Empath And The Golden Magic Bird/Part 5

In Lord Balthazar's castle, the hunters presented the evil sorcerer with their prey. "Here is the bird that you wanted us to capture, and with it we bring this little blue man from the village we found him in," one of the hunters said.

"Excellent, excellent!" Balthazar said, sounding overjoyed. "Here is your reward for your services." He handed them a small bag of money as they handed over the Wishing Bird and Tapper. "Now leave me alone while I discover for myself what this Wishing Bird does and how it can help me get what I want."

"Yes, sir, my lord," both hunters said in turn as they bowed before leaving.

Balthazar looked at the little Smurf he held in one of his hands. "I suppose you know something about this Wishing Bird that you refuse to share with the men who have captured you," he said. "I can make things a lot easier for you. I may not promise you freedom, but I can make your death painless if you would kindly tell me how it is I can use the Wishing Bird to grant my wishes."

"If that's what you're after, then I would gladly suffer at your hands than smurf anything that would harm anyone, including my friends," Tapper said.

Balthazar sighed. "Such a pity you would choose the hard way." He reached out toward a small cage and placed Tapper inside it, closing the gate and locking it. Then he took the Wishing Bird and placed it in a larger cage, also locking it. "If you will not cooperate with me, then I will force the secret out of the Wishing Bird by boiling it alive. You will get to watch helplessly as I make your feathered friend very uncomfortable to the point where either of you will be glad to give me what I want to know."

Balthazar laughed evilly as he headed into another room, leaving Tapper alone with the Wishing Bird, who seemed to feel a bit fearful of what's going to happen to it.

"Do not fear, my feathered friend," Tapper said comfortingly. "I am very sure that our friends in the Smurf Village are going to rescue us very soon." - Empath, Polaris, and Duncan flew on the back of Feathers the crane as she took to the sky and headed in the direction of Lord Balthazar's castle. "This smurf has the feeling that dealing with Lord Balthazar is not going to be easy," Empath said.

"Aye, if Gargamel was an evil sort, then Balthazar is many times worse than he is," Duncan said. "I swear that this man would smurf things that would make the wretched old sorcerer smurf in his knickers."

"This one has heard that this Lord Balthazar is actually Gargamel's godfather," Polaris commented.

"Aye, that he is, Polaris," Duncan said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he paid for Gargamel's education as a sorcerer, for what little it would smurf him."

"This smurf only hopes we can get there before Lord Balthazar does anything evil to Tapper or the Wishing Bird," Empath said gravely.

"There it is," Duncan pointed out as they saw the tall darkly-lit castle coming into view as they got closer to it. A serpent in the moat raised up its head and tried snapping at Feathers as she flew near it, but the serpent missed its prey.

Feathers landed on the rooftop of one of the castle's towers. "Whatever we do, getting Tapper and the Wishing Bird out of there is our main priority," Empath said. "Let's try to avoid a confrontation with Balthazar at all costs."

"This one acknowledges and understands, Empath," Polaris said in agreement.

"That doesn't smurf like a lot of fun to me, laddies," Duncan said as they carefully made their way down the sloped rooftop.

Landing in one of the nearby windows, Empath, Polaris, and Tapper looked around to see if the coast was clear. Then they hopped inside and looked around to see if they could find any trace of Tapper or the Wishing Bird.

Then they enter the main laboratory and could see the Wishing Bird. It looked happy as it saw the Smurfs approaching it in its cage. "Salutations, fellow Wishing Bird," Empath greeted. "We only wish to help you escape."

"Duncan, I'm up here!" Tapper called out from the cage he was in.

"Excuse me, laddies, I've got to smurf my friend out of his prison," Duncan said as he headed toward a bookshelf and climbed up it to the topmost shelf.

"Have you brought any birdseed with you, Polaris?" Empath asked.

"This one came prepared, Empath," Polaris said, producing a small bag of birdseed he was carrying on a belt he was wearing. He poured a handful of it into Empath's hands, who then presented it to the Wishing Bird, who then ate of it until it spread out its tail feathers and started singing joyfully.

Duncan pulled as hard as he could on the gate of Tapper's cage until the lock broke and the gate opened. "Thanks, my fellow Duncan," he said as he hopped out of the cage and jumped down to the ground.

"No problem, laddie," Duncan said. "Now let's smurf ourselves out of here and..."

"YOU!" a threatening voice boomed loudly in the room. Empath, Polaris, Duncan, and Tapper could see that Lord Balthazar had entered the room again, blocking their way out. "I don't know what you did to cause that bird to sing, but it won't matter, because you will be joining it when I capture all four of you!"

"Oh yeah?" Duncan said. "Then I wish for your sorry smurf to be smurfed into Tartarus before you smurf a finger on any of us!"

Then instantly Empath, Polaris, Duncan, and Tapper saw that Lord Balthazar had vanished right in front of them. "Well, this smurf didn't expect this fight to be over so soon before it even started," Empath said.

"Not that this Lord Balthazar didn't deserve what has happened to him, Empath," Polaris said.

"Not that I fully approve of what has happened, my friends, but we'll smurf that in the hands of the Almighty to deal with," Tapper said.

"Aye, rightly so," Duncan said. "Do you still have some birdseed left, Polaris?"

"There is some left, though whether that will be enough is up to us to figure out," Polaris said, pouring out the rest of the contents of his bag.

"Give it to the Wishing Bird anyway," Empath said as he broke the lock on the Wishing Bird's cage, setting it free. The Wishing Bird devoured the remaining birdseed from Polaris' hand and then spread out its tail feathers and sang joyfully.

"Let us wish for a safe journey for all five of us, the Wishing Bird included," Tapper said.

"Let's not forget Feathers, laddie," Duncan said.

"Okay, then, and Feathers too," Tapper said.

And then suddenly all six of them were transported from Lord Balthazar's castle straight to the Smurf Village.

To be expanded on.