If You Trust Me - An Onward Fan-Novel

◊ Chapter 24 ◊

Previously on Onward...

In an effort to lift Ian's spirits on their long bumpy road to Dangarnon, Barley encourages his brother to help him come up with a chant dedicated to themselves—the Lightfoot brothers. Despite some hurdles, the improvised chant gives Ian some confidence, and he and Barley successfully land themselves in Dangarnon forest.

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◊ Between Rocks and a Hard Place ◊

It was no secret that even amongst the trees in the woods that nighttime had finally caught up to the Lightfoot brothers. But they were lucky, because for the moment, they were exactly where they needed to be.

"Ha-ha! We made it!" Barley said in elation as he jumped out of Guinevere the Second. Then he let out some groans as he stretched every one of his limbs front to back.

Seconds later, Ian exited the van himself and pretty much did the same thing. Once he was done, he asked, "so...now what?"

"Now, we make camp," Barley answered. "First, we needth a fire!"

The younger elf noticed that his brother was staring right at him, which made him dart his eyes side to side. "Uh...why are you looking at me?"

"On a quest, the perfect campfire only needs three things," the older elf explained as he held up three fingers then sequentially held them up one at a time. "A wizard, a wizard staff, and...a Fire Spell."

Now rolling his eyes and making a smirk, Ian had picked up exactly what his brother was putting down. "Sure, Barley, I'll make a fire for us, but...I think we're going to need more of a foundation first. You know...rocks, sticks...those sorts of things...so we don't start a forest fire or something."

"But of course, young mage! For that would be irresponsible. I concur a secure fire is just what we need. Come, let us seek out these objects at once!"

So Barley and Ian split up, and searched around the forest surrounding their clearing for the materials they sought to make their campfire. They each found a multitude of dead sticks nearby for not only their fire, but for roasting their food as well. But what they both equally had trouble finding in contrast were rocks.

"This won't do," Ian said as he picked up a tiny pebble. Releasing it from his hand, he then picked up and dropped some more that looked identical. "Nope. Uh-uh. Too small," he muttered with each unqualified choice.

Barley, on the other hand, was practically in the same boat as his brother. "Found any rocks yet?!" he called from several feet away.

"Not yet!" the younger elf called back. He then kicked the pebbles he'd just found with his foot in frustration and began to move away from where he was looking. Afterwards, he decided to traverse through his part of the forest a little more in hopes of finding what he and his brother wanted elsewhere. As he did, he complained, "this is ridiculous! All we need are some decent-sized rocks for a simple campfire! Is that so much to ask?"

Soon Ian's sight had caught onto several patches of moss that were grown on the trees. Then he noticed and felt more of it just below where his shoes had touched the soil. He could see that there was certainly more moss around here in comparison to any rocks.

The younger Lightfoot's gears began to turn at this fact and how maybe he could use it to his advantage as he walked over to one of the trees, and tore off a piece of moss from it. Looking over the flowerless green plant from all sides, he then heard Gedeon's voice come into his mind again.

If a wizard can master the hardest spell in the book, they can certainly master the others! So...why can't you?!

Ian frowned. He knew he just had to fix this, just as he was able to fix the drive here with his Flight Spell. What he saw from all of this moss was a solution that he believed could solve everything.