Clash Round 2

¨Change into a horse,¨said Richard pointing his wand at a squirrel. That ought to have been easy enough, but when he said it, it came out with a kind of squeaky sound that somehow was unsatisfying. Perhaps his wand or perhaps the squirrel was not satisfied either because instead of the loud bolt which was supposed to emanate from his wand a tiny spark came out and touched the squirrel. When the smoke cleared there was no horse, but a buzzing insect which Richard recognized as a horsefly. It flew up to his face, and seemed to laugh at him before flying away.

¨Is something wrong with my voice?¨ he asked his sister, Lila, who was sitting by herself on a stump.

¨You do sound a little bit. . .funny,¨ said Lila. ¨Do you think you might be getting sick?¨

¨I don´t feel sick, but it´s going to make casting spells difficult.¨

¨Well,¨said Lila, ¨Do you think you´ve got problems? I´m bleeding.¨

She stood up and showed Richard that there was blood on her dress.

¨How´d that happen? Did you cut herself on something?¨

¨No, I think it´s just something that can happen when a girl is my age.¨ She sighed. ¨I wish Mom were here. She might be able to help me with this.¨

Richard looked at his sister and thought he saw tears forming in her eyes. He shrugged, ¨Do you want a hug. . .or something?¨

Lila nodded and opened her arms for an embrace.

While it was happening, Richard reflected that maybe hugging his sister was not as awful a thing as he had thought, but then he reminded himself that whatever else you said about hugs, they wouldn´t help free Gulon.

¨Well,¨he said drawing away, Ï guess we should start looking for this key.¨

Just then, there was loud chattering noise. Richard looked up in time to see an orange colored monkey come swinging from the woods.

¨Well, hello,¨ said LIla brightening as she always did in the presence of an animal. ¨What can we do for you?¨

The monkey chattered noisily.

¨You can do something for me?¨asked Lila.

The monkey scampered away for a minute and came back with a handful of flowers which it handed to Lila.

"Well," said Lila, "They're very pretty, but I don't understand--"

The monkey made another sound and some gestures.

"Öh, I see," said Lila. "Ï 'm going to need some privacy." She stepped away behind some trees.

When she came back out, she smiled at Richard and the monkey. "Thank you. That helped a great deal."

"What did you do?" asked Richard.

"I rubbed those flowers on certain parts of my body. I feel much better now."

Richard wasn't sure how he felt about the image of his sister rubbing flowers on her private areas, but he didn't have long to think about it. He heard an odd voice cry, "Aha!"

He turned and recognized the competitor named Braed emerging from the forest with a dagger raised. "Now then," said Braed, "I believe I will take that thing." He held up a small collar and rope.

It took Richard a moment to understand what he was talking about, but when the monkey let out a cry of fear and hid cowered near Lila, Richard got the idea.

Lila must have gotten the idea too, because she put a protective hand on the monkey and said, "You can't have him."

Richard found himself feeling less indignant and more curious. "Why do you want a monkey?"

"Hah!" said Braed. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you? Well, then shouldn't the monkey belong to whomever is clever enough to recognize its importance?"

"I'm not sure a monkey should belong to anyone but itself,"said Lila, "but if it must belong to anyone perhaps it should be those who will treat it the best."

The monkey screeched an agreement.

"Foolish kids," said Braed, and he came forward with a dagger and a whip.

Richard decided to take action. He may not have shared his sister's concern for the monkey, but he didn't care for being called a "foolish kid". He waved his wand at Braed.

There was a puff of smoked, and then instead of Braed, there was a large wingless dragon standing in front of the twins.

"What did you do, Richard?" asked Lila.

"Not what I intended," Richard admitted."I seem to have turned that guy into a dragon." He couldn't help smiling. "I must be a more powerful wizard then I thought." At this, the dragon seemed to look at him strangely.

"Well, this spell isn't very helpful right now," said Lila. "That dragon is more dangerous then a person would have been."

"Right," said Richard, "let me see if I can undo it." He waved his wand again. There was another flash and the dragon seemed to be replaced by a naked human.

"Is that Braed?" asked Lila. She peeked at the human. "Oh wow!"she exclaimed. "It looks like Braed, but it's a woman."

"Are you sure?" asked Richard

"I would know."

Richard got excited. "Do you know what this means? My magic can change a man into a woman. I've never heard of any wizard in the world doing that. I may be the most powerful wizard in history!"

Braed spoke up, "Actually kid--"

But the twins wouldn't let her finish. "Don't you think you should change her back?" said Lila. "It's kind of unnatural and it's not like it will help us win the contest."

"Let's see if I can change her back," said Richard.

"That's just it," said Braed. "You can't change me--"

But Richard waved his wand anyway. There was a flash and Braed seemed to change again.

Lila peeked cautiously. "He's a man again. You did it Richard."

"You imbeciles!" said Braed. "Your magic didn't change me into a dragon. I'm a were-dragon."

Richard was disappointed. "Really? But what about turning you into woman."

"I was a woman all along. I just pretended to be a man." He paused because the two were looking at him blankly. "It 's complicated."

"But you are a real man now," said Lila. "Did my brother's magic do that?"

Braed became more pensive and seemed to look at himself. "I guess so. Oh for heaven's sake! Let me put on some pants before we discuss this any further."

After he had solemnly dressed himself, he said, "Look. Turning me into a man is actually a pretty big favor."

"It is?" asked Richard.

"Trust me. You wouldn't understand. But I am willing to return the favor."

"Great!" said Lila. "How about you agree to leave that poor monkey alone."

"I will do better then that. I will tell you why I wanted the monkey in the first place. It will mean withdrawing from the contest, but I rather think you two deserve to win in my place."

Richard was interested. "Your saying this monkey has something to do with freeing Gulon?"

"Absolutely. I think I may have been the only one to figure it out. You see, you know how we are supposed to find a key."

"So?"

"So, it's a monkey." Then he laughed and walked away leaving the twins alone.

Richard felt a little incredulous. Do you really think that's it?"

"I don't know,"said Lila. She looked at the monkey. "Can you help us free Gulon?"

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