Colin Well: The Wizard

Chapter 3―Marram Marshes

        Eliza led Colin to the very Northern side of The Port. There, they stopped at some old, weathered docks. The only ship was a sailboat tied up to the very last dock. The sails were light grey and the wood was worn.
        "This was my grandfather's. Her name's Freeda. She was named after my grandmother," said Eliza impressively.
        "She's beautiful." Colin took a step towards Freeda, "Is it yours?"
        "Yes. My parents don't know, but when my grandfather died, he gave it to me," Eliza responded, smiling at happy memories of her grandparents.
        "Great, let's go."
        Colin and Eliza stepped onto the sailboat and untied her. They pushed off and in no time at all the cold wind had found the boat and they were on their way through the Marram Marshes. After a few minutes, Eliza looked behind her and said, "I want to go through the Marshes because I don't want to be seen on the open River. Someone might recognize us."
        Soon, The Port was out of sight and the two children were in the Marshes by themselves.
        "Do you think we'll get there in time?" asked Colin.
        "At the speed we're going, yeah, we will. We'll get there really soon," Eliza said confidently.
        After an hour of silence, Colin looked to the East. The horizon was beginning to light up as the sun rose. Soon, they'd be able to see all of the Marram Marshes clearly. Colin pulled out the map and examined it closely. Colin said, "If we're where I think we are, then around this next bend there should be a small island and beyond that is the River."
        "Right. We're almost there."
        But around the next bend wasn't the River. It was just more Marsh. After about half an hour, Freeda shuddered. Colin looked down and realized that the water was so shallow that they had run aground.
        "Colin?" asked Eliza.
        "Yes?"
        "Are. . .are we lost?"
        "No, we only took a wrong turn. All we have to do is. . ." Colin turned the map and looked at it, "I. . .I think we're lost, Eliza."
        "But when did we go wrong? I thought we were going the right way."
        Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes beside them. The Marsh ground was only about seven feet away. Before they could see whatever was in the bushes a voice called out, "An' just who are you?"
        This scared Colin and he fell out of the boat into the cold water. All of the clothes in his bag were wet along with the bread. He stood up in the mud and clambered back onto the boat. Eliza turned to look at where the voice was coming from. In the shallow muddy water beside the boat, a pathetic looking creature sat.
        "W―what are you?" Colin asked shakily.
        "I is the Boggart of course," it said proudly, "Now. You are?"
        "I'm. . .I'm Colin and this is Eliza."
        "Right then. Yer lost aren't you?" the Boggart said.
        "Yes, Mr. Boggart. Do you know where we're at?" Eliza said in the most girly voice that Colin ever heard (obviously trying to get what she wanted).
        "Well, of course, miss. Yer right near Keeper's Cottage on Draggen Island." the Boggart was saying.
        "Are we near the Castle?" Colin asked.
        "Ah, no yer not. It's fairly far away."
        "Oh." Eliza was confused. She'd followed the map, "Do you think maybe you could guide us to the Castle? We must get there, it's a very serious matter."
        "You seem like nice folk. An' I can guide you."
        Colin grabbed Eliza's shoulder and whispered, "How do you know we can trust him?"
        "I would appreciate if you got your wet hand off of me," Colin removed his hand, "Now. He's our only choice we can stay out here and face who knows what, or we can follow him."
        "Well. . .okay. But he said we're near a cottage. Do you think they have food? The bread was ruined when I fell."
        "Okay. Hang on," Eliza turned back to the Boggart, who was watching them, "Mr. Boggart? Do you think you can take us to the Keeper's Cottage you mentioned?"
        "Uh, yeah. Just follow me."
        Colin took an oar and pushed off from the shallow water. Once they had gotten into deeper water, they began to follow the Boggart. He led them through the Marsh and finally ahead of them, Colin and Eliza saw an island. Colin whispered, "This must be Draggen Island."
        They sailed the boat to a dock and tied it up. Once everything was put away, they looked up at the welcoming cottage in front of them. The Boggart had stayed in the water. He said, "This is the Keeper's Cottage. I live in the mud patch over there," the Boggart pointed away from the cottage, "Marwick isn't here now, but he said he'll be back." With this, the Boggart had a sad look in his eyes as he sank below the muddy water.
        Eliza turned to Colin, "Who do you think Marwick is?"
        "I don't know. But let's go."
