Dusty Red ~ Part 17

I have a very sad proclamation to make: This is the very last blog post you will ever get on this blog....From a thirteen year old writer. Or, to put it another way, it's my Birthday before next Friday! Yipeee! I'm counting down the days, not many left now!
So really I guess the proclamation wasn't terribly sad after all. :)

This afternoon we're doing another singing at the nursing home thingy like we did back in April when the day became even more memorable for it's epic battle. So I'm sort of looking forward to that. (But not as much as my birthday.)

The votes last week came out with option 2 at the top with four votes, option 1 and 3 had two votes each. Thank you to all of my commenters, and I hope you enjoy the next part of Dusty Red!

Skilf’s face had taken on a rather greenish tinge and she seemed to be struggling to speak. 

“Oh yes,” she said eventually, “I know that place. It’s my Uncle’s manor.”

Flicks chewed her lip, “I guess that’s not such a good thing, is it.”

Skilf snorted, “It is not a good thing! If you knew my Uncle you’d never want to get within a kilometre of this place.”

Fred swished her tail, “But Nainsi knew your Uncle, right?”

“Yes, she did,” Skilf said, a frown creasing her brows.

“So,” Flicks drew the word out. “If she knew about him, why did she come this close?”

Larzik seemed to be ignoring their conversation completely and was looking at the ground, shuffling his feet and moving about the place as if looking for something.

Fred noticed his activity and tipped her head to one side, “What’s he doing?”

Flicks voiced the question so Larzik could hear, “What’re you doing, Larzik?”

The short Imp-Goblin looked up, “I’m a looking fer something.” Then he returned his graze to the ground.

Flicks raised her eyebrows at Fred. “That didn’t exactly answer the question,” she said to Larzik.

Larzik raised his head again. “There’s tracks here. Tracks of people going that way,” he gestured away from the direction of the castle. “But I haven’t found any coming back yet.”

Skilf was still trying to connect these facts in her mind when a loud, chilling laugh echoed around the trees. She knew that laugh all too well. “Uncle Cameron,” she whispered and promptly dived into a nearby bush.

Larzik disappeared almost as fast but Flicks had chosen the worst place possible to stand. If she moved at all the approaching men would see her, and if she stayed they’d walk right into her. Skilf looked on anxiously from the bushes, realising the awkward position Flicks was in, unsure if there was any way to help.

“What do I do?” Flicks whispered to Fred.

Fred raised her wings slightly, a dragon’s equivalent for shrugging, “I don’t see that there’s much you could do.”

“You should fly away, so they don’t see you too,” Flicks said.

“I shall not do any such thing,” Fred replied indignantly. “I’m staying right here. If you’re going to get into trouble you may find that having a dragon will be of some use.”

“At least try to hide in my hair,” Flicks begged as the footsteps and voices of Skilf’s Uncle and his men drew nearer.

Fred sniffed but buried herself under the dusty coloured hair, proving almost invisible. And just in time, because at that moment Lord Cameron and four of his men came into sight between the trees. 
Lord Cameron was a large man, tall and thickset. His nose was also rather on the large size and his face twisted in a permanent sneer. At the sight of Flicks he stopped short, and even at this distance Flicks could see his hard eyes holding a hint of surprised triumph.

Skilf’s Uncle overcame his surprise reasonable quickly and strode towards Flicks. “Ahhh, there you are, Skilf,” he said in a mockingly friendly voice. “I’ve been terribly worried that you’d got away.”

It took Flicks a second or so to realise why he’d called her Skilf, but really it wasn’t surprising as it had probably never occurred to him that there might be more than one person who looked like his niece. In the bushes Skilf winced, she’d been afraid that might happen, and who knew what Lord Cameron might do to try get Flicks to tell him where she’d put the Magic Rune Stones. It wasn’t a nice situation.

The tall lord loomed over Flicks who took a nervous step backwards, wondering desperately what Skilf would do in a situation like this. 

“We’ll,” Cameron said almost cheerfully. “I think we’d best get back home now. Have some dinner and maybe a little chat?”

