The Adventure of the Willamax

by Gregory Hankins

Gladen’s Magnificent Horse

  “Hey!” yelled Bryn. “Wake up Mr. Frog. It’s safe, they’re gone!”

  Erin and Sean stood behind Bryn as he shook the creature.

  “Do you think he, like, died of fright?” asked Sean.

  Just as Sean said this, the frog’s red eyes opened wide, and he yelled so loud that all three young people jumped quickly back. Then the frog got to his feet and just stared at the three of them.

  “Are you okay, Mr. Frog?” asked Bryn.

  The frog continued to stare, then as if remembering where he was and who he was, he said, “Of course I’m okay. Never been better. And my name is Hyla not Mr. Frog!” he added very sharply.

  “We thought you were dead,” said Erin.

  “Dead!” cried Hyla. “Obviously not! But if it weren’t for me, you three certainly would be, wouldn’t you?”

  Erin looked at her brother who was still holding the little green ball in one hand. “Well, actually it was my brother that saved us.”

  “But Erin,” piped in Bryn in the frog’s defense, “I wouldn’t have known what to do if he hadn’t shown us.”

  Erin rolled her eyes, knowing that her brother really liked frogs and said, “Oh, I suppose.” Then she added, “We should really get going, you guys.”

  “Ya, I suppose,” Bryn agreed, not wanting to leave his new friend behind.

  “Hey, Hyla,” asked Sean, “are there many of those Vincher things around?”

  “Too many for my liking,” said Hyla. “They do all the dirty work for the Willamax. And he keeps them very busy!”

  “The Willamax,” said Erin as if Hyla had said the magic word. “That’s who we’re going to see. Is it a lot further down the road to his house?”

  Hyla looked at Erin, croaked rather rudely, and then said, “Oh, girl, what do you want to go and see him for? No one ever sees the Willamax because they want to.”

  “He’s got the Friender’s Lamp,” said Sean. “And we’re supposed to go and get it back.”

  “He’s got the Friender’s Lamp?” Hyla said, his eyes opening wide. “And you three are supposed to get it back!?” His eyes opened so wide that they looked like they could roll right out of his head. “Oh, no! We’re doomed.”

  Erin put her hands on her hips and gave the frog a nasty stare. “Oh no we’re not, you little toad!” she said. “We’re the only ones who can get the Lamp back. Amah Sampan said so. And she said we’ve got IT, and IT is what it takes to get the job done!”

  “Ya!” added Sean.

  Bryn, torn between wanting the frog to be his friend, and his allegiance to his other two companions also added a “Ya,” but not quite as firmly as Sean and Erin.

  “Good grief…” the frog said, rolling his eyes. “Well, if you want to go and see the Willamax, you’re on your own.” He started to turn away, then added, “Besides, it’ll take you days and days to get to the end of the Forever Road at the rate you’re going.”

  Hyla began to hop away and Erin and her two companions quickly followed. “Hey, wait a minute!” she shouted. “Did you say it would take days and days to get to the Willamax’s house?”

  The frog stopped in a little clearing beside the Forever Road.

  “At least,” said Hyla. “No one ever goes there and returns to tell about it. So no one really knows how long it takes to get to the end of the road.”

  “Ahh,” cried Erin, sitting herself down angrily on a stump. “We aren’t going to be finished this in time to go to the beach. We won’t even be finished in time for supper, or even in time to catch the ferry home to the mainland!”

  “But Amah Sampan said it wouldn’t take very long,” said Sean, putting his hands in his pockets. “She wouldn’t lie to us. She trusted us, and we have to trust her.”

  “Ya,” said Bryn. “If she hadn’t given me this senseless ball, we would be Vincher dinner for sure. So we have to trust her, Erin. There must be a way.”

  “It’s not a senseless ball,” said Hyla, who had now moved close to the other three. “It’s a scentless ball. It makes it so the Vinchers can’t smell a thing.”

  “Who cares,” said Erin impatiently. “It’s not like the SCENTLESS ball or any of the other things are going to help us get to the end of the road any faster.”

  Sean pulled the little mirror out of his pocket to look at. “Bryn’s right, though,” he said. “Amah Sampan knows how long the Forever Road is, so she must have known that we would need help.” Suddenly he looked at Erin. “That’s it!” he cried. “Help!”

