by Ivory Autumn
“I won't hurt you,” Ivory said, taking a step nearer.
“Stay back, you nasty, nasty, nasty, red-haired pumpkin!”
“Really!” Ivory cried, stomping her foot. “That was quite rude!”
“Go away!” the small voice griped. “Gooo away! This is mine, me, all mine!”
“What's yours?”
The dandelion globe quaked, and trembled. A bunch of the tufts shifted and moved, as a wide-eyed creature poked its head out. Its long, wispy, white whiskers blended perfectly with the dandelion tufts. “This dandelion is my post! There are plenty of others, so go find your own!”
Ivory raised her brows. “I don't want your dandelion, even though it is a very big one.”
“That's what they all say!”
“Oh, really? Who are they, and who are you?”
“Grrr…” the creature purred. “It's really none of your business…is it?”
“What’s wrong with telling me your name? I mean, what am I going to do with it?”
The tufts on the dandelion shook and quivered. “Haven’t you ever heard of the evil wicked name-stealers? If you give them your name, they’ll take it, eat it, chomp it, chew it, stomp it, squeeze it, twist it, cage it---oh it’s awful, just awful.”
Ivory laughed. “Do I look like a name stealer to you?”
“Yes…yes you do. THE VERY WORST KIND!”
“And what kind is that?”
“The kind that ties em to a post, and heaps piles of straw around their feetses and burns them at the stake and then eats them on toast.”
Ivory’s smile grew bigger. “Do you really think I’d do something like that?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible, very, very possible.”
“Oh, just tell me your name. I promise I won’t burn it at the stake.”
“Do you promise on your own sacred innocent name’s honor?”
“Of course!”
“Well, fine then. The Twiskers call me Gogindy, because, because I tell people to GO. Now go away. This is my watch tower and you're trespassing!”
“Me trespassing?” Ivory asked. “I’m sorry. But, I don't really know how to get out of here. I fell here by accident and I can’t find a way to get back up.”
“Hmmm, I shall think long and hard for the answer to your problem,” Gogindy said. “You are indeed, in a very, very problematic predicament.” The creature paused for one full second, and then said, “Okay, I have thought very long, and very hard, almost longer than I have ever thought before. And, I have decided, that you will have to sit there forever. There is no way out.”
“If there’s no way out,” Ivory reasoned. “How did you get here? And if this dandelion is a watch tower, what are you watching for?"
“I'm watching for people like you, so they don't trespass. Now goooo away, shoo! You pester me with too many, many, many, irritating questions.”
“Well,” Ivory huffed. “I'd go away if I could. But, I can't, and if we’re both stuck here forever, I guess I’ll just have to sit here and ask you more questions.”
“No! No more questions! I didn't say that I was stuck here forever!” the creature said, becoming more upset. It peered from behind its leaf at Ivory. “I said YOU were!”
Ivory stomped her foot. “You’re a mean little snipe. I ought to climb up and kick you out of your watch tower.”
“No!” Gogindy howled. “No, no kicking. Nobody sits atop this tower except for me, mine, myself, and I.”
“Then I have no choice but to yank you out of there my self!”
Gogindy let out a horrible yowl. “No, don’t dooooo THAT! Fine, if you’re going to be such a grump about it, I'll show you the way out of here, but only if you promise not to set foot in my beloved dandelion. And you must also promise never to tell any living thing of the Dandelion Den. You must come with me, because that is the only way out. I’ve already helped one of your kind recently, and I cannot afford to help a second, especially if you are not a very, very, very good promise keeper.”
“I'm a good promise keeper,” Ivory assured him. “I promise. I won’t tell a soul about the Dandelion Den.”
“Very, very good,” Gogindy sighed in relief. “Then I shall help you.” The creature crept cautiously from the dandelion tuft, and Ivory got her first look at the strange creature. It was a creature that looked more dandelion than anything. It had two gray, delicate hands and feet similar to a squirrel’s, with little round suction cups on the end of them.
