The Willamax
Erin was the first to wake when she realized that the rocking motion of the horse had stopped along with his deep song. She blinked as she looked around. Swift Song was standing in a small clearing, grazing on tufts of long grass. It was morning, but heavy, dark clouds allowed for very little sunlight to brighten the day.
Erin gently elbowed her brother.
“Wake up, Bryn,” she said in hushed tones.
Bryn also blinked as he raised his head. “Where are we?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” said Erin. “But Swift Song stopped by himself.”
Sean was also awake now and pointed to a spot not far from where they now stood. “Something tells me we’re at the end of the road,” he said.
The spot he was pointing to was indeed the end of the road. But it wasn’t a gradual end, like when a trail peters off to nothing. This was a very abrupt end. In fact, it looked more like a mountain of rock was dumped across the road to ensure that no one could go any further. And a mountain it was. All three young people followed its slope as far as the eye could see. But it soon became obvious that it was more than just rock that made up this mountain. It was broken trees and branches, shattered fence posts and fence wire, wagon wheels, roofs from houses, strange things that glittered and shone even in the dim light. There was even a wooden staircase sticking out in a very dangerous manner. In total, it was a giant junk heap, and at the very top was a huge stone house with darkened windows that looked like empty eye sockets.
The three young people each dismounted the giant horse. Sean dragged the still-sleeping Hyla with him. The frog hit the ground upside-down with a thud, then scrambled to his feet. “Hey, what’s the big idea!” he yelled.
Bryn quickly put a hand over Hyla’s mouth and said “Shsh,” while pointing to the top of the mountain of junk.
Hyla looked up with ever-widening eyes. “Yikes!” he said, or at least tried to say with Bryn’s hand covering his mouth. “Mmm mm mmmm mm,” Hyla continued, trying to push Bryn’s hand away.
“Let go, Bryn,” said Sean, “he’s trying to tell us something.”
“Thank you!” said Hyla, impatiently. “What I was trying to say is that I wouldn’t worry about making noise, the Willamax doesn’t even have ears. But if I were you, I would quit looking up at his house. He won’t notice you unless you look at him. Or,” Hyla paused for a moment, “unless you try and steal something that he thinks belongs to him.”
“Hey, we could use the mirror,” said Sean taking the little mirror from his pocket. “We won’t be looking at him that way, but we can still see where he is.”
“But I thought the mirror was so we could see the Friender’s Lamp even if the Willamax put a disappearing spell on it,” said Bryn.
“But Amah Sampan didn’t say it was the only thing we could use it for,” said Sean, confidently. “If we’re going to get the Lamp back, we’ll have to improvise.”
Sean looked at the mirror then squinted. Something wasn’t quite right. What he should have seen was a reflection of the darkened windows of the Willamax’s house, but what he did see was a bright warm light emanating from deep inside. “Look,” he said, showing it to the two other young people.
Hyla bounced up and clung onto Bryn’s back while he was looking into the mirror. “Those are all the things that the Willamax has stolen and put a disappearing spell on,” Hyla said.
“He must really like shiny things,” said Erin.
“No he doesn’t,” said Hyla jumping back down to the ground. “He hates anything bright and shiny. He wants the whole world to be as dark and gloomy as his house. That’s probably why he stole the Friender’s Lamp. Because it’s the thing that brings light to the world and everyone in it.”
The four companions looked at each other, then up at the darkened house at the top of the hill.
“I guess we better start climbing,” said Erin, without much enthusiasm.
“Ya,” said Sean and Bryn, with just as much enthusiasm.
The lower slopes of the giant rubble heap were fairly easy to climb. Big boulders acted like oversized steps. The three young people leapt from one rock to another, while Hyla hopped ahead with even greater ease. But as they began to rise further and further up the hill, there were fewer big stones and more junk and debris. Also, the wind and the rain that seemed to have stopped began to build again. The dirt under their feet became mud and they slipped on the loose rubble. All three of them pulled the hoods from their ponchos over their wet heads, while Hyla glistened in the ever increasing downpour.
Up and up they rose. Now the slope became much steeper. They had to carefully choose their footing as they went, and old dead branches and twigs either grabbed at their legs and arms like the hands of some half hidden monster, or gave way when they held onto them for support, threatening to send them all crashing down the hill.
