Pridwen sailed through the night, the ship traversing river after river. And as a cloudy and rainy morning welcomed them the next day, the children found themselves surrounded by a barren yet grassy and boggy expanse.

'It has to be taking us somewhere,' said Arthur as the three of them lay down on the deck, tired. 'Surely. It would have stopped by now if it was just helping us escape.'

'But where?' asked Merlynna as she stroked her flying cat.

Arthur shrugged.

'Hopefully the ship's taking us somewhere where the Shadow will not find us,' said Little Johnny.

Despite Pridwen flying through the water with incredible speed, Arthur craned his neck to make sure they weren't being followed.

They weren't.

Arthur lay his head back down but then suddenly Fury perked up from Merlynna's lap and darted into the air, his eyes trained on something somewhere up ahead.

The children bolted to their feet, stared over the bow but they didn't see anything except for more barren grassland.

'What is it?' Merlynna said as Fury flapped his wings vigorously right beside her.

The flying cat just continued his gawking even when a noise from above garnered the children's attention.

Looking up, Arthur saw the wind had gone from the sails, and Robin's feathers had stopped spinning and were now floating down towards him. And when he grabbed them, it was then that he noticed they were slowing down.

'Are we about to stop?' asked Merlynna.

'It seems so,' said Little Johnny.

'But there's nothing around.'

The children kept their eyes peeled for any sign of something out of the ordinary. And it didn't take long before Arthur saw it.

He was just gazing at a patch of grass when a tree suddenly popped out from the ground.

'Whoa! Did you two see that?' he gasped.

'See what?' Little Johnny and Merlynna said together.

'That over there.' Arthur pointed at the lonely yet majestic tree. 'It just . . . it just . . . it just shot out from nowhere.'

'Are you sure?' asked Merlynna.

'I swear.'

It was then that another tree mushroomed from the grass. This time, all three saw it.

'WHOA!' snapped Little Johnny before more and more appeared. 'What's going on?'

Arthur shrugged. 'I don't know. Could it be magic?'

'Oh, yes,' said Merlynna. 'This is definitely magic.'

'Fairy magic?'

'Possibly. But possibly not.'

The children continued to watch as more and more trees reached for the skies until they found themselves surrounded by a thick deep forest.

With a look of awe plastered on his face, and as birds chirped and critters croaked, Little Johnny said, 'I guess this is our final destination.'

'It appears so,' Merlynna replied as the ship had slowed even more.

'Whatever this place beholds,' said Arthur, 'bad or good, we must stick together.'

Around a bend in the river they drifted before entering a tiny lake. And it was there that Pridwen came to a complete stop.

'I know that look, Fury,' Merlynna burst out as the flying cat flicked his tail back and forth. 'Don't you dare.'

But Fury, as usual, did not listen. With a sly purr, and as Merlynna attempted to grab him, he scampered from the ship and into the forest.

'Come back,' the young witch cried before leaping into the water without any thought.

The boys rushed over to the side of the ship, peered down and saw Merlynna swimming towards the shore of the lake.

'What did I just say, Merlynna?' Arthur said loudly. 'We need to stick together.'

'Come on,' said Little Johnny. 'We need to go after her.'

The boys too jumped overboard. And as their shoes touched the water, the ship transformed back into King Arthur's shield. Then using it, Arthur and Little Johnny paddled, followed Merlynna to the shore, where they watched as she crawled out and disappeared into the trees.

Not long after, the soaking boys were racing after her through the forest's undergrowth. But with everything they were carrying, they were just too slow and soon lost her.

'Where'd she go?' huffed Little Johnny.

'I don't know,' Arthur panted in reply. 'But we need to find her.' He then looked up to see if he could find Fury darting through the trees or perched somewhere but all he saw were branches and leaves.

Suddenly, a yell punctured the air.

The boys glared at each other, snapped in frightened whispers, 'Merlynna,' before racing in the direction of the cry.

Through a creek they slogged, under a tangled mass of enormous roots they crawled and over a rocky outcrop they leapt before reaching a small clearing.

'Arthur, Little Johnny,' shrieked Merlynna's voice. 'Help me.'

The boys looked up and saw Merlynna ensnared in a net high in the trees.

