The Ballad of the Pipe Player

by Kate Seidel

Chapter Five: In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle…

  Once they were in the woodland, Emrys stopped yawning. Moon looked quite confused. “Coju, where be us?” she asked quizzically.

  Emrys looked intently at Coju. “Yes, Coju, where are we?” Coju glared at both of them. Emrys just appeared mildly annoyed while Moon’s eyes watered.

  . “Coju, we be sorry you must save us from little people!” she wailed. Coju didn’t stop glaring at the two. However pretty Moon was, he’d still needed to save her and that idiot Emrys.

  I’m not an idiot. And yes, yes she is pretty.

  Coju growled, “Get out of my head, Emrys!” Emrys put on a ‘who, me?’ expression. Moon looked very, very confused. Coju said disgustedly, “Forget it. Now, where are we?” Coju saw Emrys open his mouth to answer, but Coju talked before anything could be said. “Emrys, I don’t give an acorn to hear whatever stupid remark you’re about to make.”

   

  Emrys scowled and exclaimed, “For the love of An-Song, stop guessing what I’m going to say! You’re wrong! As much as I would like to make a comment on the state of your hair, I know where we are!”

  Both Coju and Moon looked at him. Emrys smirked at the sudden attention. Coju looked irritated and Moon looked…almost dreamy? Coju had no clue. Emrys drawled in an antagonizing fashion, “It is hiiiighly possible that we have chanced upon the Twilight Forest.” Both Coju and Moon looked confused; Moon even more than she had been before. Emrys sighed dramatically. “Must I explain?” he asked. Coju scowled and shook his head while Moon nodded excitedly. Emrys decided to go ahead and explain, partially for Moon’s benefit and partially to annoy Coju.

  “The Twilight Forest is a half being, a mirage, you could call it,” Emrys began.

  Coju interrupted, “So we are basically standing on a plain, surrounded by what we think are trees but are really stabby Ozians?”

  Emrys glared. “Shut up, Coju. The Twilight Forest is a very real place, at twilight of a waxing gibbous moon. Only then are you able to enter, and only on a waning gibbous moon at twilight are you able to leave.”

  Moon raised a hand tentatively. “Emrys, this sounds not hard. Can we not just leave now? Or leave then?” Emrys gave her a half smile.

  “Ah, but my dear Moon, time passes in a funny fashion here. Although it seems that we entered around late evening, it in fact is probably 10 A.M. The Twilight Forest is not a benevolent force, indeed. It has creatures to feed, and tries to trap unwary travelers such as ourselves in so that we cannot leave and instead have our flesh feasted upon and our bones used as toothpicks and teething rings.”

  Moon looked rather frightened. Emrys winced at her expression and Coju almost laughed. “Emrys, you are being overly dramatic. We can just leave in a day or two. Right?”

  Emrys shrugged. “I think so. We’d better get a move on. We want to actually make progress, and there have also been rumors of treasure lost in this woodland. I’d just LOVE to be the one to find it.”

  Coju glared and started making his way through the vines and junglesque trees. Emrys sauntered after, pulling a fearful Moon behind him. After about an hour of trekking through the humid jungle with no sign of drinkable water, Moon started crying.

  “I don’t…want…my flesh…eaten!” she sobbed. Emrys said something that Coju did not catch, but it seemed to lessen her panic. Coju felt a bit left out, so he plopped down against a rock. His surroundings were a net of thick green vines and trees. A tiny piece of the sky the size of Coju’s fingernail shone blue against the green. He stared up and made eye contact with exactly seventeen snowy doves, all perched in trees. They whirred soft, relaxing ‘coo-coo’ sounds. The coos seemed to weave a warm, peaceful blanket, and Coju slowly felt himself falling asleep…

  “COJU!” Moon shrieked. Coju’s eyes burst open to see a shadowy raven with cherry red eyes sitting on his chest and tearing at his shirt, attempting to reach the warm, breathing skin underneath. Coju reflexively smacked the bird away with his fist. The raven skittered away, flapping its wings to rejoin his dusky brethren. The ravens perched in the trees above made distasteful caws, nothing like the soothing coos that had filled the air before. Emrys summoned up a small sphere of lavender winds, and Moon grabbed a rock. Coju was now the object of a black, feathery swarm. Exactly seventeen birds wrapped in shadows formed a living tornado around Coju, each tearing at any available part of him they could reach. Coju yelled and shouted, and every now and then a shrouded mass of feathers would come soaring out of the mob, cawing indignantly. Emrys would throw a sphere at some moments, and three or four birds at the most would crash into the trees. But they would always come back. Moon was becoming a World-Champion rock thrower, taking down two birds with one stone each time. But they would always hop to their perched feet, readjust their feathers, and re-enter the fray. Night had long since fallen. And poor Coju yelled the whole time. Moon started crying and chucking anything she could get her hands on: a rock, a leaf, Emrys, it really didn’t matter. But Moon’s frantic throwing did next to nothing.

