The Gooblin King Hir’aeth had left his three ‘guests’ in the throne room while he contemplated this surprising offer.
Meanwhile, as Dree was waiting for the King’s answer, Drat and Arnie were still looking at him to try and figure out what he was doing. As soon as the guards looked too bored to care about them, Drat slid up to the Dragon and whispered, “Do you have a plan or are you just winging it?” Dree smiled as Drat said ‘winging it’ as their friendship was at the point that they could make subtle jokes about each other without the other being offended. “Don’t get your tail into a trap” he whispered back as he winked at the rat.
“I have decided,” began the King looking directly at Dree, “but you must tell me how your favor would help me?” The Dragon did not even blink before responding. “I will help you obtain your greatest desire.” That answer did surprise the King and even his guards were taken aback as they rarely saw their king surprised and now it had been twice in one day!
“How…” started the Gooblin King as he backed away from the Dragon to lower himself down in his throne. Looking like all of the air had been knocked out of him, the Gooblin King took a couple of minutes just staring at Dree before he waived all of his personal guards away and told them not to let anyone into the room until he summoned them. Quickly the only ones left were the King and his three guests. “Do you all know my secret desire?” he asked them. Drat and Arnie just looked at Dree to answer. “No, your highness. I have not told them nor anyone else. It is a secret that currently only the two of us share, but their help will be needed in obtaining it. They will have to know what it is if you agree to the trade,” replied Dree. The King was going to trade the Dragon the strange bauble anyway, but now he was not concerned about the consequences of giving it to Dree. “My greatest desire,” mumbled the King to himself as he tossed the object still wrapped in the rag to the Dragon and asked “I have hoped for so long. When can we start?”
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"Sometimes feelings conflict with logic," he told himself as he repeated his 'knit one, purl two' mantra to keep his anger in check. By the time that Allspice saw Nutmegg and approached, Nutmegg had his temper in check and realized that he actually was a little glad to see the leader of SPICE. "How was your trip?" Allspice asked as he helped Nutmegg with his baggage. After the usual banter about delays and overcrowding, they both started their walk to the caves where the SPICE kitchens were being set up. "I wanted to meet you when you arrived so I can also bring you up to speed on what is going on in this realm and an update on the Wish Dragon activity," said Allspice.
Allspice laughed and told him, "If I knew the answer to that, we might be going home especially if I thought they were going to stay here and quit causing mischief with those mis-enchantments. As SPIs, that is probably the first thing we need to find out." While Nutmegg was mulling over that answer, Allspice continued. "This land is overall the Realm of Wymsy which also includes the Shadows' Realm and several other outer lands. There is a mix of Fae and the mundanes that the Fae call 'Outies' for the 'Outies' do not possess magic. They, for the most part, live together peacefully and work together. The usual prejudices don't seem to be too prevalent, just the irritation of some of the usual nature of different races. For example, almost everyone gets grouchy over the Pyksee and Wysp antics for practical jokes." This slightly surprised the Hobb-goblyn who was used to others not accepting his race. "May this won't be such a bad assignment after all," Nutmegg thought.
Afterwards I heard Aralt and Siate' discussing one of the remarks made at that meeting with the young Dragon. It had to do with taking away a Wish Dragon's wishing ability." As Nutmegg silently was thinking about what he had heard up to that point, the last line of Allspice's update threw all of those thoughts out of his head! "Take away a Wish Dragon's ability to grant wishes? Can that be done?" Nutmegg asked before he realized that if Allspice knew, they would have already done it to stop the Wish Dragons from casting more mis-enchantments. "That's something we need to think about and figure out how we are going to find out more about this young Dragon. I have found out he goes by the name of 'Dree'," Allspice said as they arrived to the caves where they would finish setting up their kitchen and temporary homes in this Realm of Wymsy.
