Stretched out below him as he sat on top of his hill in his Raven�s den, lay the valley James heard his father call �The Speur�. It was called �Stephan�s fold� on the map of the area where James lived, but what did they know? The Speur was beautiful. To his right James could see the southern cliffs with half a dozen humungous steps instead of one sheer drop. The cliffs wore a waterfall where the water tumbled down the steps into the pool below and off down the river to the sea. To his left the little forest where the Sycamore stood grew into a huge green blanket covering the land all the way up the northern coast for miles, and straight ahead at the mouth of the river stood the Lag, an island where James had often watched a pack of cougars hunting and playing in the sun. Of course, an adult would have told you that these were normal sized wild cats no bigger that a house cat mating in the little field on the river island. Adult�s said a lot of things to James, and he hardly believed any of them. Up until today James had never been down the hill into the valley. Not because he wasn�t allowed, no. James wouldn�t go because Rosad lived there. Rosad was the evil in all of s adventures. Whether he was a wizard or a prince, a king or an assassin, Rosad would always be the one he fought against, and James had played so many times that he was actually really afraid of Rosad, which is not as silly as you think. But James didn�t care about any of this now. Today he just wanted to sulk and look out over his valley placing fairy curses on his mother and pixy wards on her washing machine and Hoover so that they would turn into lemons and cheese if she touched them. This thought brought a smile to Jacobs� round face. Oh the pixies would sort her out no problem. James lay back on the floor of Raven�s den and finished eating one of the cakes he had stolen from his father�s office room. It tasted funny but it was chocolate so it was definitely fine to eat. After he finished the cake James began to drift off. The Weird and wonderful Carnival Circus All around the sycamore tree the Insiders; fairies and pixies, slugs and burrowers and all, were gathered. The Weird and Wonderful Carnival Circus was coming to the Lag today and they were very excited. Greenspan the forest master stood right beneath the sycamore tree organising the crossover. It was hard for him to believe that a hundred years had passed already since the last weird and Weird and Wonderful Carnival Circus had been held here and because most fairies lived a very very long time compared to humans it was like yesterday to some of them. The surrounding land was impossible to recognise now, many of the Insiders commented on this. �This place smells of Normals,� stated Gammell the cave slug, �I used to slide around these hills without using any magic and there wasn�t a human soul in the air for miles, we should do away with them all!� Gammell grumbled like this an awful lot and Greenspan really didn�t care too much for the slug�s attitude nor for the sticky trail of slimy cave goo the odd looking creature left behind. If it were up to Greenspan he would ban all the Anti-humanists from Insider social gatherings. But the Dru wouldn�t stand for that, and no Insider would ever go against the wishes of the Dru. After a full hour of jostling, pushing, cheering and moaning the gathering was slightly organised and Greenspan, the Forest Master, was ready to begin. The Crossover spell was a simple one for a forest master. This was his forest and his magic protected it from Human interference. All over the world humans were misled by their own senses and equipment as to the size of their woodland areas. A tiny forest on the human maps could in fact be a huge area under the control of a strong forest master. Greenspan was a very strong forest guardian (as he preferred to be known) and his forest was very large indeed. Unfortunately though, even his magic could not stop the Outsiders from slowly swallowing his forest into their big housing areas and killing the woodland sprites with their mechanical fumes. Things were changing. Gathering his strength Greenspan held up his hands for silence and began the spell of crossing over, in the air above the hushed gathering. �This shield though strong, eternal lasting, protects the land from outside�s burn. The barrier falls with this spells casting, Let those inside this ring return� With a flourish Greenspan opened his eyes wider and wider until they bulged almost out of his head! The Forest Master�s eyes grew dark and black, as did the sky over the Sycamore in the centre of the ring of cedars. The centre of Greenspan�s eyes began to glow bright green. Soon the green glow was blinding even the most eagle eyed of the Inside folk. This was forest magic strong and clean. It made the gathering feel warm and safe as they passed inside to the place where magic ruled everything and the outsiders knew nothing. There was a long silence. Greenspan lowered his hands and smiled. �Let the Weird and Wonderful Carnival Circus begin!� he roared to the gathering. �ARU!� they shouted as one. Then the entire group piled down into the valley towards the lag where they could see the tents were already going up and the music had already begun. |
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