Tyler looked out over the vast landscape of western Candy Land. To the north was the Peanut Plains. To the south lay the Jelly Bean Hills. On all sides, the land reached out as far as he could see. The sun was setting on the western horizon and the few puffy clouds that drifted in the sky were turned red as cherries. The millions of slowly waving blades of grass were tipped with gold as the bright sun sank slowly below the earth. He looked back to the hills that had made their way out of and sighed. This was one crazy adventure already. He turned back to the small camp that they had made. Jerome's horse grazed on grass, its lead staked to the ground. Jerome himself stood next to it. His arms moved in small, steady circles as he cleaned the horse's coat of the dirt it had accumulated in the frantic trip to fetch the twins. Maddy sat off to the side, her eyes fixed on the flames of the small fire Jerome had constructed for cooking, warmth and light. Tyler approached and sat at her side after a quick glance at their packs, discarded to the side of the camp.

"Hey," he said gently.

"Hey."

Tyler didn't know how to put everything in to words. He groped about for something to say. He needed to release the stress that the day's events had caused him but he didn't have the faintest idea of where to start. So, he said whatever came to him first.

"Today was interesting, huh?"

"Yeah," replied Maddy.

For some reason, she felt a smile creeping across her features and then she had an irresistible urge to laugh. However, her throat was a bit choked up. So, she made a noise somewhere between a cough and a small laugh. Yet, somehow, that little noise released all the thoughts, doubts and confusions that had been running through her head ever since they had left. She felt utterly relieved and knew that Tyler must have been struggling to get that out as well.

The two sat in silence for a while and listened to the fire's crackling and Jerome's soft whistling. Then, Maddy sensed something. She slowly sat up straight and looked cautiously around. She could feel it. Something was out there, beyond the circle of light the fire cast, somewhere in the ever-increasing dark. She stood up and grabbed a large, white candy stick from the fire and held it up like a torch.

"What is it?" asked Tyler in a low voice.

"Shhh."

In truth, she didn't want to think about what it could be. She pushed the image of the black eagle to the back of her mind and took a deep breath. Then she started forward in slow, even steps. All that she could see with the torch was grass and dark. A few more steps forward. Maddy began to doubt herself. Maybe she was just being paranoid and had imagined something out there. Her eyes searched the darkness. Then, she heard a faint grumble and saw some kind of motion. She wanted to step forward but found herself frozen in place. Her heart pounded hard against her ribs and her breath became a bit ragged. Something was definitely out there but she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was anymore. The grumbling got a bit louder. Maddy panicked but her limbs still refused to move. She stood stiffly, hoping that the thing wasn't interested in her. The grumbling was now closer than ever, and she could see a form moving out beyond the circle of light that her torch threw out. Then, she saw a glint of reflected light and the form stepped up to the outer reaches of the torchlight. That was more than enough. Maddy screamed and threw down the torch. She was about to back away when her scream was met with one by the thing. She looked closer and saw in the torchlight a small creature, only up to her shoulder in height. It was plump, furry and green, about the same color as the grass it stood on. Its hands and arms were covering its face and it was turned slightly away in a defensive position. Maddy stared in disbelief for a moment as Tyler came running towards her.

"Plumpy?" she asked.

The green creature uncovered its face and blinked its big eyes at Maddy, then Tyler who now stood behind her.

"Maddy? Tyler?" it asked.

Tyler nodded. Maddy smiled.

"My, my, how nice to see you!" it said.

Maddy laughed and ran to hug Plumpy. Indeed, it was the same Plumpa Troll they had met on their last adventure through Candy Land. Plumpy was The Last Of The Plumpa Trolls. He was short, stumpy and covered in green fur. His face featured two large, soft eyes, thick black eyebrows, and expressive mouth. Yet, the most characteristic of his features were two long tufts of fur that went from below his green puppy-dog nose down half- way to the ground and his two fuzzy, green horns. He wore only a pendant of a round, smooth purple gem mounted on a circular piece of dark magenta- painted wood. This was strung around his neck on a cloth band of the same color. All this signified his position as Caretaker of the Gingerbread Plum Trees.

"I can't believe you scared me like that, Plumpy!" exclaimed Maddy. Tyler picked up the discarded torch to increase the amount of light.

"Well, I didn't think that it could do any harm to go over and warm my toes by a fire," Plumpy responded.

"What's going on here?" asked Jerome, who had been alerted by Maddy's scream and now came to see what was the matter.

"It's okay, Jerome," said Tyler "Maddy saw something but it turned out to be Plumpy."

"Good sir," said Jerome bowing low to Plumpy "To what do we owe the honor of your presence?"

Plumpy bowed as low as his round stomach would allow him, which was wasn't far, then straightened himself. "I was traveling and was going to ask if I might warm my toes by your fire."

"Well, by all means, come."

"Thank you," replied Plumpy "but I seem to have dropped my basket of plums."

"I'll help you find them," offered Maddy "After all, I'm the one who scared you."

"Alright," said Plumpy "Tyler, can I borrow that torch?"

"Here," said Tyler, handing it to him.

"Now, let's see where that thing rolled to." started Plumpy as he and Maddy started off in search of his lost plums.