Freiyon Fables A Tail To Remember

Dightorp turned to Tursorl and Libertas.

“This could be the break we were looking for,” Then he turned back to the pigeon. “Go back and see if you can find where the water is coming out, if there are any trees nearby tell them to keep an eye on the group until we get to them. Then come back and tell us where they are. Once we find them, then we can attack the tiger’s group.”

“Micklang, you’ll be seeing your friends again very soon.” Libertas said to the small, excited squirrel.

“Hey, don’t say that. You’re all my friends. I count myself lucky to have friends like you.”

“Don’t we all, Micklang.” Tursorl said, chuckling to Micklang.

When the otters managed to widen the gap in the waterhole, they had to struggle against the force of the water so they could make the gap bigger for the creature. However, they didn’t need to work any further because the creature was swept through the hole with a stunned expression on its face.

When it swept pass the otters, its tail caught them and pushed them through as well.

Harriet, Abrigail and their friends were the last ones sucked down, trying desperately not to scream or yell in case they were seen.

“I’m getting dizzy!” Harriet shouted.

The squirrel kids were having the time of their lives, not caring a single bit if they were found from their noise.

“WHEEEEEEE!” They exclaimed.

What none of them expected was the evil group of reptiles and big cats were mistaking the cries of joy and fun as shouts of pain and suffering. The only one that seemed sceptical was the guard snake, and he was never one to give up on something strange easily.

The snake slinked and slithered closer to the edge of the hole and was just about to peek over the edge when a clawed hand grabbed his neck and pulled him back violently.

“Josepta, what did I tell you? Leave them alone until I’m well and ready to get them out! Why do you disobey a direct order? I am your leader and you should listen to what I say.” The Tiger leader growled at the sneaky snake angrily.

“There isss sssomething going on in there, sssir. I heard criesss of joy from thossse pesssky kidsss.” Josepta replied, hoping for the tiger to let go of his neck.

The tiger snarled at the snake and threw him away angrily.

“You want proof that they are in there? Fine, I’ll show you,” He said, knowing that if he was wrong, it could mean being voted out of leadership and possibly killed.

He looked into the hole and saw nothing at all, no water, no animals, and worst of all, no prisoners.

Ever the quickest to grab a negative and make a positive through it, he smiled as he turned around and told the group a deliberate lie.

“They are still there, but the creature has disappeared, I fear there is a leak in the hole and we need to find it before the prisoners escape as well. Come on or I’ll tear you all apart!”

The group was in mass confusion as every cat or reptile struggled different directions to find the end of the leak. The tiger was somewhat angered by this show of “team-work” and roared at them to organize themselves properly, which quietened them down heaps.

Micklang’s lost friends whizzed down the dark waterslide at an amazing speed, unaware of the fact they had two groups now looking for them. One to get them back to safety and the other to kill them all.

The tiger lord REALLY didn’t like trespassers on his island.

“WHOA!”

“HEEELLPP!”

Abrigail and company whizzed out of control down the now water-filled hole while the huge, still unidentified creature in front made the hole wider as it was swept along.

The animal’s fur never felt grittier than this, the mixture of water, rocks and dust hardening on their once soft fur.

The water flowed out of the side of a small hill near a beach, spitting out the big group out onto the shore.

Completely knocked out by the sudden contact with the sand, Harriet was the last one out and therefore the only one who saw the bird watching them curiously before her head fell onto the sand and she lost conscience.

Her dreams were filled with friends she had met through Micklang, all saying to her the same thing.

“Don’t lose faith, Harriet; believe in your husband, he will save you from the evil that searches for you.”

“Remember our words, Harriet, never lose faith, darling.” Micklang said, before he completely disappeared in a flow of smoke and wind, along with the friends she knew.

Harriet nodded as reality arrived slowly in front of her.

The sun was slowly setting after another day of adventure and mystery, covering the sky with a blanket of bright pink and red, getting ready to sleep for the glittering, full-moon night ahead. Harriet was still drenched and dirty from the wild ride she had encountered.

Harriet looked at the creature that had helped them to escape and almost screamed with fear.

It was a huge, hideous creature that had several unmistakable mixtures in it. A snake-like body with one pair of fins, one pair of lizard legs, a long whale’s tail and a small, diamond shaped head with razor-sharp teeth.

Harriet was afraid to go near it, but realised that it had been knocked out as well from the landing.

She crawled up to it carefully, examining its strange build, wondering if the creature really DID want to have revenge on the tiger’s group or just used that excuse as a way to escape and THEN eat her and her gang.

She reached out and touched the skin softly, hoping that the creature wouldn’t wake up and think she was a tiger.

Then the creature laughed madly and turned to her quickly.

