Here are the first two chapters of my children's fantasy novelette: Tanner and Emilia....Into the Darkness
Chapter 1 .... DARKNESS
The ancient wrinkled Storyteller sat beneath the sprawling branches of a huge tree, in a grove of giant orange-capped mushrooms; puffing on a curved long stemmed pipe. In the swirling grey smoke that spiraled upwards from the ancient pipe; two snarling dinosaurs magically appeared; fighting a fierce battle to the death. Clawing and biting with razor sharp talons and teeth, the wispy smoke images battled furiously until they finally faded into the darkness of the dense twisted branches above.
Tanner awoke to the thunderous sound of large flapping wings, at least he thought he was awake; it was dark, in fact it was beyond dark, it was the darkest it had ever been. There was only silence; the flurry of great wings was gone. "What a dream", he thought, though he knew it wasn't really a dream but a preview of things that were about to happen.
It was so dark he couldn't even see the foot of his bed, but his senses were keen, he knew where every misplaced toy was situated. His Star Wars Millennium Falcon, Darth Vader action figure and the storm troopers too, every piece of Lego he hadn't put away as his mom had asked. It was like a minefield on the floor with his toys strewn everywhere.
"Just like Luke Skywalker, the force is with me"; he whispered to himself. The blackness didn't scare him nor did the dark man standing out in the yard staring at his window; waiting. He was just a silhouette, a black figure against a blacker background, but there was something familiar and comforting about him.
Ten kilometers or so away; Emilia stood up in her crib; looking through her window into the darkness. "Tanner will be here soon;" she thought, in the language of the innocent, because she was only nine months old and had not yet learnt the English that the biggers spoke. The silly language with words that sounded the same but were different; like weather and whether and weight and wait. And the biggers wonder why she is so reluctant to say mommy and daddy and such. Tanner was a bigger too, they say he is seven and he speaks the language of nonsense but he still remembers bits and pieces of the language of the innocent as well.
Tanner got out of bed and put his warm winter coat on, he already had on his warmest pants and sweater; he was prepared for the journey. He quietly maneuvered through the mess of toys on the floor without disturbing any of them and continued through the rest of the house. Silently walking through the indoor blackness to the front door, he passed mom and dad's bedroom; he passed his sleeping dogs Aiza and Echo, both in their beds, fast asleep and snoring. As he put on his Nike runners, donned his Vancouver Canucks toque and left the house, he wondered what slow asleep was like.
The shadow man took Tanners hand into his own much larger hand; a hand that was cool and rough but somehow comforting. Tanner knew better than to walk off with strangers, but he also knew from his dreams that this dark man was far from being a stranger. They drifted through the black, cool night air, towards Emilia.
Tanner hesitated before looking up, thinking this should be scary, but its not; its kinda cool, floating like the ghost of Christmas Future in grandma's favorite movie; the one with Ebenezer Scrooge.
Finally, he looked up into the elderly mans smiling eyes and smiled too; it was great-granddad only younger and happier than he had been the last time he had seen him; just before he had died. The scruffy grey beard was the same but his blue eyes were different; the sadness and pain were gone, as were the age spots on his skin and he didn't smell of stale pipe tobacco anymore, he smelled sweet, like cinnamon.
Tanner spoke; "Hi great-granddad, I missed you."
Great-granddad smiled too and it was the widest, brightest smile that Tanner had ever seen on his face.
"Tanner; I've been watching you all and I'm very proud of how you have grown and all that you do."
"How could you be watching us?" Tanner asked.
"Do you remember seeing the Northern Flicker; standing on the branches of the tall green cedar tree in the park behind your house?"
"You mean the pretty, big brown speckled bird with the red cheeks and the orange wingpits; the one that pecks at the trunk; eating bugs with its long beak?"
"Yep, that's the one, those insects do take some getting used to, the ants are chewy and the beetles are crunchy; neither of them is real tasty, but they are good protein." Great-granddad laughed, laughing feels so good.
"You're the bird?" Tanner asked excitedly.
"Yep, that's me. Could you please ask your mom to put out some suet for me, the kind your grandma puts out, it's real tasty?" Great-granddad said, laughing again.
Tanner laughed too, "I will, great-granddad," and they drifted on, farther into the darkness.
Tanner wondered; "I can't see my hand at the end of my arm and yet I can clearly see great-granddad's face."
They drifted slowly like the mist that swirled above the dew laden grassy lawns and yet they were at grandpa and grandma's house; where Emilia was living with her mom and her dad, in the blink of an eye. Much faster than even in dad's car; which; according to mom, he drove too fast?
Tanner looked up towards where he knew Emilia's bedroom was; it too was shrouded in darkness of course. He smiled as he always did, when he saw Emilia; as she floated through her open bedroom window on the second floor and drifted down into his arms, it was as if she was flying on "Aladdin's magic carpet,"... there was something about his little cousin that always brightened up his day, even a day as dark as this.
