Talon was in his study when they came in. There was a big glowing ball in the center of his room. “What are you working on Talon?” asked King Carlyle.
“I’ve been in contact with the sorcerer's guild. We’re working on ways to contain the monsters. What are you doing?”
“Oh, you know, the usual stuff,” said King Carlyle. “Goblins again. And dragons. I’m really sorry to bother you with this when you’re so busy, but we could use your help on this, and it shouldn’t be too difficult. I was thinking some bitter spray.”
“Bitter spray?”
“Yes, I think that should do it. I’ve made a bargain with the dragons that they could eat the goblin army. Then I released Grinthal the goblin king, and told him to get his army out of my kingdom before the dragons come back tomorrow. Of course, Grinthal’s not going to do it. So I’m fairly sure Grinthal and his army will attack the castle at about midday tomorrow, which is just when the dragons will come back.”
“So the dragons will eat the goblin army, and then be satisfied and go away. Perfect. You’ve solved both of your problems. You don’t need me after all.”
“Yes, except you know me. I hate to be the cause of anyone getting eaten if I can avoid it. Even a goblin. So I was thinking that we could get some of that nasty bitter spray you make, and you could cast a spell so that it would cover all of the goblins. And then, when the dragons tried to eat the goblins, they’d spit them out because they tasted so bitter.”
“How will that solve anything?”
“Well, with any luck, the goblin army will be so traumatized that they’ll still flee the kingdom. And as for the dragons, they’ll fly away as fast as they can to try to find a river or something and get that awful bitter taste out of their mouths.”
“You know I’m very busy at the moment?” said Talon. “You know what will happen if the monsters get out?”
“Believe me, I do not want to distract you from your important work for a moment longer than necessary,” said King Carlyle. “I’m thinking it will only take you a few minutes to caste the bitter spell over the goblin army when they attack tomorrow.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” said Talon, returning his focus to the glowing ball. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to contact the guild.”
******************************************************************
The next day, the goblin army attacked right at midday. “Good old Grinthal,” said King Carlyle “He’s as predictable as ever.”
Kin Carlyle was on the castle tower, watching the attack below. With him were his sons George and Rufus, and Robert, Henry, Grace and Thomas.
“Run and fetch Talon,” King Carlyle said to Thomas. “He won’t be happy, but this should only disturb him for a minute.”
Thomas ran down the steps.
“I think I see the dragons coming,” said Henry. “They’re still pretty far off in the distance.”
“They’ll be here soon enough,” said King Carlyle. “Dragons make very good time.”
Indeed, by the time Thomas came up the stairs with Talon, the dragons were almost upon them. “Ah, there you are, Talon,” said King Carlyle. “I promise, this will only take a minute of your time. We’re almost ready.”
The goblin hordes were meanwhile attacking the castle walls. They were attempting to scale the stone walls, using their long fingers and claw-like hands to find places to grab between the stones, and pulling themselves up bit by bit.
“Ah, there you are, friend Grinthal,” King Carlyle called down. “Remember now, I did try and warn you!”
“Warn me! You lied to me!” screamed Grinthal, who was leading his army up the castle wall. The goblins could not see the dragons, because the dragons were approaching from the opposite end of the castle, and the huge castle walls obscured the vision of the goblins. But then, just at that minute, the dragons passed over the castle, and as he saw the huge winged beasts flying directly above him, Grinthal screamed with fright and lost his grip on the castle walls. He fell down, and as he fell he bumped against several other goblins who were lower on the wall than he was. A few of them fell as well. Once Grinthal hit the ground, he screamed again and started running away. His army, seeing their king flee, and also simultaneously seeing the dragons, also began running. The dragons swooped down with open mouths.
“Perfect,” said King Carlyle. “Now, Talon, the bitter spell!”
Talon pointed his staff at the dragons and uttered a gutteral incantation, and a spark of light flew from his staff and hit the dragons. They both turned into rabbits, and fell to the ground. The goblin army by this point was too terrified to turn back and look, so they kept running and running, and never seemed to notice that the dragons were no more.
King Carlyle was in shock. “What did you just do?” he asked.
“I do humbly apologize, sire. I would never have ventured to disobey you, except time is so precious now. I couldn’t afford to waste time messing about with a bitter spell. Besides, I’m not even sure it would have gotten rid of the dragons like you think it would have. It may have just made them angrier.”
“You have the power to transform dragons?” King Caryle asked.
“Yes my king. It is one of the oldest principles of sorcery. We cannot create something out of nothing, but we can transform matter.
“But…But... ” King Carlyle sputtered for words before he finally exclaimed. “But then why have you never told me this before? What about all the times I’ve had to fight dragons over the years? Why did you let me fight those dragons when you could have transformed them instead?”
“My King, I beg you to recall that in all those previous incidences, I did exactly as you ordered me to.”
“Yes, but you never told me you had the power to transform the dragons.”
“You never asked.”
King Carlyle stood speechless.
“My King, is there anything else?” Talon asked at last. “I am very busy consulting with the sorcerer's guild, and trying to contain the monsters.”
“No, that is all Talon. You may go,” said King Carlyle.
Still silent, King Carlyle led George, Rufus, Robert, Henry, Grace and Thomas outside the castle wall. The two rabbits were hopping about in a confused way.
