Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Whimisical Wanderers ❯ Chapter 6

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
The Whimsical Wanderers
By Kathryn K Williams

Chapter six

Trish held a large map up and turned it over several times, “Now we should be about here.” She pointed to a lump of trees in the middle of the map, “And we need to get here.” Moving her finger across the map to a large city. She lowered the map and looked at the several paths around her, “If we go this way we should get to the city two days faster.” She stated with a nod of her head.

“Are you sure about that?” Wendy inquired, curiously scanning a large sign behind Trish that pointed out that Wesmoors City was off to the east and not to the south as Trish was implying.

Trish nodded as she glanced at her map one more time, “Yeah, this path leads down and around, while that other path snakes all over the place before getting to town. This will be faster.” She insisted.

Wendy shrugged, “I can’t understand maps so you lead the way.” She took an uneasy glance at another sign warning that they will be entering the ‘Dark Wood’ soon, “What about the monster?” So far they had only met up with a few minor encounters, nothing much to write home about, but that sign worried Wendy tremendously.

Trish rolled up her map as she scanned the trees around them, “It should be alright.” She said confidently, “Nothing we can’t handle.”

Wendy hugged her book tightly, “Maybe for you.” She stated miserably, “I can’t even get a fireball to work correctly.”

Trish rubbed the girl’s back; “You will get better with time.” She assured the girl, “Just keep practising.”

As they moved through the woods the trees became thicker and Wendy nervously watched as the branches overhead intertwined tighter and tighter with every step they made, blocking out the light of the sun. Before long they only had a small amount of light to go by and Wendy found herself squinting to see what she was stepping on. Suddenly she recalled the cube that Trish had handed her earlier and decided to try it out. Digging the cube out of her pocket she held it at eye level and opened the lid. A soft glow emitted from the box, flicking off the many trees around them.

Trish spun around with a startled expression up her face, “What’re you doing?” She inquired worriedly.

Wendy shyly held the box close to herself, “I was having troubles seeing so thought I would ask him for some light.” She timidly explained.

Trish nervously glanced around their surroundings. She had forgotten that Sheeplings did not have the same level of eyesight as Squirrellings did, and the glow of the cube concerned her. She did not know what beasts lurked in these woods and she did not want to let Wendy know that she might have walked them into dangerous waters.

“Oh Cuuuutteeee!!!” Wendy suddenly squealed.

Trish wheeled around to find Wendy no longer at her side. Thanks to the girl’s fire elemental Trish quickly spotted Wendy and rushed after the girl, “Wendy, come back here!!!” She softly called out, not wanting to attract the other creatures that might be nearby. She burst through a set of bushes to find Wendy sitting on the ground with a white furry ball like creature in her arms. It was about the size of a beach ball, with two long arms protruding from either side of its body and three large glassy green eyes in the middle of what Trish figured must be its face.

“W... Wendy...” Trish cautiously approached the girl, “Slowly come to me.” She requested.

Wendy gave Trish a strange look, “Why? He looks harmless.” She reached out to pet the creature, “He is soooo fluffy!!!” She stated gleefully. Just as her had neared the critter it began to split down the middle revealing several rows of gleaming teeth and it hungrily snapped at Wendy.

Trish grabbed hold of the back of the girl’s collar and pulled her out of range of the monster’s bite, “NO-YOU-DON’T!!!” She yelled as she unsheathed her sword and swung it overhead, “Leave her alone!!” She brought the sword down with one might swing only to have the creature catch her weapon between its teeth.

“Hey!!! That’s no fair!!!” Trish cried out, kicking at the monster with her foot, “Give that back to me!!!” She wiggled the sword in an attempt to free it from the creatures grasp.

Wendy flipped open her book and began to skim through it, “There has to be something here that will help.” She explained in frustration of the low light, “Geez, it is so hard to read in this light.” As if in response to her wishes the fire elemental jumped from the cube, which lay on the ground at her side, and landed upon her shoulder, “Oh, Thanks.” She absentmindedly patted the small ball of fire while skimming over the book.

“A little help here!!” Trish screamed as the creature began to pull her sword into its mouth, moving ever so much closer to her hands.

