Disclaimer: I do not claim to invented any of the recognisable characters, the OC, Katie is a character of my own invention however, or I would feel pretty rubbish. And Hobgoblin is a term used by Tolkien too, so I didn't invent them either, bless 'em.

Hello everyone, Its been over a year and so the story had technically died, along with my computer, access to the internet, you name it, it died. And I forgot about the story, yes I actually forgot about it. I even forgot about ff. net too. Then I remembered. I got a PC, I started University, I got a Laptop.

I remembered this and rememberd how much fun I had writing it and reading the reviews. So here I am, back again. I am reposting the chapters, because when I read them again I noticed some things that made me cringe slightly. So I changed a few things, but its practically the same. I would have reposted the story but I didn't want to lose the reviews I had gathered. So anyway...Hope you enjoy the revised but not abridged version. :)

Chapter One - Orc Pixies

I am dreaming of being back on the beach, walking along the sand I've done loads of times since I was a child. The sun setting onto the sea, reflecting the rays of light across the water, this is a nice dream.

Oddly, the light is reflecting onto the sand, that is weird; I've never seen that happen before. Ah well, this is a dream after all. Might as well go have a look.
Maybe this is a sort of new dream - phenomenon, hmm should I really go have a look? What's the worst that could happen?

Hopefully I will get to fly again! Thought that was one of those out-of-body- experiences people say they have had in magazines when they are asleep, like when you can float around and go in peoples windows and stuff, that would be cool.
Decided my own particular 'out of body experience' had just resulted from eating too much cheese before I went to bed, shame really.

Anyway, I've decided to move in for a closer look. Funny, the nearer I get to it, the more the light gets brighter, what the? I can't see! This hurts, the light I mean. Why did I have to come over and look? Stupid, stupid Katie!

This bloody light hurts my eyes.
That's it; I'm going to have to close them, unless I want perminant retina damage. Hey maybe this is where I wake up again? Some interesting - dream twist, like when you open them again it's when you wake up? Well, lets see...

Nope, guess I was wrong.

Where am I now! And what kind of freaky dream is this?

I didn't have any cheese tonight did I?

Right, come on Katie, let's get up. You are lying on the mossy floor of some gross forestry type thing that stinks strongly of squirrel pee.

Nice.

I am now covered in mud? That's because it's raining and you've been rolling around in the mud like an idiot! I told myself. Right, about time I used that grey matter between my ears, I'm dreaming and I want to wake up; lets try the more traditional approach,
I pinched my hand sharply "Ouch!" hmm, not working.

A light slap on the cheek?
Damn it! Hard slap on the cheek?
No and "Ouch! Why did I do that?

Serious problem, I am now soaked to the skin, as I am wearing jeans this is not particularly comfortable.
As well as that, I am starving and shivery. Shivery? Is that even a word? Well I guess am shivering then.

I don't think this is how dreams are supposed to feel like.

I can see little red dots coming towards me, are they dots? No - wait, they are little torches! Aww, aren't they cute? Hmm wonder what's carrying them?

Some cute little pixie brigade?

Maybe this dream isn't going to be as bad after all
. Let me see, I need a nice, secluded spot where I can hide and watch them go past without them casting some cute pixie spell inadvertently turning me into a toad, as pixies tend to do sometimes.

This tree looks nice, reckon I could climb it? Just reach for that branch and I'm away, hey this is fun! I haven't done this since I was 10, maybe I am a natural!

Luckily, the little pixie-brigade decided to come right under my tree.

Eww, that's the ugliest pixie I ever saw, he even smells ugly, I thought as they started to file under the tree.
They looked like hobgoblins, the baddies from old fashioned fairy tales.

One of the hobgoblins stopped and sniffed around. He really was an unpleasant little bugger. Imagine my surprise when he looked into my tree. Suddenly, I remembered that I had a habit of thinking out loud.

Then, the word "Oops" came to mind too, I defiantly remember blurting that little diamond out.
The one I had referred to as a little bugger signalled to his dirty little friends.

One got out a sort of bendy stick.

I regarded this with no threat. What's he gonna do?
Throw it at me? It looked like some sort of crappy cheap boomerang more than anything else. Imagine my surprise when he fired an arrow with it,
"Aawwwhh" I howled. The little blighter had shot me in the shoulder.

This is not a very nice dream at all. My little pixie -come- hobgoblin friends having got bored with my self piting howling just carried on, leaving me all alone in this stupid tree. What on earth am I going to do now?

Lets see, I'm alone in some stuffy forest, I have an arrow embedded in my shoulder and I am soaking through. Maybe I should get out of this glorified bush and find somewhere less wet. That, at least sounded like a better idea.
I looked down at my shoulder properly for the first time. I nearly passed out. It was all bloody, and an arrow sticking out of anyone's shoulder would make them feel rather ill

. Yuck,

I tried to give it a tug but it just sent searing pain through my upper body. Best not try that again for a while, or until I have found some good quality booze at least. Not much chance of that here, all the more reason for me to move then, I debated to myself (I tend to do that when I am hungry).

I attempted to climb out of the tree but just felt myself slipping, this was partly because the branches were wet, and partly because of my shoulder.
I landed with a thud and all went temporarily black (but for how long?).

What's this? Am I back in bed? Woohoo! The nightmare is over. I knew that I was waking up, I felt to my shoulder in a just-to-make-sure-kind-of-way to discover (my stomach sinking to the floor) the arrow was still there, and to add insult to injury, the blasted thing had gotten embedded even deeper.

For the first time, I wanted to cry. It is seeming less and less like a dream now, you can't feel pain in a dream, and I would not be exaggerating to say that I am in more than just a little discomfort.

Plan of action! There has got to be some kind of friendly settlement around here and I will be damned (and proberley dead) if I don't find it!

Ok first chapter done. Thankyou very much for reading. I would greatly appreciate it if you reviewed the story. I appreciate constructive reviews but please don't flame. I never delete flames, but I would much prefer advice on how to improve the fic.

Thanks Again

Mori

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