'Get me down from here,' the young witch added.

'What happened?' Arthur strained.

'One second I was running on the ground and the next I was up here trapped in this.'

'Don't worry,' Little Johnny bellowed, 'I'll get you down. Just sit tight.'

'You're not going to climb all the way up there are you?' asked Arthur.

'I don't see any other way we can get Merlynna down.' Little Johnny placed his staff on the forest floor and stepped towards the closest tree, ready to climb, but just then, and with a whoosh, a net closed around him and he was slung into the air.

'Little Johnny!' Arthur screamed instantly, jumping after his ascending friend, but he was too slow, his grasp just out of reach of grabbing the net. And as he landed back down, that set off his own trap.

Moments later, Arthur screeched, joining Little Johnny's cry of terror. Past branch after branch he went until, and with a violent bump, he came to a stop next to his friends.

'Nice of you two to join me,' Merlynna joked but with a tremble in her voice, which made Little Johnny shoot daggers at her. 'I know, I know. I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be in this mess. It's just with everything that's happened, I didn't want to lose Fury too.'

At this, Little Johnny eased his glare and replied, 'It is what it is. Now let's try and figure out how we can get out of these nets.'

'Maybe I can use the sword to cut us out,' said Arthur, but he quickly noticed that he wasn't holding the conjoined pieces as he had been. 'What? Where'd it go?'

'You dropped it,' came Little Johnny, pointing towards the ground.

Past his feet and through the holes in the net underneath, Arthur stared at the clearing below. And that's where he saw it. He also saw Pridwen next to it. 'Drat.'

'Now how are we supposed to get out?' asked Merlynna.

'Maybe Fury could help,' suggested Arthur and the three of them began calling out for the flying cat.

'FURY!!'

'FURY!!'

'FURY!!'

However, their yelling soon garnered another's attention.

Arthur was about to call out for Fury again, when he saw a bush rustle below.

'Shush, you two,' he said, pointing. 'Look down there.'

'FURY, UP HERE!' bellowed Merlynna, not listening to Arthur.

But it wasn't a flying cat who had caused the bush to move. It was a tall older boy with red paint smeared across his face. And as he stepped out of the tangled thicket, readjusting the bowler hat on his head, he looked up and gave a wicked smile.

'What do we have here?' he growled at Arthur, Little Johnny and Merlynna. 'Children of the Forest? No, I don't recognize you. You must be new? Well, there's a price to pay for being in this wood. And I hope you have enough to hand over because things might get very bad for you.'

'Are you threatening us?' Little Johnny growled back.

'Obviously,' the boy chuckled. 'You must be the smart one.'

'And do you really think you can take on the three of us?'

'Well, you are stuck in my traps, so yes. But if you're still not persuaded, maybe my brothers and sisters may change your mind.'

The boy snapped his fingers and out from the many corners of the forest appeared more and more mean-looking children with red paint smeared on their faces.

Arthur gulped, hoping nobody would notice Pridwen or the sword laying on the ground, before saying. 'We have nothing to give. So leave us be.'

'I see you have a backpack,' replied the boy with the bowler hat. 'We'll take that.'

'Not going to happen.'

The boy with the bowler hat pointed to one of the other red-faced children, a blue-haired girl with a small ax wedged in her belt, and said, 'Get them down.'

'Merlynna,' whispered Arthur, 'maybe it's time to get that yo-yo out.'

'I'm sorry, you two,' she replied, looking ashamed, 'I dropped it somewhere while I was running after Fury.'

The girl with the ax wandered under the nets, ready to take aim at the ropes holding them aloft, when she noticed, and to Arthur's dismay, Pridwen and the sword. And as she picked them up and raised them above her head, she said, 'Look what I just found.'

'Put those down,' Arthur, Little Johnny and Merlynna yelled together.

Arthur then watched as the boy with the bowler hat walked over to the girl.

'These look valuable,' he said before asking Arthur, Little Johnny and Merlynna, 'What are they? And do you have anything more like this in that backpack?' Then turning back to the girl with the ax, he nodded.

The girl raised her weapon and threw it back behind her head. But just as she was about to let loose, the sound of a horn blared through the trees.