A Letter is Nearly Burned and Tortured to Death

Ruby was flying over the massive stretch of forest, humming a song her mother used to sing when she wanted her to stop throwing a tantrum:

It wasn’t of much comfort, given the circumstances, but it was the only song Ruby knew.

Suddenly, she heard a loud noise. THADAM! Ruby tried to work out what had just happened, then it came again. THADAM!

Before she could react, two hands as big as horses shot out of nowhere and grabbed her.

She screeched loudly and struggled to get free.

Two stubby fingers pulled the note tied to her leg off.

‘No!’ she screamed in horror.

But the damage had already been inflicted. The note had been read.

It was tied onto her leg again, then she was set free. Not wasting a second, Ruby shot off.

She zoomed away, not looking back. After a while, she found herself above The Kingdom of The Olves.

The message must be delivered, she thought and swooped down. She landed on the ground and collapsed.

Ohjad the Olf was playing on the streets with his friends. Suddenly, he noticed a black bird with a red stomach, lying on the ground.

He was worried it was hurt and rushed forward and picked it up. He was surprised to see that it had a bit of paper rolled up, tied to its foot.

He figured out that it may be a delivering bird. It had to be addressed to the King, because only he used robins to deliver messages.

‘I’ll be back,’ he told his friends quickly. ‘Just gimme a second.’

He dashed away, clutching Ruby in his hands.

When he finally reached the palace, he was out of breath.

‘What is it?’ asked one of the guards sleepily. ‘If you’re here for sweets, I’m telling you now, King Rinta has none.’

Ohjad shook his head. ‘I got a message for him.’ He showed them Ruby with the note tied to her leg.

The other guard looked doubtful. ‘Well, he was expecting one. But wouldn’t the robin deliver it to him?’

Ohjad shrugged. ‘It collapsed halfway.’

‘Oh, for crying out loud!’ shouted the first, losing his patience. ‘Just let the boy in. If it’s a fake message, we’ll tell the King he broke in.’

‘Wise choice,’ snapped Ohjad. ‘I have a game to get to, now, so do you mind?’

‘Let down the drawbridge!’ the two guards shouted together.

The drawbridge was let down with a creak. It groaned loudly and hit the ground with a thud that made everyone jump.

Before the guards could change their minds, Ohjad dashed into the palace. He rushed down the corridors and stopped when he heard some talking coming from a room.

‘But seriously, we should strike from here. I mean, any other place would result in a massacre.’

Ohjad timidly stepped inside.

‘Oh, hello,’ said King Rinta, surprised. He was sitting in front of a wooden table with Walter and Jack. On the table was a map of Mrindawa. It was covered in red and blue stones, representing the army of the Olves and the army of the giants.

‘I have a letter,’ said Ohjad nervously.

Walter’s face brightened up. ‘Oh, goody! It must be from mummy. They’ve sent me cookies!’ He paused, remembering that they didn’t even exist yet.

Ohjad slowly walked up to them and handed King Rinta Ruby, before running away like a frightened hare.

King Rinta untied the note from Ruby’s leg and passed it to Walter. ‘She’s probably written it in English, which I’m not fluent in,’ he explained.

Walter unrolled it and read it over.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘She’s bringing the army.’

‘Give it here,’ said Jack and Walter gave it to him. Jack walked up to the fireplace and held the note over it.

‘What’re you doing?’ asked King Rinta.

‘I need to burn it,’ answered Jack. ‘So that none of our enemies read it.’ He lowered the note above the fire.

Suddenly Walter shrieked and jumped at him, grabbing the letter.

‘You turning against us?’ asked King Rinta lazily. ‘That was bound to happen sometime. All war stories are like this.’ ‘No!’ cried Walter in disbelief. ‘What is wrong with you?’ He showed him the letter. ‘Notice anything?’

King Rinta narrowed his eyes at it, then said gruffly, ‘It has something written on it in some kind of brown ink.’

Walter nodded his head vigorously. ‘Yes, it’s invisible ink! More specifically, citric acid. It may be lemon or orange juice. When you heat it, you can see the writing.’

Jack read it out. ‘Well, she says the army leaves at dawn.’

‘Great,’ said King Rinta, ‘Let’s get the tea ready for them.’

