Happy Birthday RSC

Three years ago today, the very first adventurers set foot on a lost island that became known as Dino Island. It was the start of a nine day long adventure that would for many of us become something we would hold dear in our hearts. For a lot of us RSC was a life changing experience forcing us to face and overcome our anxieties and fears. It taught us that by working together people from various walks of life could enjoy each other’s company and have fun. No matter what gender you are, whether you are a creator or noncreator, regardless of difference of beliefs or sexual orientation a large group of people can get along and take care of one another. Many people who felt outcast by various other groups for whatever reasons found in RSC a welcoming family where they could feel at home. This is what RSC is about.

Three years ago we never imagined how much of an impact RSC would have on so many people’s lives. Quite frankly we never imagined we would return a second year let alone a third. When RSC first came to fruition we were ridiculed, told we wouldn’t make it, that we were just reinventing the wheel and that there were already others who were better and thus no need for yet another camp. Many people wrote us off for being free because free things are often thought of as being of little to no quality. I won’t lie and say that it didn’t bother us, at times we really feared that all the time and effort that was being put in by many people would be in vain and no one would come. We managed to persevere though and we stuck to our plans never imagining the remarkable result. We will never regret the hard work.

Today RSC has grown immensely and it has become a community driven experience. We are honored to have so many of you helping us wherever you can, whether it is through donations, advertising, lending us the use of a sim for our shops, setting up and decorating the sims, volunteering as caretakers, pixies or pirates. We are humbled and truly thankful. RSC comes together thanks to everyone of you, it is not just me or Mckenzie, it is all of you who make RSC what it really is.

This year nearly 300 of you prepare to embark on a new adventure with us. It is our hope that every single one of you shares in our vision. That for the nine days which we spend together we are but one entity, one family, brothers and sisters looking out for one another and sharing friendship and love that only family can offer. For nine days you will forget any differences you may have with one another and remember that we are all equals. That you will embrace and keep in your hearts the many memories you will create and share with one another. We can’t wait to see you this July 23rd. Thank you all for being part of our family.

Kenzie & Landon.

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Camp Cabins & Other Stuff

I have been asked some questions a few times over the last several days. So I thought it would be best to answer them on a lengthy post and offer more detail. 

1. Will there be cabins assigned at camp?

No. RSC is unique and aside from getting to meet new and old friends, sharing a week of memories together RSC is nothing like a traditional summer camp. There are no cabins, no teams (except this year there will be a slight change depending on your age). The word survival in our name implies that our goal is to survive. Think of it like the show "Lost", we are unexpectedly dropped in a deserted island unknown to us. The only belongings we have with us is whatever we were wearing. We must find food, shelter and tools with what we can find in the environment surrounding us. There is always the possibility of finding creatures, enemies or just things who want to hurt you or kill you. You must stay safe and fight to stay alive. 

2. But why no cabins? Cabins are important aspect of every camp.

We are not like every camp. There are plenty of summer camps throughout the camp season in SL where you can partake in the traditional summer camp feel. RSC is a story based experience. No other way to put it. 

3. Why did you decide not to do a traditional summer camp along with assigned cabins and teams. We really want cabin wars!

From day one 3 years ago when RSC was just an idea in our head, we wanted to do something that would cut the barriers between boys and girls, creators and noncreators, humans, elves and furries. We wanted to create something where everyone felt the same as the next person, completely gender neutral and where everyone worked with one goal in mind on the same team. We did not want cabins because we did not want to create small cliques fighting against one another. The idea then was that if our own livelihood depended on the people around us working all as one team then everyone would forget at least for one week of all our differences and work together. We found that this simply worked and everyone felt comfortable and at home so this has been our stance on the matter since. This particular year will be most like our first year where people will have their own little shelter which you can share with friends however we will all still be stuck together in the same vicinity not far from each other. 

4. Then there are no events like you would have on other camps?

Yes there will be. In fact about 70% of the time will be occupied with OOC events run by the many great counselors that have volunteered their time to plan and do something fun with you. So there will still be some of that "traditional" summer camp feel. 

5. Will you have a camp shop for creators?

This is something Mckenzie and myself will have to really think about and discuss. In the past we have allowed creators to place freebies and gifts at the campsite. As RSC is a completely free camp to attend we did not want to make any kids feel like they had to spend any money at all to attend. However we do understand that there is a huge missed opportunity there that would help get RSC out there known to other kids who've never heard of it. So if this is something a lot of you, not just one or two of you are interested in then let us know and we will really consider it within the next few days. 

Of course those are only some questions and we know you all have many more. There will still be an Orientation Q&A session on Saturday July 9th at 12pm and 5pm SLT where you can ask all the questions you have.

Thank you all,

Kenzie & Landon.

