HOME | DD

Description

Based on the dungeon scene from Disney’s Aladdin: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8svc-…

--

Jake’s latest adventure had taken a little turn for the worst. While on an adventure to find the legendary treasure of a legendary pirate sultan, hidden deep in the shifting sands of a faraway kingdom, who else would he and his mateys run into other than Captain Hook? A mishap following some misplaced bread led to the city guards being called, which led to Hook (smelling strongly of yeast) accusing Jake of being the thief.

Of course, it was Hook’s word against his, and no matter how hard Jake tried to argue his case, the city guard had dealt with one too many street urchins to care. Strong, rough hands dragged Jake away from his crew. His last sight of his friends were of them being cornered by more guards armed with scimitars.

And now here he was.

Jake gazed upward from his spot as a single, barred window high above poured moonlight upon him, painting him a depressing shade of blue. The dungeon reeked of decay and despair; a many terrible, painful things having happened within those unfeeling walls, with chains and cuffs lain about like the aftermath of a battlefield. The silence was broken by the shuffle and screech of whatever festered in the darkest corners. He adjusted the heavy cuff locked around his neck as his skin beneath it itched madly against the rusted metal. He gripped the chain linking the collar to the wall and yanked on it fruitlessly for the seventeenth time that night, desperate for a way out.

As harsh as the guards were, they at least had the courtesy to feed him. A metal cup held only a few last drops of warm, coppery water, and the last morsel of bread lay on a bare plate, alongside some crumbs that not even the rats want. That bread was so stale; Jake almost broke a tooth biting into it.

Those tiny gaps between the bars shone with a million stars. The sky. The open air. Freedom. So close and yet so far away, teasing him, mocking him. Jake’s mind ran with a thousand worries. He feared for the treasure, for the future, for his freedom, and, most of all, he feared for his friends.

“Oh, my mateys…” Jake whispered. “Why did this have to happen?”

What he wouldn’t give to be back home, on the soft sands of Pirate Island, soft surf lapping against the shore, under the dazzle of pixies. He ran his hand across a mound of sand by his side, trying to bury himself in those sweet memories, but it was as cold and as harsh as the prison he was confined in.

Fear washed over the pirate boy. For the first in a long time, Jake was truly afraid. He may never get out. He may be trapped forever, doomed to grow old within those walls. He may never see his friends again.

“…Izzy… Cubby… Skully… Bucky… I miss you guy so much already,” Jake said with a quiet voice. Tears welled in his eyes as they went shimmered in the moonlight. He dropped his head, let out a sigh, then sniffed. “I wish I could see you guys again…”

“Reasonable thing to wish for.”

Jake’s head snapped upwards, rattling the chain. He followed the sound of that weathered, tired voice and discovered he was not alone in that dungeon. An old man, with a bald head and an unkempt white beard, gazed at Jake with a dead, grey eye. A scar ran down it.

Jake composed himself, pretending not to have been on the verge of crying just a moment earlier. “Who are you?” he asked the stranger.

In response, the stranger flashed a pair of ghastly, yellow teeth. “Nobody you know,” he answered as he stepped out of the shadows, moving his thin, bony body in an awkward gait. His robe hung off him, better suited for someone three times his size.

Jake instinctively edged further away the closer the man got, until the chain yanked the collar around his neck. The distance between them narrowed and he saw that the man’s left eye was dark and fully functioning while the other appeared dead.

“This eye might not see much,” the main said, chuckling as he closed his good eye and shovelled a handful of sand closer to himself, “but it still sees what you yearn.”

Spindly fingers got to work on the sand, cutting and carving into it with pure precision, all while his blind eye remained fixated on Jake, who didn’t know whether to focus on that eye or the sand carvings.

In no time at all, a face took shape. Jake recognised it in an instant, drawn to the curve of her face, the warmth of her smile and the determination in her eyes.

“Izzy!” Jake blurted. It was not a rough, silly sketch, but a perfect encapsulation of her, like she could materialise straight from the sand.

Smiling, the man sketched further faces in the sand. The next one being Cubby, and then one of Skully, and finished it off by having them all set sail in a ship called Bucky.

“My…” Jake felt himself start to tear up again. “My mateys…” He glanced up from the drawings and back to the stranger, even though he didn’t want to look away from his friends. “Are they…?”

“They’re fine, young lad,” the man answered, flashing a yellow grin. His breath nearly knocked Jake unconscious. “You truly wish to see them again?”

Jake nodded.

“In that case…” The stranger carved again into the sand, right on top of his illustrations of the boy’s pirate pals, much to Jake’s dismay. He sketched a small, simple key across their faces. “You won’t get very far with that collar on.”

Upon carving the last line, the stranger slammed his open palm down, scattering the sand in every direction. Jake was silent as he switched back and forth from his face to his hand. Without dropping his smile, the stranger lifted his hand and there, half buried in the sand, was a key. Exactly like the one he sketched seconds earlier.

