Magica

Chapter 4

Preparations For The War

While Rose and her horse were enjoying the meal, the two statues were busy chatting with one another.

“If only George and Natasha were here,” said the king in a sad tone. “I really want to see them again.”

“Well I met them when I was enchanted,” replied Mr. Good. “That was before I was able to talk.”

Then King Friendly whispered to his companion, “I think that George would fall in love with Rose as soon as he meets her.”

“No he won’t,” the other statue whispered back. “He loves Natasha, you know.”

“But they’re not lovers,” the king assured him. “They’re just best friends. There’s a difference between best friends and lovers, you know. George could marry Rose and still be best friends with Natasha.”

“That makes sense,” replied Mr. Good.

Unfortunately, Rose heard every word of their conversation. But she wasn’t angry with the king, because she knew that he would never try to hurt her.

“Maybe George is handsome,” she thought. “I don’t think that it would hurt to fall in love with him.”

Suddenly, letters were seen flying over the royal table. There were six of them. The first one landed in front of the king on the table. It was also addressed to him. He opened it and read, “Four days left…”

The other five letters were addressed to Mr. Good, Rose and her horse, Don and Caty. They all contained the same message, “Four days left…”

“Four days left!” repeated the king in alarm. “And then what?”

Everybody was silent. They were all thinking about the three words that had alarmed them all.

“Well at least we know that something will happen in four days,” remarked Mr. Good.

Then Rose turned to the king and began to comfort him in her sweet voice. It proved useful. After a little while, the king had forgotten about the letters, and the party resumed.

To Rose’s amazement, the dishes and the cups suddenly disappeared. Then dishes of dessert began appearing. Cups of coffee and other drinks were also appearing on every table. So Rose began to enjoy her dessert. She also gave some to her dear friend the horse.

“This is really a magical city!” she exclaimed.

“Well there’s magic everywhere in the continent of Magica,” was Mr. Good’s reply. “There was even magic where you lived for four years. Do you remember the tree of kuls?”

Now kuls are a type of fruit that contains the advantages of every good food that exist. They grow through magic. The tree on which they grow is enchanted.

“I also had a magical well,” added Rose.

Now the magical well was also enchanted. It was never empty of water. But its water was different, because it contained the advantages of every good drink.

When the party was over, everybody went to sleep except the two statues and the wooden donkey. They spent the whole night chatting with one another, not knowing what was taking place outside the city.

Rose and her horse slept in the palace, because the king wished to keep celebrating with them for a whole week.

That same night, strange people were running around the city. There were hundreds of them. These people were camping around the city, but very far from the four gates, so no one would be able to discover them. They were made of wood. We will know more about them when they act.

The next morning, Rose woke up and went into one of the kitchens of the palace, where the three sleepless creatures were awaiting them.

“Good morning, ma’am!” began his majesty. He respected Rose very much. That’s why he calls her ‘ma’am.’

When the cat and the horse were also present, the breakfast suddenly appeared before them. It consisted of eggs, many kinds of yogurt, potatoes and peanut butter. There were also cups of coffee, many kinds of juice and tea.

”The peanut butter reminds me of Mr. Simple,” remarked the cat.

“And the coffee, too,” added the king.

Now some of you may remember Mr. Simple who ate only peanut butter. In his city, it rained coffee. So he drank only coffee.

“I hope to see him again,” put in Don.

“But he might not recognize you,” laughed the king. “When he first saw you, you were a regular donkey. But now you’re a wooden donkey.”

Suddenly, six letters had appeared in the kitchen. Then each one of them sat in front of one of the six people. They were addressed to the same six people as the ones that had appeared last night. They had the same message that said, “Three days left…”

“I think that this is more serious than you think,” groaned the king.

“We must do something before we’re in danger,” added the Good Statue.

But the subject was changed, and soon the group was too happy to think about those letters.

In the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Arthur and his kind wife, Mrs. Maria came to see the king, because it was their custom to see him every day.

When Rose saw them, she explained to them that their house actually belongs to her and her parents. But she added quickly, “Now that I don’t know where my parents are, you may stay in it. We’ll live together.”

“Perhaps we can move to the   house of the magician who has disappeared,” commented Mr. Arthur.

“O please don’t leave me alone!” cried Rose pleadingly.

So the generous couple made up their mind to stay where they are.

When every person in Magica City was asleep that night, another company of the wooden people passed the city. They did not make any sound, lest they awaken the soldiers, who lay asleep at each of the four gates.