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CHAPTER 5

*

Yenni 

Naturally, in her mostly human girl form she could not hope to climb up that cliff, for the stone face was mostly flat so she transformed herself back into her tiny pixie form and flew steadily up to the dark, gaping entrance of Yenni’s cave. Halfway up, she remembered the payment hat those whom had sent her had given her to give to Yenni. It was in the sack, which she had left down below on the ground. With an annoyed shout—one that most likely sounded like a cute squeak to any human outsider who might have witnessed this—she flew back down and transformed into her girl form and stood there looking down at the leather sack, and sighed.


After a moment she knelt down and opened up the sack to be sure the payment was still in there. It’d been a long and adventures month to get here as I’ve said, and she only now remembered she had not checked on the contents of the sack since the night she’d encountered those two idiots and tricked them into knocking each other out. Everything was there as it should be, not only the payment from the tribes, but the stuff she had taken from those brutes. With a satisfied smile, she stood up and holding the sack to her chest, she transformed into her small, glowing pixie form, using her power to transform the sack along with her, so that it was small enough to carry with her as she flew up to the cave. . .


The inside of the cave, of course was dark, and appeared like a wide open oval shaped tunnel that led down deep into the mountain, the walls smooth and glossy looking. It was huge, much larger than a man pirate was when standing tall and thwice as wide. “This Yenni must be big,” Khsta thought to herself.


Because of the darkness, once she was safely in the tunnel, she transformed into her larger form, not wanting the light cast by her tiny fairy form to draw unwanted attention to her. That done, she stood there for a moment, holding the sack with the payment for Yenni as she let her eyes adjust to the dim light, then a loud voice spoke and asked, “yes, what can I do for you?”


The voice was high pitched, nastily sounding, and a bit silly to hear. Not at all what she would expect to hear from Yenni. As it turned out it was not Yenni at all, but a gnome, either that or Yenni was a small dwarf sized hairy man, with a red hooded cloak from beneath which stuck out both his long, red colored, hairy beard and a very long, bird like beak of a nose. He was seated in a chair and behind a very elegant stone desk. Beside him where piles and sacks of what looked like . . . well to be honest, junk. As Khsta approached him, taking slow, cautious steps, she could see sacks filled with what looked like old swords, plate armor, among which where children’s toys, dishes, plates, garden equipment and even furniture and boots. On the other side of the desk, a sack with what looked like gold necklaces, jewels, old books and an old clock sat. And behind him, carved out of the wall were shelves filled with old, dusty looking books.


“Yes, yes, on with it,” said the gnomish pixie in a tired and annoyed voice. On the desk before him was a large book that was open to a page. A feathered quill pen sat neatly in the middle of it as if waiting for him to write something down. Judging by the amount of dust on the pages, it had been sitting there waiting for him to write for a very, very long time.


“Are you he,” Khsta finally asked.


“I am a he, but what HE are you asking about,” answered the gnome in his shrill, silly voice. “If you mean He who records and accounts, then yes I am he.” If you are wondering, this is not me, your current story teller, let’s just make that clear.


“Oh no,” Khsta moaned, “you’re not a . . . a Gerrymander are you?” She was very worried at that moment, and rightly so, that she had stumbled into another Gerrymander.


The gnome was flustered by that question and made a bit of noise and sputtering sounds of disgust before saying, “by the Light of Creation, girl, do I look like that confusing serpent. I’m a gnome! Have your eyes gone dim, or is it your brains have turned to rotting acorns?”


“Neither,” Khsta answered in a firm tone, feeling a bit angered over the accusations that she had bad eyesight and an even worse brain. “I am Khsta Dawn Bell.”


“What girl? We don’t have a door let alone a doorbell,” replied the small, hairy man in the red hood.


Khsta frowned at that. “Dawn Bell,” she corrected him.


“Dumbell? Girl don’t be calling yourself such names.”


“No, my name is Khsta Dawn Bell, great granddaughter of,” that was all she got out before the small man interrupted her again.


“Yes! Yes I know all that,” he shouted. “You’re late!”


“Late,” Khsta was taken aback by that of course, as she had no idea she’d been expected. Then she remembered this was Yenni, who knew everything.


“Yes you were supposed to be here two days ago. Or was it from now?”


Khsta put a cute frown on her delicate face. “If I’m supposed to be here two days from now then I am early.”


“Late I say.”


“You’re very confusing,” she told the gnome. “You sure you’re not a gerrymander?”


“Oh for the love of Pete Moss, I’m a gnome!”


“Are you Yenni?”


The gnome was honestly shocked by that question. “I dare say not. He’s huge and all powerful! I am small and hairy. I am not him, I am his accountant and secretary, now did you bring payment?”


She did, as I told you before, and she set the sack on his desk for him to see. The gnome opened it and glanced inside at the contents before shoving it aside saying, “Very good. Now please remove any and all weapons you have before entering the chamber.”


