The Curse of the Grimlees - book one of the Everlasting Fantastical Adventures

Hi Folks, 

As some of you have asked, please find an excerpt from the first book...

Chapter One:   

The Grimlee Prophecy

Was she still dreaming or was her world truly frozen? As Shehalogon gazed out of the window she remembered her father’s dark Prophecy and his chilling words pierced deep into her soul like biting frost. How could the Grimlees, the all-powerful, the enlightened, and the most magical race in their galaxy have come to this?

But it had happened at last, the prophecy had come true.

Shehalogon shook her body, trying to rid it of the unnerving shivers which threatened to overwhelm her. When she had entered the contemplation chamber, her world had been vibrant, warm and full of magic. Now everything had changed.

Her sun, the star Elpys, was gone.

What possibly could happen to make a star disappear? She shuddered again. It had been an old star but with many millions of years of life still left in it. It was just too much to think it was gone, but it was.

Her father Promethys’s voice echoed from within her skull like the voice of doom. “Terrible woe unto all Grimlees, for our World will fall deep under a bitter spell, a hex to freeze our souls, to mist our minds. The very light of our lives will flee from us in our shadow’s shame and we shall become lost, abandoned and fallen unto treachery.”

‘The very light of our lives will flee’ … the meaning of those words was clear now. Their sun Elpys was gone and her home, Eris, the last habitable planet in their Solar System, was now encased in ice and hurtling through space towards heaven knew where. Shehalogon could see the frozen orb from her place on its moon. She could feel its draw as it gave her inner energy. The feeling was faint compared to before, but still sustaining to her soul. The core of Eris was made from molten alchemy, the raw element of their magic. The link between this core and the Grimlees was the key which made them such a powerful race.

Shehalogon had just woken from her meditation, the study to lift her to her higher powers, to tune her deeper to that magic of Eris. But she felt weaker now than before she had begun her mediation, maybe the core itself had become frozen too.

Numbly she lifted herself out of the contemplation chamber. There was no one else around, not even any of the slave races. Next to her was a communicator, a device that allowed anyone emerging from their meditation to exchange thoughts with the Imperious, the Highest Priest of their order. Sometimes those who had undergone such study found incredible insights they needed to share. There would have been no time to waste with this wisdom so a communicator had been placed close to the chamber.

She wondered if anyone would be able to hear her. Was the Imperious even still alive?

Her thoughts touched on Nyx, the Grimlee who had become the Imperious after her father. He had been driven with purpose, almost mad in his search for salvation and determined to counter the terrible prophetic words of her father. As the years had passed since her father’s death, Nyx’s power had grown until his eyes had changed to a deep violet, the sign of the highest level of power obtainable for Grimlees. But all Nyx’s hard work and tremendous power had come to nothing. He had been unable to prevent the tragedy, unable to stop the catastrophe.

As she gazed out of the temple window, from the moon Dysnomia, she wondered about her planet. Once it had been a green lush home with a moist life-giving sky, now it was a cold barren-looking frozen sphere of dark icy blue. Would anything be able to survive under all that ice? She did not know, but she had to hope she was not alone. She must trust in fate. She must not be the last of her race.

The communicator buzzed and came to life.

“Shehalogon, is that you?” Nyx’s thoughts were faint, like seeing a blurry image of someone trapped deep within an ice block.

“Yes Imperious, thank Elpys you are alive!” She told him, unable to say more, too overwhelmed by circumstance.

“Elpys …? Do not thank Elpys … she has deserted us. We have fallen to her treachery.” His thoughts were gruff, angry even, “Listen Shehalogon, this is very important. The most important thing I have ever said,” Nyx warned her, his thoughts growing stronger, “we are lost …”

Shehalogon shuddered to hear her fears echoed by the Imperious. How could their beloved Elpys have deserted them so, why would their god leave them? It was beyond imagination, too terrible to consider and yet the facts showed her the Imperious’s truth.