The spying pigeon flew back as fast as it could, telling every tree of the news, hoping that they would be ready to help Tursorl, Dightorp and Micklang with their fight.

As it flew through the trees and wind, it caught a glimpse of the tiger’s group trying to figure out where the leak could be going, with not much luck.

The pigeon smiled as it hurried on, unaware that the tiger had seen him and sneered evilly.

There was something going on here and the tiger leader knew it.

Tursorl had supplied all of his subjects’ weapons to use and gave them strict rules about keeping eyes on everything going on around them, while Micklang walked around Abrigail’s ship impatiently, resisting the urge to rush through the forest full-bore and attack the tiger for kid-napping his friends. He kept his mind at bay using thoughts of dancing with Harriet, which seemed to work.

The spying pigeon flew straight to Dightorp and Micklang stared at it, knowing that if it was racing through the forest madly, it had seen something that would help them find his friends.

“Beach on the other side of island; big group of animals, all Micklang’s friends, except one; did not recognise the creature that isn’t Micklang’s friend.” The pigeon reported.

“What did this creature look like?” Dightorp asked.

“It was a big, snake-like creature with grey skin and a small head for its size.”

“Hmm, and did the tigers’ group see them where they are now?”

“No, but they are starting to search for Micklang’s friends. We can beat them if we go along the shore and over some of the rocks.”

“Hmm, could be a bit risky, is there any other route?”

“I’m afraid not, unless you WANT to run into the tigers’ group right now. The group is too spread out for my liking; the shore line is our only chance to get to Micklang’s friends unnoticed.”

“Maybe we can sail there by boat, go around the island via the sea.” Micklang suggested.

“Wait! I have it! You said the tiger’s group was spread out, right? Well, why don’t we take them down, one by one, until they are stopped?” Tursorl said.

“We could do that, but how would we get close enough without being noticed ourselves? They’re very tricky creatures by the sound of things.” Dightorp asked.

Suddenly, Micklang clicked his fingers excitedly.

“You’re trees, aren’t you, and this island is covered in trees of all sorts. How are you going to get them? By doing what these trees here do, stand perfectly still until one comes along and then knock them out and drag them out of sight. As long as you instruct the other trees around here to do the same, we’ll be on our way.” Micklang explained.

“Now THAT’S a plan!” Tursorl said.

“I’m happy with that.” Dightorp agreed.

“That could definitely work. Meanwhile, you and your friends that aren’t trees can travel along the shore as quickly as you can and catch up with your other friends.” The pigeon suggested.

“And once we arrive there, you trees can stop grabbing the tiger’s allies and “lead” them to us, where we can finish them off and decide what to do with them then.” Micklang said.

“Great!” They all said together.

The tiger leader was furious, but knew best than to show it, so he tried to occupy his time by threatening his group or strangling any of his group that felt suspicious about what they were doing.

It happened when he passed the den of the strange but useful cat fortune teller, Hagnagder, and he heard one of his useless allies trip on a loose root.

He walked over to investigate, only to find that there was no-one there.

“Tuffthroat, did you see someone here a few minutes ago?” The tiger asked another ally, a python with no lisp unlike Josepta, hence the name, Tuffthroat.

“I did, boss; it was Faraji the the young lion cub. I wonder where he went, I heard him trip, but when I looked again, he disappeared!”

The tiger stroked his chin gently but then shook his head.

“The silly thing probably wondered off by himself somewhere, I’m sure we’ll see him soon. Keep searching, but tell me if we lose any more in our group, alright?”

Meanwhile, in another small group belonging to the tiger, Josepta had the same problem, finding that two of his group had disappeared when they had tripped on something.

Josepta was smarter about what was happening and knew straight away that something was wrong.

“Keep your eyesss open, guysss. Sssomeone knowssss we’re here and wantsss to knock usss off. Any more disssappeancesss like thisss and we’ll be in big trouble!” Josepta announced.

The tree capturing had started.

Micklang was at the head of his small group, running as fast as he could with Libertas and Karel right behind him.

“I’m coming Harriet my love, don’t lose faith.” Micklang thought to himself.

Harriet jumped back, scared of the strange creatures sudden movement, landing on top of Abrigail accidentally.

“That was a good tickle; right in the place I needed it, thanks for that, Harriet wasn’t it?” The creature said, watching Harriet hop off Abrigail from her shock.

Abrigail brushed himself off and then stared at the scene around them.

“Hey, we’re on the shore! How’d we get here?” Abrigail exclaimed.

“The leak in the hole we were prisoners in must lead here, and I think it was me that made that huge hole in the side of the hill there.” The creature replied.

“WH … What are you?” Harriet stammered.

