I meant, my lady.”
“Tell me, crow, do you think this soulless spook could still have a true heart when I possess his soul?”
The crow responded, “I don’t know, my lady, but I have seen many battles in my days, and he surely fought with a true heart.”
The witch pondered this statement for several moments and thought, Could he, the Ice-Ghost, be the one who can rightfully remove the crystals from the little brat’s feet? But how, how could I get that wretched creature to attempt this deed for me? She looked over at the crow and said, “Crow, find the Ghost and give him this message. Tell him that, for a small deed, I will give him back his soul and spare the life of the girl, if he wishes it so. If he doesn’t agree, I will turn the girl into an icicle. Then I will feed her soul and his soul to the Doomalings, and they shall never regain them.”
At the mention of the Doomalings, the crow shuddered and said, “Is that all, my lady?”
“Yes, now be off. Do not fail me, crow, unless you do not value your soul either.” At this statement, the crow shuddered again and flew off.
“Gloo, come here, you miserable wretch.”
“Yes, my lady?”
“Gloo, go to the cellar and get me another vial for a soul.”
“Yes, my lady,” Gloo said as he quickly ran off.
The witch returned to studying the book. She thought about the verse “true heart and gentle hand” and wondered if the Ice-Ghost had both. After all, he had defeated her ice-rats with his hands, and one of Moldoff’s fangs. This put doubt into the witch’s mind that he, the Ice-Ghost, had gentle hands. Nonetheless, she continued to read. She read until she found what she was hoping to find. A verse that brought hope to her wicked plan, and in part it stated:
The mightful hand
That believes he is doing justice
Will become a gentler hand
That will be trusted
But should these hands knowingly do wrong
The spell is bust and the doom is long
For more than namesake only
Thou shalt be forever lonely.”
This, the witch thought, is the compelling evidence that I needed. She began to ponder how she would force the Ice-Ghost into aiding her. As she turned to think about what was meant by “namesake,” she saw Gloo, who stood with a vial in his hand.
“What are you doing sneaking up on me, cockroach?” shouted the witch. “What is it that you want, you villainous vandal of bread crumbs?”
“The vial, my lady, I brought it as you asked.”
“Well, I didn’t say to sneak up on me about it, did I?” The ice-witch then loosed a spell on Gloo:
“Things that creep up
And walk a silent trail
Will soon be learned
By a donkey’s tail.”
Gloo then grew a donkey’s tail. The witch snapped her fingers and WHAP! Gloo’s new tail whipped him hard on his legs. The witch smiled. “That should learn you! Now, put the vial in the shelf case next to the Ice-Ghost’s soul, and hurry!” She softly snapped her fingers and the tail did its work again, only this time not as hard. Frantically, Gloo ran to the stepladder and pushed it over to the shelves. He climbed the ladder with the empty vial in his hand and placed it next to Ice-Ghost’s soul. Gloo climbed back down the ladder with head bowed and his tail in his hand. Speaking to herself the witch muttered, “Now, what was it that was I just thinking?” Just then, the crow flew back through her window and down to his perch.
The crow squawked out, “The Ice-Ghost, the Ice-Ghost, my lady, he is walking toward your castle. The Ice-Ghost is approaching.” The witch wanted to know more about the Ice-Ghost’s whereabouts.
On the wall hung a large mirror. It was the Mirror of Panoramian and she commanded it to awaken. “Mirror, show me the icescape just beyond my front castle wall.”
The mirror awoke and a voice rang out, “As you wish, my lady.”
Instantly, the mirror began to show views of the nearby icescape. The ice-witch soon saw what she was looking for. She thought aloud, “So, he has found his way up my mountain. The fool, he is here! He cannot defeat me, so then why? What for? For the crystals no doubt, no doubt. Or maybe… ”
The mirror rang out, “Has the lady forgotten? Questions of inquiry I cannot answer and the king’s heirlooms I cannot find.”
“NOOO! I haven’t forgotten, you glashis gargoyle of glamentia. Do you think I have forgotten this? Someday, I promise I’ll settle our differences with a mallet.”
Upon hearing this statement, the glass pane of the mirror seemed to recoil and cringe, distorting the image of the Ice-Ghost for a moment. Seeing that the Ice-Ghost was nearby, the witch crossed the hallway into the next room. There she looked out of her window and saw Ice-Ghost approaching. Not knowing what to expect next, Gloo hid himself behind several stacks of boxes. In the next room, the witch watched as the Ice-Ghost continued approaching her castle.
