Author's Note: This is like a current Goose Girl! It's set in Tira in 2011. Rani is Ani's descendent though she doesn't know, that means she is a princess. I hope you like it! It was written in like an hour for Writing Lab at school! Have fun, and read and review! :D!
One Different Birthday
Part 1, Forest
My face pressed into the bark of the tree. This had always had a calming effect on me. Breathe in, breath out… now I had work to do. I had lived in the forest my whole life. This was home to me. My family and I, meaning my father, older brother, and little sister lived in a small cabin in the heart of the forest. In a small meadow, sat a simple cabin. The outsides were made of Aspen, my mother's favorite tree. My mother had run off with some guy just weeks after Alana was born. My father had made the house for her. She had always loved the forest, until that guy came around, telling her about the great world beyond. A world where I would never go willingly. Trees- that's were I belong. With the trees. I pushed off my branch, I was only ten feet off the ground; making the climb down easy as pie. Walking through the woods to our tiny home was comforting. My footsteps hardly made a sound. I had learned to live in the forest. The forest was my turf. I neared the clearing were my tiny home sat. The meadow also contained our chicken coop, the well, and a great weeping willow.
"Dad?" I asked opening the door. "HELLO, ANYBODY HOME?" I yelled. Silence.
"Boooooooo!" My little sister jumped from behind the kitchen table. She was very pretty, her round face still had it's baby fat, but her huge dark brown eyes balanced it out. Her dark brown hair reached her waist, and somehow made her small frame look even smaller.
"Goodness, Laine! You scared me!" She exploded in a fit of giggles. I kissed the top of her head. "Where is Brody and Dad?"
" They went hunting." She pushed me with all her might, which wasn't much. "You aren't supposed to be here! Go do something! I'm getting ready for your birthday!"
Today is my sixteenth birthday. It is hard to believe I am actually sixteen.
"Fine, fine! Alana stop pushing, I'm leaving!" I replied. "Tell Dad and Brody I'm going to go out to the forest."
"Ok, now LEAVE!" She said with more pushing. "Oh, and happy birthday Rani!" Wow, she's very determined to get me out of here. I wonder what's she doing in there… I was on my way to the apple tree when I heard something. It had a cccccrrrraackk sound. Someone was in the forest, but who and why?
"Hello," I said loudly. "Is anyone there?" Maybe it was just an animal. Whatever it was, that noise had scared me. I had never heard something like that before. I had never met anyone outside my family before. I leaned on the nearest tree. The ruff, warm bark calmed me. I remember looking around the tree, then everything went dark.
Part 2, City
I woke up to the smell of something horrible. I had an achy head and an empty stomach, but otherwise I was fine. My wrists were tied together with a rope and so were my feet. I also had something very sticky covering my mouth. The feeling of calm that I had in the woods had vanished. Now I had a feeling of terror. Where was I? Who did this? Why? When can I go home? What had happened? Are they going to hurt me? I opened my eyes. I was sitting in the corner of the largest building I had ever seen. The ceiling was grey, as were the walls and floor. The floor was made out of a very hard, cold, and smooth substance. There were two men in the corner, and one woman next to me. She was talking into a little contraption she held close to her ear.
"Yes, we have her." Pause. "No, she's not awake yet." Pause. "What do you want me to tell her?" Pause. "Yes, alright. I'll do it. Goodbye." The woman's voice was high pitched, but scary at the same time. I stared at her until she finally looked my way.
"Hello darling, how are you feeling?" She asked me, but with a tone that I knew she really didn't care. She pulled the sticky stuff from my mouth, causing me some pain.
"Why am I here? What did you do?" I asked.
"O.K., let's just get to the point. You have something we need. So, we kidnapped you. You give us what we need then you can go home and nobody gets hurt."
"What do you want?" I seriously had no idea what they would want from me.
"Rani, dear, we want your power, and a signature." Her eyes stared me down
"What?" I was very confused. "My power, I don't have any power."
"Yes, you do. Have you ever felt connected to the trees? Ever thought that you needed them, that you could talk to them? We know you have a gift, one that we need to learn . You teach us and you can go home." She said. How did she know I could feel the trees? I couldn't communicate with the trees like she said, but I did feel their presence. It pulled me to them. For example, right now, I couldn't feel the trees, they were somewhere far away. I felt like I needed to go to them. I needed their calm.