                                                 

  !@#!@#!@#!@#!@#@

  When the first beam of sunlight sneaked through the postage stamp sized patch of sky, the satiated birds soared into the evergreen vines. This left a bloody Coju huddled up in a ball on the ground. Moon rushed over to him, hands glowing butter yellow.

  “Be you okay, Coju? Be you living?” she questioned. Emrys stood a few feet back, scouting for any more demonic raven dove birds. But he couldn’t help himself.

  “Moon, he’d be nothing but bones if he wasn’t living,” Emrys drawled. Moon shot him a glare that was scarier than the carnivorous birds. Emrys went back to scouting. Coju started bawling a few seconds later as Moon healed his wounds, screaming every time a moss bandage made contact with his skin and shouting swear words for the world to hear whenever Moon used her magic. Finally Moon sat back, exhausted.

  “Emrys, he be good for now. I do no more,” she sighed. Emrys frowned at Coju, who was huddled in a ball again, tears slithering down his dirt-streaked face. Emrys groaned.

  “I’m going to go look around, try to find an exit maybe. Moon, keep an eye on him. And try to rest a little,” Emrys ordered. Moon nodded tiredly and rubbed her eyes. Emrys marched off into the green mess of vines and trees.

  It was tough work, lifting the heavy vines to get to the jungle beyond and the next curtain of vines. Finally, after about an hour of shifting vines, Emrys tripped on something. He looked down. It was a rock. Emrys shrugged and continued walking. Then he heard a strange sound, a sound like a creaky door being opened. He whipped around to see a stone staircase descending down into the depths of the chocolate colored floor. Emrys hesitated. Should he go and see if maybe that treasure, long lost and awaiting a finder, was down there? Or should he continue searching for an exit? Emrys felt highly conflicted. He needed to get out of this jungle before those evil birds found Moon and Coju, or him. But he also desired to emerge from this jungle with riches fit for a king. Emrys thought to himself, well, if I went and got the treasure, the journey to the dragon would be much easier. We could travel in a carriage!

  So Emrys descended the stone steps. The short steps ended on a platform, on which there was a door and a large chest next to it. Emrys strode over to the chest and slowly pried the long forgotten lock open. Inside was a sword, slightly rusted but still glowing with beauty. The hilt and pommel seemed to be crafted out of silver, while the blade was sleek obsidian. Emrys rather liked it. So of course, he took it. Then Emrys thought, maybe THIS is the treasure. So I don’t have to go through that door…do I? Emrys put his ear to the wooden door. He heard foreboding echoes, and a malevolent cackle. “Let’s not and say we did,”Emrys decided aloud. He dashed up the stone steps, and stared into the sky. It was night! But…he’d only been down the steps for two minutes, maybe three! Emrys ran back in the direction he’d come from, easily slashing the vines down. Worry hunched his
shoulders the whole way. “I hope Moon and Coju aren’t lying there dead,” Emrys pessimistically said to himself.

  Back at the rock, Coju and Moon fended off lone shadowy birds. Coju threw a rock or two, and Moon just clobbered them with her fist. She wasn’t doing too well, being that Coju was slightly insane with pain and fear at the moment and she had only a dress, no thick clothes to delay the birds from reaching her flesh. Moon was now crying and clobbering, barely making contact with the wings of these birds. There was about five now, all of them derisively cawing. They seemed to be laughing at her halfhearted effort.

   

  Just as Moon was about to give up, a sleek obsidian blade sliced a bird in half. This bird didn’t come back to life. Emrys was the wielder of the sword. Slash. Two birds flew one-winged into the shadowy vines. Stab. Two more became a shish kebob. Emrys stood amongst three dusky blobs oozing burgundy liquids. Moon promptly fainted. Coju was unconscious already, blood flowing from his shoulder into the absorbing moss. Emrys groaned. He was feeling rather lightheaded. Then he noticed the red river spilling from his gut. He crumpled to the ground.