He had heard through the Mushroom Line about a Dragon in this new realm where he was traveling to that liked to collect jokes. Nutmegg memorized a few so he wouldn't forget them. Like, 'What did the yarn say to the needle? - You got me in stitches!' or one of his favorites, 'What do you call a detective who knits? - Sherlock Woolmes'. For yes, Nutmegg was also a great reader of who-dun-it books by the Outies... well, actually anything he could get his hands on to read but he enjoyed who-dun-its the most. Breath in - slowly breath out - while all the time repeating "Knit one, Purl two" in his head to keep calm since he had missed his last connection. When he finally was calm, Nutmegg walked over to the newly posted schedule hanging on the wall of the subterrain slugway. The next travel slug should be showing up any minute now so he could get on his way to meet up with Allspice. Double checking one more time, "Yep, my hat is on. My handwarmers are doing their job of keeping my knitting fingers nimble and though I am not excited about taking on this new job, it is what I have to do," Nutmegg reminded himself. For he knew that all Dragons weren't necessarily evil but the Wish Dragons were a huge problem to affected everyone which is why he signed up to be a SPICE (Stewards Preventing Imperfectly Casted Enchantments) agent.
Drat and Dree were bored out of their minds...
It probably was because Arnie being a Borrower where sparkly things caught her attention was why her and the Gooblin King were getting along so well. After Hir'aeth showed them the first treasure room with Arnie bouncing around with excitement the Gooblin king had started to soften up. He even actually enjoyed telling the Borrower about how he had retrieved each piece of treasure. This had gone on for six more rooms of stuff!
By the time he was in the treasure room, Arnie and Hir'aeth were already opening a chest and the Gooblin King was pulling out what was inside. "This one I got when that old troll Druzzy got turned around in a cave somewhere in the Dragon Mountains a long time ago. I had changed one of the rock signs that had him going in the wrong direction long enough for me to find this trunk and get it away." Turning his head and looking at Drat, he continued, "You were with him, Drat, on that hunt. I made sure that you had found the wrong map so I would have the time to find the treasure first," he snickered as he went back to showing the contents of the trunk off to Arnie. Drat, peering over the trunk lid, saw the real map had now been placed into the trunk after the treasure had been found. "This is IT!" thought Dree as Hir'aeth kept pulling things out of the battered looking trunk. Finally, when a bundled cloth rag came out of the trunk did the Moon Dragon feel the "knowing" that they had found what they were searching for.
"Since he cannot hear me, he will think the trade is well worth it as he is giving you a trinket for a much greater prize. Tell him that you will help him on his greatest hunt. It is a search for his secret most desired item that he has never told anyone about. Just say 'stone' when he asked what do you know about what he desires most," the voice whispered. As the bundled rag with the item in it was going back into the chest, Dree realized that he needed to act now. "Ahem. Great King, are you willing to make a trade for something here in your treasure room that I have found interesting? Whatever that bauble is that you are putting back into the chest for a Dragon's favor?" asked Dree. Both Drat and Arnie were now interested more in what Dree was doing than what they had been just looking at. Dree did not look at either of them but instead kept his gaze on Hir'aeth. Now a favor from a Dragon was a powerful thing and the Gooblin King knew this, but what could be in this bundled rag that the Dragon would want that badly. "Let's go back to my throne room and discuss this offer of yours young Dragon. I am interested to hear your proposal," the Gooblin King said as he put the wrapped treasure into his pocket and closed the lid. As soon as the trunk was secured, he started out of the treasure room and they all started the trek back to the throne room with the guards following. "I wonder what is wrapped up in that rag," was the thought running through all four of their minds.
As Arnie and the others followed the Gooblin King to his treasure room, others in the Realms were busy following their own plans…
Meanwhile, The Baron waited for his mother, the Dowager Griselda, to finish listening to the Flutterby’s message from Queen Ffion before asking her if she wanted more tea. Before he could speak, she picked up her empty teacup and told her son as he filled her cup and that she had a message for him.
“That means that not only Siate’ has arrived, but the other Dragons must be hiding somewhere in the realm. Why don’t they show themselves?” This was the same question Griselda was pondering… And deep within the cave, Aralt knew not to say anything when Siate’ was in a snit as she was now.
