“What’s happening?” asked the prince.

  “I cannot say.” Said Hoxley. “But I believe it is in our best interests to leave this place. Come. Everyone.” The companions followed Hoxley out of Spellvale. And as they walked, a spiteful pair of hateful eyes watched from beyond the edge of the shadows.

  “You’ll come back.” Hissed a dark form as it slithered back into the depths. “You’ll return with your friends and I will be waiting…”

  Upon the trail west, the prince seemed so anxious that he practically skipped alongside Hoxley.

  “Just you wait.” He said with a wide smile. “The king will take us in and prepare a huge feast to receive us. And while we eat and fill our stomachs until we’re good and stuffed I’ll wager he’ll lay out his grand plan of how he’s going to help me unseat my uncle from the throne.”

  “I suppose we’ll have to see.” Hoxley said with a feigned half smile as she kept her eyes on the horizon.

  “How can you be so calm?” he asked. “This is it! This is what all the walking and fighting and freezing on that mountain was for! Once we have his majesty’s backing this whole tragedy can begin its end. I feel things are going to turn around Hoxley. I feel it and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, what everyone has done!” he waved to the others. “We’re going to get justice for what my uncle has done. He’s going to pay dearly for my parents…for Idris…for all that’s happened. You should be excited like I am! For everything you’ve done I’m going to see to it that you have a place in my court to give good advice.”

  “That does sound nice, your highness, but I already have a job delivering my letters.”

  “I’m offering you a place in my royal court to do as you please and give me advice on how I can best serve my people!”

  “What if she wants to do something else?” asked Ignatius from behind. “Suppose she has plans of her own and being part of your grand menagerie of helpers and advisors isn’t part of it?”

  “Anyone would give an arm and a leg to be in a royal court.” Said the prince. “Tell him, Hoxley. Tell Ignatius how nice it could be to surround yourself with art and wine and make the decisions that command an entire kingdom.” Hoxley said nothing. “Well? Nothing to say, eh? See? Hoxley realizes what a fortunate chance this is to improve her station in life.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my station, your highness.” she finally said. “And as for art and wine, I have plenty along my routes. Every day I see a new tapestry of sky and surroundings change before my eyes. They’re familiar but never quite the exact same. The seasons change, the wine tastes different in different places. There’s even beer and hard cider in the different months. To be cooped up in the same room with the same people might be practical for some like you, which there is nothing wrong, but as for me, it might just be a step backward.”

  “You’ll change your mind.” The prince insisted. “You’ll see and I’ll make you change your mind.” Ignatius and Hoxley shared a quick glance to voice their silent disbelief but left the exchange at that.

  “Perhaps we will see.” She said, hoping the topic might fade. Behind them, the twins walked side by side, each one fighting to get the other to either pause on the open page of the dusty tome or turn to the next.

  “Turn the next.” said Siouxsie

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “I’m not done reading it, bug kisser.” Said her twin

  “I don’t kiss bugs, you lizard hoarding weirdo.”

  “Lizard hoarding? Those are choice words coming from someone who keeps a colony of smelly bats in their clothes!”

  “My bats do NOT smell!”

  “Quiet down you two, or I’ll take that book back.” barked Ignatius. The twins quickly lowered their voices but could be heard still whispering insults at one another as they peered through the pages. Morell brought up the rear, a few steps behind the twins, content to occasionally peer over Siouxsie’s shoulder to see what she was interested in when he wasn’t making notes in a book of his own. Occasionally Robert would hop on his broom and scout ahead only to return minutes later and inform Hoxley that the road was clear. She had the group stay a dozen paces within the tree line for safety whenever she could manage.

  “It shouldn’t be far now.” She said. “Robert? Would you please look over that next long rise? The western castle should be visible from there.”

  “I can do that.” said Robert, jumping his broom and soaring away.

  “Is something the matter?” asked Ignatius.

