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Description

The Folly of Fauns.

By FOXCARROTS

Part Two

“The Wayward River.”

    Deep in the enchanted forest the winds brew over the trees. A pair of fauns walked together, navigating the forest together. They were far from the path and though they had travelled the area before could not help but feel unsure of their path.

    Tanis was a faun of auburn hair that fell in braided pigtails onto her chest. She had long curling magenta horns and enchanting golden eyes. She was curvy and strong with many tattoos on her arms and shoulders. She was dressed in a brown and magenta corset with a red sash and belt covering her furry faun legs.

    Next to her was Meggie, a tall thin faun with short brown hair swept over one of her eyes. That eye remained closed due to a hunt when she was younger but the other was expressive and curious decorated with red eyeshadow. She was dressed in an earth tone tan and brown corset and belts crisscrossing her furry hips.

    The pair continued on, seeming as if neither of them wanted to admit that they might not know where they were going. Tanis turned to Meggie, a curious look upon her face. “I don’t suppose any of this is looking familiar to you at all?”

    “Oh goodness I am glad you are feeling that none of this looks familiar too.” Meggie responded. “I am starting to think that we might be lost.”

    “Lost is a really harsh word.” Tanis offered. “But I think we might have kind of misplaced ourselves.”

    “Misplaced ourselves?” Meggie said as she put her hands on her hips. “That sounds like a pretty roundabout way to say that we are lost.”

    Tanis laughed. “I suppose your right. We might be lost but I think we can probably find our way if we work together.”

    Meggie nodded. “Ok, well we know where the sun is and I don’t think we got turned around. We are headed in the right direction, we are just off course.”

    Tanis nodded as she looked up and tried to gauge where they were in relation to the sun. “Well I think if we keep going west we will find the path again.”

    “Makes sense to me!” Meggie commented. “We can tell each other stories as we go!”

    “Excellent!” Tanis replied as she led the way, thinking of a good story to share with her friend.

    The pair walked for close to an hour, not finding the path but another thing that crossed their path. Where they expected a road through the forest instead was a large river.

    “I don’t recall this river on my travels through this area. “Meggie commented as she looked across to the other side. “Its pretty far too, I think I would have remembered it!”

    “Well rivers just don’t show up out of nowhere.” Tanis commented. “They don’t get lost and go for a wander. We have to be the ones that are wrong.”

    “I must admit that I don’t remember the river being here but that might be on me.” Meggie admitted. “Can we swim across?”

    Tanis walked to the edge of the river, careful not to sink her hooves into the sand. “Seems kinda far. I don’t know about you but I am probably as decent a swimmer as any faun but I don’t think that is will be any fun to try.”

    Meggie sighed. “I would be inclined to agree. But what other options do we have?”

    “Well all we can do is pick a direction and look for a place to cross.” Tanis added. “North or south?”

    “Good question.” Meggie asked as she put a hand to her chin. “North?”

    Tanis nodded and the pair headed north along the riverbank in search of a crossing. The river stayed at the same width and depth and just as the pair were thinking they had chosen the wrong way they came across something. It was a small wooden boat, two people wide with a pair of oars tucked into the sides. It was tied to a log with a rope and though it looked like it had been there for some time the boat seemed to be in good shape.

    “Can we just take it?” Meggie asked. “What if it belongs to someone?”

    Tanis crouched down and examined the rope. “There’s moss growing on the rope. I really doubt the person that left it here is coming back and there doesn’t seem to be like a cabin or anything nearby.”

    “I think it is pretty safe to take it then.” Meggie agreed. “Besides there doesn’t seem to be any other options to cross anywhere as far as we can find.”

    Both fauns decided to take the boat and carefully climbed in. With their hooves they had to be careful not to tip the boat but soon both got aboard. They sat side my side, untied the rope and as the boat floated free they each took hold of one of the oars with both hands. It was a little hard to control at first but after a few moments the pair was working together and headed toward the other side of the river. As challenging as it was, both fauns enjoyed the passage. The sounds of the water was soothing and the wind blew through their hair and fur playfully.