“… We are lost, unless you can complete the tasks needed, prepare for our return, set the conditions to meet the Prophecy. The curse must be lifted, Elpys’s treachery undone.” His thoughts were full of need, his tone echoing his purpose, his willpower. The belief he had in his words could not be doubted.

“Only one Grimlee of pure heart will find the way beyond this darkness. Only one Grimlee of the highest honour will find the path back to glory. Only with others of a different race, from a different place, a different heart, a different love will show us the way. For the curse will plunge all Grimlees into the abyss and shall freeze us to our very core.” Her father had said, close to his last breathe.

“I will obey Imperious. I will do what is needed. I vow it.” She shuddered, falling to her knees. He was the key, the Grimlee with the highest honour, the Imperious. She must listen and obey.

“You are on your own, Shehalogon, of all the Grimlees who remain …” Nyx’s voice grew fainter with the thought of how few of their specie were left, “We need you, Shehalogon. Honour your father and raise our Nation up from the shadows once more.”

“You say I am on my own? Is there no one else to help me?” Shehalogon was new to the role of High Priestess and the burden sat uncomfortably on her.

“We are all frozen, those that survived the tragedy.” Nyx told her. “Only our ability to meditate with what remains in the core of Eris keeps us alive. We have little magic left and most of the core lies frozen, much as we are. I had thought everything was lost … that I must wait in the dark for a miracle. Then I heard your thoughts and I knew hope had come.”

“What happened?” She asked with dread, afraid to hear the worst, but knowing she must.

“Elpys our star collapsed. We were trying to boost her energy with magic and she just shrunk into a black h***. The fleet was lost, most Grimlees gone. From what I can gather, only those in the temples survived.”

“Eris was sucked through the black h*** and we are now drifting in the universe, heading I don’t know where. Only one thing I know for certain, the Heart of Light, the heart of Elpys our star, went through ahead of us and we must find her. Remember the Prophecy.” His words were hard and built up her courage with their resolve.

“I had a vision …” she had never told anyone before about her visions, the insights she had in her dreams. Like her father she was blessed with the ability to see into the future, though what she saw was not obvious and knowing the true meaning of her visions was something she was still learning.

“What did you see, Shehalogon,” Nyx’s thoughts were guarded, touched with worry. Did he fear she had more dreadful news?

“I saw a bright blue planet, third from its golden sun.” She began quietly to tell of her vision. “This planet gave my heart hope, though I had never seen it before. On the planet were people, much like the slave races. I saw faces and places, objects and symbols. It was jumbled and I don’t know what it all means.” She stopped, realising how difficult it was to put into words the images she had felt, rather than seen.

“I see,” Nyx’s thoughts were edged with excitement and Shehalogon sighed her relief. “You have done well, High Priestess. I had no idea you had inherited your father’s talent.” His thoughts became shielded before he added, “This must be our new home … ‘the different place’ of the Prophecy… Let me think a while, I need to meditate, to restore energy. Keep near the communicator and I will contact you when I decide what we need to do.”

That had been so long ago it seemed like a lifetime. Time passed differently when you were alone. While she waited, she had calculated their path through space. There was a Solar System ahead of them with a blue planet third from its sun. She felt it must be the planet of her vision. The feeling so certain, she knew it was true.

Nyx had called her, but it had been a longer wait than she had expected. He seemed so weak with only his sense of purpose powering him on at all. Nyx told her she must take a spaceship and go on ahead, prepare the way for his coming. Prepare the planet and the people, for the time of the Prophecy’s fulfilment. She must set the conditions to allow the lifting of the curse.

Now she was on that blue planet, in the Land of Dreams. The creatures here called it Earth and it was a strange place to her, full of many different beings which were so alike to the slaves of her home planet. They would make good servants and she needed a powerful one to help her. Magic lived here too, but a different magic to what she knew and she couldn’t understand it, couldn’t make use of it. She needed a servant who possessed that magic, one she was able to control, one she would be able to use as she willed.

