The billy goats looked at one another and started whispering amongst themselves. The troll stood
on the rock and gave Virginia a pleading look. She did help him get out the splinter and she was only going to
borrow the shoes. Maybe that's not so bad. He contemplated to himself.
"We shall accept." The billy goats finally said. "Baaaah…..but only on one condition.
Only one of you can wear them and you must return them by tomorrow." Virginia nodded and accepted the terms.
"Don't worry, Mr. Troll. We will return your shoes. We will take good care of them."
The troll hesitated but finally got down off the rock and handed Virginia his dirty brown bag.
"How do the shoes work?" Patrick chimed in now that he had finally completed the little bridge that he
was fixing for the billy goats. He noticed that Melody was looking very distressed and she was absentmindedly picking
at the ends of her sleeve and she was also biting on her lower lip. Something was obviously bothering her so he
went up to her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She looked up at him from her daze and gave a weak smile.
Now that Melody knew the shoes were the magical Shoes of Truth, she became afraid. What if the
shoes revealed that she was out to kill Virginia? She silently wished that the billy goats would change their minds
but it was already too late.
"Baaaah…..whoever wears the shoes will speak the truth when asked a question about anything
or everything. But only 4 questions are allowed within a day. They aren't of the best quality so the recharging
time is about a day." The smallest billy goat explained. "Now, choose who will wear them and I will have
the Slave Troll program the shoes so it will only allow that person to wear them for the day."
Virginia and Wolf looked at each other then peered over at Melody and Patrick. Patrick shrugged
to let them know that he didn't really care if he wore them or not. Melody looked like she wasn't paying much attention
to the whole thing.
"What do you think?" Virginia whispered to Wolf. "Should one of us wear them?"
Wolf scratched at his forehead and deliberated over the situation. Virginia and him both wanted
to know who was behind the sabotaging but they weren't sure if Melody or Patrick were the instigators. What if
it was someone else entirely? But whoever wore the shoes would automatically know the answer to anything so it
didn't really matter who wore them.
"Virginia, you wear them." Wolf finally said after contemplating. Virginia raised her
eyebrows in question.
"What if I become obsessed with the shoes like last time?" She asked with a worried
frown.
"Don't worry my love, I'm hear for you if you need me. I won't let you get enchanted like
before." Wolf reassured Virginia.
She finally nodded and agreed with Wolf. She told the billy goats to program the shoes for her
to wear.
The billy goats told their slave troll to program the shoes accordingly. The troll took the shoes
out of the bag from Virginia and began winding up the shoes. Twisting it this way and that. The shoes were plain
looking. There was nothing extravagant about it at all. It looked like a pair of brown penny loafers actually.
The troll fitted the shoes to Virginia's feet and the shoes wrapped itself around her feet snuggly and tight. The
troll took them off again and began pressing it here and there.
"Alright, the shoes are now fitted to your feet only. So only you can wear them. If someone
needs to ask you a question, they must speak your name first while you wear the shoes. You can take them and put
them on whenever you like. But it can only work 4 times." The troll announced after polishing the shoes on
his sleeve. "I want them back. Don't walk in mud with them. Keep them clean and try not to walk around in
them too much."
Virginia took the shoes but didn't put them on right away. She thanked the troll and the billy
goats and stuffed the shoes into her knapsack. Patrick and Melody gathered up their things also and Wolf said a
farewell to the billy goats ordering them to eat more. The billy goats baahed and promised they will try. They
instructed the slave troll to pick up their little bridge and take it over to the footprint lake.
"Baaaah….meet us back here tomorrow to return the shoes." The smallest billy goat cried
out behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pip landed in a tree to rest his tired little wings. He had flown as high as he could possibly
fly and finally breached the barrier that was holding all the dwellers in the 6th Kingdom prisoner. Afterwards,
when he had flown over the boarder he had flown all over the 2nd Kingdom searching for anyone who looked like that
Virginia girl he had seen at the King's palace. He had begun to lose hope when he finally spotted a group of four
human beings trudging along in a field of tall yellow grass.
He was now following them unnoticed because he had also seen his keeper, Melody, amongst the
group. He sure didn't want her to notice him or she might do something drastic. He pruned his feathers and perched
himself in a nearby tree watching over the group of travelers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was tall grass all around in the field. There weren't many places to hide for Bon and his
two companions that he had brought with him. They crouched low in the field and watched from a far distance Wolf
and his traveling partners. They had finally caught up to them a short while ago and had been secretly watching
them from afar. Bon didn't know when to make his move w/o being seen. His patience was running low.