    Before long the pair reached the other side. They carefully maneuvered the boat close to the shallows where there were places to tie the boat off.

    “Through the rope around that log.” Meggie suggested. “Then you can pull us closer.”

    “Sure thing!” Tanis said but when she went to let go of the oars to grab the rope, she discovered that she couldn’t. She tried again and again to let go of the oar but found both hands did not want to respond. “Meggie, weird question but can you let go of your oar?”

    “Of course, I can!” Meggie replied but as relieved as Tanis was to hear her say that she was immediately crestfallen as Meggie’s face went from confident to shocked. “Wait…I can’t let go either!”

    Both girls struggled with their oars, their hands and thumbs locked to the oars. Tanis braced herself and tried to slowly peel her fingers from the oar. However, as she pulled it seemed as though there was some kind of substance that came up with her flesh that was tightly connected to the oar. “There’s glue on the oar…I cant break free!”

    “This stuff is terrifying!” Meggie agreed as she discovered the same substance stretching between her flesh and the oar. “I cant move any of my fingers or thumbs…this stuff has me tight.”

    Tanis struggled with her hands, trying to find leverage or weakness in the glue but every stretch she managed with the glue snapped her fingers back to the oar. Meggie braced a hoof against the front of the boat and wrenched, trying to tear both of her hands free of the oar but though the glue would stretch, it would not go more than an inch and a half.

    “We should get onto the shore.” Tanis suggested. “We might be stuck to these oars but if we can get out f the boat we can go find someone to dissolve this stuff.”

    “Agreed.” Meggie said with a nod as she and Tanis began to maneuver the boat close to the opposing shore. They slammed the boat into a shallow area near the edge and tried to get out of the boat. However, the oars though only connected by simple metal oarlocks they would not unhook form the boat.

    “What is the name of the fey wild!?!” Tanis shouted in frustration as she struggled with her own oar, trying to break it free from it’s housing. “They are locked in more securely than shackles.”

    “It’s iron and wood!” Meggie said as she stood in the boat and put a hoof to the plank where the oarlocks connected. “We are strong we can break these oars free!”

    Both fauns struggled and grunted as they threw all of their strength and weight into trying to forcefully break the oars free from the boat. However, no matter how hard they strained, how hard they fought they could not break the oars free of the housings.

    “There is no way these are naturally this strong.” Tanis commented. “We should be able to tear the wood of this boat apart but we cant even crack it!”

    “It has to be enchanted.” Meggie agreed. “We can’t get our hands free of the glue and we cant separate the oars from the boat. Were stuck!”

    Tanis looked around and sighed. “It seems rigged that the victims stuck with it cant do anything to escape. We need help.”

    “But we are stuck in a rowboat in the middle of a river.” Meggie commented. “Where are we going to find someone to get us out of this?”

    “I don’t know.” Tanis admitted, looking around and realizing the helplessness of their situation. “I suppose all we can do is row downstream and hope for the best.”

    The pair began to row and headed down stream. They tried to keep the idea that their hands were stuck to the oars from their mind for if they didn’t it caused them profound frustration. Occasionally one or the other would stop and struggle to get free but no matter what they tried they could not escape the glue or the seemingly indestructible boat. They decided it was best to stay calm for if the boat capsized and sunk they would very much have to go down with the ship.

    Eventually the pair moved south and started to hear something ahead. At first, they thought that it was the sound of a crowd with loud voices blending to one but son discovered it was something much more sinister. It was in fact a waterfall! Tanis and Meggie started rowing as if their life depended on it because if they went over, it really, really did! They struggled against the rapidly growing current tying to get to one of the sides. Just before the current would have claimed them, they managed to get into a small cove to the side of the waterfall. The water was still and safe but it led to nowhere.

    “I don’t think we could even get out of there if we tried.” Meggie commented. “There’s no way we could fight the current and even if we did wed be as likely to go over as we would to go back upstream.”

