Frogville: Quest For A Sword

By Sharla J Frost

Frogville was a lush oasis until it was cursed by a traveling wizard. The lake became a dirty swamp and all boys became frogs on their thirteenth birthday.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CSI Publishing
• Release date: Mar 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9781963986020

Sharla J Frost

Sharla J. Frost grew up along the Red River in Frogville, Oklahoma. She spent her childhood days creating adventures for herself on the family's expansive cattle ranch. A fifth generation Frogvillian, she comes from a long line of storytellers. Sharla spent 30 years as a trial lawyer and continues to serve clients and make presentations all over the country. She has written multiple business books, including Power At The Table. Her love of children is what inspired the Frogville series; a timeless mix of fantasy, nostalgia and adventure come to life in each magical story. While written for children, all ages will enjoy the trip into a world where everything is possible, and things really are the way we wish they could be.

Book preview

Frogville 4

Quest for a Sword

Copyright ©2024 Sharla J. Frost

Frogville - Quest For A Sword

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please write to the publisher, addressed Attention Ken Walls at [e-mail].

Quantity sales and special discounts are available for bulk purchases by corporations, associations and others. For details, please reach out to CSI Publishing, listed above.

Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers,

Email: [e-mail]

The author can be reached through Ken Walls.

Manufactured and printed in the United States of America, distributed globally by CSI Publishing - www.clientsi.com

Dallas, Texas

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024933415

ISBN: 978-1-963986-00-6 - hardcover

ISBN: 978-1-963986-01-3 - paperback

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Skip Warren and our clowder of cats, all of whom have worked so hard to help me finalize this story.

Prologue

Far, far away, beyond the Salt Flats of Sitis, over the verdant hills of the Anura Mountains, nestled in the swampy marshes of Luto, sits the bedeviled town of Frogville.

Many, many years ago, the marsh and swamp were a crystalline lake fed by a bubbling underground spring. Travelers crossed the Salt Flats of Sitis to enjoy the effervescent water and the clover-laden, moss-covered shores, until the mayor and the townsfolk of Frogville began to charge a fee for the use of the lake.

One day, a wizard visited the town, asking for water. I know what you do. It is wrong and unkind. If you refuse to give me water and continue to overcharge travelers, I will turn every man here into a frog.

Go ahead, the mayor scoffed. I’ve never heard of you. I wager you are not even a real wizard.

The town was shocked when the wizard’s curse worked. It became normal that as soon as a boy in Frogville turned thirteen, he became a frog. He would have to go on a quest to find someone of royal blood to change him back into a human. In preparation for that day, every boy was trained in combat and survival. The tradition continued until Lilypad Lotus Dillweed and her twin brother Crocus turned thirteen.

As the eldest twin, the curse settled on Lily and for the first time a girl was turned into a frog. Lily transformed and Crocus remained the same. Lily went on her quest and succeeded. She saved the boys of the town forever.

Over the Mountains of Cinis, there is a fountain known as the Fountain of Somnia. If you collect some of the water and sprinkle it on your friend, she will be freed.

That was the advice that drove Lily away from her home in Frogville and on the way to the Mountains of Cinis. She had made a promise to save her friend Cassie, who had been turned to stone. Lily kept her promises.

On the way to the fountain, Lily’s journey joined with that of a Princess on a quest of her own and with a Queen who had to be saved from evil forces. The three of them combined forces to resolve each of their individual problems. With the Queen back in control of her kingdom, the Princess and Lily both headed back: the princess home to save both her father and her kingdom; Lily to release her best friend Cassie from where she was encased in stone.

Table of Contents

Dedicationiii

Prologueiv

CHAPTER ONE

The Journey Begins1

CHAPTER TWO

Meet the Twins7

CHAPTER THREE

Saved from the Poppies10

CHAPTER FOUR

Promise of a Secret18

CHAPTER FIVE

Learn the Quest21

CHAPTER SIX

Baldor the Wizard29

CHAPTER SEVEN

Drogger the Vampire41

CHAPTER EIGHT

Heading to Silver City48

CHAPTER NINE

The walk across the Water56

CHAPTER TEN

Meet the Wizard65

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The trek back to Camp87

CHAPTER TWELVE

Delivering the Sword104

Epilogue111

CHAPTER ONE

The Journey Begins

Cassie, I think we’re lost. Lilypad Lotus Dillweed looked down at the compass which she had placed next to her color coded map. The map and compass had been going-away presents from Shayleigh, the Queen of the Fay, but no matter how she held it, the compass did not match the points on Lily’s map.

Lily, I’m sure that you can find our way. You found the Fountain of Somnia and you found me. I’m sure you can find our way to Frogville. Cassie smiled at her friend.

Lily and her twin brother Crocus were the only children of Nelum and Ludwigia Dillweed. They were born and grew up in Frogville, a small village on the edge of the swampy marshes of Luto. Frogville had been a lush green oasis until the townsfolk offended a traveling wizard who then put a curse on the town and all the people who lived there.

The curse was that the beautiful lake in Frogville would be turned into a dirty swamp and that all the boys in town would turn into a frog on their 13th birthday and remain that way until he received a royal kiss to release him. That was the process until Lily and Crocus turned 13. Lily was the oldest twin, so she turned into a frog instead of her brother!

She then had to go on the quest to find a royal kiss, which resulted in her having many adventures on the way. She finally got a kiss of friendship from her new friend Cassie and discovered that it was friendship, not royalty, that cured the curse for her and the whole village.

But in the process of curing Lily, her friend Cassie got turned into a stone statue by the evil Princess Belinda. So instead of returning to Frogville after she was no longer a frog, Lily had gone on another quest to find a way to save Cassie from an eternity as a statue.

After even more adventures, Lily finally managed to get some water from the Fountain of Somnia that she was able to use to free Cassie. Along the way, she had to battle wicked forces, including her own brother who had turned into a mean version of himself and was working with a vile fairy who wanted to steal the kingdom of Fay for herself.

After helping Shayleigh, the Queen of the Fay, save her kingdom and turn Crocus back into his normal self, Lily had gone back to release Cassie so that the two of them could go to Frogville.

The two of them had set out for Frogville, but the trip had not gone as planned.

The girls were tired. They had been walking for almost two days. They had planned to catch a train and travel from Prince Raymond’s old campsite back to the edge of the Situs Desert, where they first met. But the mountain outside of the Kingdom of the Fay had collapsed when Crocus set off an explosion while he was under the influence of the evil Gaillardia, who wanted to kill the Queen and take control of the kingdom. The explosion also released Prince Raymond from a trance caused by Gaillardia. Once he was back to normal, Prince Raymond had taken his army away, but destroyed the train tracks on his way home.

I never want to see Fay or frogs ever again, Prince Raymond had declared. He ordered his remaining men to do whatever was necessary to make sure that no outsiders would be able to get to his country. Those stupid frog people cost me my princess; kept me from slaying my dragon; stole my servant girl; and, helped that fairy Queen blow up my army. If any frogs are going to get to my country, they are going to have to walk!

So, Lily and her friend Cassie had been walking. They were not walking to Prince Raymond’s kingdom, but they were walking to Frogville, if they could just find their way.

The two girls were now standing under a huge, old tree on the edge of an empty green meadow that seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon. No matter where they looked, there was nothing but green grass and blue sky. Ahead of them, in the distance, they could see what looked like