Atwater Woods

Prologue: Something in the Woods

          Copyright 2016 by Robert DeSimone Jr.

          Cover Design Copyright 2016 by Artist Ruby DeSimone

         This is a copyrighted work and no part of this book may be reproduced in any form whether electronic or otherwise without written permission from the author.

           *Note: This is a draft. Please excuse any grammatical errors.

           Mortimer watched LeRosse from a tree near the lake where the crocodile dwelled. Mortimer mostly ate insects and since many of these insects were born or lived near the water he had to hunt here while avoiding LeRosse in order to eat as this lake was the only water source in Atwater Woods. LeRosse was the deadliest known creature within Atwater Woods and only a fool or someone very desperate would try to steal food from him and today Mortimer was very desperate.

           The crocodile was enormous and swam idly in his lake, seemingly just as placid as his waters were. It irritated Mortimer to see LeRosse without any worries, without any stressors; Mortimer was constantly in fear for his life and always hungry. LeRosse deserved to be stolen from. He thought about snatching some of the crocodile's reserve food from him when he wasn't paying attention just to spite him, but even in his desperation he didn't think it would be worth the risk.

           LeRosse made Mortimer feel uneasy. Even though Mortimer was almost positive that LeRosse hadn't seen him, he felt the crocodile's presence all around him. LeRosse's sense of ease while he swam in his lake made Mortimer think it might just be a show before the crocodile came for him and snuffed him out. One thing he noticed about the giant crocodile was that his eyes were always moving. So many grisly stories had begun and ended with LeRosse at its center. Mortimer decided he would go down to the other end of the lake away from LeRosse and pick off some insects there.

           Mortimer was a brown myotis bat, a loner and a scavenger. When he wasn't hunting insects, he was stealing from other weaker creatures. Being rather small himself he accepted that he wouldn't put up much of a fight against most creatures within the forest. He had grown up in Sixtrees forest with a colony of other brown myotis bats, but had been banished years ago after he had stolen some belongings from a prominent member of his clan. The brown myotis bat clans were much more forgiving than the bat clans of Atwater Woods who were much more vicious in nature and generally made up of spectral bats. The bats in Atwater Woods would never have issued a punishment as light as banishment; they would have killed him on the spot. Mortimer hated his clan and since coming to Atwater Woods had grown to hate the bats here as well.

           Before Mortimer could fly away he saw LeRosse tense up suddenly. The crocodile then shifted his gaze to the trees directly across from where Mortimer perched. He did this rather slowly though perhaps in compensation for his body swiftly tensing up a moment before. From within the water, the crocodile slowly moved towards the tree.

           Mortimer grew fascinated at what the crocodile could have seen and squinted in the direction of LeRosse's gaze. He saw faint movement from something small behind a tree and then nothing. He kept his eyes glued to the area to see exactly what it was. LeRosse remained still and patient in his waters. The figure moved again to the backside of another tree. All he could make out, however, was some blue coloring. He couldn't even tell if it was fur or scales or something else. Then in an instant the figure disappeared.

           Mortimer tried to figure out what he had just seen. There were only a few animals that he knew of that were blue in color. There were blue birds, blue frogs, lizards that could change their color to blue, and a handful of blue rats. For whatever reason the sight of the figure had sent a chill up his spine, but that perhaps could be attributed to LeRosse's presence. He needed to leave.