    Meggie jerked as if she was going to get out of the boat but the glue locked her hands and her arms went ridged, forcing her to sit back down. “And since we still can’t get out of the boat we are really stuck.”

    “Perhaps I can be of service?” A strange voice asked from the shore. Both fauns turned to see a small old lady on the shore. She smiled at the pair. “I can get you out of that boat.”

    “Please help us!” Tanis said with desperation in her eyes. “Were stuck in this boat, we cant get out no matter what we do!”

    “I am a bit of a magic user.” The old woman replied. “I can cast a spell that might just break you loose but I need to know your names.”

    “Giving a name is dangerous.” Meggie replied. “Is there not another way.”

    “I am afraid not.” The old woman replied. “You can either give me your names or hope for someone else to come across you to help.”

    Meggie looked to Tanis and took a deep breath. “Fine, I am Meggie.”

    “And I’m Tanis.” Tanis added reluctantly.

    “Excellent!” The old woman said as she raised her arms. There was a flash of energy and both fauns closed their eyes.

    Tanis and Meggie were confused and shaken and there were spots on their vision as they opened their eyes. As their vison cleared, they were encouraged to see that they were no longer in the boat in the river. They seemed to be standing in a clearing in the forest near a mud and stone path.

    “Were out of the boat!” Meggie said in an excited tone but before she could enjoy it, she realized something was very wrong.

    Tanis tried to move and found herself in front of a carriages bow and her hands were no longer stuck to an oar, but the solid bow ahead of her. “Our hands are still glued!”

    “Were stuck to some sort of caravan!” Meggie replied, struggling to move her hand but the glue savagely snapped them back to the bow. Were even more stuck than before.”

    “And your not alone.” A familiar voice said behind the pair. Meggie and Tanis looked over their shoulders to discover their friends Yara and Starlight behind them, their hands pressed tight to the bows behind.

    “What’s going on?” Tanis asked. “How do we get out of this stuff?”

    “We haven’t figured out a way yet.” Starlight admitted. “We have been like this for two days and no matter what we do we cant get this stuff off.”

    “The old woman?” Meggie asked. “She tricked us!”

    “Us too.” Yara admitted. “She’s some sort of witch, and she wants fauns to pull her caravan. We are trying to figure out a way out of this but so far nothing has worked.”

    “This glue is inescapable.” Starlight said in desperation. “It seems like permanent glue.”

    “Permanent glue?” Meggie asked. “What does that mean?”

    “That once you get stuck you stay stuck.” Tanis admitted. “We need to hope that is not the case.”

    “Well, I’m not giving up.” Meggie said as she strained. “I will find a way free or die trying.”

    “Yeah, we can’t give up!” Tanis agreed. “We must defy her in any way we can!”

    “About that…” Yara commented but before she could explain pain erupted from the bars, they were stuck to causing all four fauns to go rigid, lost in the excruciating pain. It went on for only several seconds but it was an eternity to the fauns who could not escape the magical shock. As the shock subsided and the fauns struggled to recover from the pain the old crone removed the magical stone from its place on the rigging.

    “I don’t think I need to explain to the newcomers what happens if you refuse commands do I?” The crone asked.

    “Let us go!” Tanis demanded. “If you don’t, we…”

    The crone raised the stone as if to place it again and Tanis stopped. The crone smiled as she climbed onto the caravan and took the reins.

    “We have to do what she says.” Yara admitted. “As long as we are stuck to this thing, we are completely helpless.”

    “We need help if we are going to break free of this.” Starlight added.

    “We were on our way to meet the others.” Meggie explained. “They will find us and they will save us.”

    “I hope so.” Tanis replied. “And hopefully they have more luck than us and don’t fall victim to the crone’s deception.”

    Yara nodded. “Yeah, the last thing we need is more fauns stuck to this thing.”

    The crone whipped the leads and the four fauns began to push, moving the caravan along the path, helpless to do anything but move forward.

