Stories Time Forgot 5

This is probaly my longest post. It is called 'Criffens 

I lived in a tree that men and elves had passed under without ever knowing that I was there. I preferred to only hunt at night, that is, if I was very hungry, and I had lived by myself ever since that unfortunate day. This was how I thought it would always be, and it was, for a long time, Until One summer evening. I was in my tree watching the sunset slip below the horizon, the beautiful colors slowly fading away. I was patiently waiting for the moon to rise so I could find some dinner, when I heard a sound below me. I cautiously looked down to see who or what was there. Nothing. Confused, I shrugged and went back to waiting. A little later I heard a rustle above me. I looked up into the branches, once again, nothing.

“Strange…” I said to myself. I started to think it was just my imagination, when I heard a sneeze from behind me. I whirled around, and saw nothing! Suddenly, I decided that I didn’t need to wait for the moon to set out, so I quickly left. The woods didn’t usually scare me, but on this particular night, every shadow seemed to grow and the owls that usually comforted me, made me want to hurry up. I felt I was being watched. 

“Where are you going?” A voice asked. I stifled a scream and darted away back home. I was almost there, when I heard the voice again. 

“Why do you keep running away? It’s not like I’m a monster or something!” I  couldn’t take it any more.

“Will you stop hiding and come out?!” I shouted into the darkness. 

“Okay! I just didn’t want to scare you!” The voice cheerfully answered. A little too late for that. I thought to myself. And just like that, it emerged from the trees. 

I gasped. She had a catlike form with yellow eyes, white fur streaked with silver, silky downy wings and a tail that ended in a fan of feathers. She looked just like me! Besides that I had gray fur and green eyes, Our only deferens was that she looked…younger. Hundreds of years younger. She tilted her head one way and then the other. “My name's Lily! What's yours?” She finally said. “Dawn. My name is Dawn. I thought I was the only one living in this part of the forest, where did you come from?” I asked. 

“I'm from far away- oh! I almost forgot! I need to give you a message from lord…something-or-other.” She said. 

“Okay and, do you mean Lord moonbeam?” 

“Yes! That’s the one!” 

“Isn't it kind of important to know the name of the criffin you're delivering a message for?” I said, a little annoyed. 

“I guess so, anyway, here’s his message; 

 Too everyone who lives in northern reagan:

I, Moonbeam the third, bid all to come to Jasper’s valley until the fire season is over.” She said importantly. I groaned. Every year the phoenixes would spread fire over the land to burn the old withered plants to make room for new plants in the Spring. So a month before they started, Lord Moonbeam would demand us to come to his valley because of  this “fire season” when all he really wanted to do is show off his beautiful palace, his beautiful gardens and his beautiful daughters.

Frowning, I continued home. 

“Shouldn’t you hurry? It's a long journey to Jasper’s valley, so it’s best to get an early start. If you pack now, you can be ready to leave as the sun rises.” Lily said, running ahead of me. 

“I'm not hurrying, because I am not packing, because I'm not going!” I said. 

“But the fire- '' She started, I cut her off. 

“Look. I have lived through hundreds of fire seasons right here and since I 

live in the lushest part of the woods, the phoenixes don't have to burn any of it, so I see no reason to spend the summer in Jasper’s valley when there is no danger!” I snapped. Lily didn’t budge. “But look at the forest, after that heat wave last year, even the mighty oaks are dryer this year, that means whether you like it or not, this forest is dying, and it won't be too long before the phoenixes have to burn it down.” She said  firmly. I hated to admit it, but she was right. Last year I could see the orange glow of the fire over the horizon. Every year they got closer. “I’ll be fine.” I said. “But I need you to go!” She blurted out. “Why?” I asked. “Because I don’t know the way to Jasper’s valley.” She mumbled. “But what does that have to do with me!? Why can’t you go with your fami-.” I stopped. Lily’s eyes glistened with tears. “I lost my family a long time ago. It was my first Journey to Jasper’s valley, all I remember is going to bed with them, waking up in the morning and where gone. It’s been a year since then and I still don’t know if they're even alive!” She said, wiping the back of her paw across her eyes. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” I said, awkwardly patting her shoulder. I sighed. “You should get some rest, we have a long journey ahead of us.” I said. “Really?” She gasped. “Well, I thought you could use a guide, and besides, a little adventure never hurt anyone! (most of the time) We leave in the morning.” I said, leading the way home. 

“Promise?” 

“Promise.” I assured her.

