Puddleopedia | Stories / DarshakPoachers

by Siobhan Adorn of ELF

I grew up on the western continent among the pine forests of the southwest. Daily, I would venture off on my own seeking serene places where I could become one with the trees. Throughout each day, I would help any little forest creature I happened upon that was hurt and needed healing using the tiny moonstone my mother had given me. For poachers had invaded our territory, hiding their crude traps among our forest. I know of this because on many occasions I would disable their traps and rescue the hapless creatures who would get caught in them.

The culprits were two Darshak thugs. During my time spent in the trees, I would see them pass below me speaking in their own raspy language about how they were going to capture the saboteur, and what they were going to do to them when they did. Pretty soon a few days went by where I saw no new traps and traps that I had set off were being unattended. I thought maybe they had become discouraged and went elsewhere. Then I saw the most beautiful butterfly fluttering off in the distance. I had to go follow it, when to my surprise I got ensnared in one of the Darshak's well-concealed traps. I had let my guard down and now was hanging from a tree with nothing to cut myself free.

The rope around my leg was very tight and I tried to loosen it to no avail. Just then my worst fear was being realized, for the two poachers were headed right toward me through the trees; and when they saw what they had caught, they were devilishly excited. They glared at me with obvious dishonorable intentions. They cut the rope and I hit the ground. One of them grabbed me and pulled me up, holding me from behind. The other one laughed and then hit me, and asked in a degrading voice if I was the one ruining their hunting. I was terrified at what they were about to do to me.

Then the man standing in front of me looked past me, his face panicstricken, and drew an axe. The man holding me turned around and then threw me toward the ground drawing his sword. I myself looked in that direction and saw an angry bolok cougar bearing down on us. The two thugs moved to meet it now only about 20 yards away as I scrambled to my feet and fled up a nearby tree. The man with the sword cut it a few times, but the other with the axe could not connect. The creature then overwhelmed them, and the man with the sword became fallen. Meanwhile, his partner ran away as fast as he could through the woods with the beast chasing after him.

I watched in horror as they both disappeared from sight. The fallen one lay motionless on the ground as I came down from my perched safety. He looked my way and grinned. He saw me reach for the moonstone in my pouch. "Yes," he gasped evily, "please help me and my friend. . . this pain is unbearable!" But I could tell he was just leading me on. I remembered all the poor forest creatures I spared from these two, and some of the ones I could not, and thought to myself, let them see how it feels. What's more, I thought about what they had intended for me and then I realized that the other half was not accounted for and may be up and on his way back.

With that in mind, I ran away into the forest the opposite way that the chase had taken place earlier. As I ran, I could hear the fallen one yell for help and I could feel my moonstone hitting my side as he did. But I kept on running. That night, I could not sleep. In my mind I kept hearing persistant cries for help. The few hours I did sleep were plagued with horrific nightmares about leaving the fallen one in the forest. And another about raising him and what he did to me afterwards.

I had to set my mind at ease. The very next day, I made my way back to where all that had occurred the day before, ever so cautiously; and sure enough, there he remained lying, now very quiet and very still. I clutched my moonstone in my hand and went toward him. As I did, it became more noticeable that the rats had gotten to him overnight and when I knelt down beside him, my moonstone would do nothing. A part of me felt sorrow. Another part of me was strangely relieved. I had mixed emotions and did not know how to feel about this. I searched the rest of the day through the forest for the other and the bolok that had separated the two, but found absolutely no sign of either.

After that, I did not visit the forest as often. A few months passed by and we received news in our part of the land of a great war that had taken place in a group of islands called the Lok'Grotons. I heard that was where many races from all over the lands were gathering to live but also that the place was infested with hostile creatures. . . and the Darshaks were nearby. Now because of my experience, I wanted to live among these exiles and help them -- the way I could not help that one particular day.

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