Page 123

You spend the rest of the day walking along the road, and make some good progress toward Antrejar. In the early evening you pause, when you see a man at the side of the road, next to a wooden car.

"Maybe it's a circus!" Deke says gleefully.

"It's not a circus," Merlyn scoffs. "It's only one man." But she still looks curious.

"Hello there!" the man calls out to them, waving, a broad smile on his face. "I'm just setting up camp for the night. I'd offer you travelers a place to stay, but, between me and Nema, my car's full."

You reach the man and the car. "Is Nema your wife?" you ask the man, but just then you catch a glimpse inside the car's window.

A flat, green face over two feet wide, with bulging, baseball-sized eyes is staring back out at you. You give a little shriek and hide behind Deke.

Merlyn is now looking into the car in fascination, though. "A Nema Toad!" she exclaims. "I've always wanted to see one!"

The man laughs. "Yep!" he says proudly. "Nema and me are on our way to join the circus! Wanna take a look at her?" He opens a door at the back of the car.

"I was sort of right," Deke points out, but Merlyn is entranced by the Nema Toad, which hops out of the car after her master. You peer out from behind Deke's back. Nema looks just like any normal frog...except for being about five feet tall.

"They're amazing creatures," Merlyn is now saying to you all. "They thrive either on the land or in water, so they inhabit both Kalyre and Kuare. And they're practically invincible to injury - they can regenerate skin, tissues, even whole body parts on the spot. They can jump twenty feet in a single bound, and keep going all day if they have to. You don't see them too often in civilized areas, though, because they shake the ground, and can be very destructive with all their jumping. So people try to build far from their habitats. I've heard they're quite friendly, though?" she speaks this last part as a question, to the giant toad's master.

"Long as you don't startle 'em." The man nods. "Hey, would you like to pet her?"

Merlyn's eyes light up at the thought, but Nema still looks like a monster to you. "Um, don't we have to be going?" you try to persuade your companions.

If you want to pet Nema, turn to page 122.
If you don't want to touch the ugly frog, turn to page 138.