This is a continuation of B is for Birthday. It was followed by F is for Follow, H is for Hunted, K is for King, M is for Mistake, Q is for Queen, and R is for Rescue. You may want to read them first if you haven’t already.
S is for Surprise
As a bolt of light shot towards Barry, so did a flash of something moving in front of him. It was the cat. The spell hit the cat and its forward momentum carried it out of sight of the magician. Barry also reacted quickly, he dropped to the floor in front of the king. Where the cat was asleep, Barry was not, though he pretended to be so.
The queen was horrified. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. There was nothing she could do.
Hyde smiled an evil grin and glared at the king. “As I said,” he announced, “the kingdom is mine. Once I dispose of you and take control, all will have to bow to me!”
The king wanted to sound strong and confident, but his voice faltered. “You won’t succeed. Help will come and no one will follow you.”
“But that’s where you are wrong. I don’t see any guards here to help you, besides that foolish one that I already took care of.” Hyde replied, “The queen has already agreed to support me in my claim. And we all know no one will fight against the queen.”
The queen stood there frozen and helpless. Everything she had hoped for was for naught. She wanted to cry, but kept up her calm demeanor.
What happened next surprised them all.
The magician raised his hand and spoke out loud the words of the trance spell; the one that would entrap the king forever. As he threw his hand forward a bolt of light shot out from his fingertips and headed straight for the king. It was then that Barry stood up and placed his golden shield in front of himself and the king.
The light hit the shield and reflected back in the direction it had come from hitting the magician directly where he stood. The instant it hit, Hyde’s face froze where it was, his eyes glazed over, and he toppled to the floor. Barry sat down on the floor in front of the king, emotionally exhausted, as the queen rushed to the king and held him in a strong embrace.
It wasn’t long before word got back from the king’s guard that Hyde’s forces had been vanquished and all the captives were found and returned home unharmed. It seemed that the only casualty was the cat. For try, as they might no one was able to wake her up. The king swore to all, that he’d search for as long as it took to find an antidote to the magician’s spell.
A great banquet was held honoring the success of the event and of Barry’s part in it all. All were invited. The king had one last thing to present to Barry. He asked Barry to step into the corridor outside the banquet hall to retrieve it.
Barry was overwhelmed by all that had occurred in Selat. He opened the door, turned and looked at the King and Queen, his friends the fox, hedgehog, mole, and Rory. He lamented the loss of the cat and the sacrifice it had made to save him. He backed out into the corridor and as he turned around all went dark and silent.
Suddenly there was a flash of light, the room was illuminated and Barry heard a group of voices shout, “SURPRISE!”
He found himself inside the doorway to his house. There in front of him were his parents and friends. He quickly turned around and looked behind him but only saw the open door of his house leading to his front yard. As he turned back he was greeted by pats on the back and streamers from all in attendance. Barry was speechless.
Confused, he tried to explain what had just occurred, but no one would believe him. They thought he was just making it up to avoid admitting that he was surprised about the party. Was he making it up? Everything that had occurred seemed so real. Maybe he had just been daydreaming. It had been a long day.
The rest of the party was just a blur. At the end, when everyone left, he was sitting on the living room couch and trying to take it all in when his father entered the room.
“This was just left at the front door.” his father said. “It’s addressed to you. And happy birthday again, son. I hope you enjoyed the surprise party.”
His father handed him a rectangular wrapped box. The box had some small holes in it and a card was attached to the front. Barry opened the card and read it. It read, ‘Happy birthday, Barry. Enjoy your present, and thanks.” It was signed, “Love, Us.” Barry undid the wrapping and slowly opened up the box. A yellow cat jumped out of the box onto Barry’s lap, winked at him and then took a nap.
Hooray! I’m glad they all lived happily ever after!
(Click the Blog link on the second row) : S is for Simple Simon