Curiosity Almost Killed the cat

Sauntering along, the fat cat from the alleyway decided it was time to put in an appearance. Maybe Lady Oktober would appreciate him now.  His name was Twain, and he was  rather a precocious feline.

There had been no evidence of Lady Oktober at The Sad Spider, the place they had lost touch and unfortunately there were no animals allowed at the tavern “GIDE DRAGUNS ONLY’ as the painted notice stated.  All  foam, no beer sighed Twain.

What use was a dragon as a guide anyway? Thought the mog, everybody knew how fickle they were. One minute they’d be helping you across marshland, the next you’d be on  the barbeque at a dragons tea party. The imagery humoured him somewhat.

Twain's attention shifted to a grasshopper, boinging boldly through the barley at the side of the blue dusty track which seemed to glow in a peculiar but subtle way.

The ferocious feline gobbled  the grasshopper after one almighty fell swoop. Much more satisfying than the mouse loaf �" he thought.

As Twain slinked down the dusty pathway, occasionally pouncing on his shadow, he caught sight of something mildly stimulating sticking out from under a rock. Curiosity was unlikely to kill the cat on this occasion he thought. He pawed it a couple of times and it rolled out, and down a small slope. It bounced, once, twice, three times.

Out popped Mr. Bo rather disorientated. He turned to look at the moggy who shrieked and scarpered into the nearest woodland.

Clinging onto a sturdy branch with all his might, his voice bellowed throughout the land. “Nooo” it echo echo echoed as he was sucked back inside the lamp.

The fiddler had been watching from behind a large boulder, how appealing he thought a genie in a lamp, perhaps with such a lamp I can use my 3 wishes to lift this curse and use the other 2 wishes to secure a brighter future for myself.  (Fortunately his internal dialogue was exempt from the curse)

Quite out of character, he skipped jovially  over the where the lamp was resting, and he rubbed it 3 times... Nothing happened so he rubbed it another 3 times... Still nothing.

He examined it closely and read the inscription aloud.

“Knock 3 times

And say hello

to  Mr. Bo”

It rhymed vaguely so technically, it was in accordance to the curse.

He knocked 3 times and placed the lamp on the ground afore him. With a sudden jolt, Mr. Bo was projected from the lamp.

He looked around suspiciously and set his eyes upon the fiddler. “Who on earth are you and why are you wearing such a ridiculous outfit?”

“I am a fiddler, 10 miles I’ve roamed

Discovered your lamp, Near an overturned stone.

Once a baker, But it was revoked

By a man with a chip and a long overcoat.

He sent me forth, for a cure I now seek

On a path of enlightenment, with 3 others to meet”

Well, Mr. Bo was in hysterics. The Chameleon had a wicked sense of humour obviously.

He stared at the fiddler in astonishment.

“What is your name sir?” Enquired Bo

“Milo is my name, fiddling all night and singing all day.

Tell me sir, why it be so, he carved your name as Mr. Bo?”

“Because my name is Bo. Short for Bob”

The fiddler giggled, at least The Chameleon had granted him that much.

Bo looked at the fiddler thoughtfully “I too have fallen victim to this Chameleon person you speak of.  I’m now trapped inside this lamp. He said people would come along to join me on a quest, we’re supposed to be seeking enlightenment though I can’t see how I’m going to be able to do that in the dark” he scoffed.

“Oh Mr. Bo, you can travel with me and in return, reward me wishes three”  The fiddler watched and waited for a reply.

“I don’t think I’m one of those magical genies Milo” snorted Mr. Bo, “I’ve been wishing my way out of this lamp for the past couple of hours. I think it was punishment rather than for the benefit of others” except the Chameleon thought Bo. I guess he was still laughing about it now and very much benefiting from it.

“Do you have any Idea for what or whom we are searching?” asked Bo hoping Milo would be able to shed a little ray of light on the situation.

“Because all I’ve come up with so far is that we just keep following this way until we have an epiphany” laughed Mr. Bo “At the most, all I’ve realised so far is that I’m feeling a little peckish” he crouched down and picked up an apple snail, eating the apple and discarding what was now a slug.

The slug glared malevolently at Mr. Bo, it had taken him an awful long time to develop his apple and now he’d have to start over again. Slugs weren’t as desirable as snails, he slowly slithered off somewhere to sulk and plot his revenge.

Milo stared at Mr. Bo with reservations dancing in his mind. He thought it were possible that Mr. Bo did posses magical powers and that he was just after a free ride so to speak. He would be keeping a close eye on him for sure.

They set off down the murky beaten track together, when I say together, I mean Mr. Bo was back inside his lamp and Milo was carrying him.

A little further down the way. Milo was looking for something to eat,  he spied some berries on an overhanging tree.

He knocked x 3 on the wooden lamp and Mr. Bo appeared as expected.

“Can you eat the berries, the colour of red?

I had to be certain, lest I ended up dead”

Mr. Bo examined the berries, “Yes,these will be fine I’m sure” he sighed. “Though if you do feel odd after eating them, be sure to leave my lamp somewhere it can be found, there’s a good chap” He descended into his lamp.

