Chapter 80: Henry and the Love Spell

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Henry had been acting strange lately. Ever since Catherine had transformed herself into a young girl, Grace had noticed that Henry seemed to be spending more and more time gazing at her (much to Grace’s annoyance, as well as to the annoyance of Alicia and Amanda).  

But lately, it had gone beyond simply eyeing Catherine.  Henry was now following her everywhere, and he had even begun fetching things for Catherine, or doing simple errands for her.  Many of them, completely unbidden.  He just did things for Catherine because it seemed that he wanted to.

Henry never did have any sense when it came to girls, but Grace recognized that something different was going on here.  She mentioned it to Robert.

“I know what he’s like,” Grace said.  “You know what he’s like.  We all know he can be a bit foolish sometimes, but this utter subservience to Catherine, this doesn’t seem like him at all.”

“You know him better than I do,” Robert said.  “But I agree, it does seem strange.  I’ll ask my dad.”

Midor, as it happened, had also noticed something was up, and he told Grace and Robert what he thought.  “I think Catherine’s got him ensnared with a love spell,” he said.  “She must have seen there was an opportunity, and taken it.”

“An opportunity?” asked Robert.

“Well, love spells don’t work on everyone.  You can’t create love where none exist, no matter how powerful a sorcerer you are.  But if you notice that there is something there, you can work the magic on it.  It doesn’t even have to be true love--infatuation will work just fine as far as the spell is concerned.  I’d noticed that as Catherine made herself younger and more beautiful, Henry started to pay her more attention.”

Grace snorted.  “Everybody noticed that.”

“Yes, including Catherine evidently.  Well, she must have worked her spells, and now she’s got Henry trapped in a love spell.  He’s her devoted slave.”

“What can we do?” asked Robert.

“How do we get him out of that spell?” asked Grace.

Midor sat down and scratched his chin thoughtfully.  “Well, unfortunately, magic’s never really been my area of expertise.  I was a forest ranger, not a magician.  I could tell you all about which family of badgers lives in which den, but unfortunately I’m not much good when it comes to combating magic.  For decades, whenever there was a problem with magic, the people in this castle just asked Talon, but…”

“He probably wouldn’t have helped us anyway,” said Grace.

“Who knows,” said Midor.  “He served this family well for a long time before he didn’t.  But, anyway, he’s gone now.  No one around understands magic except Catherine…”

“...and mother,” said Robert, finishing off what his father couldn’t bring himself to say.

“Catherine is teaching her how to use the magic,” said Midor.  “I’m not sure Vivian has a deep understanding of how it works though.  I doubt she would know how to counter a spell unless Catherine taught her.”

“So what does that leave us?” asked Grace.

“Well, we would need another sorcerer,” said Midor.  “Or possibly we could find something in the library.”

“Great!” Grace rolled her eyes.  “Where’s John where we need him?”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on him,” said Midor.  “The last I heard, John was safe in the mushroom kingdom, learning all about mushroom culture and history.”

“The mushroom kingdom is real?” asked Robert.  “I’d heard rumours about it, but…”

“Yes, I know, I never really showed you much of Fairy Land when you were growing up, did I?” said Midor.  “It’s just as well.  Too much of that magic stuff at a young age will only confuse you.”

Grace, who was always a bit quick to pick up what wasn’t being said, leaped on this.  “You’re worried Robert inherited some of the magic,” she said.

“It’s never been passed down to the males,” said Midor.  “It's possible that Robert’s future daughter or grand-daughter could have the gift of magic, but not Robert.”

“But then why were you worried about keeping him away from the Fairy Land?” asked Grace.

Midor sighed.  “Because I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure the magic wouldn’t show up some day.  As far as we know it’s never shown in males, but, there’s a first time for everything.”

*******************************************************************

And so, Midor, Grace, and Robert searched through the library, looking to find anything about love spells.  John would have loved looking through all these old books, Grace thought.  It gave her a headache, however.  