Khsta frowned at the little man as she stood upright. “I have no weapons.”


The gnome frowned at her. “You lie! You lie like a rug,” he said in a firm tone. “Now hand over your dagger!”


Khsta frowned at him and was for a moment wondering if she should do as he’d asked. “I’m not fond of handing over my only weapon, what with the pirates hunting me as they are. How do I know I can trust you?”


“Because you paid me,” the little bearded man told her. “And if you can’t trust me after that, I don’t know what to tell you, other than you can go away, because you’re not going in with that dagger on your hip, little warrior.”


Then from down in the dark depths of the tunnel a deep and low voice rolled to them, saying, “The dagger matters not. She is a weapon. Send her in now.”


Khsta made her large, oval shaped eyes, which I have told you were of a very deep indigo blue color that (and she didn’t realize it at all) glowed in the dim light of the tunnel—wide with fear at the sound of that voice. She swallowed hard as she looked from the darkness before her where that voice had come from, back at the little man with the long red beard and big beak of a nose.


“Yenni will see you now,” the gnome said with a smile.


Swallowing a second time, Khsta nodded her head at the gnome and turned toward the darkness of the tunnel before her. Slowly she walked forward.


“Boss, little knot-head is on her way in,” the gnome like pixie shouted.


“What,” Khsta shouted back, angered at being called such a rude name. She glanced over at the hairy, unsightly little pixie man and made an ugly face, her eyes flashing bright electric blue with anger. The gnome like pixie didn’t notice any of that.


“Get a move on, he’s busy and can’t wait all night for you.”


“You’re a rude little hairball with a big nose,” Khsta shouted at the gnome.


“Thank you. I get it from my mother’s side,” replied the gnome. “She was a hedgehog.”


Khsta rolled her eyes, annoyed with the gnomish little man—yes very much like a human girl would do—and continued on down the tunnel, feeling more fearful with each step. What awaited her at the end she wondered?


It was a large, massively huge chamber at the end of that tunnel. One so big a nice sized fairy city could fit inside it with room for gardens. Dim light shined down from an opening in the chamber ceiling that was so far above her that it was hidden behind a thin vale of clouds. Clouds in a cave, she thought. That was wonderful and magical to see, but her delight was lost when from the rear of the chamber a massive shadow shifted, startling her. It was huge, larger than any pirate. Larger than any living thing she’d ever laid eyes on. She’d heard dragons were large but had never seen one herself. Well there was that three-headed firedrake but he had not been all that large. Was Yenni a dargon?


Before she could wonder more about this, an image as large as life appeared before her. One that caused her to shout loud in terror. There in the air before her she saw one of the pirate’s ships, not sailing in the water but floating in the air as they often did, the sails black as night and trailing dark vapors. As she watched the sides of the ship lit up with yellow-blue flashes of cannon fire, and she heard the faint, distant booms of the shots.


“Oh no,” Khsta cried aloud as she threw her hands up before her face.


Instantly the image faded and she saw the huge oval shaped shadow of the giant far across the chamber from her.


“You think your tribe and those of the Woodlings you allied yourselves with are the only ones in this world to suffer the pirates?” asked Yenni in his deep voice.


Khsta wasn’t sure how to answer that so she just stood there looking at the giant shadow across from her, waiting and trying to see what this Yenni really was.


“Many tribes have suffered at the hands of the pirates and twice as many have perished, and not just you pixies,” Yenni told her as he moved a little closer. Khsta took a cautious step back. “You come hear seeking an answer, but I ask you, is it for your sake, those of your tribe and allies only?”


Khsta didn’t have to think to answer that question. “No. Of course not.” She told him then of all she’d seen, of the suffering of our entire world, not just the pixies but everyone. “No,” she said again. “I do it not just for my tribe.”


“No?”


Khsta looked up at the massive head or what she believed was Yenni’s huge head, seeing suddenly, two huge, yellow glowing eyes appear, and fixed to her with his gaze. “No,” he asked again. “Is it not true your tribe and those of the Woodlings sent you to seek an answer for them?”


Khsta swallowed hard, feeling more than a little nervous. There was no point in lying to him, as she knew; he knew the answers to everything, even his own questions. “It is, but that’s not all of it.”


“Explain,” Yenni said in his deep, rumbling speech as he took a step toward her, entering the dim shaft of light that shone down from above, and as he did so, Khsta faintly saw him as he was.


So startled was she by his appearance and size that she yelped and stumbled backwards a step or two before falling down on her bum. Far out in the chamber stood Yenni, and he was giant, but not a Giant, nor was he a dragon or anything else that Khsta had imagined. Most of his detail hidden in shadows, but what she could see of him frightened her badly.


“You are Khsta Dawn Bell, great granddaughter of the Bell,” Yenni then reminded her. “Speak to me as such.”