“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She said, skipping down the path. 

Early the next morning I woke to the sound of birds. I almost woke Lily up too, but she looked so happy soundly sleeping with her chin resting on her tail. I smiled. I walked over to a basket, and pulled out a picture. It had the image of two Crifens, one holding a small kit in her paws, the other carrying a kit on his back. They looked very happy together. I smiled. “What’s for breakfast?” Clover asked sleepily. I Quickly stuffed the picture back into the basket and answered, ”Fish.” After a quick meal, I grabbed my satchel and brought Lily out to my deck. “Okay, here we go! Do you want to fly beside or behind?” I asked. “ I guess I should have probably told you this be for…” Lily said, fidgeting with a leaf. “Told me what?” I inquired. “Well, I haven’t ever actually flown before, but I-” “What!?” I practically screeched. She jumped back at my reaction. I cringed, then took a deep breath and started over. “Sorry, I just think I bit off more than I can chew, I thought this was going to be a quick, straight-there-and-back kind of thing. You see, when you're flying, you can travel without any obstacles in your way, it’s much quicker, a-and there's so many dangers on the ground- '' “Dawn!” Lily interrupted my ranting. “Look. You're overreacting! Slow down!” she said with great authority. Once again, Lily was right. I took another deep breath while Lily brought me a drink. “Dawn, if you can’t take me to Jasper’s, It’s ok. Just remember, you did promise to bring me there, so you would break your promise.” She said. I couldn’t help smiling. “It sounds like the decision has already been made! If I said no, I wouldn’t be surprised if you took me there yourself!” I said, smirking. Lily smiled. “As much as I will regret saying this; Let's get going before it gets too late in the morning!” I said.

 “I knew you’d say yes!” Lily said happily as she followed me from branch to branch down the tree. When we reached the ground, I walked over to a nearby stump, and pulled an old map out of my satchel. I spread the map on the stump. “So…We’re here…” I said as I pointed to a spot on the map. “And we need to be here…So if we follow this path we can- ” Just then, a strong gust of wind blew the map of the stump and swirling through the air. “Ahh! Wait, no!” I exclaimed, trying to catch the map. But despite my best efforts, our one guid went twisting and twirling, up and up until it caught in the highest branches of a tree. But before I could even think, a wizer bird appeared and snatched the map up in its talons and flew away. “Seriously!? What would you need that for!?” I shouted angrily at the bird. I was going to go after it, but Lily stopped me. “Dawn, Wait! It's no use! Wizer birds are incredibly fast, you’d never be able to catch it!” This is a lot more difficult than what I once thought, And I have a feeling this is just the beginning! I thought to myself. “We can’t fly there and we don’t have a map. Seems like a very  unfortunate turn of events.” Lily noted. “Yes, I at least know that Jasper’s is north. Under these circumstances, it is quite the lead.” I said, feeling a bit better. 

