by SJ McGarry
Nella did her best to stay stationary while meeting his stare, defiantly imitating his stance with her body language showing her fearlessness and impatience.
The giant tree finally gave out a loud humph and said, "I'll give you to the count of three to tell me who you are. One..."
"No! You tell me who you are, since you are the one blocking my path, Nella yelled.
"No, no, no, no, no-I asked you first," the huge tree bellowed, "Two..."
"Don't you have any manners?" she yelled. "You're a lot bigger than I am. Are you afraid of a girl?" Nella taunted.
The enormous tree narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her. Suddenly, he seemed to add another ten feet to his already enormous height as he attempted to straighten his twisted trunk. "You are rather microscopic," he said. "I guess you are not capable of doing much harm. Very well, I will tell you who I am." He paused for a moment, adding drama to his introduction. "I am the king of the Wooden Warriors. I guard the entrance to the Magical Forest of Wethersfield, and I am known as Strangler," he declared proudly. "All the trees you see protect the Magical Forest. We do not allow creatures the likes of you to enter without the consent of the Queen of Wethersfield."
"Well, now I know you are not as knowledgeable as you pretend to be since you have classified me as a 'creature'! Any intelligent and average tree could see that I am not a creature! And you-Mr. King Strangler, are nothing more than an old drama-king," Nella fired back, her voice raising a notch in anger.
"Oh, well that explains it all," Strangler croaked out with his brittle voice. "Like that tells me everything I need to know." Then, bending forward as far as he could, Strangler roared, "Threeeeeeeeee!”
Nella's skin flattened against her face like a pancake, and her hair flew back in sonic streams, driven by the force and volume of his voice. She managed to hold her ground, although barely.
Trying her best to match the timbre of his voice, she yelled back using every vocal cord she had available, vibrating like a volcano about to spew hot lava. "I am Nella, the Princess Warrior of Centaurius! I'm on my way to my great-grandmother's castle under the North Star of Wethersfield."
The trees surrounding her started to giggle.
"Oh? Well, my, my, my and who might your great, great, great-grandmother be?" Strangler asked, backing off slightly.
"She is my great-grandmother, not great, great, great!" Nella corrected. "And her name is Grizel, the Warrior of Old from the planet Centaurius, country of Wethersfield."
All the trees began to rustle and shake their leaves. In their excitement and confusion, many of the leaves fell, swirling together in a furious funnel. In one organized swoop, the circle of trees bent the top of their branches in what looked like a bow.
"Princess Nella?" King Strangler whispered. He too tried to bend his twisted trunk and branches down in a bow-like gesture of respect. "Please forgive us for not recognizing you. It is indeed an honor to meet you Princess and allow you entrance to the Magical Forest of Wethersfield so you can continue your travels to your great-grandmother's castle. We meant you no harm. We have to be careful with who we allow within the Magical Forest. Terrifying messages flow daily to us from our mirrored trees on planet Earth through the spiral BC of memories. We hear about the excess of logging, pollution, and the desecration of rainforests and fires destroying their forests on planet Earth. It has made us sorrowful, and we fear for their extinction-and eventually our own."
Turning slowly, Nella could see every type of tree imaginable had enclosed tightly around her, leaving her little breathing space. Thousands had sprung up out of nowhere. The ones she could see up front and immediately around her seemed to take on many personalities, shapes, and forms. Towards the front she could see cedars, redwoods, okoumé, quaking aspen, Bromeliads, Mangrove Oak, maple, firs, evergreens, and Strangled Figs, to mention a few. A vast array of multiple species within the plant kingdom completed the representation of trees and foliage you usually wouldn’t see in a forest setting.
Strangler looked at those trees gathered around the circle and said, “Let’s take a moment of silence to remember the suffering of our mirrored Treemen on planet Earth.” All the rustling of the trees stopped, and Nella joined them and bowed her head.
After a few moments of silence, Strangler's eyes blinked open once again as he carefully studied Nella.
"Some Earthlings are destroying their world's ancient forests at an astonishing rate which will completely vanish in a hundred Earth years at the current rate of deforestation."
A mangrove tree came forward and added, "My mirrored cousin that lives in the Amazon said the rainforests face complete consumption in less than forty years of Earth's time."
“Yes, agreed,” another shouted out, “and I just heard that at the current rate of deforestation, rainforests would vanish altogether in a century of Earth time.”
"Excuse me, may I say something?"
Nella and the trees all looked towards the direction where they heard the little voice. Whoever spoke, seemed invisible. Many of the trees rustled their leaves in a chatter of confusion.
"Oh, I guess I'm too small to see," the voice said. "I'm here, just beside the family of ferns to the side of the path."
