The Dubious Tale of the Winter Wizard by Nick McNeil

Author:Nick McNeil [McNeil, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

***

Bertly, Roderick, Polly, and Devdan stood at the back fence of the farm. For the moment, the peppers’ screaming had stopped, and the farm was silent. Bertly curved his body around the corner of the fence and craned his neck to better watch the front of Lemon’s house. Edfrid stood on the porch and knocked on the front door.

“This is a terrible plan,” Devdan mumbled.

“Oh, it is absolutely awful. But I have learned over the years to always go along with my father’s plans.” Bertly turned his head. “Somehow—no matter the situation—he always finds a way out of it.” He looked back toward Lemon’s house.

Stepping out of the cottage was a short man with blond hair. From the back, he could’ve been mistaken for a child, but from the front his wrinkles gave him away. Even across the entire farm, Bertly could see the old man’s crinkled skin.

“What’s he saying?” Roderick asked. Bertly remained silent, keeping his attention on his father and Lemon. “What’s he saying, sir?” Roderick repeated.

“I am not answering your stupid question, Roderick,” Bertly snapped. “You’re the elf, why are you asking me?”

Roderick gasped. “I’m sorry, sir. But that is just a stereotype. We elves—”

Bertly held his hand up to silence Roderick as Edfrid stretched and put his hands behind his head.

“That’s the signal,” Bertly said. Polly and Devdan faced each other and interlocked their hands while Bertly placed each of his feet into their palms.

“Be careful, Bertly. If you startle the peppers, Lemon will know. It isn’t common for more than one or two of them to be screaming at a time,” Polly said as she and Devdan boosted Bertly over the fence.

Bertly scaled the fence and landed firmly on the other side, and Bertly could make out Roderick’s mumbles as soon as he landed. “Wait, if it took two of you to get him over the fence, how is he getting back?”

Bertly shook the comment off, deciding he would be better off worrying about that in a few minutes rather than right that moment.

He pulled a bag from his travel sack and walked to the nearest pepper plant. With their tiny eyes shut and small mouths closed, the red screaming peppers slept like babies. Bertly gently plucked each pepper with as much delicacy as he could, being careful not to wake the sleeping peppers. He was sure to grab enough for everyone to stay warm for over a week. As he turned to head back toward the fence, something caught his eye. Bertly jerked his head.

Resting on the other side of the pepper farm—near Lemon’s back door—was one giant golden pepper. This pepper was the size of a banana, and it hung solo from a single vine, taunting Bertly to come and pick it. Bertly looked at the pepper, then at the fence. The opportunity to enchant something with the golden pepper was an urge the Winter Wizard couldn’t fight off. He knew the others would start wondering what was taking him so long, but

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