Legend of the Woods

Episode 4, Trouble at Oak and Wheat

The start of this tale began with the writing prompts at Promptly Written, by Christine Graves and Ravyne Hawke

Abby walked backward, looking at the garden.

“I wish we could have stayed longer with the Gnomes,” she said.

“Abs, turn around and walk the right way; you’re going to trip,” Clarisa whispered.

Abby noticed a flash of light and thought she heard music as she turned to walk with her sister. She smiled a big grin that made her face look funny.

“Wow, this is amazing. How can Papa not want to be part of all this? Even the walking sticks are incredible; look, Claree. See the gold lion’s head, look at the carvings on the wood, look, the tip is steel, and it’s shaped like a knife,” Abby said, holding up her walking stick.

“Abs!” Clarisa stopped walking. “You almost poked my eye out; be careful with that. Now be quiet; I am concentrating. It is harder than it seems to make sure we keep our feet on the map’s feet.”

Abby began to laugh, and then Clarisa joined in, finding what she had just said quite absurd. They continued walking. The stretch of land between the Gnome Garden and the wheat field was untended and challenging to walk in. Occasionally, the Goat Head vines were so thick that they seemed to grab at the girls’ boots and pant legs.

“It has me, Claree, help,” Abby would say, and Clarisa would have to stop, turn around, take Abby’s hands, and pull her free.

By the time they reached the edge of the wheat field, both girls were covered in the little prickly Goat Heads from their knees down. Abby had tears in her eyes but swallowed the feeling of dread that wanted to burst forth.

“Are you okay, Abs? Maybe we should turn back and give the note to Vrey. We can apologize to Halpus and Heydrick later,” Clarisa said, concern etching lines on her face.

“What, no way, I’m fine,” Abby sniffed and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I just need a drink of water.”

“Good idea, but just a little so we don’t run out,” Clarisa said.

They both took off their daypacks and retrieved their water.

“Hey, do you want to give the map the next command, Abs?”

Abby took a gulp of water, put the water back into her pack, and then took the map from Clarisa. According to the map, they were at the edge of the Wheat Field; the map showed fine details of the land. Abby saw the Garden of the Gnomes behind them. She looked up and could see the top of the Great Oak over the field of wheat before them, but on the map, it was not visible.

“It seems pretty far. How far do you think it is? Will we get there before midnight? I want to hear the Cregal Dai-Small,” Abby said.

“The first step is to tell the map where we want to go,” Clarisa said.

“Right. Map, show us the way to the Oaktree,” Abby commanded.

The drawing on the map shrunk, spun, blurred, and then reappeared; the graphics were tiny and showed the broad expanse of Frilarium Farms with multiple trails of little feet leading to various trees.

“Wait, what happened? Look, Claree, something is wrong with the map.”

Clarisa looked. “Silly, there must be hundreds of Oak trees on the farm, but there is only one Great Oak. Try again.”

“Show us the way to the Cregal Dai-Small,” Abby commanded.

“Abs, stop fooling around; it’s getting cold.”

The pencil etchings of the map faded, morphed, spun, and reappeared, showing twelve-foot paths to twelve trees at various locations around the farm.

“Wow, there are twelve Cregal Dai-Small nests on the farm. Claree, look, look. Wow!”

Clarisa looked, then gently took the map from her sister.

“This is serious, Abs; stop fooling around. Show us the way to the Great Oak.” Clarisa commanded the map. A clear path to the Great Oak appeared.

“Come on now, we need to find Heydrick.”

“Ok. Wow, twelve Cregal Dai nests. Wow.”

The path to the Great Oak skirted the Wheat Field. Abby kept looking at the plants; she could just barely see over their tops. They waved back and forth with the cool breeze that blew. Then she stopped walking and gasped.

“Abs, what are you doing? Keep walking. We have a ways to go still.”