"You don't learn how to speak with the trees, it just happens. It comes to me naturally." I replied.
"I am sure you will find some way to teach us. That is, if you don't want you or your family to get hurt."
"You wouldn't hurt my family, would you?" Would she? My Dad and older brother, Brody would never let her hurt them, especially Alana.
"If we have to take drastic measures, then yes, we will hurt them." She said it like she meant it. Then she pulled out a knife that looked like it could seriously hurt someone.
"What do you want me to teach you?"
"How to speak with the trees, that's all. And we need you to sign this." She held out a paper. However, she pulled it back without letting me see the writing. "But you can't see that. No, not yet. I need you to teach me how to tree-speak, Rani."
"You…" I knew I needed to get out of this uncomfortable building. I wondered if I screamed, if someone could hear me. In the forest, there wasn't a neighbor for a few miles and I hoped there were more people here. Then I had an idea. " You have to be in the forest with the trees to learn how to talk to them. It doesn't work without being able to stand beside them and touch them." Immediately, you could tell she didn't like this idea.
"There is no other way?" She asked. I shook my head no. "Fine! Bruno, I need a chair, a blindfold, and more duck tape." She snapped. The man in the corner spun around, reveling a dark face full or fear and hate. He ran out as if his pants were on fire. Apparently she was in control here. When he returned she put more of the sticky stuff on my mouth, which I now knew was called duck tape, and tried me to the chair with it. Then she took the blindfold and placed it over my eyes, making sure I couldn't see. Then the to men started to pull the chair somewhere, with me tried and blindfolded in it.
Part 3, Castle
The presence of trees was slowly coming to me. There were defiantly more here then in the building. The men had drug the chair to a vehicle and put it in it. Right now we were still waiting in the vehicle. 30 minutes went by, then an hour. Then I knew I was farther out of the woods then ever before.
"This is fine." Said the women. Then the vehicle came to an abrupt stop. My chair was again picked up a drug awhile. The trees felt different to me now. I knew I had the power of them and I understood what I had to do. A plan was forming in my mind. The men set the tree down soon after. Then the women took of the blindfold. We were defiantly in the forest. The tree closest to me was around a foot or so away.
"Rani, now that you have your trees, teach me how to speak with them." It was at the moment she said that, I tipped my chair over. I fell on my side hard, but I was touching the tree and it gave me its power the same way it had given me the calm before. All of I sudden I thrust all the tree"s power into the woman. Roots started climbing up her legs and pulling her upside down. The same was happening with the men. She screamed , so I sent a root right into her mouth. I could do anything I wanted with the trees now. I sent vines with spines up to rip the duck tape and rope. Then a plant whose leaves sooth burns climbed up my wrist and ankles, soothing the rope burns.
"Not so fun being on the other end of the rope is it?" I asked to the woman and men. " Now why did you want my power and signature. I want the full story or, or I will hurt you." The woman's root crawled out of her mouth and she spoke, "We were working with a man who wants to overthrow the government. He wanted to use your power to start a war, and to give the other side the advantage."
"Why did you want my signature?" I asked.
"Your mother never told you… you are the princess of this land. Though you don't have any real power the people greatly respect you and would follow what you say."
"Wait, I am the princess of this land?" I couldn't believe that.
"Yes, that's what your name means and who you are. Your mother never really left you, she was kidnapped by us. Unfortunately she died of not being with the trees, something you will have to face all your life, you have to be with the trees." This was almost too much information to register. I was speechless, but I had to do something. I tried them up and forced them to walk with me. At the nearest farmhouse the residents called the police and they took the captives away. I caught a ride with one of them to the castle were I was greatly honored, given a huge room in the castle and so much more. My family came to live in the castle, which was conveniently located in the city closest to the forest. I learned to greatly control my powers and even taught Alana. Looking back I see that was one different birthday.
Names and What They Mean
Rani- Princess or a Queen
Alana- Precious
Brody- Brother
Review! :D Thanks for reading! :D!