All eyes turned to look where the fern family clustered together by the open pathway. Upon closer look, a small, delicate, wild orchid timidly poked through the ferns.
"Go ahead; you may speak," King Strangler said, encouraging the tiny orchid.
"Well, hundreds of plants, animals, and insect species are lost every single day."
"Yes, we have heard," King Strangle confirmed.
Nella could not help but notice the fragile white petals of the little orchid. It was exquisite and knowing that something so beautiful might become extinct very soon brought sadness to her heart.
"Less than 10% of the land area remains as intact forest landscapes," cried a weeping willow, her sobs escalating as other trees tried to console her and her family.
"Don't overlook the degradation of forests to a point where they are no longer suitable habitat for their plant and animal species," Konan yelled as he landed in the center of the circle, causing the trees' leaves to rustle and bend as he gracefully shifted back into his warrior form.
"Extinction is forever," a little voice spoke from the shadows.
"Who said that?" King Strangler asked.
All the trees rustled and tussled as they tried to find the owner of the little voice. The bushes started to shake as a small furry hand parted the leaves, and a young orangutan came into view, walking over to Nella in the center of the circle.
As he shook her hand in greeting, he said, "Princess Nella, please forgive me for intruding. My name is Rococo. I live here in the Magical Forest of Wethersfield with my family. I could not help overhearing the discussion going on between you and the Wooden Warriors." He bent his head in sadness, and then looked up at Nella with his huge brown eyes. "Our family's mirrored species from planet Earth have been sending us alarming messages through the spirals of BC memories. It is all too true what they say. Soon there will be no place on planet Earth for the larger species of animals-those who depend on the rainforest and jungles to survive. Extinction is inevitable."
A murmur arose among the trees.
"The majority of their species," Konan interrupted, nodding his head towards Rococo, "Orangutans are native to Sumatra, and Borneo in Indonesia, and some in Malaysia. They live on Borneo and Sumatra islands in the tropical rainforests, which is their last remaining habitat on Earth. Their forests are quickly giving way to plantations, where they produce most of Earth's palm oil. The species cannot compete with the palm oil plantations and the logging industry-not to mention the poachers who kill without conscience. This situation is a matter of life and death for the orangutan and many other large species; many are on Earth's endangered species list."
Rococo nodded his head in agreement, and said, "It is a prediction that the orangutans will become extinct within less than
ten years of Earth time. Our other great ape cousins say, even though Earth's inhabitants know the protected status of all the endangered species from both animals and plants, they continue to remove millions of acres, regardless of the possible extinction of many species."
"Just a little over two acres may contain over seven hundred and fifty types of trees and fifteen hundred species of higher plants, meaning the ones that can be "planted," an old epiphyte plant clarified while hanging from the branch of the Strangler fig tree. All the trees shook their leaves in agreement.
"It makes me sad and scared at the same time. I have heard that some estimated five thousand orangutans disappear every year. I can only hope that we aren't next," Rococo whispered.
"Ask her...ask her,” the little orchid waved his delicate leaves at Rococo.
"Are you... the one?" Rococo timidly asked.
Nella took Rococo's other hand in hers, and said, "Rococo, the General Council of the Universe is sending me, along with my team of warriors, on a mission called 'I-PERM' to planet Earth. My mission orders are to stop the decay, corruption, and chaos that is affecting our distant, mirrored relatives on planet Earth, and to do so before our two galaxies form the New Milkomedia Galaxy."
A single tear escaped and trickled down Rococo's face. "You are the one," he whispered. "Princess Nella, we have heard through the spiral of BC memories that a princess warrior from Centaurius will come to prepare the way for the remaking of a vast galaxy within the Universe. All creatures big and small here on Centaurius will support and help you in any way we can to make sure Mission I-PERM is successful.”
"I only hope there is enough time left," Strangler said.
Suddenly, an inferno of flaming meteor fragments hurled through the tops of the trees and onto the forest floor, setting many of the trees on fire. They began swatting at each other, trying to douse the flames before they reduced them to nothing but charred, wooden skeletons.
Nella scooped Rococo up in her arms as Konan grabbed her other arm trying to dodge the scorching meteor fragments. Large giant flares shot out like a solar eruption burning everything in its path, then breaking into small, fragmented pieces slowing falling and searing anything left standing in their way.
They could hear the angry voice of the Zennibar as he roared in his fury. "You will not live to see the mission completed!" he cried. Little images of Zennibar's sneering face suddenly appeared within each of the thousands of fiery meteor chunks that hung suspended in the sky.
"How repulsive," Nella yelled to Konan.
"He is a rather ugly trickster." Konan agreed. The little Zennibar fireball faces still hovering overhead turned and hissed like snakes at Nella. "As for you, Princess Nella, turn back while there is still time to save yourself and your wimpy protector," Zennibar demanded.