‘Do you know nothing about wars?’ cried Walter exasperated. ‘You need to know when aid is coming.’

‘We should do this more often–' said Jack, ‘burning letters.’

‘Anyhoo,’ said King Rinta, ‘I need to get Ruby healed. Yanka!’ he barked.

The minister popped out of nowhere.

‘Take Ruby to the vet.’

‘Yessir!’

He dashed out of the room with Ruby cupped in his hands.

Mavis kicked a stone with her foot and watched it roll over the bumpy ground, sending a cloud of dust flying every time it bounced.

She was nervous about going to war.

For the first time, she realised that she was probably going to die. She thought about it.

All this while she was thinking that this mission was to get her back to her time. But on the way, her goal had somehow diverted. Now she was all about saving Mrindawa.

‘Are you nervous?’ she asked Alpha who was looking up at her.

He whined and rubbed his leathery nose on her foot.

Mavis looked up at the sky. The sun was steadily rising. ‘Come on,’ she told him and walked away with him trotting at her heels.

Mavis slowly walked up the rocky path. She finally came across the Woodland Elf army. They were all standing in a row facing the army commander.

They were all saying some sort of Mrindawian pledge:

She looked dully at a mushroom sprouted out of the ground. She wished she was the mushroom. She’d have no responsibilities and wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself.

She changed her mind when it exploded.

Walter looked doubtfully at the battleground.

King Rinta was standing near him. ‘Maybe they gave up?’ he asked hopefully.

Jack laughed bitterly. ‘The giants have a much bigger chance than us in winning. Why would they retreat?’ Suddenly, Yanka came running up to them. He seemed out of breath. ‘The giants aren’t coming,’ he gasped.

King Rinta smiled broadly. ‘Told you so,’ he laughed to Jack.

Yanka shook his head. ‘No, listen, they’re attacking the Woodland Elves!’King Rinta’s smile faded.

‘No!’ cried Walter. ‘They’ve found out about them going to aid us!’‘We must help,’ declared Jack

King Rinta nodded his head vigorously. ‘Yes, we must. After all, they are under attack because of us.’

Walter turned to face the army standing behind them. ‘Looks like our plans have changed.’

Mavis ducked under a tree that was falling down. One of the trolls had somehow set it to fire.

‘Why won’t the giants attack?’ she shouted to a troll. ‘Do they need puppets?’

‘The greatest heroes do not fight themselves,’ he said, not grasping the fact that he had just been insulted. ‘And we’ll easily defeat you. Why should the giants waste their time and come here? If we need backup, they’ll come. That’s all.’

While he babbled, Mavis struck him on the head with the branch of the poor tree that was on fire. This was enough to make him fall unconscious.

Mavis suddenly realised that his head had caught fire from the branch. She knew she hated the troll, but she was no killer, so she went ahead and hit him with another branch till the fire was put out. He probably died because of this, but Mavis didn’t wait to see in case she got nightmares.

‘Oy, have we met before?’

Mavis turned around in fright.

She was horrified to see King Kiuna, the Leader of the Trolls facing her.

‘You there!’ he shouted, jabbing his arm in front of her face. There was a clear scar on it. ‘You gave me this scar, and I will give you DEATH!’Mavis looked at him in panic. One punch and she’d be sent flying to Mars.

She looked around helplessly to see if there was any way of escape. No, didn’t seem like there was any. If she fled, she’d disappear into war. Of course, King Kiuna wouldn’t be able to see her, but then, another troll would probably kill her.

She stepped back nervously.

King Kiuna looked pleased. ‘Oooooh, is little girly scared?’

Mavis leapt up into the air and kicked Kiuna’s face.

He wasn’t really hurt but was startled and tumbled over.

Mavis had a second to give a mocking laugh, then dashed away.

She heard a high-pitched shriek and froze suddenly. It was followed by more shrieks. She saw trolls and elves fleeing.

She tried to work out what had just happened, then saw Snowdrop flying in the sky with Alpha on her back. She was breathing magic all over the place, and Alpha gave an encouraging look every time a troll was hit.

Mavis laughed joyfully.

Just then, a tree fell on her back.

Mavis stayed under the tree. She didn’t move because of the pain in her back.