Half way up, all four of the climbers froze when they heard the eerie cry of Vinchers that were out of sight, but not too far away. Hyla quickly ducked under a rotting old tree stump, while Erin, Bryn, and Sean huddled under the camouflage of their ponchos even though they all knew the Vinchers couldn’t see. The horrible hissing of the nasty big birds grew louder as they came closer. But Bryn knew what to do as he quietly pulled the Scentless Ball from his pocket and shook it three times. They waited in silence, barely breathing. But soon, the cries of the Vinchers began to fade.
“Wow,” said Sean as he lifted his head to look around. “That was close.”
“I’ll say,” said Erin, who was already starting to climb again.
“No problem,” said Bryn, who tossed the Scentless Ball into the air, caught it again and popped it into his pocket.
They were several feet away when Hyla emerged from his hiding spot, trembling, but hopping quickly past them as if still running away from the Vinchers who were now nowhere in sight.
After at least an hour of climbing, they finally came to a flat spot on the hill, just below the Willamax’s house. The wind was blowing so hard that it roared in their ears, and their ponchos flapped around them like flags on a pole.
Something they hadn’t realized before, or at least been able to tell from far below, was that the house was no normal house. For one thing, it was huge. The front door was at least three times as big as a normal front door, and the windows were easily big enough to drive a car through. Also, there was no “door” at all; there was only the opening where a door should be, and no glass in the windows. Whatever the Willamax was, he must be huge himself and not care at all about the wind and rain that came inside. It was indeed a house, with a roof and four stone walls. But really, it was much more like a cave.
“Remember,” said Hyla, seeing that all three young people were staring at the big house. “Don’t let the Willamax know you’re looking at him!”
They all quickly turned away, and, wordlessly, Erin and Bryn looked at Sean, who nodded his head, then took the small mirror out of his pocket. All four crowded around the tiny mirror as Sean turned it this way and that way so they could have a good look around.
“Let’s walk backwards,” said Erin. “That way we can see with the mirror, and we won’t look at the house.”
“But we’ll trip if we walk backwards,” said Bryn.
“Not if you watch where we’re going,” countered Erin. “But only look down at the ground, not at the house,” she quickly added.
“Why do I have to be the slave? Why can’t I look in the mirror?”
“Don’t think of it as being the slave,” said Sean. “Think of it as being the guide. No one gets anywhere without a good guide.”
Bryn sighed and kicked a stone at his feet. “Ya, I guess so,” he said.
Erin and Sean stood so that they could both see the mirror, and Bryn stood at their backs. Even Hyla got ready to walk backwards even though he couldn’t see the mirror. Then, all four of them moved as a single unit, stepping carefully up the hill, as Bryn warned them of anything that they could trip over. Hyla
was clearly not built to move backwards and flopped and hopped so awkwardly that Erin and Sean began to snicker.
“What are you guys laughing at?” asked Bryn, somewhat impatiently.
“It’s Hyla,” said Erin. “He’s just so funny.”
Bryn turned his head and looked at the flopping frog and began to snicker, too.
“Well, I’m glad you find it funny,” said Hyla, sounding annoyed. “Why don’t you quit laughing at me and tell us what you see in the mirror.”
Sean laughed again, then tried to sound serious. “I just see the same thing I did from below. The house is full of bright, shiny things. But that’s it.”
“Can you see anything moving?” asked Hyla, trying to keep the focus on the task at hand rather than laughing at him.
They were now almost up to the door.
“I can’t see anything moving either,” said Bryn.
“Bryn!” said Erin. “You can’t look ahead, you can only look at the ground!”
“I’m not,” said Bryn. “I just mean I can’t see anything on the ground!”
“Sure,” said Erin, not believing him.
“What do you see now?” said Hyla.
This time, all four stopped on the threshold of the door. Sean panned the mirror around very slowly. The house was as much of a disaster as the pile of rubble it sat on. Only this time, it was not junk that made the mess, but things, things that shone and glittered. There were shiny candle holders with candles burning in them. There were walking sticks with rubies on the handle, and brooches with bright blue stones that twinkled so brightly they were hard to look at. There were shiny pots and pans and children’s toys that gleamed in the bright light. And there, in the middle of the room, on a tall pedestal, sat the brightest object in the house: a small, delicate, but brightly burning lamp made of gold. None of this could be seen without the mirror, though, because the Willamax had put a disappearing spell on everything that twinkled or sparkled, even some silver coins that lay at the foot of the pedestal.
Sean explained all of this as he looked through the mirror.
“But the Willamax! Do you see the Willamax?” said Hyla, impatiently.
“No,” said Sean. “The only other thing in the place is a big old dead tree that’s been tossed in the corner.”