Midor had actually studied hard in his younger days, but he had long lost the regular habit of reading.  And as for Robert, he had grown up in the woods, and had never even seen a library before he had arrived at the castle--although Midor had taught him how to read, and had even brought him some books when he was younger.
Eventually, however, it was Grace who found something buried in an old book about spells.  “I think this is what we were talking about,” she said.

Midor came over to check.  “Yes, this is it,” he confirmed.  “This is the spell Catherine’s got him under, all right.  Now, what does it say about how to break the spell?”

“It says one option is to kill the person who put him under the spell.”

“I don’t like Catherine,” said Robert, “but I don’t want to murder her either.”

“Agreed,” said Midor.  “Not that it would ever be an option anyway.  She is always on her guard against any sort of treachery these days.  That’s why she’d enslaved Henry in the first place--more security.  She’d never let us anywhere near her in an unguarded moment.  We’d better keep reading and see what our other options are.”

“It also says that if he’s kissed by true love, that can also break the spell,” said Grace.  Grace frowned.  “I know he was dating both Alicia and Amanda before, but I don’t think either of those were true love.”

“Yes, from what little I saw of it,” said Midor, “I got the impression it was just young flirtations.  But you never know.  Sometimes it’s very difficult to decide what is true love and what is not, especially from the outside.  Still, we’d better explore our other options, just in case.  What else is there.”

“Hmmm,” Grace’s eyes narrowed as she followed the page.  “It’s all a bit difficult to make out,” she said.  “But I can see something here about the golden apple.  If you possess the golden apple, you can break the spell. What’s the golden apple?”

“I thought that was just a myth,” said Robert.

“It’s old forest lore,” Midor explained to Grace.  Most likely a myth of some sort, and yet, maybe it’s out there somewhere.”

“This sounds like a heroic quest,” said Robert.

“That’s the last thing we need right now,” said Midor.  “I hear from my sources in the river that King Carlyle is on his own quest right now.  We don’t need to duplicate that.  Besides, it would be no easy thing to find the golden apple, if it even exists.  We’d be lost in the dark parts of the forest for weeks.  Do we have any other options?”

“There’s one more option,” said Grace.  “If he sees the one who he is enslaved to kiss someone else, it will break his heart, and cause the love enchantment to vanish.”

“So we need to get Catherine to kiss someone else,” said Robert.  “And we need to make sure Henry sees it.”

“That doesn’t sound like something that would be easy to manufacture,” said Midor.  “What are our other options?”

“That’s it,” said Grace.  “That looks like our last option.”

“Let me see that book,” said Midor, reaching across.  

Grace pushed it across the table, and Midor analyzed it carefully.  “You’re right,” he said at last.  “This does seem to be the last option.  Well, maybe the Golden Apple option isn’t so bad after all.  It could be a fun little quest.”

“I think we could do it,” Robert said.  “The kissing plan, I mean.  Catherine has been trying to make General Graten fall in love with her.  She would probably let him kiss her, if we got him in on the plan.”

“Does General Graten actually need to be in love with her for it to work?” asked Grace.  “Or is just going through the motions of kissing her enough?”

“I think just going through the motions is fine,” said Midor.  “If we can convince him to play his part, it would be enough to break the spell.  Of course at first glance it seems like an unchivalrous thing to do to deceive a woman in love, but in this case, I doubt Catherine’s interest in General Graten is sincere.  The only reason she’s been trying to seduce him is because she wants to put him under the same enchantment to ensure her loyalty.”

“We could ask him,” said Grace.  “We have somewhat of a complicated history with General Graten.  I’m not entirely sure he’ll be willing to help us.  He can be difficult at times.”

“He can be,” said Midor.  “Why don’t you let me talk to him.  I’ll try to frame it in a way that would appeal to him.”

Chapter 79: The Wise Old Turtle

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King Carlyle and Jacob the Frog, after much searching, finally found the wise old turtle.  He lived in a cave at the bottom of the river.  (He was one of those aquatic turtles that live in the water.)  

