The carriage rattled as it moved. Wilson banged his head against the surprisingly hard interior. He was sure old man Jenkins, who was doing all the riding and navigating, picked the carriage to punish him. Maybe there was even a better road but the old man chose this rough, potholed road with vines and roots creeping onto it. And with the ghostlike colors of these trees? Yes, it must be intentional! This petty, old man. Tsk. How long has this road been abandoned anyway? Wilson shook his head to chase away his troublesome thoughts, closed his eyes and tried to sleep, ignoring the several sudden movements.
A sound jolted him awake and the movement of carriage ensured he fell off his seat, banging his head on the door opposite him.
"Hey, kid! Come on out. Are you not tired of staying in there all the time? Go get us some food!" old man Jenkins spoke out.
The sound of food woke him up properly.
"Food?" Were they finally somewhere with some sort of civilization?
"Yes! Food! Get out!"
Wilson quickly stepped out of the carriage and was immediately disappointed. Why were they facing another forest? Were they not at a city? Not even a village? What was all this? Some powerful being must have cursed him to live in forests all his life .
"Seriously? Another forest? Am I cursed to die in a forest? I was born in a village within a forest, moved to 'Forest city' where I almost died, was kidnapped into another forest where I almost died again, and now, this?" Wilson felt like crying. Old man Jenkins snickered.
"I think you might...…no, you were definitely cursed with sleep as well!"
"Huh??!!"
"I beat you just a little and you slept for more than three quarter of the journey."
"That's not true." Wilson denied.
"How long were we on this trip?"
"I don't know, a couple days?"
"Of course, you do not know! You think we were on the road for just a couple days?" Old man Jenkins asked exasperatedly.
"I don't think that can be called a road?"
"Kid, anything you pass through to get to your destination is a road. Even if it is rooftops." He explained with a proud look one only saw on scholars, the real ones. Wilson could only nod and then shook his head when he saw the proud look on old man Jenkins' face.
"You slept for two whole months!"
Wilson choked on his saliva.
"Two….two months??!! Wait, does that mean we spent about two and a half months on the road?"
"If you had minded your manners, we would have used the portal and been here in only two and a half days. You just had to be rude! I thought those from such remote places were usually well mannered. Let's get going!" Old man Jenkins said and went into the forest without delay.
"I really don't understand how a man this old can be this petty. I mean, that was two months ago. I have definitely learned my lesson. He should forget about it!" he looked at the back of the old man in the distance and ran to catch up with him. But, as he ran, so did old man Jenkins. Wilson ran faster, so, the old man picked up speed. They ran past trees, jumped over shrubs and hedges, skillfully avoided the territories of dangerous beasts (well, Old man Jenkins did it skillfully. Wilson was just smart enough to mimic him), swung on vines and even bounced from one giant mushroom to another. This went on for about half an hour before Wilson stopped from exhaustion. Old man Jenkins stopped as well, maintaining the same distance with which they started. Not an inch more or less.
"hey old man Jenkins, stop messing around like a little child!"
"What?" Old man Jenkins swung his hands in anger.
*PIAK*
"Ahhh!!" Wilson yelled and touched his forehead. A sizeable bump had already formed. He looked at Old man Jenkins grinning at him and then he looked down at the ground. A small pebble laid there, looking totally out of place with the forest setting.
"We rest here tonight. Find a spot to sleep!" Old man Jenkins said. Wilson looked up at him but saw nothing. The old man was gone.
"just like that? No farewell or anything? Where did he go anyway?......" the questions went on and on with no answer in sight.
Two hours later, the sun had set. Wilson laid down to sleep and out of habit placed his hand on his forehead. He winced in pain.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" He clicked his tongue.
"Old man Jenkins is indeed petty. Very, very petty!" And he closed his eyes to sleep in which he dreamt of the traumatic beating he received two and a half months ago in the hands of the old cane lady.
He woke up with a start, shook his head in a bid to clear it and shivered. Not from the cold but from the beating. She had become a consistent nightmare ever since she beat him with the cane without care. It was traumatic indeed. He had definitely developed a phobia for the old woman. Too scary! Too vicious!! That old woman with the cane that went clack-clack was a nightmare he could not escape from. Perhaps, he should just accept it as his fate for killing so many people.
"I am never sleeping again!" he said and shook his head and shivered in fear again.
*************
Meanwhile, somewhere else, old man Jenkins had just flown in from the window.
"is it working?" he asked
"Yes, it is working!" Baldy answered.
"How does this even work?" the youngest looking lady asked.
"You are too dumb to understand!" Baldy answered her with an insult. She wanted to retort but nobody wanted nor had the time for their pointless argument. The dark skinned oldie quickly responded;
"This spell will invade all their minds and instill the fear of us in them. The fear will, in a couple days' time, turn to reverence. Then, we will give a speech in the hall. The hall will be surrounded with these things." He pointed at some small pebbles which looked exactly like the one old man Jenkins threw at Wilson.
"These pebbles will trigger the words right into their brains and after that, they will be at our beck and command." Old man Jenkins said.
"But before that, we will need to train them...."
"For five months….." she interrupted
"Yes!" Jenkins answered
"Those five months of training is all the time needed for the pebbles to completely corrode their senses, typically brainwashing them and turning them to puppets!" Baldy finished.
"Oh, that is why you guys were desperate for the script." They all nodded.
"What about your granddaughter, little J?" The old cane lady asked as she lightly tapped her cane on the floor continuously.
"It is best to brainwash her as well. Nothing must go wrong! We cannot afford for anything to go wrong. We have sacrificed too much for this." Old man Jenkins answered.
"Good!" The old cane lady said and smiled a toothless smile.