Hey everyone! so this is a short story I've written that takes place before one of the other stories I'm writing but haven't posted on fictionpress. Surprisingly, the other story that this one goes along with doesn't really have that much to do with fairies, goblins, and elves, but whatevs. I've split it into 2 chapters though it's really just one big one, so the end of this page might seem a bit of a wierd place to end a chapter with. Hope you enjoy it (and review)!

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"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Dawn was just starting to break when the startling scream split the tranquil Saturday morning, where a family of six stood around a tree at the edge of the Northern Forest. All of the family members save one covered their ears and ducked as a flock of birds was startled from the trees.

The incredible volume surprisingly came from the smallest in the group, a seven year-old girl in a light blue frock, with golden-orange hair and pink cheeks. Her fists were clenched and her eyes squinted shut with the exertion of her shriek, and after what seemed like ages, she slowly decreased her volume, finally running out of air and panting for breath.

"Tamara! That is not necessary!" the child's mother scolded. "You needn't alert the entire town of our whereabouts so they can send the police after us!"

"Why would they send the police?" the little girl replied, thinking of the flying blue ships the police always used to get places. "I was just screaming for the tree, since it can't scream for itself. Daddy and Benny were hurting it."

"Tammy, the tree has to get cut down," her eldest brother, Ben, told her. "Otherwise we won't be able to sell any more furniture. And the lumber in town is too expensive, so we have to cut our own." He avoided answering the question about the police.

"Yeah, Tammy," twelve year-old Henry piped up from his seat on a moss-covered rock.

"But it isn't fair," Tammy pouted.'

"It isn't fair that you make us deaf, either," Sarah, Tammy's older sister, snapped. Sarah hated getting up in the mornings, and the chilly mist seeping out from the forest just made her want to go back to bed even more, instead of help her family illegally chop some wood for their furniture business.

Tammy crossed her arms and stomped off.

"Don't wander too far while you're off having your little tantrum!" Tammy's mother called after her. "And don't go into the forest—the Plague Witch might get you!"

"Or the goblins!" Tammy heard Henry add excitedly.

"I say good riddance," Sarah grumbled.

Tears welled up in Tammy's eyes as she stormed away angrily. Sarah could be so mean. And Henry was mean sometimes, too. And Daddy and Benny were being mean to the trees. And Mommy was only trying to scare her. There was no such thing as the Plague Witch.

The further she walked, the louder Tammy could hear the crashing waves from the ocean. The Northern Forest was situated high on the cliffs, far away from town, and her family had rented a spider carriage to take them all the way out here. Even though Daddy and Benny had ridden in the driver's compartment of the carriage, the cab had still been cramped, with Sarah taking up one whole end of the carriage to sleep, and Henry and Mommy smashed next to her on the other end. And the four metal legs of the carriage lurched so much, Tammy thought she was going to be sick. It didn't help that with every step, Henry had been jolted against her, and they had almost gotten in a fight several times because of it.

By now, the distant roaring of the sea had calmed Tammy's temper, and her tears were gone. She decided it was time to go back to her family, even though there wasn't much she could do at her age to help them with finding good lumber for furniture.

The forest loomed up beside her as she made her way back through the mist. She could hear the complaints of Henry and Sarah, and the loud chopping sound as Daddy and Benny's axes chopped at the tree. But Tammy didn't want to see the tree die. So she dawdled, deciding to pick some daisies for a bracelet, or maybe even a crown.

But the longer she stayed away from the others, the more the forest on her left seemed to increase in darkness and silence, and Tammy started getting very afraid of it. Yet still, she would not go back until she heard the crash that meant the tree was out of its suffering.

By now, the little girl had made a daisy tiara, three bracelets, and a necklace, but there was still no deafening crash of the hapless tree. In fact, there was no sound at all.

Starting to panic, Tammy hurried back in the direction of her family. The forest was too scary for her to handle being alone anymore.

"Mommy? Mommy, where are you? Daddy? Benny? Sarah? Henry?" The mist thinned out a little, and the spider carriage they had driven over in loomed up before her, cold and empty.

"Mommy? Mommy, where are you? I'm sorry I got angry," Tammy called out again, but there was no answer. Suddenly, she tripped over something hidden in the dewy grass and went sprawling on her hands and knees. Looking back, Tammy saw Daddy's axe glisten through the green blades of grass. But where was Daddy?

