Great News

Her father disappeared as she tried to take in the massive room before her. Not only was it huge, but its walls, from end to end were covered in dark oil paintings of every Nefarious wizard over the past 1,000 years.

"What have you two brought me?" asked Roil since Peach would not answer him.

"She says she knows where we can find old Ector," Thort answered for her.

"She what?" thundered Roil.

"She says she knows-"

"Yes yes, I heard what you said. What did she say exactly?"

"I was standing guard outside of Polonius's and she comes dawdling up and says, 'I know where Ector Preux is.' I couldn't believe my own ears."

"She used his last name?"

"Yes she did."

"Come, girl," said Roil, suddenly kindly, and he stood up. He was an unusually tall man at almost seven feet. His shoulders were hunched and neck arched as he was forced to look down on most people most of the time, except for his guards whom he motioned to step aside as he approached Peach. He placed a long, spider-like arm around her shoulder. "Be calm, child. I don't scare you that much, do I?"

She was not scared. Instead, she began seeing two of him again and her dad once more. His bruised, cut face flashed across her mind's eye with alarming clarity. She couldn't understand what he might have done wrong. This all happened months before they wanted Ector.

"I'll tell you where Ector is if you let my dad go."

Roil leaned back and smiled until eventually, he was beaming.

She Was Unafraid

Spiral turned and faced Thort, his eyes widening completely, contemplating the meaning of Thort's shouting, then lazily closed them again halfway.

"There's no need to raise your voice," he said as calmly as ever.

Thort held his ground until the white tiger pushed the front door of the house open with his paw. They had to step down a few feet in order to enter. The ancient, stone building was, over the centuries, sinking into the forest soil, and the roof, with all of its moss and dead branches, must certainly have looked like the forest floor itself from the sky up above.

Because the giant guards had to crouch nearly in half to enter, Tubble took Peach off his shoulders and stood her on the ground between Thort and himself. Spiral turned and stared at her, but somehow she was calm and unafraid. Just as her feet touched the floor, her powers kicked in and she was able to see what happened to her father, some six months prior. He was pushed through this same crypt-like door, across this very threshold she now stood on, his hands tied behind his back as one of the guards, yes, Tubble it was, did the pushing.

A man sat on the couch in front of her father, the same man sitting on the same couch in front of her, with his back to both of them, concentrating on the flames in his roaring fireplace. Peach could hear the wood crackling and feel its heat. The scene in her mind was exactly the same as the one in front of her, just minus her father. Then, in both vision and real life, the man sitting on the couch turned around, and yes, he was the same man in both.

He was Roil Nefarious.

"Who are you?" he asked Peach, just as he had asked her father.

Spiral

Finally, it appeared they came to a dead end.

"Where is it?" Thort asked out loud, reaching about and touching every branch within sight.

Tubble moved forward with Peach still on his shoulders. Leaves scratched the top of her head and branches poked her in the side. Tubble thrust his hands between two unusual leaves of an orange color and when he pulled out he was holding a black vine. He yanked on it roughly and the brush and trees in front of them slid away to either side. Peach could see it was in fact a double sliding door painted exactly like the surrounding environment, practically in 3-D. Then, her eyes met what was facing them on the other side.

A large white tiger sat staring back at them in front of a low, darkened house. Even from where she sat on Tubble's shoulders, Peach could see there was something incredibly strange about its eyes. From over thirty feet away she could see they were glowing. The tiger stood up and walked towards them, keeping his horrible gaze on Peach the entire time.

"We need to see Roil," said Thort as if the tiger would understand him.

Peach could now better see what made the tiger's eyes so horrible. They were green with red blood vessels spreading out from thin black centers in undulating lines, like they were vibrating. Tubble held tightly to Peach's legs once she started pushing back in horror.

"Why do you bring a little child to me?" asked the tiger, ignoring Thort's demand. Peach was shocked to hear it talk. It had a man's voice, very gentle, but that only made him even more horrible. "Why do you keep her up so high?" he talked again, licking his lips.

"She is not for you, Spiral. Now once again, where is Roil?"

Still the tiger stared at Peach.

"Spiral, your master, where is he?"

Peach could not look away from his pulsating eyes, the blood vessels vibrating, the green glowing.

"Spiral!"

The Darker The Way...