  Erin looked at Sean as if he had just grown an elephant’s trunk. “Of course we need help. What about it?” she asked, shaking her head.

  “Amah Sampan said that your bell will call Gladen, and she will help us if we need help.”

  “No she didn’t,” corrected Erin. “She said that the bell will only ring if we’re in danger, and that we shouldn’t ask too much of Gladen. I don’t think asking for a ride down the road is going to make her very happy.”

  “But how do you know we aren’t in danger, Erin?” asked Bryn. “Those Vinchers were pretty scary to me.”

  Just as he said that, the sun passed behind a dark cloud, and a cool breeze began to blow. All four of them looked up at the sky, then at each other.

  “It’s worth a try,” said Sean.

  Erin nodded her head and pulled the little bell out of her pocket, being careful not to let it ring. She then stood up and held it at arms’ length and gently shook it. The little bell gave the most beautiful and delicate ring that any of them had ever heard. It echoed all around them and spread out like the ripples on a calm lake.

  Erin looked at the other three. “Maybe we are in danger,” she said, “but now what do we do?”

  “We wait,” said Hyla. He jumped up on a stump and got comfortable. “And we watch. Gladen always comes when she hears one of her bells ring.”

  The three young people began to look around, peering deep into the forest and down the Forever Road. Nothing moved but the gentle rise and fall of tree branches as the light summer breeze began to get stronger.

  “I don’t see her yet,” said Erin, trying not to sound impatient.

  “You only just rang the bell, Erin,” said Bryn, who was now sitting on a log beside Hyla.

  Sean had climbed part way up a big fir tree with strong lower branches. “I can see pretty far from up here, and I don’t see anything yet,” he said, putting his hand to his forehead like a scout.

  “That’s because you’re looking in the wrong direction,” said a calm voice from a part of the forest that no one was watching.

  All four of them swung their heads around to see a woman standing mere feet away from them, leading a huge black horse. The woman, whose eyes were the colour of the forest, not green and not brown, but somewhere in between, looked at each one of the young people as if determining whether they were worth her help. Her face was calm and not unkind, but it was clear that she could be angered easily. Without looking at the frog, she said: “Hello, Hyla. You’ve only barely survived the Vinchers again, haven’t you?”

  The frog only blinked in return and made a strained face.

  Erin, who was standing with her mouth open wide and her eyes almost falling out of her head, tried to speak, but only made a little squeaking noise.

  “You’re wondering how I can appear out of nowhere, aren’t you child,” Gladen said to Erin’s unasked question. “Well, I haven’t. I have been behind you since you entered the Great Forest. It is my home after all, and I know its many secrets, so I can be unseen and unheard as much as I need to be.”

  Gladen wore a gray-brown tunic and skirt, both of which blended in to the forest behind her. Her long curly hair was gray and black, hardly different from the many small twigs and branches of the trees. If she were to turn and walk a few paces into the woods, she would disappear into the scenery as if she were never there to begin with.

  “Maybe,” said Sean, descending from the tree he was in, “but how do
you keep a horse that big quiet?”

  Gladen turned to the giant horse and affectionately patted its strong neck. “Swift Song may be great in size, but he is as stealthy as a fox and as quiet as an owl. Such is the way of his kind.”

  “He sure is big,” said Bryn, who was still sitting on the log.

  “Are we in danger?” asked Erin as she plucked up the courage to walk forward and tentatively put her hand out to the muzzle of Swift Song. “Amah Sampan said you would only help us if we were in danger.”

  “I won’t lie to you, child,” said Gladen, looking at each of the young people in turn, as if to gauge their reaction. “The task you’ve undertaken is a serious one and not without danger. And, if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time you’ve been in the Great Forest, and you know little of its creatures and their ways.”

  “Will you help us then?” asked Sean, who also had moved close enough to the horse to pat its muzzle.

  “I will help you as much as I can, but a great deal is up to you.” Gladen moved away from Erin and Sean and the big horse, and stood in front of Bryn. “I see more doubt in you than the others. Are you sure you’re willing to go on?”

  “Yes,” said Bryn, almost at a whisper.