Hyla gulped. “I was kind of hoping he wouldn’t be home. That’s not a dead tree,” he said, trembling just a little. “That’s the Willamax.”
“He doesn’t look very scary,” said Erin. She looked at Hyla who looked genuinely afraid. “But I guess he is,” she added hastily.
“Is that the Friender’s Lamp on the post thing?” asked Bryn, now looking in the mirror.
Hyla jumped up so that he could cling to Bryn’s shoulder long enough to look in the mirror. “Yup, that’s it,” he said. “I’ve only seen it once, but I’ve heard about it a lot.”
“That’s way too high for us to reach,” said Sean. “Could you jump up and grab it Hyla?”
Hyla shook his head, but mostly his whole body shook. “I would have to look in the mirror and jump at the same time, and I can’t do both. If I just knock it off, the Willamax will wake up and get to it before any of us. And I don’t think he’d be too happy with us when he did.”
“I think I know what to do,” said Erin. “None of us are tall enough alone, but if one of us stands on the other two people’s shoulders, then I bet we can reach it.”
“But how’s the one on top going to know where the Lamp is without knocking it off?” asked Bryn, sounding like he wasn’t so sure if the plan would work.
“No problem,” said Erin. “Take the mirror with you.”
“It should work,” said Sean, thinking it through in his head.
“But what about the Willamax?” asked Hyla. “The minute you touch it, he’ll wake up and come after us.”
“I think that’s going to happen no matter what we do,” said Erin. “So, all we can do is run faster than him.”
“Better yet,” said Sean, “there’s stuff everywhere in the place. All we have to do is each grab something and run. We don’t even need the mirror. Just reach out and grab whatever your hand touches. Then we all run in a different direction and as fast as we can. We can meet at the bottom of the hill where Swift Song is. Nothing can outrun him!”
They all looked at Hyla as if he was the one who knew whether the plan would work. He blinked his red eyes and said, “I don’t know. None of you know what the Willamax is like when he’s mad.”
“Maybe,” said Erin. “But can you think of anything better?”
The frog shook his body to say no.
“Then let’s do it,” said Erin, with determination.
“Who’s going to stand on the others’ shoulders?” asked Bryn.
“It’ll have to be you, Bryn,” said Sean. “You’re the lightest, and Erin and I are about the same height. That way you won’t be off balance when you stand on our shoulders.”
“I kind of thought you might say that,” said Bryn, grimly.
The three young people backed slowly up to the pedestal where the Friender’s Lamp was held. Even though the Willamax couldn’t hear them, they began to whisper as they got closer. Sean handed Bryn the mirror, then both Sean and Erin clasped their hands together and held them out, making a step for Bryn to put each foot into. Bryn carefully climbed up his two companions until he was crouched unsteadily on each of their shoulders. He used the pedestal to balance himself, but even then he felt like he was about to crash to the ground. Carefully, he rose up to a standing position, until he was at eye level with the top of the pedestal. He balanced himself with one arm while he pulled the mirror from where he had stowed it in his pants pocket. He had to resist, very hard, the temptation to look at the sleeping Willamax who was only feet away.
Bryn looked in the mirror and could see that the Friender’s Lamp was just out of reach. He couldn’t quite reach it from where he was standing, so, like any kid that knows how to climb trees, hopped free from Erin and Sean’s shoulders, and clamped his legs around the pedestal and shimmied up another foot.
“What are you doing?” yelled Erin from below.
“I can’t reach it otherwise,” explained Bryn.
“Just be careful!” said Erin.
“Daah!” said Bryn.
Using all his strength, Bryn let go with one arm and looked at the Lamp with the mirror. He knew where it was now and would have to let go of the mirror in order to grab it. “Sean. Catch,” he said as he tossed the mirror down. He then carefully moved his hand out until he could just feel the shape of the Lamp. Carefully, he reached all the way out and grabbed hold of it. But just as he did, there was a noisy rustling in the corner of the room.
Bryn quickly pulled the lamp toward himself, and said, “Run!”
He loosened his grip on the pedestal and slid down it like a firefighter. On the ground, Sean and Erin had each scrambled to pick up an object that they couldn’t see. But what everyone certainly could see was a large tree with long shaggy arms and tentacle-like hands coming at them. Suddenly, everything in the room was flying as the Willamax swept his huge hands toward the young people, sending hundreds of invisible objects crashing around. All three young people, and Hyla, ran for the door, bursting through it as fast as they could, and into the storm that raged outside. But as fast as they could run, the Willamax was right behind them, slashing and grabbing at them. At first he seemed confused, wondering who he should chase, but it took him only a second to realize that Bryn had the object he was least likely to give up.
