Legend of the Woods
Episode 6, The Trail Less Traveled
Thank you, Christine Graves and Ravyne Hawke, for the Writing Prompts that inspired this story. Promptly Written is a wonderful publication.
Poddarius woke to knocks on the bedroom door. He pulled on his robe, crossed the room, and opened the door.
“Vreylil, what is it.”
The solemn-faced Caddo handed Poddarius two folded pieces of paper.
“Sir, the kitchen staff preparing breakfast found this note. I checked the girl’s room, they were not there, and Ms. Clarisa left this note. So I sent a man to check the barn.” Vreylil’s face was etched with lines of concern.
“What? Not in their room; where are they? What does it say, Poddarius,” Lisa Frilarium got out of bed, pulling on her robe and walking to the door. Shimmied past the two men and headed down the hall to the girl’s room.
“Clarisa, Abby? Poddarius, what does it say?” She opened the door to the bedroom, looked inside then turned to face her husband down the hall.
“Poddarius, we have your girls. We need your help. I will meet you Saturday, at 10 am, at Middle Of Nowhere. Don’t be late. Your brother is in need. Heydrick Merkers.”
“Heydrick Merkers? Podd?” Lisa’s question was barely audible.
“Hells, bells,” Poddarius said, then read the note from Clarisa.
Lisa slowly returned to the door where the two men stood.
“Papa, please don’t be angry; Heydrick asked if we would deliver a note to Mort. Abby wouldn’t settle for no, so we are helping. I left this note in case we aren’t home when you and Mama wake.”
“Mort? Podd? Heydrick Merkers? Poddarious! what is going on?” Lisa at first whispered the questions; by the time she asked her final question, she was yelling.
“Vreylil, gather some of your men. May I borrow a horse?” Poddarius asked.
“Sir, horses can not enter Nowhere,” Vreylil said.
“What the hell is going on, Poddarious? Meet me in the middle of nowhere makes no sense.” Lisa Frilarium said.
“Vreylil. Men and horses, please. I am not going to Nowhere. I am going straight to Mort; I’m taking the Trail Less Traveled. I’m going to ensure my girls are safe.” Then he retreated back into the room and began dressing.
“Yes, sir,” Vreylil said and turned to leave.
“Wait, Mort is real? Does that mean that Steven is alive? Vreylil, is Steven Alive?” Lisa Frilarium asked.
“Lisa, I am not getting into all of that right now. I am going to get the girls, then we are leaving.”
Vreylil again started to leave.
“Wait, Vreylil, you answer my question. Is Steven alive?”
Vreylil spoke with one of his men who had come up the stairs.
“Sir, The girls have already entered the Woods. My men witnessed a disturbance in the wheat field last night, and the girls entered the woods at the Great Oak. The Map is missing from the book in the barn.”
“Vreylil, do not ignore me.” Lisa Frilarium said.
Yes, ma’am Steven is alive, or at least the gnomes tell me so. I believe I saw him at the funeral of Poddarious the sixth.”
“Poddarious! Wait, Poddarious?” Lisa Frilarium said. She turned to her husband, who was fully dressed. He looked at her.
“He chose to stay in the Mystic Realm. Father told me he chose to stay. So why should I worry about a brother who chose not to be in my life?” He said and walked past her into the hallway.
“Vreylil, I will meet you and your people at the barn. Please hurry.”
“Yes, sir.” Vreylil removed the butler’s attire as he walked toward the stairs.
“Poddarious?” Lisa began dressing.
Clarisa and Abby
A flurry of noise outside the tent woke Abby; the moon was large and full casting shadows on the tent. One moved, then another; She heard whispers. She touched her sister’s shoulder and shook her gently.
“Um, What Abs,”
As she spoke, the voices outside the tent went quiet and retreated from the tent.
“Sh, there are people outside.”
“Go back to sleep, Abs. It is just Harry’s people keeping watch.” Clarisa laid her head back on the pillow and slept.
Abby got up and exited the tent. The only light came from the full moon and the ghostly green apparition of Harry’s horse.
“Good morning Ms. Frilarium. Excuse the late hour, but my message is urgent.”
Abby turned, and there before her was Brevlodar. His wings spread wide behind him, his chiseled body visible in the moonlight.
“Brevlodar,” Abby said in a half-spoken half sighed word.
“Ms. Frilarium, I have come to urge you and your sister to give the note to The Cowboy and return home. There are dangerous plots in play that Heydrick is not aware of. You and your sister are in grave danger.”
“Will you protect us?” she asked.
“I can only do what I can do, Ms. Frilarium.”