That reminded her of who she was and in a way made her feel a little prideful. After a moment she stood back up and faced the massively huge shadow across from her with the glowing eyes. “I am Khsta. You know who my great grandmother was, that is true. And it’s true my tribe and the others sent me here to seek an answer, but the answer I seek is not . . . I want to know how to get rid of the pirates for good.”


“Such a thing might not ever be possible,” Yenni replied. “But to push them back to the dim light and shadows at the edges of our world is.”


“How,” she asked.


Yenni said nothing for a long moment. His giant, shadowed form remained still, far across the massive chamber from her. His glowing eyes fixed on her like two massive search lights. “The balance is upset. There once was one, a human boy who could fly. His powers, wit and abilities could not be matched by the pirates. He, along with his tribe of human children known as the Lost Boys, together, they were able to hold the darkness and the pirates at bay, but he and they have left our world ages ago. When they did, it left a void, an unbalance and the pirates and their allies have gone unchecked and now run like a disease over our entire world. Soon they will have destroyed all and will have complete control. As it is now, only those tribes such as yours had been, who live in the Wilds are still free, but soon even the Wilds will be taken over by them, and then all this world will be under their control. The pixie races will be destroyed. Belfel was right; the pixies cannot stand against the pirates alone. And Thorn was right, if you hide in the hidden fairy kingdom, you all will eventually be found and exterminated. There must be war, otherwise Concord the Scarlet Pirate King will destroy all of you and declare himself Emperor and have dominion over all this world, and all must yield and kneel before him.”


Khsta was very upset by this. “No. How can it be stopped?”


“The balance must be restored,” Yenni replied.


“How!?”


Yenni moved so fast that it shocked our little pixie girl. Khsta had hardly seen him move at all. One instant the huge owl like shadow was far across the chamber from her, and in the next, with a rush of wind he was towering over her, leaning down so his glowing eyes, each as large as she was tall when in her human girl size, shone down on her from above her head. With a yelp, the little pixie squatted down, fearing that she had offended the huge being with her demand for an answer and because of that, he intended to eat her.

“Bring back the Lost Boys,” Yenni said in his deep, and oddly soothing speech.


“Lost boys?” Khsta echoed after a moment as she looked up at the thing that was Yenni towering over her.


Yenni slowly rose up to his towering size and looked down at her for a long silent moment. “You must find the Lost boys. Bring them back to our world and restore the balance.”


“I don’t know any Lost Boys, or where to find them,” Khsta admitted. “Do you mean human boys? I don’t even know any humans, lost or otherwise.”


“Find the Lost Boys,” Yenni said again, “for only the innocent courage of a human child can defeat the pirates. Find them or find new ones, somehow. Bring them back to our world and restore the balance and drive the pirates and their allies back to the shadows and mist.”

After a long moment Khsta stood up and thought about all that. If that was what needed to be done to save her people, all people, all the tribes and all of Neverland, she’d do it. But how? “I will do as you say, but I do not know how or where to begin.”


 “For now rest,” Yenni said as he moved to step beyond her, his massive shadow form approaching the wide tunnel she’d walked down only moments ago. As he did so, she had to jump back to avoid being stepped on by one of his huge clawed feet. The air that rushed around her from his passing was the dusty smell of old feathers.


“Rest,” she then echoed feeling a little upset at that. She didn’t want to rest, she needed an answer. If the pirates and their dark allies were going to totally take over and destroy their world, if this Pirate King, Concord wanted to be emperor, she needed to stop them. She needed to find these Lost Boys right away and wanted to get moving as soon as possible to do just that. Rest? She’d no time for that.


“With first light of the morrow, take the way to the Western Wood,” Yenni said to her. “Use the seeking stone the ghost gave you to find your way. Go there and find the Green Wood Tribe of Pixies. They will help you. For they know the spot where our world and the other touch, and how to cross from one to the other. Together you must find the Lost Boys, or bring back new ones, and then there will be war. The pirates and their king must be defeated or our world will be lost forever. Do this at dawn. Do not leave the cave now, for it is night, and I hunt at night.” With that, the huge shadow that was Yenni slid down the tunnel and vanished, leaving our little Khsta behind to consider and think about all he had told her.


At some point, having found a spot behind a large boulder to settle down, Khsta ate her last two seed cakes and an apple she had with her—it was all the food she’d left from when she’d left the Burnt Hill Outpost, and then without realizing it, fell promptly to sleep.


A few hours before dawn broke, Yenni returned. His massive form slid smoothly and silently into the chamber with only the slightest sound of rustling feathers. Khsta lay sleeping undisturbed by him, as he leaned over the stone bookcase and watched her for a long moment, before moving toward the center of the chamber.


Yenni was not alone. Just as he reached the center of the chamber, another form entered—actually flew in. In the dim light it appeared to be a small, glowing, golden eagle, which promptly transformed into the form of a human child . . .


