“Loxo, they’re people. If we hadn’t explored the dungeon they would have starved to death and no matter what they’ve done that’s no way for any living thing to meet its end. I asked them their crimes and they were all petty offenders. Had they been murderers then I’d have to rethink our plan.”

  “And what is our plan?” he asked.

  “We’ll use those we have at our disposal to help the lame. I think that’s the best we can do.”

  “And the man you questioned; you know him?”

  “I know him. He’s a good and honest man and a seasoned soldier who is adept with many weapons. I believe our goals may align.”

  “He looks to be a brute. What exactly are our goals here, Hoxley? What are we going to do with a kingdom full of people struck dumb my magic? What can we do? Couldn’t we just leave?” Hoxley stopped in her tracks and scowled at the pirate.

  “Is that what you would have me and the others do, Loxo?” she asked in a low angry voice “Leave them? Leave them all here to wither and waste away to their deaths? I thought better of you. I could have left you to roast in those stocks in Woodford before they hung you from a tree. But no, I thought there might be some goodness left in you, some actual decency to try and change your ways and contribute to the societies you have no trouble filching from. I thought I pulled you into my company so that you could walk the straight and narrow even for a short while and here it is the first opportunity you have to help these people your first inclination is to fill your pockets and ride off to your next adventure with women and wine! I am furious beyond words, Loxo.”

  “You seem to have quite a number at your disposal now, my dear Hoxley.”

  “Don’t you ‘dear Hoxley’, me. I know who you are and what you do but I also know you’ve got goodness in you, and it has been my only goal to bring that goodness to the surface so that it might replace the sour wildness that seems to guide you from head to toe.”

  “And why bother doing this?” asked Loxo. “There’s no way this entire kingdom can ever repay you for what you’ve done here should you succeed.” Hoxley grew hot beneath the horns and she could no longer hold her tongue in the presence of such selfishness.

  “IT’S not about being repaid, loxo!” She shouted. “IT’S about kindness! IT’S to be given away at every opportunity! it is not always profitable! it is not always fair, it is not always given back, but it is the right thing to do and it is what i will do regardless of whether you are here or not! look at all these people laid dumb and defenseless! this is the test of the will! if you are not up to it, then by all means fill your pockets with trinkets and be gone from my sight!” She stopped to take a long deep breath before she held the tip of her razor-sharp spear an inch from his chest. “But mark my words Loxo, if you do so and turn your back on me now in these people’s time of need, then we are no longer friends or acquaintances… we might even be enemies and you should know I am not lenient with any enemy I may have. I tell you now that I don’t have any enemies other than those who have been chasing us or sending lightning ice monsters and fires after us. But if you want to test me and see how I am when I’m at my worst then go ahead and walk out.” She withdrew the finger and marched ahead, taking the only torch with her. “Are you coming or not?”

  “Yes, very much so, Hoxley Dearest.” He said taking a look back at the desperate faces in the cells.

  The companions gathered together and helped themselves to the royal food stores. Eager hands pushed themselves into baskets and bins to grab fruits and vegetables and meats and nuts. Mouths and stomachs and satchels filled themselves in no time. Once they were done eating, the members of the party came back to huddle up in the throne room with its carpet of invalids.

  “What are we going to do?” asked the prince. “These people can’t feed themselves and we can’t just keep giving them water. They need real food or they’ll all perish in a few days.”

  “Not an easy problem to fix.” Said Ignatius, deep in thought and scratching his chin.

  “Perhaps drinkable food.” Offered Morell. “A broth,”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “A soup?” asked Robert

  “A drinkable broth.” Morell pondered aloud. ”Nothing with anything solid in it.”

  “We don’t want anyone to choke.” Said the shadow girl

  “Definitely not.” Said Siouxsie. “I couldn’t live with myself if I had caused someone to choke.”

  “I could make a lean mushroom broth if I had enough stock.” Morell said.

  “I like this idea,” added Hoxley. “If Morell has something of a plan, then I suggest we follow it. Does anyone else have a better idea?” she asked as she looked about the group. No one seemed eager to make an offer. “No? very well then. Morell? We’re going to follow your advice. What would you need to make this broth?”

  “We’d need a lot of broth to feed a small kingdom.” He said. “I’d need lots of big cauldrons and pots to cook in, lots of water, lots of firewood to cook everything, some spices and seasonings if we can manage.”

  “You sound like you’ve done this before.” Said the Prince.

  “I cook for my grandfather all the time. He said before an expression of sadness fell upon the boy. “Or at least I used to.” Hoxley put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

  “You’ll do a fine job.” She told him as she looked around the faces in the room. “And we’ll all pitch in to make it a success, won’t we?”

  “Yes!” said the twins and the others.

  “Of course, we will.” Said Ignatius. “Tell us, Morell. What we each do to help you?”

  “To make this broth I’ll need more mushrooms than what we have in the kitchen stores and my backpack. “I’ll need a few people to search the edge of the woods for more mushrooms. They should be abundant in shady spots and near fallen trees.”

  “That sounds like a job for the three of us.” Said Ignatius, waving to his brother and sister. “We can comb the woods faster on our brooms, but there is a problem; we don’t know which kinds of mushrooms we’re looking for.”

  “We’re going to need a lot of mushrooms, but we have to be careful which ones are picked. Some can be poisonous. Bring back as many as you can but don’t add any to the pots in the kitchen until I’ve had a chance to look through every single one. One mistake in spotting a bad one and we could kill everyone.”

  “Then we’ll leave it to you.” Said Ignatius with a nod and a smile. “Twosome, to the woods.” He said. The twins followed him to the window and the three leapt out into the air before mounting brooms and flying away.

  “And the rest of us?” asked Hoxley. “Wood and water, pots and cauldrons?”

  “Yes! Lots of each please!”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. Your highness, you’re with me on drawing water from a spring.”

  “What about Loxo?” asked Prince Damron. “What’s he doing?” Hoxley looked around the room and suddenly realized that the pirate was absent. Twice, three times she looked around the room to make sure he wasn’t lounging before she looked back to the prince.

  “The pirate may have plans of his own. For now we’ll choose not to rely on him. Morell? Start the fires and gather pans. We’re about to cook a meal suitable for an entire kingdom.”

  For hours the companions toiled in the kitchen. Witches returned periodically to hand satchels full of fresh mushrooms through the kitchen window and Robert lent his ability to light the cooking fires. Once collected, all the fungi lay heaped in a magnificent pile and Morell went to work with his grand tome opened wide to begin identifying the specimens in masse. The others looked on in awe as Morell masterfully separated the good from the bad without hardly a sideways glance to his book. Most of them were “white buttons”, a common mushroom most of the party was familiar with. Morell knew all of them; red ones, white ones, brown ones, all of them. Every so often he’d get excited about a shroom and set it aside or seal it away in one of his jars for later study. All the other companions took away the poisonous ones to be discarded or destroyed in the fire. Once the good ones were amassed, Hoxley used her spear to dice the mushrooms into smaller and smaller pieces until the remains were as fine as the spices. Five cauldrons cooked simultaneously with chef Morell minding it all, stirring and tasting each of the batches. Every so often he’d hold one mushroom up and ask if anyone knew what it was.