             

  Moon awoke in a stone room resembling a cave. She reflexively screamed. As much as she was scared to be in an unknown place, the true reason she screamed was to flush out any jittery monsters. Nothing flew out of a corner, and Moon let herself relax. She found herself on a stone slab, chained by the ankles and wrists. The room was dark except for one candle burning brightly above her head. In the limited light, Moon could make out a rectangle of soft gold light, which appeared to be a doorway with light behind it. A slight echo disrupted the silence with a footstep. Moon nervously asked the room, “Who be here?” Moon’s question was answered by a raspy voice. It whirred, “Myyyy dear, noboddyyy but I, Grime. Tis’ jusssst old Griiiime…” Moon turned towards the voice and was greeted by a large pair of green eyes. They struck Moon as exotic, since Emrys and Coju both had ocean eyes and all her Islanders had gray or brown eyes. Emrys and Coju! She frantically attempted to escape her binds, with little success. The eyes scared Moon a little, due to them being roughly the size of a coconut.

  “Where be us?” Moon asked Grime.

  Grime hissed, “Foreigner, you are in the hosssspiiiiitable reallllmm of the cave goblinssssss.” Moon couldn’t help a small whimper.

  “Is me in hurt place?” she whispered. Grime chuckled raspily.

  “Dear chiiiild, this is not a torture room. Goblinssss cannot ussse something assss violent asssss such. We would kill tooooo fassssst…Sssssiiimmmpllly a holding chaaaammmber, that’s all, ssssweeeeethearrrtt…”

  Moon, despite her rather confused nature, hadn’t missed the one word that illuminated Grime’s true identity.

  “You say ‘we’. Be you one of them?”

  Grime hesitated. Then he sighed and resigned himself to speak.

  “Yes, my chiiild. I am one of them.” Grime spat the word like it was a cookie in his mouth (goblins loathe anything sweet, it tastes like what Benadryl tastes to us). Moon was about to scream for help when Grime continued talking.

  “Liissstteen, chiiild, lissssssten. I wasss a proud goblin. I had a mate and a swweeeet little giiirl, liiiike yoursssselfff. My job wassss to watch prissssooonnners our ssscouts unearthhhed in the juuungle. One day the sssscouts found a young boy. He wassss very scared when he awoke…I had to ssstand outsssside the door lisssstennning to him ssssscream for hissss mother and father every night. Thissss gave me pausssse. The Twilight Woods isssss a very mysssterrriousssss, illussssional place. Whyyy ssshould we, goblinssss, a speccccies wittth the abilitiessss to predict thissss place’sssss movessss like chessss, prey on the lessss fortunate? I pondered on thisssss thought for a month. By then, my fellow goblinssss had all but starved thissss poor boy. I trieeed to help him esssscappe…But my fellow goblinssss caught ussss. They killed the boy in front of these eyesssss…” Grime stuck a lizardlike, swamp mud colored finer into the light to point at his eyes. He chuckled. “Theeessee eyessss have sseeeen onnnlyy twoooo thiinnngss outtt of thiissss rrrrrooom afffteeerr that. One wasss my little girl and my mate reffffuuusiing to asssssisst me. They believe me traaaaitor, butt they would have beeeeen jusssst the same were it them. The other was a glimpse of the ssssssky…” Grime could have been speaking of heaven, the way he said ‘sky’. “Theyyyy brought me upppp to the night skkkyyy. I had never sssseeen it before. It wassss beautiful, and I resssolllved then that if I wassss ever releasssed I would sssshed the name ‘cave goblin’ and leave the Twilight Woods. I would find a wizzzzard, have him make meeee a human, and stare at the sky all I wantteed.” Grime laughed bitterly.

  Moon, captivated into the story, asked a question.

  “How far away?” Grime’s eyes darted to the candle, which was melted down to a wee stub. He responded sadly,

  “Twasss ten years ago. Threee peopppple have vaaacaaated here since theeen. One is you, dear chiiild. One was a beautiful elf woman. She had tried to ssssteeeal a treasssure of the general’s. The generallll seennntennnsed her to death, and sssshe had naught but an hoooour. I tttrrriiied to comfort her, but ssshhee called me sssssnake, because of thissss acccceent. The other was a wiiiiizzzard. He wassss only there becaussse of accident. He wassss kind, and dreesssssed in red and green.”

  This was sounding vaguely familiar to Moon.

  “Hee heard thisssss storrry and swwwworre ifff we ever weeerree to meet agaiiin, he would change me…”

  Moon heard faint footsteps from the door.