Ashkii walked over and stood beside the bench, looking down at Khsta for a long silent moment.


“I think you fancy her,” Yenni said in his deep, soft voice. There was a trace of humor in his suggestion.


“Ha,” Ashkii said loudly and Yenni hushed him.


“Do not wake her,” Yenni said in a deep whisper. “She has a long way to go yet. And what we have to discuss is not for her to hear yet.”


Ashkii nodded his head at that and quietly walked over to stand before the hulking shadow of Yenni. “I like her, but not the way you mean.”


“Mm-hmm,” Yenni hummed in a knowing tone.


“Well you’re Yenni,” Ashkii told him. “The great old wise owl. You know everything, so you know what I mean.”


“Oh I know,” Yenni told the green boy. “But knowing the answer is not the same thing as having the one seeking the answer, understand the answer they are given.”


Ashkii frowned at that after a moment. “That’s utterly confusing I think.”


“Learning can be that way,” Yenni said softly. “Why is it you left her at the Burnt Hill Outpost, may I ask.”


“Again, you know the answer to that,” the green boy said with a smile. “I had to take care of something for my mother. And, as you know, there were humans there, and I’m not supposed to be around them nor am I great fan of humans.”


“Nor am I but they are a necessary means to an end,” Yenni told the boy. “Speaking of which, do you recall this human boy I have told, Khsta, about? The one who could fly?”


“No I never saw any of the ‘Superman’ movies,” Ashkii replied.


 Yenni didn’t bother to ask the green boy how he knew of such things. “I ask because while he was half human, he did a great service and kept the pirates at a distance. And the darkness.”


Ashkii nodded his head at that. “I’ve heard but all that took place before I was awoken and I feel no connection to it.” He then thought for a moment and frowned, looking up at Yenni. “You want me to follow her to the end, until she does what you told her to do, don’t you?”


“Why?”


Ashkii thought for a long moment before answering. “I don’t know, to make sure the pirates don’t stop her. But that’s only part of the answer isn’t it.”


If Yenni had lips he’d smile at that. “What more could there be, do you think little Ahdar?”


The green boy frowned, not sure he liked being reminded of his true nature. “You ask a lot of questions for someone who knows all the answers.”


“Only because it makes you learn faster that way,” Yenni replied. “It forces you to think and see.”


“That's why you kept asking Khsta that same question over and over about why she wanted her answer?”


“You were spying on us,” Yenni said in a deep rumbling voice, his eyes flashing brightly.


“No not really,” Ashkii replied. “I just was passing by and was . . . curious. And there is a really big hole in your ceiling,” he then said as he pointed up at the darkness above Yenni’s huge head. “I couldn’t help but to overhear you guys.”


“Uh-huh,” Yenni said to that. “And you say you don’t fancy her.”


“Not really.”


“Yet you followed her here,” Yenni told the boy. “And mistake me not, Ashkii, I am not mocking you for such, only trying to make you understand yourself. It is a good thing what you may feel. Let’s leave that as it is for now. To answer your other question, yes, I kept asking her over and over again why she wanted an answer for a reason. Know what I was getting at, might you?”


Ashkii thought for a long moment before saying, “the darkness. It is behind the Scarlet King. Something else is at work. Something I feel and remember from the First Days, when the First War began and the First Garden was lost.”


Yenni’s eyes glowed brightly as he leaned over the small green boy. “Know this. Whatever victory the Lost Boys have against the Scarlet King will be only for the moment. Something has awoken, a shadow moves in the mists, drawn to the Scarlet King only to draw power from him until it is ready to show itself.”


“It is the Old Hate,” Ashkii sighed.


“It is,” Yenni told the boy. “I have sent word to your mother on this matter. In the meantime, I am requesting you to follow Khsta. Remain hidden as you have but shadow her, for I feel that after she achieves her quest as I have given it to her, she and you may be needed elsewhere.”


“I should have known when that gargoyle Tok, tried to capture me that something else was going on,” Ashkii said with a sigh.


“Something else is going on,” Yenni agreed, “but such things unfold slowly and the full nature of it and the threat it presents to us is yet to be understood. Until then, remain with Khsta until otherwise told to by your mother.”


Hitching his shoulders up and down Ashkii said, “Okay, but I don’t like her like you think. And I am going to stay hidden because from what I heard you say, there are humans involved and I really am not supposed to be around them, as you know.” That is in fact, true.


“You are of the Ahdar,” Yenni told the boy. “Dare I say, humans are forbidden to approach and speak to you unless you agree to it. No one will fault you for remaining hidden from them. And you might want to hide yourself from our little pixie before she wakes as you are quite naked.”