"Your Majesty. I have come to help you with your problem of a missing object from your treasure room," Arnie started in a weak voice. The King instantly stood up and pointed a finger at her. "Being a 'Borrower' I assume that you have taken it? What did you take!" As the King was rising from his throne, several of his guards had surrounded Arnie and her friends as they lowered their spears. This was not how Arnie had seen the conversation working out when she had decided her course, but if nothing, a 'Borrower' was steadfast and knew how to adjust to changes. "When a lock jams, you find another way in," was Arnie's motto. Speaking quickly, Arnie continued, "Your Majesty. I have recently heard that you possess a thing of knowledge but are unable to find it since it requires a special being to unlock the key to its discovery. I have brought him to assist you. Did I do wrong?" Few had ever seen the Gooblin King confused and this answer added a few more to that spectacle. "What are you talking about? I know nothing of this. Tell me more," Hir'aeth said to Arnie as he motioned for his guards to move back to their posts. "Tell me what you have heard." "I have been told that this information could save the entire Realms, to include your Kingdom, and I then knew that I must help in finding it. My companions, Drat as a representative from Dulbbe the Troll King and Dree of the Dragons are here to assist in finding the item," continued Arnie. The Gooblin King sat on his throne and did not say anything for several minutes as Arnie and the others waited patiently to see if they were going to be welcomed or if the spiders in the dungeon were going to get some company. Finally, Hir'aeth spoke.
The thought of being responsible for what you did both bothered her and excited her. "Leaving that beautiful purple feather behind for the book was worth it," she had thought at the time. But now, she was wondering if she would have been better off not knowing any of this. She didn't want her fellow adventurers to know, but she was having doubts of what she was doing here on this quest. "Is just looking at something that is not mine a good enough reason to just 'borrow it'?" she pondered. "I know that Drat and Dree are counting on me, but I just don't know. If I do this, am I still doing something bad though I am being told it is for a good cause? Doesn't that make it still a bad thing?" Her mind kept going around in circles as they grew nearer to their destination. As Drat was telling Dree that he knew of several ways to sneak into the Gooblin King's cavern, Dree glanced over at Arnie and realized that she was deep into her own thoughts. He had noticed that Arnie had been quiet during the trek. "I know she was at first reluctant to agree to help but what could she be thinking about so hard?" Dree thought to himself. It did not take much for Drat to also notice that neither one of his traveling companions were now listening to his plans. He too stopped talking and started to watch Arnie also. Arnie was so caught up in her thoughts that she actually walked right into Dree before realizing they had stopped and were staring at her.
"Yes, we are finding a book and you did say that we were not borrowing it, but at the same time aren't we finding something that belongs to someone else? Especially because we aren't asking them if we can look at it... is that the right thing to do?" In Drat's mind, the answer was instantly 'YES' but Dree's answer to Arnie's question even surprised him. "Arnie, I am still learning myself and I agree that it is not completely right, but it is necessary. It is up to you to decide if it is right for you so we are going to let you decide how we should to this. Do we continue or do we go back and find another way?" A tear came to Arnie's eye. Never had she felt like she had others who would follow her. It was a new sense of responsibility that she had not experienced before and it was because they trusted her. No one trusted a Borrower! "Thank you both. I have been thinking about it much and we must do this... but I think we need to do it a different way than sneaking into the Gooblin King's caverns and sulking around until we find it. I have a different plan." As Drat and Dree waited to hear her plan, Arnie looked at Drat and with a smile and a gleam in her eyes, "Can you get us an audience with the Gooblin King?"
"I've got to send a message," she decided as she finished her packing and started to put her traveling bag over her shoulders. "Perfect for the job," she mutters as she adjusts the straps to her pack but then begins to lean backward a little too much. "Maybe I should take a few things out," she realizes as she finds out that the pack is so heavy that she cannot stand up straight... Meanwhile, Drat and Dree are sitting at a table outside of the Sugar Plum Bakery waiting for Arnie to arrive. "I heard a new one the other day," began Drat. "It goes like this... How may leprechauns does it take to empty a pot of gold?" Shaking his head from side to side, Dree answers, "I don't know. How many does it take?"
