Wizard in the Woods

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  Peanut, enjoying the game, barked an invitation to keep the play going. Four griffins turned to face Peanut and squawked their acceptance. A juvenile griffin – as evidenced by the numerous red feathers on its wings – pounced first and landed a bite. The problem was, Peanut had darted out of the way and the griffin had ended up biting one of its companions.

  A loud screech erupted out of the griffin that had been bit. The juvenile beat a hasty retreat as another red-winged griffin took its place. This one, with no more experience than its predecessor, took several snaps at the rapidly moving canine. It landed not one but two bites. Unfortunately, it had bitten – twice – the same griffin that had been bitten before. The young griffin gave a tremulous squawk, which sounded more like a squeak, and began backing away from the adult that was now advancing on its companion.

  With a squawk of rage, the wounded griffin launched its own attack, but this time it was ignoring Peanut and was instead targeting the second juvenile. Both juvenile griffins ended up fleeing, with the injured griffin in hot pursuit.

  That left only one. The last griffin, who had been watching his companions depart, slowly turned back to Peanut. It shook its head and squawked a challenge.

  “Damn,” Mikal softly swore. “I was really hoping all of them would have left.”

  Pravara targeted the last griffin and shot off a blast of fire. The small fireball hurled unerringly toward the remaining griffin. It looked as though Pravara’s blast was going to strike the griffin’s chest but at the last minute the griffin nimbly side-stepped to avoid the hit. It narrowed its eyes as it located Pravara’s small form out in front of their group.

  The griffin puffed out its chest and squawked again. It bounded forward, intent on getting either a bite of corgi or dragon.

  “Go, Peanut!” Mikal ordered, spurring her as though she was a horse. At that moment Pravara flew deeper into the forest. Peanut gave a few short barks and leapt after her.

  Help is nearby, Pravara thought to him. Three dragons are flying overhead.

  That is wonderful news! We’re saved!

  Not yet we aren’t. Look around you. My brethren cannot safely enter the forest. We must either find a clearing or retreat back to the valley.

  If we do that then we run the risk of encountering those same griffins that had just departed. I’d love to leave the forest but I think we need to find another way to do it.

  Agreed. I think we may be in luck.

  Why?

  I smell water.

  You do? Good job, Pravara!

  I must find it first. It could be nothing more than a puddle. I cannot tell while I am this size.

  Several minutes later they crested a small hill and saw a very welcoming sight: a river. This river, while too small to be on any map, was one of the many tributaries feeding Lake Raehón. While tiny in size, from their vantage point this river looked as large as the mighty Zylan River which stretched across the central part of the kingdom.

  Mikal heard something crashing through the forest behind them. They all turned, including Peanut, to see what it was. The griffin, huge in comparison to their shrunken size, appeared several hundred feet away. Its avian head jerked about as it tried to locate them. Sadly, only a few seconds later it had found them. It squawked angrily and sprinted toward them.

  “We have no choice,” Mikal informed his companions. “We have to get into the water!”

  Pravara flew to the water’s edge. She circled about as she waited for Peanut to wade in. However, the corgi eyed the large expanse of water and waited. When nothing else was forthcoming Peanut dropped her head to lap at the water. Finding the river acceptable, Peanut shoved her nose into the water and began noisily lapping away.

  “Peanut, you need to get into the water!” Mikal urged. “Hurry!”

  Intent on satisfying her thirst, Peanut ignored him. Lissa released her grip on Mikal and turned to look up at Pravara.

  “Peanut has been following you. You’re going to have to dive into the water before she’ll follow.”

  “I don’t want to get wet,” Pravara promptly informed her.

  “Neither do we,” Mikal added, “but we don’t have a choice. Hurry, Pravara. The griffin is almost here! We need to get Peanut moving!”

  Pravara’s neck lowered until she was looking at the river.

  “I hope you realize the magnitude of the favor you owe me,” Pravara grumped. She flew out over the water, tucked her wings, and dove straight down toward the river. She splashed into the water and quickly disappeared from sight.

  Alerted by the splash, Peanut’s head jerked up. She barked at the ripples forming in the water.

  “It’s your turn!” Mikal told the dog. He turned to look back at the approaching griffin. They had less than ten seconds before it arrived. “Hurry! Go find Pravara!”

  Peanut eyed the river and, after a second’s hesitation, jumped in. Despite being low to the ground and having tiny legs, her long muscular body and her short squat legs easily propelled them through the water. She swam in a circle until she saw a few more bubbles rise up in the distance. Peanut lifted her nose so that it was out of the water and steadily swam away from the shore.

  Mikal and Lissa crawled up their mount’s neck and were now stretched out on their bellies across Peanut’s furry head. A loud indignant squawk caused all three of them to turn around. For Peanut it resulted in her swimming in another circle so she could see what the commotion was.

  The griffin had arrived at the shore and wasn’t pleased about losing its prey. Again. It squawked irritably at them for twenty straight seconds before it eyed the nearby trees, unfolded its wings, and took to the air. Mikal groaned.

  “We cannot catch a break, can we?”