        Colin and Eliza walked up to the Keeper's Cottage. Eliza pushed open the door revealing a coziness that wasn't outside. Even though there was no fire in the hearth, the room was still warm. In the middle of the room was a flight of stairs leading up to the next floor and potion bottles on shelves lined the walls. A small cupboard under the stairs was marked by a sign that read 'Unstable Potions and Partikular Poisons'. The room smelled of cabbage and stale bread. Against one of the walls was a rather odd looking desk.
        Colin walked over to the fireplace and looked at it, "No one's lit this in a while," said Colin.
        "Maybe Marwick left a long time ago," suggested Eliza.
        "I'm not sure. But since no one's here, I suppose we could stay for the rest of today and tonight?" Colin also suggested.
        "It's really nice. And there's logs by the fire. You could dry off," said Eliza.
        "That sounds good."
        Half an hour later, a fire was blazing in the hearth and Colin's wet clothes were hung by the fire. He had found some rather loud patchwork clothing upstairs that he threw on while he waited for his clothes to dry out. Eliza had found some bread that was Preserved for eating. After they ate, Eliza moved closer to the fire. While Colin looked at the books by the desk, he heard Eliza scream. He looked over and saw one of the weirdest sights. Eliza was being chased by a duck. Colin watched as she was ran in circles around the stairs. Finally, when the duck got close enough to Colin, he grabbed it. But it wasn't in his hands very long. The duck bit Colin and it fell to the floor, where it ran through a small hole in the wall.
        "W―why?" Eliza panted, "Why is there a duck here?"
        "Maybe it's Marwick's?" suggested Colin.
        "I don't know," she replied. Suddenly she felt very tired from the night of excitement, "But are you tired?"
        "Yeah. There were some blankets upstairs. We could set them out by the fire. It's only midday, but we've been up all night."
        Eliza turned to go up the flight of stairs. When she returned, Colin put a pillow up against the wall and leaned on it. Then he covered himself with a blanket. Eliza removed her jacket and laid down by the fire. In minutes, she was asleep. But Colin wasn't.
        Soon he got bored of sitting there so he got up. Colin walked over to the front door and pulled it open. A gust of cold wind blasted him and he shut the door. He stepped back into the room and grabbed his cloak, which was almost dry, and his boots. For the second time he opened the door, but this time he went outside. While they were in the cottage, a light blanket of snow had fallen. As Colin walked, he looked around. Crossing the water that was surrounding the island was a bridge. Colin walked through the snow. He could still see paths leading off in different directions on the ground. He took one that led along the side of the island to to bridge. When he crossed the bridge, he looked down at the water. A thin layer of ice sat on the water, catching the light snow as it fell. After minutes of walking he saw a bubbly patch of mud with snow crystals covering the top. Without warning, a figure heaved itself out of the mud. Colin slipped in the snow in surprise and fell on his back. It knocked the breath right out of him and made his head go fuzzy.
        When he sat up, he saw the Boggart on the side of the mud patch. Colin said, "Hello, again."
        "Yer a noisy lot. I could hear yer loud footsteps from beneath the mud." The Boggart motioned to the glooping patch, "What is it you need?"
        "I was just going for a walk. But, now that you mention it, do you think you could direct us to the Castle tomorrow? "
        "If the snow's not up, I'll take yah."
        "Thank you. So, who is Marwick?"
        "He's the Keeper of the Cottage. If you ever see 'im, will yah tell him to come here?"
        "Of course. Thanks again," said Colin
        The Boggart nodded and sank back beneath the mud. Colin suddenly felt very cold. He began to walk back to the cottage. Once he reached the door, he went inside and threw off his cloak. Colin finally went to lie down and he fell asleep immediately.
        Late in the day, both Colin and Eliza woke up. Eliza found some more Preserved foods―cabbage, butter, and more bread. Colin was so tired of bread, but when Eliza boiled the cabbage and Colin buttered the bread (and since Colin hadn't eaten in a while), buttered bread cabbage sandwiches tasted great. After dinner, the duck came back through the hole in the wall. The crumbs on the floor from the sandwiches were cleaned up by the duck and then it retreated back to its hole.
        For a few hours, Colin and Eliza sat by the fire. Colin had grabbed a few of the books along the walls to read through and when he opened one titled Defense and Offense Against the Dangerous, a tiny blue paper folded like an envelope fell out onto the floor from the page. Colin picked it up. On the page was a few lines of words. They read:

Defend and deny
The threats against I.
No harm shall come to me
While I protect myself from thee.

        Colin looked down at the blue envelope. This must be a charm, he thought. He decided to see if it worked. Colin spotted a small brown mouse that was crawling through the shadows by the desk. Colin walked over to it and, holding the charm in his hand, repeated the incantation. At first it didn't work so Colin tried again. This time, the mouse froze and started squeaking. Colin didn't know what the spell did and he didn’t want to hurt the mouse. Hurriedly, he rushed back to the book. Written under the incantation it said in fine print, "Causes traumatic scenes to flash before your eyes."
 

    Colin panicked, not wanting to let the mouse die. In the next page was the Reverse. Colin said it and suddenly the mouse stopped squeaking and ran back into the darkness.
        Colin called to Eliza, "Hey, Eliza?"
        "Yeah?" she responded sleepily.
        "I think I found a helpful Charm."
        Eliza got up and walked over to Colin. She grabbed the book and read the whole page about it. She looked up at him and said, "If we run into trouble it might be helpful. Don't you think it's a little over the top? With the 'Traumatic Scenes'?"
        "We'll only use it if we're in terrible danger." Colin walked over and tucked the Charm into his jacket (which was still hanging by the fire) pocket, "I think it's time to go to sleep." Colin and Eliza walked back to the fire and laid down.
       

        In the early hours of the morning, Colin was shook awake by Eliza.
        "Wassamatter?" Colin mumbled blearily.
        Eliza was whispering fast, but Colin couldn't understand what she was saying. Finally, he shook off the sleepy feeling and focused his attention on Eliza. It was still dark out and the fire had burned down.
        ". . .but now they're right outside the door," Colin heard Eliza finish. He looked around at the door and realized the handle was rattling like someone (or something) was pushing a key into the lock.
        "Stay back," whispered Colin, crouching back into the shadows. Eliza followed.
        Suddenly the door sprang open and a dark figure with a mess of tangled hair entered the room. By itself, the hearth lit up with flames, revealing the two children in the corner.
        "Hello. It's okay, you can come out," the figure said, "I'm Marwick."
        This relieved the children enough to come out of the shadows. Colin started, "We're―"
        "Colin and Eliza," Marwick finished, "The Boggart told me."
        "Oh. Well, it's nice to meet you Marwick. We didn't know you were coming back so soon," said Eliza.
         "It's fine. You can stay," he said as he closed the door and walked over to the desk. Now Colin knew why it looked so odd―it had duck feet, "And also, I'll be taking you to the Castle in the morning, if that's alright."
        "Its completely fine. Thank you, Marwick," said Colin.

        "No problem. Now, go back to sleep."
        Colin went back to the blankets. He thought about how nice it'd be to live out here in a cottage everyday with the just the Boggart and Swamp creatures as company. Colin trusted Marwick completely, even though he had never met him. His last thought before he drifted off to sleep was what the insane duck's name was.

 
      Marwick, Colin, and Eliza got an early start in the morning. The Boggart came up to say goodbye and Eliza and Colin returned the goodbyes. Colin also learned that the duck's name was Bert. They all piled into the Freeda and pushed off. Marwick directed them to a stretch of water which he called Deppen Ditch. In an hour, they were on their way, sailing down the River to the Castle.