  Gladen looked at him sternly, then turned to Hyla. “Hyla, you must stay with these three and act as their guide in the Great Forest. You know it better than most.” She seemed to suddenly glare at the little frog, and her voice became much sterner. “But remember, my friend. You must be in earnest; it’s not just your skin you need to keep safe this time.”

  “Ah… yes, Gladen,” answered the little frog, shaking just a little.

  Gladen turned back toward the horse as she continued speaking. “I will lend you Swift Song, in order that you may travel down the Forever Road much faster. And, I will have my scouts watch for you, and they will do what they can. But more than that, I cannot do. You have chosen this task, and only you may complete it.”

  Gladen opened one of the saddle bags hanging off Swift Song’s back. From it she pulled a bundle of golden coloured rope. She then removed the saddle bag and tossed the rope over the horse’s back. The young people could see that it wasn’t just rope. It was also a long saddle, and the rope part seemed to hang quite far down like a rope ladder. She then fastened it securely to Swift Song’s body.

  Erin, who had been watching this with fascination said, “But the Forever Road is supposed to take days, even weeks to travel down. How much more quickly can a horse get us to the end?”

  Gladen continued to check the elaborate saddle as she spoke. “I think you’ll find that Swift Song is not like other horses you’ve ridden. His kind does not travel by hoof alone.”

  “Why is he called Swift Song?” asked Bryn, who was now standing close to Sean and Erin, with Hyla by his side.

  “Ya,” said Sean. “Horses don’t sing. Do they?” he added looking at Erin.

  “Swift Song is a Cantos horse,” said Gladen. “And yes, they do sing. Not like you and I, but they do. Their songs are believed to be of their families and the ones they love. No one knows for sure.”

  A sudden gust of cold wind blew hard through the trees, lifting branches and tussling Gladen’s long hair. She looked up at the darkening sky, then reached down to pull a bundle of clothing out of the other saddle bag. She then handed each of the young people a dark woolen poncho complete with a hood.

  “Here,” she said. “These will keep you warm and dry. Now mount up. You need to make good time in order to get to the end of the road by morning.”

  As the three young people donned the ponchos, Gladen turned again and looked at Bryn. Bryn looked back at her with determination in his face and was the first to pull himself up on Swift Song’s back. Erin mounted next, just in front of her brother, taking the reins as she did. Sean then climbed up behind Bryn, and Hyla followed by leaping up onto the huge horse’s rump. All four held on to each other for support.

  Gladen smiled at Erin. “You sit well young lady. Swift Song will be pleased.” Then she nodded her head in the direction they were headed. “Go!” was all she said, and the great horse began to trot down the road at a nice easy gate.

  The four riders that were braced for a sudden gallop began to slack off on their grip on each other.

  “This isn’t going to help, Erin,” said Sean. “We can walk as fast as this. Can’t you make him go?”

  Erin, who understood horses better than the two boys, seemed to know that Swift Song was just checking to make sure his young mounts were on securely. She looked back at the three behind her and said: “Okay, but I have a feeling you should hold on tight.”

  With that, she turned her head back and nudged her heels into the sides of the horse. Swift Song suddenly earned his name. The horse bolted so quickly that all three children had to grip tightly to one another as they cried, “Wooow.” Hyla almost slipped off but grabbed the back of Sean’s poncho with his sticky hands and pulled himself up close behind.

  As Swift Song began to move faster and faster, the wind began to roar past them. They all bent low to cover their faces from the rushing wind. Now a few drops of rain also began to fall, so each of the young people pulled the hoods over their heads and tightened the draw string to keep them dry.

  But something odd was also happening - actually, two things odd. First, even though Swift Song seemed to be galloping at the same rate, the road seemed to be going by them at a faster and faster speed. It was as if the great horse was only barely touching the ground with his hooves and flying as much as galloping. Secondly, a low and gentle sound seemed to be coming up from deep inside the horse. It wasn’t like it was coming from his throat, like a human sings, but from his girth and sounding all around them. It seemed to get louder the faster he went, and it also seemed to soothe them, putting them at ease even though they were travelling at a break-neck speed.

  As time went on, the sky grew darker and darker. The wind whipped the branches on the big trees that lined the Forever Road. Every now and then they went by a fork in the road that seemed to lead to unknown places far from their destination with the Willamax. Also, though rarely, they would speed by fellow travellers bent down against the wind and rain that by this time was driving down hard.

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