“I understand,” said King Carlyle, “That you have some information about where the Queen of the Water Sprites is being kept.”

“Have you come to rescue her?” asked the wise old turtle.

“We have,” answered King Carlyle.

“Then you should know,” said the wise old turtle, “that the path is extremely dangerous, and many have perished attempting it.”

“We are prepared,” said King Carlyle.

“You must find the whirlpool.  It will take you down to the hidden chamber.  There you will find the queen of the Water Sprites.”

“Where is the whirlpool?” asked King Carlyle.

“Ah, that is what you must find,” said the Wise Old Turtle.

“Do you know where it is?” asked King Carlyle.

“I have spoken as much as I intend to,” said the Wise Old Turtle.  “You must go now and find what you can.”

“So you do know?” King Carlyle insisted.

“We should go,” said Jacob the Frog.  “I don’t think he’s going to tell us anything more.”

“No, wait,” said King Carlyle.  “I’ve dealt with these mystical types before.  You don’t get to be king without dealing with at least a few of these mysterious fortune teller types.  It’s part of the job description.  I’ve learned to always make them give you a straight answer.”

“I warn you,” said the Wise Old Turtle.  “Do not take advantage of my patience.  I have already told you all that I intend to tell you.”

“Fine, fine,” said King Carlyle.  “But just to be clear, you do know where the whirlpool is, you are just choosing not to reveal the information.”

“I have already told--” the Wise Old Turtle began.

“Yes, yes,” said King Carlyle.  “I know.  I’m not asking you to tell us where the whirlpool is.  I’m just confirming that you know where it is.  Just tell me that you know where it is, but that you are not going to tell me, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“Very well,” said the Wise Old Turtle.  “I do know where it is.”

“And you’re not going to tell us?” King Carlyle asked.

The Wise Old Turtle sighed in irritation.

“I’m just trying to confirm,” said King Carlyle.  “You’re not going to tell us, right?”

“It is not my way to tell everything,” said the Wise Old Turtle.

“Okay, fine.  That’s fine.  I just want to know why you’re not going to tell us.  Is it for our own good so that we can go on a journey of self-discovery?  Or is it because you need to maintain an air of mystery?”

“It is simply that it is not my way.”

“Yes, yes, I know.  And I promise that I’ll leave you alone.  I will leave you alone.  I just want clarification on why you’re not going to tell us.”

“That is not our way,” said the turtle in an exasperated voice.

“Because you could tell us, and we would never let anyone know that it was you.  We would pretend we located it all on our own.  You could keep your air of mystery, and we could pretend we were smarter than we were.  It would be win-win all around.”

“The reason is,” said the turtle at last, in a very annoyed voice, “is that if you seek to go on a hero's quest, you have to find this kind of stuff yourself.  It’s no good me telling you everything.  You have to do the work of finding stuff out yourself.”

“Okay, great, now we are understanding each other,” said King Carlyle.  “And I would not argue with you if we were on such a journey.  But it is not for our own benefit that we venture forth, but to help the Water Sprites and for the sake of their queen.  After all, it is not an inanimate object that we seek-- we are not recovering a lost treasure, or seeking a magic sword, for example.  We are seeking to rescue a Queen, and so for the sake of the Queen, not for our own sake, it would be better if you told us where she is--”

“Fine!” snapped the turtle.  “Fine.  I agree.  The whirlpool you seek is located behind a sunken log about one mile north of here.  You will know the area because the log is covered with moss and vines, even though it is underwater.  There’s a fierce salmon who guards the whirlpool, and he will try to stop you if you arrive.”

“Thank you very much,” said King Carlyle.  Then he said to Jacob, “See, this questing thing isn’t so difficult after all.  We should have the queen rescued  in a couple of days.”

Chapter 78: A Meeting is Arranged

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John was very surprised to find out that the mushroom princess, Kolet, was in love with him.  He heard about it through the mushroom chief minister, who told him in confidence.