Askii looked down at himself and then swatted himself in the forehead with the palm of his right hand. Giggling he looked back up at the huge owl like shadow towering over him. “I forgot to bring my clothing with me when I turned into the bird. I left them in a sack down by the river.” For those that don’t know, unlike Khsta who could change her size, and change things from big to small and small to big along with her transformation, when Ashkii changed into one of his animal forms, he had to remove his clothing or it would either hamper him or be torn apart in the transformation. In this case, before becoming the eagle he’d taken his clothing off and put them in a sack and left them down by his camp near the river.


Maybe now you realize why Khsta often saw him in unusual outfits, as he’d been, without her knowing, transforming into his bird or wolf shapes when she had been sleeping and gone scouting out the forest head of them, and three times had encounter and fought pirates without Khsta having ever learned of it.


“I will do as you ask, Grandfather,” Ashkii told Yenni. Calling Yenni, “Grandfather,” was actually a showing of great respect. “I’ll do what I can for Khsta in any way I can.”


“For that I am thankful little Ahdar,” Yenni said with a sigh of relief. “You should hear from your mother on this matter by the afternoon. No later than evening I suspect.”


“And I suspect she’ll have a grumpy word or two for me over some of the things I did,” Ashkii said with a sigh. “But what can I do?” He hitched his shoulders up and down in a helpless gesture.


“What can you do,” Yenni agreed. “Mothers are mothers.”


Not long after that, Ashkii turned himself back into the eagle and flew off to his camp and prepared to do as Yenni had asked.


With no idea of what had taken place between the green boy and Yenni the night before, Khsta was awoken the following morning by the little gnome who was annoyed that she was still there.


“Up little knot-head. Get yourself gone, it’s a new day and you’ve your answer, best get on with it.”


Khsta didn’t argue that one bit, she wasn’t even upset at being called a knot-head. She was eager to head to the Western Wood. Just before she left the cave all together, the gnome stopped her and pointed to a small sack on the floor before his desk. “He told me to prepare that for you. Some wafers and berry cakes and sunflower seeds, and some honey dropped water. Not much but he said it should get you to where you’re going. From there, it’s up to you.”


Khsta looked in the small pack the gnome prepared for her and was delighted to see that it was just as he’d said it was. She had supplies to get her on her way, although unlike a human she didn’t need to eat or drink half as much, but she was a living being and did need to do some of the things all living beings did. “Thank you,” she then cheered in girlish delight as she turned to the gnome.


“Don’t you even try and hug or kiss me, fairy,” the gnome warned with a blush—one that was actually visible beneath his thick whiskers. “Just go on and be gone. Others are on their way, those that can find us, and I have an update to record and the daylight is burning. Best be beyond the Blue Tree Hills before nightfall. He never hunts at night beyond those hills. Understand?”


Khsta did and didn’t hesitate or waste any more time. Stepping to the entrance of the cave, she transformed herself into her smaller, pixie form, taking the sack with fresh supplies with her, and flew off in the direction of the Western Wood.


This is where this adventure of our little pixie girl, Khsta ends—for the moment—and where yours begins. It is all of the “why” behind the story of why you have been brought here, and we all can only hope you will help us to defeat the pirates and save this world for us all.


The rest of this story is yours.


The Beginning. . .

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Logo Contest

***ENTRY CUTOFF DATE EXTENDED TO JUNE 15th***

**Send entries to Landon Edenbaum or McKenzieky Resident inworld, or post them on our Facebook page****

Since we have now changed our name and our old Richmond Elementary School flag will be retired and no longer be flying at camp we would like a new camp logo that represents us. Therefore we are having a contest. From now until May 31st you can create and submit a logo by uploading here on our Facebook page. The winner will be announced on June 17th and will receive 4,000L and your design will become our new official logo.

To enter just upload your picture on the comments below. McKenzieky Resident and Landon Edenbaum will be judging.

Things to keep in mind:

1. It must be PG

2. It must represent our values. Perseverance, Respect, Freedom, Unity and Family

3. It must in one way or another incorporate elements from the old school logo (you can easily find it by browsing through our page photos) Whether it is just the crest, colors or just the ribbon.

Please spread the word and hope to see a lot of awesome designs! <3

Landon & Kenzie

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CHAPTER 4

*

The Green Boy and the Witch

Following the course and direction set by the compass necklace the ghost had given her, Khsta traveled for days and I could tell you much of the horror she saw, of the fairy rings destroyed, lost native people wandering the woods, and pixies fleeing to the hidden kingdom. Much suffering and sadness did she see and the world was gray, cold and all seemed lost. And often did she see the ghostly form of pirate ships sailing in the sky, trailing dark vapors in their wake as they hunted for pixies.


Eventually she came to a section of forest known as the Gray Wood, and here I will tell you a little of how Khsta became lost there and was eventually trapped by and evil fairy witch.


