The Chameleon Shop

Jett and Kaylee continued their journey along the dirt road that led to the village of the Spirit Realm. Kaylee’s eyes kept darting to the surrounding trees, on edge since their run in with the stoneys. Still accompanied by the river, they passed a picturesque watermill in a glade. The water level was so low the mill wheel wasn’t moving. Tall weeds had grown up and threatened to engulf the sad little building entirely, should it sit neglected for much longer.

In the distance, the forest began to grow more plentiful. There were still many stumps visible, evidence of the greed of their supposed Guardian, but a few more trees lay untouched and towering above them in their magnificent splendour.

‘We have reached the outer edge of the Woods of the Spirit Realm.’ Jett said.

Over to their left, in the direction of Mount Beaton Kaylee could see the long carriage train of carts trekking up the mountain pass to Wilfrey’s castle. They were loaded with fire-sticks and food. Another of these wagons passed them from the opposite direction and the villager at the reins stopped to ask where they were headed.

He explained to Kaylee that this wagonload, with barrels of water from the docks as well as firesticks, was part-payment to keep the killer wasps at bay. He gave Kaylee a firestick to keep; he was amused she had never seen them and could not stop turning the strange amber rod over in her hands in avid curiosity.

Wilfrey had abused his position of trust and ruled with greed and cruelty. Blocking their main route of trade through the mountain and taking control of the resources such as fire and water, he rationed them out to the other realms in minute amounts to keep the realms weak and under his thumb. If they did not obey, they had killer wasps and gargoyles to deal with.

The Fire Realm people had fought to defend the trees from Wilfrey’s army but when he threatened to let the hagars loose on their children while they were away working in the fields, they felt they were left no choice and so buckled and agreed to give him what he wanted.

This Wilfrey person sounded like a scary man and Kaylee hoped she found her way out of this land before she ran into him. As she walked along, chasing thoughts around her head, Kaylee was flung abruptly back to her present situation when she bumped into a tree, banging her nose painfully.

Only it wasn’t a tree; it was a leg. In fact a huge, hairy leg the size of a tree trunk. She looked up, a little frightened yet curious, into the smiling face of a giant. He had messy brown hair, which looked like it had a nest of some kind in it and was holding in his arms several white rabbits. The rabbits did not appear frightened. Their tiny pink noses twitched as they hopped along his massive arms to nibble at his shirt.

‘I’m ... so sorry,’ Kaylee said to him, palms up in submission, ‘I wasn’t watching where I was going.’

‘Ha ha ha,’ he laughed, in a deep booming voice. He bent down to see Kaylee better. ‘I do that sometimes too.’ He pointed to a row of trees behind him. Around eight trees leaned nearly horizontal, like a row of dominoes, knocked down by what she would have thought was a bulldozer. No bulldozers around here though. He extended a huge fat finger to Willy, who scampered straight up his arm and onto his shoulder – you guessed it, preening his hair.

‘This is Gerard,’ Jett explained. ‘He is a nice chappy. A gentle soul with a kind heart, but do watch out for him ... he’s a bit clumsy and may accidently sit on you, completely unintentionally you understand.’

A small ‘quack!’ came from above Kaylee’s head. In Gerard’s shirt pocket, they could see a curious yellow duckling peeking out. Above the giant’s massive head, beautiful blue and green birds chirped their evening songs loudly in the treetops, flitting back and forth between the branches. Some brave fantails darted past their heads, as if daring them to give chase.

Jett watched, tempted, but the amount of space those little birds would fill in the huge cavern that was his stomach, would not make it worth the effort of trying to catch one of them. Admittedly though, the urge was still there.

As they gazed up at the playful fantails, Kaylee once again saw that familiar white owl perched on a branch high above them. It had its beautiful blue eyes glued to her, watching ... always watching her. She was seriously curious as to who would be interested in her presence in these lands. Surely, such a beautiful bird would not be slave to that horrid soul, Wilfrey.

Jett, Kaylee and Gerard sat down around a fire of pinecones. They had all helped collect them and Kaylee had volunteered to start the fire with her firestick, laughing with delight as she did so. She did it by scraping a rock against the smooth amber surface quickly as the villager on the wagon had showed her.

Gerard invited them to share a bite to eat with him. From the depths of his shirt he pulled out a bundle wrapped in red and white chequered cloth, all four corners tied in a knot to keep the contents from falling out. Once open this displayed his lunch of bread, cheese, cold sausage and raspberries.

The gentle giant sat in the clearing munching on his lunch while forest creatures such as ducklings and rabbits, tiny in comparison, climbed all over him without any fear. Birds even took to nesting in his hair. Kaylee could hear the tiny baby birds chirping loudly for food and saw the mother, or possibly father bird, come to land with a worm in its mouth.

The light had grown dim and shadows were forming under the trees, meaning it had to be late afternoon. They bid Gerard farewell, but Jett informed Kaylee they would not have time to reach the mountain before dark.

‘We can find some place to stay with the people of the Spirit Lands to be on the safe side and set out for the caves beneath the Mount tomorrow.’

Kaylee was about to take the monkey from Gerard when a mournful howl pierced the air. Without hesitation Jett dove into the shrubs in the direction of the sound, bounding through long grass and bush in the shadows of the tall pine trees. Kaylee followed, running, but having a bit of difficulty keeping up as the big cat bounded through the bush. ‘Do we really … want to … get close to … wolves? That was a … wolf, wasn’t it?’ She tried to ask his rear end between gasping breaths as she ran.

‘Wolves are our friends here Kaylee,’ Jett called back to her as he loped along. ‘The Spirit people are a peace-loving folk. The animals in this land try to live in harmony, when we can. That animal is in pain. He needs our help.’

There at the edge of a clearing they saw him. A huge dark-grey wolf with his big paw caught painfully in between the menacing teeth of a large metal trap. He pointed his nose to the sky and howled again, sending shivers down her spine. He turned his pale blue eyes on them and whimpered pitifully.

‘Oh! What a horrible trap! I thought these people were peaceful?’ Kaylee asked confused.

‘This trap was set by Wilfrey’s evil-spawn. No-one here would do such a thing.’ Jett said.

‘Will he bite me if I try to help him?’ Kaylee asked.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ Jett said. ‘He knows we want to help him.’

The wolf lay there, panting fast and whimpering every now and then. His eye’s were half closed in pain with a slit of pale blue showing, watching her every move with nerve-wracking attention.

Kaylee pulled at the jaws of the trap as hard as she could, but it was no use. She was not strong enough to open the viciously clamped jaws. She cried out in frustration and bashed her fist on her knee. ‘Oh bugger it! I can’t get them open.’

The wolf whined and licked her hand. It was as though he was trying to say please don’t give up, please help me. They heard a crack and branches breaking as something large moved toward them through the trees.

‘I can,’ said a deep voice above their heads. It was Gerard. He had come to see if he could help the poor animal. The wolf was frightened and Kaylee heard his deep rumbling growl in warning.

The monkey jumped clear; he did not fancy getting close to those powerful jaws, but Gerard was not afraid. ‘It’s alright boy,’ he whispered softly.

With ease, Gerard pulled the clamps open and the freed wolf yelped and madly licked Gerard’s hand in gratitude, then his face as Gerard crouched low to the ground. The gentle giant chuckled and easily lifted the injured wolf up. ‘He needs a healer. Spirit people have plant magic. They help.’