Flicks licked her lips and shrugged, “Er, if you say so Un...” she stopped as Skilf shook her head furiously from behind the bush. 

“Thought as much,” Lord Cameron said, seeming not to notice Flicks’ hesitation. “We’ll be off.”
The soldiers, who had been silent during the conversation, now closed in around Flicks, leaving her no room to escape as they escorted her down the path. It gave Flicks the sinking feeling that she was being escorted to jail.

“The others are following us,” Fred whispered, even though the soldiers wouldn’t be able to hear her anyway. “Just keep playing along.”

“Right,” Flicks barely breathed the word but Lord Cameron turned.

“Who are you talking to?” he asked.

“No one,” Flicks assured him hurriedly. “Just thinking out loud.”

“So you say,” Cameron said suspiciously, but he turned nevertheless and led the way through the woods and towards a huge stone castle.

Flicks began to realise what Fred and Skilf were talking about when they spoke of the evil feel of the castle. The air was thick and heavy, almost sad air, ashamed of the people who breathed it. But the manor itself was like its master, filled with the enjoyment of nastiness.

Flicks shivered as a cold wind stirred the air. Lord Cameron looked over his shoulder once as they entered the castle through the imposing wooden doors. Inside Flicks saw several noblemen and women lounging around as her ‘uncle’ dismissed the soldiers and took her through numerous rooms and along corridors to a large and exquisitely furnished room. 

“The servants to bring some a platter of food along here in a moment, but while we wait for their arrival I’d like to know something,” Lord Cameron said, seating himself on a chair and gesturing for Flicks to do likewise.

“And that is?” Flicks asked, still nervous of making some accidental slip and giving herself away. She hadn’t quite decided what this Uncle of Skilf’s would do should he find out that she wasn’t his niece, but she was fairly sure it wouldn’t be nice.

“Where,” Cameron asked. “Did you get those ridiculous clothes?”

Flicks opened her mouth then closed it. She hadn’t expected a question like that, and so she had no idea whatsoever what to say. “I...got them...from...my...er...my....wardrobe,” she said, feeling sure that this was probably the worst answer she could give.

Lord Cameron raised his eyebrows. “Right,” was all he said, although he seemed disbelieving still. “And where have you been all this time?”

“I was out walking, Uncle Cameron,” Flicks replied. She hesitated then risked a question, “And you have had visitors?”

Lord Cameron lowered his brows Flicks got the impression that she had definitely said something wrong. A maid entered just then, carrying a large plate of food. Lord Cameron stood, “Call the guards please, and leave that on the table, I’ll have need of it shortly.” 

The startled maid dropped the tray on the table and ran from the room. Flicks didn’t wait to hear her squeaking voice inform the guards of their summons. She jumped up, “Call the guards? Why?”

Lord Cameron turned a scornful eye on her. “And I thought you were smart. To put it simply I’m afraid I’ll have to have you arrested for the time being. You should learn that sticking your nose in my business is just asking to get it shortened.”

~

1. Flicks opened her mouth to say something but Fred forestalled her, “Wait! Don’t say anything yet. I have a plan.”

2. Lord Cameron sneered at Flicks, “But since you asked, yes, I do have a visitor. I’m sure you’ll have heard of Prince Drakon Asesino? In case you haven’t, he’s the Heir of Manirus.”

3. Two soldiers entered the room and at a gesture from Lord Cameron seized Flicks. The huge lord smiled mirthlessly, “Anything you’d like to say before they lock you up?”

Flicks sighed, “Ice-cream. That’s what I want: Ice-cream.”

~

Disclaimer: It was because of several persons insistence that ice-cream was ever mentioned. It was not my idea. (But this is not saying it was a bad idea. Funny ideas are only rarely bad. Let's hope this wasn't one of the rare ones.)

Thanks to all for reading. I do look forward to Fridays, even if the writing can sometimes be hard at first, but when I actually start it gets easier. And it's good practice for me too!

Fare Thee Well! (For the final 13 year old time.)

  

Have you ever?

