Chapter 2

Popo (pronounced like Dough-dough, but with the P) was walking down to the stream, minding his own business, when it happened. He was caught.

What was distressing to the poor little guy was that any normal sort of trap, one made by man, would have not been an issue. He had been gifted with a little of the fairy magic's long ago- a special gift that allowed for some little shape-shifting, to the ability to escape such man-made traps.

No, this was no ordinary string or rope that held him suspended in the middle of the path. It was tainted with special magic.

No matter what he did, he could not seem to get loose. He tried shrinking to the size of a tree-sprite, the smallest to be found and about the size of a chipmunk. But all it did was cause the noose around his ankle to tighten. He tried shifting into a robin, hoping that it allow him some freedom. Nope.

Going back to his original size, (which was about two feet tall, by the way), did not snap the magical thread as he had hoped; it just seemed to grow to accommodate his size. Whomever had set this trap, and he had a notion of who it was, had known what they were about.

Next he tried the sharp little blade he kept at his belt. It was not imbued with any sort of magic so he hoped it would allow him to cut his way free, but still his noose would not let loose.

And to be honest, he was starting to get a little dizzy hanging in this manner. All the blood rushing to his head had caused his wrinkled little cheeks to redden to the point of making him look like some distorted apple. His green cap, which had fallen the moment he had been yanked upside down sat just below him. It was the only thing that seemed to keep his wild brown hair in some semblance of order. His shaggy beard kept falling into his face; he kept swatting at it till he finally tired of it and just used the little blade in his hand to hack it off. (Well, there went about 30 years of growing down the hole!)

"Dammit, shit, shit, shit!" was his hoarse little cry. (Hey, just because a gnome is fabled to be good, if a little mischievous, does not mean that they don't know how to swear!)

As his frustrations mounted, so did the raciness of his expletives. "Fuck, Cunt, Bastard... Motherfucker, Ass-licking, cocksucking son of a whore!!"

Popo panted as his temper-tantrum came to an end. He had to think! Who knew how long he had before his captor came. And if it was who he thought it was, well... let's just say the outcome would not be good for him.

He had to think.

Gene's tears were spent long before she got to the line of trees separating the edge of her father's property and the forest. About half an hour of hard riding had eased her tears but not the torment in her heart. She knew she had no choice but to give her locket to her wicked sister, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

Pulling up on Disturbances' reigns she brought him to a walk. As much as her beast was game for a wild ride, there was no point in harming him by not allowing him to slow down to a proper pace.

She slowly rode him along the line of tree's looking for a path that was wide enough to allow their passage. She did not come here often, in fact it had been well over two years since her last visit here, but she knew that somewhere in the cool darkness of the forest before her, there lay a sweet and clear spring that would help quench their thirst.

When she had been younger she had been afraid of this forest. The old men in the village used to speak of the witch of the woods; a crone who had been rumored to be about a thousand years old. But as she got older, she came to realize that mayhaps it was nothing more than the mutterings of bored old men looking to scare the children away from the dangers of the beasties in the forest.

Well she was older now, near 18 years old. She knew she was fairly safe in the forest because Disturbance would sense any danger long before she could; besides, he was a fast mount that could outrun many of the forest creatures.

There, up ahead was a fallen log that blocked a hidden pathway.

She clicked at her horse and nudged him with her ankles to get him to enter. Disturbance, always at ease in her presence entered sedately. Picking up the tinkling sound of a spring and the scent of water he forged ahead.

It always amazed her how cool the interior of a forest was. There was no bustling, hot wind kicking up dust as on the roads; there was just a gentle stirring and a cool moist freshness that seemed to linger in the air.

The birds chattered quietly overhead and the smell of clean earth, fresh wood, and cool darkness did much to ease her. When they got to the spring, she jumped off Disturbance and kneeled by the edge of the water. Splashing some of the water on her face she gasped in shocked. It was so icy that it immediately brought forth a rosy flush to her firm cheeks.

This place was heaven!

