A clearing appeared and in it was a giant wooden castle. It rose high into the sky and had turrets and flying buttresses and even a few gargoyles on top. Everything was made out of wood.
A lady was standing outside. She had that same look as the man they saw at the shack.
“Why does she look like that?” Thaddeus whispered.
Galen smiled. “Look over there.”
Thaddeus turned to where Galen was pointing. It was just a tree on the edge of the clearing. But then something happened. An arm popped right out of the trunk. It was followed by a torso and then the legs stepped out. A very tall man yawned and stretched and then walked to the castle. It wasn’t a body suit he was wearing. They were actually made of wood. Tiny twigs poked out of their head for hair. Their clothes were bark, resting on their bodies to look like suits or dresses.
“They look like tree people.” Thaddeus said in awe.
“They’re the spirits of the trees.” Galen explained. “They inhabit this forest. The pilgrims who came thought they had healing powers.”
“Do they?”
“It depends on who you ask. Now let’s get in there.”
The two of them went into the castle. The entryway was huge and stretched up to the ceiling. It smelled like a hardware store. There were tree spirits all around. Some were blocking doors and some were just wandering about.
Off to one side was a tree spirit standing in front of a long table with little knickknacks on it. Thaddeus went there first.
There wasn’t much there except for little sticks.
“Excuse me.” Thaddeus said.
The tree spirit looked down very slowly at the boy. It had dark gold eyes that carried a knowledge not yet known to Thaddeus. “Yes?” It said in a deep voice.
Thaddeus took a wary step back. “Do you have pilgrim amulets?”
“Do I have what?” it’s voice sounded old and wise. It drew out its words to put emphasis on each one.
“They are little clay objects that pilgrims used to carry with them long ago. I think you used to sell them.”
It nodded. “I haven’t sold one of those in a very long time.” Thaddeus’s heart sank. “But,” It continued. “I do think that the king and queen may have one or two in their possession.”
“Do you know if I can speak with them?”
The tree spirit moved its head to one side and then the other. “I don’t know if that is possible.”
Galen came up. “They don’t take visitors?” He asked.
“They might, if you were to ask the guard.”
It pointed over their heads. They turned and saw a tree spirit blocking a large door with markings on it.
“I’ll handle this.” Galen said, starting over to the guard.
“Be nice.” Thaddeus advised.
Galen went up to the guard. “Say, can we see the king and queen? We have official business with them.”
This tree spirit wore ivy that covered its whole body except for its head. Thaddeus took that to be a sign of rank.
“Do you have an appointment?” It asked very slowly.
“No, but I need to speak with them right away.” Galen said, almost threateningly.
“I’ll have to see if they will see visitors today. Stay here and I will be back shortly.”
The tree spirit turned around and went through the door. It was moving so slowly that it took several minutes just to open the door.
“This is going to take a while.” Galen moaned.
“At least we got here.” Thaddeus pointed out.
“I’m not gonna say anything is good until we get an amulet and you’re home.”
“Why do you care so much?” Thaddeus asked.
Galen shrugged. “What? I’m not caring too much. I don’t have anything else to do so I might as well start doing good deeds.”
They waited outside for over an hour before the guard returned.
“Good news.” It said. “You have been accepted in. Please follow me.”
It led the way through a narrow passageway with a high ceiling. The tree spirit took a long time to take each step. Thaddeus wished he could just get around it and go faster. Galen kept making annoyed hand gestures behind its back.
After about ten minutes they came out of the passageway into a room. The floor had a rug and table with several chairs. Two large wood thrones sat in the back of the back of the room and two people sat on them.
“Presenting the travelers to the king and queen.” The tree spirit said.
The king and queen were humans. They wore colorful robes that practically shined in the brown room. They each had crowns on their heads. They glanced up at the visitors but didn’t say anything.
“I shall now take my leave.” The tree spirit said and it started its long journey back to its post.
“Hello there.” Galen said, stepping before the king and queen. “My name is Galen and this here is Thad.”
“Thaddeus.” The boy corrected.
“I told you I don’t care.” Galen whispered. “I have to say it not you.” He turned back to the king and queen. “Anyway, Thad here wants to ask you something.”
Thaddeus suddenly felt very nervous and glared at Galen for making him talk. “Hi, I was wondering if you had any pilgrim amulets.”
Neither the king nor queen took any notice of their visitors or their questions.
Galen looked from one to the other and then back at Thaddeus. “Suppose their deaf?” He whispered.
A side door opened and a little girl came out. She wore a very colorful dress and had a tiara on her head.
“Mummy, daddy, I want to go out, can I?”
The king groaned. “Not again, haven’t you been out today?”
“Yes, but I want to go out again.” The girl whined.
“You’re wearing on us.” The queen said, annoyed. “Why don’t you just go back to your room and play with . . . whatever you have in there.”
“But I want to go out!” The girl screamed.
The king stood up. “Then go out with—” He looked up and saw Galen and Thaddeus. “Who are you?”
Galen looked puzzled at the whole situation. “I just told you. We asked you a question.”
The king squinted at them. “What did you ask?”
