Maddie Shirkoff: World of Odds

by Danit Knishinsky

  “I’m telling you! We need to give it to Sparky! Do you understand how devastated that girl will be if that dog dies in the middle of the journey?! Don’t just use it for your selfish needs!” came the frustrated voice of Ragon.

  “Well I’m sor-RY if I am angering you, but the last time I checked, you agreed with this plan entirely,” Samara half shouted.

  “Ummm…guys,” Brido whispered as he pointed at Maddie, “she’s coming…” both goblins stopped arguing and turned to see Maddie trudging through the grass who was unaware of the details of their conversation.

  “What’s the bad news?” she asked worriedly.

  “Well, good morning to you, too,” Samara responded with a grunt.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I am just so sick of constant Sparky issues,” Maddie replied.

  “T-t-that's…ok,” Ragon said, stuttering and shaking as if he was about to be murdered. Which, although Maddie could not remember, she could definitely relate to., “anyway…umm, as you can s-s-see…Sparky is just getting w-w-worse. I-I-I don’t know i-i-if you…ummm…” he began worriedly.

  “Ragon,” Maddie began, putting a hand on the goblin’s shoulder, “you can tell me. No need to trip up on your words. I can take it,” she said with a small smile.

  “If you want to c-c-consider p-p-putting Sparky down to bear him the p-p-pain…” Maddie’s mouth hung open in shock.

  “Kill him?!” Maddie broke out, her eyes filled with tears. With this statement, not only had she felt betrayed, but also shocked. Not once had she ever thought that on this journey, Ragon, the animal lover, would ever think of hurting an animal, much less Sparky.

  “It’s just, you can’t keep him in pain because you are too afraid to say goodbye,” Ragon responded, his stuttering done now that he had gotten all his words out.

  These words hit Maddie harder than ever. She understood that she couldn't be with Sparky forever, but she never thought that her last day with her little dog would be today.

  “Please, just one more week. To search for a way to save him. He’s my life. Please, you guys,” Maddie begged through tears.

  “Maddie,” Ragon began, “Sparky is dying. He won’t make it. He was trying to save you. Then, he got hurt. He is a hero. And sometimes, heroes lose their lives in the process of saving others.”

  “B-b-but Sparky…I love him,” she sobbed.

  “I know. But, people you love will eventually leave you. It isn’t like Sparky will survive forever. He isn’t immortal. He will either die today or tomorrow during the journey,” Samara said in an attempt to be helpful. It really wasn’t that helpful.

  “And, you have had great memories with Sparky, right? Maybe…it’s time to let him go?” Ragon asked quietly.

  “I can’t!” she sobbed, shaking. The goblins, seeing her desperate reaction, reluctantly agreed to allow Sparky to continue the journey.

  Maddie focused on the task at hand, finding something to save Sparky and summoning the Great Doobi from his grave. As the journey continued, Maddie felt unusually nervous. The other land was dangerous, but she couldn't guarantee that this “walk-through” would be completely safe.

  They trudged on by foot with no animals to carry them. The grass became so high that it touched just slightly above everyone's knees, which made it increasingly difficult to walk. The noises grew scarier the deeper into the forest they travelled. By the time the trudging part was over, the group had gotten themselves to a clear field that seemed to extend miles and miles in all directions.

  “My word,” Samara said through gritted teeth, “So many hours of walking and we go… NOWHERE!” she cried angrily.

  “Well, I wouldn't say nowhere. Because now you can help me,” said a faint, chilling voice. Maddie noticed Samara close her eyes in fear, as if remembering a tiny detail of some memory, but the memory wasn’t there completely. Maddie turned around to see a dark-haired woman wearing a black dress filled with jewels.

  The woman wore her hair up in a high ponytail. She wore a headband of diamonds and heels so dark, that at night, it would appear as if she was walking on air. “Allow me to introduce myself… unless, of course, we have already met” the air around them suddenly turned freezing cold. The ravens’ call could be heard from a mile away. And the leaves of the trees slowly fell out, making rustling noises as they moved.

