at any moment.

“We haven’t much of a bloody choice,” Goldilocks muttered. She winced and gently adjusted the piece of Wendy’s dress wrapped around her head, ensuring that it kept most of the blood from her severed ear from escaping.

Wendy glanced at her with concern and shook her head. “Speaking of bloody, you need to stop touching that, Goldilocks. If you reopen the wound too many times it’ll get infected.”

“Well I’m damned sorry if my cut starts to itch!”

“Stop it,” Wendy told her as she helped her readjust the bandage.

Selvina watched them for a few moments and felt the embers of hate for Pan ignite into flames. She hoped that gorilla ripped him to pieces. They would be trapped on the island forever but at least they’d be rid of him. Despite the huge predators it was a rather beautiful jungle. If Tarzan could stake out a living surely she and the girls could manage to, somehow. It wasn’t like she was ever going to return to her real home in Toronto anyhow.

“GET INTO THE MOUTH!” Pan screamed as loudly as he could, speeding onto the scene with a few cuts and bruises all over his body. Directly behind him was the gorilla, more furious and enraged than Selvina had ever seen it. The girls shrieked in terror and sped toward the skull’s open maw as quickly as their bodies allowed. The gorilla roared and thundered after them, shaking the ground with every pound of its knuckles. Pan turned around and attacked it, hoping to distract it, but it was not fooled this time and it snapped a hand up, grabbing him.

The girls entered the skull’s mouth and ran to the very back of the cave, hoping the darkness would conceal them from the huge gorilla. They then turned and watched as it squeezed Pan tightly, threatening to pop his head off his shoulders.

“Kill the bastard!” Goldilocks cheered. “Turn him to porridge!”

Selvina felt her body lighten as hope flowed through her veins. Perhaps the gorilla would indeed kill Pan and rid the world of one of its greatest villains. She and the girls watched intently, hope bringing colour and energy back into their bodies.

Unfortunately, Pan managed to stab his knife into one of the gorilla’s fingers and loosen its grip on him. He freed himself, laughed at the beast, and then zipped into the skull’s mouth, joining the girls with a victorious smile on his face. The gorilla roared furiously and slammed its fists against Skull Rock, making clouds of dust tumble from the unseen ceiling. The open maw was too small for it to fit inside but it was large enough for one of its arms and it reached inside, its fingers nearly touching the girls but falling a few inches short. Pan stabbed them with his knife and the gorilla quickly retracted its arm. It roared so loudly that the entire cave shook and the girls had to press their hands to their ears, Goldilocks whimpering as she blocked her severed one.

“He won’t be bothering us anymore,” Pan said with a smirk.

There was just enough light in the cave to see the outlines of his face and that smug grin of his. Selvina wished she could rip it off of him. She was strangely relieved to know that the gorilla still lived but was disappointed that, as so many had tried before, it had failed to kill Pan. She was beginning to wonder if the man could be killed at all. In this world of magic and myths was it possible that Peter Pan was invincible? She truly hoped not.

After many minutes of pounding its fists against Skull Rock, beating its chest, and roaring a few more times, the gorilla eventually retreated back into the jungle, its body sporting a few more scars than before. Pan chose that time to move to the middle of the cave and begin chipping away at something on the ground. The girls stood and watched as it was all they could do. Eventually Pan sheathed his knife and grabbed something with both hands. With a grunt of effort he pulled up and removed a slab of rock. Beneath it was a hole that glowed bright blue. Inside the hole was a tunnel of dazzling light that led to unknown depths.

“Is this the portal?” Selvina asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nothing gets by you, Selly,” Pan replied with a wink. “But yes, this is the way to your destination.”

“A rather tight squeeze, no?” Goldilocks complained.

“Just tuck in that booty of yours and you’ll fit in just fine, hahaha!”

“It looks like it goes on forever,” Rapunzel said, always the timid and uncertain one. “Won’t we die from the fall?”

“Nope.”

“So this is it,” Selvina started, “once we go in there you abandon us to that queen and leave us forever?”

Pan shrugged. “We’ll see when we get there. I’ve grown rather fond of all of you. I might steal you back!”

I sure hope not. As much as Selvina dreaded meeting this queen that liked to behead people she would be relieved to be rid of Pan, even though he would remain alive. If the queen was as similar to the one Selvina remembered from her fairy tales then perhaps she could persuade her to behead Pan. Wouldn’t that make a most wonderful turn of events?

“Selly! You’re first!”

“What?” Selvina asked. “Why?”

“Because I said so!” Pan unsheathed his knife and waved it about, making his point rather clear. He then pointed to the glowing hole with it and narrowed his eyes.

Selvina gulped and stepped up to the hole. It was large enough for her to jump inside without touching the sides but once she was inside there was no going back. Whatever happened next was a total mystery. She took a deep breath, gulped down some rising fear and uncertainty, and hopped into the portal.

Here I go.

Down the rabbit hole.