Chapter 3: I'm rescued by a munchkin and a weirdo. (a.k.a. I get to meet Pretty Leafy Lady)
Recap: Well, the last chapter was just a sucky attempt to explain why the protagonist landed in ME all of a sudden. It's better you forget that. Moving on…
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# #"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!"# #
Gorbulas stopped in his tracks. Was the Forest playing tricks on him again? It would not be the first time; the trees did have a strong dislike for two-legged creatures. The words were unfamiliar, was it a new sorcery?
# #"ANYONE THERE?" # #
This alarmed him more. It sounded so close! What on Earth could the Forest be planning again? But, did it sound a bit desperate?
He was torn in between trying to found out the source of scream and continue on his merry way. Though it seemed like it was from the same path he was following, he wasn't sure that he wanted to find out what nasty plots the trees have been cooking in their crooked minds.
But what if someone was really in trouble? He shook his head, very few ventured in these parts and besides, it was nothing of his concern, was it?
But then, at last, when he heard the final scream, his steps faltered. That definitely sounded like someone was in heaps of trouble.
Oh no, what if the Old Willow was trying to smother someone again?
Against his will, his feet turned towards the direction from whence the shriek had come. He tried to run, but running in a forest is in itself a tricky business, let alone The Old Forest. The more he tried to run, the more resistance he felt. The brambles became thicker, the undergrowth started to wrap around his feet, branches started to fall on him. Exasperated, he shouted,
"Oh, for that love of all things that grow, why do you have to be so stubborn? Just let me pass!"
As if in answer, the trees hissed. It became more difficult to navigate through the forest.
He sighed. "Have it the hard way, will you?"
He started a merry tune, though it was hard to maintain a jolly state of mind in the accursed forest. A tune, taught by a friend, to be used in times of great need, exactly like this.
*#"Ho! Tom Bombadil! Tom Bombadillo!
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and the willow,
By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear me!
Come, Tom Bombadil,for my need is near me!"
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I yawned and rolled to my side. Now that was one heck of a nightmare. Evil singing forest and madly cackling trees, trying to swallow people in? Hah, effect of too much fairy tale staying in my brains.
A gentle push.
"One more minute, mom."
Another push, this time harder.
I buried my head in the pillow to prevent the voices from reaching my ears.
Wait, voices? Since when do my mother have a distinctly masculine voice?
And where is my pillow?
I sat up bolt upright…
"Ow."
"Uff!"
….. and banged my head onto the person leaning over me.
And when I looked up to apologize, my apology died in my throat.
It was no dream. I was still in the blasted forest. Only, difference was that I was not locked inside the tree anymore. And I was still leaning on it.
I quickly scuttled away from it. It was then I noticed two persons standing and looking at me weirdly.
As if I was the weird one here.
One of them was a foreigner child, fair, chubby, with curly hair and he wasn't the oddest one there (tough his dress seemed a bit medieval, but I digress). The grown up man, who might have been the kid's father, was wearing a tall battered hat (with a blue FEATHER stuck on it), matching blue coat and…. yellow boots? And what was wrong with the kid's feet?
The youngest people in the company cleared his throat and I started.
# # "Uh, I'm sorry for staring and also, for the earlier head-bang." I tried to smile, "You see, I am having a real bad day and I don't know, how I ended up in this forest and that tree tried to KILL me…." # #
I stopped at their blank look. I sounded like a loony myself, so how was I supposed to convince them of my dilemma? I sighed.
"I know, none of you would believe, but I swear, I wasn't lying! I can explain, I guess." They glanced at each other but I didn't stop this time, "Trust me, now this forest is quiet and it seems quite normal, but it wasn't so…."
The older man nodded at the kid and smiled. The kid came forward and opened his mouth to speak…..
…. and what came out was complete gibberish.
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Gorbulas had made it to the spot just in time to see the Old Man Willow closing his great maw over a pair of boots. Also, he had just in time heard the answering tune from old Tom.
He quickly explained to Tom what he had seen and with a "Hey dol! Merry dol!," his worries were quicklyalleviated. On Tom's rebuke, the tree had spitted out his captive.
Now, this was the part where he got the surprise of his life. A queer-looking lass, of the Big People, was sleeping soundly with her hand tucked under head. He looked at Tom for an answer, but he only got a beam of smile from him.
He nudged her, once, twice, and then she suddenly sat up leading to a collision.
"Uff!"
"Ow."
He could see her eyes widen, as if she had come to a realization about her surroundings. She quickly moved away from the offending tree and turned to them.
And stared.
And stared.
Now, he knew, most people would think Tom to be unusual, but the way she gawked was a bit overstepping the line.
He cleared his throat.
Startled, she started to speak.
But he couldn't understand even a bit of what she said. She stopped, and then started again.
He looked at his friend, who did nothing but nod and smile and hesitantly took a step towards her. She might be touched in the head, the way she was speaking and he was never truly comfortable around the Big People.
* *"Lassie, what are you doing in these parts? Where are your guardians?"* *
It was her turn to stare blankly.
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* * Words which she doesn't understand.
# # Words the others don't understand.
*# This was taken from The Lord of The Rings, Book I, "Chapter 7: In The House Of TomBombadil" with little modification.
Soooooo. Old Forest, huh? Who would have thought? ;)
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Thanks to all those who reviewed,
Borys68
Nuka(I'm glad you found it funny )
Thanks for reading!