  “Lilith,” all three goblins said at once. Maddie’s memories at once came flying back. The castle. The roses. The EVIL. THE OBSTACLE COURSE. No wonder she couldn’t recognize her! Her memory had been erased! But Maddie didn’t know if the goblins received their memories back. A faint smile shot from Lilith to Maddie, and Maddie figured the Queen had given her memories back purposefully. But why? Maddie remembered the goblins once more and looked at them, hoping they too had their memories. They clearly didn’t, so it was no wonder they didn’t look at her with the same awe on their face as they did before.

  “Excuse me?” the queen asked, glaring at all the goblins.

  “Queen Lilith,” they all corrected. All Maddie could think was that this was the cruel, evil, frightening woman who had kidnapped Princess Kara.

  “What do you want?” Maddie growled. She hoped she sounded braver than she felt.

  “I want many things,” the woman said as she picked up a leaf and crumpled it in her hand.

  “Why are you bothering me? You-”

  “Silence!” Maddie felt her mouth slam shut against her will. Her throat seemed to be closing up…

  “LEAVE HER ALONE!” Samara bellowed. The queen simply laughed. And with a flick of her hand, Samara crumpled to the floor.

  “This is much too fun,” she said, clearly not caring about the pain she was causing. She let out a laugh. A cold laugh. The laugh alone made shivers run down Maddie’s spine. Maddie took a step forward, rubbing her throat.

  “Why are you here? First, you appear out of nowhere. Next, you knock out my friend. Why?!” Maddie asked angrily. The evil queen once again laughed her high pitched, cold laugh. The wind blew, making the queen’s dress billow behind her. The evil queen raised her hand, bringing Samara back to consciousness. Samara immediately sat up and glared at the queen. Bad move. Samara’s eyes opened wide as she put her hand to her throat, then to her head.

  “Make the v-v-voices s-s-stop…” she muttered. Voices? What voices?

  “Ahh. The voices. You want them to stop?” claimed the queen, “Of course…not. And if you don’t like it…then there is even more of a reason to do it!” she cackled.

  “What voices?” Brido said, stepping forward, “leave my sister alone.”

  “Bad times…I-I-I will n-n-never f-f-follow you…stop reminding me of bad times…I will NOT follow you. It will NEVER happen,” Samara said, as she put her hand to her throat to stop herself from suffocating. The queen seemed to be enjoying this as she made sure the breaths became even shorter every second. After realizing what the queen was doing to her, she muttered, “I’m sorry.”

  “Ah. So brave. Such a brave goblin you are to demand something from me,” she said, looking at Brido once again, “such a brave goblin. Such a dumb mistake,” she twisted her hand in a gesture that could not have been good. Next thing Maddie knew, Brido was a beetle. And what did Lilith do next? She stepped on that beetle.

  Brido was alive but was now writhing in pain. Ragon stepped forward and picked up the beetle.

  “What you are doing is pure evil,” Maddie yelled.

  “You know what would be worse?” the queen did the same gesture and immediately, Brido was a goblin again. His arms were bent in ways they shouldn’t have been, and his face was all cut up and bleeding.

  “Brido…” Ragon whispered.

  “This is a much better sight, don’t you agree?”

  “WHAT DO YOU WANT?! AND WHERE IS PRINCESS KARA?!” Maddie erupted, her hands clenched into fists. The faint glow emitted itself from her hands once more. Nearby, a tree came crashing down. Maddie neglected the incident and didn’t give it a thought.

 
“And why do you want to know this?” the queen was about to switch the subject, but Maddie pressed on.

  “Where is Princess Kara?” Maddie interrupted angrily.

  “You dare interrupt me? Of all the-”

  “Yeah, yeah. Now-”

  “You are The One! I wouldn’t kill you, just make you suffer. Unless I truly needed to…it would be such a waste of destiny. And for your princess…I will show you.” The queen waved her hand and the princess appeared out of thin air. The princess looked the exact same as she did in the picture except that she was gagged and wore maid clothes. Her dark brown hair went down to her shoulder blades, and her tan skin reminded Maddie a lot of her own. Maddie sympathized with the princess who was held against her will and forced to work very hard. Maddie quickly changed her stream of thoughts and wondered what Queen Lilith meant by ‘waste of destiny’.