“Really?” said John, surprised.  John was in the library with Benjamin the Mouse when the chief minister came.  “Do mushroom’s find human men attractive?” John asked.  “I mean, there’s no way that a human could ever mate with a mushroom, so I wouldn’t have thought the attractive urge would exist.”

“Stop putting everything so crassly, John,” said Benjamin the Mouse.  “Not everything has to be about mating.  Perhaps the lady has just taken a liking to your face.”

“Yes, but… You must admit it is odd, right?  There’s never been any sort of mushroom-human romance before, has there?”

“Well, you’re the scholar, not me,” said Benjamin.  “Search the books and see what you find.”

“How many people know about this?” John asked the Chief Minister.

“The Princess Kolet has confided in a few of her chambermaids,” said the Chief Minister, “and one of the chambermaids has confided in me.  As far as I know, that’s the extent of it right now.  I don’t think even the king knows about it at the moment.”

“Curious,” said John.  He thought for a moment.  “She does actually have a pleasant looking face.”

“The faces of the mushroom people do have some human characteristics,” admitted Benjamin the Mouse.  “The eye-lashes, the nose, the lips, the color in her cheeks.”

“It is true,” said John.  “When the fairies granted these mushrooms with life centuries ago, they did give them some surprisingly human looking faces.”

“From our perspective,” said the Chief Minister, “You humans have faces that surprisingly resemble mushrooms.  No doubt, this is what is causing the princess to be attracted to you.  We’ve never seen a human like you before, so she would like to get to know you better.”

“But surely the princess must know,” said John, “that the whole purpose of my journey this way is because I want to approach the land of the fairies and return to my full size.  I’ve enjoyed my time in the mushroom kingdom immensely, but I can’t possibly stay forever.”

“The Princess Kolet simply wants to get to know you better during the time you are here,” said the Chief Minister.  “Surely there can be no harm in that.”

John looked at Benjamin the Mouse.  “I suppose he’s right,” said Benjamin.  “I can’t think of any harm that could come from getting to know her a bit better.  Assuming you are completely honest with her about your intentions to leave.”

“I suppose it couldn’t do any harm,” said John.  Turning to the Chief Minister, he asked.  “Very well.  What do you propose?”

“Meet me tomorrow night, and I will arrange a rendezvous with the princess,” said the Chief Minister. 

Chapter 77: Talon’s Funeral

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As it happened, none of the other royal family members had been on guard that afternoon.  Nor had Midor, nor had Graten.  They had all been off duty.  Talon had been the only one from the royal household on guard duty that day.  (The sorcerer of the castle was always considered to have the rank and privilege of a member of the royal household, even though he was not related to the royal family by blood.)

But, when they heard what had happened to Talon, George and Rufus rushed out to retrieve his body, and brought it back to the castle.

Talon was buried with full honors in the castle courtyard.  Everyone had a word or two to say about him.  “I can’t believe he’s really dead,” said Catherine.  “I thought he’d outlive us all.  He never really liked me, you know.  He never forgave me for learning more about magic than he did.  But once I realized that he was just an insecure little man who happened to have magical powers, then I learned how to deal with him.”

“I still haven’t forgiven him for imprisoning me in the portal for two years,” said Midor.  “But I could never say that he was evil.  He did have his good qualities.  He died defending the castle.”

“He was always regarded like family,” said George.  “Granted, he was like the grumpy uncle of the family, but we still grew up with him nonetheless.  And he was capable of showing us kindness and tenderness at times when we were children.”

“He always looked so mean,” said Grace.  “I always had a hard time understanding why the rest of you were so fond of him.  I didn’t know him for as long as the rest of you did, but in my limited experience, I found that he could be quite selfish, but he was never malicious for no reason.”

“Yes, that’s him exactly,” Rufus agreed.  “Selfish, insecure, but never cruel.”

“I disagree,” said Midor.  “What he did to me was cruel.  I understand he thought he had his reasons, but he still attempted to leave me in that portal world forever.”

