Boxed Set: Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood: [The 12 book 1st adventure + the series prequel]

by Robert Iannone

Chapter 2 – AyBee Sea

  Chapter 3 – Saved By the B’elle

  Chapter 4 – Crystal Forest

  Chapter 5 – Good Night K’ssss

  Chapter 6 – The Spy Who Loved Us

  Chapter 7 – Days of Our Lives

  Chapter 8 – Maze of Forever

  Chapter 9 – Auld Lang Syne

  Chapter 10 – Never ’Glade

  Chapter 1 – Home Bittersweet Home

  The F’yre Dragon screamed in pain as the fangs of the spider closed down on her leg. The giant insect then opened its mouth and a long black tongue snaked out to inject deadly poison into its victim.

  Soo’ surfaced from beneath the foul dark waters of Switch Swamp and launched herself at the spider web. The sight of a large sea serpent going airborne and heading right for you would get anyone’s attention. In this case, even the giant spider paused at the sight.

  The serpent landed between the ten-foot spider and her good friend Bl’azzz. And then the weirdest thing happened. Bl’azzz’s scream caused her to burp and the burp burst into its usual tongue of flame.

  The flame hit the spider square in the face and it shrieked in pain. It turned away from its would-be meal, scampered into the muddy swamp, and swam off as fast as its many legs could paddle.

  The other girls stood there transfixed by what they had just seen . . . not really understanding any of it. For one thing, Bl’azzz had lost her fire . . . extinguished by the P’xxxies in the Colorless Wood. How did she get it back? And they had no idea why Soo’ had jumped into the swamp . . . just to jump back out again.

  “Hey, you guys, get me out of here.”

  And even those words shocked the girls. That was the first sentence that the dragon had uttered that made sense and hadn’t ended in her breaking down into uncontrollable sobbing.

  “Come on before that thing comes back.”

  Sassi was first to move and she fetched the knife and ax that the other two girls had thrown at the spider. She gave the knife to Sylvia and the two of them started hacking and cutting at the sticky web that had their sisters trapped.

  It took quite a while but they finally managed to free Bl’azzz. But when they freed Soo’, she started to wail, “It’s so sad, so sad . . .,” then burst into tears.

  “What’s gotten into her? The spider didn’t bite her too, did it?” asked Bl’azzz as Aeri’elle and Sassi tended to her injured leg.

  “No, she was fine just a few seconds ago before she saved you.”

  “Saved me? How did she save me?”

  “I’m not exactly sure,” answered the other dragon.

  “Nor I.” added Sassi when Bl’azzz looked at her.

  Meanwhile Egg and K’ssss were trying to console the crying serpent but without any luck. “Soo’ . . . what happened? Why did you jump in the swamp? Why are you crying?”

  “Did the ugly spider hurt you?” asked K’ssss, trying not to cry.

  But “It’s so sad, so sad . . .,” was all she would say.

  “Stay with her for a minute, would you K’ssss?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Thanks,” and Egg walked over to the others. “How’s her leg?”

  “Do you think you could use your bracelet to fix it?”

  “I can try.” Egg put her hands on the injured leg and said, “Sister, let your body heal thy wounded leg and restore itself. Let it be again as healthy as it was before. Let its strength be as it once was.”

  Everyone looked at the wound . . . and to their disappointment, nothing happened. “The cat said the jewelry wouldn’t work against any of the bad stuff,” Sylvia reminded her sisters.

  “Did someone say the magic word?” asked J’azzz-min who materialized out of thin air.

  “No” said Sylvia. “Go away.” The cat was their guide through the seven lands, but she was also obnoxious and annoying.

  “I distinctly heard the word cat.”

  “You’re wrong, I said rat.”

  “You heard her . . . scram,” said Bl’azzz while trying not to wince at the pain in her leg.

  “Ain’t that the cat’s meow . . . Gassi, the burping dragon, is back to her old self.”

  “Get lost or I’ll burn your hat again,” threatened the F’yre Dragon.

  “It’s fireproof. I told you . . . it’s fireproof. Don’t you things ever listen?”

  “J’azzz-min,” interrupted Dazzle. “Do you know what has just happened?”

