by Gabe Sluis
A bright crow flew over the default black ground of the bi-dimensional world. Animated grass, bushes and trees were no obstacle as it flew in a straight line over the flat landscape. From the crow's overhead view, it strained to see further ahead, the viewpoint shifting behind its flapping wings so it could see the upcoming cottage in the middle of a meadow. As the bird got within normal vision range, the viewpoint shifted back centered above the thick, animated lines of its body.
The crow landed on an open window ledge and the scene changed.
Sitting on the edge of the interior cottage room, the crow cried two times.
Stirring from his chair, an old man, white beard and walking staff yelled back at the intruding bird.
"I hear you! I hear you! If that is Ena or Rall, your father will hear about it this time!" Janu threatened.
The crow once again squawked and bobbed his head up and down, twice.
The old man crossed his single room dwelling and centered himself on the window in front of the visitor. "Well, which is it! Your grandfather can't tell you two apart when you are foolish enough to be turned into beasts! Once for Ena or twice for Rall."
The crow flapped its wings and let out two grating chirps.
"Rall! I could have guessed! How many times must I warn you before you listen? Hrum!" the old man said. He hummed a deep note and stamped his staff against the mustard yellow floor, orange sparks leaping away. The staff hummed the same note as the old man bonked his grandson on the top of his crow head.
Flickering back to the form of a green haired boy, the image of the crow reappeared. Blinking back and forth with greater frequency, Rall finally emerged in his proper form.
"Thanks, Gramps!" Rall said, hopping down from the window sill. "I beat Ena back!"
Just then, there was two solid thumps at the front door of the cottage, shaking the entire view.
"You let your sister get transformed, too!"
"Sorry Grandpa! It wasn't our fault this time!" Rall cried.
"Come on, let's fix her up too then!"
The two-dimensional figures exited the cottage, and the view flashed to the exterior. An animated horse in the same style of Rall's crow stood next to the front door. It pawed the ground twice and let out a high pitched neigh. Janu shook his head.
"What have you two been told about leaving the high forest? Every time you go down into the valley you get yourselves into trouble!"
"We were just down by the river picking berries!" Rall explained. "The witch came out of nowhere and zapped us with no warning!"
"Were you on her side of the river? You have been warned not to pester that old wench..."
"We didn't think we were! We were on that small island in the middle! The chernika berries are so big there and we thought it would be okay..." Rall said. "Now will you turn Ena back?"
The horse whipped her tail back and forth as her grandfather performed the same spell he had used to transform Rall to his standard form. Janu hummed a strong note, stamped his staff and bonked the horse on her head.
Flickering back into a girl, Ena stood up onto he two feet and crossed her arms at her younger brother.
"You only beat me back because you could fly," she said tersely.
"Gramps!" Rall cried out in his own pithy way. "Your spell didn't work! She still has a horse face!"
"Oh, enough!" Janu said, holding back his laughter. "This is serious! You are going to get warped into a turtle or fish next time and we will never find you to turn you back. I'm going to have to tell your father!"
"No, Grandpa, No!" the green haired-siblings cried in unison.
Janu eyed his grandchildren and nodded his head. "I'll make you a deal, my silly little beasts! I will teach you a game, and if you can beat me, we can keep this between us. Deal?"
"Yes! Yes!" they both said, jumping up and down.
"What kind of game is it?" Ena asked?
"Are we on a team?" Rall asked.
"This game is between two people, so you two can take turns throwing," Janu explained. "First, we must draw the score yard. Follow me."
Janu walked across the small meadow until he reached a rock the size of a mans head. He then took his staff and drew a ring around the rock, two more in front of the rock, and then a big ring around all the circles. As he marked numbers in each circle, he explained the game.
"A traveler through this world taught me this contest. We had to adapt it a bit, as you always must for the terrain, but that is the fun of it. He played it as a child up in the trees, where each circle was rather a branch that they landed the batons upon. But here in he meadow, we use circles and rocks to make it more complex. Now, for the batons!"
Janu held up his staff and dropped it to the ground where it separated into three equal length segments. He had Rall gather them up and the group counted ten paced away from the score yard.
"We will throw from here," Janu said, making another mark on the short grass. "Now! Some rules: there are three rounds. Each player gets three throws per round. Wherever your baton lands, you get that many points. The rock circle is five, the left and right are four, the big circle is three, and if you miss, you get two."
"Okay," Ena said. "This seams easy enough."
"So whatever team has the most points at the end of the rounds wins?"
Janu nodded his head. "That's right, but each round is slightly different. The first round is easy, we just add our scores. Let's throw and I'll explained the rules for the second and third round as we go."
"I'll go first!" Rall cried, handing the other two batons to his sister. The little boy stuck his tongue out of his mouth to the side as he underhand threw the baton directly at the rock. The stick bounced off the rock and rolled outside the three-ring.
"Nice throw, Rall!" Ena mocked. "Now it's my turn."
