GLAEDIA Chapter One A Strange Birthday

It was her birthday, she was nine, having so much fun at her party running in the garden with her friends playing chase. They where all laughing and shouting as they charged around, then she tripped and there was a flash of light as she fell forward and,with a bump, landed face down. Lying quite still she waited for the pain, it always hurt to fall, but there was nothing. The first thing that she did noticed was how soft the grass felt, it was long and springy; grass? she thought, this is nothing like the hard concrete in my garden. She looked up to find that she was lying on top of a hill. Sitting up she saw that she seemed to be on an island, surrounded on all sides by a sparkling blue sea, she could hear the call of the gulls from the shore as they circled in the sunlight. Right behind her was a stone, many times taller than her pointing up at the sky. She stood and looked in wonder around her, how had she got here? Where was here? what was going on? So many questions, but no answers. The tall stone was the only thing on the hill and in front of her the ground sloped down to a valley with a bridge over a river, beyond that it started to rise gently until it rose to another high point where it looked as though there might be a town on the side of an even bigger hill. She couldn't be sure but there in the distance was what looked like houses, so, being a curious sort of girl she set off down the hill. For some reason she didn't feel at all scared which was strange as not more than five minutes ago she had been at home and now she had no idea where she was. It was as though she knew a secret but didn't know what it was. This made her laugh, the more she laughed the happier she felt, her heart told her it was o.k., that she was safe. At the foot of the hill she joined a path that ran on through some trees toward the valley. The sun shone and as she neared the trees the sound of bird song reached her floating on the gentle breeze. She heard the music of a whistle weaving in and out of the song of the birds and as she entered the glade of trees she could see in a clearing further down the path that someone was sitting in a patch of sunlight surrounded by birds as they played a merry tune. As she drew closer the music stopped and the birds flew toward her so she stopped and was amazed that they flew around her and some even landed on her. She held out her hands and birds landed all along her arms singing busily as though excited to see her. Laughter joined the bird's song and looking past them she saw that the boy, if that was what he was, was no taller than one of her dvd cases. He was standing now, his face split by a wide smile as he bowed low toward her. Looking very serious, he straightened and, after coughing to clear his throat said, " may love and light smile upon you princess, I, whistling jack of the woodland clan have been tasked to welcome you to the realm of Glaedia and to guide you to your palace." His voice seemed very small but rang clear in the bright sunlit air. Not wanting to be rude she did her best curtsy and on rising said, "thankyou, that's very kind of you but this is my party dress, I'm not a princess, I was at my party and ffoooph! all of a sudden I was up on top of the hill back there." Jack smiled broadly and said, "you might find it easier to understand if you come down here and look me in the eye". "How can I do that ?" she said, but even as she did there she was face to face with him and the words "it's impossible" seemed a little silly since, despite her surprise, she too was no taller than a dvd case.

"I'm called peanut" she said, looking around her at grass as tall as trees and trees as tall as skyscrapers."I know princess" said Jack, "shall we fly to the palace ?". "how can we?" she said. In answer Jack lifted his pipe to his mouth and blew a long shrill trill into the air. It seemed to go on for ages then two huge seagulls came winging along the path and landed in front of them. Both bowed low to peanut and turning to Jack said "you called us whistler?". "Will you carry us to the palace of Glaedia my fine friends ?". "Of course," said one of them, that peanut later found out was called fairwind, "it will be my honour to carry you princess". At that point Peanut gave up trying to work out what was going on, she was going to fly, to fly! The gulls sat on the ground and drooped one wing to allow them both to climb on to their backs, " hold on tight" said Jack, "we're off to the palace". What followed was the greatest ride she had ever known, forget the funfair, this was fantastic. The birds launched themselves off the ground and with a couple of wingbeats rose to about her normal head height and wove their way between the trees following the path. Her tummy was still on the ground as they cleared the trees and with her hair streaming out behind her soared up into the clear blue sky. From this height she could see the whole island with it's coves and cliffs, woodland and moor, far below she saw the bridge over the river pass beneath them and Jack called across to her and pointed toward the hill ahead. Now she could see the town laid out below her, and right at the top of the hill a big building that had to be the palace. Giving Jack the thunbs-up she prepared herself for the landing as they dropped down into the palace courtyard. The gulls landed very smoothly and Peanut slid off Fairwind's back, ran around to his head and gave him a big hug around the neck saying,"thankyou, thankyou, that was so much fun!" If it was possible for a gull to blush he would have done a really good job, he bowed and said "highness, it was my honour to carry you and I await the chance to do so again with joy". "Then you must call me peanut", she said, "as you have taken me higher than anyone else." "That wouldn't be right princess" he said. "Right or not" she said "I insist.""Very well your hi..... sorry, peanut". The birds bowed again and rose together into the sky racing up and up calling loudly to the others circling above, telling them the news,she's here , she's here, they cried. She turned away from the disappearing gulls and looked around her to find that she was standing in a cobbled courtyard with a large gate behind her and on either side were long arched verandas with many faces smiling out at her. In front of her there was a wide flight of many stairs leading to huge double doors. In front of the doors stood a group of people, finely dressed, and again, smiling. Jack sprang lightly forward and bowing low said, your majesties, may I humbly present to you the princess peanut from the land beyond the stone. He stepped back again bowing with a long sweeping gesture of his hat toward her. A woman, taller than most, stepped forward, she was quite beautiful and dressed all in white except for a gold sash around her waist and a thin golden circlet around her head over her long white hair. In the centre of her forehead mounted on the circlet was a white stone carved in the shape of a seagull, peanut saw that the same design was carved in stone above the double doors. Welcome to Glaedia princess, may there be love in your heart and joy through your life always. I am the lady of the glade, I am called matir; and with me are the elders of Glaedia. She reached out her hand to peanut,