"Never!" she yelled back.
"Who are you calling wimpy?” Konan yelled, immediately changing into the form of the Great Wizard of Frost. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled huge gusts of icy wind at the meteor chips covering them in frost and trapping them within sheets of ice.
Everyone could hear Zennibar's curses as the meteors fizzled and froze. Then the ice constricted, breaking Zennibar's ugly fireball faces into thousands of tiny slivers, pulverizing them into a vapor. Nothing remained except for a freezing fog in the sky that had created a safety net over the Wooden Warriors' home, sending a fine mist to douse the fires.
"Wow, that was close!" King Strangler said as he patted down a couple of smoking hot spots on his bark. “We are lucky there were no serious casualties!”
"Yes, it was a close call, but it was meant only as a warning, and fortunately no one was seriously hurt," Nella replied as she sat little Rococo back down on the ground. He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek then turned and ran, disappearing into the bushes.
"That was very impressive, Konan," Nella praised her trusty companion and protector. Turning to look at the few Wooden Warriors who were still lingering nearby she looked up at King Strangler.
"Well, Konan and I must continue our journey. Can you give us directions from here?"
"Yes, follow the cobblestone path and at the ‘Y’ in the road, turn right. It will not be easy, as you need to pass to the other side of the valley to find the secret entrance to the inner Magical Forest," King Strangler stated. "There are some very obnoxious types of creatures prowling the outer parameters, looking for a way to gain access. We try to keep them out, but a few slips by unnoticed now and then. You will need to be very alert and careful, lest you do not make it to your journey's end." King Strangler and his wooden sentries raised their limbs, their leaves swaying their goodbyes in the wind. They watched as the princess and warrior turned to resume their long odyssey through the forbidden forest.
Before they approached the ‘Y’ in the road, Nella turned one last time her arm raised in farewell and yelled, "Thanks for your words of warning, King Strangler. We will keep our eyes open,” she said, oblivious to the immediate danger surrounding them and the magnitude of zealous plotting of their annihilation from enemy forces of the Universe.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN the city Valter, Capitol of Neprede in the Whirlpool Galaxy, Zennibar sat glued to his ancient monitor following Nella and Konan's every movement.
Seeing that his sorcery of fireballs sent to the outer parameters of the Forbidden Forest did not intimidate the pair in their determination to reach Grizel’s’ castle, his mind raced in a frenzy through the spells of black magic he could inflict upon them.
The veins in Zennibar’s neck inflated like a helium balloon on steroids on the verge of explosion, as his black as pitch, beady eyes followed Nella’s progress. He looked up from the screen and locked eyes with Abigor, as an iridescent red glow saturated and flooded his orbits. He hissed as spittle sprayed out in streams of steam from his mouth ready to scald anything it landed on.
“Well Demon, once again your great ideas fell through the spiral black holes of your mind like everything else you have suggested to solve this severe and problematic issue that remains unsolved. What is it with you that everything you have suggested has failed?”
Through clenched teeth, Zennibar spat out his lethal command, “Get. Rid. Of. Her. Now!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
UNDER THE PEN NAME of SJ McGarry, ShirLee is an author, writer, poet, musician, and entrepreneur. Raised in Southern California, she now resides in Salt Lake City with her family, and furry pets she will feature in future books for children. As an entrepreneur, ShirLee founded Showbiz Productions, training and featuring talented young people in original musical shows throughout the state. Currently working in residential home sales for over twenty years, she is an Associate Broker with Realtypath LLC in Sandy, Utah, and an active member of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®.
ShirLee holds a bachelor degree in music (Weber State University, UT), and Masters of Fine Arts, in Creative Writing, Fiction, School of Letters (National University CA). She has published poetry, music, and has won many awards, including the distinguished Poet Fellow award from Noble House Publishers, London. She recently introduced a pilot short story series for children called, Thea Adventures of Cluck-Cluck: Cluck-Cluck Goes to Court, (2016 Amazon), based on a true story starring her beloved and memorable Yellow Nape Parrot.
Rumor has it that in all future publications by the author, Cluck-Cluck will make a cameo appearance as himself in some way, shape or form. As mentioned in previous releases, ‘May he soar with the Eagles.’
Centaurius: The Prophecy, is her first novel and the first installment in the forthcoming Green Galaxy Series, a Speculative Fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy for YA and other readers alike. Combining fictional genres with historical facts, present-day calamities, and scientific and futuristic concerns for our planet and species, the series promise to be an intriguing and fun read, giving thought to our world’s future.
Thanks for reading Centaurius: The Prophecy, Book One of the Green Galaxy Series!
If you enjoyed this book, please co
nsider leaving a review on Amazon. It’s a great way to thank an author and keep her writing.
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