The Manor of Alfgeir
Wind swept through the trees, rustling the feathers of the slumbering gorax. The creature awoke, fell off its tree branch and onto the forest floor which was padded with leaves. It lifted its tawny legs and clawed its way to the surrounding trees in search of breakfast. Suddenly, there was a movement in the bushes and the gorax jumped, snatched and sank its teeth into its first victim of the day. Its fangs bloody, it spread its wings and flew off towards the Manor of Alfgeir.
All those who inhabit the land surrounding the manor always tell of strange happenings within its walls. Many different creatures inhabit the manor. The gorax for instance, is one of the creatures. A gorax is similar to a giant bat. It has the head and upper body of a bat but the wings are white and feel like those of a manta ray - soft and silky. The legs of a gorax are very long and when full grown, they can be up to seven feet tall.
On a rainy day one October afternoon, a boy was playing in the backyard of his house. His house just happened to be directly outside the forest that separated the manor and the village. While the little boy was playing, his ball rolled into the dense trees. As he reached down to grab it, a dark shape snatched the boy, and plunged into the depths of the forest. The boy let out a faint scream but no one heard it. The forest then grew silent.
The creature's feet pounded on the forest floor as it ran through the trees toward the manor. The boy lifted his head and looked around as he passed through an entrance with two gargoyles on the side. Suddenly, he was in a courtyard filled with dusty statues and cobwebs everywhere.
The English manor loomed over them as if they were nothing but ants in a dollhouse. Its windows were dark with black curtains and a stillness seemed to have fallen over the place, as if it had been uninhabited for years. Rain streamed from the sky in gallons as it blurred the boy's vision. He looked up and squinting at the spacious roof, saw a tower that shot straight up towards the heavens. Its circular body was covered in iron plating as if it were a giant sea serpent.
The beast approached the doorway which was ten feet high and five feet wide and to the boy's great surprise, knocked on the door. "Eghm, eghm," it said, clearing its throat, "It is I, Sir Albert Beaumont III."
"Yes, yes, I'm coming, please don't knock so loud." replied a voice behind the heavy door.
Slowly, the mahogany door creaked open ever so slowly and out stepped an old man, hunched over and grey. It was clear that he had survived many hardships in his lifetime and yet, he gave a broad smile that almost made the place seem cheerful. "Come in, come in old friend. I see you've brought a guest." the man said, pointing to the boy who was still in Sir Albert's mouth. "Yes Alfgeir." replied Sir Albert, addressing the old man, "I found him close to the forest and thought that he could be of some use to us." "Why, he may. Let's have a look at him." The man reached down to the boy who had been placed on the hearth.
The boy's hair was a whirlwind of black. Each end was sticking up and covered in Albert's saliva. His clothes that covered his slim frame were filled with holes and tears. Having the courage to open his eyes, the boy saw what lay before him. Large brown eyes peeked through a face caked with mud. He looked like a drowned puppy that had just been rescued after falling down a well.
There was an old man standing over him and a strange beast sitting in an arm chair with a teacup in his hand which contained what appeared to be blood. Too stunned to speak, the boy just stared. "What's your name son?" asked Alfgeir. "G-G-Geoffrey." "Well, Geoffrey welcome to my manor. I am Lord Alfgier and I am the caretaker of all the strange creatures that inhabit these lands."
"What do you mean by strange?" asked Geoffrey timidly, who at the moment was feeling a bit frightened. "Take old Albert here. He's a gorax. As you can tell, he isn't your normal woodland creature. Those like him I take into my home where they can feel safe and not have to worry about humans hunting them."
"I disagree with that statement. I am indeed a gorax but I am not the least bit old. I am only 600 years old which for your information, is very young. My species can live up to 2,000 years." stated the now annoyed gorax.
Geoffrey stared at the gorax for a good two minutes before he wearily asked his next question, "Why did you bring me here anyways?"
"Brilliant question; truly brilliant. Young chap, you'll be a good partner. Yes you will, a very good one indeed. You see we need your help. There is rumored to be a crown of eternal life on a mountain top somewhere in the Himalayas. An evil sorceress is in search of it and if we don't retrieve it soon, she may use it to become immortal. If she does, the world will come to an end. We are in a race against time. The winner will either save or destroy the earth. We need you to come along and help us on our journey."
Geoffrey had expected something weird to come out of the old man's mouth but not this. 'Is this really happening! Am I actually going to go on a journey with magical creatures? Will I get to see a dragon! Or maybe a fairy! So many questions were racing through Geoffrey's head that he forgot all about the two 'men' waiting for his answer. "Ummm, so what did you guys want to ask me?"
"My dear boy you should really learn to listen. We were asking you if you would like to join us on our little trip."
"Oh right, right. Well, I'll have to ask my Mother first."
"No time! Give us an answer -quickly." interrupted the Gorax, becoming impatient with the pathetic human.
"Ok, I'll go. I'm sure Mother won't mind." replied Geoffrey, giving the question very little thought.