These foreigners joined their friends who had come the other night. They had dug holes in the ground and made their camps in there. So no one was able to see them.

Now, let me take you into one of their camps to see what they’re saying.

The captain of the wooden army got up and made this speech to his people: “I’m glad that the great Magician of Magica City has disappeared. Without his disappearance, we would not be able to invade the city, because he’s a mighty magician. We’ll capture the city in two days from now. Now this is how we’re going to do it. You know that it has four gates, and each gate is guarded by many soldiers. So we’ll take our ladders with us and we’ll jump into the city. Because we’re wooden people, we won’t get hurt when we fall from the ladders into the city. As soon as a number of us has jumped into the city, our soldiers will fight with the Magican soldiers and they’ll take control of the gates. Then they’ll open them to us and we’ll enter the city like bees. Of course there are more of us than the Magican people. So as soon as we’re inside the city, we’ll overpower them. Now before we murder anyone, we’ll ask them to surrender. If they listen to us, they will be spared, but they will become our slaves. However, if anyone resists us, then it’s lawful for my soldiers to kill that person.”

“Long live Captain Mighty!” shouted the soldiers when their leader had finished talking.

So the wooden people are planning to occupy the most beautiful city in the whole world. What do you think about the words of the captain? Doesn’t he sound like a terrorist? Well he is! His army has invaded many cities. And they have more slaves than they can keep. For this reason, every wooden person is a soldier. So when they go to war, their slaves stay behind to guard their houses.

The wooden people come from the city of Woodmania. Only wooden people and their foreigner slaves live in this city. It is rich in gold and other precious items. It is not very far from Magica City.

The people of this city are known as ‘Woodmanians,’ or some people simply call them ‘wooden people.’ They have every body part that we have, but everything is made of wood. So when they bump into a meat person or animal, that creature gets hurt. Because they are made of wood, they never get hungry, sick or tired. They never sleep either.

When morning had come, everybody woke up and went to their work as usual. They did not know about the wooden army.

When the king and our other friends were sitting at the breakfast table, another set of six letters appeared before them. The letters were addressed to the same six people as the previous ones. They all contained the same message that read, “Two days left…”

The king did not know what the danger was, but he was sure that something terrible would happen in two days. So he called for the captain of the Magican army, and gave him one of the letters to read.

“I don’t know what will happen in two days,” the king told Captain William. “But you and all the soldiers must be ready.”

“You don’t need to worry, your majesty,” smiled the captain. “No one can attack our great city. It’s protected by four enormous gates and many soldiers. So no one can enter it.”

“But four enormous gates and many soldiers are nothing before magic,” the king reminded him.

“That’s true,” confessed Captain William. “But everything will be all right, your majesty.” And he left.

However, the captain did not prepare the army, because he believed that no one would be able to invade the great city of Magica. He did not even tell the news to anyone.

The next day, King Friendly and his friends were sitting in the kitchen when a third set of letters came flying over the breakfast table. Again, and for the third time, they landed in front of the six people. The message said, “Tomorrow…”

“Tomorrow we’ll be all dead,” said the king sadly.

“But there are three of us who cannot die,” Mr. Good reminded him. “You, I and the donkey will not die, because we’re not meat like the other ones. So I think that we’ll be able to protect Caty, Rose and her horse.”

The king shook his head, because he knew that there were many kinds of magic in the country of Magica. He did not know what kind of magic his enemies possessed. The sudden disappearance of the great magician made it even more difficult to defeat the enemies.

That night, everyone went to sleep as normal. They did not know what would happen the next day. But King Friendly, Mr. Good and Don the donkey did not sleep, because they did not need to.

“I’m really scared,” the king told his two friends, as they were sitting in his palace.

“Fear is not good,” the Good Statue advised him. “So don’t be afraid. You were the one that said, ‘We cannot defeat challenges unless we face them.’ If you are afraid, you will run away or be captured. So fear does not save. But if you have courage, you will fight as hard as you can, and you probably will win. So I advise you to have courage instead of fear!”

Then the king said, “Well if anything happens tomorrow, we’ll run away from the city. Then we’ll think of how to save the city.”

“That sounds perfect to me,” laughed Don the donkey.

“But perhaps nothing too dangerous will happen,” remarked Mr. Good. “You can’t prepare for what you don’t know will happen.”

The next afternoon, King Friendly and his five friends were sitting in the throne room when they began to hear voices shouting. The king got up in alarm and went to look out from the window to see what was going on.