Chapter 11: Secrets Revealed
Just before the Dragon fire reached the three companions, it struck an invisible barrier. The flames shot skyward, blasting a hole in the mist. For the first time, in a very long time, the sky could be seen from the ground and sunshine hit dirt in the Boggy Marsh.
The Dragon was furious. “Now what!” she thought to herself. Every time she got close to giving the thieves what they deserved, something got in the way. For the first time, she could see the thieves clearly, an Aelf and a Leprechaun. Mody, of course, had gone invisible and couldn’t be seen. And there, sitting behind them, was her egg. The Dragon moved forward, content she would at last see an end to the silliness of the day.
Hag Head, the witch, chose that moment to step out from behind the blackened tree, with Paddy right behind her. “I claim these lives as mine, to do with as I will!” Hag Head called to the Dragon, as she bent and scooped up the egg.
The Dragon blasted at the group with another wave of Dragon fire and moved forward to attack. The Dragon fire struck the invisible barrier and again shot into the sky.
“Hold where you are, and stop with the fire already,” Hag Head called out. “I’m in control here and you will do as you are told.”
“I think green is my favorite color now,” Seamus shouted, running over to embrace Paddy.
Hag Head’s witchy cackle laugh made the hair on the back of Mr. Elf’s neck tingle. “Now where’s that bird that was with you?” Hag Head asked.
“I am right here,” said the still invisible Mody, from on top of the egg Hag Head was holding.
“That will do nicely. Gather round, the rest of you. Now, each of you take hold of an arm.”
Mr. Elf, Paddy and Seamus quickly did as they were instructed.
Through the mist returning to fill the gap evaporated by the Dragon fire, the Dragon stared at the small group with a look of undisguised hatred.
“Hold tight,” Hag Head instructed. “We must be off quickly. Out here in the open, even that small use of my power to shield us from the Dragon fire, will draw unwanted attention.”
Everything blurred, then went gray, and then totally black. The grayness returned, and then the companions were standing outside Hag Head’s white brick house.
“There now,” Hag Head said, giving a slight shake of her arms to indicate the others could let go. “You’ve had a busy day, just as I said you would. The sun will be going down in about an hour. Let’s get inside and get settled for the night.”
As Paddy led Seamus towards the house, and a now visible Mody followed them closely, Mr. Elf hung back, examining Hag Head closely. Paddy, Seamus and Mody chattered away excitedly about the escape from the Dragon and didn’t notice that Mr. Elf and Hag Head had not moved yet.
“Just who are you?” Mr. Elf asked Hag Head, quietly. “You created a shield against the Dragon fire of a Gold Dragon. The magical power to create a shield of that strength is hard to conceive. And you said you only used a small part of your power,” he finished, with awe in his voice.
“I suggest we get inside,” Hag Head replied, ignoring the question and moving towards the door to the house. “We can play questions and answers then, Apprentice Lore Master to the Aelfin.” Hag Head placed a special emphasis on the title she gave Mr. Elf.
Mr. Elf groaned. He had never intended for anyone else to know of his past. He knew that Seamus and Mody would keep his secret, but what would Hag Head do with the information?
“Coming, Aelf?” Hag Head asked, looking back to where Mr. Elf was still standing, with a confused and pained look on his face.
Mr. Elf considered the house. Paddy, Seamus and Mody were now inside. Hag Head stood at the doorway holding the door open, watching Mr. Elf intently.
Mr. Elf shook his head and resignedly and crossed the distance to the door. The one thing he was sure of was that they would need Hag Head’s help to get out of Boggy Marsh. If that Gold Dragon couldn’t get passed the boundary, there was no way they could do it, without help.
Mr. Elf entered the house, noting the smile on Hag Head’s sickly green and ugly face. His stomach heaved unexpectedly and he found himself swallowing hard to keep from vomiting.
Hag Head took one last glance at the mist swirling around her home, then turned abruptly and entered her house. The door closed behind her, with an ominous ‘click’.
⚔
The great Gold Dragon sat on her nest and brooded and fumed. Her egg was gone! A small pile of her gold was gone! Her feeders were gone! And that witch had interfered in her affairs again. All in all, a very bad day. Perhaps the worst she’d had since she’d been trapped in Boggy Marsh.