"Well, we're all set. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Now to introduce you to the rest of the family" said Alfgeir, smiling as he rose from his chair.
They had been climbing stairs for what seemed like hours. Each step brought Geoffrey closer to all the fascinating creatures that were in the manor. His pulse quickened, his hands began to sweat, and he felt like turning around and running down that long staircase, out the door, and back to his nice cozy bed, where he decided that he would spend the rest of his life so that no magical creature could get him. But it was too late. They had reached a large door; larger than the front door, it looked as if it were made of white ivory. However, when Albert touched it, it melted away as if it were nothing more than water. A brilliant almost florescent light shown through the doorway and Geoffrey slowly followed Alfgeir and Albert into the room.
Geoffrey couldn't believe his eyes. Right in front of him were more creatures than he had ever imagined in what seemed to be a forest. There were fairies, dragons, dwarves, elves, and unicorns. Then there were creatures he did not recognize at all. Geoffrey had never even seen these mythical beasts before nor heard about them so he didn't know what to do. Thankfully Alfgeir recognized the problem.
"You may be wondering who some of these creatures are. There are more mythical creatures in this world than humans know. They aren't hard to find. You just have to pay attention. Look over there for instance," he said bringing Geoffrey over to a small stump and pointing at what appeared to be a white bug, "That is a Pillow. If you examine it very carefully, you will notice that it has an almost human-like head, two chubby arms, and two chubby legs. Over there is a Plastic Tree. Don't bother her right now. She has a bit of a bad temper. That over there is a…" Alfgeir's voice faded from Geoffrey's mind. He stared at the creatures; his mouth gaping, and a glazed look came over his eyes. Suddenly a dark shadow passed over his shoulder, its rancid breath poured into Geoffrey's nostrils as it lifted him high above the ground and threw him. He flew for what seemed like minutes and then stopped.
"I thought I told you to stop playing catch with the humans, Excergon!" boomed a loud voice which seemed to be coming from the green troll that had saved Geoffrey. "Sorry about that. He's always picking people up, thinking that they are balls and throwing them. And let me tell you something," whispered the troll as he bent down to Geoffrey's ear, "there is usually a big mess for me to clean up. I never know what to do with the vertebrae."
Geoffrey was a bit frightened now. First of all, he would rather not like to be thrown and splattered all over the place like a pancake flipping gone wrong. Second, he was really hungry and wanted to eat, for he was sure that he would starve to death before he got to go on the great adventure. He turned away from the troll as quickly as possible and went off to find Alfgeir, who had disappeared at the moment.
He managed to find him immediately. He was over by a tree surrounded by a centaur and a unicorn. As Geoffrey got closer, he realized that they were examining a very large map. On it was charted everyplace Geoffrey had ever seen and more. There were mountains, secret stairways that led to cabins where elves lived, a number of castles (each marked with who lived there and their status), and the most amazing thing was a small black square right in the middle of the map. "What's that?" asked Geoffrey.
"Oh that." said Alfgeir who apparently had been aware of Geoffrey's presence a long time ago. "It is the lake of The Dreaded. They are nightmarish creatures who come out of their watery hells on days like today. They slither in their dark cloaked bodies, dragging hopeless souls back with them. No one really knows what happens to them once they go beneath the water. But some say that they feed the victims to the ruler of The Dreaded who is said to be as big as the oldest oak in the forest." Alfgeir then smiled. "Don't worry. We'll try to avoid them as much as possible."
"But what if we do run into them?" asked a worried Geoffrey. "Well, we'll just have to fight them now, won't we? Well, I think we should go and have dinner. Then we'll get a nice long sleep and head out first thing in the morning. Aurora, come here please."
A fairy suddenly appeared in a shower of golden dust. As the dust settled, Geoffrey saw one of the most beautiful beings he'd ever gazed upon in his life. She was tall and slender. Her auburn hair sparkled with fairy dust and her silk gown rippled down as if it were water all about her feet. A crown of daisies were upon her head and in her hands was a delicate blue butterfly, whose wings shined as if they were made of glass.
Aurora glided, as if she weren't even walking over to where Geoffrey and Alfgeir stood. "You called, Alfgeir?" she asked in an airy voice.
"Could you get Geoffrey here something to eat for me while I arrange the meal here?" "Sure. Come with me Geoffrey." Aurora said, holding out her hand. Geoffrey grasped it and was guided back down the long flight of stairs and into another part of the house. "This is the culinary area. All the food is prepared here by the cooks. We have the best in England." she said, smiling sweetly. She pushed open the double doors and they entered a room full of wonderful scents.
On the tables was every kind of food that you could ever imagine. Flaky biscuits, soft fresh baked cookies, every kind of meat, hand picked fruit and all the jams in the world. There was even some food that Geoffrey couldn't identify. He guessed that those were for some of the mythical creatures. He turned around and saw something that surprised him even more than being in a mansion with tons of magical creatures, even more than having been captured by a gorax and being carried in its mouth. This just made him wonder whether he was dreaming or not. He just couldn't believe his eyes.