'Do you think the Lady of the Lake can give you your magic back?' said Esme as they left the train in the trees. Although she was asking Merlynna, she was spying Arthur very closely. She had done so ever since he had told her that he was both the heir of King Arthur and Robin Hood.
'I don't know but I need to try,' Merlynna replied, still on the lookout for Fury. 'And if she can give me my magic back, I can use it to help get Pridwen and the Sword in the Sword back to Arthur.'
'So what's the Lady of the Lake like?' asked Little Johnny as he swatted away a branch with his staff.
'Like I said before, this forest only allows in the good of heart. She can be a bit stand-offish though.' Esme stared at Arthur once again before taking Robin's Horn from her belt, it still changed from when Arthur had touched it. 'Are you sure you don't want it? It rightfully belongs to you.'
Though he felt a strong connection to it, Arthur replied. 'You keep it. You found it. It's yours.'
Esme threaded the horn back through her belt and replied, 'Thank you. But if you ever change your mind, just ask—'
Little Johnny had gasped sharply.
'What is it?' Arthur and Merlynna snapped in fright.
Little Johnny pointed up through the branches and the leaves up above.
'Is it Fury?' Merlynna added eagerly.
She and Arthur followed Little Johnny's gaze and saw a tree like no other. A tree that towered far above all the others, it shooting into the clouds and beyond.
'That–that-that's huge,' Arthur almost choked.
'We call it Jack's Tree,' said Esme. 'After Jack the Ogre Slayer. He used to live at the very top of it.'
'Have you ever climbed it?' asked Little Johnny.
'Although I consider myself a great climber of trees and the rest of the Children of the Forest too, you wouldn't get me up there.'
The children continued on but were soon met by a loud clanging noise. It sounded like the clashing of swords.
'And what's that?' Arthur, Merlynna and Little Johnny shrieked together.
'Sparring ghosts,' Esme replied.
'Ghosts?' breathed Arthur.
'Yep. The ghosts of Robin Hood's band of good fellows, the people that helped him fight tyranny.'
'Really?' snapped Arthur. 'Have you seen them?'
'Occasionally we will but they usually don't stick around too long.'
Once again, the children carried on through the forest. And with each step, they got closer to Jack's Tree, its trunk seemingly growing until it was wider than Arthur's house. Still far from it, they entered a path wedged between rolling crests, where the smell of water wafted on the breeze.
'We're close to a lake,' said Esme. 'Let's hope the Lady is there.'
The path took them through shallow caves and over swathes of fallen acorns. It was when they crossed a short foot bridge traversing a trickle that the lake came into view.
Surrounded by a pebbly shoreline, the vast body rippled and purled. And as a cloudy gloom above made the water look as black as night, a single ray of sunshine pierced down onto a rock in the water and over a figure basking in its warmth.
'Is that the Lady in the Lake?' snapped Merlynna.
Arthur could tell the young witch was ready to dive in.
Esme shook her head. 'That is another inhabitant of the lakes and waters in Robin's Wood. Her name's Nixie. She's a mermaid.'
'A mermaid? Really?' muttered Little Johnny.
'Yep. There are dozens in the forest. The last of their kind, here to be forgotten like the rest of us.'
'Does she know where the Lady of the Lake is?' asked Merlynna.
'She might. Let's ask her.' Esme took in a deep breath before bellowing out, 'Nixie! Nixie!'
The figure raised herself from her bathing and Arthur saw the face of a woman that morphed down into a shimmering scaly body.
'Nixie! It's Esme. I've brought some friends. They want to meet the Lady of the Lake. Do you know where she is? Where we might find her?'
The mermaid, however, didn't answer but scurried and dived into the water as if she was frightened.
'That was odd,' Esme breathed with a look of bewilderment. 'I wonder what got into her. She's never acted like that before. She's usually quite happy. I've seen her sad on occasion but nothing more.'
'Maybe it's because we're new here,' suggested Little Johnny.
'But she's been very welcome to new children in the past. Very caring and playful, in fact.' Esme crossed her brows. 'Something's not right. Something must have happened.'
'Could it have anything to do with the Lady of the Lake?' Merlynna asked.
'I don't know. Let's call her,' Esme replied before yelling, 'LADY OF THE LAKE!' Her voice echoed across the water, the ripples seeming to grow at the name before ebbing back to normal.
'LADY OF THE LAKE!' Merlynna joined in before Arthur and Little Johnny did as well.
'LADY OF THE LAKE!' Esme shouted again. 'Can you hear us? There are children who need your help.'
A splash in the water made the children suddenly cease but it had only been a fish.
'I guess she's not here,' said Arthur.
'She must be at another lake,' Esme replied. 'Come on, it's not that far to the next.'
But before the children had a chance to leave, a grisly and monstrous roar thundered behind them. And they spun around so fast that Arthur's backpack almost went flying off his shoulders.
'What was that?' Arthur, Little Johnny and Merlynna panted.
'I don't know,' Esme replied with a hoarse croak.
'Could it be the ghosts of Robin Hood's good fellows?' Arthur asked, a quiver in his voice and legs.
Esme shook her head. 'I've never heard anything like that in the forest before.'
'Over there!' snapped Merlynna, gesturing to a group of trees violently thrashing in the distance before another roar echoed all around.
'What could it be?' stuttered Little Johnny.
'Whatever it is,' Esme replied, 'it's coming this way.'
She was right. The thrashing was speeding towards them and it sent Arthur now quivering all over.
'Maybe we should get out of here then,' said Little Johnny.
But there was nowhere to go. With the lake behind them, it was too little too late to do anything, for the source of the disturbance and the roars showed its hideous self.
With a bound and an earth quaking thud, a monstrous beast burst out from the trees and gave out an incredible boom from its tusked mouth, making the children scream in terror. Then as it pounded its hairy and knurled boulder-sized fists into the ground, its blood-veined eyes seemed to yearn with hunger.
Though scared, Merlynna whipped out her yo-yo, ready to let loose, Little Johnny displayed his staff menacingly and Arthur clenched his hands into his own fists. Esme, on the other hand, yanked out Robin's Horn from her belt and blew it with all her might.
The horn blared with a warning. The beast, however, did not scare and roared even louder in response.
'That thing does not look to be good at heart,' screeched Little Johnny as great big gobs of spit flew in their direction.
'That's because it isn't,' replied Merlynna. 'It's an ogre.'
Esme blew Robin's Horn once again but this made the beast even more angry. And with a pounding of its chest, it bounded towards the children.
'AHHHHHH!' the four of them screamed before Merlynna flicked her wrist and off her yo-yo shot.
The toy zipped through the air and the moment it reached the approaching ogre, it wrapped itself around over and over until the beast became cocooned.
'You did it, Merlynna!' Arthur yelled in triumph.
'Yeah, well done,' beamed Little Johnny.
But their jubilation had been too hasty.
In a blink of an eye, the yo-yo's string exploded into countless pieces and were flung into the air. The next thing Arthur, Little Johnny and Merlynna knew, they too were being hurled themselves by the beast's power before crashing into the lake with a wallop. And when the three clawed themselves back above the surface of the water and wiped their eyes, they saw the ogre carrying Esme off into the trees.