Anedra noticed a range of mountains set far back on the land. She’d never been there, since her fisherman father had stayed close to shore. “I am going.” Anedra made herself as streamlined as she could, hoping to out fly this annoying eagle. As soon as she’d snatched Queen Belvedere’s crown from Durlynn’s head, she would drop it in the ocean and go back home. No eagle could stop her then.
She flew straight toward the mountain range, not even bothering to look around and see if the eagle was following. When she reached the mountain range, her small round eye was drawn to a column of smoke rising up into the air, the top edge drifting eastward on an invisible air current. She swooped closer to investigate. The smoke stung her eyes and she wanted to fly away from it. Yet there was something about this place that told her it was the place she was looking for. The smoke had an unnatural feeling to it, like a security barrier meant to keep her out. But she would not stay out if it meant retrieving the crown and finding her parents.
She tried again to penetrate the smoke shield, but it was too much for her senses. She slapped her wing up to her forehead and thought, “fire beetle.” Then she was falling, falling through the sky. She stuck out her hard stubby wings and glided to the ground, the smoke unable to penetrate her hard shelled body or loosen the green braid which had shrunk down to fit her beetle body.
Closer to the ground, the air was clearer. Anedra skimmed along the surface of the ground, wings outstretched, aiming for the tall black castle ahead. As soon as she reached the wall, the air was clear. Her little beetle eyes roved around in a circle, noting that the smoke didn’t touch the castle walls, almost like there was a force field around it.
A wasp sped toward her, and Anedra zoomed upward. The wasp changed its trajectory to follow. She ducked into the recess of the nearest window and stopped in the corner where she was hidden by shadows. The wasp zipped past.
Anedra buzzed against the glass, hoping she could find a way in. She could see a latch that, if twisted, would open the window. She bumped against the latch a couple of times, listening for the buzz of the wasp, but the latch refused to budge. She didn’t have enough bulk or power to make it move.
Raising her thin, black leg, she hit her tiny forehead and thought, monkey. A long tail threw itself over the latch, stretching to its full length, saving her from falling to the ground. Her new furry paws reached up and grabbed the windowsill. She hauled herself up and stood on the ledge, staring at her reflection in the glass. Small gray ears, big round eyes, a gray furred body with a thin green braid circled around her waist looked back at her. Could her parents ever love a monkey?
She would never find out until she got the crown and got out of here. She focused her gaze on the latch, grasped it with her furry fingers, and twisted. It opened and she slipped inside.
Buzz! The wasp zipped into the room over her head before she could shut the glass behind her. It zoomed through an open door and was gone.
Anedra let herself down from the window sill and scampered across the floor to the doorway. She peeked around the door jamb and squealed with fright when she saw that she was nose to nose with a tan dog.
“Hush!” the dog growled. “Do you want to wake her?”
Trembling, Anedra asked, “Who?”
“The giantess, Durlynn,” the dog huffed. “Come on.”
He walked down the hallway, toenails clicking softly on the wooden floor.
Anedra watched him for a moment, the sway of his long ears nearly brushing the floor. Could she trust him? He could take her head off in one bite. Three bites would be the end of her. But what else could she do?
Please don’t eat me, she thought as she followed the dog down the hall, propelling herself along on short legs and knuckles.
The dog stopped at the edge of a dark doorway. He turned his head, long nose pointing at Anedra. He didn’t say anything, but lifted his muzzle a couple of inches, then swung it toward the room.
When Anedra stopped at the doorway, the dog suddenly lunged at her. Anedra squeaked and scurried into the room, her head turned back over her shoulder, wary eyes on the dog. When she bumped into a wall of stuffed fabric, she grabbed it to keep from falling down.
“Whaaa…?” a growl sounded from the top of the wall, which was really a bed. “Who’s there?”
On legs shaky with fear, Anedra scuttled beneath the bed. The mattress above her bore down, pressing her to the floor so hard she could couldn’t breathe. Mama. Daddy. I wanted to see you again.
Suddenly, the pressure eased as the mattress rose, letting her suck air into her lungs. Anedra lay there for a moment, panting, before pushing herself up on hands and knees with her little monkey head hanging down.
Something brushed the top of her head. She shrank back, covering her head with her paws. The dog made another swipe at her, his chest on the ground as he reached beneath the bed. “You woke her,” the dog growled. “Now get up there and grab the crown before it’s too late.”
“You won’t eat me?”
The dog made a face. “Why would I want to eat a hairy monkey?”
Anedra’s relief was suddenly replaced with a new fear. “But if I go up there, she’ll see me!”
“She’s in the bathroom.” The dog glared at her with impatient eyes. “Hurry.”
Anedra crept to the edge of the bed and looked out into the gloom. A shove made her stagger. She turned toward the dog with a scowl. “You are so slow!” he snarled. “Get the crown!”
With fierce eyes boring into her and the threat of sharp teeth at her back, Anedra grabbed the blanket hanging over the side of the bed and scampered up. Once on top, she stood at the corner of the bed and gazed at the broad expanse of small, rumpled blanket hills. Where was she supposed to go? Finally she lifted her eyes to the bed post, which was as big as a tree trunk, and saw a glittering golden circlet hanging from the top of the post. The crown!
Anedra took off across the landscape of bed, climbing over blanket ridges and leaping over soft, padded valleys. She scurried up the bedpost and grabbed the circlet, but she couldn’t lift it off the top of the bedpost. She had to climb higher. It was harder to climb while holding the crown in one hand, tugging it upward. She boosted herself up the best she could, hands and feet scrambling to keep their hold on the post. Just as the crown cleared the top, a door creaked open.
The giantess stood in the doorway, ten feet tall, her cheeks as lumpy as two bowls of cold mush, her lips twin pale worms lying across the bottom of her face. Her hair was in a tight bun on top of her head, just the right size to hold the crown clutched in Anedra’s hairy little fist. When their eyes met, Anedra’s went wide and Durlynn’s squinted in anger. “Give me my crown!” Durlynn howled and lunged toward Anedra.
Tossing the crown over head so it stuck out like a stiff, wide collar, Anedra dropped onto the mattress and bounced up in the air. When Durlynn made a grab for the monkey, her huge fingers smacked into Anedra’s head, launching her through the air.
Sailing over the side of the monstrous bed, the image of a broken monkey body lying on the floor flitted through her aching head. Anedra’s hand flopped through the air, swinging back to brush her forehead. Worm.
She arced downward as the crown soared away from her shrinking body, muscles clenched. To her surprise, she landed in a soft nest of hair. Knowing the dog couldn’t eat her if she stayed on his back, she tightened her muscles around a patch of hair, barely aware of movement as her host moved toward the doorway. They were escaping the giantess, but had lost the crown. I'm sorry, Queen Belvedere.
(To be concluded)
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