“Please call me Abby.” She said, smiling.
“Yes, of course, Abby. I can only do what I can do. If I am protecting you, then I am unable to protect your father, who will be searching for you. So please, you and your sister must return home. Give the note to The Cowboy; he will take it to Mort.” With that, Brevlodar flew off.
Abby stood watching him, then returned to the tent. Sighing, she closed her eyes.
Clarisa woke to the sounds of many busy feet and hands. Sitting, she stretched. “Abs, it’s morning; let’s get moving. We need to deliver the note and get home.”
Abby Frilarium sat up, stretching a smile on her face. “Brevlodar visited last night. He said we are in danger; we should let Harry deliver the note, and we should go home.”
“Oh, Abs, please? You had a dream about Brevlodar?” Clarisa asked, a twinge of disgust muddling her face.
“No, Claree, it wasn’t a dream. I tried to wake you. Then I went outside, and Brevlodar was there, and he said that to me.”
“Wow. Really, I must have been tired.” Clarisa said.
Abby laughed, “You said wow.”
Clarisa laughed with her, then they wrestled a little, got up, and changed out of the pajamas that came with the tent.
“Ah, good, I was about to wake you both. The waters have settled; the way is clear. We can leave as soon as you are ready.” The Cowboy ghost said. In the sunlight, it was tough to see him. Abby smelt the food, her stomach rumbled, but she couldn’t stop staring at the slight green mist that hung in the air, roughly the shape of a man.
“Wow.” She said.
Clarisa laughed and poked her. “Come on, let’s eat. Mr. Peal, Abs says Brevlodar was here last night. He warned her, saying we should ask you to deliver the note. After that, he said we should return home because we are in danger.”
“Well, what fun is a half-finished adventure, Little Ms?.”
Abby was sure he was speaking to her even though she could barely see him.
“I’m having fun, but it has been terrifying so far. Mama and Papa will be very worried.” Abby said.
They got to the covered pavilion and went to the food line.
“Wow, look at all that food,” Abby said.
“It is quite wonderful, isn’t it,” Clarisa responded.
“Mr. Peal, Brevlodar said, there are dangerous plots in play that Heydrick did not know of. What do you make of that?” Abby asked as she filled her plate.
They turned from the serving line with full plates and picked a table in the shade of the pavilion. The lines and contours of the florescent green cowboy apparition solidified; he sat smiling, chewing on his toothpick.
“Wow.”
He pulled the toothpick from his mouth and leaned forward.
“Ah ah, none of that at the meal table, Mr. Peal,” Clarisa said.
He swallowed and put the toothpick back in his mouth. “Beg your pardon Ms.”
“So, what do you think?” Clarisa asked.
“Well, I don’t know everything, but I can assure you that no harm will come to you as long as I watch over you. That is why Heydrick sent you to me.”
As they ate and spoke, many creatures, men, and apparitions busied themselves cleaning up and packing the gear.
“But, sir, you are dead, a ghost. Can you protect us from things that are real?” Abby asked.
“Ha ha ha, Little Ms., I am not dead; I am part of the Mystic Realm. I can impact the physical realm just as easily as you can. I assure you.”
“Wow,” Abby said.
Clarisa laughed and poked Abby in the side, “Wow.” She said, and they both laughed.
“Have you ever thought of death?” the cowboy asked.
“Well, yes, we just had the funeral for grandpa. So I thought about death recently,” Clarisa said.
“Do you recall how his death made you feel?”
“Yes,” Abby said.
“So when faced with danger, you simply have to remember that there are people who will feel that way if you die. I am sure your parents feel that way now, worried about your safety. You have to say to yourself. Is what I am doing important enough to risk hurting those people. Adventures are important; they give you experience that you can not get any other way. But sometimes, the possibility of harm is too great, dependent upon the goal of your adventure. As far as these dangerous plots, I am not aware, and Brevlodar is a bit uppity.”
“Maybe we should go home, Abs. Mama and Papa are surely awake by now and must be worried sick.” Clarisa said.
“But I wanted to see Mort,” Abby said.
“Either way, Little Ms. We have to get. There is a storm brewing, and the river will be impassable by tomorrow morning.”
“How much longer will the trip to Mort take?” Clarisa asked.
“You won’t be home for another two days at least, Little Ms. Maybe longer; the Mystic Realms have their own sense of time.” The cowboy said and then walked off into the sun, all but disappearing from view.
Clarisa looked at Abby; she was eating. “What,” she said with a half-full mouth once she noticed Clarisa staring at her.