  “Who be coming?” Moon asked panickedly. Grime scuttled from the few feet he’d advanced into his original corner.

  “The general,” he rasped. Then the door flew open, revealing a tall figure with bulky armor and small green eyes. Moon wasn’t too clear on the physical appearance of cave goblins, but the moss colored irises resembled those of Grime’s, just a lot smaller.

  “Hello, darling Fungi!” Grime called cheerfully. Then the general reached into the darkness, grabbing the old cave goblin out of the darkness. His skin was the color of swamp mud, like all goblins. His face was strange, due to his eyes overbalancing his snakelike nose and thin mouth, full with sharp teeth. Next to the tall general, towering at seven feet tall, Grime looked like a rag doll, all spindly and emaciated, with only a loincloth to wear and call his own.

  “Youuu are not worthy to call me by my name, sssscum,” the general shouted. Moon noticed her accent was quite decreased. Grime seemed unfazed.

  “Daaaaughter, I am worttttthy to call yyyyyou anyhhhhhing I want. Yooooou have forgotten thattt ressssspecting eldersssss wasss my favorite rrrrrule of all, I sssssee.”

  The general tossed Grime into the corner, where a thud like a bag of potatoes being dropped sounded.

  “You, unchaain the human. Leave the sssum,” the general commanded a guard standing behind her. The guard rushed over. Moon squirmed away from him until the chains were loose. Then she shakily stood. The guard clamped a cool hand around her wrist and followed the general out.

  The bright light blinded Moon. Torches covered the walls through the entire stone corridor. Moon padded barefoot on the frigid floor. She shivered. Finally they reached a door. The general flung it open, and then yanked Moon to the door.

             

  “Human giiiirl, are theeesssse your coompaaanionss?” the general questioned. Moon took in the pit. The walls were as smooth as velvet, and the pit itself was twenty feet deep. On the bottom was a multitude of people, all garbed in ragged black robes without shoes. This was the largest gathering of different races Moon had ever seen. She counted ten dwarves, all chained to the ground by their legs, five elves, chained to the walls by their arms. Twenty other cave goblins were strapped to the walls by arms, legs, and forehead. Then her eyes took in the two humans held in a large cage.

             

  Coju had resigned himself to sitting in a corner. He was covered in dry blood, and the black sack was quickly being dyed red by fresh
blood oozing from his nose. Emrys was the image of a bruise. His skin had grown sallow and had been beaten black and blue. His eyes were the color of a grape. Moon wanted to jump into the pit and heal both of them. The general’s viselike grip prevented her thought from becoming reality.

             

  “I asssssked you a quesssstion!” the general barked. Moon shrank back.

             

  “They be my companions,” she whispered. The general eased her grip. She signaled the guards.

             

  “You ruuunts, reaaady thisss girrrl for exxxeccutionnn. Brrring herr to a cccccelll away from the ssssscum that calls himssself my father.”

             

  With that, Moon was thrown over a guards shoulder and borne away down the bright corridor.

                                       !@#@!@#!@#

  Moon awoke in a chamber similar to the first. She did not remember being knocked out or falling asleep. She glanced around. She was in a completely bare cell, with no slab or candle. It was pitch black. After attempting to move, Moon found herself tied up like a mummy with rope. She would have considered chewing through it except for the fact that the rope had the thickness of an arm. She was just about to burst into hopeless tears when she heard a voice she had hoped to hear.

             

  “Dearrr child, I sssshaalll sssssucceed in resssscuing yyyyou,” Grime hissed. He lifted the taut rope as much as possible and carefully nipped it. It fell clean in two, and Moon sprang up. She flung open the door to see General Fungi and six other heavily armed goblins waiting. Without hesitation, the general stabbed Grime in the chest with a spear, then attempted to stab Moon. Moon moved out of the way, grabbed Grime and started to focus, despite the urge to start bawling. The general advanced into the small room. Moon backed up, all the while focusing. Her mind was clear just as General Fungi was about to impale her against the wall. A faint green light swallowed Moon’s hands, turning them into mittens of healing. She put one hand on Grime’s bloody chest and kept one hand extended so as to block Fungi.

  The cave goblin officials had no clue why the human’s hands were glowing. As a wary, violent race, they tried to avoid magic and stick to basic stabbing. Magic was unfair. It threw them off guard. With that said, all five of the cave goblins backed up a little. The other two (General Fungi and her lieutenant, Lt. Mold) stood ground. The traitorous scum was slowly and shakily recovering. Fungi hadn’t really paid attention to the shriveled lump she had once called Father until just now. The spear she had thrown…it was in his hand. And the puncture…where was it? A tsunami of rage overwhelmed Fungi. That meddlesome, magic using human! Why did she have to meddle in something she didn’t understand?

