I was lying in cold darkness. It felt like I had been lying there for days. My face was pressed into the cold, damp ground. Although I couldn't see it, I felt the arc of the heavens above me, impossibly vast and unknowable. There was a smell of pennies hanging in the air.

  From some insane distance, I heard a voice. A powerful, booming voice, almost like thunder. The words shook the earth under me. The roar of them filled my entire being. I felt a rush of energy, strength, and unshakable purpose well up inside me.

  “Your name is Shroomknocker. You knock over mushrooms. You can move. You can walk. You can see. Your name is Shroomknocker. You knock over mushrooms.”

  I felt a sharp knock to the back of my head. I stood up. My eyes were closed, but I could see. All around me, I could see little blobs of blue-green light, shaped like mushrooms. I could move. I could walk. And my name was Shroomknocker. I walked up to one of the shrooms, and with the tip of my shoe, I gently pushed it over. It collapsed, burst into white flames, and disappeared. I turned and knocked over the next one as well, and the next. I didn't stop until there were no more shrooms to be seen.

  Then I was awake. Blugnegal was still lazing on the grass near the remains of the circle of mushrooms. I had spent literally an entire day trying to even touch one of those damn mushrooms, and I realized that I had just kicked all of them over in my sleep. Obviously, my brief “spell” of sleepwalking had been an unexpected side effect of yesterday's attempt to create a golem. It was like all the power I had poured into animating that pitiful little thing had been misdirected. I had accidentally hexed myself. Luckily, since I was unconscious, the magic of the fairy circle had not been able to stop me.

  Duh! I thought I had been making a golem, but it had actually been more like a voodoo doll. It even had my blood, giving it a solid sympathetic connection to me. I was going to like being a wizard. The false starts in the early days would be more than compensated by the later ones. That, of course, being if I survived. I just had to escape from these fairy dickheads.

  I stared at Blugnegal. He gave every appearance of being fast asleep, but I had seen how good his hearing was. If he could hear my sister and grandmother sneaking up when they were still a good distance away, he could definitely hear me walking a few feet away. Still, there was nothing else to do. I was glad I had spent a skill talent on Stealth.

  Slowly and watching every step, I picked my way out of the circle of fallen mushrooms. Naturally, nothing stopped me. Supernaturally, nothing did not stop me, as it had when the shrooms had been upright. I breathed very carefully, trying to not make even enough noise to be audible to my own ears. Even a pebble falling an inch to the ground would wake Blugnegal.

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  I was nearly to the edge of the clearing, and Blugnegal was still snoozing away. I desperately searched for anywhere soft to lay my next step. There were little sticks and dry leaves everywhere, scattered like land-mines. I found a spot of smooth moss and gently settled my foot on it.

  It gave an audible squish, still wet with the morning dew.

  I launched myself forward through the trees, running for everything I was worth. I knew that if I waited until I heard Blugnegal stand up, I would have wasted precious seconds. I shot through the trees, not even thinking about direction, only about getting far way.

  I heard the crunch of Blugnegal's huge body barreling toward me through the branches. I felt the earth shake under me with every step of his sasquatch feet. I had the lead, but he had the speed. My only chance was to run through the trees were they grew closest together, try and take advantage of my small size. I was really starting to think that I should have done more cardio in my previous existence.

  I plowed through thick bushes and thin little trees. Blugnegal was just ripping through the woods like a steamroller, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. I felt a stitch in my side as the gap between us grew narrower.

  A blast of cold air struck me full in the face. It was like my entire body was suddenly punched by one huge fist. I fell backward onto the damp moss with a thump.

  As my vision cleared, I was confronted with the smug, arrogant grin of Kumakros, still holding that little torch of his. Blugnegal's angry glare shone down from far above him.

  “Very nice! Well done! You managed to get out of a perfectly good fairy ring! You know, I've seen mortals starve to death trying to get out of those. Good times! Grab him.”

  I was yanked upright by the troll's monstrous hand. I was pretty sure that this would leave some bruises.

  “Did you find the girl?” growled Blugnegal.

`  “Yep! Got her right here in my pocket. Dimwit!”

  “She was here. She and her Grandma attacked me.”

  “What! Why didn't you catch her!” screeched Kumakros. He's kind of funny when he's mad. At least he wasn't smiling.

  “You told me to guard the boy. I did.”

  “Well, he got away from you anyway.”

  “I would have caught him. You can't claim that this violates our pact.”

  “I could, but I won't. Without a circle, I need your help now more than ever. We're taking this little shit and the torch back to Hy Brasil. No more delays!”

  “I thought you wanted the girl too.”

  “I do. But this is getting too dangerous. If I get greedy, I might lose the boy and the torch. No, I'll just have to be content. The torch will settle my debts, and the boy will put clear me a tidy profit. To the mound!”