//------------------------------// // 2,000 Years, 200 Days Ago // Story: Tales From Blackwood Forest // by Robobrony //------------------------------// 2,000 Years 200 Days For about two months now, Bright Horn, my self-appointed guardian, had also become my magic teacher, he began to teach me about my magic abilities, helped me learn what I could do and how to do it, unfortunately, he wasn’t knowledgeable on my shadow magic, but I controlled shadows the same way I did magic, so as I learned magic, I was able to learn more of my shadow walker powers. Or rather, I was getting better at controlling them, I remembered seeing what a shadow walker was capable of from watching my tribe when they were still around. All Bright Horn could do was cheer me on as I figured out how to control the shadows, a basic ability from the shadow walker tribe was hiding and blending in with the shadows so as not to be seen, it was simple enough and I picked up on it fairly easily. I was able to meld myself into a shadow of any object that cast one, or sink into my own shadow and move across the ground, I also found it easier to form those shadow tentacles and make them do what I wanted. The whole time though, one thing still plagued my mind, the only real friend I made, the one I left behind in that troll village, Og. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him, was he ok, did his father figure out that he let me escape, how was he being punished? I had already told Bright Horn all about what happened between me and the trolls, and about how I wanted to go back and at least make sure Og was all right one day. The day finally came when I had enough of waiting till I was strong enough to take on a troll. “I’ve had enough of waiting, I can’t just sit here anymore while my friend could possibly be suffering.” I said to Bright Horn as I paced back and forth in front of him. “But Nightshade, you don’t know where the troll village is.” Bright Horn said to me. I turned and looked at him with a scowl. “No, but you do, you found me out there near the village and was able to bring me back to my own village, so you can take me there.” Bright Horn objected. “Forget it Nightshade, I’m not about to let you go back there and let yourself get caught just so you can try to save a friend and become a pet again, you are the last of your kind, you shouldn’t be a prisoner of a bunch of trolls.” I protested more. “Og is my friend, he’s the only one out of that village that cared about me, other than that troll shaman, and I’m not about to just forget about him, if you won’t take me to the troll village, then I’ll just go find it on my own.” Bright Horn Narrowed his eyes. “Nightshade, I can’t let you do that.” “And are you going to stop me, I can just sneak out while you’re sleeping and head off to try and find the place, one way or another, I will find that place and find my friend. It was then that my shadow double appeared and decided to throw in his opinion. “But Nightshade, what about those spirit wolves, you can’t out run those things, it’s too dangerous.” I glared at my double. “You know as well as I do that Og could be in serious trouble and I am not about to give up on him, I don’t care how tough those trolls are, I just want to see if he’s ok, I’ll sneak in, look for him and talk with him, then sneak back out, they won’t even know I was there.” “And what if he’s not ok, what will you do then, there’s no telling what Grog did or is doing to punish Og, if he is being punished.” “Of course he’s being punished, we know how mean Grog is, he is most likely taking his anger of me getting away out on Og, we have to go there and see if he’s ok, and if need be, Rescue him.” Bright Horn gave a sigh. “You’re really not going to let this go are you?” I smiled at him. “Nope, besides, with my new ‘shadow sneak’ ability, those trolls won’t be able to hold me even if they see me.” My double gave me a look. “You’re really going with that name for it?” “Come on, even you have to admit it sounds cool.” He smiled back at me. “OK, yeah it does.” Bright Horn took a moment to think. After about a minute, he finally spoke up. “All right, I’ll take you to the troll village, but JUST to see how your friend Og is. I can’t follow you in if the place is as locked up as you say it is, so you have to PROMISE that you won’t make yourself known, not even to your friend, no matter what.” He emphasized. I put my left hoof up to my barrel and promised. “I promise that I will not make myself known to any troll.” My shadow gave a disappointing shake while Bright Horn had his eyes on me. My shadow then faded out and me and Bright Horn began our preparations to make our way to the trolls. Bright Horn and I walked for quite some time before arriving at the troll village, just like I remembered, it was surrounded by those, wooden posts with the sharp points at the top, there were two troll guards outside with spears guarding the gate. Me and Bright Horn were hiding Behind a large Bush a ways away, but we still spoke in a whisper. “All right Nightshade, here we are, now remember, just sneak in without being noticed, find your friend and make sure he’s ok, then sneak back out, no matter what you see, if he isn’t in a good condition, you are to come back here and we’ll head back to your home, understand?” “I got it already, sheesh.” I then stepped back from the bush and focused on my shadow magic, I sunk into the ground of my own shadow and could now slink along unnoticed. Bright Horn kept his eyes on me the whole