The Chameleon Shop

Kaylee carried a lantern her father handed her as she left the dragon’s chambers. Saorsa had showed her another passage to get back to the Gnome King’s Halls. She knew there were bugs watching her, but she also knew just how much power the key held and was confident that Saorsa was not going to be letting her succumb to a bug’s appetite.

The hall was empty as she walked through, apart from an old hound snoozing in the straw on the floor. She came across the guards at the gates to the Earth Realm. They were lounging about, bored as usual.

‘Ahem!’ Kaylee cleared her throat, trying to give them a little warning she was there. True, they were supposed to be guarding the place, but in their defense, invaders were normally coming at them from the opposite direction.

’ ‘Ere, where’d you come from? Weren’t you that girl what came in here a few days ago with Ruby?’ The red-haired guard asked.

‘Yes, that was me. Kaylee,’ she put out a hand for him to shake. He looked at her strangely, not understanding what to do with it. Impatient, she put her hand back down.

‘I came to see the dragon.’

‘Ha ha, yeah right!’ He laughed, ‘Pull the other one; it’s got bells on it.’

‘I did you know.’ She felt a little insulted, after all her trials and tribulations to get to the dragon, only to have nobody believe her.

‘Then how come you aint toast?’ He interrogated her.

‘Because, she needs me to help her with something.’

‘Oh yeah?’ The other guard who had darker hair, jibed. ‘And what the devil would a big old, powerful fire-breathing dragon need help with, from a little girl? You must think we’re stupid. You’re havin’ us on.’

Kaylee was about to defend herself, but then thought the less people who knew about her quest, the less likely her quest would get back to Wilfrey and the less likely she would fail. Thinking quickly she pointed a finger at him and said, ‘Ha ha, almost got ya didn’t I.’

They all laughed and agreed, yes, she was very funny. However, after she said, ‘Bye, bye then,’ and walked off to find Ruby, the two gnome guards realised that they never did find out why she came back out of their caves after several days. They looked at each other with a wary fear in their eyes and decided, by mutual unspoken agreement, to let the subject bide for now.

Kaylee sniggered to herself about the confused gnome guards as she pulled the iron key out of her backpack. She liked to hold it out in front of her to ward off any other potential spiders who wished to make sushi of her.

She was delighted to find Ruby in her lair, snoozing away with a loud rumbling purr. Kaylee felt like running and jumping into that fluffy fur, but suspected that surprising a huge carnivore while asleep was probably not a good idea. ‘Ruby!’ she called. The cat continued purring loudly. She called again, louder this time, ‘RUBY!’

The purring stopped immediately and Ruby opened one eye, staring her down with it. Kaylee felt fearful for a split second until Ruby flew awake and bounded over to smooch around her.

‘I found him Ruby. My Dad, he’s alive! He’s with the dragon.’ Kaylee told her friend.

‘Oh, so that man is your father. I had no idea, thought she just kept him around as a pet for amusement value.’

Kaylee told Ruby about how Wilfrey’s crone took the dragon’s egg and she had kidnapped Greg in order to persuade (more like force) Kaylee to help get the egg back.

‘Ah, I wondered what the Crone was doing in here, all those months back. She came flying past on one of those darned hagars. I would have attacked but they were already heading for the way out, so I didn’t bother. Never saw the egg you mention, though I’m sure the old bat had it stashed somewhere.’

‘So that’s where I’m headed now, I guess? The castle.’

‘Don’t go alone will you lovey? Find Jett, he will be somewhere in the Spirit Realm. He will go with you, most of the way at least.’

Why not all the way? Kaylee thought that seemed a little odd, but it was her quest after all. The dragon’s magic was in the key, so if she had to do it alone, then that is what she would do. No longer the shy, easily intimidated little girl she was merely days ago. Kaylee felt like she had lived and matured by a good ten years since coming to these lands.

Ruby escorted her out of the honeycomb caves of Mount Beaton and gave her a snugly cat cuddle before saying, ‘Farewell, safe journey.’

Kaylee headed off with a confident stride towards the woods which led to the village of the Spirit people. She knew the way now, so was a bit surprised to find something new had appeared since her last time travelling through these parts. She stopped and stared in disbelief.

‘Oh no! You have GOT to be kidding me,’ Kaylee said to herself when she spied a delicious looking candy-cottage, as if it was straight out of a fairy-tale book. Complete with a gabled roof, dripping with snow-like white icing and a round rainbow-striped candy door, like the Christmas candy canes she had had in her stockings. The wall tiles looked like they were made of chocolate Orio cookies and the windows had leadlight looking windows made with black liquorice straps.

‘What was that my mum said? If it seems too good to be true, it usually is,’ Kaylee mumbled to herself, all the while creeping a little closer, keeping a watchful eye on anything that moved near her. She smelled a proverbial rat and knew this had to be a trap set by Wilfrey or his Crone.

She looked all around, expecting stoneys to jump out from somewhere, but all she saw was a black crow up a nearby tree, its beady eyes following her everywhere she went.

She crept up to the wall nearest the corner of the candy-cottage. Keeping one eye on the door, she snapped off a piece of cookie tile. After a nibble just to confirm that it was actually cookie, she said aloud, ‘Pity I’m not really as fussed on lollies as I used to be. And I really HATE liquorice!’ She grinned at the crow, winked and saluted him saying, ‘Tally-ho old sausage.’ Then jogged away smartly down the road to the Spirit Realm, before anything unnatural could jump out of the candy-cottage to grab her.

The crow flapped off, heading for the castle to, reluctantly, inform its mistress that her cleverly laid plan had failed dismally.

From the dungeons of a gothic castle, whose pointed turrets pierced the clouds, high up on Mount Beaton ...

The Crone, a decrepit old hag of unfathomable years, chanted a spell over a bubbling cauldron of toxic substances. Green vapours filled the dungeon, choking her pet crow so that he squawked loudly and flapped his wings in distress.

‘Quiet you!’ She screeched at the bird in her creaky voice. ‘Shut your beak, or you’ll go in the pot too!’ She cackled in glee.

The bird was not so sure she was joking; he had been the bearer of bad news after all. He made a quick exit through one of the narrow slit windows high up the wall. Here several bats hung like rows of black flags, waiting for the light outside to fade to black, so they could venture out in search of prey.

The Crone continued her chanting until she heard a low humming noise within the very walls themselves, growing louder and louder. It came from the nests which filled every nook and cranny about the place. The hum grew so agitated it felt like they were inside her head, boring into her skull.

Suddenly, she stopped chanting and the swarm of giant wasps burst forth from the castle walls. The humming sounded like a full squadron of fighter planes now, which soared over the rooftops in a gigantic ominous cloud of wings and stings. They were on a flight path to the unwary inhabitants of the Spirit Realm and the girl whose destiny, even though she did not know it yet herself, was to destroy them.