The mayor kept on losing his focus and nodding off. He and his soldiers had been hiding behind trees for two hours and no one from Workat's army was in sight, not even for the birds from the highest branch from the tallest trees to see.

"Sir," called the nearest badger.

The mayor jumped and glared at him. "That's the twenty-eighth time you've poked me under my armpit, Captain."

"Sorry, sir," said the badger. "But you said we all need to stay focus, including you."

"Sir, I just had a thought," said a rabbit. "No one has heard or made a sound since everyone's been at their post."

"So what, Sergeant?" the mayor said.

"Do you think that Workat and his army are attacking are the others, including the ones underground, stealthy?" the rabbit suggested.

The mayor thought that could be a highly possible, yet also highly unrealistic. "Well, we can't shout to the others to check they're okay otherwise Workat will hear us and snatch us quicker than a golden snitch. And if I send so much as a bee to find out, the enemy will find us, too.

"Now, I know you don't like the idea of us just be sitting ducks – No offence, Sergeant," the mayor said to the nearest duck, who seemed just as frustrated as Liam the rodent said that to him over two hours ago.

"But we have no other options," the mayor went on. "But at least we have our wands and we know every magic trick in the book."

Then the rabbit next to the mayor was kneeled to the ground and fell down. The mayor and his soldiers gathered around him and saw blood pouring out of his back.

"Well, almost every magic trick in the book," said the badger.

"Turn around and focus!" The mayor re-aimed his wand and saw a squad of Workat's charging for them. "Fire!"

Bakey and his section of warriors were having no better luck than the mayor's. Workat's soldiers were charging for them with their wands armed.

"Aim for the necks!" Bakey ordered.

He had tried that many times but, despite his service in Workat's forces for years, he was no more professional at defeating Workat's goons than the volunteers.

Then he had an idea. "Spread out!" he ordered to the warriors. "Spread out and try to take them in any way you can!"

The volunteers thought he was crazy but, because they were not as half as experienced as he was, they looked at each and quickly agreed to obey.

Bakey aimed his wand at Workat's squad. He had tried everything he knew, save for one. He never liked it and never wanted to use it unless there was no other way. He fired a deadly cruse at his enemies and they fell down.

"Very good."

Bakey jumped and turned around to see his former lord behind him.

"You know, I really liked you for all you've done for me," Workat told him. "You were the only one I trusted. I could even call you my friend! So do you know what it's like to feel like you've lost your friend when he wasn't even your friend?"

"Well, I guess I never realised I was that good." Bakey smiled.

Workat sneered. "That's the last thing you'll ever laugh at."

Seeing his former master getting his wand out, Bakey flew as fast as he could but he didn't get very far.

In Refugee Mountain, the citizens were hiding inside the mayor's hut, surrounded by the guards. They were on the edge due to their lack of knowledge of the battle's progress. Everyone, except…

Liam sighed. "This is so boring."

"Boring and safe," Jane-Ann said.

Liam yawned and went to the open window. "We've been here for two hours and nothing, I repeat, nothing exciting or dull has happened. If some creatures started coming in here, at least we'd know where we are."

Then he started to wish he never said that when he saw holes in the ground of the village. "Like I said, at least we're getting results," he went on.

"Everyone, gather around in the middle," ordered one of the guards.

After making sure each and every single citizen was in the circle, the guards gathered around them and armed their wands.

One citizen in the middle was going down. So was another! A third! A fourth!

The guards and the citizens saw that the very middle citizens had fallen into a hole and it was expanding!

"Everyone, outside!" Jane-Ann yelled.

No one argued with her. But when they got out, all they saw that they were surrounded by a whole army of four foot, deadly-looking scorpions.

"Head west!" yelled a guard.

As the citizens ran, the guards fired their wands at the charging scorpions. They weren't killing the beasts, but the blasts were enough to slow them down.

Then everyone stopped.

"Why aren't we moving?" a guard demanded.

"Snakes!" Jane-Ann yelled, pointing ahead.

The guards saw that three foot snakes were crawling towards them.

"Turn!" they yelled. But when they did, everyone saw nothing but scorpions that have caught up to them. There was nowhere to turn or run. All the animals could do was gulp and fear for the worst.

"Rally to me! Rally to me!"

All the remaining volunteers, which were a maximum number of twelve, gathered around the mayor.

"What's the report?" he asked.

"Workat's forces are coming in fast," one soldier reported.

"Tell me something I don't know," the mayor snapped.

BLAST!

Everyone looked up to see an explosion and rocks falling from the top of Refugee Mountain.

The mayor could not believe what he had just witnessed. He felt that all his years of protecting the citizens of Alsder from the wrath of Workat have been turned to mulch and is now sprouting with stinging nettles. His home, his people, his friends and his pride had gone up in smoke. All he could feel now was nothing but emptiness.

"And Workat's forces are approaching us at six o'clock!" another soldier yelled.

