Tod pushed on the round doorway with all his might as the cold wind rushed through the partly open door. The snow plastering itself into the room. With a loud thud the door finily closed with a click, the latch taking hold. Tod pushed back his hood and perked his pointed ears. Looking for Glenda. "Hey Glenda, I got the wood for the fire!"
Glenda poked her red fox face out from a back room. "That is find Tod. Do you think you could go out and get the potting soil from Freasures farm down the road?"
Tod just looked at his mate. "No. What would you need with that stuff this time of year! Tiss 40 bellow outside at least."
Glenda grinned. "Oh.... I was going to grow a flower with that heat lamp you got me for my birthday silly."
So Tod went out into the cold and the snow once more, and headed for Freasures farm. But the blizzard was stronger now, and he soon lost his way and wandered aimlessly through the forest. He realized that if he didn't find a hole and curl his warm fuzzy tail around himself soon, he'd freeze to death, but in either case Glenda would be furious with him.
Just then, a magical glowing fairy appeared before him. "Tod fox, what are you doing wandering about in this snowstorm? You shoud be curled up nice and snug in your home on nights like this."
"My mate wants to grow flowers," Tod said, "So she sent me out for some potting soil, so she can use the heat lamp I gave her for her birthday."
"That will never work," said the fairy, "But I know what might."
The tiny figure of the fairy, who's strangely pointed nose and funny brushy tail made her species a matter of wild conjecture to Tod, waved her little magic wand in the direction of a large hollow log half-buried in the snow perpendicular to a small rill cutting across the forest floor like one long stairstep. "Crawl inside that log, there, and get out of the snow, and I promise you that you'll find just what you need to make Glenda's floral fantasies come true, even now in the depths of winter."
Tod shrugged his shoulders, shiveringly, and decided to go ahead and do what the fairy suggested. Admittedly, a part of him was a wee bit skeptical that he wasn't just having some sort of hypothermia-induced mental lapse, but on the other hand he had little to lose by getting out of the storm for a while. He trodded through the drifts to the log, and looked back to where he'd been, to ask the fairy just one little question, and saw that she was gone.
Shrugging his shoulders, and feeling a bit uneasy, and perhaps a little foolish about what he'd thought he'd seen, he knelt down to crawl into the log. He was just poking his nose into it, when suddenly he was blinded by a brilliant light pouring out of the ragged opening, like coming out into the noonday sun in the middle of July from the bottom of a thousand foot deep mineshaft. Tod started back reflexively, but something about the light drew his paws to keep crawling forward into the log.
The fox's tail disappeared into the log, and the light pouring from the rotting old tree snapped off like a switch. And inside the light, inside the log, but not, Tod stood up, surprised to find he could, and look around dazedly. Whatever he was supposed to find in here, finding it might take a while... There seemed a whole other world for it to be hiding in.
Around Tod was a room filled wiht a hundread crystals. Each one more wonderous then the next. Mountains of gold were piled hight on each side of him. Coins from Rome and Greece. Britain and China. Chests of gems the size of his fist were overflowing in a corner. On the walls were swords and axes three times his size. With more gems on them then he could and would even try counting. "Damn fairy. There isn't any potting soil in here." Tod brushes his jacket off, sending showers of snow onto the gold bar floor.
"Ye who enters here will only come for that that they seek. No more must be taken or death will come to the one that takes what is not theirs.
Tod blinked and looked around the room for the voice. "I just want potting soil to make a flower grow in the winter."
A bolt of light shot to a doorway. Dust and cobwebs covered the opening. As if it had not been used in a million years. Tod shruged and followed.
Tod padded cautiously throug the doorway into a narrow tunnel dug through the dirt. The walls were riddled with tree roots, and sometimes one would emerge from the ceiling to root in the floor, blocking his way. But he knew that the soil he was looking for wasn't the dirt of the tunnel, because it was just ordinary dirt, and wouldn't let a flower grow in the winter. Besides, it had too much clay and rock content, and he could smell fungal spores.
So he made his way down the tunnel until it sloped up and emerged from a dead tree trunk, and poked his nose out to look around.
"This is where I'll find something to make flowers grow?" Tod asked, looking around at the scene of devastation. There had once been a lush forest here, that he could tell, but it had long since been reduced to ashes and mud, with the blackened skeletons of trees sticking up like horrible skeletons. Worse were the spiderwebs everywhere, which told him that this wasn't a recent fire. The forest *should* have grown back by now.