Gogindy stared curiously at Ivory with its big round eyes. The creature’s jagged ears were long, and very similar to a dandelion’s leaves. It sniffed the air, and its long white whiskers about its mouth, quivered. It was as big as a cat and its body was covered in blue-gray, fluffy fur, tipped with frosty white ends. Its three tails tightened its grip around the stem of the dandelion as it watched Ivory with curiosity.
“Grrr,” it growled. “We Dandelion Den folk don't like people blundering into our secret places. Because then they aren’t secret anymore. It is beyond annoying. It’s stupid, clumsy and klutzy. But, I guess it can't be helped. People-things are afflicted with that condition the day they open their clumsy little eyelids.”
Ivory laughed. “What did you just say?”
“I said, your clumsiness is hereditary.”
“Sure,” Ivory frowned. “Just like your long whiskers.”
“No,” Gogindy retorted. “My whiskers are all my own doing. I worked for every inch I’ve got!” He stroked his long whiskers affectionately. “And I mean, every inch!”
“Every inch?” Ivory asked, rolling her eyes. “Really?”
“Don’t roll your eyes at me!” Gogindy cried, his long, jagged ears swaying like delicate leaves in the wind. “If you roll your eyes too much, they could roll right out of your head!” He let out a little laugh, as if he liked the thought and then scurried back up the dandelions stem and plucked two dandelion tufts. Then he held them out, like two white umbrellas and jumped off the dandelion, drifting to the ground beside Ivory.
“You smell bad,” he said, sniffing her feet, and handing her a dandelion tuft. “Like a sweaty, stinky horse.”
“Thanks,” Ivory said, taking the tuft. “You don’t smell so swell yourself.”
Gogindy twitched his long ears as if listening to the wind. “My observation wasn’t meant to be a complimentary compliment!”
“I know.”
“Humph,” he sniffed, clutched the dandelion tuft, and jumped off the ledge of the pit, floating downward. “Bye, stinky girl.”
“Wait!” Ivory cried, looking fearfully over the edge of the pit. “I thought you were going to help me get out of here. Where are you going?”
“That’s what I’m doing, miss smarty pants?” Gogindy's small voice echoed back. “You’d better hurry and jump, before the wind changessss!” His voice slowly faded as he disappeared down into the blackness.
Ivory closed her eyes, clutching a dandelion tuft to her chest. “Stupid creature,” she murmured, jumping off into the dark void, falling slowly downward, hoping that the dandelion tuft would be strong enough to hold her weight.
As she fell, the dandelion tuft swayed back and forth, until she settled gracefully at the bottom of the pit in a pile of leaves. She looked up in awe, seeing huge towering dandelions like gigantic glow balls against the evening sky. The pit they had just fallen through was no more than a fissure in the ground, leading to this hidden valley. Ivory let go of the dandelion parachute and picked dead leaves from her hair, while Gogindy sat next to her, twitching his long whiskers in excitement.
“Come, come, come,” he said. “Follow me. You must speak with our chief, king Dandywheel. He is fiercest of all the Twiskers, and if you are not brave, you will faint with fear before him.”
“If he’s anything like you,” Ivory said. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about me fainting.”
“You just wait. You just wait and see, “Gogindy retorted, as he scurried along on all fours. He
led her through the amazing forest of dandelions, up onto a small hill where a towering dandelion stood high above the rest, bigger than any she’d ever seen.
“Gogindy of the fourth watch reporting, oh, great king Dandywheel!” Gogindy shouted at the dandelion, in his most confidant voice.
“Speak the password, and then be welcome,” a low voice, like one of a bullfrog, answered from behind the big dandelion leaves.
Ivory shifted uneasily as hundreds of Twiskers peered out from behind the dandelion leaves, their big eyes glaring at her wonderingly.
“Galpen Gava!” Gogindy said.