She had taken a spaceship from the moon-temple’s dock, a fast Grimlee craft which had a small contemplation chamber of its own. This had allowed her to meditate, sustain herself as she raced far ahead of Eris.

When she had landed on this strange planet she had hidden the spaceship, deep inside a swamp no one went near, a marshland of lush hanging green like the marshes of Eris. She cast a spell of cloaking over the craft, to keep it safe and undetected, which had sorely drained her of magic for months. But the sacrifice had been necessary. Stealth was needed, no one could know of her plans and her strengths yet.

Nyx had told her to stay in the shadows, learn all she could of the creatures in this Land of Dreams, look for any sign of the Heart of Light and disrupt the balance of this place. That disruption would prepare the Land of Dreams for Nyx’s coming, for the fulfilment of the Prophecy when he would lift the Grimlees’ Curse. Then they would have the power to rule this Solar System, as was their right.

        For now her magic was weak. She was far from Eris’s core and she had to be very careful how she used her magic. But she was growing stronger as Eris flew towards this sun. She had laid many plans already and learnt many things, always moving in the shadows and sowing doubt in the creatures here.

The Grimlees time was coming. She had worked it out. She had thirteen years from when she had first arrived. Thirteen years to prepare. Eleven of those years had gone by already and she had been very busy sowing the seeds of her plans, only two years remained. Her calculations had predicted Eris would orbit close enough to this sun to unfreeze properly at midnight on midsummer’s day in two years’ time. Then her powers would come in full, Nyx would be free and this place would become theirs.

The last words of her father ran through her head. No one else had heard those words whispered to a young daughter by an old dying father with his very last breathe. He told her she would have to do a task she would find extremely hard, one that seemed to be against her own nature, but unless she fulfilled the Prophecy, all Grimlees would be doomed. “At the very end Shehalogon, remember to follow your heart.”

She would not let her father down, she would not let the Imperious down, and she would not let her Nation down. All around her, life continued on as normal no one in the Land of Dreams suspected the coming Prophecy of the Grimlees.

Chapter Two:

In Twilight’s Shadows

“Don’t worry your Highness, we will make it in time!” shrieked the coachman as they hurtled towards the bridge. The horses were covered in sweat and were blowing hard, as they leaned into their harnesses. The smoke rising from the racing coach’s axels glowed orange in the last shafts of the setting sun.

“I just wish we hadn’t lost that wheel earlier, now we might not make it across before he wakes!” a high pitched woman’s voice cried back from inside the carriage.

“We’ll be fine Ma’am. We are almost there!” The coachman yelled back. “It’ll be close, too close!” He thought to himself and gave up a prayer, hoping they weren’t too late. He would never normally try to cross this bridge this close to twilight, but they must make the Great Wizard’s show, no one of such royal standing in the Land of Dreams could miss it.

Twilight’s shadows deepened the coming gloom. This was the troll’s time, a time when he allowed no one to pass over his bridge who was not a friend … and he had no friends … not one.

As the late afternoon sun left the sky, the troll shifted uneasily in his bed. For as long as he could remember, he had always lived under the bridge, but he had never been a happy troll. He had always felt lost and alone, surviving without the love of any parents or friends. How he came to live here and where his parents had gone, he never knew. His earlier memories were a blur, like a muddy festering pond. His childhood was nearing an end, but he did not feel like other children, not even other trollish children. He had always been alone in the shadows beneath the bridge.

Once, a long time ago, he had thought to make a friend and he had tried to speak to a passing traveller, but as the Ugly Troll popped up from under the bridge, the man had screamed, running away in panic, frightened by the gruesome form of the troll.

The only time the troll had anyone else in his home, was when a scruffy cat had strayed into his life. He had liked having the cat around at least it gave him someone to talk to. The cat never answered back, just stared at him with its black piercing eyes that seemed to be surrounded by an inner flame. He had told the cat everything, all of his thoughts about the world and how he felt rejected because of his ugliness. He even told her of how scared he had made the last passer-by. The cat had seemed to like those stories and the troll had felt compelled to turn nastier to gain further approval, it was the only encouragement he had ever received.