He hated Wolf just as much as the Sire hated Wolf's father. Bon and Wolf use to compete in annual
contests at school when they were younger. That was when the Tazzies were still allowed to roam the lands above
the ground. Wolf use to always win every competition and Bon always came in second after Wolf. It became an obsession
for Bon to try and beat Wolf at everything.
He remembered the day quite well actually. Wolf had just beaten him in the triathlon competition.
Wolf was oblivious to Bon's hatred towards him and actually considered Bon a good friend. That's what Bon used
to his advantage. He was growing insane from jealousy and after the triathlon; he decided he couldn't take it anymore.
He was going to get rid of his rivalry once and for all.
He had planned to get Wolf into one of the barns in a nearby town and set it on fire with Wolf
inside. Wolf had figured out the deception and confronted Bon. They struggled and Wolf finally gave up and left
for he didn't want to put up with the horrible betrayal. Bon roared with outrage and threw his kerosene lamp into
the barn. The barn burst into hot flames that licked at the rafters. That's when he heard horrible screaming coming
from inside. It was the screaming of small children. They were being burned alive. When he realized what he had
done, he fled the scene.
The villagers discovered the fire and eventually put it out. But they also found the remains
of the charred bodies of three little young children. The residents were devastated. People slowly came forward
and claimed that they witnessed a Tazzie setting fire to the barn. Outraged parents of the children and their friends
went on a rampage to find the culprit and in the process they murdered several Tazzies and Tazzie families.
Bon went into hiding and so did many of the Tazzies. The lives of the Tazzies were ruined for
they were now being hunted down like animals. None of them knew it was Bon who had set the fire. Wolf knew, but
he had kept silent.
If it hadn't been for Wolf, none of it would've happened. Bon thought to himself. To him, it
was all the fault of Wolf. Because of him, the lives of all the Tazzies were destroyed and they had to live in
hiding all these years. Bon had to get rid of Wolf to revenge his people. And also he needed to get rid of him
for he was the only one who knew about Bon's part in the whole disaster.
The Sire's son had been killed in the process of the whole massacre. He had thought Wolf's father
had killed his son because that had been what Bon had told him. But it was actually Bon who murdered the Sire's
son because Tad had found out it was Bon who set fire to the barn and he was going to report him and get the whole
situation under control. Bon wouldn't have it and he slit Tad's throat without a blink of his eyes.
Now Bon crouched low and watched the travelers come up to a small dirty lake. There were trees
and bushes growing nearby and he quickly hid behind them with his companions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This must be that Giant's footprint lake the billy goats were talking about." Virginia
stood and stared at the huge lake that was created by a mere footprint of a giant. "It's huge! I hope I never
meet a giant."
"Should we cross it? Where's the bridge the billy goats built?" Patrick asked while
he bent down to study the water in the lake. "I vote we don't cross it cause the water is filthy."
"I think the goats either already crossed it or they changed their minds. They were deranged
little things." Virginia answered.
"Huff, puff. Let's go around it. We have to enter the 6th Kingdom and cross back again like
the billy goats said. This shouldn't take long. Princess Wendy's castle should be a half a day's ride from here
if I remember right. But on foot, that will take a day."
"I suppose we can go around." The group agreed and began lumbering through the muddy
bank of the footprint lake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh my god! Is that who I think it is?!" Tony cried out in horror. But no sound came
out of his mouth. He roared silently in frustration. He grabbed Princess Wendy by the shoulders and turned her
around to face the boarder line. He pointed in the direction of the footprint lake and Wendy made a soundless gasp
and put her hand up to her mouth.
They saw Virginia, Wolf and two other people coming in their direction. They were completely
oblivious to the circumstances and were walking right into their silent doom.
Tony began hurling rocks at the invisible force but the rocks just bounced back like they were
rubber balls. Wendy hollered and screamed but it was useless. The group on the other side couldn't see them or
hear them.
IT'S HOPELESS, ANTONY. THEY'RE GOING TO GET TRAPPED JUST LIKE US! Wendy quickly wrote on her slate and grabbed
for Tony's attention to show him. He shook his head forcefully and began trying to climb up the tallest tree nearby.
But the tree wasn't high enough. He couldn't hear himself when he cried out. He slumped down on a branch and put
his head into his hands.
Their fate was sealed.
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