Long ago a beautiful ice pathway led from the bottom of the mountain to the castles front door. The witch had blocked up parts of the pathway with large piles of ice chunks, so that no large devices on wheels could ever venture up it. These obstacles made the trek for Ice-Ghost difficult at times, but did not stop him. Instead, he went up the mountain with grave determination in his eyes. Reaching the top, he peered over the last roadblock and saw the witch’s castle. The castle was made of ice blocks that had light wisps of sand and dirt in each block, which gave the blocks the appearance of a regular stone castle from afar.
Looking ahead, he could see that the icy path wound its way to the front of the castle. The rest of the mountaintop was covered with snow and hundreds of crystallized trees. Their trunks glimmered, while their branches held hundreds of ice crystals. Although there were many trees, they were too far apart to offer the stealthy trespasser any secrecy. It was for all these reasons that the Ice-Ghost chose to skate the clear path. The witch watched for several moments as the Ice-Ghost approached.
Nervous, the witch went back into the enchantment room where Christy slept. Underneath her breath the witch muttered, “Where is that mule dwarf? Oh well, I need him not. Always in my way of greatness!” For the moment, the witch decided to focus all of her attention on Ice-Ghost, rather than on the insignificant Gloo. She thought, However, time is short. So, how do I do this? The witch muttered to herself, “I cannot kill the Ghost because I need him. So, then, how? How do I convince him that removing the ice crystals can do no one any true harm?” In her anxiety and frustration she cried out, “To rule both worlds, I must have those crystals!” The witch fervently thought about this dilemma. Finally, her devious mind came to another one of her wicked solutions. She started to put her plan to work. The first thing she did was make the sleeping Christy turn invisible.
The witch then looked up on the second shelf where Gloo had set the clear vial. On that shelf were potions that could change people’s appearances and behaviors. There were love potions, sleeping potions, potions to make a champion, potions of fear and potions of confidence. The third shelf had potions that had a temporary effect on the seasons of the year. There were potions for rain clouds, small hurricanes, spring awaking and thunder and lightning. The witch’s shelves had many other assorted types of enchantments. Using her magic, she called down an amphora-shaped vial that contained a green fog. This vial had more curves to it than the rest of the vials on the shelves. The top of the vial had a glass collar with a round hole in it. The cap was shaped like a long grape or olive. The bottom of the cap had a round, thin base, which fit perfectly into the hole of the vial and kept the green fog from leaking out. The witch looked intently at the bottle and then chuckled. My ace in the hole. If it worked once, it’ll work again. She spoke briefly to the vial and then laughed. Next, she went to her closet and brought out a cauldron. Placing it near Christy’s bed, she looked at the cauldron and laughed again.
As the witch laughed, Ice-Ghost had reached the front door of her castle. Looking at the castle’s high wa
ll, he wondered, Why isn’t the witch here to greet me? She must know.
Baffled for only a moment, Ice-Ghost took out Moldoff’s tooth and tied a thin, but strong rope around it. He began twirling the tooth on the rope in an attempt to toss it over the castle wall. As he twirled the rope, the large castle door slowly creaked open. Ice-Ghost now knew that the witch had been waiting for him and put his rope and tooth away. There was an ominous moment of silence and then Ice-Ghost cautiously walked inside. It was dark inside except for a light that he saw coming from the second floor.
The Queen’s Deal
He went down the hallway and up the stair. He walked down the upstairs hallway until he came to the room of enchantment. As he looked into the room, he noticed it was both wide and tall. Only a few candles in the room were lit, which gave Ice-Ghost an even more ominous feeling. As Ice-Ghost walked through the poorly lit room, he saw large shadows slowly moving about. Ice-Ghost froze in his tracks. The shadows slunk through the room. Ice-Ghost knew that he was once again being surrounded by ice-rats. As he looked around the dimly lit room, he noticed several pairs of glaring grey eyes silently staring at him.
The silence was soon broken by the clicking of the ice-rats’ tongues. From above and without a moment’s notice, all of the candles in the chandelier were lit. The room’s contents were clearly visible now. Ice-Ghost saw what he had