Elves

Darach peeked around the corner of the house looking for the tiny lights. He stared into the inky blackness of night and saw nothing. Maybe he had been dreaming or his eyes had been playing a trick on him. He squatted down beside the air conditioner unit, straining his eyes to find the tiny bits of light. Still he could see nothing unusual. Ever so slowly he walked over and stood behind the holly bush that was growing near his basement window. He held his breath so he could hear in the darkness. There! There were the tiny lantern lights in the bottom branches of the holly! He thought he could almost hear squeaky high-pitched voices. Ever so slowly and quietly he knelt down toward the direction of the tiny lights. With his thumb on the button of the high beam flashlight he in a flash pushed the switch to illuminate what ever might be under the holly trying to look into his window. There were two high-pitched screams of surprise. At first Darach could not see anything, but then they moved. He saw two tiny greenish-skinned pointed-eared male creatures with an acorn cap for a hat, coarse bark-like pants and a shirt that looked like butterfly wings. The stunned creatures carried a tiny lantern with a tiny lump of coal burning giving off light. The two elf-like creatures had big buggy eyes and big cheeks and a tiny turned up nose. They were almost identical, except one was a little bigger. They were no more than two or three inches tall. They stood frozen in fear unable to move like they had seen a monster. Darach got down on his hands and knees and got closer to the tiny creatures. The smaller one started trembling and almost dropped his lantern. "What are you guys?", asked Darach wondering if they understood English or if they had a special elf language. The larger elf took a step and faced Darach's huge face starring at him. "Are you a boy?", the elf asked in a squeaky high-pitched voice. Darach smiled. At least they understood English. "Yeah, I'm a boy. My name is Darach! What are your names?" "I am Kele and he's my cousin Kellen," said the elf, still acting very cautious of the human boy. "It's him!," whispered Kellen. "Ask him!" "Are you the human boy that can talk to trees?" asked Kele, his big eyes bugging outward. "We just wanted to see a human with such powerful magic! Tree Elves, that's what we are, or any of the elves are not supposed to be seen by humans, we can be in really big trouble for talking to you now. We thought if we sneaked by your window we could look in and see you sleeping and you would have never known we existed."

Magical Cane

"Rubus!" yelled Flo, "your Mom is here." Rubus came down from his study and was so happy to see his mother. They hugged and kissed and spoke about his latest adventure talking to the Fairy Queen and the magical cane she had given to him. "Some say we are related to Merlin," explained Rosemary. "Others say Merlin never died and is alive in a space between the past and the future. I happen to believe that Laurentius the powerful sorcerer who lives in a sandstone cottage in the big woods is really Merlin by another name. Of course I know of no one who has actually seen the sandstone cottage in the woods. But I truly believe it is more than a myth!" "Here is the cane," said Darach, offering the soft brown dragon's claw willow staff with its white crystal handle to his grandmother Rosemary. As soon as the cane touched Rosemary's finger tips, she closed her eyes and she could feel the mighty magical power of the cane pulsating through out her body. "I don't understand the power or scope of this cane's magic, but I feel it has strange and powerful magical ability. When the time comes, use the powerful magic of this branch wisely!"