L J Craven
Long before we Lingered (GOSL) A little human child called Hapwyne stood on the knoll with her pets: a white cat, a red dog, a black horse, and a pale bird. The animals could not see her enemy, but they all shared her fear as a cold wind rustled the leaves on the surrounding trees. ‘Where do we go now?’ Asked Uimywim, the cat. ‘We hide in the caves below the knoll,’ said Hapwyne. They all agreed and followed her into the darkness. ‘And what do we do now,’ asked Arlyweh, the dog. ‘You sit close to me and make your promises.’ They all agreed and moved closer to her. ‘And after we promise?’ asked Niyuwki the horse. ‘You must protect me and save my humans.’ They all agreed and prepared to fight for her. ‘Will you make a promise?’ asked Tiyoawe, the bird. Hapwyne nodded. And the animals made their promises… ‘Cats will save you from disease,’ promised Uimywim. ‘Dogs will protect your home,’ promised Arlyweh. ‘Horses will carry you far,’ promised Niyuwki. ‘Birds will guide you,’ promised Tiyoawe. Cat, dog, horse, and bird looked at Hapwyne. She opened her hand. They looked at the thing in her hand. ‘What is that?’ asked Uimywim. ‘The Atorwitt fruit,’ she said, ‘I stole it from my enemy.’ ‘What does it do?’ asked Arlyweh. ‘You eat it, and it takes you where you need to go.’ ‘Who will eat it?’ asked Niyuwki. ‘We will.’ Hapwyne split the fruit into five equal pieces. ‘Only when you have made your own promise, will any of us eat that,’ said Tiyoawe. Hapwyne agreed. And as she gave each of her pets a piece of the Atorwitt fruit, she said, ‘I promise that humans will always care for you.’ Satisfied with Hapwyne’s promise, the animals ate up their pieces of fruit. But Hapwyne had not told them the true nature of the Atorwitt fruit. They barely felt the pain of the poison before death took them all. And as their bodies returned to the ground, the five pieces of fruit grew as branches from their stomachs, entwined, and bound their souls to linger as eternal ghosts. Then the tangled branches grew out of the ground, to stand forever as the ​Twisted Tree on the Knoll...​ *
The Engel's Tale (GOSL) A Long time ago, in the Ward of Shady Ly, there lived a kitten who was too afraid to hunt rodents. Even after she’d grown into a strong young cat and had gone to live with her own humans, she still feared their tiny teeth and claws. Her humans loved her and named her Engel, and Engel told them stories. They loved her stories and wrote them down, and as a reward they fed her well with scraps from their own table. Engel soon found she had no need to hunt. But the other cats of Shady Ly scolded her. They told her she was worthless and lazy, and even if her humans fed her, she should still hunt the rodents in their den. ‘But why?' Engel mewed, 'I do not want to be bitten or scratched and my humans feed me well, so why should I be bothered to rid their den of rats?' ‘Because of our promise to humans,' wailed the other cats, 'Because we promised that we would protect them from the Ills of Rodents.' ‘I see no ills.' Engel huffed. And ignoring their pleas, she returned to her den for a meal of tasty human food. But the cunning rats did not ignore the pleas of the other cats. News spread fast of a cat who would not hunt them. And that night, while she slept, all the rodents in the Ward of Shady Ly moved their nests into her den. Engel woke the next day to the glares of a thousand pairs of tiny black eyes. Too afraid to move, she was forced to stay in her bed, where she starved to death, listening to the wails of her humans as the Ills of Rodents took them too. *