“We need to pass the note to Harry and go home. Papa will be upset as it is. We can’t stay away another two days.”
“OK, I want to see Rosie and Al again anyway. I hope Brevlodar is with them.”
“Abby, please,” Clarisa said.
Poddarious Frilarium
Poddarious arrived at the barn. Vreylil and three other men of the Caddo waited on horseback. They were dressed in levis, a blue button-up shirt, and work boots. A fourth horse waited for Poddarious.
“Poddarious, wait, I need you to explain this to me. I don’t understand. You’ve led me to believe your father and grandfathers to be storytellers all this time. That none of what is in those books is true. And now, just like that, you’re running off to “A trail Less Traveled to See Mort and rescue the girls.”
Poddarious turned and hugged his wife, then stepping back, said. “Lisa, you have always known the truthfulness of the tales of Frilarium farms. You just chose to pretend it didn’t matter to us, just like me. I have to go now. The Mystic Realm has its own sense of time. I need to get the girls.”
He turned and mounted his horse, and the four men rode off through the garden. She followed for a bit stopping under the shade of a tree that sat near a rock wall. It had candle nubs on it; the wax, melted from their burning, now solidified in streams almost reaching the ground.
Across the garden, they emerged onto a broad cobblestone path that seemed flat and straight and faded out of sight far off ahead of them.
“The Trail Less Traveled. I forgot how odd this place was,” Poddarious said.
“Sir. We should have paid the price for safe passage. No good can come of ignoring the laws of the Gnomes.”
“We don’t have time for that; the girls are in danger,” he spurred his horse. The others followed.
Behind them, dark storm clouds formed.
Lisa Frilarium
“Yous gonna pay the price for all dems yahoos?” A heavily New York accented voice said.
Lisa turned, “Oh my,” she said at the sight of Al. He was dressed for his workout; gray sweats, running shoes, and a white towel draped across his neck.
“Beg your pardon?” She asked.
“Passage cross da garden ain’t free. Sombodies gots ta pay the price. Or bad tings could happen.” The Garden Gnome said.
Lisa controlled a laugh and stifled a momentary pang of fear. “I thought the Gnomes were friendly to the Frilariums?”
“Whos a Frilarium? No mattas, really; everyone pays for safe passage. Days won’ts like dees alternations.” Al said, lifting the towel off his neck and snapping it tight in front of him. The sound was strangely loud and reverberated amongst the trees of the garden.
“Oh my,” Lisa said with a start. “Well, sir, One of those men is Poddarious Frilarium the Seventh, and I am Lisa Frilarium, his wife. May I ask what the price for safe passage is? I’m afraid I haven’t been told about that yet.”
“Aaah, so yous da Misses of old numbers seven? Aint’s yous a looker. Hey, mabies, we can get a drink after my workout? Wats, ya say, sweetie?” Al smiled big.
“Oh Al. Stop!” Rosie said, emerging from the shadows of the garden. “Just tell her what she needs to know, so we can send the goodies to watch over Poddarius and his men. Ma’am, I’m Rosie, and this knucklehead is Al.”
“Oh, my, aren’t you a beautiful lady,” Lisa said. Then, stretching out her hand, she said. “Pleased to meet you, and please call me Lisa.”
“Thank you, Lisa. You have to forgive Al he’s ruff around the edges but the best guy ever. So tell her what she needs to know.” Rosie said, looking at Al.
“Candles, One candle for each of da Yahoos dat crossed,” Al said.
“Better bring a green one,” Rosie said. “the bad is already brewing,” She pointed to the sky that grew darker with every passing moment.
“And a red one,” Al said, “and some crackers; I loves me some crackers.”
Lisa looked at the sky. “Oh my, that was fast.”
“Lisa dear, I know this is new to you, but the matter is urgent. Poddarius and his men have crossed into the Mystic realm without paying for safe passage. It is no joking matter. The candles are in the barn. You will need five.”
“Right.” Lisa turned and ran to the barn.
The wind began to blow steady and hard, the rain started, and lightning flashed.
To Be Continued.
Next up is Episode 7, Twisted Paths.
You can find Episode 5, The Guardians and the Cowboy, here.
The adventures in the Mystic Realms start here with Episode 1, Frilarium Farms.
© 2022, T. Mark Mangum
I am T.Mark Mangum. From an early age, I was hooked, addicted to the imagined, unfathomable worlds of Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan, the Lord of the Rings, and many others. I love writing fiction tales. I love writing in multiple genres. However, my favorites are Sci-fi and Fantasy fiction. I am a father of six; we have two cats and two dogs. Tabletop gaming is a passion.
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