10-11

Chapter Ten: Over, Under, and Out Again

“Let’s see,” Butterlean said to himself as the others were eating more bread and jelly. “Let’s seeeee… oh! There we are! The mountain… Alright everyone, I figured it out. We will go over the Jewel’s mountain, under Nakking Cave and come out, it is a shortcut that will take us home again.” Butterlean announced to the party.

“But, we will get lost, won’t we? You don’t have a map.” Carol said to Butterlean.

“It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” Butterlean replied. Carol shrugged and Lulu walked off, but Lilli shifted uncomfortably. 

Lulu grabbed Lilli’s arm, knowing something was very wrong. “What’s wrong, Lilli?” she asked.

“Lulu, I have a bad feeling.”

“You don’t feel well?”

“No, I feel fine, but something is wrong, and I cannot tell you about it here.”

“Alright then, but tell me later.” Lulu finished their short conversation with a squeeze, then their attention was turned towards Butterlean.

“Come on,” they heard Butterlean say as he walked towards the mountain. “There a little village just before the mountain, we can take a break there before we go on the mountain. She has very nasty weather at night, tales of snowstorms, and then suddenly being unbearably hot out.  The mountain can play very nasty tricks, I’ll have you know.  Now that I’ve told you-“ but he was interrupted by Carol.

“Now you’ve told us of all the doom and despair ahead, we can go, right?” and with that she trooped up to Butterlou, picked him up and started walking towards the mountain. “Come on! I’m holding somebody and I’m doing better than you hut hut!”

Everyone sped up to keep with Carol, and eventually they made it to the little town. The houses were dark, and the streets were mud. Overall, it was a little ugly. “Eww.” Lilli said as she stepped in a mud puddle in the middle of the road that they could not go around.  Juney passed Kumarain to Lilli so she would not get dirty.

Chapter Eleven: The Town and its Inhabitant

“Hello! Anyone here?” Butterlean said..

“No.” came the voice of someone not of their company. “No one is here, now move along, before…”and here its voice cracked and it coughed. “Just get out.” It said with some difficulty.  Suddenly they saw the same cloud that had followed them eaerlier.

“You know what to do, run!” Butterlean said and they all ran but Lilli tripped, and no one noticed until Juney looked behind her and shouted in alarm.

“Everyone, stop! They’ve got her!”

Lulu spun around and shrieked in horror as the cloud stopped over Lilli and crows began to fly down. Carol grabbed her pocket knife, and before Butterlean could tell her to stop she ran towards the crows and sliced the necklace off the bigger one. All the crows sped away in fear and Carol shook her knife at them, to remind them who would defeat them in the end.

8-9

Chapter Eight: Carol Returns

Lilli gulped and she felt Lulu’s hand reach for hers. Suddenly, they heard a cracking sound, like footsteps. A bush rustled nearby, and everyone held their breath. Suddenly a voice ran out. “Were you really going to leave me, Lilli? Lulu? Come now, that’s just insulting.” Everyone breathed as Carol’s humorous face appeared.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Carol, you gave us quite the scare! Ha-ha-ha! Well, we are quite delighted to see you!” Lulu said with a wide grin. Unfortunately, no one else thought it was very funny at all.

“Carol, where have you been? Are you alright? Oh, I’m so sorry for not stopping to look for you.” Lilli half shouted as she hugged Carol in a most earnest fashion.

“It’s alright.” Carol replied with a gentle smile. “I tripped on a root in the ground, and I could no longer hear BL, so I had to find my way out. I was very confused, probably why it took me so long to get here, you know.”

“I’m just happy you’re alright, dear.” Juney said with an air of mother-like worry in her tone of voice. “Oh, though I did not show it, I was very worried indeed.” Carol nodded.

“You know, I kind of like it here. Mainly because of the simple fact that the idea of talking animals is very strange and wonderful, you know?” Carol said.

The two beavers gave each other a sidewise glance and seemed to grimace slightly.  But Juney shook it off and said “How about something to eat? I brought bread and goose-butter.”

“What’s goose-butter?” Lulu asked.

“Oh,” said Butterlean. “It’s a jelly made of gooseberries.”

All three girls nodded.  They ate the bread and jelly, and soon Butterlean said that they needed to go to sleep, but they were all lost and would have to make the journey home later. Lilli snuggled up to Kumarain in a corner.  Everyone else curled up in various places, and Butterlou slept with his mother.

“Kumarain,” Lilli said softly. A little squiggle of movement came from the little beaver. “Kumarain, tell me about your…parents.” Lilli asked.

“What is there to hear?” Kumarain answered her.

“Well, just tell me about them. They seemed nervous earlier, is there something wrong?”

Kumarain shifted uncomfortably. “Mama and Papa…they…no, I can’t say.”

“Please,” Lilli persuaded. “Just tell me.”

Chapter Nine: The Beaver Family’s Secret

Kumarain clutched Lilli’s hand and led her away from the others. “Now I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Lilli asked.

