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The Forest Kingdom: The Army of Talis |
| Written by Daniel Greene | |
| Tuesday, 19 February 2008 | |
Sorace stepped forward and bowed. "My lord, the south offers you their border forces." The King nodded in reply to Sorace. Vitara stepped forward and stood beside Sorace. He bowed and then spoke. "My lord, the west gives you their alliance and a legion of their forces." The king grunted and nodded in respect to the messenger. Bend stepped up next to Sorace and Vitara and bowed. "My lord, the inhabitants of the east offer you a small section of their reserve guards." The King nodded; he seemed anxious. The last messenger, Ruffalo, stepped forward and bowed before the King. The King stood erect and took a deep breath. "My good King, our northern friends..." The King shut his eyes. "...offer their full support..." The King opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "...and their full forces, all legions for our assistance." "Yes!" the King yelled in excitement. He beamed a smile to the servants at his sides. A puzzled look crossed all the servants' faces, for they knew not who the northerners were. "My lord?" they asked. The King laughed and then looked at Ruffalo and smiled. "The squirrels." "The squirrels," Ruffalo said and nodded his head. ______________________________________________________ The next day...
"My lord, what of the foxes, skunks, and birds?" the King's military strategist questioned. "Send their respective messengers back. Tell them their offers are greatly appreciated, but the Kingdom of Deer decline," the King said. "My lord, you are turning down the border forces of the foxes, a legion of the birds, and the reserve guards of the skunks, forces that are great in might, just to settle for the legions of the squirrels?" the strategist questioned mockingly. "Precisely." The strategist scoffed. Ruffalo stepped up onto the ancient rocks among the king and his servants. "The squirrels have been friends of the Deer Kingdom since ancient times. We knew that they would assist us before I was even sent to ask," Ruffalo spoke. "My lord, you allow a mere messenger to enter among us and speak upon the ancient rocks?" the strategist again scoffed. "Precisely," the King said smiling at Ruffalo. "Leave!" he said sternly at the strategist. "What?" that strategist said. "You heard me." The military strategist stared at the King, then Ruffalo, and stepped off the rocks, all the while mumbling under his breath. Ruffalo looked up at the King. "Now, my good King, to work." The King smiled at Ruffalo and nodded. "Yes, my good friend. Your years of faithful service and advice have made me realize you are more than a messenger, but a friend, and a wise deer to have at my side." Ruffalo smiled. "Thank you, good King." "When does the squirrel king arrive?" "I told him we have but a week to prepare, and he promised his full forces at the ancient rocks by night-" "Good and Wise King of the Deer," a voice yelled from above them. The King and Ruffalo looked up in the trees around them and saw the King of the Squirrels, Talis, standing alone. "Fearless leader of the squirrels," the King yelled in reply to Talis. "Well, I wouldn't say fearless," Ruffalo looked at the King and said. "One time we were at the water hole, and this huge creature came up to us, and I mean, he just flipped out and lost it. I mean-" "Oh, hush it," the King said. Ruffalo smiled and looked at the King. "This is the best part!" "King of the Deer, I present to you my entire legions in full force!" Talis yelled out. In every tree of the dense forest, every spot on the ground, every branch, every rock, a squirrel of the army of Talis emerged from their perfectly concealed positions and took their stand. "Allegiance!" Talis screamed out, his voice echoing through the trees. "Allegiance!" the hundreds of Talis' army yelled out in reply. At that, the squirrels turned toward the Deer King and saluted. "Questionably fearless king," the Deer King yelled out, "On behalf of my kingdom, we thank you!" Talis struggled to hold back his laughter, but it burst through. Talis held his stomach as he laughed so hard, so hard in fact he fell of the branch of the tree and landed upon the ancient rocks beside Ruffalo and the Deer King, still laughing uncontrollably. "Questionably?" he said laughing, "Oh, you crack me up. This is great. I knew I loved you. Ha!" Talis stood up and crawled up on the King's back. "Good friend, we have much work to do. Let's begin." ______________________________________________________ One week later...
Two biped creatures stalked slowly through the forest, their eyes keenly sweeping before and behind them: watching, waiting, patiently. The two bipeds were friends, and they oftentimes stalked these woods together, and for one reason. But unknowingly to them, that reason was soon to be halted. The first biped stood about twenty feet ahead of the other. He stomped his foot on the ground to gain the others attention. No reply. He turned around and saw his friend urinating on a nearby birch. "Nautice!" the first whispered. "Nautice? Hurry up and get up here." "Lasieur, shut up. I gotta go badly," Nautice replied. Nautice finished and left the tree, not bothering to cover his mess with leaves. The two bipeds, Nautice and Lasieur, continued on through the forest unaware of the danger that lurked with their every step. ______________________________________________________ One hour later...