   I had this random idea for a post a few weeks ago but only actually got around to doing it today. It is kind of similar to a game of 'Have you ever'. I'm going to post a list of random and quite possibly funny things that I've done and I want you to comment and tell me if you've ever done any of those things. Some of them I highly doubt...I decided to think of thirteen things to start with just 'cause I'm thirteen years old (although soon to be fourteen). But we'll see if I can think of any more... The things are in no particular order, some of them I did years ago and some I did just the other day. Enjoy!

Have you ever...Dropped a full tin of Milo on the carpet? Thus causing about half the Milo to empty out of the tin and into a nice little pile on the floor.

Have you ever...Tied a friend to a pole with rope? This makes for a very memorable occasion, trust me.

Have you ever...Been given a completely random nickname? Mine is Egret. I was at a learning-about-edible-weeds camp thing, and one evening when me, my sisters and several friends were standing around talking, a little girl, Heidi, randomly decided to start giving us all names. The funny thing is mine name was the only one that stuck, so I was Egret for the rest of the weekend. It was very funny.

Have you ever...Laughed at your own joke and then realised that no one else was laughing? (Very awkward)

Have you ever...Jumped into a freezing cold creek in winter? I did this on the winter solstice...

Have you ever...Gotten a sore mouth from smiling? I do this basically every time I go tubing. Tubing's fun, unless of course before you go tubing you hear that a shark was seen in the same body of water that you are about to go in...that makes it not so good. :)

Have you ever...Been hit with a saucepan? In my case my oldest sister Clare was the wielder. We were duelling, I had a half broken stick and she had an old saucepan. Guess who came out of the fight most injured...

Have you ever...Been laughing so hard (and trying to do it quietly) that you couldn't stop laughing long enough to suggest to your laughing-too-hard-companion that you go laugh somewhere else where the noise doesn't matter? This was me and my cousin, Jessica...we weren't even laughing about anything really...by the end I think we were laughing about the fact that we were laughing about nothing.

Have you ever...Made a parody to a song? I did back in January, it was a parody of I See Fire, the credits song for 'The Desolation of Smaug' Hobbit movie number two.

Have you ever...Seen a microphone try to hang itself? For those who don't know, when I play my flute a church I get a microphone and it seems to like hanging itself by the cord (it falls out of the stand). Really bad when I'm trying to play and in the middle of some song it attempts to commit suicide. I once had a dream about that microphone...It was a Bad dream.

Have you ever...Flopped onto a mattress only to find that it is so hard you may as well sleep on the floor? I did this on holidays once. I was just like, "This is going to be my bed!" and flopped...Ouch...It was only that bed that was so hard, the others were luxury compared to it, but I did manage to sleep. I have practice of sleeping on hard things when it's a nice, warm summer night and I get my cloak and sleep outside.

Have you ever...Seen someone drop spaghetti on their face? This one is extremely funny.  Quite a sight especially when the spaghetti is nicely covered in sauce! And then to add to the amusement, someone sitting at the table didn't see what happened to it had to be demonstrated...And naturally the demonstrator ended up with spaghetti on their face as well. 

Have you ever...Had to have two plates to hold all your dinner? I did that last Monday and I did actually eat it all.

So, there is thirteen random/amusing things that I have done. I'm sure I've forgotten something hilariously funny but maybe I'll do this again sometime and think of several more things. 

Have you done any other random funny things that you can remember?

Fare Thee Well!

Dusty Red ~Part 16

Hola there everyone! I hope you had a great week. I had fun writing this instalment (I wrote it on Wednesday as we had plans for Thursday which were, incidentally, cancelled anyway) and I hope you have plenty of fun reading the story in which Fred is named and a castle is observed. Just in case you didn't know, option one was voted in last week, it must have been a good option because everyone was agreed of its genius. I'm interested to see which option gets the most votes this time.

Enjoy!

“Well, you are a figure of very dejectedness if you’ll pardon my saying so.”

The voice that spoke was one Flicks had never heard the like of before, and yet it seemed somehow familiar, like a voice of a friend she’d long forgotten. She looked up, puzzled, wondering who had spoken. It certainly hadn’t been Larzik or Skilf.  