“Good!” said the deep voice of king Dandywheel, as he appeared from behind a big dandelion leaf. He slowly made his way down the dandelion towards Gogindy, swaying back and forth as he walked. Two other smaller Twiskers trailed after him, holding dandelion leaves above his head, shading him from the sun. The king was much bigger and older, and meaner looking than any of the other Twisker’s. He had a look of formidable pride in his eyes and an arrogant frown on his smug little face. He wore an extravagant headdress made of dandelion seed tufts, so that his head was almost obscured in them. His two huge purplish eyes stared through the tufts, like black beads tucked into a shaggy white carpet.
“I have brought a trespasser!” Gogindy said, in a loud voice.
Ivory gave Gogindy a hurt look, but said nothing.
“A Trespasser? Very good, Gogindy, I am pleased.” King Dandywheel's low voice rumbled. “What shall we do with her, oh Twiskers of the Dandelion Den?”
The feathery creatures silently peered at Ivory, from behind leaves and over dirt mounds. Their fluffy fur reminded her of some sort of sea creature, as their fur swayed in the breeze. Some of the smaller Twiskers came and touched her with their suction cup-like fingers, only to squeal in fright and dart back to their dandelions.
“Hmmm,” King Dandywheel murmured. “I was hoping someone would have some ideas, some suggestions, on how to dispose of this human thingling.”
“I do,” Gogindy slowly ventured. “It’s actually why I brought her here. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to take her back to where she came from? And then you could reward me for being such a good Twisker, such a good watch-Twisker.”
“Reward you…? HAH!” King Dandywheel laughed, swaying from side to side. “Take her back to where she came from? And where was that?”
“If you please,” Ivory interjected, “the place isn’t far from here. I was walking above, in the meadow, where the purple flowers grow, and I happened to fall down a tunnel and that's when Gogindy found me.”
“That’s one story,” king Dandywheel retorted. “But, how do we know you’re not a spy? Morack has spies everywhere. Long has he been picking away at the Twiskers, in hopes of destroying us. I don’t like being picked apart. No Twisker does. And spies are excellent pickers.”
“Do I look like a spy?” Ivory asked.
King Dandywheel fingered her red hair and laughed bitterly. “Spies come in all shapes and sizes. Your red hair is like a flag. For all we know, it shines like a red beacon to the enemy.”
Ivory frowned. She’d thought her red hair was a great many things, but she’d never thought of it as a red flag. “Please, believe me. I’m not a spy.”
“You outsiders lost my trust the day half of my clan was murdered in their sleep,” King Dandywheel thundered, shaking his fist at her. “You’re s a spy! A spy, I say!”
Gogindy twitched his long whiskers nervously. “King Dandywheel, if I’d thought she was a dangerous spy, I wouldn't have brought her here.”
“Maybe,” King Dandywheel shouted, “if you'd thought harder, you would have had the brains to know that anyone not of the Twiskers, are enemies to our very existence! You shouldn’t have let her see you. Now she has to be disposed of.”
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” Gogindy whimpered, hanging his head. “I just…”
“Guards!” king Dandywheel ordered. “Tie the girl up and take her weapons.” Many Twisker guards appeared at his command, pointing sharp spears and taut bows, in her direction.
“Throw down your weapons, girl,” King Dandywheel shouted, pointing to her bow and arrow, and small sword. “Or I’ll have my archers pierce your heart this instant. Ivory sighed, and threw down her weapons. A frazzled Twisker quickly darted in and whisked them away.
“Tomorrow, at the first light of dawn,” king Dandywheel cried, “she dies!”
~~~~
Chapter Seventeen
Twisker Ambush
Rhapsody scanned the endless field of purple flowers in the dimming twilight. The sun was starting to set, and a cool breeze blew through the field of flowers, making them dance like waves of the sea. “That girl’s a fluttery thing. Where do you suppose she could have run off to this time?”
“Doesn’t she know by now to stay put!” Talic exclaimed, trudging through the field of purple flowers. “If we ever find her again, we ought to tie her to a post while we sleep, just so we know she won’t wander off.”