Still, all was not lost. If she was trapped in Boggy Marsh, then so were the thieves. She just needed some help in rounding them up. She’d heard one of the thieves mention the village of Damanta Mallaithe. She considered this, and thought it likely they would head for the boundary on the western edge of Boggy Marsh. That would take them the closest to the damned village. First, she would contact the Fugglies. She needed new feeders for a start. The Fugglies lived in the area of Boggy Marsh nearest the western edge, and they would hunt for the thieves for her. Then there were the Urks. They lived in the area slightly to the north of the Fugglies, and they too were easily controlled, and would hunt for her.
She briefly considered the Wraiths, but they lived too far to the east and were difficult to control. The last time she had tried to control Wraiths, it had turned out badly. What about the Goblins? she mused. No, Goblins might be easily controlled, but they were far too stupid. They didn’t even taste good, she thought contemptuously.
The Fugglies and the Urks would have to do. It would be dark soon and the night feeders would be out and about. She just had time for a short nap, before organizing her hunting parties.
⚔
The inside of Hag Head’s house was exactly as it had been before. Paddy and Seamus were still chattering at each other excitedly and swapping stories of their time spent apart. Mody saw the sun shining in through the single window and went to have a look. She stared in wonder at the sun-filled meadow and the animal shaped bushes. She had, of course, now seen the sun, when the Dragon fire had blasted away the mist in the Boggy Marsh, but she still found it new and inspiring. She smiled at the bushes, the animal shapes were now in different positions and different poses than they had been, when she had first looked out the window.
“Hag Head?” Mody said, to get Hag Head’s attention.
Hag Head was poking the fire in the fireplace with an iron poker. “Yes, Mody.”
“The animal bushes have moved, and there are even some different animals there now. And the sun is a slightly different color to the one I saw, when the Dragon fire cleared the mist,” Mody stated.
Paddy and Seamus went to the window and saw Mody was right. They turned to Hag Head enquiringly.
“Time moves differently there,” Hag Head said, from next to the fireplace. “Things that are actually moving quite quickly appear to be standing still from here.”
“Neat,” Seamus said. “Where is that place?” he asked.
“There is no point asking Hag Head those sorts of questions,” Paddy responded, before Hag Head could reply. “I spent the whole day with her, and she got quite grumpy with all of the questions I asked. At one point, she asked me to open my mouth. I did, and she filled it with a solid block of air, so I couldn’t speak anymore.”
Mr. Elf couldn’t help himself and burst out laughing. When he stopped laughing enough to speak without snorting, he addressed Hag Head. “I don’t suppose you could teach me that spell? It would come in quite handy, if I am to continue traveling with these Leprechauns.”
Seamus’s face went bright red, as he remembered the handkerchief Mr. Elf had put in his mouth.
Hag Head smiled menacingly, showing her sharp brown teeth.
Mr. Elf’s stomach grumbled loudly, “I guess not,” he said, somewhat more soberly.
“Enough of this childish chatter,” Hag Head
said, roughly. “Before I feed you, there are some things I want to get straightened out.”
“Before we answer any of your questions, I want to know what you are going to do with that egg?” Mody said, bravely, nodding at the Dragon egg sitting on the table. “I was an egg myself not that long ago, and I want to make sure you aren’t going to eat it, or hurt it in any way.”
Hag Head seemed to swell in size slightly, and her eyes took on the dangerous look of someone about to do great violence. Then she changed and settled back to her normal hideous looking self. “I suppose there’s no harm in telling you that much,” she said, scratching thoughtfully at the mole on her nose.
Seamus noticed the large hair that had been growing out of the mole, was now missing. He wisely decided this observation was one he would be better off keeping to himself.
“This Dragon egg was stolen from its rightful mother and given to the Gold Dragon for purposes that go against my desires. It is my intent to return the egg to its mother, along with a strong lecture on how a mother should protect her young,” Hag Head stated. “Mody, you might find it interesting to know, the one responsible for this egg being with the Gold Dragon is also responsible for your egg being in Boggy Marsh. Don’t ask me why; I haven’t got to the bottom of that yet,” she added.
“So you must leave Boggy Marsh to return the egg to its mother?” Mr. Elf probed.
“What do you really want to know, Aelf?” Hag Head asked.
“You have a way to get out of Boggy Marsh, don’t you?” Mr. Elf asked, quietly.
“Yes,” Hag Head replied. “I alone in Boggy Marsh have the ability to come and go as I please.”