“It was particularly cruel of Talon to make them into such cute rabbits,” said King Carlyle to George. “If they were some tough looking jackrabbits, then at least they would have their dignity with them. But as such cute looking little fluffy white bunny rabbits, it’s going to be difficult to take them seriously.”
“I have no doubt you’ll handle the situation with the appropriate decorum, as always, father,” said George, but he couldn’t resist smiling as he said it.
“Ah, there you are King Carlyle,” one of the rabbits said as King Carlyle approached. “We demand you change us back.” Strangely enough, even though it was now a small cute little fluffy bunny rabbit, it still maintained some of the dragon’s deep thundering voice. Although the volume of the voice was at a much more tolerable level now.
“I’m sorry Klangor,” said King Carlyle. “I couldn’t change you back even if I wanted to. My sorcerer changed you, not me.”
“But this is treachery!” boomed the rabbit in an outraged voice.
“Come now, do not consider yourselves unfairly used by me,” said King Carlyle. “I have always maintained my agreements with you. It was you who came back too soon and demanded too much. I can’t have you coming back every season and demanding to eat everything in my kingdom.”
“We will take this all the way to the dragon’s council,” said the other rabbit, in a similar deep booming voice. “We will have our revenge.”
“In those tiny bodies?” said King Carlyle. “I beg you to reconsider. You’d never make it all those miles. Rabbits can hop fast at times, it’s true, but you would also tire easily.”
“If it takes us a thousand years, we will make the journey back!”
“Yes, yes, it’s your decision after all. But it’s far too late in the day to start now. Stay the night at my castle, feast at my table, sleep in warm beds, and you can begin your journey in the morning.”
The rabbits paused. “We are hungry,” Starrof admitted. “What kind of meat can you serve us?”
“You know that no animals in the forest eat meat anymore,” said King Carlyle. “Especially rabbits. Your stomach couldn’t handle it even if I gave it to you. You eat grass now.”
“A dragon does not eat grass!” yelled Starrof, outraged.
“Starrof, my dear friend, you are now in a rabbit body, and must eat as a rabbit does.”
The rabbit gave out a howl of rage, followed by a self-pitying sob. “I know, I know,” said King Carlyle. “When this is all over, I’ll try to talk to my sorcerer about getting you changed back. At the moment, though, we need to deal with the monsters underground. It’s a long story, I’ll explain later. But I promise you, you’ll both be safe in my castle as long as you like.”
And so, with their ears drooping sadly, the rabbits hopped into the castle.
“Thomas, Robert, Henry, Grace, could you show our new visitors around the castle?” said King Carlyle as they all entered together. “Make sure they have access to whatever refreshment they desire, but they may require advising on what is suitable in their bodies.”
King Carlyle then took George and Rufus into a separate room, and closed the door. “This situation with Talon disturbs me more and more,” said King Carlyle. “He has not been honest with us all these years.”
“We should get rid of him at once,” said Rufus. “How can we possibly trust him?”
“Get rid of him?” said George. “Rufus, have you no heart? We grew up with the man. He played with us when we were children.”
“Yes, and now he’s endangering my own children. He attacked my son, Thomas, in the underground chamber that night.”
“Rufus is right, George,” said King Carlyle. “We can’t become too attached to our past. An overly sentimental heart is dangerous for a king. I am also affectionate for the old man, but we need to think clearly. We can’t trust him, and now we know he’s more powerful than we had ever imagined. That’s a dangerous combination. But, we need to move carefully. If he’s as powerful as he appears to be, we can’t just get rid of him. He’ll turn the whole lot of us into field mice or bunny rabbits.”
“Well, he obviously doesn’t want us dead,” said George. “Or if he does, he’s in no hurry. He’s been living with us for years. If he had wanted to kill us, he’d have done it already.”
“Well said, George,” said King Carlyle. “It’s important to keep perspective. But it’s also apparent that we can no longer leave him entirely to his own devices. As Rufus already mentioned, he endangered the life of Thomas, and also another of my grandchildren, Robert, that night in the underground chamber.
“So what do you propose,” asked Rufus.
“We need someone to watch him, closely,” said King Carlyle. “Someone who can be with him all the time without arousing his suspicion.”
“You mean one of the children,” said George.
“It would have to be,” said King Carlyle.
“We can’t put the children in danger,” said George.
“We would only be putting the child in danger if the child knew they were spying on Talon,” said King Carlyle. “If the child knows what they are doing, then they might let something slip accidentally. But what if the child didn’t know they were a spy. What if they just happened to start spending more time with Talon, and then every night one of us would casually ask the child what they had seen that day.”
“Who did you have in mind?” asked Rufus.
“Thomas used to spend a lot of time with Talon, but after the incident in the underground chamber, I’m not sure they trust each other anymore,” said King Carlyle. “But what about Susan? She’s only 12. She’s young enough to still be innocent, but old enough to pick up on things.”
“I don’t like it,” said George. “If Talon finds out, what will he do to my Susan? Will he change her into a rabbit?”
“But there’s nothing for him to find out,” said King Carlyle. “If Susan doesn’t know she’s a spy, then how can Talon possibly find out she’s a spy? All we’ll do is try to make sure they spend a bit more time with each other. By coincidence. Besides, I don’t believe Talon would harm the children. At least not just out of spite. As you said yourself, if Talon had wanted to harm us, he could have done so a long time ago.”
George thought for a moment, and then slowly nodded. “Alright, let’s give it a try.”
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