“Ever heard of the Spooks of Lebasi?”

Harriet shook her head, but Abrigail nodded.

“They were meant to be animal spirits controlled for evil purposes, but they were defeated ages ago.” Abrigail replied.

“Uh, the ‘spirits’, as you call them, were nothing but special parts of a particular animal that would scare even the bravest creature. That animal was me. As you can see I have every scary type of animal you can imagine, but I am not evil or blood-thirsty like many animals thought I was, including the tiger and his group. Do you have ANY idea how long I have been his prisoner for? Twenty-five years! And not once have I escaped, until now, and I thank you so much.”

“But what ARE you?” Harriet asked again.

“I’m a Launam, a creature that can take on any multiple appearances until I get my original build. I’m cursed to wonder the earth as a freak animal. But, now, thanks to you and your friends, I can have my revenge on that awful tiger.”

Micklang appeared at the top of a cliff and saw the scene below, taking in the fact there was a huge creature right in front of his friends.

He turned and grabbed his sword, indicating to Libertas and Karel to attack on his signal.

The Launam rose up and towered over Harriet and Abrigail, like a giant over a human.

Micklang noticed, with surprise, that the creature only had three legs and remembered the warnings that warrior Micklang had gave him.

“Look out for the one with three instead of four; he isn’t a beast like any before.”

The creature reached out its hand, about to grab Harriet in its hand, and Micklang got angry.

“Now!” He shouted as he charged down the cliff.

Libertas and Karel charged behind, brandishing their swords (and claws) as well.

The Launam stopped when it heard the shout from Micklang and looked at the animals coming towards him.

“Micklang!” Harriet called with delight.

“Micklang!” Abrigail shouted in his warning voice.

“Micklang?” The Launam queried in surprise. Oddly enough, they all said his name at the same time.

“That’s right, monster, and you are gonna pay for trying to hurt my friends and my wife.” Micklang announced.

“Wait, Micklang, you’ve got it wrong. This creature is the reason that we escaped, if it weren’t for this creature, we’d still be in the tiger’s grasp.” Harriet said, just before Micklang attacked the Launam.

Micklang halted in front of the creature and looked at Harriet, hoping that she was telling the truth.

“I helped them get out of the hole we were captive inside, and we ended up here.” The Launam explained.

“I’m sorry we tried to attack you, it’s just we thought … ”

“You thought I was a hideous monster about to attack your friends, I know. And that’s perfectly understandable what with how I look and how big I am. But appearance is not everything, just because something looks evil, does not mean it really is.”

“Like Karel here, most lions look fearsome and evil, but deep inside; he’s as scared as a mouse and as strong as a bug.” Lord Libertas replied, meaning for it to be a joke.

Apparently, at that moment, King Karel hadn’t been listening, because he looked around at Lord Libertas with a surprised face.

“Did you say mice? I haven’t touched any, honestly!” He said.

“I hope you haven’t,” Micklang warned, angrily.

Abrigail’s crew, Oliver and Oscar’s otters, Pistachio and his mother and Dillon the hyena woke up and looked around the scenery in surprise.

Micklang saw them wake up and took action immediately.

“Alright, everyone, don’t worry about where you are or how you got here, because we need to prepare ourselves. Tursorl and his tree friends are sorting out a little capturing plan of their own, but when I give them a special signal they will try and ‘lead’ the tiger’s group here to us, where we will decide what to do with them. So you all need to be ready, ok?” Micklang explained.

“We’re always with you Micklang.” Oliver and his otters shouted in unison.

“Ready when you are, my friend.” Abrigail said, unsheathing his sword and motioning to his crew to do the same.

“Just be careful, Micklang.” Harriet warned.

Micklang nodded and smiled, then he gave a loud twittering noise that could be heard for miles, and that’s exactly what he wanted.

The tiger leader looked up, startled at the strange noise.

“That was no bird. Everyone move out, that came from the eastern beach,” The tiger announced.

Joining up with Josepta, he whispered angrily to the snake.

“You were right all along, but don’t think I see what your little plan is.”

The snake stared at the tiger but didn’t say a thing, knowing that it would soon have a grasp of being leader.

How wrong it was.

Tursorl and Dightorp watched the group head towards Micklang and his friends.

“Looks like we didn’t need to lead them there after all.” Tursorl said.

“All the same, we have to be there to help Micklang in case things go wrong with the tigers’ group.” Dightorp replied.

“Good idea, we don’t want to miss out on the fun, do we?”

“Come on, you lazy lot! I want to tear apart those trespassers when I find them.” The tiger cried, running ahead of his group with Josepta by his side. The gap was closing fast, and all sides were ready for an immense battle, none of them aware of who would survive and who would not.