Bryn was already scrambling his way down the hill when the Willamax‘s long bushy arm reached out to grab him. Bryn ducked and rolled, just dodging the monstrous creature’s grasp. He could hear Erin and Sean telling him to run, but it was too late. The Willamax now stood towering above him, and there was nowhere to run. Bryn lay frozen on the ground holding the lamp in his outstretched hands as the creature lowered a greedy hand toward him. But just as the tangle of gra
sping branches was about to grab him, a streak of green and yellow shot over him, grabbing the Friender’s Lamp from his hands and bouncing away. The Willamax bolted upright again and gave a blood curdling scream. He forgot all about Bryn as he thundered after Hyla, who now had the Lamp.
Bryn just managed to roll to one side as the hairy foot of the Willamax hit the ground beside him. He scrambled to his feet but couldn’t see anyone when he stood up. Suddenly, he heard Erin scream and Sean cry, “Hyla!” He turned around just in time to see the frog being lifted into the air by the hand of the Willamax, its tentacle branches wrapping around him, strangling him.
“No!” cried Bryn over the roar of the wind and the rain. He didn’t know what to do, so he grabbed as many rocks as he could and started pelting them at the monster. But it didn’t make any difference. Instead, the Willamax raised his hand further, lifting the little frog high into the air. Bryn ran right up to the Willamax and began to kick at his leg. But the tree creature only kicked him away like a noisy little dog.
Now Sean and Erin were close by and yelling at Bryn to stay away. “Bryn! You can’t help him!” yelled Erin. “You have to run!”
“I won’t!” Bryn yelled back. “He’s my friend and I won’t leave him!”
Just as Bryn said this, there was a bright glow within the tangle of branches that held Hyla, and the Willamax suddenly stopped what he was doing. Some of the branches seemed to snap loose as if struck by something sharp.
Erin, Bryn, and Sean looked at each other then back at the glow. But it began to fade as fast as it came, and the branches that had loosened now began to tighten again.
Bryn looked up at the Willamax with determination in his eyes. “Didn’t you hear what I said, you stupid tree! He’s my friend, and you can’t do that to him!”
Just as before, the glow within the branches brightened, only stronger this time. Many of the Willamax’s snake-like branches whipped loose now, and the creature itself looked like someone holding a hot potato who didn’t want to let go.
Erin and Sean looked on in amazement. Then Sean suddenly smiled as he looked at Erin.
“Hey, remember that funny thing we did when we first found the Forever Road? That thing with our hands in the middle.”
Erin smiled too. “Ya, I sure do.”
Without saying another word, Erin and Sean put out their hands, Erin’s hand on top of Sean’s
“True friends are friends forever,” they began to say, repeating it over and over again.
The glow in the Willamax’s hand didn’t just grow brighter, it shone like a star. The Willamax loosened his grip on Hyla and the Lamp completely, and began to toss them from one branched hand to another like they were way too hot to handle.
Bryn, seeing what the others were doing, ran quickly to join them. Now, all three of them chanted, “True friends are friends forever!”
As they repeated these words, everything around them began to brighten. The wind began to lessen, and the rain soon became no more than a shower. Then, high above them, the clouds began to part, and rays of sun burst through.
The Willamax was now unable to hold the Friender’s Lamp and dropped it and Hyla to the ground.
But the three young people kept chanting their saying over and over again, as if nothing else mattered.
The Willamax looked up at the brightening sky and began to run back into the darkness of his stone house, but as he did a bright ray of sun fell on him, and the scraggly branches at his feet caught on the ground and began to hold onto the rocks and soil. Soon they were shooting down into the ground like roots, and the Willamax could no longer run. He struggled as small leaves and shoots began to appear on the branches of his arms and trunk. As the sun shone brighter and the sky began to turn a beautiful summer blue, the Willamax quit fighting and was soon standing completely still.
When the three chanters finally stopped, they looked over to where the Willamax had been standing. Now, instead of a frightening monster, there was something new: a huge oak tree covered in bright green leaves and rustling in a summer breeze.
“Wow,” said Sean.
The three of them just stood looking at the mighty oak that seemed to glow in the bright sunlight.
“No one’s ever going to believe this,” said Erin.
“Nope,” said Bryn.
Then, suddenly remembering his little friend, Bryn yelled, “Hyla!” and ran off in the direction of the frog.
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