Freiyon Fables A Tail To Remember

Book Two: The Travelling Warrior.

“Just one paw on those trespassers before their torture is complete, and I’ll kill you on the spot.” The tiger leader warned his group of followers.

Oscar could barely hear it because of some faint moaning from Abrigail’s crew, but he distinguished the anger in the tiger’s voice and wondered how long it would be before Micklang discovered them.

Something didn’t seem right, even though they had been there for a while, it seemed that everything was too quiet for this sort of thing.

“Issss it jussst me, bosss, or issss it too quiet in the ssssnarl-pit?” A cautious snake asked the tiger.

The strange creature growled and snapped at the water, making Oscar cower in the small corner with his friends.

“Nonsense, he’s probably taking his time in finishing them off, anyway. You know how he is.”

The creature looked at Oscar again, smiling slightly.

Oscar wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought he saw the strange creature wink at him.

“Oh gosh, Micklang, you’d better get here soon, I don’t like a single bit of this.” Oscar whispered to himself.

Abrigail could hear him and knew why he was freaking out; it’s not natural to be calm in the face of death.

But the strange creature that was watching them didn’t intend on eating them at all.

The strange creature slunk up to Oscar and looked him in the eye.

“You misjudge me, otter. I have no interest in you or your friends. My taste is simply in those creatures that caught me and imprisoned me here. You are in no danger with me.” The creature told Oscar.

Abrigail was suspicious of the creature and wondered if they should trust it, but Oscar was so afraid, he was willing to believe the strange creature in the hopes of escaping.

“What do you want then? We can’t help you much, we’re trapped here as well.” Abrigail asked.

“There is a leak in this water-hole, a small one that I can’t fit through, but maybe you can. All you have to do is to follow me down there and promise to try and make the hole bigger for me. If you can get out of the hole, then we will all be free and I can help you defeat those horrid creatures.”

Abrigail was still suspicious, but he knew better than to argue with something bigger and fiercer than he was.

“Show us this hole.” He said.

“Micklang, you sneaky squirrel, so it’s you that we have come to help.” Tursorl announced, waiting patiently for his trees to finish the EXTREMELY long bridge across the sea, as he stood on a section of it and looked at his friend.

Micklang was astonished. He had no idea that the trees could do what they were doing right now, and so quickly!

“Well, now Micklang, what may we assist you with? I see your otter friends aren’t with you any longer, have they departed already?” King Karel asked, slightly afraid he would fall into the icky salt water.

“It’s them I need help with. They’ve vanished without a trace and I fear they might be dead. My new tree friend here told me you were coming and is glad to help whatever way possible. I hope you can finish that bridge building soon, because their lives are in danger, I can feel it.” Micklang explained.

Tursorl looked at the tree standing next to Micklang and chuckled.

“Well I never, if it ain’t ol’ Dightorp the deadly, I haven’t seen you since you were a little plant, what are you doing here?” Tursorl asked the tree.

“I came here for a different life, and I must say it has been different here. The tigers and reptiles here don’t fool around. I fear the worst might happen if we don’t get to them soon.”

The trees job was finished quickly and Micklang was heaved up high in the air by chief Tursorl, King Karel AND Lord Libertas, who were all too eager to see the young squirrel again.

“I knew I would never regret the day I laid eyes on you, Micklang. You’re quite the smart one.” Tursorl said, ruffling Micklang’s fur ’til he looked like a furry ball with a tail.

“Didn’t I tell you we’d meet again? Though I must say, I didn’t see this coming at all.” Libertas said, patting Micklang on the back happily.

Micklang was surprised about what the bear had just said and wondered how he knew they were going to meet again.

Micklang inspected Libertas’s short, stubby tail and was surprised to see it was just an ordinary bear tail.

He can’t be a lightning-tail animal like me and that strange cat, so what does it? He wondered.

Dightorp waited until the friends had finished with Micklang and then announced the news.