"Good boy, Disturbance, good boy. Don't leave me now!" she said as she patted her tired horse on his shoulder. He lifted his head from the stream, snorted softly, and butted her gently in the chest.

Gene giggled in delight and gave a good scratch behind his ears. He would go nowhere without her, she was sure.

Letting him return to his drinking she turned and looked around her.

The stream seemed to gurgle up from an up cropping of rocks on the other side of a small pool. From there it headed further into the forest to who knew where. She was temped to follow it a bit but wondered at the safety in that.

This place seemed almost sacred in that there seemed to be a pervasive quiet that lingered in the air. Not an eerie sort of silence, more like the awed peace of some ancient temple.

Pockets of sunshine peeked through the heavy foliage over head and beautiful, moss covered trees seemed to line this magical spring.

Looking back over her shoulder she saw Disturbance standing sedately behind her, watching her; it was almost as if he were waiting to follow her any way she went.

Making up her mind, she decided to follow the stream and see where it would go. The path was narrow but she was game. Her faithful stead did indeed follow its mistress, but where the path would not allow, he would walk through the cool waters of the tinkling brook. Anyone to have seen this sight might have laughed at the absurdity of a horse following behind the girl as if it were trained puppy; but there was a special bond between horse and mistress that made such actions possible.

Walking for a while the forest seemed to open up before them. The deeper they went, the noisier the birds seemed to get. Squirrels bounded in the trees above and the clattering of some unknown species of bird seemed to sing a welcome.

A little further ahead the path opened to reveal a small clearing. Here the water gathered and pooled into a small pond, about 7 feet at it's widest. From there it gathered into a stream again and continued to flow into the darkening forest.

This was a place of sunshine and light. Of peace and tranquility.

Disturbance seemed happy to be back in a wider area and he walked up to the edge of the clearing, by some gnarled oak tree, and began feeding on the young shoots growing there. It seemed that it was as far as he would go, which was fine with her. Looking around she realized she was completely alone; that, to her was a rare treat indeed!

Sitting on some rocks by the water's edge Gene removed her riding boots and lifted her skirts in order to unclasp her rough stockings from the garter belt she wore at her waist. When that was accomplished she gingerly dipped her feet in the water's icy surface and sighed in pleasure. Once you got past the icy chill, the coolness of the water seemed to ease any tightness or pain that was in her feet.

Leaning back on the rocks behind her and closing her eyes, she settled down for a rest. She was happy and, for the time being, forgetful of all her cares.

Popo sat, or should we say hung, as quietly as he could. He had heard the birds singing louder than normal; it was them basically chattering and warning of the stranger in their midst.

Listening for a while he heard them start to settle down again. There was no danger there.

Popo, like many a gnome, had a natural affinity for the creatures of the forest. He could even speak to them, and they to him, but only when they tired of their own frivolous play and deigned to speak to him.

Yes, someone was there, by the water's edge, just around the bend from where he hung. Since the creatures didn't seem to be alarmed, it was safe to guess that whoever had appeared in their midst was not of immediate threat.

If it had been Leah, they would have fled in terror, warning of the witch's presence.

Popo scratched his shaggy head and considered his options: If he made himself invisible and hid from whoever was there, he would remain concealed but he would also remain trapped. If he made his presence know he would be exposing himself, a supposedly mythical creature, to a human; but he might be able to get some help from them and avoid getting caught by Leah.

There was danger at either option: one led to certain death, while the other option might lead to death, but it was not a certainty. Maybe if he was let down by the human, he could try to escape.

Really, there was no choice. He had to risk it.

Clearing his throat, he shouted: "Help!... hello there, I'm in need of some help if you wouldn't mind!... I'm stuck in a trap and I can't get out... HELP!"

Gene's peace was disrupted by the loud cries for help. Quite frankly, she had jumped in fear at the first sound of a gruff cry 'help', but they didn't seem to be coming from a dangerous source. The cries seemed to echo in the small glen, and silence prevailed as the sound seemed to scare the birds singing overhead.