time I did this until I snaked my way slowly out of the bush and off to the right side of the troll guards. They kept their eyes forward as I snuck my way up to them and managed to get under the front gates. I snaked my way to the first troll I knew I could count on to keep my presence a secret, Leon, the shaman troll, he and I had become friends during my time in the village thanks to Og, I figured I could find Og faster if Leon told me where he was, just in case he wasn’t where I figured he might be. I managed to sneak through the village unnoticed as I went from shadow to shadow, making my way to his tent. It didn’t take long, I reached the tent and saw Leon sitting in front of a little fire in the middle of the tent, I crept around to his left and made my presence known by speaking in a whisper, just in case. “Psst, Leon.” I accidentally startled him. “WHA, HUH, who’s there, hello?” He jumped up and frantically looked around his tent for the source of my voice. I was still hiding in a shadowy part of the tent, I emerged from my own and stepped forward into the light of the fire. “Leon, it’s me, Nightshade.” I said as I looked up at him. The old troll gave me a surprised look. “Nightshade, is that you? What……what are you doing here, how did you get in?” I smiled up at him. “Of course it’s me, how many shadow walkers do you know huh?” I asked jokingly. “I learned a new trick that let me get in here, I came by to see you, and ask if you knew where Og is, I don’t want to waste time looking for him in this place. Can you tell me where he is?” Leon’s expression dropped. “Nightshade, it isn’t good, you shouldn’t have come back.” My expression dropped then. “What, why not, aren’t you happy to see me?” He gave me a sad smile. “I am, but I’m afraid you won’t like what you see if you go to Og, it’s best you leave or you’ll get caught again.” He frowned again. I gave him a determined look. “Hey, I didn’t come all this way for nothing, where is he, is he ok? Come on Leon, you’ve got to tell me, I’m not leaving until I see Og.” Leon sat back down. “All right, but you’re not going to like what you see. I should warn you that Og was indeed punished, in fact, he is still being punished, for your escape.” I became worried at this statement. “Still, what do you mean still being punished?” “Just what I said, Grog was furious at your escape, Og tried to lie and say he didn’t let you out, but Grog didn’t believe him, so now, Og is being punished for letting you escape, or so Grog says is what happened. Tell me Nightshade, DID Og help you escape?” I looked down and to the side in sadness. “He…..he did, he let me out the night before the day I was gone, he snuck out in the middle of the night and let me out of the cell and told me to fly away, so…..I did.” I looked back at Leon. “And now he’s being punished for helping me? Well I won’t stand by, there must be something I can do.” “And what, pray tell, can a little shadow walker like you do to help Og, you can’t fight chief Grog, or any of the trolls, your too little.” I gave a stern look to Leon. “I’ll think of something.” Before Leon could respond, I sank back down into my shadow and zipped out, I decided that I couldn’t waste time and zipped around as fast as I could to try and find Og, the first place I thought to look would be his house. I ducked and hid in every shadow along the way to keep from being seen. It didn’t take long for me to find the place, and what I saw from my hiding spot in the shadow of a tree just a few feet away from the house was terrible. Og was tied up to a pole with his wrists bound and strung up with his back facing the pole, he looked beaten and bruised. He had marks all over his body as he hung there, he was on his knees with his eyes closed, there was swelling just above his right eye. I couldn’t believe what I saw. His head was just hanging there looking down at his own shadow. This gave me an idea on how I could talk to him without being noticed. I carefully made my way over to him and blended myself into his shadow, he had his eyes closed so he didn’t notice me. I manipulated the shadow just enough so only my eyes could be seen by Og from his point of view. “Psst, Og.” I whispered. His head shot up and his eyes shot open. “What, who’s there?” He asked as he looked around. “Shhh, keep it down, or the others might hear you.” Og looked down at his shadow and finally noticed my eyes. “Nightshade, is that you?” He whispered. “Of course it’s me, who else do you now with my eyes.” Og seemed surprised. “But, how are you doing that, what’s going on?” I decided to try and keep my answer simple. “Let’s just say I learned a new trick, what happened to you Og, you look terrible.” Og began to whisper with worry. “Nightshade, you shouldn’t be here, you got to get out of here before my dad finds out you’re here, if he catches you again,” I cut him off. “He won’t be able to keep me prisoner anymore, thanks to this new trick I picked up, I can hide and slink in the shadows, I call it my ‘shadow sneak technique’, pretty cool huh……..never mind that, I got to get you out of here.” “No Nightshade, you can’t, you have to leave, I’ll be fine.” “You call this fine?! Og, look at you, your tied up, covered in bruises, with a swelled eye, you are not fine, this is all my fault.” I said sadly. “This is not your fault Nightshade, I’m the one who let you out, it’s my fault for letting you out.” “And I knew you would get punished for it and I left anyway when I should have stayed. I’m so sorry Og.” Og tried to give