“Hi Glenn, Alex, and Dryden!” it smiled at them.
“W…Who are you?” stuttered Glenn.
“I’m Mica,” it replied cheerily.
“M…Mica? Like the…” Dryden was interrupted.
“Yes, like the flaky clear rock,” Mica replied. “I was teased in school about it.”
“Oh…” Dryden murmured.
“Anyway, where’s Rei and Problem?” Mica asked.
“Problem! Oh no! He was left in the clearing!” exclaimed Dryden.
“What a shame…oh well, so who am I supposed to transfer my power to?” Mica questioned.
“Transfer?” Dryden stammered.
“Power?” Glenn was confused.
“Uh yea, how else can you gather all the powers together, since I’m dead?” Mica replied.
“I’ll take the power!” Dryden grinned.
“No, you can’t you already have a power,” Mica replied. “There can’t be two powers on a person, they’d cancel each other out!”
“I wish Rei was here…even if that means her wolf would get in the way…” Glenn sighed.
“That’s it! We could give it to Problem!” shouted Dryden.
“Shh! You want the guards in here?” Mica whispered harshly.
“Wait a minute, Problem can’t talk!” Glenn pointed out.
“And he’s not here anyway…” sighed Dryden.
“I got an idea…either of you have a human shaped doll?” Mica asked.
“Let’s see…” Dryden looked into her bag. “I have a bear…umm…uh…an elf…and a voodoo doll.”
“What’s with all the dolls?” Glenn muttered under his breath.
“Get the elf one,” Mica commanded. “I can’t make things come alive…but I can have them be translators.”
“What do you mean?” Dryden didn’t understand.
“What he’s saying is, he can give the power to an animal, but the animal needs something to talk for it so it can cast the spells!” Glenn explained.
“So he’s going to use my doll for it?” Dryden sounded a bit pleased.
“Yep! Right on!” Responded Mica.
“How do we get Problem here?” Glenn wanted to know.
“Unlike your powers, mine are already fully developed, so this will be a snap!” Mica smiled proudly. With that he moved his hand as if he was grabbing an invisible object. In the center of the room, a flash a blue glowed. Sparkles appeared and slowly took the form of their wolf companion.
“Wow,” gasped Dryden, who moved closer to Glenn. Alex walked over and petted Problem, who once he realized where he was, leaped at Alex and licked his face.
“It will take me awhile to cast this spell on the doll, so please wait over there,” Mica stated. The trio leaned against the wall and soon fell asleep.
“Wake up!” the voice was one no one had heard before. Something wet rubbed across Glenn’s face. He woke to find Problem’s head right in front of him.
“Hiya!” Came the voice.
“I think I’m still sleeping…that wolf is talking to me!” Glenn muttered, still asleep.
“No! It’s me, Problem! Wake up! We need to rescue Rei!” The wolf replied. Glenn noticed the elf doll on its back.
“Alright…Alright. What’s the plan?” Asked Glenn.
“Well, while you were snoozing, Alex and Problem were out and they discovered a secret passage to the throne room! That’s where they have Rei!” Dryden explained.
“So we go in and ambush them?” Glenn asked.
“That’s the plan!” Problem grinned, a tooth filled wolf grin.
Alex led the way through many twisting hallways that were dank and dark. Occasionally almost having to strangle Dryden when she shrieked if water dripped on her or if she toughed something “icky”. The group came to a dead end.
“Oh great, now what?” Alex rubbed his hand across the wall as Dryden spoke. Finding the right rock, a door rumbled open and the companions crept in. Rummaging around for what seemed like hours, they finally saw light creeping from a hole. A peek hole into the throne room. Glenn took a deep breath and peered in.
--- End of Part 12---