Peekaboo

After a few seconds, Adam’s eyes returned to a normal color and he asked the group what they had learned. Sharp was the only one who remained a little on the uneasy side. He kept an eye on his horse friend, but it was obvious that the horse had no recollection of the bizarre moment. He seemed to be pretty normal once more. It was weird.

Maybe it was nothing.

Sharp still wanted to bring it up to Patrick. He made his way over and tapped his teammate’s shoulder. Patrick turned to him.

“Hang on, Sharpie. We need to figure out what this “peril” or “trap” was that Brad was supposed to lead us to.”

Sharp bit his lip, but nodded. He could wait. Patrick smiled and turned to face the badger, who was shockingly beside Andrew.

“So what was the trap you were talking about? We need to be prepared if there is to be some kind of trouble around.”

Brad dipped his head, taking his hat off. It was as though he thought that Patrick was the king or something. But the blond man was the farthest thing from being a king. Brad raised his head back up and apologized.

“Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“Is the trap something to do with your place?” Brandon asked.

Surprisingly Reilly Smith had fallen silent. He was gazing around, awkwardly. He glanced between the horse (Adam Burish), the dog (Andrew Shaw), the honey badger (Brad Marchand) and the slew of Princes (Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Torey Krug). It was an odd bunch, but at least they were all getting along better than anyone would have thought or hoped.

“No, actually it isn’t,” the honey badger remarked. He motioned for everyone to follow him.

They did as told, walking around the base of the tree after the tiny black and white animal, which had obscured all of their visions. As they rounded the trunk, they saw that the tree was actually on the edge of the woods. They had come to the end of the forest journey and in front of them, they were staring at a massive ravine. The grassy forest dropped off the side of a steep rocky edge. And as they all curiously peered over the side, a treacherous-looking river flowed horizontally. The water sloshed along the sides, crashing against the rocks and receding back into the heart of the beast. It was noisy, like Yellowstone or the Colorado River.

All of them stepped backward.

“How is this the peril?” Patrick asked Brad. “It’s just a river.”

Brad looked at his paws, studying them with keen interest. “Well, it is if you take into consideration that the only way to get across is by one bridge.” He spun around and pointed a few feet to the left of them.

Sure enough, jutting across the river, was one solitary stone bridge that linked one side to the other. It looked like a normal bridge from any Disney fairy tale land.

“So,” Andrew remarked.

“So, the bridge is guarded by a beaver!”

“A beaver?” Brandon echoed.

“You’re a fierce honey badger, how are you afraid of a little beaver,” Andrew commented, sounding awfully cocky and prideful. He lifted his head up and got to his paws. “Come on, let’s get over the bridge!”

Brad opened his mouth ready to retaliate, but he closed it, as the grayish-brown dog began to trot across the stone passageway. He made it only four steps, before a thunderous rumble sounded and the stone walkway shook. Stone...shaking? Andrew yelped and jumped backward onto the solid grassy ground.

Halfway across the bridge, a giant furry animal scrambled onto the top. It stood up, revealing it’s true size and loud out the kind of noise a griffin might make. It cawed and then quieted and looked at the terrified group of players, which Brad standing in front, beside Andrew. The honey badger’s sword was drawn and pointed up at the beast.

The beaver laughed. “Puny Blackhawks and Bruins!”

“Whoa, the beaver speaks too, shock there!” Sharp stated sarcastically.

“Shut up, Sharpie!” the beaver snapped. It broke out in an evil laughter again. But it sounded more like it was having some kind of coughing fit or asthmatic incident.

“Holy snickey!” Reilly gasped.

“Reilly Smith, nice to know that you are still fairly awkward,” the beaver spoke again.

Brandon, Adam, Sharp, Andrew, Patrick, Torey, Reilly, and Brad shared a look. Reilly darted behind Torey and hid behind him in fright. The Bruin defenseman looked down and patted the small, frightened bear on the head.

“Who are you?” Patrick stepped forward and demanded.

“Tomas Hertl, and I was told by Lord Nemo not to let you cross this bridge. But I’m going to be a little generous and I’m going to tell you that there is actually a way you can get across. You must do something for me. Complete a task for me and then I’ll let you cross.”

“Alright. What do you want us to do?”

“Well, I’m a beaver. I need you to help out with my dam. At the moment, my home is useless and broken, leaking. Fix it up and I will let you cross.”

“Alright, sounds simple enough.”

“Hang on, what’s the catch?” Brandon asked, bravely.