Tod squeezed out of the tunnel and looked around for any landmark. While the ash of the forest floor should have been a good soil for plants, he wasn't sure that it was what he came for. Something had to be wrong with it for the forest to still be dead.
So he looked around, but the only thing he saw was a dark castle in the distance. Not knowing what else to do, he headed for it. Maybe the inhabitants would be able to help.
Tod started walking through the bleak forest, the ash on the ground crumbling under his feet, and staining his furry ankles an elephant gray, while his toes squooshed through a clinging yellow mud. The bare bones of the trees stood eerily still, and Tod strained his ears to hear even a single distant chirp of a bird, or the rustle of a squirrel or field mouse. Nothing.
The dark castle on the hill was growing near as the sun, such as it was, being nothing but a slightly yellower indistinct orb on the other side of the blanket of gray smog which blanketed the sky from horizon to horizion, dipped slowly out of sight behind a ragged mountain range not far to the west. Tod's ears perked when the black sillihoutte of the fortress was pierced by the yellow light of a candle appearing in one of the tower windows, and then another, winding its way down from the peak to the wall. At least someone was home, anyway. And maybe they'd be kind enough to tell him where he could find the perfect potting soil, and let him go home from this forsaken woods. After all, it was nearly teatime.
If Tod had picked just that moment to look behind him, he might of, if he'd looked just right, been able to see a small spot of the ashes on the trail behind him collapse, as if stepped on by a large but light foot. But he wasn't looking that way, and even if he was, he wouldn't have been able to see that foot. Or the other one. Or even what they were attatched to, as it followed him silently on his way. Drawing closer...
After the long walk Tod finily made it to the Fortress. He looked up at the tall doors. There was a iron Knocker just above his head. He reached up for it with both paws and thuded it into the huge door. "Hello there! Is anyone home?" A moment later both door opened on their own. At least Tod thought so. If he had looked up he would have seen the dust on the handle far over his head get brushed aside in the shape of a hand.
Inside was dull and grey as Tods Red Fur shone in the room like a lantern. "Is anyone home?"
*slam!*
Tod blinked and looked behind him. The doors had closed just as quickly as they had opened. "Wierd place."
Hissss.. "You are a foresssst dweller." Soft matalic sounds rushed over stone. Tod turned to see a serpent. It was only ten feet tall where it had lifted the first third of its body off the ground. "It'sss been a long time from lassst I have seen one of your kind."
Tod perked his ears. "Hello there. I was told that you might know something about potting soil?"
The surpent darted closer, looming over Tod. He backed up a little, he was uneasy having to look up at the surpent. "Where are you from foresst dweller?"
"Mertalwoods. It is a very nice place."
"Mertalwoods?" The Surpent darted back.. its eyes narrowing. "Thissss isss mertalwoodssss.... From you the passst or future be foxsss....."
"I'm -- I'm from the present," Tod said. "And I hope this isn't the future. But the fairy and the voice said I'd be able to find potting soil here. To let Glenda grow flowers in the winter."
The serpent stared at him, hissing softly to itself, then after a second replied. "Not here after our presssssioussss be you, then, eh? Jusssst after ssssome dirtssss, eh?"
"Well," said Tod, "I've come such a long way, I expected it to be magic dirt. Do you have any, or should I look somewhere else?"
"Ssssooil we do not have, little foxssss. Light we gather, in our presssiousss- s cryssstal, and bassssk in itsss warmth. If you are not here to sssteal the cryssstal, we could ssshow you."
The serpent stared into Tod's eyes intently, and Tod nodded, unable to speak. As if hypnotized, he followed the serpent deeper into the fortress.
The serpent lead Tod to the base of the tower he'd seen from outside the castle, with the lights in the windows. The inside of the shaft of the tower was empty, save a long winding staircase that clung to the inside of the tall stone tube, winding up into the darkness above, and, curiously, winding down into the ground below. The pit, unlike the tower, glimmered with a flickering light at its far end. And into the pit the serpent led Tod, encouraging him along with an occasional hissed promise that he would be most impressed, yeeesss, moost impressssed, at the things he would see.
