Shadows of the Past

Part I

The forest was dark and silent except for the blowing of the wind, which stirred the leaves, the sky was an explosion of red, orange and yellows as the rays of the golden liquor sun began to seep from over the hills.

Deep within the forest there was a great waterfall roaring and creating large ripples on the surface of the water down below as the sounds of the waterfall echoed throughout the nearby cave. The cave was small and dark except for the candlelit torch on the shelf inside with paints and other art materials all over the floor, however there was a portrait in the centre of the room on a canvas with someone painting. His coal black eyes were fixed on the portrait, his face held a mask of deep concentration as his blue paw continued to sway across the portrait, his name was Gusto.

Gusto had just finished painting another of his projects of the Glens as he set his paintbrush down beside it. He beamed happily achieving what he had desired as he gazed at the portrait, after staring at the portrait inspiration hit him again. He got out a lump of rock from the back ready to sculpt he grabbed his hammer and chisel, forgetting completely that he should be leaving to go to Gummi Glen.

Gusto worked for hours sculpturing when he heard Arte asking him about the Glens. Gusto suddenly remembered about going to the Glen and placed his chisel and hammer on the table quickly and held out his paw to let his best friend Arte onto shoulder.

Arte flew down from his place on the shelf to Gusto as he landed on his friend's shoulder and waited for him to set off to the Glen.

Gusto left the cave to go the Glen, he ran along the familiar long green grass to Gummi Glen. When he reached his target he opened one of the exits and climbed in closing it carefully and silently behind him as he made his way to the kitchen where he presumed Grammi would be.

"Your late" said Grammi as Gusto entered the kitchen.

Gusto smiled and said cheerfully "Inspiration hit again" and made his way into the dining room where all the other's were.

Breakfast went fast and smoothly when Gruffi spoke "We need to start picking those berries and we'd appreciate your help GUSTO" stressed out Gruffi to make sure that Gusto got the point before inspiration took him while Sunni and Cubbi groaned.

Gusto quietly sighed to himself as he followed after the Glens out of the dining room, out of the exit and towards the bushes.

They had been picking the berries a few hours, with Grammi or Gruffi occasionally telling Tummi to stop eating the berries since he ate more than picking them. Midday was approaching and still they continued to pick the berries when they suddenly froze as if they were cast under a spell. They jumped into nearby bushes as they could hear the sound of horse hoofs coming closer to them.

The horse hoofs began to thunder against the ground as they almost reached to where the Glens had been picking the berries.

The Glens froze in their position daring not to breathe as they peered through the tiny holes in the bushes just in time to see someone race pass them followed in close pursuit by some human riders who were riding wildly and seemed to be angered when they heard the horses stop.

Curious, they listened intensively to what seemed to sound like angry shouting at one another but they couldn't make out what was being said. Then they could here fighting in the background.

The Glens peered out slightly from their hiding places and gasped at what they saw before them. Another Gummi.

The gummi's fur was a light pink and covered in dirt and her glden shoulder length hair was a mess and she was wearing a cream, dirty, torn dress and a small, brown, leather bag on her back. She held her paws infront of her face shielding her face from view and was shaking uncontrollably with fear.

"We've gotta do something" whispered Cubbi.

As the words left his mouth what appeared to be the leader of the group of humans advanced on the terrified gummi.

The Glens produced their Gummiberry juice bottles but continued to wait in hiding for the right moment.

The human picked up the female gummi by the front of her dress then pulled her up off the ground until she was level with him. He shook her and her paws fell away from her face revealing her teary eyes and tear stained face. The human chuckled and shook her again making her look at him, he looked down at her through his stern, cold eyes and sneered which made her shiver then he looked over his shoulder to his three men.

"Seems this little gummi is in need of a little discipline" he said raising his other arm to strike her.

His fist collided with her stomach and she yelped in pain, which made him smile as he raised his fist again. As his fist came down for a second blow he was distracted by someone shout NOW.

The seven gummi's came bouncing into the clearing making the men trying to catch them run into one another or bump into things.

The leader who still held the female gummi tightly in his grasp swung her back and then threw her as Cubbi and Gruffi came towards him.

The female gummi's shrieks were cut short as she flew through the air and made impact with a tree and then fell to the ground headfirst.

All the men including the leader were unconscious on the forest floor and the Glen gummi's approached the unconscious female gummi.

"Who is she?" said Cubbi.

"I don't know, dear" said Grammi rolling the female gummi onto her back.

"She's hurt," said Sunni pointing at her head.

"We need to get her back to the Glen" said Gruffi picking up the female gummi.

The group walked back to the Glen in silence and in single file with Gruffi leading the way.

Once they were all assembled in the Great hall Gruffi handed the female gummi over to Grammi and Sunni to take care of. The two scuttled off down the corridor to prepare a room for their new guest while the remainder of the group sat down waiting for them to return.

TBC…