“Ah, you are a smart one, Saader. Yes, there is a catch. The catch is that you must also find me the perfect final stick to put in the dam. But you cannot just pick any old stick. No, it is a magical stick, the only of its kind, like your little hockey weapon there, Patrick Kane.”

“Stop being vague with us and tell us what we need to do to find this stick! I’d like to not find my best friend in pieces thank you very much.”

“Of course, of course.” The beaver turned and picked something up. It’s massive tail swooshed back and forth and took up half of the bridge. “You will find the stick at the end of the river here. You can’t miss it, but I warn you it isn’t easy to get.”

“We’ll be the judge of that!” Brad snapped, flicking his sword in front of him, like he were swatted at an army of bees.

“Be careful honey badger, you mustn’t get too ahead of yourself. Remember, I am a servant to Lord Nemo and I can let him know about your problematic attitude and he can hurt Tyler. You wouldn’t want that now, would you?”

“Don’t threaten about hurting my friend, or I’ll cut off your tail!”

“You can try, Marchy, but you are a puny honey badger and I am a gigantic beaver. I’ll crush you with one stomp of my paw.”

Brad made his hissing noise. Patrick glared at the beaver named Tomas Hertl. “We’ll get your stupid stick and fix your dam.” He spun to his friends and motioned for them to follow him.

The beaver laughed and then slipped back out of sight, somehow managing to vanish under the bridge.

“Threaten Tyler…” Brad grumbled to himself, as he fiercely shoved his sword back into the holster.

The group trekked miles down the river, shockingly not feeling winded or exhausted at all. Sure enough, at the end, there was a giant pile of sticks and brush that clogged the end of the river, as water trickled through to a lake. The “nest” was large enough for the giant beaver to call a “home.”

“So is this where Tomas Hertl actually lives? Is this some kind of funny metaphor?” Andrew questioned, earning a head nod from his new agitator friend in Brad. They high-fived and laughed.

Patrick rolled his eyes. “No. I’m sure Tomas Hertl doesn’t live in a beaver dam in San Jose.”

Reilly padded forward and stood at the edge of the lake water, gazing into the crystal clear liquid. He looked down at the bottom and gasped. There was something shiny and gold glittering in the underwater reeds at the bottom. “I found the stick!” He exclaimed. He dipped his paw into the water, but drew back in fright as the water sloshed up at him and took the form of a hand. He scrambled backward, but the water hand wrapped around his paw and yanked him into the lake, pulling him under the water.

“Help!!”

“REILLY!!” Torey screamed. The Boston prince raced toward the water and gazed down into it to see the bear unharmed, but trapped under the water.

Patrick joined the Bruin. He got down on the ground and stuck his stick into the water, thinking that Reilly might be to grab onto it. He attempted to call to the bear with, “Reilly, swim for the stick and grab it!” He could see the bear starting to do so, when he fell forward into the water and now he was pulled under as well. He looked up to see Torey staring in horror at...Adam!

Adam’s eyes were red again and he seemed to smirk. Patrick screamed at him, but found that he could only hear himself and Reilly, who swam over to him. They could talk and breathe, but there was like some kind of invisible glass that separated them from the others.

“We can only hear one another and them, but they cannot hear us. I tried. I could hear you, but you couldn’t hear me.”

“That explains a lot. But what is wrong with Adam, the others are in danger.” Patrick saw his stick-sword floating nearby and he snatching it into his hands once more. He might need that.

“It must have something to do with Nemo!”

“Or that beaver!”

“Hertl?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, we should see about the stick, maybe if we get that, we can get out of here!”

“You’re probably right, Reilly. Good idea.”

Reilly and Patrick turned to face the glowing golden stick that was entangled in its protective place in the weeds. The two hockey player swam toward it and Patrick reached out to grab it, but was slammed into by an invisible force. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but it wasn’t a friendly ghost that was for sure. It was the protector or spirit of the stick. Its owner.

And it wasn’t happy about the trespassers.

Patrick slammed into the lake bottom. He wasn’t exactly amused by any of this. He pushed himself back up to see Reilly attempting to go for the prize. He was yanked backward and thrown toward his friend. The blond man caught the bear and they shared a look.

“We can’t beat this creature. We need to create a diversion. I’m thinking that I can distract the spirit, while you go for the stick.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Patrick sped toward the stick once more and lured the spirit back out. The wave of water hit him in the side again with a bellowing ghostly moan. Patrick recovered and taunted the spirit with, “I’m going to get your stick!” He flashed his stick-sword, which he was going to call “Showtime.” (There’s Excalibur - Prince Arthur’s sword from Camelot tales and Hrunting - Beowulf's sword, now there is Patrick Kane’s hockey stick sword called “Showtime.”) The two battled with Patrick luring the spirit creature over to the side to allow Reilly access to the prize. He swung Showtime at the invisible force and it shined, as it hit the water spirit. The bear paddled forward using his paws to propel him. He reached the reeds and dug his paw in and grabbed the stick.