  “Well, of course I do. I’ve been insulted and threatened.”

  “I am talking of Soo’ and Bl’azzz and the spider”.

  “Oh, that. Yeah, I know.”

  “Speak.”

  “Speak . . . Stay . . . Sit . . . Beg,” said the cat as she rolled her eyes in pretend disgust. “What am I . . . your pet?”

  “If you were my pet, you would be infinitely more obedient. Now tell us what has happened,” commanded the Princess.

  “Well . . . since you asked so nicely . . . I’ll give you a hint.” She paused, as she liked to do for dramatic effect. Unfortunately, it was just irritating. “IT’S KINDA OBVIOUS.” Then she added a snide, “Hello . . . anybody home?”

  Egg understood immediately. “She drank the swamp water, didn’t she?”

  “Fandingo-dango-bingo-bango,” cried the cat in a not very convincing show of enthusiasm.

  “So what happened to her exactly?” asked a confused Sylvia.

  “If I may be so bold as to venture a guess,” she paused again waiting for an answer that she knew she wouldn’t get. “I’ll take your look of utter befuddlement as an enthusiastic yes. She gave Burpy her good humor back and in return she got the dragon’s cry-baby blues.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Bl’azzz to her sisters. The F’yre Dragon had no memory of what had happened to her in the Colorless Wood. So Aeri’elle explained that she had been bitten by a P’xxxie and had been drained of all happiness and hope. She had been crying ever since.

  “Really?”

  “Oh my gosh . . . I just remembered what Soo’ said just before Aeri’elle screamed for help. She had been napping and she woke up and said, “I know what we lost.” At the time, Aeri’elle had taken Bl’azzz to look for firewood when they ran into the spider.

  “Which was what?” asked Sassi.

  “J’azzz said there was only one thing that could stop the spiders . . . but it was the one thing we lost.”

  “Bl’azzz’s fire,” said Sylvia.

  “My fire?”

  “You haven’t burped fire since you were bitten,” Aeri’elle told her.

  “So there is a cure,” she said with a smile until she remembered the incredible sacrifice Soo’ had made for her. “Forget I said that.”

  Dazzle took a closer look at the dragon’s leg then asked, “Bl’azzz, are you able to walk with that injury?”

  With the help of Aeri’elle, the wounded dragon stood up and gingerly put her weight on the leg. It buckled immediately and she fell. “Owwww”.

  “Sisters, make Bl’azzz as comfortable as you can. Egg, I would have a word with you.”

  Egg and Dazzle walked away from the others so they could speak in private. When they were far enough away, Dazzle said, “Bl’azzz cannot continue with us.”

  “Why not?”

  “Her wound is too severe. If she does not receive medical treatment, it will fester. Egg . . . at best it will cost her the use of her leg. At worst she could die.”

  Egg stared at the Princess unable to speak. She fought to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.

  “The decision is yours . . . but I must counsel you to consider not only Bl’azzz’s wellbeing but that of you and your other sisters. The dangers we will encounter will be far graver if we have to tend to an injured dragon . . . and a sick serpent.”

  “You mean Soo’ can’t go with us either?”

  “No.”

  “We can’t just leave them here. I won’t do that.”

  “Perhaps there is another
way. Fetch the cat.”

  At the mention of J’azzz-min, Egg involuntarily made a face; but she did as she was told and the obnoxious cat appeared.

  “J’azzz-min, if we chose to return home, would Egg and her dragon sisters be able to fly?”

  “Did the itsy bitsy spider scare you girlies?”

  Ignoring the rude remark, the Princess commanded, “Answer my question.”

  “Let’s check the rule book,” and as before, she pulled out an imaginary book and thumbed through the imaginary pages until she found an imaginary answer. “Ummm . . . let me see . . . let me see . . .,” the cat just loved to drag out her answers. The other two waited patiently, not willing to show their irritation. “Oh, yes,” the cat finally answered.

  “Oh yes what?”

  “Oh yes you can. You can go home anyway you want . . . as fast as you want. So . . . bon voyage. It’s been a giggle.” As the cat made to leave, Egg reached out and grabbed her hat.

  “Not the hat. Not the hat.”