But the cat had left his home a long time ago. One evening it had just vanished, as suddenly as it had appeared. The troll had felt lost without his only companion and the cat’s leaving had fuelled his inner anger, surrounding his heart with betrayal and sealing in any meagre thoughts of kindness, locking them deep inside with other hidden memories.

        Through the window the deepening darkness shifted the troll out of his troubled sleep. Above his head a deep, low, rumbling sound told him someone had left it very late in the day to cross his bridge, someone with a horse drawn carriage.

        With a menacing growl the troll sprang out of his sleeping cot and stormed out of his house. Who dared cross the river at this time of the day? They should know better!

        “Who’s that crossing my bridge!?” He roared, startling any nearby woodland creatures into silence.

        “Run! He’s already awake!” shouted the frightened coachman as he whipped the reigns to spur his horses on even faster. Inside the gilded carriage a woman screamed in horror as the troll flashed a ghastly grin and the air around the bridge shook with a bone wrenching shudder.

        The coach bolted off into the night as fast as it could go as the troll laughed wickedly. “That’ll teach them to cross my bridge,” he murmured cruelly. He might yet only be a child, but he was big, bad and extremely mean.

As he turned to go back into his h*** under the bridge, he noticed a piece of paper floating through the air. It must have dropped off the back of the speeding coach. He reached out and grabbed it before it fell into the river.

        It was a flyer for a show. A fireworks show by the look of it, a night when other people had fun watching lights in the night. “Mmmm … maybe I’ll just see about that.” The troll grumbled his anger at the thought of others having fun. “Maybe tonight, just this once, I will have a little fun of my own,” and he snorted a bitter laugh, full of loneliness and longing.

Unknown to him, inside his body, he was going through a change. He was nearing the time of the quickening, the time when trolls changed from children to youths. When their minds became set like cooling lava and their magical talents grew to their full strength. This inner change was stirring a rebellious restlessness deep in his soul.

        Shehalogon frowned with curiosity as she watched the Ugly Troll walk away from his home. She had groomed the troll for her own ends from an early age, filling his mind with suggestions of nastiness and illusions full of malicious plans, keeping him isolated from others. Now he was so full of bitter ugliness no one else would want to have anything to do with him and he should make the perfect servant for her, so powerful, so alone. Soon he would be set in his ways, or rather, her ways and she would have this troll completely under her control. Then she would be able to use the magic of this Land of Dreams for her own schemes and the creatures here would have no idea of what those schemes were until it was too late to stop them.

But his restlessness was worrying and she wondered what he was up to, this was not his normal behaviour. She searched his mind and found a rebellious streak she had never noticed before. Maybe it was due to the changes happening inside him, his time of quickening. She needed to increase her influence, fill his mind with deeper shadows of mistrust and anger.

She would follow him, keeping in the shade and making sure he remained hers until the time her plans bore their fruit.

Chapter Three: 

Lights in the Night

The night was ink-black and quiet. All around them, the usual woodland noises of snuffling creatures and flittering insects were absent. Sam sat still and attentive. Elannah smiled knowingly, waiting with baited breath for the next blast of amazing colour to appear in the darkness. Each child leaned closer to their mother's safe, comforting warmth, sipping on their hot milk and nibbling on their chocolate chip cookies.

        A glittery, fizzing light swished through the air as their father wrote the word ‘fun’ in the darkness with a sparkler, finally touching the taper of the next firework. With a smile of pleasure, from remembered times of his own childhood, their father backed away from the slow-burning fuse. This one was rare and promised to be very spectacular indeed.

        The fuse burnt up to the ignition point and the gunpowder caught with a great whoosh.

        Up into the air shot the bright green missile. Fast, straight, and high. Four necks bent to follow the rocket's emerald glittering trail. The blackness of night returned briefly and then … CRACK! A magical, rainbow flower blazed across the sky! The glimmering, shimmering, blooming colours burst brightly and seemed to hang high before slowly falling toward the ground in a shower of crackling silver sparkles.

