Chapter 3: Butterbarts in the Woods
There is a time for impulsiveness and there is a time for reason. It’s your job to decide when to use either.
Éclair started blushing for some reason, but Ryan wasn’t really paying attention. Ryan just remembered his secret place in the woods that not even Henry knew about. As if compelled by a celestial force, he felt a strange compulsion to take Éclair to that secret place.
Besides, this will give me the perfect chance to test the Devastator.
Without a second’s hesitation, or even a rational thought, Ryan took Éclair by the hand, pulling her into the woods.
Éclair, surprised by his actions, began to protest. “What do you think you’re doing? I need to get back to Zand. He’s probably worried sick about me. I want to get out of the woods, not go deeper into them. What if there are predators about?”
“I want to take you to a secret, magical place so that we can have an adventure, just like real Elementals,” consoled Ryan with a reassuring smile.
“You don’t understand. If I don’t return as soon as possible, I’ll get into loads of trouble.”
Ryan shrugged. This girl didn’t know trouble like he did. Besides, a girl like her - who probably never misbehaved a day in her life - would most likely just get away with a slap on the wrist. “This will only take a minute. It’ll be fun, trust me. We’re going on an adventure. What could be so bad about that?”
Éclair seemed like she wanted to argue some more, but as she opened her mouth, Ryan took her by the shoulders. He brought his face up to hers and looked her square in the eye with his most serious look ever; he called it his ‘Staring Zombie.’ “You want to be an Elemental too someday, right?”
Éclair jolted in surprise, and Ryan knew that he guessed right. He wasn’t sure until he had actually said the words, but from everything he’d deduced from Éclair’s behavior, he somehow knew. One of the reasons that he felt a strong connection to her was that she shared the same dream as him, a dream that others would scoff at.
“One of the most sacred duties of an Elemental is to understand the mysteries of the universe, fighting and warfare are only secondary; at least that’s what my dad tells me. We are standing in an ancient forest on a world that you’ve never even been to before. Don’t you want to know what’s out there? Don’t you want to see it for yourself instead of just hearing about it from others?”
Éclair glanced down briefly, her facial features showing uncertainty.
“Even if it’s for just a moment,” Ryan continued. “it could be the moment that changes your life forever. Besides, I know these woods like the back of my hand, and there really isn’t much of anything that dangerous, as long as you know where to go. And even on the off chance that we do see something bad, then I, Ryan Uruks, vow to protect you with my life, Éclair Hamashe! Please, believe me!”
Wow, I just gave myself chills! Thank you father for pounding into me the art of public speaking … and thank you soap operas as well for my flair for the dramatic.
Éclair seemed shocked at his speech, as if she had never heard anyone talk like that before. Ryan was about to dig deep and rack his brain for something that sounded even cooler, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Slowly, Éclair took hold of Ryan’s hand, which felt really good for reasons that Ryan’s nine-year-old brain couldn’t explain.
Éclair smiled her amazing sun smile and said in her sweetest, silkiest voice, “I do believe you, Ryan Uruks. Very well, I’m already in trouble as it is, so I might as well enjoy my moments of freedom while I can. Besides, it’s not every day that a maiden is offered such a kingly escort.”
Ryan nearly blushed yet again. He wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘escort,’ but it sounded awesome. He quickly turned around to lead the way so she couldn’t see his face turn a slight shade of purple. Ryan had first turned purple one night when he woke up outside and realized that he’d been sleepwalking in his underwear. His dad told him that it was just a Saurian thing, and that it should wear off eventually; though, Ryan doubted it because he could swear that he saw his dad turn purple once.
It didn’t take long to get to his secret place in Pinnfar Woods. Éclair only occasionally glanced around cautiously as she acclimatized to her new environment. Ryan had come across his secret spot years ago, the one place in Pinnfar Woods where the sun shone down onto the ground unopposed; though his dad had warned him never to go past it. Ryan never really knew why, and his dad only told him that the forest was uncharted past the secret spot.