“What I am about to tell you.” Kumarain returned. “One day some animals in black hoods came to our house, and behind them were animals with red hoods, behind them were a troop of green hooded animals. We could hear them marching! Bang! Bang! Boom! Anyway, the ringleader that had a hood that was dark red and green came up to Papa and said ‘You! You have great potential.’ Of course Papa could not say anything, he was too stunned. Then the ringleader continued. ‘You shall tell me if any humans come. You shall bring them to me, and I will deal with them accordingly.’ The ringleader said. He then handed Papa his address and left saying this: ‘Don’t let me down, you will regret it.’ Mama and Papa were so terrified, they could barely speak! Butterlou and I dashed upstairs and looked out our window to watch the animals leave, but they were already gone! It was amazing, and terrifying. But, you cannot tell Mama and Papa I told you this! I’m not sure if they wanted anyone to know. But, if anything goes wrong, please remember that Mama and Papa have orders, and they will be taken prisoner if they do not obey… the ringleader sent us a letter saying so.” Kumarain finished and she looked up at Lilli’s worried eyes in earnest, trying to read her thoughts.

“Thank you, Kumarain. Would it be alright if I told my sister and Carol?” she asked and Kumarain nodded, confirming that she could. They returned to the camp, and Lilli listened to the soft breathing of the little beaver, but could get no sleep herself. She wondered how they could return home, and if the beavers were planning an unpleasant surprise.

6-7

Chapter Five: The Beavers Make Some Inquiries, and a Strange Turn of Events

That night, as all but the little ones sat around the fire Juney asked the humans a question. “So, seeing you are human, and we have hardly ever seen humans, we are quite curious. What do you like to do?” she asked them.

“Sports. Movies. Reading. What pretty much everyone else likes in our neighborhood.” Lilli replied for them all.

“Oh,” said Juney. “What is a movie?”

Carol gaped. “A movie? Well-uh-um-sorry, I’ve never met someone who didn’t know what a movie is. Let’s see, say you recorded something, and then you made so some people can watch it.”

The beavers looked at her with complexion in their eyes.  “Really? Wow, sounds quite impressive.” Juney ejaculated. Lilli nodded and Lulu smiled, but Carol just stared.

Suddenly, to break the silence, Butterlean suggested that everyone go to bed. “Well, I’m bushed,” he sighed. “How about we all hit the hay? Good night, and what were you’re names again?”

“Carol, Lilli, and Lulu.” they heard a voice from behind Butterlean answer. They all spun around, and all they saw was a black thing go bounding out of the house. Butterlean shuddered as Juney ran upstairs and grabbed the children. “Run!” Butterlean shouted as he shoved the girls toward a hole.

“What? What? What is going on?” Lilli shouted.

“Just keep running!!!” came the reply from Juney.

Lilli’s head spun as she listened to the little crying beavers holding close to their mother. “Mama! I’m scared!” Lulu heard Kumarain exclaim. Lilli spun around with instinct and grabbed the little beaver and ran even faster as Kumarain’s mother grabbed her brother in her arms and ran next to Lilli.

“Oh, thank you so very much! I can run much faster this way!” Juney said to Lilli.

“What was that?” Lilli asked as they ran.

Suddenly they heard a pounding. Then a scratching. And then a loud BANG! “Run! Run! Run!” Butterlean shouted louder and more urgently. Lulu was seized with terror and ran as fast as she could up the stairs. Suddenly a piercing scream ran through the tunnel, and Lulu looked back.

“Where’s Carol?” she yelled. “CAROL!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Keep running!” she heard Butterlean shout. Lulu could barely feel her feet when they got to the end of the tunnel and jumped into a little hideaway where everyone else was, except Carol. Lilli was holding Kumarain close to her, and sobbing. When she saw Lulu she asked if she had seen Carol. Lulu shook her head. No. She had not seen her.

                                                                Chapter Six: Malo

“Alright. What was that?” Lilli demanded with a tear-stained face.

“It-it was Malo. He’s captain of the secret army. They persecute all of us. Malo is a-a-a snake. He is not venomous himself, it is his sword. His sword has magical powers that can turn whoever touches it other than him into salt, never to be healed until the time comes. It is said that there is one who can break the sword. Now then, now you’ve heard the tale of Malo. What do you think?” Butterlean asked.

Lilli stared with an open mouth, still hugging Kumarain closely. “Well,” Lulu said. “Then what happened to Carol? Please, we must have out friend back!”

Lilli put in a few “yes, please”s but was silent other than that. “I do not know.” Juney said. “I have no clue what will happen.” Suddenly a little thing was flung down upon them from a hole that Butterlean had dug as an escape. Everyone screamed except for the babies, which were too frightened to scream. They looked at the thing that was flung. It was a insect. A rather large Monarch Butterfly. It lay there on the floor fluttering its wings very gently, and it looked so beautiful and fine and helpless that Lulu couldn’t help but pick it up. It fluttered a little and seemed to sputter.

“Oh,” Lulu said. “It’s so helpless! We should help it, right?” there was silence. “Lilli!”

“Um, right.” Lilli said.

“No.” Butterlean said flatly. “No. It is a spy. Look at the wings. If you look closely, you may see that it is enchanted. Just look here. This pattern that shows Lukinfer in his dragon form. Just like Lukinfer, this little fellow can change shape as well. Watch.”

The butterfly came back to life to their surprise and it coughed and sputtered and said “You are right. You have me.” And with that he changed into a raven, black as the night and twice as evil. It glared at them, and let out such a terrible call as loud as possible.

“Run!” Butterlean yelled. A cloud started to pass over them and Lilli put out her hand.