Saving Mystic Village

I was looking through my bookshelf today and I found a story I wrote back in fourth grade. It was called "Saving Mystic Village." Here it is, exactly as it was written, all errors and ambiguities included. The influence of C.S Lewis is clear, and I laugh to see that I was already an advocate for the environment at that age (although I have found poems from as early as second grade about saving the earth).

Saving Mystic Village

Cindy and Joe, two kids who are 10 and 12. Cindy is 12, has brown hair, brown eyes, is tall, and skinny. Joe is 10, has brownish blonde hair, blue eyes, is the normal height for his age, and is skinny. Their story started when they were going upstairs to see what was in the attic. When they reached the attic, they found themselves in a very strange forest.

The forest smelled of the ground, but had many other strange and wonderful smells. The plants in the forest were like none they had ever seen. One kind of plant was as tall as a two story house, had a navy blue bloom with sharp looking gold stamens sticking out of the middle, a turquoise stem, two turquoise diamond shaped leaves that were as big as bathtubs at the bottom, and two "spiraling" leaves that were a pearly light green ascending from the bottom of the plant and ending one third from the top. Another plant was four foot tall, had an orange trunk, sharp gold leaves on top with silver spirals on stems shooting out of them, and brown vine like leaves hanging over the sides. The last of the three main plants in the forest grew on the ground everywhere except for on the paths that wound throughout the forest. It was forest green with cube flowers that were green, blue, and purple marbled together.

As the two kids took in all of this, it stared to rain, so they quickly crawled under one of the trees, and sat against the trunk as they discussed their surroundings.

"This place is definitely not the attic." Stated Joe

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" asked Cindy sarcastically.

"A few minutes." Answered Joe.

Cindy sighed. She never expected Joe to answer those questions, but he always did anyway.

"So how do you like our new attic?" Questioned Cindy.

"I told you! It's not the attic!" exclaimed Joe, "I think it's some kind of magical forest like in the book I just read."

"Come on, Joe! You can't be serious." said Cindy.

"I'm serious!" exclaimed Joe.

"O.K., O.K. Maybe we are in some magical forest," admitted Cindy. "But what forest are we in?" questioned Cindy.

Joe couldn't answer that question so he just sat quietly. Then, Cindy, noticing how uncomfortable the shrubs they were sitting in were, suggested they walk along the path in the drizzle and see what they could find.

After about 10 minutes, the rain stopped and Cindy and Joe saw a strange creature coming towards them. It had two furry gold legs with three sharp light green claws on each foot, a tall yellow body with black spots, a magenta-purple-blue-green stomach, orange spikes down his back and tail, red ears, an olive green nose, reddish-brown thick unkempt hair, and two light green horns that curved outward from each other.

"What do you think it is, Cindy?" inquired Joe.

"I have no idea," responded an astounded Cindy.

As the "animal" got closer it was carrying what might have been a picnic basket on earth. It was a brownish-green color and seemed a lot like a bag because it was sagging with the weight of whatever was in it and had a brown napkin folded neatly over the top. When "it" reached the kids it began to speak to them.

"Hello humans, My tolone (we are a type of animal that live in this forest) friends and I have been waiting for you for four quams!" the strange creature exclaimed.

"What are quams?" asked Joe curiously.

"In your language, days." answered the tolone.

"Oh." Joe said as if the answer to his question was obvious.

"Excuse me, but will you mind telling us who you are, where we are, and why we're here?" Cindy asked.

"Of course. My name is Lizar and any minute now my sister Momecton will be here. We are now in the Mystic Village Territory of the Great Clafondon Forest. Which is where my village is and where you will be staying for the nest week or less (but don't worry about the time, each of our days only equal ten minutes, but it will feel like days have passed). Now for your last question. You are here because the vain Kind Duffler of Clafondon has a problem with all the tolones in the forest. We don't know what it is, but it must be pretty serious, because he is destroying these plants, which our lives depend upon. So we brought you here to help us." explained Lizar.

"So we're here to help you." summarized Cindy.

"Yes." agreed Lizar.

Just then, another Tolone (that looked like Lizar, except that it had lighter features) appeared on one of the paths.

"Hey Momecton!" shouted Lizar. "We've been waiting for you. Come enjoy the picnic lunch I've prepared with our human helpers who have just arrived!"

"Sure, I'd love to!" answered Momecton.

Then Lizar started to pull things out of the picnic bag, but first he put a blanket of weird colors that no human had ever seen on the ground. The food looked like some of the food on Earth, but it tasted much better and soon all four were full.

After lunch, they started off to Mystic Village. Along the way, they discussed ways they might defeat King Duffer.

"Do you know of any weak spots the king has?" asked Joe.

"Yes," answered Momecton. "He greatly cares for his possessions."

"Is there anything you can offer him as a bribe?" Joe inquired.

"Yes. We Tolones are very fine miners." Lizar answered.

"Could you spare some gems?" asked Cindy.

"Sure," replied Lizar.

As they finished their walk, they finished their plan. When they finally reached Mystic Village,

The sun was setting. So Momecton quickly found a family that would let them stay with them until they returned home. Meanwhile, Lizar told the village about the plan and they started to work on it right away. The next morning after a very good breakfast, Cindy and Joe found that a fairly sized pile of gems had been formed. They were very happy and after lunch, their two companions and themselves set out for King Duffer's castle with two wagonloads of jewels.

When they reached the King's castle, they were immediately lead to his throne room. There, they told the King why they were there, and after a little thought, refused. A sad group of four and their two wagons entered the village later that evening and told them that their plan had not worked.

By the next morning, a new plan was formed. The creatures of Mystic Village and of the forest (who wanted to) would form a large army and try to attack. In two days the army was formed and a week later, they left an expectant forest and went to the castle.

Then after three days of anxious waiting, the army returned to the village, and the news of their success traveled quickly through the forest. Shortly after the army returned a huge party was thrown in honor of Lizar, Momecton, Cindy, Joe, and the army. That night, news was passed that the King's army had retreated to another kingdom, and the King had gone with them. So, at the party a new King was chosen and he moved into the castle.

Later, around midnight, Lizar and Momecton awakened Joe and Cindy.

"Are you ready to go home?" asked Lizar.

"Yes." The kids both yawned.

"Then let's go." Momecton whispered, "Remember to be quiet, the whole village is sleeping."

They went to the end of the forest where the kids had come into the forest.

"There's a door behind the moss on that rock over there. It will be open. Go through the tunnel and enter the first door you see. It should be your attic. Good-bye my friends." explained Momecton.

"Good-bye." Said Lizar.

Our two heroes found the door with ease and followed the directions to their attic and found that the clock on the wall read ten minutes after they had left. Later they both promised never to tell anyone about their adventure in Mystic Village.

THE END