-

Description

The Folly of Fauns.

By FOXCARROTS

Part Two

“The Wayward River.”

    Deep in the enchanted forest the winds brew over the trees. A pair of fauns walked together, navigating the forest together. They were far from the path and though they had travelled the area before could not help but feel unsure of their path.

    Tanis was a faun of auburn hair that fell in braided pigtails onto her chest. She had long curling magenta horns and enchanting golden eyes. She was curvy and strong with many tattoos on her arms and shoulders. She was dressed in a brown and magenta corset with a red sash and belt covering her furry faun legs.

    Next to her was Meggie, a tall thin faun with short brown hair swept over one of her eyes. That eye remained closed due to a hunt when she was younger but the other was expressive and curious decorated with red eyeshadow. She was dressed in an earth tone tan and brown corset and belts crisscrossing her furry hips.

    The pair continued on, seeming as if neither of them wanted to admit that they might not know where they were going. Tanis turned to Meggie, a curious look upon her face. “I don’t suppose any of this is looking familiar to you at all?”

    “Oh goodness I am glad you are feeling that none of this looks familiar too.” Meggie responded. “I am starting to think that we might be lost.”

    “Lost is a really harsh word.” Tanis offered. “But I think we might have kind of misplaced ourselves.”

    “Misplaced ourselves?” Meggie said as she put her hands on her hips. “That sounds like a pretty roundabout way to say that we are lost.”

    Tanis laughed. “I suppose your right. We might be lost but I think we can probably find our way if we work together.”

    Meggie nodded. “Ok, well we know where the sun is and I don’t think we got turned around. We are headed in the right direction, we are just off course.”

    Tanis nodded as she looked up and tried to gauge where they were in relation to the sun. “Well I think if we keep going west we will find the path again.”

    “Makes sense to me!” Meggie commented. “We can tell each other stories as we go!”

    “Excellent!” Tanis replied as she led the way, thinking of a good story to share with her friend.

    The pair walked for close to an hour, not finding the path but another thing that crossed their path. Where they expected a road through the forest instead was a large river.

    “I don’t recall this river on my travels through this area. “Meggie commented as she looked across to the other side. “Its pretty far too, I think I would have remembered it!”

    “Well rivers just don’t show up out of nowhere.” Tanis commented. “They don’t get lost and go for a wander. We have to be the ones that are wrong.”

    “I must admit that I don’t remember the river being here but that might be on me.” Meggie admitted. “Can we swim across?”

    Tanis walked to the edge of the river, careful not to sink her hooves into the sand. “Seems kinda far. I don’t know about you but I am probably as decent a swimmer as any faun but I don’t think that is will be any fun to try.”

    Meggie sighed. “I would be inclined to agree. But what other options do we have?”

    “Well all we can do is pick a direction and look for a place to cross.” Tanis added. “North or south?”

    “Good question.” Meggie asked as she put a hand to her chin. “North?”

    Tanis nodded and the pair headed north along the riverbank in search of a crossing. The river stayed at the same width and depth and just as the pair were thinking they had chosen the wrong way they came across something. It was a small wooden boat, two people wide with a pair of oars tucked into the sides. It was tied to a log with a rope and though it looked like it had been there for some time the boat seemed to be in good shape.

    “Can we just take it?” Meggie asked. “What if it belongs to someone?”

    Tanis crouched down and examined the rope. “There’s moss growing on the rope. I really doubt the person that left it here is coming back and there doesn’t seem to be like a cabin or anything nearby.”

    “I think it is pretty safe to take it then.” Meggie agreed. “Besides there doesn’t seem to be any other options to cross anywhere as far as we can find.”

    Both fauns decided to take the boat and carefully climbed in. With their hooves they had to be careful not to tip the boat but soon both got aboard. They sat side my side, untied the rope and as the boat floated free they each took hold of one of the oars with both hands. It was a little hard to control at first but after a few moments the pair was working together and headed toward the other side of the river. As challenging as it was, both fauns enjoyed the passage. The sounds of the water was soothing and the wind blew through their hair and fur playfully.