This evil old hag, and I feel not guilt or shame in calling her that, was working for the pirates and had been warned in advance to be on the lookout for a small pixie who might be able to change her form and become human size. The witch had caught Khsta in a net, stunning our little pixie and before Khsta could regain her full sense, put her in a glass jar.


When Khsta came fully awake she was very upset by this, as you can guess, and in her small form flew around like an angry hornet inside the jar, trying to bang the lid up, and even used her dagger a few times to try and cut holes in the lid. All of that made the ugly old hag cackle with delighted laughter as she carried the jar with her to a very gloomy looking, gray water lake.


Here there was a large canoe with the very large, wooden carving of a swan as the figurehead at the front of it. Once inside the canoe the witch had commanded, “go swan, go to my home!” Instantly and to Khsta’s amazement, the wooden swan began to move, flapping its wings and moving back and forth and as it did so, the canoe began sailing across the murky water of the lake, gliding smoothly across its surface and cutting through the dense fog.


The witch’s house was on the far shore of this gloomy lake, a stone structure with a thatched roof that sat in a weedy clearing just before the forest. Inside the witch had set the jar with our little pixie in it on a table and then began using her magic and casting spells at Khsta, who realized that the hag was trying to change her into a girl, and did her best to resist, but the witch’s magic was too strong and eventually Khsta suddenly turned into her girl size. Just as this happened, for some reason, and thankfully so, the glass jar shattered apart and Khsta fell off of the table onto the dirt floor with a grunt.


“Ha!” cried the witch in victory, and then put a chain on Khsta’s right ankle before the she could change into her small pixie form. This chain was enchanted with a spell that kept Khsta from changing her size. That done the witch then turned to her pet flying spider monkey—yes we do have some of them in our world—and said to it, “go, tell the Scarlet King I found his pixie!”


“Oh no,” Khsta cried.


“Oh yes,” said the hag as she looked down at our little pixie girl. “He’s been looking high and low and all over the Neverwoods for you. Found you I did, and he promised me a half dozen little human girls in exchange for you.”


“Fiend,” Khsta cursed at the witch.


“Indeed I am,” the witch howled and burst out laughing for a long moment. The flying spider monkey joined her, making a sound more as if it was gasping for air than laughing. “Go,” the witch shouted at it again. “Tell the pirates of have the granddaughter of the Bell. Go!”


This could have very well been the end of Khsta Dawn Bell, and probably the end of our world altogether, but then . . .


Just as the monkey had turned to the window and leaped through it into the air, it exploded into a bright ball of orange smoke. Shocked by this the witch shrieked. A moment later Khsta saw the entire side of the witch’s cabin explode outwards as if an invisible giant’s hand had reached through the window, grasped hold of the inner wall and pulled it outwards. The violence was so sudden and frightening, that Khsta threw herself flat on the ground and a good thing she did too, for in the next instant there was a bright blinding flash of light and a huge rush of air and noise caused by what had to be a magic blast of some sort. Just before Khsta was knocked totally out by this, she saw, just for a moment, the glowing figure, very much like a pixie, only this one was as large as a small human, glowing bright golden-green. And its wings were not like a pixie, but more like a birds.


Then she knew nothing else for a while.


Khsta came awake again; she was back in the witch’s canoe, and still in her girl sized. With a yelp she twisted around and saw what at first looked like a boy, but she quickly realized he wasn’t a boy, he was more like a pixie, only a bit larger than she was in girl form, and he had very green skin like that of a maple tree leaf had just after blooming, and long wild dark green hair—two red bird feathers adorned the back of it—and very long pointed ears. And he was wearing nothing at all save for red shorts.


“What,” was all she could say to the sight of the boy.


“No time for that,” the strange green boy said as he looked at her. He had very large almond shaped eyes that were of a brilliant jade green color.


“Who,” Khsta asked aloud.


“No time for that either,” the boy replied. “Get your dagger out, she comes now.”


Just then the sill surface of the lake a few feet off the side of the canoe exploded with a flash of light and a boom. A geyser of water showered down on them. In the next instant something thumped into the side of the canoe hard, and the witch leaped out of the water with a shrill cry as she latched onto the side of the boat and glared at our pixie girl.


“You foul little fairies,” screamed the witch as she both tried to pull herself into the boat and at the same time reach for Khsta.


Khsta screamed at that and kicked out with her right foot, the one with the shackle still on it, and planted the heel of it right into the witch’s hooked nose. One, two, three times she kicked the witch right in the face. On the forth kick the witch latched onto her ankle and screamed, “stop doing that!”


“No!”


“Little Imp,” shouted the witch as she hung on the side of the boat, glaring at Khsta. “I’m not going to give you to the pirates. I’m going to keep you for myself and turn you small and eat you whole.”


“Never,” Khsta shouted back and finally, remembering her dagger that was still on her hip, drew it out and managed to jab it into the hag’s face.