  Lissa turned to watch the griffin as it hovered by the water’s edge. Many of the trees growing on the bank of the tiny river had spread their canopies out over the river. There really wasn’t any room to maneuver, but apparently the griffin was agitated enough to give it a try.

  “What’s it doing?”

  “It’s trying to decide if we’re worth the effort of coming over here to retrieve us.”

  “Where’s Pravara?”

  Mikal turned to look back at the point where Pravara had splashed down into the water. The ripples had faded away, as had the bubbles. An uneasy knot formed in his stomach and got progressively worse.

  “Oh, man. I don’t know. Let me try to mentally contact her.”

  Pravara? Are you there?

  Silence.

  Pravara? Talk to me!

  Mikal paled. Her gentle, but firm, voice was absent from his head. Lissa let out a shout of alarm.

  “Look out! It’s coming for us!”

  The griffin had evidently decided it didn’t want to lose its hard earned meal and was now flying out over the water, deftly dodging numerous branches that were seemingly trying to pull it down. The griffin’s talons were extended and it was dropping lower as it prepared to scoop them from the water.

  Lissa buried her face in Mikal’s shoulder. Mikal closed his eyes. He couldn’t see any way they were going to get out of this.

  Just as the griffin dropped the final few feet down to the water’s surface and prepared to snag its prey, the waters erupted straight up, as though some type of explosion had occurred beneath the surface. An impossibly huge, heavily muscled green scaled foreleg shot up from the surface of the river and caught the griffin just seconds before it would have made contact with Peanut.

  The great clouds of mist that had appeared due to the watery explosion finally cleared. Lissa gasped in shock the same time Mikal cheered. It was Pravara. She was sitting on her haunches directly in the middle of the river and was now so large that she had effectively created a dam on the small river. Many a tree lost a good portion of their branches and foliage as the full-sized dragon appeared directly in their midst. Water spilled over the river bank and threatened to flood the area.

  The griffin angrily struggled to free itself from wh
atever was holding it. Those struggles ceased, though, once Pravara brought her talons up to her face so she could scrutinize their adversary.

  “Griffin. You are hereby antagonizing a member of the wyverian Collective, while simultaneously threatening the life of the human prince, thereby jeopardizing the human-griffin alliance. Do you wish to pursue this foolish line of thinking?”

  The griffin ceased struggling and started squeaking like a tiny bird. Pravara brought the griffin closer to her mouth. She used a talon from her other claw to pick a spot between two of her enormous fangs, as though something had become lodged between several of her teeth when, in fact, there wasn’t.

  “Are we going to have any more problems with you?” Pravara gently, but firmly, inquired.

  Demonstrating its comprehension of human speech, the griffin quickly shook its head ‘no’.

  “Good. Be on your way.”

  As soon as the griffin was released it fled towards the north, back to the valley. Pravara lowered herself so that she was standing on all fours and carefully stepped out of the river, but not before scooping up the exhausted dog and carefully placing Peanut by the river’s edge. Pravara glanced up at the sky and paused. A few seconds later she returned her attention to her tiny companions. She lowered her head to verify everyone was well.

  “What happened?” Mikal wanted to know. “How did you get back to your original size? And why haven’t we?”

  “We thought you might have drowned,” Lissa tearfully added as she looked up at their gargantuan companion.

  “It’s the water,” Pravara told them. “As soon as I entered the river I felt a tingling sensation on my scales. I immediately suspected the effects of the spell might have been washing off so I waited awhile underwater. When it became apparent that nothing else was happening I started to return to the surface when it occurred to me that perhaps this wizard of yours might have administered some type of enchantment or potion on us. If so then perhaps the simple act of thoroughly washing oneself might undo the effects of the enchantment. So I spent the next several minutes scrubbing every last scale clean. It worked.”

  Mikal slid down Peanut’s wet fur and held out a hand in an open invitation for Lissa to join him. Together they walked to the water’s edge, where Lissa bent to retrieve a large dull green piece of malleable material. She broke off a piece and handed it to Mikal.

  “Here. Use this.”

  “What is it?”

  “A piece of a dead freshwater sponge. Didn’t you hear Pravara? She had to scrub every scale of hers before the enchantment was broken. We have to do the same.”

  “I, er…”

  Lissa waded into the water and began scrubbing her arms and legs.

  “What are you waiting for? Come on. It’s not going to wash itself off your body. Unless you’d like me to do it for you?”

  Mikal’s face blushed bright red. He quickly waded into the water and started rinsing himself off.

  “You embarrass way too easily,” Lissa observed. “Why is that?”

  Mikal mumbled something and quickly ducked his head under the water. Once he surfaced he quickly faced the other way. Lissa had pulled her dress off and was busy scrubbing it clean.

  “What are you doing?” Mikal hesitantly asked. “Why did you take your dress off?”

  “Oh, stop being so prudish,” Lissa scolded. “I have an undershirt on. Besides, we have to make sure everything is clean otherwise we won’t revert back to our normal size. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of being this small.”

  There was a tremendous splashing of water. Mikal turned to see Lissa’s giant form erupt out of the water. The temperature of his face rose a few more degrees. She was only wearing her nightshirt and that left little to the imagination. He dropped his eyes back to the water.