“We must find the Tiger lord’s group! That will be where your friends are. I have gotten news from my other tree friends that they will help as best as they can, but we can’t rely on them alone. You must work hard, for there are many in the tiger’s group. I will give the signal to my friends and they will find out exactly where the group is, then we will attack them and save your friends. Good idea?”

Micklang nodded, along with everyone else.

Libertas was the only one that was sceptical.

“How dangerous will that be? You expect everyone to just barge in there and attack just like that? What if they find out about us?”

“Hmm, you’ve got a point there Libertas. What do you suggest we do?” Tursorl replied.

Libertas was silent for a few seconds, thinking hard about a way to go about the plan.

“Ok, this is what we can do, we shall separate into three groups and surround them, making a lot of noise as we do, that way we’ll make them think there’s more of us. Then Micklang will sneak in there and save his friends. Once he does, he’ll attack from inside the camp and we’ll attack from outside, that way we’ll have more help in the attack. How’s that for a plan?”

“Well, we’ll just have to give it a shot, eh?”

Oscar, Abrigail and the others in their group worked their way down in the murky water, only just able to see.

The creature that was leading them slinked ahead, stopping occasionally to let them catch up.

When it came to the hole, it signalled to Oscar that they had reached their destination.

Oscar and his otter group thudded their rudders against the hole hard while Abrigail went back with his crew to check on Harriet, her children and Dillon the hyena.

Abrigail spat out a mouthful of murky water as he came out.

“How are you going, Harriet?” Abrigail asked the scared squirrel-wife.

“The children are scared to death, but I’m thankful we’ve managed to find a way to escape. How is it going, by the way?”

“We only just started, Harriet, it’s hard to tell how long it’ll be before we’re out of here.”

Just then, a gurgling noise erupted from the bottom of the hole, and the water started to sink down, fast.

Harriet smirked at Abrigail.

“Only just started, huh?”

Slowly, the group started to spin around the hole, getting faster as they got lower.

At that moment, a small pigeon, one of the spies of the trees, spotted the strange sight and recognized the squirrel and mouse that were in the hole. The pigeon flew off in a hurry to tell its owner.

“I’m telling you, it’sss too quiet in that hole, sssir.” The curious snake guard told the tiger leader.

“Leave them be! Even if the monster hasn’t eaten them, they can’t save themselves from us. We’ll kill them if the monster hasn’t, you know I hate trespassers. They will pay dearly for trespassing here. I shall check on them soon, but not now, alright?”

The snake bowed and continued his work, listening very carefully for any strange noises, but not hearing a thing from the hole.

Dightorp waited eagerly with Micklang’s friends for news of his smaller, trapped friends. Meanwhile, Tursorl and Libertas were chatting together, trying to figure out an attack plan that could help them with getting Micklang’s gang back. Libertas’s plan was good, but they needed to be prepared for other things, just in case.

Micklang, however, was busy reading more of Abrigail’s diary, hoping to find more about Hagnagder the cat. He was certain the cat was more than just a lightning-tailed animal like him, how could that explain her disappearing so quickly?

The little spy pigeon almost crashed into Dightorps’ head in excitement.

“Whoa there, little buddy, what’s wrong?” Dightorp asked the pigeon.

“Sir, A squirrel … mouse … hole … spinning … water … tiger … ” The pigeon puffed eagerly.

“Take a breath, buddy, and try again.”

The pigeon took a deep breath and reported the sight he saw.

“I saw a group of horrible big cats and reptiles near a deep hole in the ground, where there was water spinning around with a group of small animals, among which were several squirrels and mice. The water looked like it was flowing down a huge crack in the hole, and I think the cats and reptiles didn’t know about it. What do you wish to do?”

Micklang dropped the diary and stared at the pigeon in excitement.

“Did you say you saw a group of squirrels and mice?”

“Yes, I recognized them when I saw them with you before they disappeared. It’s them alright, but I don’t know what’s happening to them.”

“Did you say the water looked like it was going down?” Dightorp asked.

“Like I said, it was hard to tell, but it was the only explanation for the spinning of the water.”