5 Ch5-The Redcaps

CHAPTER 5 THE REDCAPS I think these fairies want to help me! Drake thought. He was about to take a step toward the redcaps when he stopped and turned to Breen. "I guess you won't tell me if we should follow them or not," he said. "No. I can't," Breen said. "That would be cheating!" "But can you tell me something about them?" Drake asked.

Breen twirled her finger around one of her curls. "I guess so. What do you want to know?" "Well, what kind of fairies are they?" Drake asked. "Are they nice?" "They mostly like to march around," she answered. "But they do also like to have fun with humans who visit here." "Hmm," Drake said. "What kind of fun?" "You are asking too many questions, Drake," Breen said. "Choose a path!" The redcaps had already begun to march away. "Wait for us!" Drake called out. He ran to catch up to the fairies. Breen followed him.

The redcaps marched into the woods. "Here we go marching on and on, here and there and overand yon," they repeated. They marched and marched. Drake kept expecting to reach the end of the woods, but they never did. "I think we're going in circles!" he said. "You are right," Breen agreed. She pointed to a tree with a twisted trunk. "We have passed by this same tree three times."

"Here we go marching on and on, here and there and over and yon," sang the redcaps. Drake frowned. "I guess we shouldn't have followed them," he said. "Let's go back to the other path." Drake tried to turn around— but he couldn't! His body swung forward and kept marching behind the redcaps. His legs were moving all on their own! "Hey!" Drake yelled. Are the redcaps using some kind of fairy magic? he wondered. Drake couldn't slow down or change direction. Behind him, Breen was marching, too. They couldn't stop!

Drake made his legs move faster. He caught up to the redcap at the end of the line and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me," he said. "But we would like to stop following you now, please. We need to find Fallyn and save my kingdom." The redcaps stopped marching. They all turned around and looked at Drake. "But you must keep following us!" said one. "We're having too much fun!" said another.

"Yes," said a third. "Going round and round is such a good time." "I'm sorry, but I don't have time for games," Drake said. "My kingdom needs help." "Sorry," one of them said. "We can't let you go." "You have to let us go sometime," Drake said. "How long do you want to keep playing for, anyway?" The redcaps all answered him at once. "Forever!"