We started walking. I had never been very far beyond my tree, and even then, it was in the night. I guess I never really got to admire all the things around me, all the flowers, leaves, grasses, it was so beautiful. “What’s your favorite color?” Lily asked abruptly. “Uh, why do you need to know?” “I don’t!” “Then why did you just ask me?” “I was trying to make small talk! I mean, It’s a long walk to J V, so we got to have something to talk about!” “What’s J V?” “It stands for Jasper’s Valley and- C-can’t you just answer the question?” “Alright, …Red” “Why?” “Seriously?” “Just imagine something you like that’s red.” This was getting very complicated very fast. Okay…Think red. I thought to myself, but all I could think about was fire, angry faces, and rashes. “Um, is it too late to pick a different color?” “Yep!” I groaned. “I have an idea! Let's see how many red things we can find!” Lily suggested. I agreed. Since I had lived alone for so long, I didn't get to talk to anyone very much. You would think it would make me want to talk even more, but it just seems I have forgotten how to talk to someone! “Okay, let’s see…Oh! A ruby fox is red, right?” Lily said as one crossed our path. “Your turn!” “Okay, well, rosebuds are red, oh! And fairy mushrooms.” I said once I saw a cluster of plants on top of a mossy log. “Beat that! Your turn Lily.” “Alright, the sun.” She said grinning. “What!? no fair!” I said. She beamed. “Beat that! Your turn Dawn.” “Hmm…well…um…Ah! I know! A-” “Leaves!” Lily burst out. “Leaves? But leaves are green.” “Not autumn leaves!” She said, dashing ahead of me. “But it’s summer,  how could you see-” I stopped. “Weeeeeee!” Lily shouted as she jumped into a large pile of red leaves. In front of me was a gigantic oak tree. But the odd thing about it was, all its branches were bare, and there were huge piles of leaves at its roots. It looked like it just gave up and died. That's weird… I thought to myself, as I got a closer look. Just then, I heard voices. I snatched up Lily and hid behind a nearby willow. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Someone’s out there.” I answered, peeking around the tree. I saw two figures standing in front of the oak. One was a girl in a violet robe trimmed with silver, most likely an enchantress. The other was a boy in a blue cloak trimmed with gold, probably an enchanter. They both had dark brown hair, short, pointed sticks, and pail, fearful faces as if they had just seen a ghost. If I listened closely I could hear what they were saying. “What did you just do!?” The girl asked, pointing at the tree. “I-I didn’t do anything!” The boy answered. “Well, we better figure this out before Wizard Lumos comes looking for us, We'll get a whippin’ for sure!”  “What are we going to do!?” the boy said, dismayed. The two were in quite the predicament. I didn’t know how much we could help, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. I told Lily about them and she agreed. We cautiously approached the pair. They spotted us. “Look Sabrina, criffins! If we can catch them, maybe Lumos will be so pleased, he will forget we killed the tree he planted four hundred years ago!” The boy said hopefully. “I doubt that would work.” I answered. They gasped. “Y-you can talk!” exclaimed the girl supposedly named Sabrina. “Of course. You can, so why shouldn’t we?” I said. “Well I guess that makes sense, how would you feel about us taking you to Wizard Lumos?” Sabrina asked.  “I think we would like to avoid becoming a sorcerer's pet.” Lily said. “I couldn’t help hearing what you two were talking about earlier, perhaps we could be of some service?” I asked. The pair looked at each other and nodded. “Well, me and Aspen are novices of Wizard Lumos, he sent us on an errand to find some wish berries for his spells, when Aspen killed this tree with his wand-” “It was an accident!” “You still should be careful with your wand-” “But you pushed me!” “Anyway, Aspen accidentally cast a spell on the tree and now it's dead.” Sabrina informed us. “Well, do you know any spells that could help?” I asked. “We do have a book on spells, that might help!” Sabrina suggested. “That’s great! Where is it?” I said. “That's the problem, on our way here, Subrina dropped it into a star jackal's den-” “It was an accident!” “You still should be more careful with a book of spells-” “But you were the one who yelled “Star jackals”!” “Anyway, Sabrina accidentally dropped our spell book into a star jackal’s den and now can’t get it.” Aspen stated. We all sat there in silence, thinking of what to do. When Lily suddenly gasped “I have an idea! star jackals love lolly fruit! We could find some and lure them out just long enough for Dawn to slip into their den and grab the book!”  “Why me!?” I asked. “Because Subrina and Aspen are too big and I… Well, because I said so!” I didn’t like the plan, but I was the one who wanted to help, even if it meant crawling into a star jackal's den. “Ok.” I finally said. They all cheered, then got to work. Sabrina dashed off to the left, and Aspen to the right, while Lily searched around the den. “Since star jackals love lolly fruit, they might have made their den close to it.” She explained. I smiled. “You sure know a lot about the animals of the forest.” I said. “Oh, well I guess I just spent a lot of time around them, I never really had a home, so I traveled through the forest most of the time.” She said. We saw Subrina running back, she looked scared. “Guys I found some! But-” “Me too!” Aspen said. Subrina tried again. “I saw-” “You know, these lolly fruits are really good!” Aspen said, popping one into his mouth. You could tell Sabrina was trying really hard not to lose it. “Guys! I saw Wizard Lumos! And he is coming this way!” She finally said. “Oh man! We have got to hurry!” Aspen said. They quickly sprinkled the fruit around the den. We heard the jackals start to wake up, so we hid behind some bushes. The first one poked its nose out and sniffed. Satisfied that it was alright to come out, he called to the rest of his family. Soon  they were all feasting, this was my chance. “Here goes nothing!” I said. Subrina kissed me on the forehead. “Good luck my little friend, you are a brave and noble creature.” With sudden courage, I Made my way into the den. Get the book, get the book. I thought to myself as I frantically searched. Ah! There you are! I spotted the book lyi
ng in the shadows. Just as I reached it, I  heard a growl behind me. It was, of course, a star jackal.  

   -Whimsical Writer