“Meaning that if you’re on a broom, you’re out of harms reach.” Said Robert.

  “I have a plan!” Hoxley exclaimed, slapping her spyglass shut. “Everyone, gather round and listen carefully, especially you, witches. This is what we’re going to do.”

  Meanwhile, down at the dusty crossroads, the king’s men took delight in shoving Idris to the ground and kicking him with their boots as they continued their interrogation. With his hands locked behind his back in iron wrist chains, he couldn’t fight back. But the painful prods to the chest and ribs toughened his resolve.

  “You thought you could get away? Where is the prince? Where are you hiding him?” said the leader. “We know you helped him escape! Reveal where he’s hiding and you may still survive your act of treachery!”

  “Treachery?” Idris growled as he spit the dust from his mouth. “Who are you to talk of treachery when you’ve turned on your true king? If the king and queen are truly dead, then the crown falls to his son, Prince Damron!”

  “You’ve sworn fealty to the wrong side, Idris.” Said a grotesquely ugly man as he drew his dagger from his belt and crouched down over their prisoner. “Tell us where the boy is and we’ll treat you well. Maybe give you some water. Or maybe, you can keep resisting.” The man drew closer, putting his knee on Irdis’ sternum, pinning him into place. “Now I bet you don’t need both of your ears to answer our questions, so I figure you won’t mind me taking one of them off.” The dagger looked sharp and glinted in the sun as the ogre of a man held it close to Idris’ face. “Unless of course you’re ready to tell us where the runt is.”

  “The prince is not a runt!” Idris said defiantly, struggling to get free. The man pressed more weight to his chest and he could move no more.

  “Careful, don’t move around too much, there Idris, I wouldn’t want to cut something vital like your throat and have you bleed out all over this old road.” The knife got closer and vanished out of sight to the right of Idris’ head. The blade was upon him. He could feel the blade slipping up underneath the back of the lobe.

  I’m going to lose my ear to this madman. Thought Idris.

  “Even if I did know, I’d never turn him over to the likes of you!” He said defiantly. The blade started to slice.

  “Hello! there!” A chipper girls’ voice called out from behind the men. The cutting stopped when everyone quickly turned to see where the voice had come from. All of them turned their eyes away from the tree line to look up to see a girl in black witch’s clothes and pointed hat seated atop a broom hovering just overhead.

  “A witch!” one of the men said with fright as he pointed at her.

  “What do you want?” asked another.

  “I just came by to say hello and see what you’re doing!” she said in a pleasant tone. The man with his knee on Idris’ chest got up and pointed the dagger at her.

  “Come on down here and I’ll show you what I’m doing, you little demon rat!”

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  “Oooo!” She said, floating a little closer. “You shouldn’t talk to people like that! It’s not nice!”

  “I’ll do as I please, you little gremlin!”

  “Oh, you should be nicer to strangers, especially when you have a face like a boar’s backside!” She taunted. The man stooped to pick up a rock and chucked it up at her. She easily dodged it by drifting to the side then back again. “Wow, you’re not very good at throwing things!” The man became more flustered and bent to pick up two more. “Oh, please don’t hit me with a rock, sir! How about a bargain? I’ll tell you what I’ll do…” Siouxsie said, drifting a little closer. “I’ll grant you each a magical prize if you can answer a riddle.”

  “A riddle?” asked one.

  “Magical prize?” asked another.

  “That’s right! I’ll ask you one riddle and you each get one answer to guess it correctly. But if one of you gets it right, you all get a huge prize!”

  “I didn’t know witches could give prizes.” said the ugly man. “And if I guess correctly, I can have the prize?”

  “That’s right.” She grinned

  “And what if I get it wrong?”

  “Then you get nothing and continue to find your way through life with a face that looks like the north end of a southbound warthog. I can’t personally tell you what the prize is. But it’s a painfully difficult riddle.” She added. “I can’t just fly around giving out great prizes for an easy guess.”

  “Alright! Alright!” said one of the men, excited to win something. “Give me your riddle! I’ll answer it and win the prize for sure!”

  “Yeah! Give it to us!” shouted the others enthusiastically.

  “Okay. Here it is, so listen carefully…. *ahem* What kind of bush has four heads and ten feet but only wears four shoes?” Each of the men looked perplexed and gave the strangest of looks to one another. Even Idris looked confused as he lay on the ground.

  “Is it poison ivy?” asked one

  “No, I’m afraid not!” said Siouxsie. That’s one guess. What about you three?” she asked. You have to give me an answer now, quickly quickly, or you won’t get a guess at all!”

  “Is it deadly nightshade?” Asked another.

  “No, no, no. I’m afraid it isn’t. two down, two to go! What say you?”

  “Is it a bucket?” asked another one.

  “A bucket?” Siouxsie asked with a wrinkled nose. “Are you daft? No, of course not, buckets aren’t even plants!” The other men punched the dumb man in his chest and back for wasting a guess. “That’s three down, and only one to go. What say you, ‘man with a hogs patoot for a face? Can you answer my riddle?” The man sweated as his mind reeled for an answer. The other three glared at him as he searched his brain for any possible solution.

  “Is it… an ambush?” he asked.

  “It is!!!! it is!!! and here's your prize!” Siouxsie shouted with glee. “Now!” Before any of the men could raise an alarm, Hoxley came barreling through the four men from behind with her spear held horizontally at chest height. The “clothesline maneuver” bashed all four of the men from their feet and thrashed them to the ground. By the time any of them had a chance to recover from being bowled over, the entire party was upon them with sharp blades, and points and menacing maces held over their heads. One man tried to swiftly draw his sword only to have his elbow pressed to the ground by a winklepicker. A menacing witch form with a wide brimmed hat and two glowing eyes wrapped in shadow beneath it set upon him. The glowing orbs reduced themselves to evil slits as the long lyythium spear tip moved dangerously toward the man’s throat.

  “Don’t let your stupidity get the better of you.” hissed the shadowy figure. The man’s eyes went wide with fear and he let go of his sword. The winklepicker kicked it out of reach. The others set to disarming the men one at a time. Morell had a ball of twine in his pack that was perfect for binding wrists and feet. When the four men were subdued and guarded by Hoxley’s spear, the companions approached the squirming man in chains who’d managed to work his way to sitting upright.

  “Thank you, whoever you are!” Said the man in his dark purple robes. Prince Damron approached him and pulled his hood back to reveal his identity. Idris’ face became a mask of shock and delight at the same time.

  “Your highness!” He exclaimed with a huge smile. Siouxsie landed and relieved one man of the burden of keeping keys on his belt. She circled around behind the dark-skinned man and freed him. He immediately leapt to his feet and embraced the prince. “It is you. It is you.” He sobbed. “I hoped and prayed you’d be safe. Everything has gone so terribly wrong. I did my best to catch up to you with horses but I was almost captured and had to fight to get away.” He stopped holding him long enough to hold the boy at arm’s length and look him over. “You’re well? Uninjured? Are you hungry? How can I serve you, my king? Who are these….” He took a second to scan the odd company the prince was keeping. “Individuals who are with you?” Just as the prince was about to answer, Hoxley moved in between them and whispered so that their new prisoners couldn’t hear them.

  “I hate to interrupt this reunion but we need to be going. These men still may work themselves free in time. We’ll move them to the tree line before we go.”

  “Well said.” Agreed Idris. Swords and weapons and coin bags were collected as the companions fastened the king’s men to a tree. Robert removed their boots and flew up to place them high in a tree with few branches.