“This winter, you’ll be able to harvest the syrup from the trees,” Trillium advised me.

“Yay! Maple syrup for pancakes!” Lily exclaimed.

“As well as being something I can sell,” I said looking at the grove of mountain maple trees. Some of them were so thick as to be impassable. “Elder, do the villagers know about these trees?”

“No, not since their previous medicine woman aged to the point that she couldn’t make the hike. The others have been too afraid of bears and cougars, which only visit this area occasionally to feed,” Trillium answered.

“Even the hunters and loggers?” I asked.

“Game and trees are plentiful near the village, so they don’t venture this far out,” Trillium replied shrugging her shoulders.

“That’s good news for us,” Lily said.

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed. “Especially since this is part of the land you claimed for us.”

“You can find the red clover in a clearing past the trees to your left” Trillium stated. “I’m going home and will be by your cottage this evening for ice cream.”

“It’ll be our honor to host you,” Lily said. Trillium and I gave my familiar a disbelieving look.

“You better not be planning on pranking me,” Trillium warned and then flew away.

“What has come over you?” I asked.

“Nothing has come over me” Lily replied sweetly. “That was too out of character, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said nodding my head in agreement. “You’re respectful of the elder, but that was too much.”

“I’ll get her eventually,” Lily said.

“Why do you want to prank her?” I asked.

“Because pranking an elder is like winning a championship,” Lily said as I put a few more twigs into my satchel. Seeing my skeptical look, she continued, “Pranking an elder is one of those things that only happen once a decade or less. It’s something every pixie tries.”

“Ah. Well, come on. We can discuss it while gathering the red clover,” I said leading my familiar towards the clearing Trillium said the plant grew in.

*

“Are you done yet?” Lily asked from where she was flying figure eights over my head.

“Almost.”

“You said that ten minutes ago,” Lily replied.

“You could help.”

“I am helping.”

“Oh? By providing a breeze?” I jokingly asked.

“Course not. I’m keeping watch,” Lily replied.

“Huh. See anything interesting or that I should be aware of?” I asked.

“A big hog just came into the field,” Lily answered.

“Where?” I asked looking up.

“To your left” the pixie answered. I looked in that direction and my eyes widened in alarm.

“That’s not a hog. That’s a boar!”

“Eh, same thing,” my familiar replied shrugging her shoulders.

“Lily!”

“I promise I won’t let it get near you,” Lily said hovering beside me. The boar grunted and then again louder as it came closer. “I think it has caught your scent.”

“Me too,” I replied as the bristles on the boar’s back stood up and it pawed the ground.

The hog was six feet of muscle and anger and stood about four feet at the shoulders. It was a dark brown in color, though that might be due to all the dirt and mud on it. I reckoned it weighed 200 pounds and that its tusks would ruin more than my day if it attacked.

Lily dashed forward and launched a fireball at the boar. It growled at the pixie after her fireball splashed off its hide. Boars have poor eyesight, but it locked onto my familiar all the same.

“Come on Porky!” Lily taunted the boar and launched another fireball at it. The boar squealed as that fireball hit it in the head.

“Lily!” I shouted as the boar lunged at my pixie as she flew by it. The boar’s tusks had barely missed her, and Lily laughed at it.

“Run Jase! I’ll catch up!” Lily shouted back.

I couldn’t leave my familiar to deal with the beast alone. I reached out to the energy around me as I had been instructed and threw a larger fireball at the boar. The boar jumped and squealed. It spun to face me and growled again as it caught my scent.

“Jase, you bonehead! What are you doing?” Lily shouted at me.

“I can’t let you fight this thing on your own!”

“You idiot! I’m just trying to delay it so you can run away,” Lily shouted at me as she zapped the hog with a spark as it charged towards me. The electricity made the boar’s front legs collapse and hog slide across the ground leaving a furrow.

Seeing the success Lily had with her spark, I tried to form one of my own. The energy escaped me as the boar got back to its feet. I could see that its beady eyes were still focused on me. The boar shook its head and started to charge me again.

Lily shot it with another spark of electricity, and it fell again. She followed that attack up with another fireball. “Leave my Jase alone!”

I could feel my fear for my familiar and myself as well as her fear for me. Lily’s fear for me was greater than my own was for myself. I even felt relief that the boar had focused on me instead of my pixie. I failed to gather the energy for a spark again as the breeze picked up. The boar stood and ignored another fireball Lily threw at it. The hog began running at me once more. My mind cleared as I saw death rushing towards me, but the energy just wouldn’t heed my call.