Free The Wicked Wand by Steve Shilstone

late I sprang into action. I flipped up from the floor to the sill, scooped the Golden Shoe and floated out the door. I were determined to dump the Shoe into the deepest lake I could find. Oh, years! Bars and bars of years. How many had crept by since I had been beyond the cottage clearing? Too many. No time for delay. The meddlesome troll had run off to find a waterwizard. I couldn’t catch him. My floating were too slow. I should have rolled over and touched his foot when I had the chance. Then I could have unleashed a bolt and tarred him, too. I had learned to roll and move and float on my own. I knew in time that I would be able to master my bolts of magic without having to be in contact with any creature of any sort. I should have snuck up to touch him and bolt him while he were gnashing his teeth and wildly combing his hair. Young I were. Lackwit. Too slow to react. Too blinded by the single desire to rid myself of the Golden Shoe. It were a mistake. Another of my lackwit mistakes. I should have tarred him when I had the chance. Then I could have taken the Golden Shoe on a lazy flight, a peaceful flight, and dropped the nuisance into some watery depths. Left alone and at peace, peacefully safe, I would have learned to capture my bolt magic on my own. Oh, then the mischief I would have ... But of course it were lucky that I were too slow! Lucky! A blessing! No more mischief for me. I be a simple wand now, wise with age and ready to serve. Ye notice that I be leaving nothing out of my story. I be telling true, mischief and all. My mischievous ways have been mended. Ye heard my vow. It were ...”
    â€œI heard it! Continue! The Shoe!” I snapped, not making a single word mistake.
    â€œGood, Bek,” commented Kar.

Chapter Twenty-Six
    THE SINKING OF THE GOLDEN SHOE
    â€œYes. The Golden Shoe. I carried it above the trees of the Danken Wood,” resumed the wand. “My destination were Longthin Lake. Why Longthin Lake, ye ask? I will tell ye. For bars and bars of years had the witch’s babble fallen upon me. She had shouted and screamed at the crystal ball and at the troll about ‘Praw Fuh Sigh!’ this, ‘Praw Fuh Sigh!’ that, ‘Praw Fuh Sigh!’ and the Falls of Horn, ‘Praw Fuh Sigh!’ and the Wide Great Sea, ‘Praw Fuh Sigh!’ and Longthin Lake, ‘Praw Fuh Sigh!’ and every sort of other place or creature ye could imagine. Longthin Lake sounded ideal, the perfect place to drop the Shoe. Far enough, but not too far. Near enough, but not too near. It marked the southern boundary of hilly Clover. Clover were south of the Greenwilla River. The Greenwilla River were south of the Danken Wood and the witch’s cottage. With that knowledge tucked away, I floated south until I rudely learned my limitation. I now confess to ye my limitation. Were I still mischievous, I would hold it hidden from ye. But I won’t. I will tell ye. My limitation be ......”
    â€œWhat?” exploded Kar. The wand’s wooden voice had faded to silent.
    â€œMy limitation be,” the wand made another effort, “...that I can’t fly over water. There. Ye see! I’ve told ye! No mischief! None!”
    â€œYou can’t pie ... fly over water?” I asked.
    â€œThen what did you do with the Golden Shoe?” pursued impatient Kar.
    â€œI took a bath with it in the Greenwilla River,” said the wand. “Flying high and mighty were I, lackwit youngling, full proud of my mischievous escape from the cottage. When I passed above the northern bank of the Greenwilla River, I instantly toppled, falling kerplash into the water. The Golden Shoe fell, too, of course, and made a splash of its own. It sank away, carried in the current to a place where as far as I know it still rests today. Ye know nothing else of it, do ye?”
    Kar and I shook our heads no.
    â€œGood. What matter? It be not needed. I be tame on my own,” commented the wand