The sunlight streaming down looked like a beacon from heaven, and even more glorious were the strange plants in the clearing that glowed and changed colors when people approached them. The clearing sported a large field of different kinds of flowers with a sparkling stream surrounding the multicolored floral arrangement. He called it the Butterbart’s Meadow, because it was one of the few places where the butterbarts rested on the forest floor.
Right on cue, the little creatures flew up from their hiding places in the flowers and began to swarm around Éclair and Ryan. Éclair became frightened at first as she tried to run, but a reassuring pat on the shoulder from Ryan mitigated her fears. The butterbarts were just happy to see them. They didn’t get very many visitors to their secret meadow.
Ryan boldly walked into the middle of the butterbart’s swarm to show Éclair their docile nature. “These are my friends, the butterbarts. My parents have some long and complicated name for them, but I like to call them butterbarts because they are like a mix between butterflies, birds, and bats! See?”
Ryan gently plucked one from the sky, petted it on the soft spot on its back which made it purr pleasurably, and then held it up to Éclair. Her mouth hung open in obvious wonder. Sure enough, in the palm of his hand, she beheld a strange little creature that had a black, furry body with long pointy ears on its head that looked like a bat, a small yellow beak and legs like a bird, and bright, purple wings that looked like a butterfly’s. Each creature had slightly different colors on its wings, ranging from differing shades of red, blue, and yellow. Ryan let the flying creature join its swarm as they swirled around him and Éclair in oscillating patterns of various colors.
“Don’t worry. They’re really smart, and they love people, especially kids. But they don’t get to play as much as they would like to because most people are too afraid to come this far into the woods for some reason. I like to play tag with them because they make some weird, funny noises when you catch them. Watch!”
Ryan then ran towards the butterbarts, and they knew instantly that the game was on. He would sometimes come to the meadow and play tag with the butterbarts for hours. It was a fairly simple game; Ryan would run into the swarm and try to catch one in his hands. The butterbarts wanted it to be as fun as possible, so they stayed low to the ground so that he could still reach them. When he did catch one, it would make a funny noise as if signaling to the others, and then they would swarm around Ryan and try to tag him with their wings. It was loads of fun because their wings tickled, and sometimes they would peck him on his belly with their tiny beaks. It didn’t hurt, but it made him laugh even more. Ryan had even begun to name a few of them that he recognized and would sometimes bring them treats.
Knowing that they preferred playing after snacks, Ryan fished out some crackers from his pockets, and the creatures circled his hand, buzzing and nibbling with obvious delight. He then threw the crumbs in the air, and the butterbarts caught every piece without touching the ground. He played with the butterbarts shamelessly in pure childish glee. Ryan motioned for Éclair to join him. She seemed to hesitate as she maintained her static position. He realized that as some important noble born, she had probably never done anything like this before.
Maybe she’s having second thoughts. Maybe she thinks I’m some weirdo.
Almost as if to put Ryan’s worries to ease, Éclair abandoned her inhibitions, and joined in the revelry, giggling madly. It was glorious. The butterbarts chirped in delight, because now they had two targets instead of one. They played a game of tag like they never played before. Éclair was quick and light on her feet as she tagged butterbarts right and left. In response to this new level of resistance by their opponents, the butterbarts started picking up small twigs and pebbles to drop on Ryan and Éclair’s heads.
Apparently, they thought that should count because they ran away when they hit their targets. Ryan shook his head in astonishment. They had never done that before when it was just him playing. In response, he and Éclair climbed the taller trees where they could better reach the high-flying bombers. When the butterbarts realized that their plans had been foiled, they headed towards the small stream at the edge of the meadow, scooping up the water in their beaks and shooting it at Éclair and Ryan.
Éclair then dashed into the stream and splashed some at the aerial misfits. That counted too, because when they were splashed, the butterbarts would make their weird noise, turn around, scoop up some water and return fire at Éclair. It was the most fun that Ryan ever had in his life.