    Before long the pair reached the other side. They carefully maneuvered the boat close to the shallows where there were places to tie the boat off.

    “Through the rope around that log.” Meggie suggested. “Then you can pull us closer.”

    “Sure thing!” Tanis said but when she went to let go of the oars to grab the rope, she discovered that she couldn’t. She tried again and again to let go of the oar but found both hands did not want to respond. “Meggie, weird question but can you let go of your oar?”

    “Of course, I can!” Meggie replied but as relieved as Tanis was to hear her say that she was immediately crestfallen as Meggie’s face went from confident to shocked. “Wait…I can’t let go either!”

    Both girls struggled with their oars, their hands and thumbs locked to the oars. Tanis braced herself and tried to slowly peel her fingers from the oar. However, as she pulled it seemed as though there was some kind of substance that came up with her flesh that was tightly connected to the oar. “There’s glue on the oar…I cant break free!”

    “This stuff is terrifying!” Meggie agreed as she discovered the same substance stretching between her flesh and the oar. “I cant move any of my fingers or thumbs…this stuff has me tight.”

    Tanis struggled with her hands, trying to find leverage or weakness in the glue but every stretch she managed with the glue snapped her fingers back to the oar. Meggie braced a hoof against the front of the boat and wrenched, trying to tear both of her hands free of the oar but though the glue would stretch, it would not go more than an inch and a half.

    “We should get onto the shore.” Tanis suggested. “We might be stuck to these oars but if we can get out f the boat we can go find someone to dissolve this stuff.”

    “Agreed.” Meggie said with a nod as she and Tanis began to maneuver the boat close to the opposing shore. They slammed the boat into a shallow area near the edge and tried to get out of the boat. However, the oars though only connected by simple metal oarlocks they would not unhook form the boat.

    “What is the name of the fey wild!?!” Tanis shouted in frustration as she struggled with her own oar, trying to break it free from it’s housing. “They are locked in more securely than shackles.”

    “It’s iron and wood!” Meggie said as she stood in the boat and put a hoof to the plank where the oarlocks connected. “We are strong we can break these oars free!”

    Both fauns struggled and grunted as they threw all of their strength and weight into trying to forcefully break the oars free from the boat. However, no matter how hard they strained, how hard they fought they could not break the oars free of the housings.

    “There is no way these are naturally this strong.” Tanis commented. “We should be able to tear the wood of this boat apart but we cant even crack it!”

    “It has to be enchanted.” Meggie agreed. “We can’t get our hands free of the glue and we cant separate the oars from the boat. Were stuck!”

    Tanis looked around and sighed. “It seems rigged that the victims stuck with it cant do anything to escape. We need help.”

    “But we are stuck in a rowboat in the middle of a river.” Meggie commented. “Where are we going to find someone to get us out of this?”

    “I don’t know.” Tanis admitted, looking around and realizing the helplessness of their situation. “I suppose all we can do is row downstream and hope for the best.”

    The pair began to row and headed down stream. They tried to keep the idea that their hands were stuck to the oars from their mind for if they didn’t it caused them profound frustration. Occasionally one or the other would stop and struggle to get free but no matter what they tried they could not escape the glue or the seemingly indestructible boat. They decided it was best to stay calm for if the boat capsized and sunk they would very much have to go down with the ship.

    Eventually the pair moved south and started to hear something ahead. At first, they thought that it was the sound of a crowd with loud voices blending to one but son discovered it was something much more sinister. It was in fact a waterfall! Tanis and Meggie started rowing as if their life depended on it because if they went over, it really, really did! They struggled against the rapidly growing current tying to get to one of the sides. Just before the current would have claimed them, they managed to get into a small cove to the side of the waterfall. The water was still and safe but it led to nowhere.

    “I don’t think we could even get out of there if we tried.” Meggie commented. “There’s no way we could fight the current and even if we did wed be as likely to go over as we would to go back upstream.”

