Fred's Halloween Adventure Part 3

The Climb
With everything prepared Fred left the comfort of his home and headed back towards the castle and the steep cliff.
Standing in front of it, the castle loomed high overhead, burning against the cobalt blue sky, Fred was no longer so nervous, in fact he was rather intrigued by the mysterious castle.
Fred felt the first rushes of adrenaline through his blood and almost relished this challenge.
"Right," whispered Fred, "lets get this done."
Fred moved over to the entrance to the rocky path and came across his first obstacle.
Two rather large owls sat in the way, one perched upon a log on the ground, the other atop a supernaturally large mushroom, both glaring at him with unblinking amber eyes.
Fred approached them and spoke to the white owl, whose feathers seemed to give off a ghostly effervescence in the twilight, "hello?"
The owls just continued to glare, but slowly blinked their eyes at him.
Realising they had no real interest in him, Fred edged past them and began his ascent to the castle.
No sooner than Fred had began clambering up the steep incline, than he was accosted by a colony of bats.
They fluttered around his head and Fred threw himself to the ground, terrified.
It seemed to go on forever and bat after bat flew past Fred's head.
Eventually it grew quiet and Fred saw that the bats were not so big after all, in fact they were cute and fluffy. Fred felt that if he could fly, he could almost be a bat.
So Fred didn't feel so frightened now, but looking around Fred had thrown himself off into a valley and now was not so sure where he was.

"I know!" said Fred, and he hoked about in his bag, looking for...
...a compass! "Brilliant" said Fred, chuffed that he had remembered to bring it.

Fred took a wee seat and studied the compass. "Hmm" thought Fred, "if I can see the well from here, and the castle is north from that, then I must go... in that direction", and he pointed uphill to the left.

Fred started off in that direction, but had to be careful because he came right to the cliff edge and stumbled a little, almost falling in.
At this point Fred looked over the edge and was horrified by what he saw.
A glint of white, little pieces contributing to make up one grotesque reminder of Fred's dangerous journey: a skeleton.
As Fred peered down the cliff to the rocky bottom, he saw two more skeletons splayed out in a violent manner evocative of their untimely death.
But how did they die? thought a shaking Fred.
The cliff was dangerous, yes, but he didn't think anyone'd be silly enough to fall over the edge.
Something far more dark and dangerous was at play here, which filled Fred with a great terror.
Fred froze.
When he had set out to follow the pink rabbit, Fred had been scared but not once thought that he might die.
He didn't want to walk any further.
Fred sat down, opened his bag and looked for something that would comfort him.
Fred's hand slipped across the edge of the mini bible and he pulled it out, wondering if it would help him.
Fred opened the book at a random page, just where it fell open, and read a line, "So death isn't the end?" he said hopefully.
Being only a bunny, Fred didn't know much about religion, but he felt so relieved to be reassured that he would never be just a skeleton lying at the bottom of a cliff.
Phew, he thought, and he steeled himself for the next part of his journey.