Unlocking the Spell (11 page)

“Thank you, kind sir,” said Annie.

“You're welcome, miss. By the way, did you know that a large animal is following you?”

Annie laughed and glanced toward the shrubs. “Yes, I know. He's a friend of ours.”

The old man's eyes widened, but he just nodded and clucked to his horses to get them moving again, although Annie did hear him mutter to himself, “Now that's an odd one for you. Not as odd as those dwarves, though. Never heard such bickering in all my born days.”

“Did you say you saw some dwarves?” Annie called after him, but he didn't seem to hear her and kept going.

“I guess you should have asked someone for directions sooner,” Liam told her.

“But I… I mean, you… Oh, never mind!” she said, but she let him take her hand anyway.

Annie fumed all the way back to the Old Mill Road. Once they were seeing new scenery, however, she forgot to be irritated and began to look for the falling-down barn. The old farmer hadn't told them which side of the road to watch, but the others were looking as well and Beldegard was ranging across both sides of the road. It was the bear prince who finally came across the decaying timbers that had once been part of a barn. He emerged loping out of the underbrush, his tongue lolling like a big dog's, and plopped down in front of Annie. “I found the old man's barn. At least I think it was a barn. Come see for yourself.”

Annie glanced at the waist-high grass and shook her
head. “I'll take your word for it. The farmer said we should turn left now. Do you see a road anywhere?”

“I saw something that might once have been a road. It's overgrown, but we could try it,” said the bear prince. “What are we looking for next?”

“A village where we might get something to eat as well as more directions,” Annie replied.

“So far the way to the Moonflower Glade hasn't been fraught with much of anything,” said Liam. “I wonder what the bear and the old man were talking about.”

“I'd rather we didn't find out,” said Gwendolyn. “Walking this far is grueling enough without having to worry about dragons or monsters or some awful test.”

“Have any of you ever heard of Gruntly Village?” asked Beldegard. “Because that might be it up ahead.”

They peered through the trees in the direction the bear prince was facing. Although they couldn't see them very well, there were buildings just past the curve in the road.

“I don't know anything about it,” said Liam. “So it can't be in Dorinocco. We must have crossed the border into Floradale.”

“I remember now!” Annie exclaimed. “The fairy Moonbeam is the fairy in the Moonflower Glade! Mother was born in Floradale, you know, and Moonbeam was her favorite fairy godmother. Moonbeam was also the fairy who gave me the gift of no-magic.”

“I don't recall Mother mentioning that,” said Gwendolyn.

Annie sighed. “Then maybe she didn't tell you about it. She did talk to me once in a while when you weren't around.”

“This is where I leave you again,” said Beldegard. “I'll see you when you're finished in the village.”

“Good-bye, my sweet,” Gwendolyn said, hugging Beldegard around the neck. “Be safe.”

“I live but to see you again,” Beldegard told the princess, and licked her across her face.

“I feel ill,” Liam muttered to Annie as they began to walk.

“I know! All that bear drool!” said Annie. “Imagine!”

“I meant I feel sick because of what he said. Being a bear must be affecting his mind. No self-respecting man would talk like that.”

“Unless he's being
romantic
,” Annie replied, giving Liam a wistful look.

“Is that what you call it?” said Liam. “Say, is it me or are those buildings larger than most?”

Annie sighed and shook her head.
Nice way to change the subject!
she thought, turning to look where he was pointing. From a distance the buildings hadn't looked like anything extraordinary, but as they drew closer she could see that they were proportioned differently than most. Some of the buildings had strange peaks and angles, while others had windows in odd places, as
if the rooms inside weren't where you'd expect. All of the buildings, however, were taller than those she had seen in other villages.

“Look at how tall those doors are,” said Gwendolyn, coming up from behind. “You don't suppose giants live here, do you?”

“Not giants,” said Liam. “A giants' village would have doors twice as tall as these. If I'm not mistaken, this is an ogre village.”

The color faded from Gwendolyn's face. “I didn't know ogres lived in villages. Maybe we should go around it.”

Annie shook her head. “We need to ask for directions again. Look, there's a tavern with a bird on the sign.”

“And there's another tavern over there,” said Liam. “There's a bird on that sign, too. I thought the farmer said that only one sign had a bird on it.”

“Someone must have changed the other sign,” Annie said, frowning. “Now what do we do?”

“You two stay here and I'll go check out the taverns,” Liam told the girls. “You should be fine if you don't talk to anyone.”

Because there was only one street in the village and it seemed to be deserted, Annie didn't think they needed to worry. But just minutes after Liam disappeared into the closest tavern, a trio of young male ogres came out of one of the houses and sauntered over
to where Annie and Gwendolyn were standing in the shade of a tree. All three of the ogres were nearly seven feet tall; Annie and Gwendolyn had to look up to see their faces.

“Well, well, well! What have we here?” said the ogre with one eyebrow across his forehead and the beginnings of a scraggly beard.

The second ogre grinned. Annie couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the top of his head, where stringy hair grew in patches around irregular bald spots. “Looks like two little humans wandering around all by themselves,” growled the ogre.

“Do you know how dangerous that can be in a village like this?” asked the first ogre.

The third ogre laughed, an unpleasant sound that revealed his tongue, which was split down the middle like a snake's. When he saw that the girls were looking at him, he licked his lips and said something garbled that Annie couldn't understand.

The first ogre punched him in the arm, then turned to the girls and said, “Don't pay any attention to Screely. He cut his tongue because he thought it would make him look scarier. Now he can't talk worth dragon dung.”