After winding what seemed like miles down into the earth, Tod and his strange host arrived at a large stone archway in front of a cobbled stone yard, at the center of which bubbled a strangely carved stone fountain, featuring a strangely intriging figure of something that looked a bit to Tod like a very large rabbit, but with a long, thick tail, and a deer's slender face, pouring endlessly from a strangely adorned water pitcher into a large bowl adorned with more odd figures. But by far the strangest feature of this little courtyard deep in the bowls of the earth was the warm, soft light illuminating the scene, and the beautiful greenery growing in lush but well maintained splendor from every patch of soil to be found, in flower boxes along the walls, and stone trenches gilding the path to the fountain... Even the fountain itself sported blooming water lillies in the calm edges of the flow, with small brightly colored fish nibbling at their edges.
"Sooo, Foreest creeture. You see what my criistalls, my glorious criistals can doo?" the serpent hissed at Tod, obviously quite proud of its little hidden grotto.
Tod blinked, and looked up at the serpent. "But, uhm, I don't see any crystals here. It's quite lovely, but..."
The serpent, obviously quite annoyed, rolled his eyes, and pointed up to the ceiling of the cave, where, hanging quite inconspicuously by a little silver chain, hung a small yellow crystal. It seemed quite an ordinary little bit of glass, just looking at it the first time, but then you realized that all the warmth and light, that feeling of standing in the sun on a warm, crisp spring day, mysteriously seemed to come from just that spot. "There it is, foooolish creature. And that's just one... coome."
Tod looked up at the glowing crystal and grinned. "It is very nice sir. I have never seen anything like that." As he turned to follow the surpent he couldn't help be see that at the heart of the little crystal was the reflected image or a skunk. So perfect that it almost looked real to the eye. Tod shruged it off and followed.
"Here are more of the cyrssstalessss...." The surpent pointed his nose at a shelf where more then a hundread of them were sitting on soft silk. They were each more lovly then the next. Inside each of them was the shape of some animal. "These... these are just wonderful. I must say your collection is more then I could have ever imagined. How did you find ones with animal shapes in each?"
Hisssss.... "You likessss? I have sssssso manysss more. I thinksss I will getsss a new one todaysss. You like to sssee? Showsss you I willss about the shapesssss."
Tod nodded and followed the surpent. Quite happy. "Even if I don't find that potting soil I am truelly enjoying this trip."
"Yesss forest dweller... enjoysss to ssseess you. Forss a longsss time."
Tod cocked his head. "Really? You are to kind. But I just can't stay to long. My mate will be worried about me.
The snake led Tod into another room. The walls of this room were coated with softly glowing purple crystals, much too dim to provide any light... but the serpent and Tod seemed to glow brightly enough. The serpent was a shimmering glowing squiggle, while Tod's fur was brighter than he'd ever seen it, brighter even than Glenda's had been that day he met her last spring, with the setting sun illuminating her like a halo... yes, it was brighter than that.
"These... these are your crystals?" Tod asked. He peered closely at a crystal, but there was no shape inside.
"Ah, but look at thissss one," the serpent said, breaking a crystal off the wall and holding it towards tod. As the serpent held it, it slowly began to glow more and more brightly. "Take it, foxsss... a gift to keep foreverssssss."
Tod reached out to take the crystal, but then stopped, at a sudden thought. "Oh, I think you have the wrong crystal, serpent. This one doesn't have a shape inside it at all!"
The serpent hissed, annoyed, "It will, it will, trusst me." The crystal was glowing quite brightly now, and the strange glow of the other crystals was drowned out. "If it doesssn't worksss you can have another."
Tod reached out to take the crystal again, then pulled back his paw. "How long do these crystals last? Will it last long enough for Glenda to grow a flower? The voice warned me not to try to take back anything but what I'd come for, and I don't want to be gobbled up by some invisible monster because I took the wrong crystal."
"It will lasssst forever," the serpent said, looking away from the crystal, which was now really too bright to look at. Tod held up a paw to shield his eyes. "If you don't wantsss it, then forget it."
"No! I want it," Tod said, reaching for the crystal, slowly, then pulled his hand back again. "Or, no, wait..."
There was a sudden blinding flash, and then the room was as it was before, except that the serpent was nowhere to be seen, and a small, brightly glowing crystal rested in the floor in the middle of the room.
Tod look around for the serpent, wondering where he'd gone, and shrugged his foxy shoulders. Folks just seem to come and go rather strangely around here. "I guess he needed to be somewhere. Oh, well. It was nice of him to show me around. I can prolly find my own way out, I guess..."
