The Wonderful Wood

On The Road

"There he is," said Ethan as he recognised the two horses. The young man who was guiding them stopped by them as Drizzlemister waved at him. "Here you are," he said, handing the reigns of the two horses to Drizzelmister.

"Thank you," said Drizzlemister as he took the horse and paid the man who had brought them. Then they loaded the things on to the horses. The horses neighed as if anxious to go on ahead.

Then they got on to the horse and set off. Diana told Drizzlemoister everything that had happened during the show.

"Well, since you are magical, you can use that ring to channel your magical powers, Ethan," said Drizzlemister as they exited the village.

They went along a road that seemed to stretch on forever. Drizzlemister, Diana and Ethan had gone along the road for some time. Then suddenly, they came across a wounded man who was striding along on horseback. Drizzlemister stopped his horse and got down.

"Do you need help?" he asked, going up to the man, whose horse was wounded as well. The man looked up at him as if from a dream.

"What's that to you," he said and urged the horse forward, but it collapsed onto the floor, too tired to move.

The man started crying. Ethan stared; he had never seen a grown man crying. "It was them robbers!" he said, waling. They took everything and left me and only my Molly and wounds! I hope Molly will be okay," he said, loving patting the horse.

"She will be alright, and so will you," said Drizzlemister as he bent down by the man, who was sitting on by the side of the road on the floor. He started muttering some words, and his ring started glowing. It glowed so brightly that Ethan couldn't see his hand. It was as if his arm was light up. He touched the man with his arm, and the wounds begin to fade gradually.

"You...you...are a magician?" asked the man, stuttering.

"I prefer to be called a scholar but, yes," said Drizzlemister giving him a hand up. "Here you go," he said, handing the man some coins. "Go down this road, and you will come to the village of honeycomb. You can't miss it."

"Thank you so much for your kindness!" said the man bowing. I wish you a safe journey. He went away, walking beside his horse.

They resumed their journey and went on down the road. It was quiet.

They didn't meet anyone as they went along the road that seemed to Ethan to have no end.

"We must be wary when we cross the woods. But before that, we have to get through the Misty Meadows," he said, looking at Diana.

"I hope your charm is strong enough to protect us from the monster," said Diana with a shudder. "I hope we can go unnoticed without disturbing it!"

"I was hoping the same. The amulet wards of all manner of evils, it will be effective against the wood wraiths, but I'm not so sure about the monster," he said as they came to a crossroad. He stood there and took out a battered old map from his pocket.

"The Misty Meadows is an unpredictable place, a mist descends there often, and it is difficult to find one way once it does, even with magic," said Diana as they came on to a narrow path. They went on ahead on it. The track became narrower and narrower until only they could travel one horse behind the other.

Drizzlemaster stared down at the map as they went on and said, "we are nearly there," he said as he looked on ahead.

They finally entered a wide field covered in grass as they emerged through the trees. They kept ongoing. Suddenly the sky grew dark, and a cold wind started to blow.

Raindrops fell as they walked further ahead. Diana and Drizzlemister stretched their hands, and the rings on the fingers started glowing and slipped off and hovered by them. They snapped their fingers, and the rings turned into umbrellas and floated in the air by them.

Ethan felt cold and huddled under Diana's umbrella. "We need to find shelter," said Drizzlemister looking around him. he took out a snuff-box from his pocket, and there was something in it that Ethan couldn't see. Drizzlemister muttered something, and the thing in the box glowed bright like a small candle flame.

Slowly it began to rise off out of the box and began to hover for a moment before floating off like a giant firefly into the distance. Ethan stared. "What was that?" asked Ethan as Drizzlemister put the box back into his pocket.

"Well, it is a dandelion, a magical one bathed in pixie powder," said Drizzlemister smiling. It was given to me by a Meadow Maiden. They walked on ahead as the rain kept pelting down. Drizzlemister took a small pouch out of his cloak.

"Here, take these," he said, getting off his horse and giving Ethan and Diana white lumps that looked like beans. "What are these?" Ethan asked as Drizzlemister handed them to him.

"They are to keep the voices of the Mist Maidens out. You put them in your ears, like so," said Drizzlemister stuffing the lumps into each of his ears.

"Who are Mist Maidens?" asked Ethan, as Diana, who was about to stuff her ears with the lumps that Drizzlemister had given. 

"They are like sirens. They hypnotise unsuspecting victims with their songs," said Diana as she stuffed her ears.

"Why do they do that?" asked Ethan as they went on ahead.

"Because they feed on the blood of the travellers," said Diana and add, "these are enchanted earbuds. They keep out the songs of the mist maidens and let us hear everything else."

Ethan quickly stuffed his ears with the earbuds. They walked on. The mist was slowly spreading everywhere, and everything was turning into shadows. Soon, they could only see a few feet ahead of them.

Then suddenly, out in the mist, Ethan thought he saw something shine. The thing came closer and closer. Ethan could see that it was a woman carrying a lamp. She came nearer and nearer.

 "Who is that?" asked Ethan as he shielded his eyes,