Milo popped a couple of the berries into his mouth, they were a little bitter but did him no harm. Something was occurring through the trees, he leaned closer to get a better listen.

In a clearing, he spotted a rather forlorn looking unicorn. He crept upon the wondrous beast, he’d heard about unicorns inhabiting this part of the woodland before, he was yet to see one though, until now.

As he drew closer, he realised it wasn’t quite a unicorn for it appeared to have 2 bulls horns.

“I’m Fyn” interrupted the unicorn “Please excuse my unprepossessing appearance, for I was recently transformed into this hideous creature by a man they call The Chameleon”

Milo responded. “A lonely road, I travelled light. On the Chameleons terms which, born from spite. At first there was one, Lonely as can be, then Mr. Bo, and yourself makes three”

Milo shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

Fyn collapsed in a fit of laughter.

“Whatever is the case with you, you silly little man? Has The Chameleon put a hex in you too? Why else would you speak in such a strange manner and who is Mr. Bo? A mere figment of your imagination perhaps?”

Fyn smirked and rolled his eyes.

“I am looking for Lady Oktober, she is the resident witch of Norwood, she played a wicked trick on me and I’m going to track her down and leave her to the hungry crows”

Milo produced the lamp and showed it to Fyn, he knocked upon it x3. Sure enough, Mr. Bo appeared, he had been listening to the entire conversation.

“Greetings, I am Mr. Bo and I shall explain the situation because Milo here will be making a song and dance of everything” He smiled at Milo.

“Which means we’d be here all day, Milo is a baker by trade, the was transformed into this fiddler by The Chameleon, he can only communicate in verse and play his fiddle, it’s very annoying. Same story for me except I was a, erm.. a groundskeeper in these very woods infact. The Chameleon gave me to this lamp through no fault of my own and told me to wait for others to come along. There will be 4 of us eventually.”

Just then, there was a tremendous crash, they carefully moved towards it’s source. It was a guide dragon, captured in a net hanging from a tree.  They were sought after creatures and had monetary value. Milo rubbed his greedy little mitts together just as a face was appearing from behind the trees.

A tall fellow with old splints on his legs.

“Aha! I finally caught one” he grunted with delight.

“I’d advise against that” Fyn protested “For that guide dragon belongs to Lady Oktober and they’re very difficult to domesticate This was correct, everybody knew that guide dragons chose there owners, not the other way around. Only a nimrod would have decided otherwise.

“Of course, if you could point us in the direction of the witch, I may be able to offer you a solution” said Fyn. Milo looked at him, he was trying to work out his plan.

“My name is Voodoo Billy” he said, he explained a cure Lady Oktober had cast upon him, a voodoo curse. He’d get the occasional broken leg or arm but nothing had happened for some time.

“I will tell you where the witch is” said Voodoo Billy, considering his options “But you must serve me first seeing as it was you who made the offer” He would tell them her last known location but that was it.

“Okay, what if I were to present you with a lamp, a lamp that granted you not 1, not 2 but 3 wishes?”

Voodoo Billy looked skeptical but he was talking to some kind of unicorn so he decided he had nothing to lose really.

Fyn signalled to Milo who, in turn, presented the wooden lamp to Voodoo Billy.

He couldn’t believe his luck, “Why would you want to present me with such a lamp?” quizzed Voodoo Billy. “I could assign all your souls to the devil with just one wish”

“Why would you want to do that?” quizzed Voodoo Billy “and who is this devil character you speak of? Surely that would be a waste of one wish. We’re just 3 I mean 2 decent fellows, looking to right our wrongs”

Mr. Bo was inside the lamp, listening to every word.

“Mr. Bo eh?” scoffed V Billy. “Doesn’t sound very magical to me”

He tapped x3 on the wooden lamp and Mr. Bo appeared as anticipated.

“Greetings good sir, I am the genie of the lamp Mr. Bo. I shall grant you 3 wishes, whatever your hearts desire, I can give you riches beyond your wildest dreams”

Voodoo Billy was astounded.

“Well, for my first wish, I want to tame this dragon, possess his soul and for him to call me master”

“As you wish” Mr. Bo waved his arms around in the air and muttered something under his breath, something that sounded like a spell but in accordance to the laws of magic, wasn’t.

“The spell is complete Mr Voodoo, step forth and claim your property”

Voodoo Billy untied the dragon, at last, he owned the essence of his very own dragon.  The dragon embraced Voodoo Billy and soon burnt him to a crisp before flying off into the near mountains.

“We almost believed you had magical powers for a moment there Mr. Bo” joked Fyn as he slipped a sample of the pools glowing water into a vile.

He thought it may come in use further along.

Reviews

[Clayton Bardwell]

I'm enjoying the rhyming within the story.

I don't expect you want to be pestered about the typo's like this; "the".

"Which means we’d be here all day, Milo is a baker by trade, the was transformed into this fiddler by The Chameleon, he can only communicate in verse and play his fiddle, it’s very annoying."

Or the vanishing periods towards the end of the chapter.