  “The One?” Maddie asked, still confused at what the queen had meant.

  “Why, of course!” Queen Lilith responded.

  “The One as in what? Another one of your slaves?” Maddie gestured to the princess that had been silently standing next to the queen.

  “Of course not,” the queen said, her pale face gazing upon Maddie. She grabbed Maddie’s arm and continued, “imagine what we could do together, child.” Maddie decided that she wasn't going down without a fight. The two remaining goblins removed the gag from the princess and ran to Maddie’s aid. They were about to move Maddie away when the queen let go.

  “Huh?” Maddie asked, confused.

  “Oh, when will you ever learn, dear. I can’t hurt The One.”

  “What do you mean…we could do things together? What could we accomplish?”

  “The One…being The One is a privilege. It gives you power. But first, you must unlock your potential. I have given your memories back. Remember. What you did at the castle was something you have never done before.”

  “That doesn’t mean I would ever want to work with you!” she cried angrily, “you clearly never think about anyone but yourself. I really don’t know what The One is, but I don’t intend on using the power for evil!”

  While Maddie had been speaking to the queen, the goblins and Princess Kara were hiding behind a tree.

  “We only have so much time!” Samara said, panicking, “we have to plan without Maddie!”

  They all stared at the woman who seemed to be ready to rip them apart.

  “What do we do?!” Samara whispered, looking back at the queen who was unaware of what the goblins were planning. Lilith was clearly angry with the goblins’ disappearance but was more focused on grabbing Maddie. Maddie had run and hid somewhere in the grass while Lilith had been peering around for the goblins. The goblins hid behind the tree to continue their planning.

  “Well, my parents always taught me that the palace has an emergency signal. Fire. Once the sparks from the first shoot up into the air, the army will come to your aid. They only told me and my sister. So, they will know it’s me,” Princess Kara stated.

  “Wait,” Ragon interrupted, “how come Lilith let you go so easily?”

  Princess Kara took a breath, “I know. It’s unbelievable. But, when she has a goal, she will get it. Whatever Maddie has or can do that Lilith wants, it’s clearly something big. That’s why she doesn’t care about us. We aren’t a big threat.”

  “Well, we have to at least try to save Maddie,” Brido muttered.

  “He’s in horrible condition. How do we heal him?” Ragon asked the princess, gesturing to Brido.

  “I would help but…this bracelet I am wearing,” she started, “stops me from using my powers. It makes my magic too weak.”

  “Ragon, go grab a piece of wood and start a fire. Then, throw it into the sky…I know what to do,” Samara ordered. Ragon ran to retrieve a spare piece of wood and start a fire. He grabbed the chunk of wood, lit it on fire and threw it into the air.

  “Princess Kara, you have to answer quickly. The bracelet weakens your powers right…but they aren’t gone completely?”

  “That’s right,” she replied.

  “I need you to make the fire fly higher and become brighter.”

  “I’ll try,” the princess waved her hand the burning piece of bark shone bright in the night sky…and you could see that many palace lights began to turn on from the distance. Even the calls of the royal army seemed to be getting louder. The plan had worked! However, the princess was left weaker. She had figured out how to use magic with the bracelet on. It clearly took up more energy than necessary.

  Maddie watched from her hiding spot in the grass as the castle lights flipped on. The whole spot where the castle was seemed to be alive. If she squinted, she could see faint outlines of servants, in a frenzy, running around the castle.

  “So…now you need help?” asked queen Lilith, “you can have it! Here is what I will do to you!” the queen moved her hand and a flash of light burst out. It was aimed at the tree the group was hiding behind. Just as the tree started to burn, Maddie had left her hiding spot in the grass to join the group.

  “Dang it,” Maddie said, staring at the burning tree. The second the flash hit the tree, toppling it to the ground. The tree, once alive, was now dead, shriveled by Two hits of fire. The group stared, terrified.

  “DON’T YOU DARE!” cried the princess.

  “I could quickly finish you…or I could hurt the goblin more…” she said, walking over to the goblins, Maddie, and Princess Kara.

  “Try me,” called the young princess.