The weird shrieks of strange, unseen animals echoed on all sides of them from out of the tangled overgrowth closing in. The trail was getting much fainter and Thort took out his sword to hack at the many branches and vines. Peach screamed as she was lifted off the ground by someone secretly following them. Thort snapped around and raised his sword, but he relaxed just as quickly when he saw who the person was now holding Peach high upon his shoulders. He was as tall as Thort so she grabbed tightly around his neck. It would have been a painful fall back to the ground, onto the treacherous rocks and snake-like roots.

"It's only you, Tubble. Where were you hiding?"

"I was standing off to the side about ten paces back. You walked right past me."

"I was trying to chop some of these branches. They're driving me crazy."

"If you plan on taking a little kid through here, of all places, you should be carrying her. Anything could snatch her, you see."

"That's why we have you here," Thort said.

"I can only be in one place at a time, you know."

"By the sounds of it, you have your hands full."

"Just be careful, is all I'm saying. This place is getting a bit...unruly. What are you bringing her here for anyway? Certainly not to see Roil Nefarious I hope."

"Yes, we are on our way to see him."

"Oh, no. He's in a foul mood. He's been looking the past week for you-know-who without any success and now he's certain he's left the country."

"Well, that kid you have up there on your shoulders knows where he's vanished to."

Tubble lifted Peach up over his head and held her out in front of him at eye-level.

"This little muchkin?"

"Yes I do. Now put me down you overgrown ape before I start screaming."

Tubble looked totally startled for a moment before he burst out in loud, deep laughter.

"Oh, ho ho ho ho, oh boy, whoa ho ho ho. This is going to be good. Let's go."

He swung her back onto his shoulders, and Thort turned around to hack at the branches in their way. Peach wanted to scream like she warned she would, but her legs were very tired and the unseen animals were shrieking loud enough for a hundred dark and scary forests.

Roil's At Home

"Of course I'm sure, " she squeaked.

"Lord Nefarious is not the one to lie to if you value your life."

"I know all about that better than you realize."

"What does that mean?" he demanded, but she refused to answer.

"Who did you get your information from?"

Peach hesitated. She did not want to bring Thort home to her mother. "I cannot tell, but if it proves untrue, I will so you can blame those I overheard, not I."

Thort gave her a long stare, then told her to follow him. He took long, loping strides and it was everything Peach could do just to keep up. Soon the shop-lined streets lay behind them and they started on a path that led into Brown Forest. Peach loved it here. Many times she walked upon its quiet paths to get away and think alone of happier times. They soon came upon a beautifully etched wooden sign announcing the government palace lay up ahead and to the left, but Thort took a right. Peach stopped and called out to him before he disappeared completely amidst the thickening foliage.

"Shouldn't we be headed this other way?" she asked.

"Roil Nefarious is at home," Thort said and continued walking.

The forest grew much darker the way he was headed. Peach had never been there before.

Thort

Peach recognized one of the two guards. He was called Thort. Even though he was a giant of a man, at over seven feet tall, even though his face was covered in warts and scars, and even though his bristly, black beard smelled worse than months-old cotton candy, she liked him because he had chased away some boys who were picking on her in the market.

Thort towered over everyone, and poor Peach's head barely reached above his knee. His voice rumbled like huge boulders rolling down a mountain.

"Say that again little girl."

Thort could have sworn Ector Preux's name came from the tiny creature's quivering lips, but that possibility was so incredible he could not trust his own misshapen ears. He bent all the way over until his watery, bloodshot eyes were directly even with hers. His huge head and tangled web of hair sprouting out from beneath a massive copper helmet were together nearly as large as Peach herself.

"You know where who is little girl?" his voice rumbled again. Peach coughed and waved her hand in front of her nose. Thort's breath smelled like garbage sitting out all day under a hot sun.

"Ector Preux," she said in a squeaky voice, tightly pinching her nose shut. "Take me to Roil Nefarious. I won't say a word except to him, face to face. I want all the credit for this and he had better reward me grandly."

"Oh, no doubt, little girl. Lord Nefarious rewards those who benefit him like none other," snickered the other guard. Thort gave him a cold stare and his smile quickly faded.

"Are you sure you want to stand before Lord Nefarious? Face to face?"

Peach quickly reconsidered, realizing the momentous nature of the decision she was making. The image of her mother knitting beside that horrible old woman flashed through her mind once more. Knitting, knitting, always knitting, that's all her mother had done since they had come to this terrible place. She missed her hometown. She missed her dad.