Abby just pointed. She didn’t know what to call it, but she knew it was more than just being scared. At home, whenever she was scared at night, she would just get up and lay down with Mama or Claree, and the fear would disappear. Now, well, she could barely move and couldn’t talk. She was afraid to blink, and she could feel her heart beating in her chest.

“Abs, what is it, Abs.”

Clarisa looked out into the wheat field where Abby pointed. Standing in the wheat field was a dark figure, black as a shadow on a moonless night. Two red points of light stared at them from the dark figure, then it moved.

“Oh god, come on, Abs.”

Clarisa started walking fast, glancing at the map, trying to keep her feet on the map’s feet and noticing that Abby’s feet weren’t moving on the map.

“Abs, what are you doing. Come on.” She turned and ran back to Abby, her eyes darting back and forth between her sister and the fiend in the wheat. It appeared to move faster, now heading straight for Abby.

Abby wanted to move, she was telling her feet to run, but she could not take her eyes off the darkness that approached her. Then she felt Clarisa grab her and pull her. Clarisa was yelling at her. The apparition now was close, and the red eyes burned into her skull.

“Run, Abs, run,” Clarisa pulled her sister and then pushed her ahead of her starting to run. Finally, Abby began to run.

Clarisa didn’t bother with the map; she had noticed that the path led around the edge of the wheat field. So, she just kept running and pushing her sister ahead of her, sticking to what she believed was the way to the Great Oak. She would risk a glance toward the wheat field as they ran. Each glance brought the dark fiend closer and closer. It was now keeping pace with them but staying within the waving plants.

“Claree?” Abby yelled, pulling Clarisa’s attention back to the path.

The wheat field now jotted out in front of them. If they kept running directly to the Great Oak, they would have to run into the wheat field. She glanced at the map. As she suspected, the tiny footpath led into the wheat. Then she ran into and tripped over Abby, who stopped suddenly. Screaming, they both rolled to a stop, their bodies, arms, and legs twisted together just outside the wheat field. The top branches of the Great Oak’s canopy swayed in the breeze behind the black apparition with piercing red eyes. It stretched its arms out toward them. Abby screamed; Clarisa joined her.

Then, from what seemed thin air, a winged little being the size of

a boy appeared before them, blocking the hand of the haunting spirit. The oddity of the thing quelled their screams. They could see the outline of the winged little man that appeared translucent, for behind it, the fiend’s red eyes glared at them, and its black bony hands reached for them, distorted through the winged man’s silhouette. Then the two creatures began to fight. The fiend and the translucent angel spun, lunged, retreated, attacked, and moved. Soon, their winged rescuer had led their antagonist back into the wheat field. The path was clear, but the girls stared at the battling pair.

“What are you doing, silly girls? Run,” the fluorescent green glow worm said, floating in the air before them. “This is no picture show for your entertainment. Brevlodar is rescuing you. The least you could do is run. Quick now, hurry.”

The change in the millipede’s demeanor startled the girls from their shock, and they scrambled to their feet.

“Check the map, girl,” Halpus said.

Clarisa looked at the map; they were to the left of the map’s feet. She adjusted her direction and gently pushed Abby. They began to run. As they entered the field, the plants loomed up over their heads as if walls to either side. The darkness of the night closed in, and a shriek sounded off in the distance toward the battling foes. What seemed like a hop, skip, and a jump away a moment ago now seemed like an endless expanse of wheat. They ran and ran until suddenly they broke out of the field into the open grassy space that surrounded the Great Oak. It loomed tall above them. The moon, full and bright, stood high in the night sky behind the tree. Soon they began to feel safe. They turned to look at the battle. The black apparition and Brevlodar’s battle had moved far off into the center of the wheat field.

“So, the funny little flying man’s name is Brevlodar?” Abby asked.

“Really? You remember the name Halpus said once through all the screaming and terror. Really, Abs?”

“Did you not see him? He is a guardian angel. He rescued us.”

“And why didn’t you warn us about that thing, Halpus?” Clarisa said, spinning about looking for the ghostly green millipede.