        Giggles of glee burst from Elannah and Sam. The tradition of Guy Fawkes Night was kept alive for another year. The events of a dark passage in the country's history centuries before were transformed into pleasure and fun. A joyful sense of belonging and warmth filled everybody.

        As the bright colours faded and the darkness of night returned, their father said, "Three more to go and then it's time for baths, stories, and beds."

        Later that night, once the noise and excitement had passed, the children lay quietly with their heads on their soft cosy pillows, tucked up in their warm beds and slowly drifted off into the Land of Dreams …

        Elannah and Sam met in their special tree house. This was a huge structure made out of wood and rope, hidden deep in the trees not too far from their home. Each one had a separate platform where they kept their special things. Between these two platforms was a large, circular area surrounded by leaf-covered branches. From between the branches, they could look out across the wild expanse of the woods, known as ‘The Jungle’. These woods were full of wondrous creatures peopled from their imagination.

        "Sam," spoke Elannah in the commanding tone she often used that always brought a wry, half-annoyed smile from her younger brother, "I know what we can do next. Let's go down to the river and see if we can find Roger the Badger."

        Sam's wry smile turned into a full-blown happy grin as he remembered previous adventures with their friend Rodger. "Good idea Elannah and we can show him our new flying bikes!"

        They both leapt for the rope ladders and scampered down to the grass-covered ground. At the base of the tree, leaning against the gigantic brown trunk, were their two new bikes. A blue one with flashes of scarlet across crimson and a slightly taller pink one with stripes of black entwined with purple.

        Bouncing the wheels over the knobbly ground beneath the trees, they ran towards the lane known as ‘The Way’, panting as they burst out of the woods and stopped. Each looked at the other as they swung a leg over their bikes, balancing with one foot on a pedal and one on the ground.

"A bright imagination!

A heart of joy!

To fantastic adventures!"

They shouted together as they powered down ‘The Way’, sailing into the sky, higher and higher. Soon, they were soaring in the cool night air above the houses of their estate.

        Night’s darkness was coming in quickly, but this was the Land of Dreams and they knew that they did not have to go to sleep soon as they were already snuggled safely in their own beds. Tonight was a night for fun, and their dream friend, Rodger the Badger, was always ready for fun and adventure.

        They flew above a back road running past their estate winding along through the trees and fields. The night was chilly, but the warmth of their mother's love wrapped around them. Soon, the gurgling river known as ‘The Mouse’ came into sight. The water made the sound of gambolling mice as it tumbled and scampered down into the tree-lined gullies that marked its route through the Scottish countryside.

        Turning to the south, the two flying bikers sped on towards a large, still lake of water that spread out wide before narrowing down to a tumbling cataract and the bridge which crossed over it. Rodger the Badger had told them of a bad-tempered twelve-toed ugly troll who lived under the bridge. The troll allowed no one to cross his bridge from dusk till dawn, springing out to frighten any who tried. Elannah and Sam were happy they had never met the troll and were happy if they never did.

        Just beyond the bridge and round a corner, was a steep bank covered in gorse and broom. Toward the top of this bank was the round, brass-studded wooden door that marked the entrance to the home of their friend, Rodger the Badger.

        "I'll land first!" shouted Sam, and he circled around, landing in a cloud of dust on the earthen tow path which meandered across the top of the bank. Elannah followed directly behind, careful not to chase too closely to Sam, so he could clear the path safely before she landed.

        "Well, well, well!" a rough and ready voice called. "What on earth have you two got there? I have never seen flying children before."

        "These are our new bikes Rodger, and we thought you would like to join us for an adventure on them." Elannah suggested with a knowing look, her dimples flashing prettily.

        "An adventure, you say, on flying bikes? And where do you suggest that we go on such a starry night?" Rodger’s nose twitched with excitement.

