Will Ye page 6
Well, maybe she hadn’t.
"I am here to accept your challenge!" he exclaimed.
A fluttering of her wings and a brightening of her complexion was his only answer.
"Well?" said Sourjack. "Aren’t you going to give me a riddle or something to try to get me to say the magic word -- or whatever it takes to make the treasure available?"
"Will ye mortals never learn!" said Smilerina angrily, as she lifted her chin in a defiant gesture just before she turned around and strode into the cave.
Sourjack didn’t know if he should follow her or not, but he hadn’t seen any treasure close to the entrance, and he figured the only way he was going to find it was to go hunting within the cave -- with or without Smilerina’s guidance.
And it was a good thing that he had been born and raised in the Forest of Malevolence, for his eyes were very good for seeing in the dark.
But even with that advantage, he did eventually have to strike a flame.
Holding the fire-torch high above his head, he saw that contrary to the Scrolls, the cave was not very big. In fact, the light made it possible for him to see all of the interior almost at one glance.
And there wasn’t anything in it!
No demons, no hiding places, no boulders, no treasure chests -- nothing!
"OK," said Sourjack, beginning to get angry himself, "where is the treasure?"
Smilerina’s wings folded down as she took on a hurt expression.
"Will ye mortals never learn!"
Sourjack sighed.
"Very well," he said. "I guess you don’t want me to give up that easily."
Using his double bladed ax as a shovel, he started digging into the dirt. After a while, he began to sweat mightily, and wished he had brought his farming tools with him -- not that he would ever have thought to bring such items on a treasure hunt. I mean, he thought to himself, there’s farming and there’s adventure, and they required different equipment, did they not?