Wendy jabbed a finger at the text in the book triumphantly, “I’ve got it!! Burstus Glowus!!!” She cried out and pointed at the creature.

Suddenly there was a large flash and the forest was flooded with a blinding light that the girls needed to shield their eyes against or go blind themselves.

“WOW!!!” Trish breathed, rubbing the spots from her eyes, “That was amazing.” Her eyes began to focus and she saw the chard remains of the creature, still holding her sword, “OH NO!!!” She lifted her sword from the corpse to find it twisted from the heat and there were several teeth marks along the blade, “Great. Now I need a new one.”

Wendy tugged on Trish’s cloak, “T.. t... trish...” She said in a tiny, scared, voice, “What are those?”

“What’re what?” Trish inquired, slightly annoyed by the state of her sword. Wendy was staring off into the woods, her eyes large as saucers, “What?” Trish followed the girl’s gaze to see several trees moving towards them, each with a face carved into its surface, “We.... should... run...” She nervously suggested as she backed up slowly.

“Run?” Wendy glanced around in confusion.

“RUN!!!” Trish yelled, trying to snap her friend out of her shock and grabbing her by the hand. The two girls rushed along the path as more and more trees began to follow. Trish dodged a few branches that swung out towards them and pulled Wendy out of the way of more. The further they ran the more it seemed as if the every tree was alive and wanting a piece of them.

“I told you this was a bad idea.” Wendy called out.

“I wasn’t the one who tried to pet a Gurla.” Trish remarked, “Don’t you know to avoid those creatures?”

“But it was soooooo Cuuuuuuuttee!!!” Wendy wailed, “How was I supposed to know it was hostile!!!”

Suddenly Trish noticed the tiny fire elemental on Wendy’s shoulder, “My lord!!! You’re on fire!!!” She took off her cloak and started chasing after Wendy, “Hold still!!”

Wendy dodged out of the way; protecting the fireball, “Don’t hurt it!” She demanded as she cradled the ball of fire in her arms.

“I just want to put it out.” Trish insisted, “Stay still!!!”

The two of them burst out of the woods into a large clearing, with the afternoon sun shining down upon them. Wendy tripped and stumbled to the ground and Trish leaped upon the girl, throwing her cloak over her. The two rolled around the field unaware that the trees had gathered around them.

Wendy tossed the cloak off her head, “Will you stop it?!?” She exclaimed, still holding the flame in her hands, “He will not hurt anyone. He is harmless.”

Trish blinked at the girl, “What? Is that the flame elemental I gave you earlier? I thought I told you to keep it in its cube?”

Wendy held the flame out to Trish, “See it is harmless.” She said with a nod and a smile. The creature stared up at Trish with its one eye and suddenly started shaking and pointing a flame upwards.

“What’s it saying?” Trish inquired watching the creature curiously.

Wendy glanced up to see a large tree towering over them and pointed at it, “Trish look out!” She exclaimed.

Trish spun around to see the tree bearing down upon them when it suddenly stopped as if a force was holding it in place. Trish glanced around to see all the trees had stopped at the edge of the clearing, “Hey, They can’t leave the forest!” Trish explained excitedly.

Wendy glanced over her shoulder to see the trees angrily hissing at them from shadow of other trees, “Maybe they can’t stand the sun.” She suggested.

Trish shrugged, “I don’t know, but I’m glad we are finally safe.”

Wendy scanned their new surroundings, “Where are we exactly?” She inquired worriedly.

Trish looked around as she pulled out her map, “Let’s see...” She paused as she studied the map carefully, “We entered the dark woods and must have come out around here.” She glanced up from her map and turned her head to the skies, “Hey, Look at that.” She pointed over the trees in the distance.

Wendy did as she was told to see several beams of light dancing over the trees, “What is that?”

Trish rolled up her map, “Wesmoors City. We are almost there.” She announced gleefully, “Days ahead of schedule even.” She said proudly.

*****

To be Continued . . .

*****

This story is copyright of Kathryn K Williams. All characters and settings are her creation and should not be used by any others.

If you wish to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts site at: http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/

For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts site at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159

Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com