Tod, almost forgetting, stopped before leaving and knelt down to pick up the crystal that sat before him on the floor, and gazed into it. "Oh, I guess I was wrong. It does have a picture in it. Neat. I guess maybe I should take it. Glenda really will like it." And with that, he pocketed the little gem, the warmth of it in his pocket being quite cheering, and started back out the way he came.
Tod, now being worried that it was indeed getting quite late, scurried through the courtyard without even a glance, and started the long climb up the stairs, without noticing that the warm yellow light of the room was already fading to the cool purple of the pictureless crystals, and the greenery filling the room so lushly had already started to wilt with the fading of the power of the small chip of stone hanging from the chain, now an empty translucent purple all the way through. Likewise, the crystals in the other room, each formally containing within it a figure of life, now lay cooling back to the solid royal blue of darkest night.
Tod crested the last step of the stairs, and was surprised to see rays of sunshine pouring in through the pinhole windows of the tower high above him. Had he been down under the ground for a whole night? It hadn't seemed so long. Strange. He trotted quickly but carefully through the serpent's castle, not wanting to knock over anything breakable or snag his claws in his host's tapestries as he wound his way through the maze, as that'd be most rude, and soon found his way back to the large door through which he'd entered. Strangely, it hung open just far enough for him to squeeze through, and a lovely spring sunshine poured through the orifice.
Tod, not being the reflective type, scurried out through the door, and faced a landscape a great deal different from the world of ashes and mud that had been here before.
Spread out before Tod was a huge forest with tall green and growing tress reaching for the sky. Grass spread out from where his feet were to the forest edge. A gental and cool wind came from the south and ruffled his fur.
Thousands of people were standing in the grass and looking up at him. They were quiet, almost fearful in there gaze. Staring up at him with something like a mix of hope and fear. It changed a moment later.
Tod almost ducked back into the fortress whent he sreaming and yelling started before he recagnized it for cheering. All of the people out on the grass were leaping for joy. Yelling at the top of their lungs. "The Surpent king is dead! The Surpent King is dead!"
"Oh dear. What is going on here?" Tod put his paw into his pocket... feeling the crystal there for its warmth. He was a little reasured by that and looked around. A skunk walked over to him. She was tall and the fur almost glowed. "Who are you?"
"Tod. I am looking for some potting soil for my mate. She wants to grow flowers in winter."
The skunk looked down at Tod and pointed to his pocket. "What you have there?"
Tod pulled out the crystal. "Oh. Is something the surpent gave me." He held it out to the skunk. A perfect little surpent shape within.
"It should work much better than the heat lamp I gave her for growing plants. But I need to get back, right away, and..." Tod looked around, but the forest was lush and green, and the tracks he'd left in the ashes were long since gone. "Do you know where I can find a hollow stump?"
The skunk turned and asked the animals nearby to look, and they asked the others, and soon everyone was searching, except for the skunk and Tod, as he told her the whole story. Just as he was finishing, word came back that they'd found the little tunnel hidden in a hollow stump, and Tod said goodbye and headed home.
Tod squeezed back down through the tunnel, and didn't notice the crumbling dirt and the roots being shoved aside behind him, because he was busy shoving aside the ones in front of him. Soon he came back to the chamber full of treasures, and headed for the glowing door that he was certain was the way home.
"STOP!" came the voice. "What is that you're taking with you?"
Tod turned towards the sound, then held up the crystal. "It's a magic crystal," Tod said, "It'll help the plants grow. It's what I came for."
"But what about... THIS?" At the last word, a blue glow filled the room, and Tod could see the shimmering form of a hunchbacked rabbit-deer thing, just like the fountain, but with horrible long claws appear out of the air behind him, advancing on him with its mouth open, and full of teeth.
"You can keep it, it's not mine!" Tod yelped, then dived through the doorway.
Tod scrambled out of the hollow log back into the woods. The snow was still going, but he held out the crystal and was able to see enough to find his way home. He finally staggered through the doorway, covered with snow, chilly and wet, but kept warm enough inside by the crystal's rays. "Glenda? Glenda, I'm home!"
"Oh! Tod! I was worried! What -- what's that?"
"It's a magic crystal," Tod said, "It'll give you the light to grow flowers, even in the winter. Much better than that old electric heater. And look, it's got a little picture of a snake inside."
Glenda took the crystal, and stared at it closely, then pounced Tod and hugged and snuggled him. "Oh! It's pretty! I love it! I can't wait to start growing the flowers! Where's the potting soil?"
And so, Tod fox trudged out into the snowstorm, heading for the farm to get some potting soil...