Amanie and Botog got to their feet. Amanie clutched Tidimew tightly in her arms, as if she meant to hug the life out of her. Tidimew squeaked, wishing she’d loosen her grip. Botog shook his legs, trying to stop them trembling, if anything. Meo lifted her hind leg and scratched behind her ear, waiting for Nala to show them the way.
“So is all this slimy stuff from the trees as well? asked Meo, referring to the film of mucus coating the forest.
“I'm afraid so, their leaves give off a residue which forms a kind of mucus.” said Nala. “You get used to it over time.”
“I doubt it.” thought Amanie, choosing to keep her opinion to herself. She didn’t want to risk offending their guardian angel after all.
“It can’t be very good for you though.” she piped in.
“No I can’t imagine it is.” agreed Nala.
“What about that monster though? She seemed okay.” said Botog, worried that it might come back again.
“Ah well, she’s a monster, things like Pollinda trees don’t bother her.” replied Nala.
“What about you?” inquired Amanie. “It doesn’t bother you either.”
“No, well... I have the amulet don't I.”
“So it protects you from Pollinda trees too? Wow! That’s amazing. I wish I had one.”
“Maybe that’s what you should wish for once we have the ring.” suggested Botog.
“That’s a brilliant idea. I’ll wish we all had one.” promised Amanie, her eyes sparkling like stars.
“Miou!” whined Tidimew, rubbing her arm.
“Poor little thing. I imagine she finds it especially hard, she’s so young after all.” said Nala, caressing her soothingly on the cheek.
“Yeah I think she just wants to go home.” replied Amanie.
“She’s not the only one. This place gives me the creeps.” interjected Meo, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “How much further is this fairy ring anyway? Is it far now?”
“No, it’s not much further at all. We’ll be there before you know it.”
“I hope so, this place makes my hair stand on end. I swear every time I see a tree, I think it’s going to eat me.”
“Yeah me too. They look haunted.” agreed Botog, who could’ve sworn one of them had winked at him earlier, though he guessed he'd just imagined it.
“Well not on my watch, as long as I'm around I wont let anyone eat you. You have my word. It'll take an army of monsters to take you off my hands.”
“We really can’t thank you enough for all your help. We’d be lost without you.” admitted Amanie. After all if it wasn’t for her not only would they probably never have found the magic fairy ring, they almost certainly would’ve wound up dead.
Nala smiled benevolently, her white eyes glistened in the shadows like a pair of newly peeled, hard boiled eggs, salt and peppered with gems.
“I hope it’s not much further though, we really ought to head back before it gets dark.”
“Don’t worry like I said it’s not far, we’ll be there before you know it.”
“Besides once we have the magic fairy ring we can just wish ourselves back. No sense in walking if we don't have to.” said Botog, suggesting what he thought was the obvious solution.
“Since when did you get so smart?” inquired Amanie.
“What are you talking about? I was always the intelligent one.”
“Pah! Pull the other one dung wad.” exclaimed Meo.
“You’re just jealous cause your head’s full of fur balls.” retorted Botog, forgetting his shyness around Nala, all be it momentarily.
“How did you find the magic fairy ring by the way?” asked Amanie.
“Yeah and how comes you didn’t just keep it to yourself?” asked Meo, who now that she thought about it found it a little odd that a stranger would give the ring to a bunch of kids she barely even knew.
“One question at a time please.”
“Sorry.” apologised Amanie.
“Well to answer your first question, I found the ring when I was out walking one day. I saw something shiny in the leaves and low and behold when I bent down to look at it, there it was just staring back at me. Nothing to it really. Ever since then I’ve kept it hidden, safely tucked away, just in case anyone ever had a mind to misuse it. In answer to your second question, I’m just not very materialistic, I guess. I’m happy with what I've got. My needs have always been simple and opportunities like this would be simply wasted on me. It’s best left to the purest of souls, such as your own.”
“But the magic fairy ring disappears at night and always returns in a different place, that means it can’t be the magic fairy ring.” replied Amanie in dismay, who appeared to be on the brink of tears, her eyebrows raised despondently, as the truth dawned on her.
