Egg Hunter

Proluge

"Tarka! Wake up!" Shrieked my mother, "Tarka, darling, you need to get out of bed!!"

I blinked, startled, when I saw Mom looking down at me. She was a beautiful elf-woman with long-red hair, and golden eyes. But right now, she was in a panic. As soon as I opened my eyes, she picked me up and dashed out of my room, trailing my blankets behind her.

I passed by one of the windows in our tree house. It was still dark out, but the light of a few scattered fires helped me to see outside...Wait, fires? I blinked, thinking I've seen wrong, but Mom had already passed the window and was heading down stairs to the base of the tree trunk.  I was confused.  We never go down here, because that's where the dryad lives.

"Mommy," I squeaked in my two-year-old voice, "Why are we visiting the dryad, and where's Daddy?"

"Oh...um... don't worry about it right now, okay? Everything is alright. You just get to have a little sleep over with the dryad!"

"Oh," I yawned, sleep sounded really good to me, "okay."

By the time she finnally reached the bottom of the stairs, I was already beginning to doze. Mom passesd me to a young girl dressed in pine needles and tree bark. I gazed up at the girl, somewhat surprised by her green hair, but the dryad simply smiled.

I looked back at my mother, who was also smiling. "Daddy and I love you so much, Tarka, don't ever forget it." She kissed me on my forehead, soft and sweet, leaving the buttery smell of honeysuckle behind. She unlatched a necklace from around her neck and placed around mine.

"There you go. This will protect you from harm, I have no need of it any more."

She kissed me again, this one lasted longer. "I love you darling."

"I love you too, Mommy."

She turns around and goes back up the stairs. The dryad, lays me down in a soft pile of leaves, where I soon fall back to sleep.

I didn't notice that my mother was crying.