It was then that Arnie arrived with her friend Squirrel. Squirrel didn't stay long after Arnie ordered their snacks and everyone was told about the trip to the Outie world and the squirrel there. "If you only could see the look of frustration on that Outie's face when the other squirrel dived from the top of the tree and landed on the feeder... it was priceless!" laughed Arnie. "I could not have done better myself." When Squirrel left, Drat decided it was time to get back to business. "Arnie, we need your help. The Gooblin King has a scroll that we need to read. He doesn't know he has it and it can hide itself from anyone who wants to harm Dragons. We also know that it will take a Dragon to help find it otherwise it hides from anyone seeking its power." "Arnie, this is important to all in the Realms. We must know what the other Dragons, and most especially Siate', are going to do now that they have returned. We are only going to read the scroll - we are not going to take it. The hard part here will be just to find it..." "Finding stuff is my specialty," Arnie mused to herself. It sounded like fun to her and in the back of Arnie's thoughts, it also may be a way to get others to accept her as she was beginning to enjoy being included by others and not always having to be a loner. "Everyone looses things," she thought. "Maybe I need to become a finder of lost things instead of a 'Borrower' of others things." "When do we start?" was her answer to her new adventure companions.
Usually the passageways between the two worlds were secured, but every now and then someone leaves a door open or forgets to move a rock back in place. Though for Squirrel to have traveled this far, there really must have been a huge temptation for him on the other side. Wandering around in the Outie world was so strange especially when trying to ask for directions and not letting any know that you are from another realm. Arnie was used to finding her way around by just following the light or the bling of something sparkly in the distance. Squirrel must have done the same thing Arnie realized, "though with his nose and tummy instead."
Though this "discussion" seemed to include a bit more as they kept gesturing to something over their head and waving their paws. Then after saying something, the Outie squirrel would break out in this infectious laughter. Hearing a squirrel laugh is quite hilarious.
"He's muttering to himself," whispered Arnie. "He is a strange one as I certainly didn't see any other Outies around him." From what Arnie could hear it sounded like "That Darn Squirrel! We'll see what he think of my new PVC protection?" "PVC??? What could that mean?" thought Arnie. "Is my friend even in more danger from this odd looking Outie?" The Outie then approached the "treasure" that my friend Squirrel and the other squirrel had been talking about earlier. He pulled on a rope and lowered this strange looking contraption that I could see why my friend had been so excited about it. It was pure candy on a stick! "Look at all those delightful seeds, nuts, and delicious goodies all wrapped up together to look like one BIG scrumptious banquet," Arnie thought to herself. "No wonder Squirrel left the safety of the Realm for this!"
Realizing that they had been exposed too long and could be seen by the Outies, Arnie leaned over and whispered to her squirrel friend, "We need to be going before they discover us... Now!" Tugging on her friend's tail, Arnie started back to the magical doorway dragging her friend behind her. "Quit struggling. We have got to get out of here." "But I want to see how my new friend gets past this 'PVC' trap," answered Squirrel sullenly.
I had been really well known for my stone soup in my clan which made it easy to apply for to SPICE after learning what they do. Afterall, finding and returning the Fae effected by a 'bad' Wish Dragon wish was a worthy goal for the others but when I first started, I was only wanting to return my own clan.
Watching over the Ambrosia requires a lot of both throughout the process while waiting for it to boil. Otherwise the batch will go bad and it will be ineffective with the Dragons. But I found a way around this Hobb-goblyns' trait of no patience and positive thoughts! It was through my cooking. I realized that when I made the stone soup that I loved to cook. I had the patience and each time I made it, others loved it too. Allspice was who discovered me and knew I was needed for this team. As a baker, he realized that one of the special ingredients to the Ambrosia was me! All I had to do was control my temper. The anger of a Hobb-goblyn is legendary. We hate everyone - even our own clan members. If it wasn't for that bad wish that took away my pet rock, I probably would never have become a SPI.
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GreetingsWelcome to my blog. This is where I will reveal the magic of my Fae and their stories and share with you some of the success and pitfalls through the journey of doll making, sculpting, and other crafts that all come back to my dolls in many ways. Archives
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