Eventually, children and butterbarts alike exhausted themselves, and without an official timeout, both teams flopped down into the color-changing flowers. Ryan could tell that the butterbarts were really taken with Éclair judging by the way they nuzzled up next to her. As they cuddled up all around the princess, they looked like her stuffed animals, or something girly like that. Éclair laughed gently as one small butterbart climbed into her lap, yawned and took a nap.
Éclair turned to Ryan with eyes glistening in wonder. “Thank you, Ryan. This has been one of the best days of my life. To be honest, I’ve never really done things like this with other children. You know, normal mischievous things that kids do. My mother always taught me that I must compose myself at all times, because there will come a day that I will inherit the responsibility of leadership.”
“What do you mean? Isn’t she an Elemental too?”
Éclair shook her head sadly. “No, my godfather is an Elemental. My mother was a … a noblewoman from a wealthy family, much like my birth father. She says that the life of an Elemental is not fit for a lady of the court. Don’t get me wrong. Mother is a kind person who loves me very much, but she is a little bossy.”
Ryan nodded in understanding. “Yeah, my mom is like that too sometimes.”
Éclair leaned on her elbow, though carefully so as not to jostle the sleeping butterbarts. “Mother wants me to join the Imperial Court and become a politician. I don’t have any Elemental powers right now, but if I did … I mean on the off chance that I awakened Elemental powers like my godfather, I would be prohibited from running for office in the Imperial Court. It’s their way of maintaining the balance of power between the Elementals and the normal humans, or the ‘Pure-Skins’ as some like to refer to themselves. That’s why mother discourages my dreams of one day walking in my godfather’s footsteps.”
You too, huh! Why do grown-ups have to be so controlling?
Ryan didn’t have a clue about all the political mumbo-jumbo that she was talking about, but he did know what it felt like to have a forbidden dream. Ryan then thought of something else that might cheer her up. “What about your godfather? He likes your dream of becoming an Elemental, right?”
Éclair smiled, though it seemed a sad smile. “My godfather has stated in the past that I should be free to choose my own path, but that’s hardly enough to sway mother. Zanderius is not my real father, and he’s not married to my mother, so he doesn’t have any real say in my future. I know my mother means well, but I can’t change what my heart desires. I know that living in some office, no matter how grand, and helping to pass laws that most people would disagree with anyway is not what I’m meant to do with my life. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know that Destiny surely has something else in store for me; something brighter. Or at least I hope she does.”
Éclair then sat up as she gazed out across the meadow. A nice breeze blew in, rippling through her silver-gray hair in such a way that it looked like nothing less than a flowing river. The way the sun hit her hair in that moment resembled starlight as it flowed through the wind. Ryan forgot how to breathe for some reason.
What is it about this girl that makes me feel so weird?
Éclair then reached out and plucked a white rose from the meadow, breathing in deeply its scent. “White roses have always been my favorite. You should remember that.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the boy’s job to remember what kind of flowers the girl likes,” she said with a delighted giggle.
“Oh,” responded Ryan, slightly confused.
Éclair yawned with sleepy contentment and muttered softly to herself, “This place really is magical.” And then without warning, Éclair laid her head down and drifted off to sleep, clutching the white rose to her chest.
It watched the girl closely as she started to stir, finally coming awake at last. It had waited a long time for this moment, and it could hardly afford any mistakes. The girl yawned and stretched happily, laying down the white rose and observing her surroundings. As the girl tenderly stroked the butterbart that slept in her lap, she finally sensed something amiss.
“Ryan! Ryan, where are you?”
Now alarmed, the girl circled the meadow, searching for her counterpart. When she failed to find him in her vicinity, she began to panic. “Ryan Uruks, this is not funny!”