Skilf looked at Flicks her eyes showing the same bewilderment at Flicks felt. “Did you hear that?” Flicks asked her.

Skilf shrugged her shoulders, “I really don’t know. I rather thought I was thinking excessively loud and in a kind of odd voice.” She knotted her brow and looked around, “But if you heard it I don’t know who it came from.”

“Oh, you two are extremely funny. Definitely worth the wait.”

Flicks scrambled up and glared at Larzik, “Ok, why didn’t you tell us you were a mimic and a ventriloquist?”

Larzik looked at her nervously, “I...I’m not! I don’t know what you’re talking on about.” He sniffed apprehensively, “I never heard nothing.”

“So you heard something then?” Skilf questioned.

Larzik shook his head violently, “No, as I said, I never heard nothin’!”

“But if you never heard nothing then you must have heard something,” Skilf insisted, but Flicks interrupted her.

“So only me and Skilf can hear this talking, right?”

“I guess so. Unless, of course, you’re going ma—” Larzik broke off hurriedly as he realised what he’d been about to say.

“But who is it?” Skilf asked, clearly frustrated.

“Why don’t you have the politeness to ask them yourself?”

Flicks closed her eyes as the strange voice came again, trying to place where it was coming from. To her surprise it seemed to be coming from directly behind her. Flicks turned around slowly, but there was nothing there, she cleared her throat. “Umm...so...er...who are you then?” she asked, looking blankly at a tree.

“You’ll have to look much closer than that to see me,” the voice berated her.

Flicks noticed something moving right in front of her nose. She tried to look at it, pulling her head back to she could see it properly. It was a green...thing, with a strange cream coloured kite looking bit on the end. Flicks blinked her eyes in confusion but then it came to her: the dragon, the Fræd Dragon that had been sitting on her shoulder all this time.

“Ahhh, you’ve worked it out have you? I give you my congratulations.”

Flicks stared at the Dragon as it jumped onto her hand. “You...can talk?” she asked.

“Either that, or you are going mad as the kindly Larzik was going to say.” The dragon’s mouth did not move, but the sound was definitely coming from it.

“Ermm...I see,” Flicks and Skilf said in unison, both with the same level of confusion in their voices.

Larzik gazed at the dragon. “It’s talking?” he asked in wonder.

“Aye, it’s talking,” Skilf replied. “Didn’t you know they talked?”

Larzik’s round eyes were answer enough.

There was silence for a few seconds then Flicks looked around again, “So do you know where we are...Umm...Dragon?”

“Yes, I do in a manner of speaking, but I won’t tell you until you stop calling me ‘Dragon’ and give me a name.”

Skilf frowned, “But don’t you already have a name? Fred or something?”

“Not Fred,” Flicks corrected her, “Fræd.”

“Well...” Skilf said consideringly, “Fred is as good a name as any. Why don’t we call him Fred?”

“P-perhaps she wouldn’t l-like being called F-F-Fred,” Larzik stammered, “She is a sh-she after all.”

Skilf sniffed disdainfully, “So? I’m calling her Fred.”

Fred flicked her tail, “Very well then. Fred is better than nothing.”

“So now will you tell us where we are?” Flicks asked.

“We are within whatever location happened to occur to your mind when you stepped, or rather, fell, through the doorway, Flicks,” Fred said, stretching her wings.

Flicks nodded slowly, “So, for example if I thought about...Umm...Dusty Town, we’d have ended up there?”

Fred nodded, “Yes, and if you’d though of nothing, you’d have ended up nowhere, just in a land of nothing.”

“Ok, so I’ve just got to remember what I thought of when I went through the door?”

“Indeed,” Fred replied, she paused, “Well? What did you think of?”

“I don’t really know,” Flicks muttered, “I don’t remember thinking of anything particularly. Except for thinking I felt really crazy and a passing wondering of what Nainsi was doing, I didn’t think anything.”

“Hmmm,” Fred said, her jewel eyes on Flicks. “I think that leaves us at least two options. Either we’re in the land were everyone is crazy, or we are somewhere Nainsi has been recently.”

