The Fearless Winds

Chapter Eleven

Merida awoke in a lush, green forest. She groaned, sitting up. She looked down. She was wearing the same green dress that she was when she had woken in the circle of stones, on her first day of life. Was this...

No, this was a forest, not the circle of stones. She stood up, and saw a little blue light. She smiled and started to follow it. Her black cape swished in the forest behind her, and she was glad that she had it. It was a little colder this time of year, and Merida never did will with the cold.

She had been so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice when the trail of will-o'-the-whisps had ended, leaving her in front of a small hill with a door and a couple of windows. She approached the door, and knocked.

An old lady opened it, one brown eye opened wider than the other she had a rather big nose. "Eh, oh, it's ye. Come on in, Princess, and I'll see what I can do for you."

Merida stopped down and entered the wood shop that had bears everywhere. All were wooden, and the little place was full to overflowing.

"I see ye are all stocked up," Merida said, handling a wooden bear plaque. "After I bought everything, that is."

"Aye," the old woman said, "and now business is bursting, thanks to ye! I don't know whether to curse ye or thank ye."

"Thank me, I think," Merida said. "Though it all up to you."

The woman grumbled, and took an axe from the shelf, and went over to a stump of wood. She raised it above her head, and brought it down hard on the stump. "What do ye want this time?" she asked. 

"Advice," Merida said, sitting down on a chair that was shaped like a bear sitting down. 

"Well, at least it's not another spell. That last one you requested was a little... odd."

"Aye, and that's what I've come here for."

The old woman looked up at Merida. "The one to try and stop the war?"

"No, the one that ye gave me as a charm."

"The protection one?"

"Aye."

"What's wrong with that one? Did ye break it, because I told  ye that those --"

Merida waved her hand around. "No, I didn't break it. It was stolen from me."

The witch approached Merida. "How in Mor'Du's --"

"That's the problem. He stole it."

The witch paused. "A whisp stole  one of my charms? How is that even possible?"

"I don't know. I was going to give it to my mum for her birthday, because she's been the target of assassinations and such."

The witch nodded, and turned back to her stump of wood. "And?"

Merida cleared her throat. "Well, I told Mor'Du to --"

"I have told you time and time again not to trust that whisp!" the witch said, spinning around with a chisel pointed at Merida. "He's bad business, all right. He tried to kill yer mum, yer dad, yer little brothers, you --"

"All right, I get it! I just thought that it might be nice to get some of the will-o'-the-whisps to lead Mum to it, that's all."

The witch calmed down a little. "Okay. Continue."

"So, before I was interrupted," Merida looked pointedly at the witch, "I said that I told Mor'Du about it. I forgot to mention that it was for my mum. I guess that he thought it was for me, and he... Stole it."