Free The Lich by Adventure Time Page A

floor in front of them. His hands were made of bones, just like a skeleton. His face looked like a fur-covered mask. His terrible teeth were bared as he snarled at them. But his eyes were the worst. They were black pools of nothingness, and looking into them was like looking into the dark side of one’s soul.
    ‘Dude, be a big sword!’ Finn called to Jake, who had the magical ability to morph his body into any shape imaginable.
    Instantly, Jake stretched out his torso into a sword shape. Finn lifted him and headed toward the Lich, who was at least ten times his size. Finn smashed the Jake-sword down on the Lich, who immediately vaporised. The evil thing then escaped by burning a hole in the side of the tree.
    ‘Quickly!’ Princess Bubblegum commanded. ‘To the other secret room!’
    Bubblegum led Finn and Jake through the castle and into the other secret room. She used a key to unlock a wooden wardrobe.
    ‘There’s only one known weapon that can harm the Lich,’ she informed Finn and Jake. ‘The Gauntlet of the Hero.’
    A blinding white light filled the room as Princess Bubblegum pulled open the wardrobe’s doors. The Gauntlet of the Hero was a long, large metal glove with an eye on the back of the hand and a sparkling blue jewel on the wrist.
    ‘Billy’s big old beef fingers,’ said Jake knowingly.
    Princess Bubblegum lifted the gauntlet out of the wardrobe and held it in her arms.
    ‘Finn,’ she said solemnly. ‘You have but one chance. While the Lich isn’t at full power, you must smite him with this gauntlet.’

    Bubblegum placed the gauntlet on Finn’s hand, and it magically melded in place.
    ‘His only desire is to destroy life,’ the princess said. ‘If you fail, you’ll kill everyone.’
    ‘No!’ Finn replied, as he clenched his gauntlet-covered fist. ‘That will NOT happen.’
    Princess Bubblegum walked over to a trunk and lifted the lid.
    ‘There’s something else I want you to have,’ she said to Finn. ‘The Lich’s lair is supposed to be cold. I just don’t want you to get sick.’
    The princess pulled out a pink woolen bundle from the trunk and handed it to Finn.
    ‘Take this sweater,’ she said. ‘I made it myself. I’m not great at knitting, but please wear it. I care about you, Finn.’
    Finn took off his backpack and pulled the bright pink sweater over his head. Then he threw his backpack on over it.

    ‘I love it!’ he intoned convincingly.
    Princess Bubblegum put her arms around Finn and hugged him tightly. There might have been better incentives for going out and facing an ancient evil than getting a squeeze from a princess, but if there were, Finn didn’t know about them. He hugged her back.
    ‘Me, too!’ Jake said, not wanting to be left out of a group hug opportunity. He squeezed himself into the centre of the love fest, forgetting for a moment the seriousness of the mission.
    Just then, the shutters on the room’s only window began to rattle. They burst open. The three friends gasped, fearing that the Lich was coming for them.
    It wasn’t an ancient evil, though. It was a more common form of badness, the Ice King.
    ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ the Ice King greeted them. ‘So, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and well, gosh, I’m so nervous. Finn and Jake, will you give me your blessing so I can marry Princess Bubblegum?’
    ‘What is wrong with you?’ Jake asked before he slammed the shutters shut.
    Princess Bubblegum turned to Finn.
    ‘Quickly now,’ she said. ‘Track the Lich by his trail of death.’
    ‘Here I go!’ Finn called as he raced off.
    ‘Here I go!’ Jake echoed, following Finn.
    Finn and Jake raced through the cotton candy trees in the Candy Kingdom forest, following the Lich’s path.
    ‘This is our first fate-of-the-world deal,’ Jake panted.
    ‘Yeah, man,’ Finn replied. ‘We have to shut this fool down hardcore!’
    Jake began to get stomach cramps from running so fast. He slowed down, and when Finn turned to tell Jake