It was completely broken and felt numb. Her head spun uncontrollably. She suddenly twisted her back to get out, but one of her bones punctured her skin and the pain was unbearable.

Mavis was in so much shock that she couldn’t speak, let alone call for help.

‘Mavis!’ she heard someone call.

She didn’t reply.

She couldn’t reply.

‘Mavis!’

She knew the voice belonged to Walter. There was no mistaking it.

‘Walter,’ she tried to call, but it came out as a croak.

She struggled to crawl out, but she couldn’t. Then everything went blank.

Mavis woke up to find herself in a large room with beds covered in white sheets. Wounded soldiers lay on them, sleeping.

She sat up and groaned because of the pain in her ribs. She found that her waist was bound by thick white bandages.

A nurse came running into the room with a bottle of honey.

‘Where am I?’ Mavis asked and was startled to find that her voice was like a toad.

‘You are in the Woodland Elf Nurse Room, dear,’ said the nurse. ‘And you don’t need to worry. Your voice has changed because of ash entering your throat. But I’ll fix it up in three days at the most.

She poured the honey into a spoon.

‘Did we win the war?’ asked Mavis after drinking the honey.

The nurse nodded. ‘Yes, a dragon went rogue and chased the trolls away. I guess we were just lucky.’

‘I guess we were,’ said Mavis, hiding her grin.

Mavis and Walter stayed in The Kingdom of The Woodland Elves for two weeks.

The elves were reluctant to let them leave after this because it would take Mavis another month for her broken back to heal properly.

Walter had said that they could stay as long as they wanted to wait for Mavis’ back to heal, but Mavis hated the idea that their mission was getting delayed because of her, and had decided that they only stay for a week. So, the Elves had pumped her with magical herbs that healed her in a week.

‘Make sure you take this medicine every day,’ instructed the nurse holding up a bottle of green medicine as the two loaded their baggage onto the horses’ backs.

‘Oh, I’ll be fine!’ said Mavis. She hated that medicine. It was so bitter. The nurse made her drink it every day, though it didn’t seem to do much.

The nurse shook her head stubbornly. ‘No! No! If you do not drink it, your back will never heal!’

‘If you’ve pumped me with magic, wouldn’t it already be healed?’ ‘Just in case.’ Mavis reluctantly stuffed it into her bag.

Snowdrop nuzzled her nose on Peanut Butter’s head. The horse looked nervous. She still couldn’t work out what kind of creature she was.

‘You’ve known each other for a week, and you still aren’t friends?’ laughed Walter, and Snowdrop sniffed him for treats.

Mavis and Walter hopped onto their horses.

King Rinta and King Antaniama were standing beside them. The two had become good friends, so the elves had allowed him to stay as long as he wanted. Ruby was perched on King Rinta’s shoulder.

‘Here,’ he said. ‘I’d like you to keep her.’ He handed the bird to Walter.

Walter looked at Ruby in surprise.

‘Besides, she likes you,’ shrugged King Rinta.

Walter smiled. ‘Thanks.’

‘Once all this is over, use her to write letters to us,’ said King Antaniama.

‘We will,’ agreed Walter and Mavis together.

They tugged the reins of their horses and set off. They went into the dense forest till they couldn’t see any more treehouses.

The trees above them formed a canopy, so it was decided that they would start flying only when they found a clearing so that they could safely take off without bumping into any branches.

‘So, we go to the desert now?’ asked Walter.

‘What?’ ‘Didn’t King Antaniama tell you?’ ‘Tell me what?’ ‘Oh, yes, you were in the nurse's room at the time.’

‘I am seriously going to blast your head off.’

‘Oh, right–well, the Kingdom of the Giants is somewhere in the desert.’

‘Took you long.’

Walter pulled out the map of Mrindawa and went through it.

‘Well, we should be about here. And the desert is over here, so that means . . .’

Mavis wasn’t paying much attention. She was busy giggling about how awkwardly Snowdrop walked amongst the thick vegetation.

‘Okay,’ said Walter, not minding that Mavis wasn’t paying attention. She wouldn’t understand anyway. ‘We’ll have to go west. In barely a few hours, we should reach the desert.

‘Sure,’ shrugged Mavis.