The others looked equally perturbed and drew to a halt.
“Who told you that?” asked Nala, turning to face the children.
“Miou!” squeaked Tidimew.
“I want to go home.” sulked Meo, realising this had all just been a big waste of time, if not one of the worst days of her life.
“Me too.” moaned Botog.
“Oh hush! Don’t be so quick to give up. Besides who told you that?” inquired Nala, addressing herself to Amanie, who seemed to be the authority on the ring, as far as the others were concerned.
“I read it in a book.” replied Amanie, whose heart sank even further.
“Yeah so it has to be true.” added Botog remorsefully.
“Oh nonsense! Books are often inaccurate, especially the one’s you’re talking about. After all who do you think writes them?” Nala shot them an inquisitive look. “Author’s of course, fungi like you and me. And who ever heard of fungi never getting it wrong?” she inquired, raising both eyebrows to emphasize her point.
The children looked confused and didn’t quite know what to say.
“So what else did this book tell you about the ring?” asked Nala.
“Erm… that it’ll grant you any wish you want and that whoever wears it becomes invisible.”
“Well the author got that bit right at least.”
“So then you do have the magic fairy ring?” chirped Amanie, feeling relieved and as if the weight of the world had just been lifted off her shoulders.
“Of course… and I suppose you still want me too take you there?”
“Yes please! We’d be ever so grateful.” said Amanie, who was thrilled at the thought of getting her hands on the magic fairy ring again, clapping her hands together and bouncing up and down excitedly, much to Tidimew’s delight, who had no choice but to bounce up and down with her.
“And you’re sure it’s the right one?” added Meo, who couldn’t quite believe their luck, after what had felt like such a huge disappointment.
“Of course I'm sure. In fact I’m as sure as sure can be. Besides what I didn’t tell you and what anybody who’s worth their salt should know is that I’m the rings guardian… I’ll bet your book didn’t tell you that now did it.”
“No, the book never mentioned anything about a guardian.” admitted Amanie.
“Typical!” tutted Nala. Whose look conveyed that she was not surprised. “Well the ring has a guardian, a protector, someone chosen by fate to insure that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, that only the purest of heart may use it and that by the stroke of midnight when it is returned to me, it may never fall into the same hands again.”
“So no one gets more than their fair share, I suppose. After all it’s not good to be greedy.” said Amanie.
“Exactly.”
“Or
that she found us.” corrected Amanie.
“Yeah and in more ways than one.” added Meo.
“Well I certainly won’t argue with that.” replied Nala.
“Oh I can’t wait! I half suspected the magic fairy ring was nothing but a load of old twoddle, but now I know it has to be true.” said Meo excitedly, her eyes as wide as saucers, her hair bristling.
“Whatever happened to going home?” inquired Amanie, good humouredly.
“Oh never mind that. We can do that later.” answered Meo.
“Well you’ve certainly changed your tune.”
“Oh don’t act like you weren’t thinking exactly the same thing.” replied Meo, who felt the need for a retort of some kind.
“Was not.”
“Were too.”
“Now, now children, you can settle this later, if you like. Right now we need to get a move on though.” said Nala, betraying just a hint of impatience.
“Sorry.” apologised Amanie.
“Apology accepted. Now come on. Off we go.” instructed Nala, herding them through the forest again.
“Hey what happened to your clothes.” asked Meo.
“What about them sweetheart?”
“They’ve changed colour. They were white a minute ago, now they’re pink.”
“Really! Oh! Erm... It’s nothing. A wizard gave them to me. Why I must have gone through five different colour changes this morning alone. Seriously it’s a struggle just to keep up sometimes.”
“A Wizard.” repeated Meo, curious to find out more.
“Yes but never mind that. Lets just concentrate on the ring for now shall we. We can always discuss wizards later if you like, perhaps over dinner.”
“Okay.” Meo reluctantly agreed, though she’d much rather have heard about the wizard now rather than later, dinner or no dinner.
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