The wizard woke up panting with terror, scared but resolute. He swiftly got up and shook his two companions by the shoulders to wake them. “There is terrible evil here. We must leave at once!!” Confused but willing the blacksmith’s apprentice followed, packing everything up and he and the wizard supported the injured knight between them and they set off at a steady pace out of the forest.
They walked for hours, yet it seemed that they were no closer to exiting the forest than before. Then during the fifth hour the wizard realized that they had been walking in circles the whole time, never reaching any closer to their goal. When he told his companions they were horrified as well, then as night was about to fall once more, the trio had no choice but to return to their campsite.
When they reached there the wizard tried a number of spells to try to get them out and free of the trap, however each one failed, he then resigned himself to setting up some protection around the campsite. That night the evil spirit once more approached a member of the trio. He spoke in the apprentice’s dreams of riches and glory, of fame a fortune, if only the young man would betray the other two. The young apprentice was tempted however he was too much of a realist to believe the spirit.
He just wanted to a good person and earn his way. Thus the spirit failed with the second man, however, the spirit though frustrated with his failure, did not give up. No, the spirit was a cunning one and it decided to change its strategy with the last man. Up
The next day using it illusory magic the spirit created a false path at the end of which was a trap. The spirit led the apprentice to it and the three men set off on it. When they reached the end of the path they were horrified to discover a huge ogre. They barely escaped with their lives and both the wizard and knight were hurt, in the knight’s case he was now even more injured. They were back to the campsite once more.
That night the spirit visited the knight and gave him the same offer, then the spirit told the knight that it was a competition to see who would succeed in killing the other two first because the apprentice had already accepted his offer. He told the knight that that path had been a trap all along and that the apprentice had known of it. The knight was horrified and furious. The spirit cackled to itself, wickedly amused at its own cleverness.
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