  “She is a mere human…and that is what humans do…meddle,” a voice whispered in her batlike structure of an ear. Normally if somebody had read her thoughts like that, Fungi would have ordered them killed just for knowing her too well. But this voice was so relaxing, so soothing…all of the voices down in the realm of cave goblins were rough and thoroughly uncomfortable…but this voice…it was different.

  General Fungi thudded onto the floor along with her six colleagues and subordinates. All were fast asleep. Lt. Mold was sucking on his wrinkly, froglike thumb. Standing over them was a boy with black-brown hair, glasses, and indigo eyes.

  “Emrys!” Moon cried. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, hands still aglow. As things do when they are being healed, Emrys’ entire back became a pattern of glowing stripes the same color of Moon’s hands. Moon’s eyes widened as she slowly rotated so as to reach the afflicted area.

  Behind Emrys stood Coju, sword in hand. Moon threw him a quick smile. Although Coju was happy to see her, he felt vastly disappointed in her lack of…well, happiness.

  “Emrys, your back is hit straight,” Moon said concernedly as she tried to heal the wounds. True to form, Emrys looked rather like an olive skinned tiger with bloody red stripes.

  “They must’ve whipped him a hundred times,” Coju supplied. Moon gasped in horror, moving her hands to cover her mouth. Emrys inhaled quickly in the sudden rush of pain. Moon winced and resumed her healing.

  “Laaaaaasssss,” a voice hissed. All three heads swiveled towards the noise. Coju made to attack the cave goblin hunched in the corner. Moon shrieked just as he was about to stab,

  “Stop! He be friend!”

  Emrys and Coju looked at Moon as if she were an insane person. Grime cackled in the corner. Moon stood from her kneeling position on the ground.

  “We must exit,” she said,

  “I really don’t like doing this,” Emrys grumbled. Then he grabbed Moon and Coju’s hands and in a flash of indigo light they were gone.

                                                 

  !@#!@#!@#!@#!@#!@#

  In a flash of murky greenish light, Moon and Coju landed unsteadily on their feet. Emrys did not. He landed face first and did not move. Coju collapsed. Moon looked around. They seemed to be on a mountain. Halfway up they stood, on a flat dusty cliff. There was a tree growing on the cliff edge. A small path led down to twisted woodland that echoed with suspicious animal sounds. It was only evening, six or seven at most. Moon noticed a shiny object in Emrys’ hand. She slowly pried it open. A sword? Moon had never been allowed to touch a sword before. She glanced around, as though she was checking to make sure her father wouldn’t sprout out of a tree and send her to live with the monkeys again for disobeying. When her father failed to appear, Moon slowly lifted the sword. It was heavy, and very smooth. After a moment, Moon carefully placed it on the ground. She knelt down and shook Emrys by the shoulders.

  “Emrys!” she hissed. “Emrys, awaken!” Emrys groaned in response. Moon let go in annoyance and moved over to Coju.

  “Coju?” she whispered. “Coju!”

   

  Coju awoke with a start, gasping as if he had been underwater.

  “What?” he snapped. Moon glared at him, and he just scowled.

  “I wish you to get firewood from dark forest. Please?” Moon pleaded. Coju growled in an aggravated fashion and stomped off to the woods, Emrys’ discarded sword in hand.

                                     

  THREE HOURS LATER

  Coju awoke to see a few glowing embers remaining of the fire, a sobbing Moon and no Emrys. Coju pushed a blanket that had been draped over him off and asked frantically, “What’s wrong? Where’s Emrys?” Moon did not respond. She just looked with tear filled eyes in the direction of the woods and played with a bracelet of indigo grass Coju was sure hadn’t been there before. Coju sighed and headed towards it.

  Coju ran, stumbling through the dark, tangled woodland. Emrys was just ahead. Suddenly he stopped, and Coju blew past a few yards before he slowed down and walked back to Emrys.

             

  Emrys was sitting on the ground, staring lifelessly at a floating sphere the size of a grapefruit. It was milky white. Emrys’ face appeared bleached as a vampire, glasses were white, but if he squinted Coju could make out indigo irises.

  “What happened? Danger?” Coju asked. Emrys shook his head.

  “What’s wrong with Moon? She looks like somebody killed a monkey in front of her,” Coju commented concernedly.

