He is trying to seduce my mother. This wayward logger.
I can smell his deceit. It drips off the edges of his well-groomed mustache. He will trick her into selling all our land and then he will cut down all the trees, even the Fairy Tree, for firewood and furniture and little carved Christmas ornaments...
And at present, being locked inside the spring-pump apparatus that brings water to the house, I can't do much to stop him. There are a few inches of air just below the latch, but if the water rises, I will be forced to hold my breath in here for goodness knows how long...
There is a little dragon statue sunk in the bottom of the spring. Something is glinting in its paws.
I give up prying at the lock for a moment and dive down to explore.
The little statue has glinting ruby eyes, and clutches a small silver sword between its claws. Perhaps, if I can get the sword out, I can use it to pry open the lock and get out of here! I thrust out my arms eagerly, grabbing for the statue, when a flash of light momentarily blinds me. As my eyes clear, I am aware of more turbulence in the water. I open them a crack-- and see the glint of a scaly tail flash past. Quite a large tail. I open my eyes wide, and realize that I have shrunk. The spring pool is now the size of a lake. In the miniscule cracks of the spring cover, light streams out in little patches like on a cloudy day. I can feel the powerful movements of the dragon, somewhere below me. Maybe now I can fly up to the surface and escape through a crack? But...how will I fight the logger, now that I am grown so small? It must have been a spell put on that tiny statue...
I whirl frantically to find the dragon, only to find he has been watching me from behind the whole time. His ruby eyes stare into my own brown pools of surprise. I feel he can see the tremors of my soul. He blinks, slowly, a landslide of scaly rocks. He reaches out a claw and, ever so gently, brushes a strand of floating hair away from my face. "Let me see you better, childe," the rocks breathe. He seems to manipulate the natural world around him. The water is next to say, in bubbling tones around my ears, "You are soo young for such a grumpy face. What is it that troubles you?"
I slip into the role too easily. "I fear for my mother, and am imprisoned here so I cannot help her. Can you help me?"
"I can show you the fastest way down the hill. Climb onto my back. We shall enter the tunnels." I clamber over the dragon's scales, and together we pry open the lid of the filter and race down the hose leading to the house. We exit out the spout of the bathtub, into a rather foamy mess. It must be time for granny's bath. We climb out, roll ourselves on towels, and sneak out to the laundry room, where the Logger is talking in hushed tones on his cell phone.
"Yeah, yeah, I almost got 'er, just gimme two more days to seal the deal. No problem. She doesn't suspect a thing." He hangs up, sneaks back to the living room. "Now, where were we? Thank you for the lovely tea, Miss Collman. Now, have you considered my offer further? No? Well, that is quite all right. I will be in the area for a few more days yet. I shall call upon you again tomorrow." The door slams.
The dragon and I sneak around the corner to observe. Mum is sitting on the couch, frowning and perusing a long and complicated-looking set of documents. Her hand hovers above the pages, and grasps a black legal pen loosely. Her face is ashen.
"We've got to stop that guy from blackmailing mum, or seducing her, or whatever he's doing to get her to sign away our forest!" I leap onto the coffee table and snatch the papers away. Mum looks as if she's seen a ghost-- I realize I am still shrunken. No matter. I heave on the pages with all my might, and they rip in half. "Hah! Now they can never take our property! Mindless villains! Go pick on some trees your own size!" She laughs, saying, "I'm glad that wasn't the property deed I was holding."
The guy returns, and we beat up a little on him and his friends when they seem not to understand that no means no, and the deal is sundered....I tend to be a little protective of my trees. We call the local police and get them to take the beguiling villains away. The dragon sneaks back to his relatively peaceful abode in the spring house, and I go back to my moon lair to plot more dastardly acts of good.
Mum seems bewildered, but then just sets about gathering leftover apples to make crisps.
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