“But Nainsi was up in the castle!” Skilf protested.

“True, but before that?” Fred prompted.

“Well, before that she was with us in the forest,” Flick put in, “And before that she was in her house.”

“Yes, so we could be somewhere on the way to the passage through which you entered Esueño, somewhere near Nainsi’s house, somewhere Nainsi was before you saw her for the first time last night, or somewhere near where she is right now,” Fred concluded, “That leaves us plenty of choices.”

“’Scuse me, but what’s it saying?” Larzik asked.

Flicks looked at Fred, “Is there any way you can make him hear you too?”

 “Sadly no,” Fred made a noise like a sigh. “He’ll just have to wait until you tell him, or until he actually finds a way to hear me by himself. I can’t help him.”

Flicks sighed. “I was afraid of that,” she muttered. Turning to Larzik she said, “Apparently we could be...basically anywhere Nainsi was recently.”

“Do you recognise anything around here?” Larzik questioned.

Flicks looked around, “No, not really. Do you Skilf?”

Skilf shrugged, “I’m not sure, but something about this place seems familiar...” she trailed off uncertainly.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to see what I can see,” Fred said, launching herself from Flicks’ hand and into the air.

The three on the ground watched as she flew gracefully up through the branches. They lost sight of her for a second as she was obscured by leaves, but could still catch glimpses of the Fræd dragon as she flapped up above the forest.

Flicks only just managed to stop herself from ducking when Fred reappeared, swooping down towards them in a steep dive. She landed on Flicks’ shoulder and swished her tail. “Anything interesting?” Flicks inquired.

“A tree or two, and a castle,” Fred replied.

“A castle?” Skilf asked quickly, “What kind of castle?”

“It’s certainly not the Esueño palace, nor is it quite like any other castle I’ve seen before. It’s quite big, and nicely built, but I don’t like the feel of the place,” Fred tilted her head to one side. “Ever seen a place like that?”

Flicks frowned, “Well, I’m not really one to ask with matters of castles, I’ve only ever seen one in my entire life, and that was the palace in Esueño.” Flicks turned to Skilf, “D’you have any idea?”

Skilf’s face had taken on a rather greenish tinge and she seemed to be struggling to speak....

~

1. “Look out!” was all she managed, before hightailing up the nearest tree.

2. “Oh yes,” Skilf said eventually, “I know that place. It’s my Uncle’s manor.”

3. She groaned and muttered something unintelligible. “What was that?” Flicks asked. 

~

I'm glad I'm not choosing what option should happen next...I really couldn't decide. But that's what I've got all of you for! I'll await your comments interestedly...is interestedly a word? Or did I just make it up? I probably made it up, but if Shakespeare can do it I don't see why I can't! 

Fare Thee Well!

Ranger's Apprentice Prequel: The Tournament at Gorlan

Everyone celebrate!(Here is the sounds of great cheering and clapping and celebrations in general) There is a Ranger's Apprentice Prequel! The publish date is the 6th of October this year. And there is (finally) an Australian cover, although no doubt it in still under going several changes before the actual publishing...And here it is! I reveal to you, The Tournament at Gorlan, Book one of the Ranger's Apprentice The Early Years series.

"Before they became the most famous Ranger in the land and the hard-working Ranger Commandant, Halt and Crowley were young friends determined to change the world. 

The scheming Baron Morgarath is drawing other power-hungry knights and barons to his banner. King Oswald is wasting away and, if gossip can be believed, Prince Duncan is causing havoc in the north. 

Halt and Crowley set out to find the prince, uncover the truth, and re-form the weakened Ranger Corps. Once-loyal Rangers are scattered across the country, and it will take determination, skill, and leadership if they're to come together as one. Can the Rangers regain the trust of the Kingdom, or will the cunning Morgarath outwit them at every turn?"

I found the cover at the 'Random House Australia' site....I must say I'm quite pleased with myself for actually finding it! The web master must be a sneaky kind of person...(But I'm even sneakier!)

