The Enchanted Evergreen/Part 3

"So you were going to take on the task without informing anyone else of what you were doing," Polaris said. "This one can understand that you were under pressure for having to do it, even if this one wouldn't agree on that being the wisest thing to do."

"I wasn't going to let that human smurf any harm to that elf tree, Polaris," Timber said. "As I said to Vini, I thought Hefty or Duncan would be more suitable for the task at hand, because I wasn't the strongest or the fastest Smurf for the job."

"But your heart was still in the right place, Timber, which is what matters," Empath said. "Anyway, you and Vini were headed for the island where the legendary golden tree was, but the way to that place was not going to be easy."

"I would definitely say it wasn't," Timber said. "The first obstacle we had to oversmurf was a series of ledges we had to smurf over...or rather I had to smurf over, since Vini could fly over without a problem."

And as Timber's story continued, Polaris saw that Timber and Vini had reached a place in the forest where a series of dangerous ledges had to be jumped over. Timber stopped at the edge of one and saw how far the drop was.

"What's the matter?" Vini asked, sounding concerned.

"This may be a little too much for me to smurf over," Timber said. "I have never smurfed across such depths before in my life."

"But my sister's life is at stake here," Vini said.

"I know that it is, Vini," Timber said. "But I don't know if I can make it."

"You have to try...that's all that matters," Vini said.

Timber realized that Vini was right, that trying and failing was better than not trying at all. He swallowed hard. "Okay, here smurfs!"

With a running start, Timber made it past the first ridge, then the second, then the third, although with each successive leap the ledges afforded less and less space before having to jump again. Then came the final jump, which seemed a little farther to land than he was expecting.

"I can smurf this! I can smurf this!" Timber said to encourage himself.

With all his might, Timber propelled himself as far as he could, only to find himself barely missing the ledge. Grabbing onto the ledge with one hand, Timber threw his axe onto the top of the ledge and used both hands to pull himself up.

"You made it!" Vini said, sounding pleased. "That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

"As long as we don't have to smurf that again anytime soon," Timber said, stopping to catch his breath. "How close are we now?"

"We have to travel on this pass between the two mountains that leads to the lake," Vini responded, showing Timber the area she was talking about.

"That shouldn't be a problem now," Timber said as he stepped out onto the smooth surface of the pass and headed toward the other side of the pass.

They didn't get far, though, when they started hearing roaring noises. Timber stopped, having a bad feeling something was going to happen. "What was that?" he wondered aloud.

Then he could feel a burst of hot flame right behind him, nearly singing his tail. He screamed in pain as he and Vini ran for cover to hide from whatever it was that attacked them.

It was from there that Timber saw what it was for himself. "It's the three-headed monster!" Timber said. "Vini, you said that it was only a legend!"

Vini didn't know what to say to that. "Uh, reality often surpasses fiction!"

"It's blocking our way toward the other end of the pass," Timber observed, watching the creature's movements. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll distract the monster," Vini said. "You just get behind it and chop off its tail. It will lose its strength."

Timber didn't like having to wound living creatures like that, but he had to trust what Vini was doing. "Go!" he told her.

Vini flew toward the creature and zipped around it, trying to get its attention like an annoying mosquito. The creature then ran around and followed her, breathing flames at her while she did her best to avoid being burned.

Timber watched until the monster came close enough to him, then he jumped out and got close enough to slice off its tail. The monster screamed in pain as its fiery breaths stopped and raced frantically toward the other end of the pass, leaping off a ledge until it fell into the lake.

Vini rejoined Timber as quickly as she could. "Timber, are you all right?" Vini asked.

"I'm fine, but I hated what I had to smurf with that monster," Timber said.

"Don't worry, the monster's tail will grow back in time," Vini said. "Anyway, the pass is safe to travel now. We should get to the lake soon."

To be expanded on.