Jake gasped, not believing what he was seeing. Was that key there all along, or was this guy playing tricks on him? Unmoving, he gazed at the key for the longest time.

The stranger chuckled. “Waiting for an engraved invitation, lad?” He wringed his fingers. “I can make you one, if you’d like.”

Jake snatched the key and missed the keyhole twice trying to find it. He jiggled the key around, clunking and clanking away at the archaic mechanism until finally, it turned. The lock disengaged with a dull click, and the collar parted much to Jake’s relief. He massaged the itch out of his neck while he rose to his feet; his legs stiff as they took his weight once more.

“Thank you,” Jake said, smiling for the first time since his incarceration.

The old man waggled his finger. “Don’t thank me just yet, my boy,” he remarked as he hobbled across the chamber. “There is still much to do before I can take you to your friends.”

“You know where they are?” Jake took a curious step forward.

“Aye, lad.” The stranger said. “But this wish don’t come cheap, you know. You gotta do something for me first.”

Jake squinted. All of a sudden, there was something about this guy he didn’t like, or trust for that matter. A nagging feeling overtook him that maybe this man had something sinister in store.

Nevertheless. “I’m listening,” he said.

“I lost something of mine a long, long time ago – a precious heirloom, passed down for generations – down at the bottom of a cave.” He edged closer to Jake. “Long have I tried to retrieve what was lost, but now age has gotten the better of me. I need someone young and strong to go fetch it.”

“Okay, but we still got a tiny problem…” Jake scratched the back of his neck as he scanned the many bricks surrounding them. “How’re we going to get out of here? Got anymore keys buried in the sand?”

The old man chuckled again as he approached the nearest wall, which was layered with webbing long abandoned and petrified.

“I’ve still got some tricks up my sleeve.” He pushed against the wall and a segment of it moved aside with ease, revealing a hidden stairwell illuminated by warm, orange light. “Do this one little task for me, and in return, I’ll reunite you with your friends. It won’t take long, we’ll be done before sunrise.”

The stranger extended a bony hand.

“So…” he whispered, smiling a toothy smile. “Do we have a deal?”

Jake glanced around the expanse of the dungeon, weighing his options. He could either go with someone he’s never met, or he could stay where he was and sleep with the rats and eat spiders for the rest of his life.

Jake shrugged. Some choice.

Description

Based on the dungeon scene from Disney’s Aladdin: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8svc-…

--

Jake’s latest adventure had taken a little turn for the worst. While on an adventure to find the legendary treasure of a legendary pirate sultan, hidden deep in the shifting sands of a faraway kingdom, who else would he and his mateys run into other than Captain Hook? A mishap following some misplaced bread led to the city guards being called, which led to Hook (smelling strongly of yeast) accusing Jake of being the thief.

Of course, it was Hook’s word against his, and no matter how hard Jake tried to argue his case, the city guard had dealt with one too many street urchins to care. Strong, rough hands dragged Jake away from his crew. His last sight of his friends were of them being cornered by more guards armed with scimitars.

And now here he was.

Jake gazed upward from his spot as a single, barred window high above poured moonlight upon him, painting him a depressing shade of blue. The dungeon reeked of decay and despair; a many terrible, painful things having happened within those unfeeling walls, with chains and cuffs lain about like the aftermath of a battlefield. The silence was broken by the shuffle and screech of whatever festered in the darkest corners. He adjusted the heavy cuff locked around his neck as his skin beneath it itched madly against the rusted metal. He gripped the chain linking the collar to the wall and yanked on it fruitlessly for the seventeenth time that night, desperate for a way out.

As harsh as the guards were, they at least had the courtesy to feed him. A metal cup held only a few last drops of warm, coppery water, and the last morsel of bread lay on a bare plate, alongside some crumbs that not even the rats want. That bread was so stale; Jake almost broke a tooth biting into it.

Those tiny gaps between the bars shone with a million stars. The sky. The open air. Freedom. So close and yet so far away, teasing him, mocking him. Jake’s mind ran with a thousand worries. He feared for the treasure, for the future, for his freedom, and, most of all, he feared for his friends.

“Oh, my mateys…” Jake whispered. “Why did this have to happen?”

What he wouldn’t give to be back home, on the soft sands of Pirate Island, soft surf lapping against the shore, under the dazzle of pixies. He ran his hand across a mound of sand by his side, trying to bury himself in those sweet memories, but it was as cold and as harsh as the prison he was confined in.

Fear washed over the pirate boy. For the first in a long time, Jake was truly afraid. He may never get out. He may be trapped forever, doomed to grow old within those walls. He may never see his friends again.