I've heard that there is going to be at least two books in the series. What's more I heard from a reliable source: the back of Scorpion Mountain, the latest Brotherband book.

I've been watching this since...umm..about early March...And now my waiting pays off. (I really should stop finding these things so early on, it would require less waiting then, but...I just can't help myself.)

The American cover has been out for a while but now the Aussie's is out! And I reckon it looks much cooler, although I am wondering who it is, he must be one of Baron Morgarath's men because he's got the lightning insignia on the shield. I guess it could even be Morgarath himself...(Dramatic and evil music plays here.)

If you're as excited as I am you'll be wanting to read some...and you can, you'll find an exert Here. Clare did already link to that in Her blog post, but you can always read it again! Who wouldn't want to read about Halt being gloomy?!

I really enjoy these books. They're not hard to understand or anything and the random bits of humour are quite...well...humorous. I really recommend them to anyone who hasn't read them. Warning: These are the books that made me like I am now, crazy in some people's view. But just forget about that, who cares anyway?!

Only 91 days left....

Fare Thee Well! (I actually got that from a Ranger's Apprentice book, from a song...About Greybeard Halt)

Dusty Red ~ Part 15

In which permission is granted and a door is unlocked...

How is everyone this week? We (me and the rest of my family) are on holidays (just staying at home doing nothing kind of holidays) and I've spent most of my time...(you'll never guess)...reading. I finished several books so far, but soon I believe I shall start on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, so that should take me a nice long time to finish...more than a day at least...

I've been (or more correctly, my sister and I have been) experimenting with Dusty Red pictures. I'm still unsure whether or not I'll actually change it but I can say that if it does change it won't be until instalment 20, so I've still got plenty of experimenting time. But I'm staying with the original picture for now at least.

And now...it is time for the story.

Larzik stepped forward and knelt in front on the queen, his head bowed slightly, “Permission to accompany the Dragontwins m’Lady?”

Flicks opened her mouth to voice her objection but it was too late. Queen Alwyn nodded, “Yes, permission granted, Larzik. You shall accompany these two on their journey to acquire the Magic Rune Stones.”

 “One problem,” Skilf said, the queen raised her dainty eyebrows questioningly and Skilf continued. “I buried them.”

“Ahhh,” Queen Alwyn murmured. “That could make complications.” She looked up at Skilf, “Do you remember where?”

Skilf shuffled her feet, “Ermm…well…I…to put it simply…well…no.” 

Flicks frowned, “Well that definitely could make complications.”

Larzik jumped up and down in excitement, “When are we going? When are we going?”

Flicks rubbed her forehead tiredly, “Are you going to keep this up the whole time?”

Larzik didn’t seem to realise the question was addressed to him and continued to bounce on the spot. “I can show you to the entrance at once!” he squeaked.

“Yes, you must leave at once,” Queen Alwyn agreed. 

“But we don’t know where we’re going!” Flicks protested, but Larzik was tugging her out of the room and the queen simply smiled and waved the question aside, closing the door behind them.

Skilf sighed in frustration, “Where now?”

Flicks looked at Larzik who had a firm grip on her hand. “I’m not sure we have a choice,” she replied.

Larzik lead them through the palace by small corridors and narrow staircases. Flicks began to get completely disorientated. “I’m sure we’ve gone down more stairs than we came up,” she remarked to Skilf.

Skilf nodded. “I concur,” she said under her breath. “This is getting rather confusing.”

“Rather,” Flicks agreed.

Larzik turned a huge grin of the two girls, “Here we are, right at the exit.”

Flicks and Skilf blinked in unison, the blink meaning, What? Larzik had led them to a dead end and there was no entrance or exit anywhere in sight.

“Are you sure you’ve got the right place?” Flicks asked hesitantly, fixing a puzzled expression on the Imp-Goblin.

Larzik looked insulted, “Yes of course I’ve got the right place. I know these halls like the back of my ears!”

Flicks looked consideringly at him, his statement wasn’t very comforting since Flicks could not quite believe he could see the back of his ears, them being on the side of his head as ears generally are and his eyes being on the front of his face, where eyes usually are.