  “What are you doing?!” Samara hissed. This wasn’t a part of the plan, “you’ll get yourself killed! You don’t have enough magic!”

  The queen shot a bolt of light. The princess ducked, holding up the hand which held the bracelet that blocked her magic. The queen’s bolt struck the bracelet, blowing it up and spraying bits and pieces of whatever was in it, everywhere. Immediately, the princess shouted over the queen’s yells, “WE NEED TO HOLD HER OFF UNTIL THE ROYAL ARMY COMES!”

  “Wait! Princess! You need to heal Brido!”

  “I’m-kind-of-doing-something-else-here!” she shouted over her own grunts. The princess may have been young, but she knew her magic. But, they all knew…she could only hold the evil queen off for so long. She shot a bright ray of blue, nailing the queen’s ankle. The evil queen crumpled down in pain, giving the princess the ability to strike again. But right when the thin, bright red bolt was about to hit the evil queen, the queen, putting even more magic into it, reflected it, hitting the princess in the chest.

  The young girl toppled over, hand on her chest. The evil queen smirked, “With that blast, you will never survive!” she said, glaring at the young girl.

  “I will NOT die. Especially not at your hands,” she said, glaring back at the queen.

  “I can’t promise that you will survive,” the woman said, a smile etched upon her face.

  “You can do it! Get up and try to keep fighting! Your family should be here soon!” Maddie yelled, trying to raise the princess’s hopes.

  “But, they aren’t here right now. I could finish you if I wanted to… but I will wait. What is a better gift for your family than to see you die? You have been gone for ages. And now, they will find you, and they will try to free you from me. And, I will kill you right in front of them! They will adore the show!” she screamed.

  “No. I have suffered because of you long enough,” the princess began, “I will NOT let you treat me like this anymore. I will fight. I will fight to my last breath.”

  “Very well then. But I hope your will is ready!” she cried, the wind blowing, making her hair follow the wind’s path.

  “Will Brido be alright?” Maddie asked Ragon, gut wrenching inside her.

  “They’re only a few minor cuts. I’ll be alright,” Brido responded, managing a smile. “You should focus on the war that is ahead.”

  Maddie knew the cuts were horrible. Not to mention the dreadful sight of Brido’s bones showing through the deep lacerations. His con
dition was better than Sparky’s, but he was still in a dangerous state. Maddie hoped the royal army would hurry up. She didn’t want to admit it, but…they were their last hope.

  Maddie stared off into the distance, her gaze fixed upon the giant Royalis castle. The lights were on! There were horses shooting out from the castle! They were coming to the rescue! Maddie understood that the royals wouldn’t be too thrilled to help Maddie, but she knew they would help as long as Kara was on their side.

  Speaking of Kara, she thought. Maddie turned around. Kara had been shooting small spells at the queen while clutching her heart in pain. The spells had been becoming weaker every second. The family would have to get here fast if they still wanted a living child. After all, Kara did not look like she was on her way to victory. More like on her way to a hospital…

  “The King has arrived! Leave the princess alone!” shouted one of the royal messengers who suddenly appeared out from a group of trees. An army of soldiers came in through a giant portal.

  “Ah. My dear sister has arrived then?” Queen Lilith twisted her hand, leaving the messenger to fall to the ground, lifeless. The wind was blowing wildly now and the darkness set in, making the queen appear ten times more ominous. She knew the Royalis family would put up a fight to save their daughter.

  The queen understood a big war was approaching. Staring at all the soldiers, it would be hard to think they were here for a tea party. The Royal Family’s cavalry consisted of gorgeous white stallions. A knight in shining armor sat atop each one. Every knight carried a long, sharp sword. The weapons seemed to be constructed from solid gold while the entire hilt of the sword was solid diamond. These swords should have been incredibly heavy. But, the men who rode the horses were amazingly strong.

  The evil queen managed to conjure up an army as well. But this army was ten times bigger than the Royal Family’s. These men had muscles of steel, weapons meant to DESTROY, and armor that could deflect any weapon that crossed its path. They arrived on black horses, ready to slaughter the royal soldiers. They appeared out of nowhere, thirsty to fight an intense and bloody battle.