Freiyon Fables A Tail To Remember
Chapter Twenty: The Trouble With Trees

“Who are you?” Harriet asked in shock.

“Micklang knows.” The human said.

“I’m afraid I don’t. I haven’t seen a human like you before.”

“Maybe not, but you have heard of a TREE like me before. Perhaps you remember a certain tree named Eucalicta?”

“But … that was AGES ago, and it’s quite impossible that he could be you. I killed him.”

“True enough. But you did not kill his son, and that’s ME.”

“Who ARE you, then?”

“I’m called Eucalita, I am the son of Eucalicta, and ever since you killed my father, I have vowed to get revenge on you. And now I can.”

“Hold on, no-one’s killing anyone until we find out exactly HOW you managed to turn into a human.” Harriet argued.

Micklang turned to Harriet in shock, thinking she WANTED him to be killed, but she gave him a quick wink and he knew they had to bide for time.

“T’is common sense, isn’t it? A talking, walking tree couldn’t POSSIBLY go about in a human world without risk of detection, so naturally when I discovered a way into this world; I managed to turn into a human. However, there are a few … complications with the transformation.” Eucalita replied.

Oliver started chuckling as he looked at Eucalita’s feet, realizing they were still brown colored and had small traces of bark on them.

“Yes, I can see that.” Oliver said, smiling cheekily.

“But that was a small cost to pay for my swift revenge on you, Micklang, the murderer of my father!” Eucalita growled, giving Oliver a vicious look.

“Your father was planning to over-throw Tursorl’s rule, he was trying to be the new chief.” Micklang replied.

“And he SHOULD have been, if it weren’t for your interfering and killing him. But never mind that now, fate has delivered you into my hands, and now I will have my REVENGE!” Eucalita shouted, jumping at Micklang suddenly.

Micklang dodged at the last minute and tried to chop at Eucalita, but only managed to scar the tree-human’s arm.

Eucalita turned around and aimed his gun at Micklang when Oliver knocked it out of his hands with his rudder.

The gun shot off, sending a blast of wood flying in the air. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Eucalita drew a sword from his belt and he started sword fighting with Micklang.

“Frebil, turn sharply in any direction, we’ve got to help Micklang out!” Abrigail ordered.

Frebil made an extremely sharp turn starboard, sending Micklang and Eucalita flying in different directions.

“Otters, swords and rudders ready! Keep that evil thing away from Micklang.” Oliver announced.

The otters surrounded Eucalita quickly and started trying to get him unarmed.

“STOP!!” Micklang shouted suddenly.

All heads turned to Micklang.

“Leave him to me.”

Eucalita smiled evilly and charged at Micklang, sword waving in the air.

Micklang turned and winked at Frebil, who suddenly altered course again, sending Eucalicta flying away again. Micklang rushed over and stood on top of Eucalita with his sword drawn at the tree’s neck.

“Funny, isn’t it, how revenge can make someone so angry? You’re not the only one who suffered from a loss, you know. We all have, in some way or another, but do you see any of us trying to kill the person behind the loss of the one we loved? When will you evil creatures learn that not everything is sorted out by violence? Look, your father wasn’t a hero, he was a villain, and I’m surprised you loved him for that. To be honest, I think you should have been on Tursorl’s side.” Micklang said.

“He was a hero to me.” Eucalita replied, finding (somehow) that Micklang was keeping him pinned down.

“I’m sure he was, as was Oliver’s father to Oliver. But you don’t see Oliver going after the person or creature that killed his father, do you?”

“That’s because he isn’t like me!” Eucalita replied, jumping up suddenly.

Dashing over and grabbing his sword, he swung at Micklang viciously, forcing Micklang to step back a few paces as he fought.

Metal against metal, squirrel against tree-human; none got in their way as they fought, going around all of the ship as they went.

Micklang criss-crossed blades with Eucalita and the evil tree came up close to Micklang’s face and snarled.

“You should have stayed in that zoo of yours, Micklang.”

Micklang felt a rope ladder behind him and knew where it lead. Punching Eucalita hard in the face, he scrambled up the rope ladder to the crows’ nest.

Eucalita laughed as he followed Micklang up the ladder.

“You’re cornered on your own ship, squirrel, how mighty a warrior are you now?”

Micklang swung an unexpected swish of his sword at Eucalita, chopping off a few of the tree-human’s fingers.

Yelling in pain, Eucalita managed to climb the rope ladder slowly, as Micklang finally reached the crow’s nest.

Micklang took a few deep breaths, waiting for Eucalita to show up.

“Micklang, watch out! He’s behind you!” Harriet shouted.

Micklang was just in time to dodge Eucalita’s sword slash as he rolled away.

