CHAPTER II Inside the rotted trunk, sat a small girl. Probably about 7 inches tall. She was sitting with her back against the inside of the trunk, her knees up in the fetal position. She had light, yellowish-green hair that was sort of curly, wavyish. Her eyes, were bright and luminescent blue. She wore a black string around her neck, attached to which was an opal carved into the shape of a crescent moon. She was clad in a dark green, velvet dress, which was dirty and ragged on the bottom. She was barefoot, and had blue, shining toenails. From her back, sprung two large, pale blue, translucent butterfly wings, one of which looked ragged, and torn. Both wings sporadically flashed a soft green light, which is what Linus had seen from the path. At first, when Linus saw this sight, he pulled away from the tree with a loud gasp, but then he came closer once again and stared at her in puzzlement. She looked up at him after he had emitted the gasp. She looked very upset. "That foul Bassotti Wraith! Beastly creature it is! Look what it's done to me!" She screamed, and rubbed her torn wing. "I wasn't even bothering it. I was just on my way to visit Emrys, and it attacked me!" Linus was more confused than ever, and looked it. She noticed. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry." she said, stood up, and tried to wipe the dirt off of her dress. "My name is Luna. I'm a fairy from the forests of the mountains north of here. There seems to be some sort of secret disturbance in the forests of the lake, and I was sent as a messenger to Emrys." "Who's Emrys?" "Emrys is the Lord of the Elves of the Lake-Forests." She looked at him strangely, "Surely you knew that..." "Umm, no." "Ah!" She gasped suddenly, and clapped her hands together, "You are a human! How interesting!" Linus was having a bit of trouble taking this all in. "Yeahhh, well I should be going now." he said. "And I as well!" Luna cried, "I know the way, so we shall have no trouble at all, kind stranger." "Call me Linus," said Linus, "and what are you talking about?" "Well, surely you shall take me to Emrys, since I have been hurt by the Wraith and and unable to fly at the moment, shan't you?" "What?? Whoa, no no, I'm going to be late for school! I probably already am!" "You people have school at this dastardly hour, do you? That is beastly, really. Now hold out your hand, that's a good fellow." Linus held his hand out, and Luna jumped out of the trunk, and stood on his hand, facing him. "Now, we start due east." She said, and pointed. "Just a little ways, I don't want to be too late." Grumbled Linus. And so, they started off. He walked through the woods for about an hour, with Luna sitting atop his head, mending her wing slowly with blue silk string, and occasionally muttering, "...blasted wraith, I'll...", and things of that sort. Linus began to wonder how late he was. What was he to do when he got to the schoolhouse hours late? Teacher would be very cross, what was he to do? 'I'm sorry teacher, I ran into a hurt mountain fairy in an old tree on the way to school, and had to help it.' He had no excuse, and was quite frightened as to what would happen when he got to school. But he kept on, for he had barely any desire to turn around and go back toward school. It was getting into early afternoon, when Linus stopped to rest. They were deeper in the woods than he had ever been before. "Are you sure you know where we're going?" he asked. "Oh yes, we're quite close." Answered Luna. Whatever, thought Linus. He found some wild strawberries to eat, he didn't want to break into his lunch just yet, and then continued walking. Before long, he started coming to large ponds on either side of the path he was walking on. He was miles into the forest now, it started to become hilly. No one came out here, he thought, I've never been close to being in here this far. He had always wanted to though. He knew that these woods were giant, and went on for a while. He was only allowed to enter the outskirts when he went to school. The ponds had gotten bigger, and were now full lakes, spanning out to either side of him, as he noticed the path he had been on was now sort of a bridge going through the center of the lakes. He realized that he was now in the "Lake-Forests" that Luna had spoken about. The narrow strip that he was walking on, went higher and higher above the water as he went, as if a path going up a hill had been carved out and placed in the middle of a lake. It went up extremely high. As he advanced, he came into a large grove of ancient oaks growing out of the lake far below. He was a good hundred feet above the surface of the lakes, when suddenly the path ended. Linus was mortified, but Luna didn't seem the least bit phased. Directly ahead of them, about 30 feet's distance, was a large oak. Between Linus and the tree, lay nothing at all. Linus wanted to turn back down the path before he fell to his death in the lakes below, but Luna told him to stop being silly. "Simple elf magic." She said, "But I wouldn't expect you to know that. Now go across the bridge." "What bridge?" asked Linus, almost hyperventilating. "The one right there!" She said, "Once across, we'll enter the enchanted sphere and be able to see the town. Now just take a step forward." Linus, heavily believing that he was stepping to his death, reached his foot out over the ledge of the cliff, and let it fall. It hit solid ground. Linus looked, there was nothing under it, but he was standing on something! He took another step. He could see nothing below him, but the distant lakes, but he was surely standing on something. He was on an invisible bridge! He slowly made his way across the strip of nothing, toward the oak in front of him. Just then it occurred to him, what was he going to do once he got to the tree? He didn't see anywhere to stand, but he kept going nonetheless. As he neared it, something strange happened. As he got closer, he could see a platform around the tree fade into view, slowly. "Wh-what's going on?" he asked. "We're entering the enchanted sphere." Replied Luna. "What's that?" "The Enchanted Sphere surrounds the Treetop Elven Village of the Lake-Forest. It causes the entire village and its inhabitants inside to become invisible to anyone outside the sphere. Once entered you will be able to see the village, you are on the outskirts of it now." Linus steadily continued until he got to the platform. Suddenly, as he stepped onto the platform, the entire village appeared out of nowhere. Magnificent round structures and huts wrapped around the very tops of the trees connected by rope ladders and bridges. Torches were mounted on every tree, and it was buzzing with elves. The Main Gate, or the platform he had just arrived on, was occupied by two guards. Luna jumped on to the ground, and bowed to the guards, who recognized her, and bowed back. "I bring urgent news from the King of the Mountain Fairies." She said, "I wish to speak with Emrys, Lord of the Lake-Forest Elves." The guards stared for a second, and then said, "What is the human's business here?" "I was attacked by the Bassotti Wraith during my journey south," explained Luna, "He was kind enough to bring me here, despite my injuries. He is trustworthy and will do you no harm." The guards then motioned her to follow them. Linus and Luna trailed them through the vast treetop village. Across bridges, and up rope ladders, they kept advancing upward, and toward the heart of the huge village. There were elves everywhere, bargaining in the marketplace as they went through it. They also passed through the residential groves, where hundreds of treehouses hung from the trees, wooden porches on each and a torch outside each porch. Finally, they made it to what seemed to be the center, and came to a giant Redwood tree. A large ladder extended to the top of it, guarded by four elven soldiers. The two guards with Linus and Luna, motioned them to step aside, and the four of them ascended the ladder. It took a good 10 minutes to get to the top, it was an extremely long ladder, but they finally did get to the top. When they did, the guards entered the giant trunk, and told the two travelers to await them. The trunk was a deep rusty brown color, and strange symbols were scratched into the wood surrounding the door. After a few minutes, the curtains were drawn back and out stepped Emrys, Lord of the Lake-Forest Elves. to be continued...