"Nautice, quit marking every dang tree! How much did you have to drink? Lasieur said. "I gotta go. So I'm gonna go, so shut up about it." "You're an idiot, you know that? I bet you'll get shot in these woods one day." Ccccrack! The bipeds froze. Their eyes moved about, searching for the source of the sound. At their feet: nothing, only a small puddle where Nautice stood frozen while he was in the middle of marking a tree. Suddenly, two acorns fell from the sky and hit the two bipeds on the head. "WHAT THE HE-" Then a loud screech filled the forest air, drowning out the two humans speech, and hundreds of acorns came zipping at them from all directions, pegging them in every inch of their bodies. Nautice struggled to zip the fly of his pants back up from his "tree-marking." The two men started to run, the acorns ineffective in taking them down. But more was to come. ______________________________________________________
"More forces to the front!" Talis screamed at his general. "Sir, the acorns are ineffective," the general yelled back. "Do as I say!" he yelled. "I want full forces up front. I don't want my squirrels to be in danger unless necessary for victory." "Yes sir," the general replied. "Advance!" he yelled at the squirrels under his command. The dense forest was filled with squirrels in every tree, running from branch to branch, tree to tree, pursuing the two two-legged creatures as they stumbled through the woods. Screeches filled the air as the squirrel army yelled as they attacked. BAM! FWIP! A small projectile rocketed through the air from the direction of one of the two humans, hitting a squirrel and killing it. ‘Nooo!" Talis screamed. He charged forward across the branch and lept through the air. The killed soldier had fallen from a branch high up. Talis caught the soldier mid-air before they tumbled to the ground. "No, no, no," he cried. Tears streamed down the leader's thin gray face. "I'm not losing one more of you, brave soldier." Talis lay the fallen squirrel down and caught up again with his generals. "My lord?" the general asked. "We've lost one. No more will be lost. I want full forces attacking at them now-" BAM! FWIP! Another squirrel fell, screaming, crying, and dying. "DO IT NOW GENERAL!" Talis yelled so loud that the general lurched to the side as he was running. "FULL FORCES, ATTACK NOW!" the general screamed. The hundreds of running squirrels looked at each other while running, then dropped their acorn weapons and lept from the trees at the two humans, screaming a battle cry that resounded throughout the forest. ______________________________________________________
Nautice and Lasieur were running full speed as an army of squirrels pursued them, pegging them non-stop with acorns from every direction. All they could hear was their own yelling, the screaming squirrels, and the occasional sound of their rifles firing when they were able to get a shot off. "Lasieur!" Nautice yelled. Lasieur looked back. The hundreds of squirrels had abandoned their acorns and were jumping at them from off the trees. Lasieur turned his rifle back and fired at a squirrel. In mid-air, the squirrel twisted its body and dodged the bullet. "Freakin' Matrix squirrels," Lasieur said. Right before the squirrels were on them, they looked forward again and saw five large deer standing in their way. WHAM! They collided with them and fell to the ground. The last thing the two men remembered was the vision of hundreds of squirrels landing on them, the sound of their screams, and the pain that shot through their bodies as the army of squirrels trampled them. Everything went black. Deep sleep... ______________________________________________________
The Deer King watched as the squirrels pummeled the two humans. "That's for my brother," the Deer King whispered to himself. Ruffalo stood beside him. Talis approached the two creatures lying on the ground covered by his army. "Enough!" he yelled. Talis crawled up to the Deer King. "Lancer, my friend, it has been an honor assisting you." Talis bowed. The Deer King, Lancer, bowed in return. "And it has been an honor having your assistance. It will be returned at any time." "As I know," Talis replied. "Talis?" Lancer asked. He noticed something strange in the squirrels face, something painful and tense. "Talis?" From behind Talis, two squirrel bodies were carried in among the crowd of squirrels and deer. Talis' hair stood up and he stood erect. "Talis?!" Lancer said sorrowfully. "Good friend, our sacrifices have brought security to your kingdom. They are not in vain. They will be mourned." "They will be. Greatly," Lancer said softly. The squirrel army lined up for the march back to the ancient rocks, the two fallen soldiers carried in the center. Talis, Lancer, and Ruffalo marched side by side in the rear, their heads held high. Lancer's eyes began to water. Talis discreetly looked up at Lancer as a tear rolled down his cheek. It dripped off his face and landed softly on Talis' head. Talis cleared his throat and stared off to the side as the sun began to set on this cold day. ______________________________________________________ Later that night...
The bodies of the fallen squirrel soldiers were burned. All the creatures of the forest were gathered around the ancient rocks to watch as their heroes were honored. Their lives were lost, mourned, but the duty they served and died in brought honor to the kingdom of animals and brought security from the creatures that had once threatened them. They were at peace. ______________________________________________________
His eyes slowly opened, twitching painfully. Fully open, he could only see the dark. The wind through the trees around him whistled and howled. Shadows of the trees bounced around the forest floor as the moon shone bright. He propped himself up on his arm and saw his friend off to the side slowly beginning to move, slowly beginning to wake. His forehead was sore, not to mention his entire body. "Freakin' Matrix squirrels," the man whispered. "Lasieur, let's get out of here," the other man cried. "Yeah, Nautice, I know." Nautice and Lasieur found their rifles on the ground around them and stumbled off into the night, badly bruised, their ego's broken. They vowed to never tell of the night they were attacked by an army of squirrels. Ever.
-THE END Copyright 2008 Daniel Greene |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 ) |
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