Ena tossed the baton with much more control across the pitch, where it landed with a bounce in the four ring. She let out a woop of satisfaction as Rall grabbed the last baton.
Again with his protruding tongue, Rall threw the baton, twisting through the air, bouncing against the rock but remaining inside the five ring. "That's what I was trying to do last time!"
"Luck," Ena commented.
"Good, kids. Eleven points. Not bad at all," Janu said. "Now it's my throw."
Janu unceremoniously threw all three of his sticks in rapid succession, overhand, but with a light touch. When the batons settled, Janu was left with two threes and a five.
"So we are tied. Now, onto the second round. Nothing changes, except: if you get multiple batons in the same ring, they are multiplied by each other. Understand?"
"You got two in the three-ring last round," Rall said. "So, if you did that this round, it would be worth nine points?"
"That's right."
"And if you got three threes, it would be twenty-seven?" Ena asked.
"Yes. And if in these next two rounds, you can get five in a row, they all multiply. But if it's three threes in this round and a single three in the last round, you don't get 83. It has to be five in a row."
"That's over two hundred points! You'd win for sure!" Rall cried.
"Two hundred fourty-three, and yes, you would almost assuredly win. But there is still round three and its rules. So go ahead- your throw!"
"I'll do this round, and you can have round three. Okay?" Ena said to her brother.
He nodded and Ena threw. This round, she took her time throwing all the batons very carefully. At the end of her turn, she had a five and two fours
"Twenty one! Nice job, dear. With your eleven, that makes thirty two," Janu said, and prepared to throw.
Once again, he rapid threw the batons, scoring three threes.
"Oh no!" Rall stomped his feet. "Thirty-two to thirty-eight!"
"It's up to you, Rall," Ena said, serious about the game. "Dad will be furious if he finds out we got turned into animals again."
"On to the final round. No multipliers here, but instead, if you get a prime numbered score, it doubles and takes t
en points from your opponent."
"Both three and five are prime," Rall commented slyly. "I could get a three and that would count right."
"But you have two other batons!" Ena pointed out. "And no matter where you throw them, anything outside the three-ring is two points."
"Seven is a prime number," Rall said undefeated. "One in the three, two on the outside."
"If you think that only fourteen points is a lot. And Grandpa could probably do the same thing, still winning by his lead of six..."
"Hmm..." Rall said. "I guess I just shoot and see what I can do along the way..."
With his signature face, Rall threw his first baton. It bounced end over end and settled leaning against the five rock. He made a face, shrugged his shoulders and thew his next baton. It squarely landed in the right four-ring.
"Nine! What should I do? Just two more for an eleven?" he asked his sister.
"Another four would be better..."
"Rall, what is more important in this game? Accuracy or consistency?" his grandfather asked as he debated his next move.
"Accuracy," he said, thinking about the four-ring.
"No, consistency," Ena said.
"What makes you say that?" Janu asked his oldest grandchild.
"You could get way more points if you can be consistent in the last two rounds."
"But if you can be accurate, you can beat your opponent by just enough," Rall said.
"Well, in my opinion, you are both right. Each round has different rules where both skills are valuable. It is important to know when to use which strategy," Janu concluded. "Well, now that I've distracted you, good luck with your throw!"
Rall gave a playful dirty look to his grandfather and took his throwing stance. He asked the baton high and it plopped squarely down on the left four-ring.
"Haha!" he shouted. "Twenty-six more for me and ten less for you, Gramps!"
"Fair enough," Janu said. "You have fifty-eight and I have twenty-eight."
Janu collected the batons and repositioned himself behind the pitch line. As he did the two rounds before, he launched the three batons overhand, which all came to rest in the five ring. Rall and Ena jumped up and down in victory.
"Horray!" they shouted. "We beat him by five!"
"That you did, and I proved my own point. That would have been a game ending turn if I had done it in the second round. But in the third, it was not enough to win."
Janu patted both his grandchildren on the head before they ran over to pick up the batons. Back in Janu's possession, he stacked them on top of each other and his staff reformed.
"So you won't tell our dad what we have done?" Rall asked cautiously.
"You won, and that was a deal. I will go down to the valley and have a word with your grandmother, though. You two go home, now. And keep to the forest!" he scolded as the two ran away.
Ena waved as they reached the path home. Rall did not stop as he leaped along planning out loud how he would make a Travelers Toss pitch of his own. And in the bi-dimensional world, the old man went back in his cottage, calm settling over the meadow.
Thanks for reading my book! If you got this far and liked what you read, I encourage you to leave a review on whatever site you downloaded it from. Any feedback is appreciated!
Wanna find more of my stuff? I have two other short story collections, and they are also free:
Beyond the Gate (2013)
Five Days On Pimu (2014)
There are also three novels:
Other Worlds Than These (2013)
Saving John (2013)
Arrow Of Time (2014) as G.Sluis from Mythic Dragon Publishing.
Check 'em out!