  “The road has been completely clear since we left Oldvale.” She pondered aloud. “Even for those who don’t go into Oldvale, the regular path goes right in front of it. We should have seen someone by now; a merchant, a messenger, a cart, a traveler. Anything. But it’s been an empty road the whole time, even in the middle of the day. It doesn’t seem right. My intuition says beware.”

  “Then we should all be cautious. Siouxsie, put your book away for now and keep watch. Your highness? Morell? Keep your eyes sharp, Hoxley says something is suspicious.” Siouxsie jumped her broom, shot straight up thirty feet into the air and raced across the treetops out of sight. Hoxley paused to stand perfectly still. “What is it now?” Ignatius asked her.

  “Nothingness.” Said the centaur girl, her head and eyes tracking in every direction. “Listen; no bugs, no birds…we’ve been close to a kingdom for some time, and I’ve not heard the toll of its bells. It’s as quiet as dunking your head into a pond.” Hearing her words, the others parked their ears to notice the same thing.

  “It’s not natural.” Morell said. “I’ve never witnessed such a…a nothingness.”

  “How can this be?” asked Loxo in a rare moment of lacking his usual bravado “There have been so many surprises as of late. What sorcery can hush an entire land?”

  “Probably the kind that sends lightning and ice fiends.” said the shadow girl sourly from within the prince’s pockets. It was that moment when the twosome came soaring back on their brooms, each of their faces a mask of worry.

  “Hoxley! Come quick!” shouted Robert, he and Siouxsie waving them closer. “Something’s happened! Hurry!”

  “Come on, everyone.” Hoxley said to the others as she picked up a gallop. The group didn’t travel far behind the witchly pair before they came upon the crest of a hill that overlooked the western kingdom. What they found left each one with a chilled feeling of dread racing up their spine. The kingdom lay hushed and quiet. Each of the witches and the pirate produced compact spyglasses that elongated for them to look through.

  “What can you see?” Hoxley asked.

  “Death and devastation.” Ignatius said as he handed over his monocular for her to see for herself. When she looked through the strange device things that should be far away seemed very near. It was terrible. Animals from the surrounding farms and markets lay dead and rotting in the open, horses toppled to their sides, the carts they were attached to lay spilled just the same. People dotted the landscape in the same manner. Men, women…children. Despite most of the land being dead, the presence of scavengers in the form of vultures and buzzards ate their fill of the carrion served.

  “What abomination…” Hoxley said, lowering the monocle to hand it to the prince for him to see. Her eyes were already watering from the sight. “It’s…it’s awful.” She covered her mouth and turned her face away.

  “No, no, no, this can’t be…” the prince said in disbelief. “What can this mean, Ignatius?”

  “If I had to make a guess, I’d say that the forces who’ve pursued us for so long passed us by while we were in Oldvale, or even arrived before then. The bloat on the carcasses of those farm animals suggests that they’ve been in the sun longer than a day. The forces that have crippled your kingdom may have done the same here as well. Let us hope the subjects of your kingdom have not suffered the same fate as these poor souls…” he lowered the monocle and tucked it away. “They are beyond the reach of mercy now.”

  “What can we do?” the prince asked Hoxley. “Did we come all this way for nothing?”

  “It’s hard to say.” She frowned and thumped the butt of her spear upon the ground. “I’m afraid I’ve never seen anything like this before. The magnitude of such waste and death are unnatural and cruel if they’re intentional. But we won’t learn the meaning or cause of any of this if we stay here.”

  “So, we’re going?” asked Morell

  “If the witches don’t object, I’d have them scout ahead, keeping a safe distance and telling us what they see. We don’t know if whomever has done this is still here or moved on. If their presence is detected we must leave; because if their power can do this to an entire kingdom, they’d make short work of us.”

  “Then we will scout the surrounding area and perhaps more.” said Ignatius, hopping his broom to fly. “We’ll return soon.” The three rocketed away and split up to canvas more area while Hoxley and the others concealed themselves in the undergrowth near the tree line. The witches didn’t return immediately, but in time Ignatius and Robert set down on the path and the others emerged to greet them.