Chapter 19 Conquest of Chimera

Chapter 19

Conquest of Chimera

  Having packed her other clothes in water- proofed canvas Kia was able to change into something dry once they secured the boat and made their way to the tree line.

   “Don’t guess the Ferrin’s have electric irons,” Kia said as she stepped out from behind a thick curtain of underbrush wringing her dress out as she spoke.

  “Lectric, dina know dee word,” said the Captain who stood with Kian on the tree shaded sand facing the bay.

  “Lightning in a bottle Captain,” Kian quipped.

  “Me word, you two really are god….ah…going to find Wayferra a warm and wondrous place.”

  Kia and Kian just looked at each other but said nothing.

  “Come children, tis just a short balmy walk from here.”

  With that, they followed the Captain along the cool bough- draped tree line.

It was as if they walking between two worlds; sun sand and sea to their left a sun-streaked pegboard of massive tree trunks to their right.

  “This place is so peaceful.” Kia said she peered deep into forest’s cool grayness.

 “Tis just the foundation of Wayferra lass, De trees are our grandfathers or so the stories go. We build on dare shoulders. The old cradling the young, the Ferrins fairly worship these ancient giants even as they chop and split they love and build. Artists they be but practical.”

  “I’d like to explore the forest. Its’ so majestic,” Kian added, “wander a bit. It all looks so magical and deep. The shadows and trees go on forever.”

  “Not forever,” said the Captain as they followed him into forest. “A half days walk from here and ye’ll find yerself lookin’ out over orchards and gardens sagging heavy with fruit ‘n vegetable a bit further wheat fields to the horizon high as yer chest.”

  “Sounds like paradise,” Kia said.

  “That it is,” an unfamiliar voice replied.

  They looked up but saw nothing. They looked further up climbing the mighty trees with their eyes until they saw a bushy red tail jerk behind a trunk twenty feet up.

   “Lucius come down from dat tree and meet our new friends.”

  “Are they now,” Lucius said just before a gray blur flashed through the air, then came to a dead stop on a nearby tree just three feet away and barely six feet above the forest’s springy pine needle carpet.  

  Kian almost said, ‘hey it’s Rocky the flying squirrel,’ but bit his tongue. This was no happy little cartoon character although it was a squirrel, a big squirrel. Clinging upside down on the tree’s crumbly bark face it easily measured five foot long not counting the tail which easily added another 18 inches to his rippling fur coat.

   Four human hands kept the giant squirrel stretched tight as a drum around the tree with fingernails that were more claw than nail.

  Unlike Malcom Lucius,’ face was more animal than human but it still glared at them with human eyes briming with emotion, dark emotion. Twitching his long whiskers, he scrutinized the new arrivals with unfiltered suspicion.   

  “Rumors have been tainting the breeze like the stench of rotting fruit. I see they are true.” Lucius said back flipping to ground in mid- sentence, “You are not Chimeran.”

   “Have we got to go through this again,” Kian whispered to Kia.”

  “I heard you stranger. Who invited you here? Why have you come?”

  “Sir,” Kian began, “We do not know exactly how or why we are here. We mean no harm or disrespect. As for the whispering, I’m sorry but we were told that Wayferra is a warm and wondrous place and here we are being made to feel less than welcome, its’ a little frustrating. All this, everything, this world you call Chimera was once my home Earth. The last thing I did there was die and I,” he took Kia’s hand, “we wind up here, its’ scary and strange, so strange. We’re just trying to fit in and find a new home, but If you do not want us here we will gladly make our home somewhere else.”

  “Gladly,” Said Lucius, “that’s the only word you said this was not true, welcome to Chimera. We have much to share.”