  “We are not leaving. Bl’azzz is injured and must seek medical help. I believe she can still fly. And, I believe she can carry Soo’. How do they find their way home safely?” Dazzle stressed the last word.

  “Give me my hat.”

  Egg tossed the hat back and the cat put it on her head. “How does it look?”

  “Stupid.”

  “Didn’t your mother ever tell you to be polite?”

  “J’azzz-min, answer my question.”

  “She started it.” Dazzle just glared. “Oh, you girlies have no sense of humor. Anywho . . . tell Gassi to fly.”

  They waited for the cat to finish the sentence . . . but apparently, she had.

  “Fly where?”

  “Doesn’t matter. She can’t fly towards the Crystal Mountain . . . only away from it. If she goes in the wrong direction, she’ll stop flying.”

  It still wasn’t clear what the goofy cat meant.

  “What are you things . . . the dumb sisters? Tell Burpy that once she gets airborne to keep flying in that direction. That’s it. Do you want me to draw you a map?”

  “Yes.”

  “Not going to happen, is it?”

  “We will stay here till morning so Bl’azzz can rest and regain some strength. Is that acceptable?”

  “Whatever. In that case . . . goodnight, girlies. Tell fire breath and sappy Soo’ that it was real . . . they were my favorites.”

  “They were?” Egg didn’t mean to say that, it kind of just slipped out.

  “Are you kidding? A fire breathing dragon and a sarcastic sea serpent . . . they were like characters out of a good book.” And the cat vanished.

  “Dazzle . . . let me tell them.”

  “No, my sister; it is best that they hear it from their would-be Queen.”

  Egg wanted to say, “This is my Quest and they’re my sisters,” but she couldn’t. The truth was she didn’t have the heart to tell the dragon and the serpent to go home.

  *****

  While Egg and Dazzle were talking to J’azzz-min, Aeri’elle was telling Bl’azzz the story Soo’ had shared with them . . . a story about her grandmother who had been saved by a dragon. Soo’ had promised that if she made it through the Quest . . . so would her good friend Bl’azzz. It was her way of repaying the debt her family owed to that dragon. Aeri’elle explained how it was Soo’, with help from K’ssss, who had carried the injured dragon through the Colorless Wood and this far into the Swamp.

  “Help me get up.”

  “No. You shouldn’t be walking around.”

  “I have to talk to Soo’.”

  “Bl’azzz . . . she won’t understand you. I’m sorry.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Help me . . . please.”

  So Aeri’elle helped her injured sister and they hobbled over to the sad sea serpent. Bl’azzz sat down and put her wings over her friend. “Hey, Soo’, it’s Bl’azzz. They say you can’t hear me . . . but I hope you can. Thank you for saving my life from the spider and for getting me out of the Wood. I owe you big time. So I’m going to return your promise . . . if I get out of this, you will too. I love you. We all love you.”

  Soo’ didn’t understand any of it . . . but K’ssss cried.

  *****

  They were sitting under their tents trying to eat . . . but they weren’t really hungry. The two serpents were crying softly . . . one because of her P’xxxie funk and the other in sympathy. Bl’azzz was in pain, but trying bravely not to show it. Aeri’elle, Sassi and Sylvia were talking quietly about their injured sisters. And Egg sat silently, her knees pulled up to her chin, and her eyes just staring off into the distance.

  “Sisters, I must speak to you of a matter of great importance.” The girls all stopped what they were doing (except Soo’, of course) to look at the Princess. “It is about our injured friends.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about me, your Highness. I heal very quickly. This silly little thing (she pointed to the wound on her leg) will be gone before you know it.”

  “You are a brave and loyal Sister . . . but the wound will not heal.” The girls all knew that; they had just been fooling themselves into believing it would.

  “Even if it doesn’t, I can still manage. Maybe if Egg could make me a cane to walk with . . .” but she didn’t finish. No one . . . not even Bl’azzz herself . . . believed what she was saying.

  “No, my Sister. You must return home and have a physician tend to your injury. If not, it will only get worse . . . much worse.”

  “But . . . but . . . not even a doctor can heal it. You know that. And I do too.” It was hard to tell on a dragon, but Bl’azzz’s face had grown very pale.