“…Izzy… Cubby… Skully… Bucky… I miss you guy so much already,” Jake said with a quiet voice. Tears welled in his eyes as they went shimmered in the moonlight. He dropped his head, let out a sigh, then sniffed. “I wish I could see you guys again…”

“Reasonable thing to wish for.”

Jake’s head snapped upwards, rattling the chain. He followed the sound of that weathered, tired voice and discovered he was not alone in that dungeon. An old man, with a bald head and an unkempt white beard, gazed at Jake with a dead, grey eye. A scar ran down it.

Jake composed himself, pretending not to have been on the verge of crying just a moment earlier. “Who are you?” he asked the stranger.

In response, the stranger flashed a pair of ghastly, yellow teeth. “Nobody you know,” he answered as he stepped out of the shadows, moving his thin, bony body in an awkward gait. His robe hung off him, better suited for someone three times his size.

Jake instinctively edged further away the closer the man got, until the chain yanked the collar around his neck. The distance between them narrowed and he saw that the man’s left eye was dark and fully functioning while the other appeared dead.

“This eye might not see much,” the main said, chuckling as he closed his good eye and shovelled a handful of sand closer to himself, “but it still sees what you yearn.”

Spindly fingers got to work on the sand, cutting and carving into it with pure precision, all while his blind eye remained fixated on Jake, who didn’t know whether to focus on that eye or the sand carvings.

In no time at all, a face took shape. Jake recognised it in an instant, drawn to the curve of her face, the warmth of her smile and the determination in her eyes.

“Izzy!” Jake blurted. It was not a rough, silly sketch, but a perfect encapsulation of her, like she could materialise straight from the sand.

Smiling, the man sketched further faces in the sand. The next one being Cubby, and then one of Skully, and finished it off by having them all set sail in a ship called Bucky.

“My…” Jake felt himself start to tear up again. “My mateys…” He glanced up from the drawings and back to the stranger, even though he didn’t want to look away from his friends. “Are they…?”

“They’re fine, young lad,” the man answered, flashing a yellow grin. His breath nearly knocked Jake unconscious. “You truly wish to see them again?”

Jake nodded.

“In that case…” The stranger carved again into the sand, right on top of his illustrations of the boy’s pirate pals, much to Jake’s dismay. He sketched a small, simple key across their faces. “You won’t get very far with that collar on.”

Upon carving the last line, the stranger slammed his open palm down, scattering the sand in every direction. Jake was silent as he switched back and forth from his face to his hand. Without dropping his smile, the stranger lifted his hand and there, half buried in the sand, was a key. Exactly like the one he sketched seconds earlier.

Jake gasped, not believing what he was seeing. Was that key there all along, or was this guy playing tricks on him? Unmoving, he gazed at the key for the longest time.

The stranger chuckled. “Waiting for an engraved invitation, lad?” He wringed his fingers. “I can make you one, if you’d like.”

Jake snatched the key and missed the keyhole twice trying to find it. He jiggled the key around, clunking and clanking away at the archaic mechanism until finally, it turned. The lock disengaged with a dull click, and the collar parted much to Jake’s relief. He massaged the itch out of his neck while he rose to his feet; his legs stiff as they took his weight once more.

“Thank you,” Jake said, smiling for the first time since his incarceration.

The old man waggled his finger. “Don’t thank me just yet, my boy,” he remarked as he hobbled across the chamber. “There is still much to do before I can take you to your friends.”

“You know where they are?” Jake took a curious step forward.

“Aye, lad.” The stranger said. “But this wish don’t come cheap, you know. You gotta do something for me first.”

Jake squinted. All of a sudden, there was something about this guy he didn’t like, or trust for that matter. A nagging feeling overtook him that maybe this man had something sinister in store.

Nevertheless. “I’m listening,” he said.

“I lost something of mine a long, long time ago – a precious heirloom, passed down for generations – down at the bottom of a cave.” He edged closer to Jake. “Long have I tried to retrieve what was lost, but now age has gotten the better of me. I need someone young and strong to go fetch it.”

“Okay, but we still got a tiny problem…” Jake scratched the back of his neck as he scanned the many bricks surrounding them. “How’re we going to get out of here? Got anymore keys buried in the sand?”

The old man chuckled again as he approached the nearest wall, which was layered with webbing long abandoned and petrified.

“I’ve still got some tricks up my sleeve.” He pushed against the wall and a segment of it moved aside with ease, revealing a hidden stairwell illuminated by warm, orange light. “Do this one little task for me, and in return, I’ll reunite you with your friends. It won’t take long, we’ll be done before sunrise.”

The stranger extended a bony hand.

“So…” he whispered, smiling a toothy smile. “Do we have a deal?”

Jake glanced around the expanse of the dungeon, weighing his options. He could either go with someone he’s never met, or he could stay where he was and sleep with the rats and eat spiders for the rest of his life.

Jake shrugged. Some choice.