Cedric's Giant Curse

Chapter 7: The Gift of a Friend

Chapter 7: The Gift of a Friend

Whatever excitement he had felt before from being turned into a giant, he felt none of that now. The enlarging spell his father had cast on the door seemed to do the trick as Cedric was easily able to pass right through it without any difficulties this time......only to graze his head on the ceiling in the hall. He hissed a little in pain, rubbing the sore spot on his head where he grazed it. He had forgotten that, even though he was able to crawl through the hall easily enough before, he had grown bigger since then. King Roland and Goodwyn seemed to notice this too, exchanging nervous glances to each other as Cedric bent his body down a little lower to avoid hitting the ceiling again. Unbeknownst to the three of them, they all had a similar thought run through their heads: How much longer would it be before Cedric grew too big to fit in the castle at all? Would that even happen before they found a cure?

The king and Goodwyn carried on down the hall as if nothing had happened, making Cedric a bit upset that neither had bothered to ask if he was alright. But why would they care about him, especially King Roland? He was sure that, to them, he was just a mediocre sorcerer who made one too many mistakes throughout his life. Those thoughts were quickly forgotten, however, as Cedric focused on just being able to travel down the hall, trying to avoid hitting his throbbing head again. He seemed to always be hitting his head on something.

He hadn't grown a lot more, but just the few several feet he had grown made it all the more difficult for him to crawl down the extensive hallway. He was practically crawling on his elbows now, his back very close to brushing the ceiling. The voluminous robe didn't help matters any. He caught himself several times from nearly tripping over it as it caught under his legs. Eventually he had to momentarily stop to sweep the purple fabric out from under him so he wouldn't face plant onto the floor. Just like the hallway he had come down to get into the throne room, the current hallway they travelled was also lined with expensive objects of rare breed. Although Cedric tried his hardest to stay in the middle of the hall to keep from breaking anything, he soon discovered that he was too big for this. Several times as they went, he would hear a crashing or smashing noise close to him as his elbow or foot accidentally hit an object, rousing several small groans from Roland, although he never turned back to look. His robe was also partially to blame though as the trail of fabric brushed up against a table or pedestal, knocking over what lay on it. Hopefully the price of those objects wouldn't be coming out of his paycheck. He couldn't help his size after all.

But finally after many, many torturous minutes of trying to navigate the hall, and many profuse apologies from Cedric for causing so much damage, the three men made it to their destination. They stopped outside a pair of large golden doors identical to the ones that led into the throne room. These ones though were bigger than the other doors. Cedric wondered if he would be able to fit through them without having his father put another enlarging spell on them. With a flourish of his wand, Goodwyn magically opened the large ballroom doors. He and King Roland stepped aside to allow Cedric entrance with Goodwyn having his wand at the ready in case an enlargement spell was needed. Ducking his head so as not to hit it on the doorframe, or the hall ceiling again, Cedric slowly made his way inside. Thankfully, the doors were just large enough to allow him to pass through, although not without some careful finessing of his body. Like the throne room doors when he first tried to enter, his shoulders and sides rubbed against either side of the door frame, making it so he had to squeeze his large body through. But after some careful shimmying, Cedric was able to make it through the doors and into the ballroom.

The ballroom was very similar in appearance to the throne room with its large windows that reached from floor to ceiling, its creamy white marble floors and walls, and the Enchancia emblems that hung on purple banners about the room. The only difference was that the room was much more expansive, about twice the size of the throne room at least. On the other side of the room where the platform with the thrones would have sat, a long doubled sided marble staircase stood leading to another floor of the castle. Upon entering the room Cedric immediately stood up, stretching his long legs and his back. Just what should have been a short trip down the hallway left his body feeling achy from having to try and bend low and scrunch himself up. Not that it helped any though as a number of valuables now littered the hall in pieces.