She was "as light as a feather" and "cute as a bug" and dressed in her warm pink winter coat and matching hat with flaps that kept her tiny ears warm. They were obviously related; she had an angelic round face, dark brown eyes and long eyelashes just like Tanner. Tanner was small for his age but Emilia was just the right size for hers. That was ok, they both had there own talents, which were about to be put to the test, during this fantastic adventure.
Tanner didn't even wonder about all of this, he just accepted it. How it happens doesn't really matter, the fact that it has to and that it does is all that counts. Some of it was in his dreams that weren't like dreams, dreams he knew would happen and some of it wasn't, which made the outcome less certain. "I used to be "cute as a bug" he thought; "now I'm cute as something bigger; like maybe, a giant bug; a bug too big for a Flicker to eat." "Hi," he said to Emilia.
"Hieeeeeeeee," mimicked Emilia with a high pitched giggle and a smile.
Tanner felt like he should introduce Emilia to great-granddad, but somehow he knew it wasn't necessary.
Great-granddad's smile was even brighter, as if that was even possible; as he stared at Emilia who smiled and giggled joyfully at him. They had never met; Emilia had been born after great-granddad had died.
This was the beginning of a great adventure; an important adventure, the middle was coming, then the end, which had to be a happy one or there would be no end, just forever.
Emilia was special; she was a key, an important part of The Plan. "I am the protector and translator", words from his dream that he didn't quite understand but he knew it was important and he was proud of that. He did not know at this point that his role in this was much bigger and even more important than being the protector and translator.
Something was missing; the dreadful clacking sound that made the dreams more like nightmares. There was no clacking and he was glad of that, he hated the clacking.
Chapter 2 GOGS
Soon they were drifting again, through the great city; with Tanner holding onto great-granddad's right hand tightly with his left hand, as he held Emilia clutched snuggly against his chest with his right arm.
There were no lights, no street lights or lights in any of the buildings, something he hadn't noticed in his dreams.
There were no cars on the roads, no people on the sidewalks; there was just the three of them drifting silently, with purpose; to the north.
They kept each other warm as they drifted past the lightless city; across the bay towards the mountains beyond. The force was still with him; he could still sense his surroundings through the darkest darkness and it was getting even darker, which seemed impossible. The tall buildings, calm waters and snow-capped mountains though blanketed in extreme darkness, were visible to him. Not in their normal shapes and colors, but visible beyond his ability to describe them; even if he had been asked to.
"Gogs", Emilia uttered, giggling in a high pitched squeal.
Tanner looked up, it was a word he wasn't familiar with. "Fireflies!" Tanner shouted excitedly, when he noticed the myriad of lights dancing a few meters in front of them.
Out of the darkness they came; like glowing ashes from a burning campfire; except instead of fading into the darkness; they were getting brighter as they came out of it. It was both mystical and magical; there must have been thousands of them. They had not been a part of his dreams; there were definitely some important differences between his dreams and the reality of what was happening as they journeyed to the north.
Great-granddad chuckled; he too, knew the language of the innocent. "Gogs," he said; "Emilia is right, look closer Tanner."
Tanner did and he gasped, "They look like Tinkerbelle."
Great-granddad laughed, "Yes, some people would call them Fairies and maybe that would not be incorrect. But let us call them Gogs, because that is what they call themselves."
The honey bee sized Gogs; flitted and fluttered and seemed to be in distress as they made high pitched cricket like noises. They flew around Emilia and Tanner with alarming speed, in a group they circled so fast; it looked like a tornado of dizzying light, swirling around them.
Emilia; smiling and giggling, made the cricket noises too; "Chickereeeeeeeeee chickereeeeeeeee!"
Great-granddad calmly held up his left hand and the tornado of light slowed until the Gogs were all fluttering in place; their lacy wings humming like those of the Hummingbirds at grandma's feeder.
The Gogs chattered excitedly at them, Tanner could not understand what they were trying to say but he could tell they were very upset.
And Emilia chattered back at them; "Tickaboom tickaboom boom."
Great-granddad spoke; "They are terribly saddened and in pain, see how each one's light brightens, how it is getting brighter and brighter."
Tanner did see that, "Yes, I do. Why are they getting brighter and brighter?" he asked.
"They are not only getting brighter but hotter as well, because it is getting darker and darker. If it gets to the darkest it can get, blacker than black, they will get as bright as they can get and hot like the sun until they burn out and will be gone forever." Great-granddad said sadly.
"We can't let that happen, we must help them." Tanner replied, almost in tears.
Great-granddad smiled at him, "That is part of the reason for our quest; we must not only save them but the world too." They both looked at Emilia's angelic smiling face, as she reached out gently with her tiny fingers and touched the nearest Gog; making it giggle and smile; as they all did.
"Innocence is not only a virtue and a wonder but it can be a super-power too, like Spiderman's web; a tool that can be used to conquer evil; a super-power tool." Great-granddad said with a wide Cheshire cat-like grin.
"A cordless super-power tool;" added Tanner with a chuckle and great-granddad laughed a boisterous, joyful laugh, laughing is good. "Good one Tanner," he said. "But in this darkness, not a solar powered super-power tool." He added.