“Yes, fine,” said Rufus.  “He could be cruel and ruthless, but only for a cause. He was never cruel just for the sake of being cruel.  He was never sadistic.”

Yes, I’ll grant him that,” said Midor.  “Which is more than we can say for those monsters running through the forest.  They delight in killing and in causing pain just for its own sake.”

“What happened to your men, General?” George asked Graten.

“I still haven’t gotten a complete accounting,” said Graten.  “It seems that most of them were able to get away.  I haven’t heard of any getting eaten by the monsters, but I haven’t been able to account for everyone yet.”

“Well,” said Henry, “these monsters can’t be that dangerous then.”

“I suspect they probably were not too intent on chasing all the men down,” said Midor.  “The monsters wanted to escape into the forest, and hide.  They are happiest when hiding in dark places so they can ambush.  They hate a straight fight.”

“In the forest interior, there are so many dark places,” said George.

“Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of,” said Midor.  “In the land where all the sunlight is choked out by dark vines, once those monsters get settled in there, they are going to be very hard to get out again.”

“Everybody’s got to live somewhere,” said Graten.  “Why not let them have their part of the forest.”

“The history of this castle will attest to that,” said Midor.  “Once the monsters inhabit the forest, there will be no peace for anyone.  They won’t stay in their section forever.  They’ll come out at night.  That’s why this castle was built in the first place--to stand guard against them.”

“It is our ancestral duty,” said George.  “I never thought it would come again in my lifetime.”

“And,” added Midor, his face worried, “the monsters who will come next are even worse.”

“What do you mean?” asked Graten.

“The monsters nearest to the portal door were the ones who were vulnerable to magic,” said Midor.  “The ones who could be cut by magic lightning bolts, or could be turned into hamsters.  The monsters who were in the middle, who are coming through now, are the ones who are invulnerable to magic--they can’t be harmed by spells.  But the monsters who were furthest away from the portal door are the ones who can do magic themselves.  And once they come through the portal door, then we are all doomed.”

********************************************************

Talon was buried with all proper ceremony, and even a few tears were shed.  Everyone had at least some fond memories of him.  He had given them toys when they were children, or performed magic, or made sweetbread for them.  He could be a kindly old curmudgeon at times.

Later, George and Rufus talked in George’s room.  “I’m sad to see the old man go,” said George.  “He was a part of our childhood, after all.  But in a way, I’m glad he’s gone.  It was virtually impossible to battle two sorcerers, but now we only have one to deal with.  We just need to catch Catherine off her guard once, and then we can recapture the castle.”

“She’s not going to let herself be bound twice,” said Rufus.

“We’re going to have to be clever.  And patient. But she can’t keep up her guard forever.  Sooner or later, we’ll get a chance.”

“With Talon dead, it does make things easier.  There’s only one sorcerer now.”

“Well, two if you count Vivian.”

“Yes, but Vivian’s on our side, so she doesn’t count as an obstacle.”

“Yes, but do you think Catherine is counting on the fact that Vivian is on her side?  Why is Catherine taking so much time to train Vivian up?”

And then the two brothers became very quiet.

Chapter 76: The Death of Talon

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The next wave of monsters came in the afternoon.  A handful of soldiers were guarding the portal, and Talon was with them. 

Talon turned the first several monsters into hamsters, as he had done before with the previous ones.  But then came monsters who were resistant to his magic.  “Ah, you humans have not changed at all in hundreds of years,” chuckled one monster.  “Still attempting to use your silly magic spells on us.”

“Don’t you know magic doesn’t work on our kind,” said another monster.  “We are those monsters who are protected from any magic charm.  Fool of a mage!”

