In a nutshell, it continues the adventures of Jessica as she stumbles her way through the magical realm her best friend Howard accidentally teleported her to. She’s on her way to the southlands where Jessica hopes to find a pair of wizards to send her home. The wizards who just happen to be related to her.
Meanwhile, Howard is sent an amulet and uses it to travel to the magickal realm himself. Unfortunately, Jessica's roommate Ellen stops in just as he sets the spell in motion and she's caught up in it as well. Much adventuring ensues before they all hook up again, and then more adventuring on the way to the final battle with the evil wizard.
This excerpt takes place while Ellen and Howard, accompanied by Sebastian the bard and Kaelan the elf, are on their way to meet up with Jessica and Dominic.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Howard asked with a frown.
Sebastian sighed. “I will prove it to you. Let me get my lute and I’ll play a tune or two.”
“I can’t believe you fell for that,” Ellen said to Sebastian.
“Fell for what?”
“Howard’s been dying to hear you play since we got to this world. He was just too chicken to ask.”
Sebastian grinned. “Is this true?”
Howard reddened and ducked his head. “Maybe. Just a little. I have heard you play, just never in person.”
The bard went over to the pile of gear and returned with his lute. Sitting down where he’d been sitting to eat his dinner, he plucked a few notes, gave a couple of the tuning pegs a turn, and turned to the three expectant faces.
“If you’ve travelled much in the human realms,” he said to Kaelan, “You will perhaps be familiar with this song. It is popular in the taverns, especially at festival time.”
The song was like an Irish reel - fast-paced and spritely. It lifted their spirits just to hear it and they had to suppress the urge to get up and dance. It was quite infectious and left them all smiling when he finished.
He segued into another and then a third before he took a break.
“Wow, you really can play,” Ellen teased.
“You play beautifully,” Howard added.
“Do you sing as well,” Ellen asked. “Or do bards only play?”
Sebastian smiled. “I have some small talent with my voice as well,” he said, with a wink towards Howard. “What would you have, a ballad? a dirge?”
“Do you know ‘The Price of a Kiss?’” Kaelan asked suddenly. His glance slid involuntarily towards Ellen before he caught himself.
The bard’s smile widened. “Indeed, a most fitting song before we retire for the night.”
From the opening cords he held them spellbound, and when the first notes of the ballade spilled from his throat they hardly dared to breathe. The song was the story of a lord who had been separated from his hunting party and came upon a fair maid who was bathing in a secluded pond.
Her beauty was so great he was instantly smitten. She showed no fear when she turned to leave the water and saw him standing on the bank. He questioned the wisdom of her bathing in alone in such a secluded place and she questioned his morals in spying on defenceless women. He gallantly turned his back while she dressed, but suggested he be rewarded with a kiss. There was no answer from her and when he turned again she was gone.
He searched for her but could find no trace. His friends, when he told them of her, told him that he’d fallen asleep by the pond and she was but a dream. Either that or a ghost. But he knew in his heart she was real, and he was determined to make her his bride. He haunted the area around the pond, offering rewards for any information of her. Finally, an old woman came to him and told him he had seen the Lady of the Forest. When he asked her where he could find this lady, he was told he could not. She would have to come to him.
He began bringing gifts to the pond - fine silks and jewellery, wines and offerings of exotic food - and always they would disappear when his back was turned. And the day came that he came to the pond, his hands empty. He told her he had one last gift to give, a song he had composed himself. Closing his eyes, he sang of his great love for her, of his regret for offending her with earthly possessions, and how although his heart would be forever hers, he would leave her in peace. When he opened his eyes, she was standing before him.
But before they could tell each other what was in their hearts, they were attacked by a band of ruffians. Telling the maid to flee, the lord faced them with his sword in hand. He fought valiantly, but although he drove them off, he was sorely wounded. As he lay near the pond, close to death, his lady came to him. She held him and cleansed his wounds with her tears, telling him she loved him as well but she’d been afraid of having to leave her forest behind. And she told him she would regret to her dying day that she had not paid him the price of a kiss.
There were tears on Ellen’s face as Sebastian finished the song, and even Howard was dabbing at the corner of his eyes.
“That was so beautiful, but so sad!” Ellen said.
“It is based on a tale my grandmother used to tell me,” Kaelan told them. “Only in the end, the lady finally kissed her lord’s cold lips and he was brought back to life. She went gladly with him to his kingdom where they spent the rest of their days together as man and wife, raising seven children to carry on their legacy of true love.”
“I think I’d like your grandmother,” Ellen said. “I definitely like the way she ends stories.” Kaelan laughed. “I hope that you will have the chance to meet her in the Wild Woods Realm,” he said. “My thanks, master bard. Though I have heard the song many times, I have never heard it so well done as by you.”
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