  “That is true. But a physician will keep it from festering. You must return home. For you the Quest is over. I am sorry.” With this pronouncement, there was a collective intake of breaths as the sisters absorbed the horrible news.

  “I won’t . . .,” said Bl’azzz defiantly, but Egg cut her off.

  “Bl’azzz . . .,” she was having a very hard time keeping from crying, “you can’t come with us. I’m responsible for everybody and I’m not going to let you hurt yourself more than you have. You gotta go back.”

  “Egg . . .,” pleaded the dragon, “. . . don’t do this. Please . . . I want to stay with you guys. I belong here.” Now there were tears in seven pairs of eyes.

  “You absolutely do belong here. We could never have made it this far without you. But you’ve done everything that you can. Now it’s time to go take care of yourself. Do it . . . for me.”

  “And do it for Soo’.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She must return with you.” There was another round of gasps.

  “Not Soo,’” wailed K’ssss.

  “K’ssss, my sweet sister . . . what happens to a serpent if she cries at length?”

  “Oh, no Princess . . . Serpents can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “They would de . . . de . . . ummm, I don’t know the word.”

  “Dehydrate.”

  “That’s the word.” The other girls looked at Dazzle for an explanation.

  “A serpent that cries continuously, as Soo’ is doing, will eventually dehydrate. She will lose the water inside her body and she will die.”

  “NOOOOOOO,” screamed K’ssss. “NOOOOOOO . . . I won’t let her die.”

  The other girls were equally as horrified.

  “Be calm, dear one. Bl’azzz will take Soo’ and place her in the pool at the Sisterhood. As long as she stays submerged in the water, she will be fine.”

  “You’re not just saying that?”

  “I would not lie to you . . . to any of you.”

  “I’ll leave right now,” said Bl’azzz alarmed for her sister’s health.

  “No, that is not necessary. You must rest and regain your strength. Tomorrow morning will be soon enough.”

  “But how will she get back?” asked Sylvia.

  “I will explain . . .” and Dazzle
told them of the conversation she and Egg had with J’azzz-min.

  “I don’t trust that cat.”

  Egg was about to say, “Don’t say cat,” but it was too late.

  “Somebody call?” J’azzz-min had popped out of nowhere.

  “Get lost . . . and I mean it.” Bl’azzz was not in the mood for a wind’acious kitty cat.

  “I will . . . if you tell me a bedtime story.”

  That got Bl’azzz so mad that she stood up and was about to chase J’azzz-min away . . . when she realized she had a bad leg. She cried out in pain and fell.

  “Oh . . . the poor dragon’s got a bit of a colly-wobble, has she?” But no sooner had she said it than two pebbles hit her hat and knocked it off. “Not the hat . . . come on . . . not the hat.”

  “Oops . . .,” said Egg insincerely.

  “Oh, how awful of us,” added Sylvia.

  “J’azzz-min . . . please leave of us for tonight.”

  “Do I have too?”

  Dazzle didn’t answer . . . she just turned her back on the cat.

  “Oh, all right. Goodnight, girlies” and she popped out of existence.

  “She almost sounded like she meant the goodnight part,” said a surprised Sassi.

  “Yeah . . . right,” said a disbelieving F’yre Dragon.

  “But she had a good idea.” Everyone turned to K’ssss.

  “What was that?” asked Aeri’elle.

  “We should tell a bedtime story.” The girls didn’t want to hurt her feelings by telling their goofy sister that it was a terrible idea.

  “K’ssss is right,” said Dazzle to everyone’s surprise. “Tonight is our last night together . . . we should spend the time wisely. Who would like to tell a story?”

  “Can I?” asked K’ssss.

  “Of course you can,” said Egg with an encouraging smile.

  “And when she is finished, I will tell mine. Is that alright, Egg?”

  “Sure, Sassi. In fact it’s more than alright . . . it’s perfect.”

  Chapter 2 – AyBee Sea

  “Sometimes I make my mom and dad sad because I’m not very smart. My dad invents things and my mom sells them. People say she’s like the best in the whole world at doing that. And my dad keeps winning prizes because his inventions are so amazing.