Uncle Marley

Marley picked up a small leather pouch from the table and poked his finger in it. When he pulled it out, he saw that the tip was smudged a yellow-violet. He turned toward Charlie, his face a dangerous shade of red. "Aphryndoxia," Marley whispered with a cold rage and then stepped up to his nephew and boxed him on the ears.

"OWWW!" Charlie cringed, rubbing his head. "Go to your room, young man," Marley commanded. "This is my room!" Charlie whined. "Then go to the cellar!" Marley corrected himself. Charlie turned around and skulked out of the room.

Marley then directed his attention at Fred. He took one look at the femininely dressed knight and scowled. "Disgusting," he muttered to himself. "So what's your name?" Marley asked as he mixed some of the powders in the mortar. "Lord Fred of Suffix," Fred answered with all the dignity he could muster, which wasn't much considering his embarrassing ensemble. "Hmm, well sorry about the inconvenience," Marley said, "and I hope you don't get all medieval on us and send down a force of knights to make our little village pay for this or something." Actually, the thought had crossed Fred's mind, but a respectable lord didn't do things like that anymore. "I just want this blasted spell lifted," Fred answered. "No problem," Marley smiled as he turned back to Fred. "Here," Marley held out a small cup with a dark liquid in it, "drink this and you'll be back to yourself in an hour."

Fred swallowed the concoction and sat down on the bed. "And my armor?" he asked. "It will return as well," Marley assured him. "The spell will be completely reversed. And don't worry about Charlie, he won't do anything like this again. I'll make sure of it." Fred nodded, relieved. "But what about the berry bush?" Fred suddenly looked up, "What if someone else should eat of it?" "Berry bush?" Marley scratched his head. "So that's what he did. Well don't worry none on that count. Arnold will take care of those enchanted berries."

"Arnold?" Fred said, curious. Marley smiled proudly, "My prize pig. And he just loves magical berry bushes. Not a one will be left after he gets through with them."

An hour later Fred was back to normal just like Marley had promised. He then picked up some supplies from the town's market (he didn't want to go hungry again) and headed back into the forest. When he reached the foothills and the stream that flowed down from the Dragon's mountains, he had to make a decision. He wasn't sure if he should return to the King and tell him that the map was no good, or if he should follow the splashing stream back into the caves and continue his quest anyway.

1. The best course of action is...

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