“We're not alone,” Gwendolyn piped up. “We're here with friends.”

“Really?” said the ogre with the bald spots. “I don't see anyone else. They must be invisible friends.”

“Maybe they're imaginary friends,” said the first ogre. “Do you have good imaginations?”

“Very good,” said Gwendolyn. “I can imagine exactly what will happen to you if I scream and our friends come running.”

The ogre with the bald spots snorted. “Oh, really?” he said, and stepped closer until he towered over both of the girls.

Annie didn't like the way the conversation was headed, and was relieved when she saw that an older ogre was hobbling toward them, using a whittled tree trunk as a cane. “What's going on here?” he snarled.

The three younger ogres backed away. “Nothing, Gloover. We were just greeting these two humans.”

“You've talked to them long enough. Off with you before I take my cane to your backsides. So,” he said to Annie and Gwendolyn once the other ogres had scuttled off. “What are you doing here? We don't get many humans coming this way.”

“We just wanted directions,” said Annie. “We're going to see the fairy Moonbeam, in the Moonflower Glade.”

“Ah!” said the ogre. “I can give you directions, but you do know that the way is long and fraught with danger?”

Annie sighed. “Everyone keeps telling us that.”

“All right then. Pay attention. Take the road out of town, go right at the pasture where Midas keeps his
cattle, then go over the rainbow bridge, under the waterfall, turn left, and you're there.”

“Are there any special dangers we should expect to find?” asked Annie.

“I don't know,” said the ogre. “I've never been there.”

“Annie, is everything all right?” Liam asked, hurrying across the street.

Annie nodded. “This nice gentleman was just giving us directions to the Moonflower Glade.”

“Good, because no one in that tavern would talk to me. I've been waiting this whole time for someone to notice that I was there.”

“I'm sure they noticed you,” said the ogre. “They just didn't want to talk to you.”

“Thank you for the directions,” Annie told him.

“Good luck getting there,” the ogre said, and walked away.

“Why does everyone keep warning us about the way to the Moonflower Glade?” Liam asked as they started down the road. “We have yet to see anything dangerous.”

“I thought that ogre with the terrible tongue looked dangerous,” said Gwendolyn.

Liam scowled at her. “I thought I told you not to talk to anyone.”

“They talked to us first,” Gwendolyn said, shrugging.

Beldegard didn't rejoin them until they were out of sight of the ogre's village. Although he gave Gwendolyn an affectionate lick on her cheek, Annie thought he looked worried. Liam must have thought so too, because the first thing he said to the bear prince was, “What's wrong?”

Beldegard glanced back into the forest behind him. “I think someone is following us. I noticed it in the woods after you left.”

“Maybe it's the boy with the cat Annie and Liam told me about,” said Gwendolyn. “Maybe he discovered who I was and wants to start courting me.”

“I doubt it was him,” said Annie. “I don't think he ever saw you.”

“What boy?” growled Beldegard.

“It might be one of the men from the ferry,” said Liam. “Some of them seemed awfully interested in
Gwendolyn. But don't worry,” he told the girls. “Now that we know someone is there, we'll watch for him. It would be hard to hide from all of us.”

“Where do we go now?” asked the bear prince.

“We stay on this road until we reach a field where some man keeps his cattle,” said Annie. “Then we turn right and cross over a rainbow bridge and go under a waterfall. It didn't sound as if it was too far from here.”

“So when do we encounter all these dangers everyone keeps telling us about?” Gwendolyn asked.

“No one seems to know,” Annie told her.

The day grew hotter as they walked, so when the road eventually drew close to a stream, Gwendolyn cried out with delight and started for its banks.

“Wait!” shouted Beldegard as he lumbered after her. “You never know what might lie in wait in places like this. Remember, we've had all those warnings about danger.” He padded around the clump of birch trees shading the water to snuffle the inviting moss edging the stream. When he bent down to taste the clear, sparkling water, he drew back suddenly and shook his head. “Don't drink this!”

“Why? Is it poisoned?” asked Liam.

“No,” the bear prince said. “But cattle have fouled the water near here. This stream isn't fit to drink.”

Annie's eyes lit up. “Oh, good!” she cried. “We must
be getting close to the spot where we're supposed to turn.”

“But I'm thirsty!” wailed Gwendolyn.

“We all are,” Annie told her. “It won't hurt us to go a little longer without water. We can probably drink when we're upstream of the cows, don't you think, Beldegard?”

The bear prince shrugged. “Maybe.”

Gwendolyn was still grumbling when Annie led her back to the road. When they continued on and there was still no sign of the cattle, their feet began to drag. “Maybe Beldegard was wrong,” said Gwendolyn. “We could still go back to the stream for a nice long drink.”

“We're probably close,” said Annie. “Look, there are people over there. We can ask them.”

“I don't think—” Liam began, but Annie was already hurrying to the fence that divided the road from the land beyond.

“Excuse me!” Annie called, leaning up against the fence while she waved at the small crowd standing in the shade of an old oak tree. “I need some directions.”

The sun was lowering in the sky, its rays shining into Annie's eyes, making it harder to see. She cupped her hand over her eyes and called to the people again, but they all kept their backs to her and remained huddled together. The few who seemed to be walking around aimlessly ignored her as well.

“They're very rude,” Gwendolyn said at her side.

“Maybe they didn't hear me. I could climb the fence and go closer to talk to them,” said Annie. “But did you notice how odd they're acting? They're just standing around, doing nothing. Look over there. Some are asleep in the grass.”