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NEW AUTHORS SHOWCASE
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28-11-08 12M p8 |
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The Goblins of Dashwood Forest by John Maynard |
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The year is 895AD, and the colony of goblins living in Dashwood Forest are ruled officially by King Valgard, although due to his more or less permanent drunken condition, his eldest son, Prince Karbold, is now their leader. Mischievous elves led by Harlec, Lord of the Dashwood Elves, also live in the forest, so there gives a bit of friendly rivalry between them. While the elves fly around on trained crows, and live near the forest’s edge, Karbold has a special friend in the form of an old oak. This tree can speak, hear and see, being only known to the goblin prince. These magical powers were given to it by Borac, who is a forest god in the form of a stunted and deformed oak. He can move around the forest either as a wind, or on thin branchlike legs. But, he cannot leave, having been sent into exile from his own magical forest, where all the trees can speak, hear and see. One day a band of monks arrive, and build a priory a short distance away from the edge of the forest. And this is when the fun begins between goblins, elves and monks, the latter being all not what they seem, especially their leader, a Father Leopold. He can and does change into a black cat or bat, when the moon is full. This of course causes havoc amongst the little folk, who, after Borac brings total darkness to the forest for nigh on forty years, move into the priory. Only the elves remain in their woodland homes. At first, the goblins live in the priory’s cellar, then move into its wall-cavities, where they are safer. One of the monks, a Brother Brendan, makes friends with Karbold and helps the little folk when he can do. During his time in the priory, Karbold meets a giant toad which becomes his pet for many years. Talveric can speak in the forest language, and is so big he can easily carry Karbold on his back. Baltec, who is Karbold’s lifelong friend, goes into unexplored regions of the wall cavities and is never seen again, a search party fails to find his body. Only his weapons are found high up on the second floor, and it is assumed he fell to his death, down in the priory’s foundations, after a single scream was heard. One day Father Leopold goes on a journey and never returns. The monks assume he has fell foul to a band of robbers who murdered him, although Karbold thinks different. A few years later in 924AD the monks depart, leaving the goblins alone in the priory, which they make into a paradise. Tragically, on the night of the 29 December 936AD, the priory is destroyed by a mysterious fire. Only twenty goblins survive, being rescued by the elves on their pet crows led by Bodo. They are brought back to the forest to recover. Book One ends with the goblins leaping out of the priory’s upper windows, to escape the flames.
SYNOPSIS OF BOOK TWO A NEW LIFE BEGINS This begins with the rescue of the twenty survivors, on the morning following the fire. All except one, a baby girl who would later be named Christihana, were found half buried and nearly frozen to death in the deep snow, where they had landed after jumping out of the priory’s windows. Christihana was found in her dead mother’s arms down in the cellar, having fell when the floors collapsed. She was rescued by Bodo who flew inside, on his pet crow Airak. After their recovery by the elves’ homes which took several days, the goblins in the aftermath of the fire decided to return and live in the forest. After all, they had nowhere else to go. So, making for themselves a new beginning, they first of all entered into their old homes which had been sealed up for nearly forty years. These they found to be in quite good condition, with only small areas of dampness. With the help of Harlec’s elves a full renovation took place, lasting the best part of two years. When they were finished, the twelve younger goblins paired off, to ensure the colony would not go extinct in later years. Christihana would live to a very great age, and play a very important role in the goblin’s lives, including getting to know the Old Oak through Karbold. During the early part of 939AD, Karbold decides he wants to find the lake where his pet toad, Talveric was born. After preparation and training, Karbold and five others set off in the rough direction of the lake. On their outward journey they meet a field mouse which can talk, but in actual fact is a female elf called Princess Mehata. She lives by the lake with only toads for company and remembers Talveric, who was the biggest of them all. After guiding the goblins to the lake, only then does Mehata reveal her true self in the shape of a beautiful princess. Karbold and his friends stay seven days by the lake, meeting toads related to Talveric, and watching them fish using a large net. The leader of these toads can also speak, and makes himself known to the goblins. Mehata has taught the toads how to do simple tasks, and they in turn guard her if danger threatens. Returning home a different way, the goblins befriend a family of rabbits and a mole, all of which can speak. They also rescue a young female elf called Belomi, who, with five of her friends had been kidnapped by a band of rogue goblins, when they attacked their colony in the Rosental. After being lost in a forest which seems to have no signs of animal or bird life, Karbold and his friend Woltac kill the last two of these rogue goblins, Karcas and Memu in a fight, having come upon them in a deserted farmhouse. The goblins finally reach home in early November 939AD, after being away just over four months.
SYNOPSIS OF BOOK THREE GOBLINS ALSO GROW OLD Begins in 940AD and deals with various members of the goblin colony, starting with Baltec the younger, who is the son of Baltec who died in the priory’s wall cavities. His mother, llhona is still alive and is the youngest daughter of Harlec. During the summer of 940AD Princess Mehata visits Dashwood Forest and stays for two months, showing the goblins how to hunt using nets. She also makes a lot of new friends, and Bodo flies her home on Alrak. Most of the crows can carry two, especially the later generations which are larger and stronger than their ancestors. It was Harlec’s father or grandfather who had started training these birds, after bringing a fledgling home which he brought up as a pet. One day the bird took off with the elf on its back, and that was the beginning. Later it found a mate which also carried an elf, and from then on, their offspring did it naturally. Euleric, who is Karbold’s son and has a twin sister called Elvisha, marries Yana who is an elf. Tarshin is their first born son, being the new prince, and will, on Karbold’s death, take over as the goblins’ leader. Veltina, who has lived with Harlec ever since her husband, Valgard disappeared in the forest, dies in 960AD, Harlec having passed away three years earlier. Karbold, who in 960AD celebrated being a hundred years old, finally gets a pet crow, which gives him great pleasure. While Borac arranges a meeting with him through the Old Oak, even though no elf, goblin or large person dare look at his face, without becoming blind, deaf and dumb. The priory ruins which begin to show signs of being haunted, at first cause concern among both elves and goblins alike. Starting with children who are playing at the ruins, finding out all is not what it appears to be, the final unnatural occurrence is of flickering lights in the west-wall’s windows, some twenty years later in 981AD. For the last ten years of his long life, Karbold does a lot of reminiscing, while making one last trip around the forest’s perimeter with his brother-in-law, Klaus, who dies soon after from being poisoned. Karbold himself dies in late November or early on in December 990AD, having attained one hundred and thirty years old. Gretchin, his wife would follow him two years later, having lost the will to live. PROLOGUE AND EPILOGUE Both of these are set in the present day, and form a main part of the continuing story. A young married couple who stumble on the priory ruins and forest on their way home from Cornwall, are drawn back twice a year, until the mystery is finally solved. |