Fellowship & Fairydust

“Greg! Greg! Now where did that brother of mine go? Greg!” Bert Whispers called out into the woods surrounding the little house. Bert shivered when he glanced at one little spot drenched in inky shadows, where the trees grew close together, like they were protecting the spot from scrutinizing eyes. 

Bert quickly tore his gaze away from the spot and scanned the area again. “Greg!” 

A spout of laughter followed by a loud croak answered him. “Over here, Bert!” 

Bert groaned and rolled his eyes before walking towards the sound of his brother’s voice. After walking for a couple of minutes, he saw his brother humming away as he danced around with a frog. Bert crossed his arms. “Greg, you know you’re not supposed to come out here without telling anyone.” 

Greg merely shrugged. “Yeah, but I heard all these frogs and this side of the forest looked really nice and, and I just had to come exploring! The pond is awesome!” Greg threw out his arms. “And it’s big too! We could go swimming in it!” He pouted. “But why didn’t Dad tell us that?” 

Bert raised an eyebrow. “Because then we’d be disturbing the fish and the frogs.” 

“Oh,” said Greg, elongating the word, “I guess that makes sense.” 

“Except it looks like you have no problem disturbing the frogs,” said Bert, pointing at the frog Greg was still holding. 

“Oh, yeah, about that,” said Greg, looking down at the frog, “I want to keep him.” 

“But can you take care of him?” asked Bert. “You have to make sure he’s fed, watered, have lots of room to play in, a place to sleep, and give him attention.” 

“Wow, that’s a lot.” Greg scratched his head. “I think I can.” He glanced at Bert with a solemn look on his face. “But if you think I can’t or I have been neglecting my frog, you have to set him free.” 

Bert pointed at Greg. “You have to set him free, but I will tell you if you are failing in your duties.” 

Greg grinned. “Thanks Bert.” 

“Greg! Greg! Bert!” 

Bert turned and cupped his hands around his mouth. “I found him, Betty! He’s playing with frogs by the pond!” 

“Greg!” came the voice again, this time with a hint of annoyance. A minute later, Bert’s twin, Betty, walked through the brush and crossed her arms. “You nearly made Mom sick with worry. Don’t do that again.” 

Greg sighed. “”Sorry.” 

“Don’t tell us that, you need to tell Mom that,” said Betty. 

Greg sighed again. “I know.” He held up the frog. “But can I keep Jeremiah?” 

Bert arched an eyebrow. “You named him Jeremiah?” 

Betty groaned. “You’ll have to talk to Mom about that too.” She turned and waved her arm. “Come on, let’s get back to the house.” 

Greg glanced down. “Oh, alright.” 

“And ask her if we can keep the frog,” said Bert. 

Greg grinned. “Yeah!” Greg moved the frog around in his arms, but the frog slipped out of his grasp and leaped off into the forest. “No! Jeremiah! Come back!” He took off after him. 

Bert turned and yelped. “No, Greg, wait!” Greg was already taking off through the woods and didn’t stop. 

Betty turned then and let out a shriek. “Greg! Wait! Come back!” Bert groaned before taking off after him. “Bert! Are you nuts?” 

Bert paused and turned to her. “You’re seriously going to let our little brother go into the woods himself?” 

“What? No! It would be better if we got help!” 

“Then you can go get help. Someone has to stick with him!” Bert turned and took off into the woods. 

Betty threw up her hands and groaned before following her brothers deeper into the woods. “Greg! Bert! Wait up! Greg! Bert!” She carefully but quickly picked her way through the brambles, calling her brothers’ names every so often. 

“Over here!” Bert finally called back after a few minutes of being met with an eerie silence. Bettey sighed with relief before putting on speed. She found her brothers in a small clearing around a dead tree. 

Greg held up his frog. “Jeremiah almost went into the tree!” He turned to Bert with a grin. “But Bert grabbed him just in time.” 

Bert wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “Yeah, close call. Now, keep a firm grip on your frog and let’s head home.” The breeze picked up, and a low moaning murmured through the clearing. The three huddled together. 

“What, what was that?” whispered Greg, gripping both Jeremiah and Betty’s hand tight. 

“I, I don’t know,” said Bert, glancing around the forest, eyes wide. 

“I, I think we should go, now,” said Betty. 

“Y-yeah,” said Bert. “Come on.” A squawk rang out, causing the three to jump and scream. A bird came hopping out of the tree and tilted its head at them. 

“Aw, it’s just a bird,” said Greg, taking a step forward. 

Betty pulled him back with a yank on his hand. “No, no, we are not going any further. You heard that low moaning, right? We’d better go home, now.” The bird squawked again and flew to a higher branch. It bobbed its head, flew around the tree, poked its head into the large hole at the base of the tree before flying right back to its spot and bobbed its head again. 

“Okay … that was weird,” said Bert. 

“I think it’s trying to tell us something,” said Greg. 

“Like what, to go into the tree?” asked Betty, pointing at the gnarled branches, devoid of leaves, standing before them. “Into that tree?” The bird bobbed its head. The children glanced at each other, their eyes widening. 

“Does, does it understand us?” whispered Betty. 

The bird squawked and bobbed its head again, right as more moaning was heard, louder this time. The bird squawked and flapped its wings, as if to hurry them along. 

“I’m beginning to think we should listen to the bird,” said Bert, looking around the forest with unease. 

“We shouldn’t even be here,” pointed out Betty. The moaning came again.

“Come on!” Bert pushed his siblings towards the hole in the tree. One by one, the children quickly filed in. The bird flew in after them. 

“Hey, the bird is glowing!” said Greg, right before Bert clamped a hand over his mouth. 

“Sh! You hear that?” he whispered. The moaning came again, even louder. “Back up as far as you can,” he whispered. The three children did back up, and backed up, and backed up. 

“Is it just me, or does this tree seem to go on forever?” whispered Betty, right as they came falling out of the other side. They laid there for several minutes, blinking in surprise before slowly turning their heads to look at their surroundings. The treetops swayed gracefully in the breeze, dancing in hues of gold, bronze, citrine, and ruby. 

“Did, did we just …” 

“We went through a portal!” shouted Greg as he jumped up. “We’re on a different world! No wonder why those woods always seemed so weird!” 

“But can we get home?” asked Betty, glancing back at the gnarled tree. 

“Let’s try it,” said Bert. He crawled back into the tree. Betty crawled in after him. But both had to stop, a gnarly face was looking back at them from the other side. Screaming, the two quickly backed out. 

“What? What?” Greg shouted. 

“Run run run!” was all Bert could say.

“Why?” 

Betty grabbed his hand. “Just run!” But they didn’t run far as they rammed into a group of men. Well, an assortment of men. Some were shorter with pointed ears, some had wrinkly skin that looked like bark, and some had a slight gold sheen to their skin, but all were looking down at them with an evil glint in their eyes. 

One of them stepped forward, one of the shorter ones with the pointed ears. He had orangish brown hair and golden eyes. He tilted his head and a slight, cruel smirk crept onto his lips. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” 

“Three kids and what they call a frog, came through that portal in the tree, Pankow.” The children turned, and another bark-skinned fellow had come up behind them. Bert gasped, he recognised the guy as the one who chased them through the tree! 

“How interesting. Very interesting indeed.” They turned to face Pankow. His smile grew a little larger, and a little crueler. “Well, children, welcome to the world of Tremen.”

 

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