An excerpt from Part IV of Sir Nathan and the Quest for Queen Gobbledeegook, available on Smashwords and Amazon. Coming soon to Barnes and Noble's site for the Nook.
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The
sun shone out of a dazzling, blue sky and warmed the forest floor.
The weather was changing, getting cooler in preparation for winter.
The leaves of the Hootentoot Trees were shifting colors with the
change in seasons, going from green to white with pink polka-dots.
Nothing looked more stunning than an entire forest of Hootentoot
Trees in the fall.
Every
puff of wind caused more and more of the changed leaves to drop
gently from the trees, where they would swirl and waft and scream all
the way to the ground, for nothing has a greater fear of falling than
the leaves of a Hootentoot Tree. If you were going to go for a walk
through a Hootentoot Forest during the fall on a particularly windy
day, you'd be smart to bring some ear plugs.
The
forest floor was covered in a colorful carpet of leaves. Chattering
Hobnobber Squirrels hopped and scurried about. The dry, autumn
leaves crackled and crunched underfoot and the noise caused by the
busy squirrels was almost as loud as all the screams of the
terrified, falling foliage.
The
Hobnobber Squirrels were busy looking for Huckle Nuts from the few
Huckle Nut Trees scattered amongst the Hootentoots to store for the
long winter months ahead. Fortunately for them, they weren't finding
very many, for nothing is more poisonous to a Hobnobber Squirrel than
a few tastes of Huckle Nut. In the dazzling sunshine, the fuzzy,
blue squirrels stood out brightly against the background of the
forest floor covered in pink polka-dot leaves. There were even a few
late-season Grumble Bees buzzing here and there, muttering about how
cold it was already getting at night even though summer had just
ended.
It
was a wonderful, crisp autumn day to be out in the woods. It was a
day where the chill in the air was countered by the toasty warmth of
the sunshine. And the Hobnobber Squirrels chattered happily as they
searched for nuts, all of them just as delighted with the day as they
could be.
Except
for one.
This
one particular squirrel just sat on a stump. If you listened
closely, and you could find a quiet moment amongst all of the wailing
leaves, you just might have been able to hear an occasional naughty
word or two come from the squirrel's tiny mouth.
Even
when other Hobnobber Squirrels came over and chattered excitedly to
him in a friendly way, this squirrel just scowled and hid behind his
bushy, blue tail.
Another
polka-dotted leaf fell screaming past the grumpy Hobnobber Squirrel
to land on a growing pile of leaves right next to the stump on which
he sat.
“You
know, you're not helping things,” said the squirrel to the mound of
leaves.
A
muffled voice came from the center of the pile. “I don't care.
I'm not going.”
It
was evident this discussion had been ongoing for quite some time and
was probably what had the squirrel in such a foul mood. That and the
fact he was a squirrel instead of a horse.
“You
know, it's not like you really have a choice. This is your job! You
swore an oath, and everything! If you don't do this, who will?”
A
vague grunt from the bottom of the leaf pile was the Squirrel's only
answer.
It
had already been a very difficult morning and it seemed as if things
weren't going to change any time soon. Tupolev was not pleased. He
had been caught up in some hasty actions back at the Warlock's castle
and he was extremely grumpy. Whether or not he had been turned into
a Hobnobber Squirrel, he wasn't about to take any more of this
nonsense.
To
anyone that didn't know what was going on, it would have appeared
completely normal and innocent. They would have thought there was
nothing unusual about a fluffy, blue Hobnobber Squirrel sitting on a
stump in the middle of a Hootentoot Forest. Sure, they might have
noticed all the other Hobnobber Squirrels were hopping this way and
that, chasing each other through the trees and digging through the
accumulating piles of leaves, while this particular squirrel just sat
on the stump with a very angry look on his face. They might have
also noticed it seemed as if the squirrel were paying an awful lot of
attention to a particularly large mound of leaves beside the stump.
And if they were very observant, they might have also thought
they could hear the squirrel talking in a high-pitched squeak. Not
only did the squirrel appear to be talking, but it appeared to be
talking to the pile of leaves.
Now,
for anyone who knows a thing or two about Hobnobber Squirrels, they
might not have thought this very odd. It might have actually seemed
to be the first normal thing they had ever observed a Hobnobber
Squirrel doing, since the fuzzy creatures usually spent most of their
time looking for a snack guaranteed to kill them. No, it would only
have seemed unusual when they saw the squirrel hop down from the
stump and burrow its way into the pile of leaves, brandishing its
sharp teeth. That's when they would have observed the mound of
polka-dot foliage explode in an eruption of pink and white. The
sound of that explosion was, “Yeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrgghhh!”
When
the echoes of the explosion died away and the flurry of Hootentoot
leaves once again wafted to the forest floor, Sir Nathan was left
standing next to the stump, reaching under his armor to rub at a
delicate place that only recently had been bitten by a horse turned
into a squirrel.
“Why
did you go and do a thing like that?!” demanded Sir Nathan. He was
convinced he was most likely bleeding to death from the tiny nip
Tupolev had given him.
Tupolev,
who very recently had been a massive horse, emerged from under a few
scattered leaves rubbing an ear that had gotten pinched in Sir
Nathan's chain mail.
“What
else was I supposed to do?” asked the squirrel. “Nothing else
was working and we need to get moving.”
The
Hero's only answer was a scowl. He knew he had been pouting quite a
bit for the past several hours. He knew that everything the squirrel
had told him about honor and duty were true. He knew it was up to
him to find the missing Queen Gobbledeegook. He just felt very
overwhelmed.
They
had been searching for the missing Queen for a long, long time. The
Hero had travelled further beyond the borders of Mariskatania than
anyone ever had before and he felt no closer to finding the Queen
than he was when he had started. It was starting to feel like it was
all too much. For a Hero who had never before felt so much as a
teaspoon of doubt or an inch of fear, this whole journey was really
starting to depress him. Normally he would have just crashed through
his duties like he always did … waving his Sword of Power and
yelling about honor and duty. In the past, that had always seemed to
sort things out fast enough so he could make it back to the Palace
before they were done bolting on the Whining And Dining Room for the
evening meal.
But
this mission was making him seriously consider quitting his job as
Hero of Mariskatania and becoming a gardner or a baker or a kite
maker.
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