Talon didn’t say anything.  He had known that these monsters existed, and that they would come through the portal sooner or later.  He didn’t allow them to fluster him or anger him.  He just changed his spell.  While it was true that these particular monsters couldn’t be affected by magic, that did not mean that magic was no longer an option.  It just meant that he couldn’t cast transformation spells on the monsters directly.  But he could cause the ground to open up beneath them, and attempt to bury them in the dirt.  He concentrated his brow as he worked the magic spell.  The monsters’ laughter was cut short as the dirt opened up beneath them, and they fell into a deep pit, only for the dirt to pile back on top of them.
The spell was evidently a complicated one.  Talon was chanting a lot, and moving his arms a lot, and seemed to be exerting a fair amount of mental force.  He fell back in exhaustion once the spell had been completed.

“Wow!” said one of the soldiers.  “You did it!”

“Run, quickly,” said Talon.  “You cannot do anything to stop the monsters.  Better just leave them to me.”

“But you got them,” said another soldier.  “You buried them.”

“They cannot be killed so easily,” said Talon.  

Sure enough, shortly after Talon said that, the ground once again exploded.  Dirt flew up into the air as if it had been blasted out from below, and the monsters stormed out of the hole.  Talon was expecting them, and he started chanting again.  He lifted large boulders into the air, and threw the boulders at the monsters. He lifted dirt into the air, and sent the dirt hurtling into their eyes.  He started throwing everything he could at the monsters.

In return, the monsters charged at him.  Talon had very little time to protect himself (the monsters ran so fast and so suddenly), but he tried to make a spell to cover himself quickly, and he shielded himself with the magical energy just in time.  Talon erected a shield around himself, and the monsters were not able to bite or scratch him.  They were, however, able to hit him with sheer force, and send him flying through the air.  His magical energy force cushioned his fall, but the monsters were still rushing to attack him as he landed.  Talon had just enough time to chant another spell, and he opened up a tunnel in the ground.  Instead of sending the monsters through the tunnel, however, Talon disappeared through it himself.

The monsters all rushed to stare down the hole Talon had just disappeared down.  Or, at least 4 of the 5 monsters were staring down the hole.  The fifth one shouted, “You fools!  Don’t stand around looking down the hole.  Get ready! He’s coming back!”

But while he was still speaking, Talon shot out of the ground at a spot several meters away from where the monsters were standing.  He had used magic to tunnel under the ground and now he burst out through the ground once he was safely away from the monsters.  He then immediately shot up into the air.  He was chanting the whole time in his deep voice--chanting rapidly, as he was weaving many intricate spells.  While he levitated himself in the air, he also threw everything he could at the monsters--stones, dirt, rocks, boulders, dead branches.  Because it was only possible to weave so many spells into the same chant at once, Talon was not able to keep up the magical shield of energy around him.  Instead, Talon put all his focus onto bombarding the monsters with every object he could while he stayed out of their reach by continuing to interweave his levitation chant with his other spells.

Talon threw everything he could at the monsters, but they  treated all of it like a minor annoyance.  While all these objects were flying through the air, one monster picked up a big rock (about the size of a melon) and threw it back at Talon.  The monster had a powerful arm, and the rock flew through the air at a high speed.  It struck Talon in the head, and killed him instantly.  Suddenly, the chanting stopped, and Talon’s arms (which had been moving to create the spell) fell limply by his sides, and his limp and lifeless body fell to the ground with a crash.

The soldiers (who were still standing around, and had not taken Talon’s advice to flee when they had had the chance) now panicked and ran every which way they could.  And the monsters chased them into the forest.

Chapter 75: Guests of the Mushroom King

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The mushroom king lived in a castle.  John would have considered it a small castle if he had been his full human height, but from John’s current size, it appeared to be a full size castle.  It was made of wood and stones.  John suspected some sort of magic had gone into the construction of the castle--the same way some sort of magic was responsible for the castle in which Catherine and Carlyle lived.  But not knowing much about magic, more than that John really couldn’t say.

The mushrooms were strange creatures.  They looked like ordinary mushrooms, but they had legs and arms coming out of their stem.   They also had a face in the mushroom stem--eyes and a mouth and a nose.  The mushroom cap looked like a little small hat above their face.  Their arms were small and scrawny, but they worked well enough for carrying wooden spears, or clubs, or whatever else the mushroom soldiers carried with them.