  “See? It’s not enough we get ourselves clean,” Lissa told him, unconcerned about her present state of attire, “but we also have to get our clothes clean. Whatever he used on us must have gotten into our clothes, too.”

  She turned to look down at him.

  “Would you like some help?”

  “No!” Mikal all but squeaked out. “I can do this myself.”

  “Please hurry, would you? I’m tired and I’d like to get something to eat.”

  Mikal dropped down so that only his neck was above the water. He quickly took off his clothes and began scrubbing them out so violently that the waters around him were churning.

  “Make sure you get everything or else you’ll be stuck that size,” Lissa reminded him. Pravara had scraped together several large rocks into a ring and had picked up several of the recently broken tree branches. She easily broke the thick wood into smaller pieces and had dropped them into her makeshift hearth. Pravara looked down at the tiny hearth and spat a miniscule blast of fire at it. Moments later the hearth was merrily crackling away. Lissa gratefully took a seat near the fire and held her wet dress up in an attempt to get it to dry out as quickly as possible.

  Peanut had chosen a prime spot close enough to the fire to feel the warmth but also far enough away to be able to keep tabs on everyone in her unusual pack of companions. However, a few minutes later their canine companion was on her back with all four paws sticking straight up and was snoring contentedly away. Only when Mikal emerged from the river, in his proper size, did Peanut crack an eye open. A second or two later it closed and she was snoring again. Mikal hurried over to the fire and sat on the opposite side, away from Lissa.

  “Is there a reason you’re not sitting next to me?” she asked as she wrung out her dress for the second time. A few more drops of water fell to the ground.

  “You’re not wearing much,” Mikal pointed out. “I don’t think it’d be proper.”

  “We’re not children,” Lissa scolded. “We can certainly act like the adults we are supposed to be.”

  “I know,” Mikal told her. “That’s what frightens me.”

  “I frighten you?”

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  “Then what do you mean?” Lissa wanted to know. When Mikal didn’t respond she casually walked around the hearth and sat down next to him. She held her dress back up and continued her attempts to dry it.

  “I never know what to say around you,” Mikal lamely explained. “If this had something to do with matters of the court then I could tell you whatever you needed to hear. But when it comes to matter of the heart, my mind goes blank. I don’t know what to say. I like you, Lissa. A lot. I’m just scared I’ll say something foolish that will drive you away.”

  Lissa nodded thoughtfully at him.

  “I think I’m beginning to understand you a little bit better. Your whole life revolves around the castle. And it should. You’re the prince. I’m sure your parents have made sure you know everything you need to know in order to take over the crown someday.”

  Mikal nodded glumly. Lissa took his hand.

  “Look at me, Mikal. Come on, look at me. I like you, too. I’m not going anywhere. I think what we have here is special. I want to help you. That’s why I’m here. Whatever we do, we do it together. Agreed?”

  “Aye.”

  “Relax. I won’t bite you.”

  Mikal gave a grateful sigh.

  “Not yet anyway,” Lissa added.

  Mikal’s eyes shot open with surprise. Lissa giggled.

  “I’m teasing you. Seriously, you need to relax more.”

  “What do we do now?” Pravara wanted to know. “I think it is safe to say the wizard knows we are aware of his identity.”

  Mikal nodded.

  “I’ll say. We need to find him, Pravara. We need to find him as quickly as we can. I think it’s time I tell my father what we have learned.”

  “Why?” Lissa asked. She reversed her hold on her damp dress to give the other side a chance to dry out. She shook her head. “I mean, I know we need to tell him, but why now? What has changed your mind?”

  “The stakes have changed,” Mikal solemnly answered. “My f
ather, and yours, too, Pravara, needs to be told what happened here today.”

  Intrigued, Pravara dropped her head down to his level. “Why is that?”

  “Because,” Mikal slowly explained, “for the first time our wizard friend has actively tried to kill us.”

  Chapter 5 – A New Era

  Holding Lissa’s hand tightly in one hand and Peanut’s leash in the other, Mikal exited the portal room and entered the Great Hall. It was quiet and relatively empty. Mikal shrugged. He wasn’t surprised. It was now well past evening and his parents would probably be in their private quarters by now.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go home?” Mikal asked as he turned to look at his girlfriend. “Your father is bound to be worried about you.”

  “I should certainly let my father know I’m alright,” Lissa agreed. She gave him a soft smile. “But no, I don’t think I need to go home to do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s already here.”

  “Your father is in the castle? What for?”

  “He informed me this morning that he had to go to the castle to meet with the king. He didn’t give me any specifics because he didn’t have any to give. All he could tell me was that the constables from every village were required to attend.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Mikal softly murmured. He turned to the closest guard and motioned him over. The guard hurried over and bowed.

  “Your highness. How may I be of service?”

  “Do you know if my parents are in their private quarters?”

  The guard nodded. “Yes and no. The queen retired there an hour ago, but the king is in the Antechamber.”

  Mikal thanked the guard and automatically headed towards his father’s enchanted private chamber. He approached the large double doors and was surprised to see it unguarded.