    Meggie jerked as if she was going to get out of the boat but the glue locked her hands and her arms went ridged, forcing her to sit back down. “And since we still can’t get out of the boat we are really stuck.”

    “Perhaps I can be of service?” A strange voice asked from the shore. Both fauns turned to see a small old lady on the shore. She smiled at the pair. “I can get you out of that boat.”

    “Please help us!” Tanis said with desperation in her eyes. “Were stuck in this boat, we cant get out no matter what we do!”

    “I am a bit of a magic user.” The old woman replied. “I can cast a spell that might just break you loose but I need to know your names.”

    “Giving a name is dangerous.” Meggie replied. “Is there not another way.”

    “I am afraid not.” The old woman replied. “You can either give me your names or hope for someone else to come across you to help.”

    Meggie looked to Tanis and took a deep breath. “Fine, I am Meggie.”

    “And I’m Tanis.” Tanis added reluctantly.

    “Excellent!” The old woman said as she raised her arms. There was a flash of energy and both fauns closed their eyes.

    Tanis and Meggie were confused and shaken and there were spots on their vision as they opened their eyes. As their vison cleared, they were encouraged to see that they were no longer in the boat in the river. They seemed to be standing in a clearing in the forest near a mud and stone path.

    “Were out of the boat!” Meggie said in an excited tone but before she could enjoy it, she realized something was very wrong.

    Tanis tried to move and found herself in front of a carriages bow and her hands were no longer stuck to an oar, but the solid bow ahead of her. “Our hands are still glued!”

    “Were stuck to some sort of caravan!” Meggie replied, struggling to move her hand but the glue savagely snapped them back to the bow. Were even more stuck than before.”

    “And your not alone.” A familiar voice said behind the pair. Meggie and Tanis looked over their shoulders to discover their friends Yara and Starlight behind them, their hands pressed tight to the bows behind.

    “What’s going on?” Tanis asked. “How do we get out of this stuff?”

    “We haven’t figured out a way yet.” Starlight admitted. “We have been like this for two days and no matter what we do we cant get this stuff off.”

    “The old woman?” Meggie asked. “She tricked us!”

    “Us too.” Yara admitted. “She’s some sort of witch, and she wants fauns to pull her caravan. We are trying to figure out a way out of this but so far nothing has worked.”

    “This glue is inescapable.” Starlight said in desperation. “It seems like permanent glue.”

    “Permanent glue?” Meggie asked. “What does that mean?”

    “That once you get stuck you stay stuck.” Tanis admitted. “We need to hope that is not the case.”

    “Well, I’m not giving up.” Meggie said as she strained. “I will find a way free or die trying.”

    “Yeah, we can’t give up!” Tanis agreed. “We must defy her in any way we can!”

    “About that…” Yara commented but before she could explain pain erupted from the bars, they were stuck to causing all four fauns to go rigid, lost in the excruciating pain. It went on for only several seconds but it was an eternity to the fauns who could not escape the magical shock. As the shock subsided and the fauns struggled to recover from the pain the old crone removed the magical stone from its place on the rigging.

    “I don’t think I need to explain to the newcomers what happens if you refuse commands do I?” The crone asked.

    “Let us go!” Tanis demanded. “If you don’t, we…”

    The crone raised the stone as if to place it again and Tanis stopped. The crone smiled as she climbed onto the caravan and took the reins.

    “We have to do what she says.” Yara admitted. “As long as we are stuck to this thing, we are completely helpless.”

    “We need help if we are going to break free of this.” Starlight added.

    “We were on our way to meet the others.” Meggie explained. “They will find us and they will save us.”

    “I hope so.” Tanis replied. “And hopefully they have more luck than us and don’t fall victim to the crone’s deception.”

    Yara nodded. “Yeah, the last thing we need is more fauns stuck to this thing.”

    The crone whipped the leads and the four fauns began to push, moving the caravan along the path, helpless to do anything but move forward.

-