“Blast!” Eucalita cursed out loudly.

Micklang struck with such force and surprise that Eucalita jumped back to avoid being chopped to bits. A bit too far back.

“YAAAAHH!” He screamed as he fell to the deck below.

Micklang stared down at the figure and breathed a sigh of relief.

Coming back down to the deck, Micklang slowly came forward and prodded Eucalita’s limp body with his sword.

“Is he dead?” Emily asked.

At that moment, Frebil noticed a fog ahead of them and wondered what would happen if they went through it.

“Abrigail, there’s a strange fog just ahead and it’s too big to avoid, should we go through it?” Frebil asked the captain mouse.

Abrigail looked to Emily.

“I see no harm in it. Go on, my good Frebil.” Emily replied.

Micklang was about to object when Eucalita grabbed Micklang’s sword and tried to pull it away from him.

Micklang, however, pulled harder and readied himself for an attack.

“Up on your feet, scum!” Micklang commanded.

Eucalita looked up at Micklang and snarled.

“Why don’t you KILL me, squirrel?”

“Too many times have lives been lost on account of evilness like you, most of those times I have been there to witness everything that has happened. It’s all the same with you evil ones, all you ever want is power or revenge, you just can’t face the fact that there’s more to life than that. I’m not gonna kill you, but I want you out of sight as soon as we come across land.”

Sheathing his sword, Micklang started to walk away from Eucalita.

“You loony! Do you think this is all over because of a few words from you? We’re not finished yet!” Eucalita shouted with rage.

Charging at Micklang, Eucalita jumped up and swung his sword down on the squirrel.

Micklang was only a fraction early, spinning around and blocking the attack as the tree-human came down upon him.

Both swords split in two on impact, but something odd happened when Micklang’s sword split up.

The broken part of the sword started to glow viciously red, while the hilt, which Micklang was still holding, seemed to actually become a part of his hand.

Two red streaks of light flowed out of the broken part of the sword and joined with the hilt, making the sword normal again.

Everyone stared in amazement, including Eucalita.

Micklang smiled with relief as the sword completed its reconstruction.

“Didn’t see that coming.” Micklang said, waving the sword proudly.

Eucalita snarled and jumped away, hoping to grab his gun as an extra weapon.

Micklang immediately jumped onto him, punching him with his free hand.

Micklang then jumped off and pushed Eucalita across the deck, the evil tree landing with a thud next to a cannon.

Micklang put the sword at Eucalita’s neck again.

“I win, and this time I won’t give you another chance. Like I said before, leave now and never show your face again.” Micklang commanded.

“You’re a fool, Micklang. Why won’t you kill me, I’m your enemy. You killed my father, so why won’t you kill me?”

Micklang sighed.

“Because you’re not your father, Eucalita. You can be different from him; you can have a different destiny. I killed your father because I had no choice, he was gonna kill Tursorl and me! Whereas you’re just his son, thinking he was a hero and trying to get revenge.”

“And you’re letting me live because you think I can change?”

“I’m letting you live because you haven’t threatened anyone else, your only quarrel is with me, and you lost the fight twice. My life comes second to the life of my friends, even those who risked THEIR lives for ME.”

At that moment, the ship went through the fog and almost all eyesight was lost, except for Micklang’s, Eucalita’s and Harriet’s.

“Micklang, look, he’s changing!” Harriet exclaimed.

Eucalita was transforming back into his original shape, which meant MAJOR trouble for everyone on the ship, including Eucalita.

Micklang gasped as the tree towered over them, it was even taller than Emily.

“Oh, yes! Now I can really have my revenge!” Eucalita bellowed.

“Oh, no!” Micklang cried.

Frebil was so shocked, he let go of the wheel and backed away from the tree.

“The fog’s clearing!” Oliver announced.

“I think that’s the LEAST of our worries, Oliver.” Abrigail replied, suddenly noticing the real version of Eucalita.

“HAHAHAHAHAAA!” Eucalita laughed cruelly, smashing his arms into the boat’s masts.

“He’s causing the boat to sink; we’ll all be dead if we don’t get away soon.” Brushtail exclaimed.

“OH, YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE WHILE I’M AROUND, PUNY CREATURES.”

“Abrigail, Brushtail, grab the ropes and tie them around his legs carefully, I know how to defeat a tree, I’ve done it before,” Micklang ordered.

Abrigail and Brushtail grabbed what remained of the rope ladders and spun around Eucalita’s legs, avoiding the tree’s swinging arms and stomping feet.

“Great, now take the rope and tie them to the cannons, everyone else, you gotta help with this.”

“YOU THINK THAT WILL STOP ME, YOU PUNY, STUPID SQUIRREL?” Eucalita asked, laughing madly.