Andrew shook his head. “That’s a fabulous idea, Talic.” “Maybe she's fallen asleep in the flowers,” Freddie offered.
“Ivory!” they shouted, tromping through the tall flowers. “Ivory!”
A strange look crossed Andrew’s face. He stopped in his tracks, as if struck by a sudden idea.
“What is it, Andrew?” Rhapsody wondered. “Do you see her?”
Andrew made no answer. Instead, he knelt down, eye level with the flowers, with his hands outstretched. Concentrating hard, he grabbed a flower stem in both hands, and closed his eyes. Gradually, a pulsing wave of energy flowed through his body, down his arms, and through the flowers, passing through its leaves, on into the next flower, until the whole field was hit as if by a great shock. The power of it knocked him, and his friends, flat on their backs.
Rhapsody was the first to recover. He stood up, brushed black soot off his clothes, and surveyed Andrew's handiwork. The beautiful field of flowers was completely gone; burnt leaves and stems stood smoldering like burnt trees after a horrific forest fire. The smell of smoke filled the air. He sniffed, scowling in dislike.
Freddie and Talic stood up and looked at the dead field. A peculiar kind of fascinated horror glinted in their eyes. “Amazing,” Talic breathed. “Just amazing.”
“Ugg,” Andrew groaned, gazing at the field with a look of shock. “This looks terrible.”
“It's not all that bad,” Freddie replied. “Just think what you could do to weeds.”
Andrew gave Freddie a weary look and then turned his gaze to the field, looking for any sign of Ivory, but seeing only bumpy ground covered in burnt flowers, and naked rocks.
Andrew ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I did this for nothing. Ivory's not here.”
“Let's look further,” Rhapsody said, not fully convinced that Andrew’s work was in vain. They walked through the burned meadow, tromping through the ashes.
As they neared a low slope in the field, Andrew slipped on a loose stone. The earth beneath him gave way, and he fell down a long hole, disappearing in a puff of black ash as if by magic.
Before Freddie, Talic, and Rhapsody could comprehend what had happened to Andrew, the earth where they stood crumbled and gave way in the same manner, sending them sliding downward.
The world flashed by them as they tumbled down a network of carefully-crafted tunnels, only to be shot out, in one big heap in a pile of leaves at the bottom.
“Oh!” Andrew moaned, spitting leaves out of his mouth. “Talic, get off me.”
“Sorry,” Talic murmured, shoving Andrew and rolling off him. “You know how I like smashing things.”
“Where are we?” Freddie wondered, gazing around him in wonder.”
Above them, they could see a full moon shining over a great forest of huge dandelions the size of giant redwoods. Peering from behind the dandelion leaves were glowing eyes of many strange bewhiskered creatures.
“No quick movements, boys,” Rhapsody
cautioned, standing over them and holding his staff high. “These creatures are very jumpy.”
“How jumpy?” Talic ventured, moving behind Andrew and Freddie, fearfully.
“Not as jumpy as you,” Rhapsody retorted, stepping ahead, signaling for them to follow. They crept through the thick foliage, trying to ignore the many blinking eyes that peered out at them from behind every dandelion leaf, hearing the constant rustling of leaves, and low eerie whispers.
A single dandelion tuft randomly drifted downward and landed in front of Rhapsody.
“Hmm…” Rhapsody murmured, stooping down to pick it up. “A token of peace perhaps?”
As if in answer to his question, a rock was thrown from behind, hitting him squarely in the back of the neck.
“Ouch!” Rhapsody cried, whirling around as a volley of rocks came at him from very direction. He let out a loud, angry grunt, whacking the oncoming rocks with his cane. One of the larger rocks hit him in the ribs. He howled in pain and tripped on a protruding dandelion root. His staff knocked from his grasp.
He let out a low groan. A furry creature brushed against him only to snatch his staff, and scurry away.
“Give that back!” Rhapsody cried, standing up and shaking his fists at the fleeing creature. “That's mine, you horrible snipe!”