“You can see the back of your ears?” Skilf asked cynically.

“Of course I can,” Larzik said, in an injured tone. “I know ‘em as good as these halls.”

Flicks and Skilf exchanged a glance. “Er…yes, naturally, I don’t know how I didn’t see that myself,” Skilf said.

“So, how exactly do we get through this exit?” Flicks asked.

Larzik’s mouth dropped open, “You mean to say you don’t know?”

Flicks sighed, “No I don’t know. But if you just told me…”

“Oh, yes I can tell you, I can tell you about anything in the castle. Plenty of magic doors about the place you know. There’s the hold, as where you can’t even see the door!” Larzik snorted in amusement, “But all the others you can see, and it’s a simple click, flick, snick, snack, and there you’ve open the door!”

“Could I have a straight answer please?” Flicks asked.

Larzik composed himself, “Well, all us Imp-Goblins have do is knock on the door and say, ‘Click, flick, snick, snack!’ and the door opens nice and easy.”

“So,” Skilf drew out the word, “You are going to knock on the door and say the password to get us out. Right?”

“Oh no, when you are here it must be one of you to open the door otherwise the exit won’t let you through,” Larzik replied, puffing his chest in pride at his great knowledge.

“And where exactly is the door?” Flicks asked.

“Why it’s right here!” Larzik said, pointing to a section of the wall.

Flicks stepped closer. She could just make out a faint outline about the size of a small door. Larzik gave her a lopsided grin, “Well, are you going to open it?”

Flicks took a deep breath, feeling rather silly and rapped her knuckles of the door. “Click, flick, snick, snack!” she said, feeling even more idiotic by the second.

As she finished speaking the outline of the door became more and more obvious and Flicks stepped backwards as a grumbling rumble emitted from the wall. Larzik pushed her back, “You must go through now!”

“Just go through? But the door’s still there!” Flicks pointed out.

“No it’s not, just go through,” Larzik said, “It’ll disappear in a few seconds and then you’ll have to do it all over again.”

That decided Flicks, she may as well make a fool of herself by walking into a wall if the alternative was having to say that crazy clicking and flicking sentence again. She closed her eyes and slammed her shoulder into the wall, or at least she would have if the wall was actually there.

Instead she just stumbled forward as she met with no resistance, nearly falling on the ground. And it was probably a good thing she didn’t because who knows what she might have landed on.

Flicks regained her balance in time to catch Skilf just before she hit the ground. Larzik appeared right after her but at a more dignified pace, if an Imp-Goblin can be dignified.

“So where are we?” Skilf asked, looking around, “Outside the castle walls?”

“No…” said Larzik, “We are somewhere else. That is a magic door after all.”

Flicks looked back the way they’d come but all she saw was a large tree, although that wasn’t anything so very different as they were surrounded by large trees.

“And where might that somewhere else be?” Flicks asked.

“Ermm,” Larzik replied, clearing his throat nervously. 

It was all the answer Flicks needed. She slumped down at the base of a tree. “Oh great, just what we needed,” she muttered. “Now we’re lost in some forest we don’t know the location of, and presumably no one else does either. Perfect.”

“Well, you are a figure of very dejectedness if you’ll pardon my saying so.”

~

1. The voice that spoke was one Flicks had never heard the like of before, and yet it seemed somehow familiar, like a voice of a friend she’d long forgotten.

2. Flicks leapt to her feet and spun around searching for the source of the voice, “Who are you?” she called, then added. “Or more to the point, where are you?”

 3. Skilf frowned, looking at Flicks and Larzik in turn, “Did you say something? Or was I just imagining it?”

~

So there we are, I managed to kind of incorporate option three into there as well! (Just for Lydia Scott, one of my lovely commenters.) Although no doubt if I hadn't told you no one would have noticed. I think maybe I'd better not next time, otherwise you might think to...well, let's just say, check up on everything else sneaky I do. I think I'd better change the subject...or maybe just leave now...

Anyway, please leave a comment and use your amazing power to change the course of the future! (Well, Flicks and co.'s future anyway.)

Fare Thee Well!