“Halpus! Halpus, you come back here right now!” Clarisa screamed.

Then, above them, they heard a baby cry, then another, and then one more. Abby looked up; she looked at her watch; it was midnight.

“The Cregal Dai-Small! It’s them, it’s them, Claree, we made it. Wow!”

“Abs, please, this is serious. Where is Halpus, Heydrick said he would meet us here.”

Abby stood staring up into the branches of the Great Oak Tree, “Oh, I want to see them. Do you think I could climb up there to the nest?”

“Abs?”

“What?” Abby looked at her sister. “Claree, don’t worry; it will be okay; he is just running late. See if the map will show you where he is.”

The babies wept, and Abby smiled; Clarisa took out the map and said, “Show us Heydrick.”

The map did its thing. First, it faded in and out, then focused again on an image on the page. It was the face of Heydrick Merkers.

“Funny map. Funny,” Clarisa said; “Show us the path to Heydrick.”

The map faded in and out again and again, soon it refocused on the base of the Great Oak. The figure of a man stood in front of it. Clarisa looked up. There stood the fluorescent green wispy figure of Heydrick Merkers. He carried a laundry basket and was smiling at the two girls.

“Heydrick,” Abby yelled, ran over to the ghost, and tried to hug him. It looked like a hug, but Abby couldn’t feel anything. With her ear pressed to the translucent being, she heard the swishing of tree branches in the wind and raindrops on the ground. She backed away and looked up at his face.

“Odd, isn’t it?” He asked.

“What is it?” She asked.

“It is the sounds of the evening that I passed into the Mystic Realm,” he said.

“Very odd,” Abby said.

“Before you go, I have something to show you. Clarisa, do you have the map?”

“Yes, here it is,” Clarisa said.

“Okay, ask it to show you the way to the Cowboy; even with the map, you will need a guide,” Heydrick said.

A bird’s screech sounded, and a florescent green creature swooped past their heads.

“Oh no, it’s one in the morning,” Abby said. “The book said that the father Cregal Dai-Small was very aggressive about its babies and nest.”

The crazy-looking creature swooped in again, inches from Clarisa’s head and flying straight through Heydrick. Wisps of green fluorescence trailed the creature’s path as Heydrick’s head rematerialized.

“Run!” Abby said.

“No, wait,” Heydrick said. Then he yelled. “Flisbit, come Flisbit,” he held up his arm.

“They are mean unless you know their names.”

The Cregal Dai-Small flew to Heydrick’s arm, hovered a moment, then landed. Heydrick patted its head, the motion seeming silly to Abby.

“Flisbit, this is Abby and Clarisa Frilarium. They wish to make your acquaintance,” Heydrick said.

Abby bent down and stretched out her hand to pet it, but instead, it shook her hand and nodded.

“Wow,” Abby said.

“Ok, off you two go, we don’t have all night.” And with that, the Cregal Dai-Small took off. Heydrick walked to the edge of the woods, and the girls reluctantly followed.

“Remember, follow the map, first the Gremorians, then the Cowboy, then Mort,” Heydrick said, handing Clarisa the laundry basket and a box of toothpicks. Then he faded away into nothingness.

“Wait,” Clarisa said.

“Wow,” Abby said.

“Oh shush Abby.”

“What, grumpy.”

They both turned to the woods and stepped forward.

To Be Continued.

Next up is Episode 5, The Guardians and The Cowboy.

You can find Episode 3, Mysteries of the Garden Gnome, here.

Begin the Legend of The Woods here with Episode 1, Frilarium Farms.

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© 2022, T. Mark Mangum

I am T. Mark Mangum. From an early age, I was hooked and addicted to the imagined, unfathomable worlds of Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan, the Lord of the Rings, and many others. I love writing fiction tales. I love writing in multiple genres. However, my favorites are Sci-fi and Fantasy fiction. I am a father of six; we have two cats and two dogs. Tabletop gaming is a passion.