  Emrys looked away from Coju’s inquiring glare.

  “Emrys, tell me what’s wrong or I will gut you like a fish,” Coju said threateningly. Emrys chuckled, and then went back to a lifeless expression. The sphere glowed a bright blue and then a tiny moving picture appeared in it. Emrys pointed to it, and Coju peered into it. He felt himself falling, and then he was sucked into the luminescent orb.

  Emrys did nothing, just stared unseeingly into the twisted forest.

  Coju found himself sprawled on his back, back at the campsite. But the fire was sti
ll roaring, Moon was not crying, and Emrys was still there. Coju was sincerely puzzled. Then he turned and saw a lump swathed in a blanket. Coju crept over to the lump, so as not to wake it, and peered at the sleeping face of…himself.

  Coju understood now. Emrys was showing him what happened that upset both Moon and himself. Presumably it had happened while Coju was asleep. Coju crept away from himself, not sure if his presence would be noticed. He didn’t want to take chances. So Coju situated himself behind a nearby tree to watch everything unfold.

  Moon was staring into the fire. Coju noticed the absence of the bracelet. Emrys, as cool and confident as ever, crossed to Moon.

   

  Moon just stared, essentially ignoring Emrys, who was now sitting next to her.

  “Hey,” Emrys said without a seeming purpose.

  “Hey,” Moon said back, her voice cracking a little. Emrys put his arm around her nonchalantly. She stiffened.

  “What’s wrong?” Emrys asked, removing his arm. Coju saw for the very first time, not one speck of mocking or cruelty in his indigo gaze. Moon hesitated, and then stood, facing Emrys, her back to the flickering flames.

  “Emrys, I know that you like me,” she murmured hesitantly.

  Emrys shrugged. “Thought it was pretty obvious.”

  Coju had sort of known, but he would never had had the confidence to come right out with it. Little did Coju know it was going to be a lot more interesting very soon.

  “I like you too, Emrys.”

  Emrys smiled. Moon, however, didn’t. Emrys looked confused. He stood to face Moon.

  “Then what’s the problem?” he demanded. “We can be together!”

  Moon looked as if she was going to cry.

  “But we cannot, that is the problem,” she told him. Emrys looked miffed. He reminded Coju of a cat, his chest all puffed up with air and his haughty look. He wanted dreadfully to laugh, but he wanted more to see what would happen, and he wasn’t sure whether him making noise would affect anything. Thus, Coju kept quiet.

  “Why ever not?” Emrys inquired, adjusting his lenses.

  Moon looked at him nervously, absentmindedly twisting a strand of hair. “Because I am royalty and you are not.”

  Emrys, albeit a bit annoyed looking, grabbed her hands.

  “Moon, I don’t like you. I love you. I don’t know how you feel, but I just need to tell you.” Moon looked upset, but Emrys didn’t see it. “I love how you take care of me and Coju. When we give up, you keep going, and we both need to follow. I love how you’re sensitive and you’re not afraid to cry.” Moon seemed rather flustered now. She pulled her hands away from his.

  “Emrys! I like you much so, but as a princess I must marry one who belongs to royalty. That is how I grow! I cannot be with you!”

  Emrys flew into a rage, so different from his previous gushing personality that he had pulled for who knows where. He brandished his arms angrily. Moon flinched from the closeness of his wayward hands. “So this is a STATUS problem? Why did I even waste my time on you? You’re just a snobby princess with standards the size of this mountain, just like EVERY OTHER PRINCESS! Arrgh!” Then Emrys ran off down the path and into the woods. Moon collapsed, sobbing. Then she paused. In Emrys’ violent hand motions, he had dropped what appeared to be a small grass bracelet dyed the color of the evening sky. It was dangerously close to the flames. Moon crawled over to it, grabbed it, and crawled back to her tiny nest of a blanket. She resumed crying.

  Coju felt himself being brought out of the past and into the present. He looked, shocked at Emrys, then walked slowly back to the campsite, calling over his shoulder, “I expect to see you back by morning.”

  Then Coju strode back to the camp. As he walked, he pulled out his neglected reed pipe from his inner jacket pocket. As his father always said, the worst problems can always be resolved with music. Coju didn’t think it really applied in this situation, but he felt comfort in the old musical instrument. He blew a few notes. For some reason unknown to Coju, he suddenly was filled with courage and was ready to face the dragon, sooner or later. He reached the camp, settled down on his blankets, and drifted into sleep, reed pipe resting on his hand.