The Roselands

Chapter 6

  I was at peace. After the inky blackness had surged inwards, the scene had changed and i was now in my dream paradise. Everything was quiet, I was in a soft warm nest made of bird down, and I could see flowers and fruit strewn around me. If it was a dream, I didn't want to wake up.

   "Hello? Are you ok?"

   A sharp fingernail jabbed me in the eye and I lurched awake. The magic of the dream was washed away and replaced by exactly the opposite. I could hear birds chirping and water trickling. I was laying on a hard packed dirt floor, and the smell of the herbs was still clinging to my nose. I opened my eyes and a set of brown ones were in front of me.

   "Ahhh!" I screamed and reared back, slamming my head into a rock wall behind me. I winced and cupped my head, looking around as I tried to comprehend what was going on. In front of me was a little girl. Actually, a hybrid girl. A tiny hybrid girl. She had the normal shape of a human girl, but sprouting from her hair was a pair of red and black pointed ears. Behind her was a gigantic fox brush which was almost as large as her. She giggled and patted her knees playfully. "Hee hee! You're funny."

   I cocked my head at her and neared her. She was obviously a Focks hybrid, judging from the lack of fur and whiskers, but the presence of the tail and ears. That and her hair was red. I looked around further and noticed we were in a small cave in a hillside. I started inching towards the opening when she leapt in front of me, her tail bristling and her ears erect. "No! Sprite and Dusty said not to let you leave yet."

   I cocked my head at her and sat back, not wanting to upset any strangers yet. "Who's Sprite and Dusty? And what's your name?"

   She giggled and hugged her massive tail to her chest, rocking back and forth. "Sprite is the prettiest girl alive and Dusty is the shyest boy alive. I'm Ginger."

   A smile passed my lips as she rocked too much and fell onto her back, sprawling. She sat up and shook her head, her ears waggling too and fro. "What's your name?"

   I shrugged and played with my shoelace. "I'm Zeek."

   She nodded and then glanced out the opening. "Ooh! Sprite and Dusty are back."

   Judging from what Ginger had told me about these people, I surely didn't know much and so I stood back, awaiting the arrival of the mystery people. When the two people stepped around the opening, my eyes locked on the first one.

   She must've been Sprite because she was indeed the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. Okay, so I'd never actually seen another girl, but she was so pretty. She had red hair that she wore loose around her shoulders. Her green eyes reminded me of my mother's with their gentle sparkle, but unlike my mother's bright green eyes, Sprite's were a deeper forest green. Her smile was very bright along with her fair skin.

   Dusty was rightly named because everything on him looked like it had been rolled around in bright yellow sand. He was blonde with skin that was almost yellow without being unnatural. His hybrid traits were the two pale white horns which sprouted from his temples and the hairy deer legs, still speckled with dots like on a fawn. I recognized the signs as being a Seerdeer hybrid.

   Seerdeers were pale brown deer men who spent most of their time in the deep woods of the Roselands. They had fur up to their waists and their back feet were cloven hooves while they're front feet were hands with only three fingers. Their faces were human like, but they had deer antlers and long tubular ears that sprouted where a humans ears would. This kid couldn't have been older than twelve and Ginger, who was chasing her gigantic tail off to the side, couldn't have been older than three. Sprite spoke first. "Hi. What's your name?"

   "Zeek."

   She cocked her head. "That doesn't sound like a hybrid name I've ever heard of."

   I shrugged. "Well I hear that Zytrey hybrids are pretty rare."

   She gasped. "You're a Zytrey hybrid?"

   I nodded and she glanced at Dusty. "Go tell Leer. He'd want to know. I'll show the new arrival around and get Ginger her exercise."

   Dusty nodded and bounded off, leaping out of the cave and bouncing off the rocks like a mountain goat. Sprite smiled and nodded at me. "Come."

   She left the cave and I followed tenderly, having to step carefully along the rocks. "So how did I get here?"

   She leapt up a rock embankment and I stumbled after her, nearly losing my balance as the flutter of her knee length skirt caught my eye. I couldn't tell what hybrid she was if she was one. Most hybrids were freakish and ugly, but she was awe inspiring with her perfect face and lush body. Her shirt was short and exposed the majority of her belly and that was attractive to me for some unknown reason. "We hybrids are brought here to be given a home away from normal humans. The officials agreed to let us live if we swore not to go near the public again, but why would we. I mean, look at this place."

   She gestured at the area below us and I had to take a moment to pause and enjoy. Waterfalls cascaded down every cliff side and they all led down into a central lake which was surrounded by steep walls on every side. Boats floated across it, holding hybrids of all types inside who were fishing or just relaxing. Caves along every wall held hybrids doing their daily routines such as cooking, sleeping, and playing with children. The waterfalls created a ceaseless rainbow across the entire lake, making it appear like total heaven. "So where is this place?"

   She chuckled and crouched above me like a squirrel, her red hair falling down to hide her pretty torso. "We're beyond the Roselands in a place the Picklets call the Reedlands, but we never call it that. That's all I know because its all the Picklets have told me."

   As she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, I saw just what hybrid she was. The point of her ear said it all. It's a wonder I didn't realize from her name and her beauty. "Your a Faery hybrid."

   She smiled and nodded, wiggling her ears at me. "Of course. Didn't you see my ears before? Now come on slow poke! Catch up!"

   She leapt up the rocks easily, leaving me behind in the dust, staring after her like a love struck fool.