Try as I might, I couldn’t forget the pixies, or the possibility of doing magic with the help of the woodland spirits. I reasoned that I could always ask the woodland spirits for help. If they would only help in return for my soul, I would just tell them that the price was too high and I wasn’t interested. There was only one problem; I didn’t know how to contact the woodland spirits! I took to walking in the woods near my home, which was pleasant, but there was nothing there that I could talk to.
This went on for several weeks. My walks in the woods began to replace the time I had spent talking with the pixies, though I was still worried about Suki. One hot day I was walking in the woods, when I began to feel too warm and rather tired. I sat down in a clearing, fell into a doze, and began dreaming of the woodland spirits.
‘The pixies are our friends,’ said the spirits. ‘If you want to help them, we will help you. Usually it is greedy people who want to do magic, and we ask to take over half their souls. But as you want it to help our friends, we will ask only to replace ten percent of yours.’
I couldn’t help thinking that losing ten percent of my soul was rather like someone taking a pound of flesh. It might not be a large proportion of the whole, but I was still likely to feel the loss of it. I also wondered if the spirits asked everyone for ten percent, while convincing them that they were getting a good deal by telling them that they usually took fifty.
I said I wouldn’t do a deal like that, and immediately I woke up. I now felt alert, no longer hot or tired.
I thought carefully about what I could offer the spirits. Perhaps I could have a magic wand for long enough to help the pixies, but on the condition that I would give it back afterwards. Returning to the clearing, I lay down and dozed, making contact with the spirits again.
‘We cannot lend you power,’ said the spirits. ‘If we gave you a wand, you would have power forever.’
‘You would have my promise,’ I said. ‘Once the pixies are safe, I will return the wand or break it; whatever I have to do.’
‘You would have to break it. But we know how easily tempted humans are. Once you have the wand, you would see how easy it is to do selfish acts, and you would keep it. We don’t want to take over ten percent of your soul as a way of hurting you. We want to do that because, by being with you, we can make sure you don’t succumb to temptation and so do great harm.’
I could see the spirits’ point, but I was repelled by the idea of having something alien mixed with my innermost thoughts. Again I refused and woke up.
I thought about this for several days, but I could see no way round it. If I had been trading part of myself for the wand, I might convince the spirits to offer a better deal: a smaller share of my soul, or something else entirely. Now it seemed, though, that the spirits were just afraid to trust me—and what could I say to that? I couldn’t guarantee that I would never be tempted.
Eventually I decided I would go back one last time. There seemed no point in asking about the wand again, but perhaps the spirits could give me some news about the pixies. However, to my surprise, I found the spirits upset. Even in the dream, I couldn’t see them, but this time their voices sounded as though they were crying.
‘Suki was the light of our lives,’ sobbed the spirits, ‘and we don’t know where she is. Or where any of the others are. We haven’t seen any of the pixies since the kidnapping.’ For a long moment there was silence, then the spirits continued. ‘We are afraid that great evil may result from this, but we feel unable to abandon our friend. We have decided to give you the powers you need to follow Suki. We cannot leave the forest, but if you are willing to help rescue our friend, we will help you. All we ask in return is your solemn promise to break the wand, once the pixies are safe.’
‘I promise.’
‘Before you wake up and take the wand, there are two things you must know. First of all, we do not know where the witch’s power comes from, but we do know that it is very great. Even with the wand, you will not have the strength to fight her directly.
‘Secondly, we assume that Suki has been taken back to her home world, since the witch lives there too. When you are ready to follow, you must take a magic carpet from this clearing. The magic carpet will go to Ice Falls, Twilight Forest, and then to Suki’s homeland. Be careful not to get off at the wrong stop.’
I woke, and saw that the tree in front of me now had a straight branch about a foot long, which had not been there before.