After having stayed in the castle for several days, John eventually found his way to the library, where he was absolutely fascinated by all the books he found.  If he had thought the library in King Carlyle’s castle was fascinating, the library in the mushroom castle was at least 10 times as fascinating.  He marvelled at all the history and literature and wisdom that the mushrooms had collected.  It was so fascinating to see what life was like from a mushroom’s perspective.  He read about the dynastic intrigues of the royal mushroom family, and the great mushroom wars fought over a century ago.  He even read about the various alliances that the mushroom kingdom had formed, or tried to form, with some of the leaf tribes, but the alliances always seemed to break down because of mutual suspicion on both sides.

The king of the mushrooms became very impressed with John, and his growing knowledge of mushroom history.  They used to have long talks into the night about various historical mushroom leaders, or famous mushroom philosophers.

Eventually Benjamin the Mouse had to approach John.  “We’ve lingered here long enough.  It’s time to continue.  You are on a mission.  You must return to your proper form so that you may help your friends.”

“My friends don’t need my help,” said John.  “They’ve never really needed me.  Henry and Grace don’t need me.  I’m just the little brother that they have to protect.”

“It’s a very dangerous time for the forest right now,” Benjamin persisted.

“It is, but I’d only get in the way,” John said.  “I’ve never been any good at fighting.  And I’m happy here learning about the history of the mushroom kingdom.”

“Are you saying that this is where you want to stay?”

“Well, not forever of course.  But certainly for a few more weeks.  There’s so much to learn.  And the thing is, if I go to the fairies, and they do change me back, then I can never again walk into the library in the mushroom castle.”

“That is true,” said Benjamin the Mouse.  “This is something you can only do now while you’re small.”

“Exactly.  So I have to take advantage of this now.”

“I wonder,” said Benjamin.  “Is there any way we could use this time to help your friends in Castle Tauna?  Perhaps you could convince the mushrooms to join us in our fight against the monsters.”

John laughed.  “What a ridiculous idea!” he said.  “What good would mushrooms be against giant monsters?”

“Yes, a fair point,” said Benjamin.  “Well, I am your friend.  If you choose to stay here, I will stay here with you until you are ready to move on.  And then we will journey to the land of the fairies together.”

“Thank you,” said John.  “I didn’t expect you to stay with me, but it is appreciated.  What about the rabbits?”

“Klangor and Starrof?”

“Yes, I’ve been so busy in the library the past few days I’ve practically forgotten about them,” John admitted.

“They’ve grown bored in the mushroom kingdom,” said Benjamin.  “So they’re hopping about the forest now.  But they haven’t left you.  They are still in this general area, and they check back in at least once a day to ask if you’ve decided to move on.”

“Why don’t they just go to the fairy kingdom by themselves?” asked John.

“They claim not to know the way,” said Benjamin.

“But with all the magic around us now, surely it can’t be far.  Surely they could find it themselves.”

“Yes, it is puzzling,” Benjamin admitted.  “I get the sense that they must have some reason why they can’t go to the land of the fairies themselves, but they won’t say.  Perhaps they’ve angered the fairies in the past, and they need you to plead with them.”

“Possibly,” said John.  “Although they’ve done very little to ingratiate themselves with me this whole trip.”

“Dragons are not usually good at ingratiating,” said Benjamin.  “From their perspective, they’re doing us a huge favor by not eating us.”

“But they’ve been changed into rabbits,” said John.  “They couldn’t eat us if they wanted to.”

“I suspect they still expect us to be grateful,” said Benjamin.  “Dragons are an odd species.”

“Well, as long as they don’t cause any trouble, I guess they are welcome to wait around for us,” said John.  “I hope they’re not trying to eat any more of the sentient leaf armies.”

“I hope so too,” said Benjamin.  “I haven’t heard anything, so I guess I’ll assume they’re staying out of trouble until I hear otherwise.”