Tammy knew she was in the right place—her family had been right next to the spider carriage. But the place looked different. She didn't remember quite so many trees, and the rock Henry and Sarah had been sitting on had seemed smaller before, and not quite so overgrown with shrubbery.

The tree that Daddy and Benny had been cutting was bleeding sap. Tammy examined the wound closely, and watched as it healed before her very eyes. Soon, the only telltale signs of its injury were a few light scratches in the bark.

"Wow," Tammy breathed, awed. But once the tree was done healing, she realized she was still missing her family.

"Mommy? Where are you?" Tammy called out. But any response she might have gotten was muffled in the mist.

Suddenly, a soft glow from further in the forest caught Tammy's eye. It must be Daddy with a lantern, she thought, stumbling after it. Maybe they decided to cut down a different tree instead. But after a few minutes of following the light and not finding her family, Tammy began to worry. What if it was the Plague Witch, like Mommy had said? Or goblins, like Henry had suggested? And who knew what else could be in the forest? Snakes, spiders, wolves, bats…

Tammy shuddered, suddenly very afraid now.

"Mommy…" she whimpered, to quietly for anyone to really hear her. The trees in the forest were getting more spaced out now, and her shoes sunk a little into the soft dirt with every step she took.

The golden light she had been following suddenly grew brighter and came to a stop beneath a gnarled tree up ahead. Tammy could see the silhouette of a person outlined against the light, and stumbled towards it.

"Mommy!" she shouted, suddenly coming to a dead stop as the figure turned, and she realized it most definitely was not her mother. It was tall, with dark ashen skin and long white hair. What Tammy had at first mistaken for a dress was actually a dark blue cloak that fluttered softly in the slight breeze. And the person was wearing leg armor and a breastplate of a dark pewter color, reminding Tammy of the knights from her favorite storybook tales.

"What's this?" a curious voice asked from one of the bushes, and Tammy could only turn to stare at the brown, wrinkled creature that emerged from it. It had a long, hairy nose, and wore a roughly-knit cap over its vibrant green hair.

"A human child, lost and frightened," another creaky voice commented from Tammy's left, and she spun around to find a being similar to the first, grinning to expose a row of shark-like teeth. This one, however, had blood-red hair and a beard, and wore a long necklace of animal bones over its raggedy clothes. Tammy's eyes widened as she saw the necklace, realizing Henry had been right—the goblins were going to get her.

"What should we do with it?" the first goblin asked, standing up from its crouch. Its arms and legs were disproportionally long for its body, yet it was only about the same height as Tammy.

"A little girl, all alone,

In the forest on her own,

What to do with such a delight?

Take her with us into the night!

Put this child into a stew.

That's what I would do with you!" the second goblin cackled.

Tammy could only gape at the creatures, face even paler than normal. With the goblin's terrifying banter, she had completely forgotten about the equally terrifying, silent figure that watched from beneath the glow of the will o' the wisp until it spoke.

"Jashu, Gandar, enough of your talk. This small creature is scared enough without your help," he said in a low, cool voice.

"I—I'm not scared," Tammy stuttered to defend herself, but the wobble in her voice betrayed her, and her eyes got blurry. Where was Mommy? She wanted to go home.

The tall being glided swiftly towards her, but stopped a comfortable distance away when he saw Tammy stumble a few steps backward.

"There is nothing to fear," he said calmly, holding out a dark grayish-blue hand. His movement pushed back his cloak, and Tammy caught a glimpse of a gleaming sword on his belt. She refused to move.

"Its fingers would make such tasty delicacies," the red-haired goblin commented gleefully, biting its nails at the thought.

"Hush, Gandarelicus! Maybe it can be tamed and kept instead," the other goblin, Jashu, said. The early-morning light was starting to intensify and dissolve the chilly morning mist, and Tammy was able to see the goblins a little more clearly.

"Do you have a name, child?" the more human-like of the three strangers asked Tammy. She noticed two pointed ears rising up from his curtain of snowy white hair. An elf.

"Y-yes," Tammy stuttered. "I'm Tammy."

"Such a short name," Gandar shook his head in pity. "Nothing like Gandarelicus or Jashulathine."

"It's not my full name!" Tammy protested, momentarily forgetting her fear at the disapproval of her name. "My whole name's Tamara Lynn Jones."

