9. Inverse

The entrance door burst and a massive wave launched towards the unlucky bandits standing outside. Thogan surfed across it with Melvin still in the bird cage. Velma on the other hand, slammed face first on the terrace next to them, unable to emulate the wizard’s surfing skills. As they began to run towards their trusty carriage, she powerlessly tried to grab at them. After catching her breath, she screamed: “Get them!” Thogan jumped next to Misses Tearbags and shouted: “Let’s go!” They began driving past the long line of bandit carriages. The tiny horses sprinted as fast as their little legs allowed them to. Melvin rapid-fire shouted compliments at Misses Tearbags and in the meantime Thogan fired at the bandits jumping out of their carriages, flinging them back inside. The group was not driving back to where they came from, but towards the opposite. In the not too far off distance there was a bridge stretching out over a wide river. They were quickly closing in on it as Melvin’s compliments worked in making the horses bigger. Now they were past the many carriages and the pursuers were right behind them riding on shadow horses, among them Aunt Velma. Thogan desperately tried to neutralize all of them, but they were extremely fast. He managed to hit everyone off their horses, but Aunt Velma, who blocked his attacks with her staff. She even shot back at him. Then Velma started to swing around a chain lasso with a hook attached to it. Melvin shouted in panic: “She’s going to pull us back, we need to do something!” Thogan shared his mood. He was a nervous wreck. Then he looked forward. They were almost at the bridge and he had an idea. “Build a bomb for me!” Melvin did not question his idea and built as fast as he could. “Talk after me, Melvin!” Thogan threw the bomb at the bridge, making it collapse and rendering it useless. He looked at Misses Tearbags and Melvin shouted with him: “You are one of the most valuable friends that we’ve ever had, and we appreciate that you exist!” Her horses turned into one big Pegasus, and it flew them into the air. As they were both too busy cheering and hugging each other, they did not notice the soft smile on Misses Tearbag´s face. Unfortunately another person who they forgot about was Aunt Velma, who now threw her lasso towards them. It did not hook onto the carriage, as expected, but onto Melvin’s cage and jinked it out of the heroes’ vehicle. Thogan stared backwards in shock. He wanted to shout after his friend but the opposite left his mouth, a faint: “Melvin.” He couldn’t believe what had happened and the shape of the Melvin became smaller and smaller as his distance grew larger. One thing that stuck out no matter how much distance he had, was the wicked smile of Aunt Velma. She sat there on her dark horse slightly tilted to avoid falling into the river at her speed, holding the cage under her arm, just smiling at the wizard with wide eyes that stared into his soul. After some time he turned around, still processing what had just happened. They landed across the river, and they were pulled by normal horses again. Thogan looked in front of him again and took a deep breath. Then he saw distant lights. These were unlawful lands, so he was bewildered to see so many of them. This was the land of the bandits, but these lights were much more powerful than simple patrols of horses with torches or anything along those lines. This was another building. As he looked closer, it dawned on him. In big bright letters he read: “Scoundrel’s Tavern”. While Aunt Velma was marching en route for his home, he was driving at hers.