“Can you help us get out?” Paddy asked hopefully.
“The real question is, will she help us get out?” Mr. Elf asked, staring at Hag Head challengingly.
“It currently suits my purposes for you to leave Boggy Marsh,” Hag Head conceded.
Paddy, Seamus and Mody gave a cheer; things were working out well after all.
“I don’t have time to help you directly, but I can influence things to provide a means for your escape,” Hag Head said, reassuringly. Then she added, “Now it’s my turn to ask some questions.”
“What could you possibly want to know about us?” Seamus asked, sounding puzzled.
“Mr. Elf,” Hag Head said, sounding as if she was testing the name. “Apprentice to the Lore Master of the Aelfin, just how long have you been away from your people?”
Mr. Elf locked eyes with each of his companions, one by one, silently asking their understanding that what was about to be said was not to be repeated. “Close enough to 85 years,” he answered, honestly.
Hag Head looked stunned. “With the Aelf king’s permission?” she asked.
“No, not quite,” Mr. Elf replied defensively.
“When did you undergo the Aelfin conditioning ceremony?” Hag Head asked, changing the direction of her questions.
Mr. Elf’s face went white and he took a deep breath before answering. “I haven’t been through the Aelfin conditioning ceremony.” He paused for a moment to stare at the floor. When he looked back up, there was strength and determination on his face. “I was encouraged to leave Aelfinholme, before being put through the ceremony.”
Hag Head nodded her ugly green head, as if something suddenly made sense to her. She then turned to Paddy and Seamus. “You two, where did you get those swords?” she barked, roughly.
Before Mr. Elf could say a word, both Paddy and Seamus blurted, “Mr. Elf shrank them and loaned them to us for a share of the gold from the end of the rainbow.”
“Two from one shall come,” Hag Head muttered, under her breath, “with little grace, with little favour.” Hag Head shook her head slowly, seeming to be in a world of her own, talking to herself. “I always wondered what that part meant.”
Mr. Elf was really worried now. Hag Head was reciting parts of an ancient Aelfin prophecy.
“Aelf, are those what I think they are?” Hag Head demanded, moving menacingly toward the startled Mr. Elf. “By what right do those two carry objects of such importance? And you had the gall to shrink them!” Hag Head hissed, at the now very confused Aelf.
“Hag Head, why are you so angry about our having the swords?” Paddy asked, trying to drag her attention away from Mr. Elf.
“A long time ago, even by Aelfin measure, The She made a gift to the Aelfin people of a powerful magical artifact,” Mr. Elf said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “The Aelfin were to guard the object, for the coming of a time of great need. The Aelfin did as they were asked, and for thousands of years the Aelfin guarded the object. The current Aelfin king, however, decided to increase the security of the object by changing its form. He wanted to bring about the time of great need, by creating a situation that fulfilled an ancient Aelfin prophecy. And so, he had the object melted down and forged into the swords Grace and Favour. And two from one shall come,” he finished, quietly.
“Yes, and what happened next, Aelf?” Hag Head demanded.
“The She was furious with the Aelf king, when She found out what he had done. Legend has it that the object entrusted to the Aelfin was in some way sentient, although the Aelfin records never gave any indication of it being so,” Mr. Elf said.
“What does sentient mean?” Mody asked.
“It means that it had intelligence and a personality,” Hag Head snapped, annoyed by the interruption.
“Anyhow,” Mr. Elf interjected, “The She and the Aelf king had a huge argument, and The She has not communicated with the Aelfin since. The Aelf king, in turn, withdrew the Aelfin people from the affairs of the world. And it is still so today,” Mr. Elf said, with a tinge of sadness.
“So why does all of this make you so mad, Hag Head?” Mody asked. “What do you care if Paddy and Seamus have the swords?”
“Yes, what do I care, indeed,” Hag Head replied, in a more normal tone of voice. All the anger seemed to have flooded out of Hag Head, as she listened to Mr. Elf’s telling of the falling out between The She and the Aelfin.
Hag Head turned and waved her hand at the waiting table and food appeared, as it had before. “Eat and then sleep. I have much to think on. I will return in the morning and see you on your way,” Hag Head muttered, as she headed for one of the doors.
“But there are some more questions I want to ask,” Seamus piped up.
“There will be no more questions answered by me,” Hag Head said, as she opened the door to leave the room. She turned to face the companions and reminded them not to leave the room until she returned.