        "This is the perfect night for fireworks," Sam stated. He was full of the fun-filled memories from earlier in the evening.

        "Yes spectacular fireworks," Elannah agreed and looked expectantly at the badger.

        "Ah yes ... fireworks," Rodger removed his feathered cap and scratched his bristly head, "Do you know where the best fireworks are to be seen on such a night as this?" A bright gleam came to his eyes, and he looked pleased with his thoughts.

        "No, but we can always rely on you to tell us," Elannah was smart and knew how to encourage her friends.

        "Yes, the finest and most spectacular fireworks in the world have to be those of the Great Wizard Grumphspawn. He lives all the way to the north in the Great Northern Mountains. On a night such as this, he bedazzles the Land of Dreams with a display of the most unbelievably beautiful fireworks beyond your imagination. Each year he sets a display that outdoes the previous one. Why last year, three people were so filled with wonder, they froze solid in delightful awe. Grumphspawn had to dispel their stunned daze so that they could go safely home, once the magical display was over.”

        "A word of warning though, Grumphspawn does not have the best temper. In fact he can appear to be quite a grumpybum sometimes. So don’t upset him in any way."

        Elannah and Sam giggled at the description, but they both knew that a warning from Rodger the Badger was never to be taken lightly.

        "Let's go and see this grumpy wizard's fantastic display." Elannah decided for them all.

        Sam nodded eagerly beside her, pushing his bike back onto the path. "Rodger had better ride on my bike as I am stronger than you, Elannah. I can fly just as fast with two."

        Elannah smiled in agreement. She knew Sam was keen to help, and she also knew that Rodger was more than a little bristly sometimes, not such an easy animal to be close to. Anyway she was too excited by the prospects of the Great Wizard’s fireworks display to argue who was the stronger. She wondered just how spectacular this display would be. Rodger the Badger certainly didn’t exaggerate and if he said it was awesome, then awesome it would be.

        The journey to the Great Northern Mountains passed quickly as Elannah, Sam, and Rodger took turns singing songs they made up on the spot. They would see a lonely cottage on a hillside and make up a song about the people who lived there. Were they shepherds, hermits, or maybe a family with nineteen children? Or they would imagine a desert island and sing songs of long-lost seamen, marooned, and mourned for years.

        Finally they saw ahead of them a range of huge black peaks that were simply the biggest, tallest, and craggiest mountains they had ever seen.

        As they flew between the peaks of these tall dark highlands, Sam saw a sinister shadowy shape in the moonlight. It was running alongside a gleaming silvery moonlit stream and must have been quite a large creature for them to have seen it from where they flew. Sam shivered as the creature saw them passing overhead and roared scarily.

        “What is that?” he asked Rodger.

        “Where?” Rodger replied, peering over Sam’s shoulder. “It sounded dreadful, but I didn’t see it.”

        “Over there.” Sam’s bike wobbled as he pointed to where the creature had been. But as he looked, he could no longer see anything. It had vanished.

        Rodger the Badger quivered and his spine tingled. “Maybe it was a Grimlee,” he shuddered again at the thought.

        “A Grimlee … what’s a Grimlee?” Sam wondered.

        “A Grimlee is a thing of malicious mischief. No one knows what it looks like or where it comes from and its best you never find out. I do know it has caused a lot of heart ache and grief, since its first appearance years ago in the Land of Dreams. Anyway, whatever it was, it’s gone now … and good riddance I say. Let’s get on and see this wonderful show.” Rodger assured Sam. The feeling of disquiet Sam felt faded as they journeyed deeper into the highlands and soon they arrived at the place for the fireworks.

Next to a lake, nestled between seven tall mountains, a crowd had gathered in a walled field around an extremely large bonfire. Flames reached up high into the sky, warming the air and dispelling the night’s chill. A giant sat off to one side with a griffon on the opposite edge. A collection of twenty dwarfs were laughing and joking away nearer to the blaze. Next to them, grand kings and queens, in sparkling crowns and lavish robes talked quietly with each other. A large yellow tent, with a flag flapping on its peak, stood proudly on the far side of the fire with a big wheel barrow beside it.