He lifted upward and shouted, “Kaner, I got the stick!”

Patrick froze, as the spirit appeared to form a human head, which turned in the direction of the Boston Bruin. Reilly paused, gripped the stick.

“REILLY SWIM!!” Patrick screamed.

They both zoomed toward the surface and sure enough broke through. Torey and Adam grabbed them both and set them on the ground. The water churned and spiraled in the lake as it became extremely upset.

“It’s furious! Run to the trees!” Reilly yowled, stuffing the golden stick into his mouth and streaked to the forest in full retreat with Adam the horse hot on his trail. The others followed.

Unfortunately, Reilly and Adam vanished from sight, as everyone became separated in the woods. It took a long time before they all came back together. But Reilly didn’t have the stick and he was shaking with horror.

“Where’s the stick Reilly?”

“A-Adam, he threatened me!”

“It’s Nemo, he’s controlling Adam, like he controlled me!” Brad yowled and punched the bottom of a nearby tree trunk. “Argh!!”

“Marchy, don’t be angry. Let’s find Adam and the stick and get over that bridge!” Andrew snorted, putting a paw around the badger’s shoulders, gently.

Patrick scanned the forest area around them. Then he darted to the tree line and peered out. He saw Adam on the edge of the river with the golden stick in his teeth. “Found him! ADAM DON’T YOU DARE!!”

The horse swung around as Patrick and the others darted from the safety of the trees and joined him on the edge, which was a few feet away from the dam and the evil spirit lake, which was still amid its temper tantrum. Adam’s eyes were still glowing red.

“Adam, drop it!” Sharp stated, reaching a hand out toward his friend.

The horse reared up on his hind legs and made to spit the stick out over the edge, but Brad leapt into the air and snatched it, tossing it to Torey, who caught it. Before the brave honey badger plummeted over the side, Brandon shot his arm out and grabbed him safely. He put the Boston player back on solid ground with a pat on the back. Brad straightened himself out and nodded justly.

“Stupid horse. Don’t make me do that again. Otherwise, I’ll rake my claws across your back!” Brad grumbled to himself.

Torey passed the stick over to Patrick, only to have it intercepted by Sharp. He took it like a wand and whacked Adam on the head, between his eyes and above his nose. “Bad horse! Bad Adam Burish!” Then he gave it to Patrick, who shook his head.

Sharp grabbed the reins of his friend and pulled him to the trees, where he tethered the savage beast to the branch. Adam was not happy, he bucked and whinnied angrily. He hit Sharp in the chest and sent him sprawling to the ground. Brandon dashed over to him and pulled him out of the way, as Adam stomped on the ground, sending a jolt like an Earthquake.

Patrick and Reilly walked over to the dam. The bear took the stick and placed it on top of the pile of other sticks and like magic, the river and lake were separated. Reilly jumped off and high-fived the Blackhawk forward. They had done the task! Now they just needed to cross the bridge and fix Adam.

But that second part wasn’t going to be too easy. Adam was off the deep end. He yanked at the tree branch, trying to snap it apart and break free. Brandon and Sharp were still on the ground, staring in awe and horror at the bucking bronco.

Patrick had to do something. He dashed over to the horse and stood right in front of him, raising his hands up. “Easy Adam, we’re your friends. You need to fight this. You are being controlled by Nemo! Please Adam, stop this.” He stared into the eyes of his horse friend.

After what felt like hours of tense seconds, with Patrick Kane refusing to move from his spot, even at the wishes and demands of his friends, Adam finally settled down. His eyes returned to normal and he blinked in perplexment.

“What happened? Where am I? Where are we? I thought we were at the tree...the honey badger’s place!”

“No.”

Sharp scrambled to his feet. He raced over to his friend and hugged him around the neck. “Oh, thank goodness, you are okay. I was really worried, we’d lost ya buddy!”

“Someone care to explain what’s going on?”

“I got it, Kaner. Let’s get to the beaver bridge and I’ll explain things to him on the way,” Sharp said, as he untied his friend from the branch and hopped aboard once more.

Patrick nodded. He turned and flicked his head to the side in the direction of the single bridge. The group made their way toward it, walking along the side, while Sharp and Adam conversed in the back of the group.