Chapter 4
The Grumpy Guardian Appears
Following the map, Leo and Maya reach the edge of an unusually dense wood. A gruff voice startles them. A large, grumpy badger, Barnaby, emerges, warning them away from his territory with a stern scowl.
The ancient oak at the edge of the woods wasn’t just any oak. It was the kind of tree that looked like it had seen the beginning of time and was probably quite bored with the whole affair. Its branches, gnarled like an old man’s fingers, clawed at the sky, and its roots, thick as pythons, wrestled with the earth. Leo, naturally, tripped over one of these roots within seconds of arriving.
“Whoa!” he yelped, arms flailing like a startled windmill. The map, which he’d been clutching with the fierce determination of a man holding a winning lottery ticket, did a graceful pirouette in the air before landing with a soft thump in a patch of moss. Maya, ever the picture of controlled chaos, caught it before it could become an impromptu forest floor decoration.
“Honestly, Leo,” she sighed, brushing a stray leaf from his already dishevelled hair. “Are you trying to set a new record for ‘Most Spectacular Entrance’?”
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