        The friends landed off to one side near an old cart track and climbed off their bikes. One of the dwarfs with a large red beard came running over, calling out to the badger. "Hello, Rodger! It's good to see you again."

        "Hello Arnold. How's the mining business these days?" replied Rodger with a friendly welcoming smile.

        "Oh diamonds and sapphires, day in, day out, with the occasional ruby strewn about." Arnold smiled with merriment. It was obvious that he loved jewels deeply.

        "These are my friends, Elannah and Sam, and they brought me here on their new flying bikes," Rodger introduced them to his friend.

        "Very pleased to meet you," Arnold said while giving them a courtly bow.

        "It's good to meet you too." Elannah said for both of them, knowing that Sam was sometimes a little shy with strangers.

        "You are just in time, the show is about to begin," Arnold told them with an expectant smile, "Old grumpy Grumphspawn is just conducting the final preparations for his extravagant entrance."

        "Shhh!" admonished Rodger with a worried frown. "He might hear you and turn you into something awful … like the frog gobbling Grimlee."

        “Well, he is a bit of a grumpybum,” Arnold scoffed, but quietened quickly under the disapproving gaze of the Badger.

        Sam smiled at the dwarf and winked conspiratorially. With the mention of the Grimlee, Sam recalled the fright he had felt earlier, with the sighting of the large nasty creature in the mountains. He wondered if it had been the Grimlee. Frog gobbling didn’t sound pleasant and he really hoped he’d never meet such a horrible beast.

A silence fell all around them like a blanket of soft downy feathers. The bonfire seemed to die down a little too, as if it were holding its breath … waiting. Arnold swallowed at the thought he might have gone too far with his comment. Had the Great Wizard heard him? His brow creased alarmingly, reminding Elannah of a freshly ploughed field.

        On top of the tent, the flag snapped boldly out, displaying a golden phoenix rising from the smouldering ashes of a fire in front of a dawning, red and orange sun. Light spilled across the gathering for an instant, causing everyone to blink. When their eyes opened again, there before them stood the Great Wizard Grumphspawn.

        "Fortunate fellows and fun-loving friends," he roared in dramatic style. "Welcome to my humble little entertainment! Tonight I will provide for you a few small whizzes and bangs, fizzes and pops, dizzying displays and dazzling colours that will transform this night … from the mundane to the magical!"

        With a swirl of his long purple cloak, the wizard turned away from the crowd and strode down the slope towards the edge of the still lake.

        Sam noticed Grumphspawn was no ordinary wizard. He was noticeably taller and wider than most, with a craggy face like the wild mountains surrounding them. His eyes gleamed with an inner strength, stronger than granite. Sam wondered just what manner of creature he was, certainly not human.

        The fire resumed its steady, crackling roar, providing comforting warmth to those that had gathered there tonight to see the legendary display. No one had resumed talking. All attention was focused on the shape of the wizard as he turned around to face them once again.

        "I have a series of assorted sensations for you to enjoy this evening, seven to be precise …" the Great Wizard paused, "We will start off with the Goblin Racer, move on to the Highlander's Delight, followed by the Jolly Jester. After which we will celebrate the King's Coronation Ball, and marvel at the Long Light Liberation, then be bewildered by the phenomenal Parrots, Pirates, and Pancakes Piratical Pyrotechnics. Finally we will be taken on an awesome trip with the Troll's Totally Titanic Terribly Triumphant Toothy Tongue Tingler!" Grumphspawn seemed very pleased with himself as he announced the list and the smile on his face when he gave the name of the last firework, was like the splitting of a cliff face.

        The audience gave him an enthusiastic round of applause as they settled back with growing anticipation.

                Above them, the stars gleamed and sparkled like diamonds in the sky. A stellar backdrop highlighting the darkness of the space in between them, a space that seemed full of expectation, as if it was waiting for something extraordinary…