The mayor quickly turned around to see that the third one was not wrong. "Run!" he yelled.

They ran as fast as they could but they were lifted up in the air. They saw they were approaching a crocodile that had a waving wand in his hand and his mouth open.

"Don't worry, lads," the mayor said. "We will die with honour. And I also wanted to say it has been a complete honour to be serving and fighting with you."

As he and his soldiers started to enter the croc's mouth, he closed his eyes. Then he felt like he was going up. He woke up to find himself not in the crocodile's mouth, but in the feet of…

"Serpo!" the mayor cried happily.

"She prefers the name 'Hedwig'," Julia called from the snowy owl's back. Then she turned around. "All right, guys, get them!

Both Workat's forces and the Alsder refugees were totally confused, but the refugees finally understood when out of the bushes came trolls and giant spiders charging for Workat's soldiers.

Hedwig put refugees down on the ground. Julia, the mayor and the volunteers fired their wands at Workat's army, knocking them down.

"I don't care what your name is," the mayor said to Hedwig. "The prophecy is true. You are the owl to stop Workat. Or die trying."

"Hedwig!"

The snowy owl turned around to see Liam and Jane-Ann, carrying baby Suzy, running towards her. They embraced her and she felt so happy that they were alive.

"I thought you were dead," Liam said.

"I thought you would forget us and go back to Harry Potter," Jane-Ann said.

Hedwig just smiled, feeling glad that she couldn't talk otherwise she would had to say that she only came back because Harry Potter was dead, not because saving the forest was her destiny.

"It worked!" Julia cheered.

"What worked?" Jane-Ann asked.

"The snakes flu-powered you out of the mountain before Workat's scorpions tried to blow up the mountains," Julia told them.

"So that's what those snakes were doing in there, then?" Liam said.

"That's right."
Everyone turned to see the snakes and the rest of the refugees who appeared to be unharmed.

"And it was Hedwig who sent them," Julia went on. "Not only that, but we paid Workat's place a visit while he and his goons were out. And we found this." She showed everyone.

Everyone gathered closer.

"A plant blub?" Liam scoffed.

"Not just any plant blub, Liam," Tina said. "This is the Blurburis Bulb; the blub that grants Workat his evil powers and his power over the forest."

"So we just destroy it and this curse will be finally over?" a snake said.

"Well, let's get on with it," Liam cried. He waved his wand. "Incendio!"

But the blub didn't get a single spark, let alone a single flame.

"It can't be destroyed by any wand, Liam," Julia told him. "We need something more powerful."

Everyone thought as hard as they could but no one could come up with a good enough idea.

Then Hedwig sniffed her wings. They were still smoky. Then she went to Julia and made her sniff.

"Your wings are still smoky," the hedgehog said. "So what?"

Hedwig shook her head in annoyance and pointed upwards.

Everyone saw the volcano; the volcano that Workat nearly had Hedwig thrown into.

"You really think tossing the bulb in the volcano will work?" Jane-Ann said.

"Think about it," Tina said. "If we can't destroy this magic thing with magic, we just have to destroy with non magic stuff."

"Then let's go!" Liam charged for it, but was held back by Hedwig. She pointed to the volcano and then to herself.

"Why do you always want to go by yourself?" Liam snapped.

Hedwig grabbed the blub and looked at it. Then she looked to the volcano and back down to her friends. She remembered that Julia telling her about those two orbs that saved her from death. She knew that she didn't have a third one in her to avoid death this time, but she knew that the bulb and Workat must be destroyed and the Forest of Alsder must return. She thought the Alsder citizens deserved that after all they've been through in her years of absence.

Hedwig waved to her friends one last time, who returned the wave. Then she flew off but a roar knocked the owl to the ground.

The refugees armed their wands, but they were pinned down by a Hungarian Hoetail. The spiders threw web at the Welsh Green, but the web kept on getting burnt. The trolls tried to whack two Chinese Fireballs away, but they kept hitting their own kind on the head every time a dragon flew past.

Everyone was surrounded by a dozen dragons. Then a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon landed in the middle. And there was no need to guess who the rider was.

"Give me the Blurburis Bulb, Serpo," Workat ordered.

Hedwig still held the bulb in her foot and backed even further away. Then she found out that she was halted by the nose of a Welsh Green.

"I don't understand you, Serpo," Workat said, as he pushed his Ridgeback forward. "You know you are not a magical creature, yet you still try to defeat the most magical, dangerous force in this forest, which is me.

"You know if you try to fly out of here, you will get hit and this time, unlike your final moment with your former master, you will die. And you can't use flu powder because you can't speak. So why don't you give up and surrender to me?"

Hedwig had made her way to her rodent friends and glared at him.

Workat was getting tired of her. "What are you going to do now, hmm? What trick can you use now?"

"Mount Husfer!" Jane-Ann yelled and slammed the flu powder down.