“We asked if you have any pilgrim amulets.”
“Pilgrim amulets?” The queen said loudly. “Why would you want pilgrim amulets?”
The little kid did not like the attention taken from her. “I want to go outside!” she screeched.
“Shush darling. You there, whoever you are, we don’t just give away the amulets. You have to—” The king stopped and frowned. “You are humans, right?”
“Yes.” Galen said as though the fact should have been obvious.
The king nodded to the queen and she looked impressed. “You know.” The king said. “We haven’t had humans for dinner for a while. Why don’t you stay till then?”
Galen held up a finger. “To make this clear, you mean eat with us and not eat us, right?”
The king laughed. It was clear he hadn’t laughed in a while. “I like you.” He boomed. “I definitely mean eat with us.”
“Oh, in that case sure.” Thaddeus agreed.
The little girl looked very mad as she tapped her foot waiting for all the talk that wasn’t about her to end. “Now I am going outside.” She said.
“Not yet, Yew.” The queen said. “Why don’t you take these nice people around the castle for us? Show them around.”
“Then can I go outside?”
“Yes, dear.”
She went to the door. “Come on.” She snarled.
Galen and Thaddeus followed her all around the castle. She took them up to the top floor and went down from there. She went very quickly around each floor and only ventured into some of the rooms. She didn’t say a word the whole time.
Every pie
ce of furniture was made of wood. The only things in the whole castle that were not wooden were the blankets on the beds and the towels.
She took them outside after the tour. “That’s the castle.” She said impatiently.
“Thank you very much.” Galen said. “Now what did they say your name was?”
“Yew, like the trees.”
“Very pretty.”
She didn’t respond. Instead she looked at Thaddeus. “What’s your name? Something stupid probably.”
“Thaddeus.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
She led them back into the small throne room where food was being set out on the table.
“I think it’s alright if we eat early. “The queen said. “Everyone take a seat.”
Yew sat next to Thaddeus who sat next to Galen. She looked put out that she didn’t get to spend much time outside. The king and queen sat across the table from them.
There were all kinds of wooden bowls on the table. Some had different soups and some had meat. Some bowls had mashed potatoes and there was also a bowl of cut up vegetables.
“So,” The queen began once everyone was seated and they all had food on their plate, “where did you two come from?”
Galen told them about The Town and how they got there.
“Sounds like not much has changed.” The king said approvingly.
“Why do humans rule the Bell Forest?” Galen suddenly said. Thaddeus wished he hadn’t.
“Someone has to.” The queen answered. “My family has owned the land for years. We built this castle five hundred years ago. Besides they don’t mind. They are very simple beings.” Galen frowned quizzically. “Not that they aren’t smart.” The queen added. “It’s just that they are sort of slow. Invaders used to come in and they couldn’t defend themselves very well. That’s when my family decided that they needed protection.”
Galen shrugged. “Sure.”
“Now then,” The king said, “why do you need amulets?”
Galen bumped Thaddeus with his arm.
“I need one to—” Thaddeus began. He wasn’t sure if he should tell them the actual reason. He glanced at Galen who gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m not from around here and I need the wish to get home.”
The queen leaned forward. “Where are you from?”
“Um, you know the boundary or something?”
“The boundary between the worlds?”
“Between the parts of the world.” Galen added.
“Is that what you mean?” The queen asked. Her eyes flashed over to Yew for just a second and then went back to Thaddeus.
“Yes.” Thaddeus said.
“Oh well, I’m sorry to tell you that you can’t just wish on an amulet.”
“Why not?” Thaddeus burst out.
“Sure every amulet has a wish in it.” The king said. “But you need a sorcerer to unlock the wish.”
Thaddeus moaned. “You do?”
“Indeed.” The queen affirmed.
“Do you know where we can find one?” Galen inquired.
The king thought for a minute. “We once had one employed here didn’t we?”
“Yes, dear, but he escaped remember?” The queen reminded him.
“In that case there is only one thing to do. You two have to go to the sorcerer colony.”
“There’s a sorcerer colony?” Thaddeus asked, surprised that there could be enough of them to form their own colony.
“There is.” The king said. “They can’t live with the rest of society. Nobody wants to live next to someone who could accidentally turn them into a mule or worse. That colony isn’t terribly far from here. It’s North East of here on the coast. If you were to walk it would only take a week.”
“A week?” Thaddeus yelled unintentionally.
“You could always ride down the river.” Yew suggested.
Everyone stared at her.
“That’s exactly what you’ll do.” The king said happily. “You’ll have to ride down in a boat. That’ll get you there by morning. Or if you leave in the morning by evening.”
Thaddeus thought it over. “I suppose we’ll leave in the morning, if that’s alright.”
“Of course. We haven’t had company for a very long time. You can sleep in a couple of the guestrooms upstairs. Remind me after dinner to get an amulet for you.”
They finished their meal and sat around talking for a while. The king went to go find an amulet and came back with a little clay jug. He gave it to Thaddeus and promised that no wish had ever been made on it. Thaddeus put it in his pocket and hoped it would work. If everything went well he would be back at home by suppertime tomorrow.