Chapter Ten: In Which Ralph is still in a dark, dark cave.

Ralph the Timid stood stock still, the hairs on the back of his neck rising slowly. He had always been comfortable underground, and had loved exploring caves with his brothers as a child. This had comforted Beryl and Ralph that the chartmaker had not been entirely wrong in labelling him as an earthworm. But now, at this moment, in this dark, dark subterranaean chamber, he was suddenly aware of so many things. How deep under the ground he was, for starters. He could imagine the weight of all that earth above him, and how no one would hear him if he screamed.
Because that was really the problem. He was meant to be alone in this cave, and there was someone else in there.

Ralph the Timid, for perhaps the first time in his life, felt a little scared.

He patted around his pockets again quickly and found his matches. He struck one against his belt, spinning around as he did so. The brief flare of the match gave light enough to see the figure behind him.



It was a tall, horned beast, almost as black as the cave itself. It had large leathery wings which brushed against the stumpy stalactites that hung from the ceiling like truncated upside down melting candles. It looked incredibly powerful. Some might say it looked omnipotent, but not Ralph, because it was quite a big word and he hadn't really liked school. It had teeth that glowed luminously when it bared them at Ralph the Timid in what was either a terrifying grimace or a singularly disturbing smile.

Ralph the Timid gave out a yelp as the match burned his fingers and dropped the remains of it to the cave floor.

The beast sighed."I wish you people wouldn't do that." Ralph, by the light of a hastily lit spare candle, saw the beast heave a massive sigh as it bent and picked up the remains of the match, putting it tidily in a little bag tucked under his left wing.

"Um.." said Ralph the Timid. "Sorry."

"So you should be!" said the beast with a touch of asperity. "If I let everyone who came down here just drop matches all over the place, do you know what this cave would look like?" It made an exclamatory noise.

Ralph privately thought that it would look much the same, seeing as it was extremely dark in the cave, but he did not think saying this to the beast was perhaps the wisest course of action.
Instead he introduced himself. "I'm Ralph the Timid." said Ralph the Timid.

"Are you now?" said the beast. "And what are you doing down in my cave, Ralph the Timid?"
He held up a heavily clawed black scaly hand. It was larger than Ralph the Timid's head. "Don't tell me! It's that blasted Mad Pete again, isn't it? He's such a nuisance."

Ralph nodded, and then, because it was dark, and because maybe giant horned and winged cave beasts didn't understand what bobbing the head meant, he added "Yes, Mad Pete told me to come down here and get him a parcel."

"And you just agreed? To go down into the dark unknown and wander around in an endless cave without a guide looking for a parcel for a man who goes by the name of Mad Pete? Not very timid, Ralph the Timid."

Ralph the Timid looked embarrassed. "Well, it's a bit of a long story really. I'm really here because I don't know why I'm here - at all, I mean - because the chartmaker got it wrong when I was born and that's why I'm Ralph the Timid but I'm not really all that timid, and Mad Pete said that Ethel would help me find my purpose if I got him his parcel and I thought it would be a bit of an adventure."

The beast nodded its head at this. Clearly subterraean monsters did understand this gesture. Ralph wondered fleetingly why it had wings if it lived in a cave, and a cramped cave at that, but his thought was cut off as the beast spoke. "Well, I think I know what you mean, Ralph the Timid, but I must tell you, I do not think Mad Pete and Ethel will help you very much. Did you know that Mad Pete sends at least one unwary adventurer into this cave every week?"

Ralph the Timid had no idea about this, and he said so.

"And do you know what happens to those unwary adventurers?" the beast gave its unpleasant grimace or even more unpleasant smile again.

Ralph the Timid had no idea about this either.

"I tell them to let Mad Pete stew for a bit and come along and have a cup of tea with me!" said the beast cheerily, clapping Ralph on the shoulder, almost causing him to collapse. "My name is Ginger McSporran, the black beast of the caves, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Ralphie baby! Come on! I'll put the kettle on!"

And so Ralph the Timid went to have tea with Ginger McSporran, the black beast of the caves.

(Word Count: 9861)