me a comforting smile. “Like I said, it’s not your fault Nightshade, now get out of here before my dad finds you.” I gave Og a stern look. “I am not leaving you like this, I have to do something.” I then emerged from Og’s shadow and made my way up to his bonds. Og cried out in a hushed tone. “Nightshade, what are you doing, get out of here before someone sees you.” I grabbed the rope on Og’s wrist as I spoke through the rope. “I ot eving u Og.” I began to chew at the ropes in hopes of freeing him. “Nightshade, what do you plan to do once I’m free huh, I can’t go with you, this is my home.” I stopped my chewing to speak. “Your home? Didn’t you say a home is where someone cares about you, this place is not a home Og, your dad is hurting you for letting me escape, that doesn’t sound like he cares to me.” “He’s just……well, look, the fact of the matter is he’s my dad, and this is my home, I can’t just leave.” “Come on Og, we can look out for each other, I’ve been doing just fine on my own for a while, besides, I got a new friend that can help us, he’s,” But before I could finish, a lasso went over my head and around my neck, it tightened and made me rear up. “GAH!” Og cried out if fear. “NIGHTSHADE!” The rope started to pull me backwards, I was forced to turn around as I struggled against it, the troll that held the rope dragged me as I tried desperately to push away with my hooves. The troll stopped pulling and smiled at me. “Well lookey what we have here, the little shadow walker.” Chief Grog then emerged from behind the troll holding the rope. “So, you came back did you, I figured you would, since you and my son are all buddy buddy, just how did you get in here without my guards knowing?” I smirked at him. “Your guards are lousy, that’s how.” Grog’s smile faded after that. “Still got that mouth on you I see, tell me, why did you come back? For Og, to make sure I wasn’t hurting him or something?” I then glared at him. “How could you do this to your own son, you heartless monster?!” I declared. Grog stepped closet to me and spoke. “Listen here little one, I am the chief, I have to maintain a look of control, if even one of these trolls step out of line, they need to know there are consequences, even if that someone is my own son.” I then thought of something that might help Og’s situation, I gave a smirk to the troll chief. “Listen here booger brain,” The chief snarled at me for my insult, “Og didn’t let me escape, I got out on my own.” “HA, yeah right, you really expect me to believe that?” The chief laughed. I kept my smirk as I answered. “Of course, I managed to pick up a little trick while I was here, a dose of my shadow walker powers that helped me escape, Og didn’t let me out, I got out on my own.” “Oh really, and tell me little shadow walker, what is this little trick you picked up that let you escape?” “Keep your eye on me, now you see me.” I quickly sunk down into my shadow and the rope around my neck was left on the ground. “Now you don’t.” I then darted around quickly and circled the area as a demonstration, I could see the shocked and confused expression on the chief and the other troll that roped me. “HAH, you can’t get me now meat head.” I then circled around Og a couple times, stopped at his side, and emerged again. I smirked bigger at the chief as he looked on in more shock and confusion. “Well chief, you can’t keep me locked up anymore, I can slip out of anything you put me in, so as you can see, you are punishing my friend for nothing, now I suggest you let him go and I’ll be on my merry way, OH, and one more thing, I’ll be stopping by every now and then to hang out with my friend.” Grog’s expression was priceless, he gritted his teeth, his head seemed to be shaking with fury, then he let out a shout of anger. “GGGGRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! YOU LITTLE PEST, HOW DARE YOU!” But then his mood seemed to shift quickly as he began to smirk. “hm hm hm, I think I know what to do now.” He chuckled in a way that made my smirk disappear and turn to a frown. “What are you laughing at Grog, you can’t keep me a prisoner anymore, I can just slip out, remember, I just showed you what I can do so why are you so happy?” “Because little one, if you want Og to be unharmed, then you have to agree to stay in this village as my pet, if you don’t, I will continue to make Og suffer like this.” “WHAT, DAD HOW COULD YOU?!” I heard Og exclaim from behind me. “QUIET OG, you have done enough, this isn’t about just keeping him as a pet anymore, this is about winning, and I intend to win.” I couldn’t believe it. I glared at Grog. “You….You really are nothing but a monster, I can’t believe you would threaten your own son like that!” “Well, little one, what’s it going to be, stay as my pet, or leave and let Og be punished like this?” Grog asked with his arms crossed and a sly look in his eyes. “I….I….” I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t want to be trapped here again, but I couldn’t leave Og. “Nightshade, just fly away, I’ll be fine. Don’t let Grog trap you like this.” Og said from behind me. I looked back at Og. “I can’t just leave you like this, I left you before, I’m not about to do it again.” “Nightshade.” Og said quietly. I looked back at the chief. “Well little one, what’s it going to be?” He asked. I hung my head and closed my eyes. What could I do? Could I really give up my freedom for the sake of my friend, or could I just leave him so I would be free myself? What could I do? I sunk into my shadow and sped off.