Looking at Disturbance for reassurance eased her somewhat. All he did was lift his head and stare for a second at the direction of the voice. He tilted his head and listened for a couple of seconds. Shaking his head and snorting he turned back to his sweet shoots and continued to munch.

'Well, that means something', she thought. Disturbance was not known to care for strangers. In fact, she would not have been surprised if he had turned to her and signaled danger, regardless of who it could have been. His quiet dismissal actually spoke volumes in this particular case. 'If he's not scared, there is absolutely no danger!' she thought.

"Hello!!... Please help... I've been hanging here for quite a long time... I'm stuck", came the voice again.

"Yes... ok... I'm coming!", she shouted.

Forgetting her hose and boots she stood and slowly made her way to the edge of the clearing. There, almost hidden was a path that led into the forest. Not forgetting to replace her unneeded spectacles, she proceeded forward. There was no point in letting some unknown hunter, or whoever was stuck there, see her without her bespectacled façade.

Pushing a couple of branches out of the ways, she sought the source of the voice.

"I'm here... just ahead...", cried the voice.

"I'm, ah, I'm coming... hold on", Gene replied.

The path seemed to open a bit and then swivel to the left. Rounding the corner Gene was brought up short at the sight before her. "What the... ???"

There, in front of her was a tiny little man hanging, by one leg, from a string or rope of some sort. The little man's other leg sort of dangle perpendicular from the other and the arms laid limply by his shaggy brown head, pointing towards the ground. He wore little brown boots or shoes, brown baggy leggings and a sort of dark greed tunic and matching vest. His wrinkled little face was beet-red, at least the part she could see over his shaggy beard. By his dangling hands on the ground, just out of reach, lay a little cap or hat thing that seemed to match the tunic; next to the hat was a pile of shaggy hair that she recognized as having been hacked off his beard.

"Well lass, are you just going to stand there with your yap open, or are you going to put me out of my misery and let me down?" cried the little man when she stopped in her tracks and stared at the sight before her. She had heard the voice of a man before, one that sounded fairly uncomfortable, but a man, a full-size man at least, nonetheless. The gruff, deep sounding, voice that had beckoned her before had no business belonging to a person of such small stature.

It has to be said that Popo had been equally shocked when he had first heard her reply to his cries. He had been expecting a man, a hunter perhaps, to have wandered this far into the forest. He was, after all, rather deep in the woods were there were known to be a few dangerous animals such as wolves and warthogs. Whoever heard of a maiden wondering the forest alone? Especially such a young one as the lass that came into the path! That boded well for him though, because he knew he could easily escape her when he got down. Besides, girls didn't kill for the sake of killing; they were rather squeamish about that sort of thing. At least that is what he remembered from his past life; things couldn't have changed so much in the last couple of hundred years or so since he had been cursed!

"Yes... I'm sorry... I was just surprised! I wasn't expecting a... Uhmmm... ah... I wasn't expecting you!" Gene ran up to him and hefted him up so that the little man's weight was no longer on the one leg. Cradling him like a big child, for that was the size he appeared to be to her, she sought a way to release him.

"Do you have a knife?"

Popo groaned as the blood in his head tried to gush back into his tingling body. "Ah... thank you for that... yeah I do, but it won't work. You'll have to try something else".

"Oh... umm... ok... hold on". Gene thought for a second and whistled for Disturbance, the shrill sound of it making Popo's ears ring and his head ache. 'What is the daft girl doing whistling like that?', he thought to himself.

Not too long after, the sound of branches snapping and foliage being stirred was accompanied by the clomping of a horses' hooves coming in their direction.

Popo was scared for a second till he realized that it was a lone horse and not a horse and rider that was coming towards them. At least he didn't have to worry about any more pesky humans coming. He was shocked at the size of the beast that came crashing into the path. It was enormous, and not just because of his own miniature stature, this was prime horseflesh! He was suitably impressed since he had once been an expert at that sort of thing.