“No, too soon,” cried the centipod.
Melphin had decided he would spend the day deep in Willow’s Hollow. He hoped to lose himself in thoughts of the happier times.
“How I wish the cool summer breezes would return,” sighed Melphin.
As Melphin rested, he slipped into a trance. Instead of cloudless blue skies, the worm envisioned flames.
Startled by the sound of falling trees, Melphin sat straight up.
“No, it’s too soon. The Dark One can’t be here.” Melphin cried out.
Distant peels of laughter signaled that the Troth were not far off.
“I must warn the Waldvolker of the Dark One’s presence,” said the centipod.
Unable to get away, Melphin decided to try something impossible.
“Please let the legend be true,” said the worm as he climbed up a tall tree.
As he climbed higher, he could hear the Troth splashing through the undergrowth below.
“This has to work; it has to,” cried Melphin as he raised his lower abdomen into the air and began spinning a kite.
The Troth had spotted him high in the tree and soon gave chase.
“Juicy fat worm, yum yum in my tum tum,” giggled a warrior as he climbed the tree.
Several arrows wizzed past Melphin’s body. The tree’s branch deflected those that came close.
“It’s now or never,” cried the centipod and then launched himself off the tree’s limb.
The sickening feeling one gets when something goes horribly wrong overwhelmed Melphin.
“He he he, the worm falls,” cried the Troth.
His kite had failed to catch a breeze that would have lifted him away to safety.
“So much for legends,” said Melphin as he spiraled down to the waiting Troth horde.
The Troth’s screams confused Melphin. Instead of joyous screams, the cries were of terror.
“Look out below,” cried the worm as he crashed onto several Troth bodies.
“Better leave kite flying to those who know how,” came a voice from behind.
Tekla of the forest guard stepped over to help the centipod sit upright.
“Tekla, how? How can you be this deep in the wood?” asked Melphin.
The guardian explained that she saw his kite while on patrol. After taking a bearing, she rushed through the trees. The Troth’s focus was on Melphin, making it easy for Tekla to dispatch them.
“So the legend is true after all,” said Melphin.
“What legend would that be?” asked Tekla.
Melphin told her the story of how a centipod was once carried to safety by spinning a kite from a treetop.
“I may not have flown away, but the kite saved me in the end,” the worm said with a wry smile.
“Yeah, that’s a bit of a stretch, but seeing you’re alright, I’ll give it to you,” Tekla said with a wink.
Folksburywoods 
Leave a comment