Beyond The Mountain [Himple's First Adventure]

Beyond The Mountain

[Himple’s First

Adventure]

Mark A. Stubbs

Copyright © 2021 Mark Stubbs

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United Kingdom

First Printing, 2021

Published with SEO ProHub UK

Table of Contents

Dedication ................................................................................

Acknowledgement ...................................................................

About The Author ....................................................................

Introduction ..............................................................................

Chapter One: Life Was Quiet In Beyond ...............................

Chapter Two: The Girls ...........................................................

Chapter Three: The Stones ......................................................

Chapter Four: The Foreign Realm ..........................................

Chapter Five: Trolls .................................................................

Chapter Six: Where Did That Lake Come From? .................

Chapter Seven: Locomotion....................................................

Chapter Eight: The Mountain .................................................

Chapter Nine: Inside The Mountain .......................................

Chapter Ten: Dragons..............................................................

Chapter Eleven: Darkness .......................................................

Chapter Twelve: Moira ...........................................................

Chapter Thirteen: The Getaway ..............................................

Chapter Fourteen: Pod’s Rescue .............................................

Chapter Fifteen: The Black Beast ...........................................

Chapter Sixteen: Where Are We?...........................................

Chapter Seventeen: Where Is the Gate? .................................

Chapter Eighteen: Not Again! ................................................

Chapter Nineteen: Final Face-Off ..........................................

Chapter Twenty: A Hero’s Return..........................................

Dedication

To all my family, especially my daughters, Poppy and Amy. You are my everything

Acknowledgement

Firstly and most importantly, I need to thank Sarah Jane, my wife, who sent out the first manuscript to publishers, whose replies were overwhelming. She was my editor in chief, proof reader, grammar teacher and taskmaster. Without her, Himple would never have happened.

There are so many people to thank who have let me twitter on about dwarves, editors and confusing grammar.

Thank you for not telling me to shut up!

Special mentions go to my daughters, Poppy and Amy, who watched Himple's story grow and, by their reactions, told me what was good and what needed a rewrite.

To the SEO Pro Hub team for making it happen -

Kevin, Walter, and Isaac, thank you for believing in me.

To Stephen Martin, Juliet Perkins, Victoria and Paul Stubbs and the whole of Year 6 21/22 at St Peter's Primary School in Bromyard, for vital help.

Support comes in many ways, so it's important to mention my parents Andy and Gill Stubbs, and my in-laws, Kevin and Angela Mylotte, for all their help.

Lastly, to a writer that has truly captured my family's imagination and has been an inspiration to me, especially with his kind email of support, to Kieran Larwood and the amazing Five Realms Books. May we all aspire to be bards in our own way.

Thanks All!

About The Author

Mark A. Stubbs was brought up in rural Herefordshire, in the small village of Bishops Frome. He had a great childhood with brother Paul, enjoying the freedom of the countryside. He was never far away from a drawing pad and getting lost in his own imagination. Mark loved school and was the Head Boy of the Queen Elizabeth High School in the nearby town Bromyard, where he now lives. Mark is now a managing director of a packaging company. In his spare time, he is a volunteer Guide, Brownie and Rainbow helper Artist Owl and has become a favourite with the girls. Mark played Table Tennis for many, many years, winning many local titles and representing his county Herefordshire until he was hit down with AVN and other mobility limiting conditions. Although now disabled, Mark still loves to experience the countryside with his wife, Sarah-Jane, and daughters, Poppy and Amy, and naughty labradoodle, Barkley.

Introduction

Most people think that fairy-tale creatures were created to entertain and scare children. Have you ever thought it is quite a coincidence that the exact same characters appear in stories all around the world? Gnomes, fairies, dragons and even dwarfs appear in stories from every corner of the world going back to ancient times. All the same creatures found in all these ancient cultures is not a coincidence.

Now before I can tell this tale, I must explain how things work, as there is a lot more to these tales than meets the eye.

The children of today are not so easily hoodwinked and fooled into believing things blindly. Let’s bring science into the equation now. You have probably heard the phrase of another realm. Ever given it a serious thought? Some far-off mystical place with castles and a princess or two? What if I said alternate reality or space-time events? Sounds more interesting? These are the same thing. One makes you think princesses and the other dark and scary sci-fi stuff.

Occasionally there is a breakdown, a split in the fabric of time and reality between our world and other dimensions, including the place where the characters from our folktales and traditions live.

The splits were more open and accessible in the past.

You may know a few of them, Stonehenge, for example, and the Taulas Stones in Menorca. Our ancestors, in times long ago, knew about this, and creatures like hungry dragons, for

example, could pop through for a snack a bit like visiting the local shop. The snack could be some villagers or princess or two. Ever wondered what Stonehenge was for? Well, now you know.

The gates of Beyond are like Stonehenge. They are doors to our world and other realms. This is the reason the creatures, mystical fairy tale creatures, from Beyond appear around our world as they could visit multiple locations from the gateway. Did I mention the other realm was called Beyond? Good, so is this all beginning to make sense? Beyond is the world of dwarfs, dragons and other mythical creatures. Maybe by the time we are finished, you can explain it to an adult, but I do not fancy your chances.

Adults are so very much stuck in the confines of their own beliefs. The inhabitants of Beyond would often visit our world in the past. I am sure you have heard many tales of dragons and mermaids. Indeed, it is said that wars and natural disasters have destroyed all, but a few of the gateways and those left are so occupied by humans, visiting creatures from Beyond now stay away. Well, not all of them...

Good, as you know, most of what goes on here in our realm so let me fill you in about the other side. Beyond is another version of our earth living at the same time as us in another reality, so you have the lands known to us as Europe mainly occupied by gnomes and fairies, the odd leprechaun, and giants in Ireland, but a lot of them would play a silly

game of balancing and hopping from stone to stone on the Giants Causeway as I would call it. To be more exact, it is the Giants Gateway, another like Stonehenge. Not being very bright, the working of the gateway annoyed the giants so much they took to chucking the stones into the sea. They often threw them so far, and they ended up in North America!

The Gateways

Chapter One: Life Was Quiet In Beyond Dragons kept themselves to themselves, and the ongoing conflict between mermaids and banshees had settled down recently. There was a time when mountain trolls and dwarfs went to war over who owned the mountains, and gryphons and dragons fought for the skies. So, all in all, things were good.

There was little need for transport to the other realms, although an occasional drunken gnome had been known to fall through, and of course, leprechauns often would