The time had come. With a soft whistle inaudible to human ears, the butterbarts suddenly dashed from the meadow as if their lives depended on it. The girl screamed with surprise as she found herself once again alone in the woods. With the keenness of a predator observing its prey, it perceived the girl as her imagination slowly got the better of her. With a twitch of its fingers, it caused some of the bushes near her to shake ever so slightly, but still enough not to go unnoticed.
With a flick of its wrist, the girl turned just in time to see a shadow dash just out of her field of vision. Now confusion and concern were slowly being replaced by fright. Time for the grand finale. With a great unearthly roar, it stood to its full imposing height, revealing itself in all its terrible glory. The girl screamed as terror overwhelmed all logic. She turned to run, but then tripped over her own skirt and fell to the ground. All sense of reason abandoned, the girl covered herself with her arms as she tried to stave off what she perceived as the inevitable. And that is when Ryan Uruks started laughing, delighted that his prank had succeeded so splendidly.
“Ha! Fake out! I got you! I so got you!”
Éclair stopped cringing as she recognized the voice, and her face changed from that of fear to confusion.
“That was cool, right? I never thought it would work out so awesome.”
Éclair rose as she studied the wooden dummy that Ryan was hiding in. He came out of the mouth so as to put at ease any more worries.
“Ta-da! It’s me! You were a perfect test subject. I’ve been working on this thing for months. I call it the ‘Devastator.’ Pretty sweet, huh! I used bits and pieces of bark, sticks, and leaves to make it as scary as possible. I’ve never had the chance to try it out on anybody though … not even Henry would come this deep into the woods.”
Éclair was still shocked speechless. Ryan took this as her being impressed by his genius. He then motioned towards the thin, green vines in his hand and the log hanging from other vines right next to the dummy.
“I used these vines to make bushes move, and to cause that little log over there to swing right in that shadowy place where you couldn’t see properly. I also had to wait for the perfect time of day to use all this so that you would be fooled. Just as the sun is setting, there’s still light so you can see some things, but not enough for you to see everything.”
Éclair’s confused expression slowly morphed into anger, but Ryan hardly noticed while in the middle of his monologue.
“Oh! And if you’re wondering about that roar, you should know that since I’m part Saurian, I can make animal noises. Check this out.”
Ryan then cupped his hands to his mouth and imitated the roar of a fully-grown Wingless Dragon. His dad told him that one day he would be able to do it without cupping his hands. Ryan thought that Éclair would be impressed by his brilliance and would agree to help lure some more kids into the woods so that they could scare them. Instead, Éclair crossed her arms and not only looked unimpressed, but angry. Not just angry, but furious even. At that moment, Éclair became more terrifying to him than when his mother caught him trying to drink straight out of the milk jug.
The enraged princess stomped towards the dummy in clear outrage, and Ryan knew that it was his turn to be afraid. “How dare you?!”
Éclair advanced on Ryan as he backed away, falling off his seat on the dummy. “It was just a joke.”
Éclair scoffed, beside herself with rage. “Just a joke! JUST A JOKE! That was the most frightening thing I’ve ever had to endure in my life! I thought I was alone in the woods again! I thought something happened to you! I was … I was actually worried about you!”
Éclair then rubbed her eyes, a slight whimper escaping her lips as she suppressed a sob. “And then you trick me with that thing you created and those noises you made! I thought I was going to die, Ryan! I thought I was going to be eaten by the same demonic beast that took my friend from me! Don’t you understand that? You … you buffoon! You brute! You ignoramus! You … YOU PIGHEADED, SLACK-JAWED RUFFIAN!!!”
Ryan cringed in fear. Éclair yelled even louder than his mom. As meekly as he could, he said, “Would it help if I said I was sorry?”
But Éclair was far from done, trembling slightly with barely contained fury. “I’ve heard of boyish stupidity, but this takes it to a whole new level! In all my life, no one has had the gall to humiliate me so. If my godfather heard of this he’d … he’d…”
Éclair met Ryan’s gaze with more hurt than rage this time. “Ryan, why would you do something like that to me?”