Micklang ignored him and helped out with the tying of the ropes.

“Now, everyone stand at a cannon and when I say ‘go’, push all of them into the water,” Micklang ordered.

Everyone got into position, managing to avoid Eucalita’s swinging arms.

“Alright, GO!”

At precisely the same moment Micklang said ‘go’, he was grabbed by Eucalita and pulled up right next to the evil tree’s face.

Oliver and his otters tried shooting arrows at Eucalita, but they didn’t cause any effect.

Micklang struggled to get his sword out while Eucalita laughed cruelly.

“HOW MIGHTY ARE YOU NOW, MICKLANG? YOU COULD KILL MY FATHER, BUT YOU CAN’T KILL ME, WHAT A FOOL!” Eucalita taunted.

Micklang got his sword out and chopped at Eucalita’s fingers, the tree having to let him go from the pain.

Micklang fell to the deck, but Harriet caught him just in time.

“Push the cannons, quickly!” Abrigail ordered, hoping to kill Eucalita before he grabbed Micklang again.

Micklang gave Harriet a quick kiss as thanks and jumped up again, swinging his sword down into the tree’s feet.

“Abandon ship, all of you! Get out of here before he kills you all!” Micklang ordered.

“We’re not leaving you.” Harriet and Abrigail replied.

“That’s not a suggestion, that’s an order. I won’t let him kill you because he wants revenge on me. This is our fight, you have to stay alive, all of you.”

At that moment, the weather kicked in. Micklang’s emotions were having an awful effect on both the sky and the water.

Lightning flashed angrily through the sky and the ship bounced up and down roughly, sending waves splashing on board.

“We’ve got to leave. Micklang is risking his life for us, he wants us to go!” Emily said.

Micklang looked at her and nodded grimly.

“Emily’s right. If you stay, my anger might be the death of you, and I don’t want it that way.”

Harriet had tears in her eyes as she hugged Micklang one more time, before she was pulled away by Oliver.

Everyone jumped over-board, heading for the nearest island, leaving Micklang and Eucalita behind.

Micklang took another look at Eucalita and yelled with rage.

“This is for you, my love, and for all who were my best friends.”

Twirling his sword and jumping up onto Eucalita, Micklang made his final struggle to kill Eucalita.

Roaring with rage and thrashing his arms wildly, Eucalita managed to snap the ropes holding him on the ship.

As the ship sunk into the water, both creatures fought with rage to finish each other off.

And then, they were lost from sight.

Harriet, Abrigail, Brushtail and all the other friends Micklang knew swum to shore and made camp on the beach. Everyone was sad and upset that the one animal that led them, the one creature that helped them, the one squirrel that cared for them deeply was gone and was never coming back.

“I can’t believe he’s really dead.” Oliver said, warming his hands by the fire he had made for them.

“He was loyal to us all, even to the end. He’d prefer risking his life than losing our lives. Truly he was a brave, caring warrior.” Pistachio replied.

“We never got the chance to explore the whole of this world with him.” Harriet cried.

“Aye, Micklang would have wanted us to continue the venture without him.” Brushtail replied.

“He even risked his life to save his daughter, twice! I’m sure Melody will never forget him for that.” Harriet said, looking at the sleeping form of Melody and Harvey.

Everyone sighed as they took one more look out at sea.

Abrigail raised his paws and put it above the flame.

“To Micklang, may his spirit live on forever.” Abrigail said.

“To Micklang!” Everyone said, putting their hands on top of Abrigail’s.

“To Micklang!” Another voice said, putting his paw in as well.

Everyone looked up in surprise. There in front of them, was the drenched, half exhausted, half severely scratched form of Micklang Lightning-tail.

For a few seconds, everyone was totally silent, trying to figure out what they should do. Then Oliver got up and walked over to Micklang solemnly.

“You’re alive! Good for you Micklang.” Oliver said, then he burst into tears and gave Micklang a great, big hug. Everyone ran over and did the same, crying with delight and asking him millions of questions. For which, Micklang could only answer. “Ready for more adventures?”

Micklang found himself being treated to fabulous food, water and healing treatment, everyone was so glad he was alive that they immediately got to work fixing up bandages and medicine for his wounds, with the ever on-going questions of how he survived.

“You certainly gave that tree what it deserved, Micklang, but how did you survive?”

“Let him rest, he’s had a hard fight, you know. But Abrigail does raise a good question.”

“Harriet, your bothering him too much about it, what counts is that he’s alive, isn’t that right, Micklang?”

“Emily, could you please stop standing so close to Micklang? You’re making it almost impossible for me to get food to him.” Micklang chuckled as the commotion continued, wondering how they thought he’d get a word in with their constant interrupting.

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