The Shady Adventures of Fabian

Chapter 9

"You'd think a rich Duke would pay his men better," Fabian grumbled to himself as he looked through the contents of the pouches he had stolen. "How's a thief supposed to make an honest living if people won't carry larger sums of cash around with them? It's really quite selfish, if you think about it."

He was continuing down the path towards the town of Braithvale when he noticed a sign reading "Now Entering the Enchanted Forest."

"What the hell?" Fabian asked himself aloud. "Nobody said anything about passing through an enchanted forest. That would be one of the first details I mentioned when giving directions. The town's two days that way, once you pass through the enchanted forest. Well, maybe that's just the name of the place. Maybe it's not really enchanted."

A pixie fluttered by surrounded by a bright glow of light and disappeared behind a tree.

"Pixies don't tend to hang around regular forests much. Looks like we've got ourselves an enchanted forest here. Not really a huge fan of the magic."

A squirrel on a nearby tree branch looked up from the acorn he was munching on and blinked its eyes. "Pardon me, guvnah, but what's wrong with magic?"

"What's wrong with magic?" Fabian repeated. "I don't trust it. That's what's wrong with magic. It makes strange and unnatural things occur. Look at me, I'm talking to a squirrel right now."

"Nuffin' unnatural about that, lad," the squirrel said. "Squirrels talk all the time. Humans just don't usually listen. If magic brings people together more, I can't see anything wrong with that."

"That's all very progressive and everything, but would you mind telling me if there's a way around this forest?"

"It stretches a thousand miles in each direction, laddy. The quickest way to go is straight through. The city of Braithvale lies on the other side about a day's travel from here."

"Thanks, pal," Fabian said. He waited until the squirrel had turned away and then he stabbed it in the back. He built a quick campfire and had a late breakfast of roasted squirrel.

Feeling satiated, he patted his belly and let out a loud belch. He kicked dirt on the fire and continued on down the pathway further into the Enchanted Forest. He spotted a satyr chasing a wood nymph across the path in the distance, but as they appeared to be mostly naked, he didn't suppose they were carrying much in the way of treasure and were thus not worth pursuing.

He did spot a little frog wearing a golden crown sitting on a rock by a pond just off the pathway. He attempted to sneak up on it, but it spotted him and dived beneath the water before he could snatch the crown.

He shrugged his shoulders and was about to turn back to the path when he noticed the tell-tale sound of digging somewhere nearby. He tiptoed behind a large shrub and peeked around it.

In a clearing there was a man in a striped shirt with a red kerchief tied around his head digging a sizeable hole with a shovel. More tantalizingly, there was a large wooden chest sitting behind him.

Fabian was attempting to calculate the best possible way to drag the chest off without being detected when he felt something sharp poking into his back.

"Avast there, matey. I'll be taking all of yer gold now."

Fabian held up his hands in a show of surrender. "I don't have much money, but take whatever you want. Just please don't kill me." He felt a rough pair of hands dig through his pocket and emerge with his leather pouch.

"Arrr, this landlubber be dry as a bone," he heard the voice say.

Another high pitched voice echoed after him. "Squawk! Dry as a bone! Dry as a bone! Squawk!"