Ryan’s mind went blank. More than anything at the moment, Ryan wished he could just crawl into a cave and get eaten by a bear. Too bad there weren’t any bears on Shak, or Ryan would’ve politely asked one to devour him to the bone. He didn’t really know why he’d done it; it just seemed like a good idea at the time. He had no way of knowing that it would hurt Éclair the way it did.
As he watched Éclair sleeping so peacefully, he started getting that nauseous feeling in his belly when his parents flirted with each other, and he didn’t like it. What was it about Éclair that made him feel so weird? She made him want to flee back to the simplicity of his basic habits, namely pranking. Ryan began to realize that this unfamiliar feeling scared him for some reason, but how could he say something like that to her?
“I … uh … I,” sputtered Ryan incoherently.
Éclair glared daggers at him, which only made him more nervous. Resolution soon shown in her violet eyes as she said softly, “I will never speak to you again.” And with that, she turned to leave.
Shoot me in the face! I screwed up again! I can’t let things end like this! I have to make it right no matter what!
In desperation, and with his voice breaking slightly, Ryan called out, “Éclair, I’m sorry! I really am! I’m sorry times infinity! Please don’t go! I’ll never do it again, honest!”
Éclair kept marching in the opposite direction as she shouted back at him, “I’m ignoring you!”
Maybe humor will work!
“Please don’t ‘nore me. I don’t want to be nored!” It might’ve been weak, but it was all he had.
Éclair didn’t even bother to comment on his bad grammar as she shouted, “Go away!”
“Ouch!” cried Ryan as he stepped on a sharp rock that cut his ankle.
Ryan had completely lost himself in his apologizing as he tripped over roots, stepped into mud puddles, and walked through spider webs. What’s worse, some spiders on Shak caused you to moo like a cow and walk like a chicken, and more than that, Ryan was terrified of spiders no matter what planet they came from.
As if the universe itself wanted to punish him, Ryan had the fight of his life just to keep up with Éclair’s brisk pace. Éclair, on the other hand, had no trouble at all, as if the forest had suddenly decided to bend to her will. The woods became denser and thicker, and the light started to fade. But appealing to Éclair seemed more important to Ryan at that moment.
I could try that thing I do with mom when I want something. Grovel and plead! Grovel and plead!
“I’ll do anything to make it up to you, I promise! I’ll jump off the highest tree in the forest! I’ll hold my breath for an hour! I’ll even ask my mom to make some of her galaxy famous pies for you!”
This time, Éclair didn’t even reply, and Ryan knew that all hope was lost. He’d made a new friend only to lose her, and it’s not like he made friends easily. Why should she forgive him? He’d maliciously tricked her in the most horrid way possible. Ryan stopped, hung his head in defeat and wanted to cry, but then he noticed something alarming. Ryan became so engrossed in apologizing to Éclair that he almost didn’t notice her leading them to the uncharted part of Pinnfar Woods.
Ryan began feeling uneasy as the woods soon became alien to him. Then, a profound sense of danger hit him, and he somehow knew that Éclair was walking straight for it. Ryan dashed after Éclair, disregarding the brush and the branches that battered away at him. However, she’d gotten so far ahead of him that he couldn’t see her anymore.
In panic, Ryan called out and prayed that she would answer. “ÉCLAIR, WAIT! YOU CAN’T GO THAT WAY!!!”
Ryan waited for what seemed a lifetime for her to reply, and by some miracle, she did. “Why shouldn’t I? There’s nothing to be afraid of, right? That’s what you said! I’m just following your advice!” yelled Éclair sarcastically.
Seizing on the direction of her voice, Ryan altered his path. “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! IT’S DANGEROUS! MY DAD WARNED ME NEVER TO GO PAST THE MEADOW!”
With annoyance and determination in her voice, Éclair said one last time, “I’m not listening to yo-AAH!!”