"You can't have three names for one name," Gandar scoffed. "That's just ridiculous. Tamar-Yn-Joes. Ha! What a funny name."

"That is enough, Gandar," the elf said calmly, turning back to Tammy. "Tell me, how did you get to be in the forest, Tammy?"

"My family was getting lumber so they could make furniture," Tammy explained. "And then they were being mean, so I left, but then I came back and they were gone."

For once, the goblins had nothing to say, simply looking at each other and at the elf in solemn understanding.

"Do you know where they are? Can you take me to them? Please?" Tammy asked hopefully.

"Aw, I'm no good at explaining stuff like this. You can do it, Jashu," Gandar told the green-haired goblin.

"No way! I'm awful at that kind of thing. You tell her, Nilmoladris," Jashu said, tugging his cap over his drooping ears.

"Your family has done something terrible," the elf—Tammy couldn't pronounce his whole name, and could only remember that it started with Nil—told her. He took a few more slow steps in her direction and crouched down to her level. "This forest is protected, both by its inhabitants and by law. Your family decided to steal from it to save money, and the Plague Witch has punished them for it."

Tammy's eyes began to water, and her lower lip trembled. Gandar and Jashu glanced nervously at each other, not comfortable with emotions other than cheer and fear.

"They still live, but not as humans" Nil continued. "They are one with nature now. Perhaps, once they learn their lesson, they shall be forgiven."

"But I miss them!" Tammy cried. "Please, please bring them back!"

"There is nothing that can be done now. They have chosen their fate."

After a moment of tearful silence, Tammy finally spoke again. "So I have to live all by myself now?"

"You can stay with us!" Jashu spoke up excitedly.

"Like a pet!" Gandar added, but upon seeing Tammy's disapproval at the term, quickly rephrased his statement. "I mean, like a friend." He bowed his shaggy red head and scuffed at the dirt with a large, calloused foot.

"Live in the forest with you?" Tammy asked. Nil nodded. "Well, okay, I guess." Truthfully, she was a little frightened at the thought. But another part of her was enchanted by the magical creatures around her, and never wanted to leave.

With those words, the will o' the wisp that had been hovering beneath one of the trees suddenly increased its brightness and floated towards them. As it got closer, Tammy could see that it was actually a luminous, golden butterfly. The insect perched on Nil's shoulder, and in a blink, had transformed into a tiny glowing fairy. Tammy's eyes widened in awe.

The fairy whispered something in Nil's ear, and after a nod from the elf, flew off through the trees as fast as lightning.

Meanwhile, Gandar clapped his hands gleefully, and did a backflip to land atop Jashu's shoulders.

"Then it's decided! This way, this way!" the red-haired goblin cackled. The two creatures somersaulted through the trees as one, and Tammy wondered how they managed to see where they were going and not crash into any trees.

Nil offered a hand for Tammy to take, and the two followed after the goblins and the fairy. As they walked through the trees, Tammy grew aware of a roaring sound that grew louder and louder the further they walked. Soon they came to a rushing waterfall, the water thrumming as it raced over the rocks.

"Over here! Hurry up!" Gandar and Jashu shouted, tumbling back into view. Jashu threw Gandar off his shoulders and jumped up to hang from a low tree branch.

"So slow today, Nilmoladris," Jashu said disapprovingly as Tammy and the elf passed beneath him. "You can fly like the wind, and yet you move at the child's pace."

"Boo!" another goblin with electric blue hair and wild eyes dropped down from the same tree Jashu was hanging from. Jashu gave a screech in surprise and tumbled to the ground, causing Gandar to burst into a fit of mad cackling.

"Hello, Helder," Nil greeted the newcomer.

"Who're you?" Helder asked the young girl at the elf's side.

"I'm Tammy," Tammy said.

"What a peculiar name," the blue goblin replied. "I'm Helderonna."

"She's actually got three names for one," Gandar said, recovering from his laughter. "Tamar-Yn-Joes. But Tammy for short. Just like the elves abbreviate names."

Tammy was about to point out that Gandar was missing several syllables from her name, but the words died on her lips, as she realized Nil was leading her towards an opening in the rock face beside the waterfall. There was darkness for a few long moments, broken only by the muffled sound of the waterfall and the slap-slapping of bare goblin feet following them into the cave. Tammy clutched Nil's hand, not wanting to get lost.