Robert didn’t know why the thought of werewolves existing was any stranger than anything else he’d seen today but the concept struck him as amusing.
“Well yeah, of course he is. Now it just seems silly that I even guessed a wizard. I suppose he has an assistant that’s a vampire?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no such thing as vampires,” said Lily and continued walking.
Robert followed behind her. “So when it’s a full moon he turns into a wolf and terrorizes the local farmland?”
“No, he doesn’t do that anymore.”
“Ohh, so he’s a nice werewolf,” said Robert with a laugh.
Lily turned around and stood in Robert’s path. Her eyes were moist with tears.
Robert’s smile instinctively dropped from his face.
“He’s not a nice werewolf. There are no nice werewolves. He terrorized Thiside for many years and killed a lot of innocent people. He stole a passport and fled to Othaside in the early eighteenth century and hid in France quietly for thirty years. But he couldn’t keep his blood lust in check and he finally snapped. Othasiders named him the Beast of Gévaudan because that’s the province he was terrorizing at the time. Your history books actually have some of the details. He attacked two hundred and ten people and killed one hundred and thirteen of them. A special task force had to be assembled to cross over to Othaside to hunt and capture him. He was dragged back here and served a hundred and thirty years in the Tower before being released and appointed, at his request, to be the Historian. He’s a murderer, a killer of men, women, and children. He’s not nice, Robert.”
“I’m sorry, Lily, I didn’t know.”
Lily wiped a sleeve across her eyes. “Well, now you know. Let’s make this visit short.”
She turned and walked away, passing the Gnomes who had stopped to see what the shouting was all about.
“You’ve got a real way with the ladies, moron,” said Gnick.
“Who’s that?” asked General Gnarly who had been watching Lily.
Robert looked down the road to see that Lily was talking to a bright blue glowing ball.
“That’s her Fairy. She went after the Dwarf.”
Lily beckoned the three of them over. “Veszico had an altercation with Rumpelstiltskin but essentially she lost. The Dwarf was heading toward the City of Oz which means he definitely has an agenda.”
“How do you know?” said Robert.
“Because he’s heading toward one of the most populated areas in Thiside. If you’re an escaped convict on the run, then staying away from people is normally the best thing to do.”
“So there must be something there he wants.”
“Or needs,” added the General.
“Hopefully, the Historian can tell us what he was doing when he was caught, which might give us some idea of where he’s going,” said Lily.
Veszico’s little voice rang like the tiniest of tiny bells.
Lily looked confused.
“No, I haven’t seen Jack since he went after you.”
The Fairy’s voice rang again but this time with urgency.
“I’m sure he’s fine, and regardless, I have a different task for you. I need you to fly to the Kingdom of Hearts. Agent Tweedle is on assignment as council to the Queen. I need you to send him to the Tower as quickly as possible. There’s a prisoner there who needs interrogating; the Guard Troll will know which one. He might be able to shed some light on how and why Rumpelstiltskin escaped but tell him to use caution.”
The Fairy nodded, shone brighter, and flew off toward the East.
“Come on, we’ve lost enough time already today,” said Lily and started a quick pace toward the Archives with the Gnomes running on ahead.
Robert stayed where he was until they were out of earshot. “Uh, voice in my head?”
“Who, me?” said the voice.
“Yes. Do you think she was telling the whole truth about the werewolf thing?”
“You think she wasn’t?”
“Well, it just doesn’t feel right.”
“Are you asking my opinion or just looking for someone impartial to talk to?”
“Your opinion.”
“Well, if I’m you, then we actually share the same opinion. Which is…”
“…she’s not telling the whole story.”
The castle loomed up ahead of them as they got closer. The sun was beginning its downward spiral, quite literally, and the shadows of the Western mountains began to point dark fingers across the valley.
Robert noticed what he had thought were birds weren’t birds at all.
“What are those things?”
“They’re pixies,” said General Gnarly and spat on the ground. “Sodding awful creatures!”
“I thought they were supposed to be nice creatures?” said Robert.
“Someone really ought to slap you up the side of the head every time you make an assumption in this world that begins with I thought,” said Lily.
“I’ll do it,” said Gnick.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Robert sarcastically, “but I’m sort of new here and the only thing I have to go on is the Fairy Tales from Othaside. And in those stories Pixies are cute, happy, magical creatures.”
“Well, here they’re not cute, they’re never happy, and they’re certainly not magical,” said General Gnarly.
“Sort of like Gnomes, then, are they?” said Robert, grinning.
“Good one, moron,” said Gnick.
“Hmph,” said the General.
“Oh, c’mon, General, that was a classic, coming from the moron.”
“I suppose.”
“Think of Pixies as guard dogs,” said Lily. “They generally only ever listen to one master and they’re very protective. They’re not overly smart but they do have the ability to perform simple tasks.
“And why don’t Gnomes like them?”
“Because they’re too short,” said General Gnarly gruffly and knocked on what looked to be the only door set into the castle wall.
Robert mouthed the word seriously to Lily, who just shrugged.
There was the buzzing sound of wings flapping extremely fast, and a small black creature, about half the size of a Gnome, flew down from above and hovered in front of them. It had large, black, marble-like eyes set into an oval-shaped head above two slits that Robert assumed were its nostrils. It smiled a wide mouth full of tiny sharp teeth and a green tongue. Its arms and legs were short but the hands and feet were larger, disproportionate. The creature was completely naked but didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Its manhood, in this particular case, dangled for all to see. On its back a pair of almost transparent wings flapped like a hummingbird’s and smelled faintly like oranges. To Robert they looked like mini-demons; this was reinforced by two small red horns protruding from its head. It looked at Lily and Robert in turn and then finally decided to address Lily.
“Whats you want?” said the Pixie.
“We’re here to see the Historian.”
“Ee’s bizzy, go way.”
“Let us in, you ugly little piece of bandersnatch excrement!” said General Gnarly.
The Pixie looked down as if surprised. Robert noticed that more Pixies were now lining the walls above them, intently watching the scene.
“Ohzie, Gnomes izit? Never sawz ya down there,” said the Pixie and snickered.
Gnick produced a small dagger from his sleeve but General Gnarly waved him down. “Unless you’d like those wings clipped, you’d better go tell the Historian we’re here.”