This was when the strange green boy had shouted, “wait!”


Both the hag and pixie turned around and looked at him as he stood at the rear of the boat.


“Have I told you about my friend, Fred,” the green boy asked.


Khsta frowned at that, taken aback by the question as it was totally random and made no sense considering the circumstance.


The witch was also confused by it. “What,” she just about screamed at the green boy.


“Excellent swimmer, Fred is,” the green boy went on. “Wonderfully deep voice, and did I mention he’s always hungry?”


At that same moment, as soon as the boy had finished his speech, the water on the far side of the canoe—opposite the witch—exploded upwards and the single largest crocodile Khsta had ever seen—they grow larger here in our world—leaped straight up into the air, flew over the canoe and came right down like a speeding torpedo, landing right on top of the screaming witch as she tried to swim away. Both the crocodile and witch went right down into the lake with a loud and brilliant splash and were gone.


After a long moment, shocked by what had happened, Khsta said the only thing that came into her head and that was, “what!?” She was both confused by everything that had just happened and amazed at the same time. She actually got up on her knees and looked over the side of the boat and into the water. “What?”


“That was Fred,” the boy said in a very mater-of-fact tone. “Bet that nasty old witch wished right now that she had stayed in bed. Day probably would have gone better for her if she had.”


Khsta frowned at that as she looked at the boy, wondering who he was and why he had helped her. “Who are you,” she asked in a cautious tone.


“I am me,” the boy said with a handsome smile. “’Least I think I am. I was last time I looked. Don’t worry, I know who you are Khsta Dawn Bell. I know you’re on your way to seek the answer to what can be done to save the pixies, and all our world.”


Khsta set her dagger on her lap and glared at the boy for a long moment, thinking to herself. “And do you too, work for the pirates?”


Instead of answering her, the boy leaned down and touched the shackle on her ankle and it instantly broke apart, freeing her to change her form if she wanted to. Smiling the boy stood up and simply looked toward the front of the canoe. “Swan, get us to the far shore, and do it fast and I’ll turn you real and set you free,” he then shouted.


The wooden carving of the swan looked back at the boy and made a woody, groaning sound, before springing into action, sailing the canoe across the lake to the shore far away from the witch’s house.


Once they climbed out, the boy touched the wooden carving of the swan on its head and with a flash of blue light and a gust of a breeze, the wooden swan became a real living one. Honking happily it waddled out into the lake and paddled around in the water, delighted.


Khsta was amazed and stood there a moment, looking from the now real living swan to the green boy and back again. She not only wasn’t sure just who this green boy was, but wasn’t sure what he was. He looked like a pixie but wasn’t, and whatever he was, he had strong magic that was for sure.


“Who are you,” she asked again.


“We should go,” he told her. “The pirates don’t know the witch had you. But if they’re looking for you, they might show up here. We should put some distance between us and this place.” With that he turned and walked into the woods. “I’ve an urge to go to a magnificent garden party for some reason,” he muttered to himself as he walked away. “One with those little cucumber sandwiches and lemonade and no witches. Do witches make sandwiches I wonder? Which, witch is a sandwich?” He then burst out laughing. It was an innocent and almost musical sound, which put Khsta at ease and she followed him. Might as well see where he leads to, and if he’s dangerous, I’ll just turn small and fly off, she’d thought to herself as she walked into the woods. Besides, if you’re wondering, the seeking stone was still on the necklace around her neck, and it was showing her that her way led in the same direction as the green boy had walked.


When the sky began to pale with the light of dawn, true to what the green boy had said, the two spied a pirate ship, hanging motionless high up in the sky above the forest. They decided to hide in the thickets of the wood after that, and there, Khsta, exhausted from her ordeal with the witch and a long night’s trek through the dark woods, fell promptly to sleep.


She awoke at midday to find the green boy still there, only now he’d covered himself with grass, and put a headdress on his head, one made from leaves and blooming dandelions. He actually looked both comical and adorable, she embarrassingly admitted to herself.


When the green boy saw her looking at his new dress, he simply said, “camouflage.”


“Smart,” she said with a smirk, thinking it was unnecessary. He was, after all, green and probably blended in with the forest nicely. If anyone needed camouflage it was her. “Did you rest?”


“Some,” the boy agreed with a nod of his head.


“I should thank you,” Khsta said as she sat up.


“You just did,” the boy sighed.


She frowned at that, not understanding. “You know who I am, and my quest, but I don’t even know your name.”


“It’s Ashkii,” the green boy said as he sat down on the rock across from her. Then he put a cute frown on his face. “Wait, no it’s not. Wait. Is today Wednesday?”


Khsta blinked her eyes, confused. She suddenly realized she had no idea what day of the week it was. “I don’t honestly know.”


“Okay, yeah, it’s Ashkii,” the green boy said. “Yeah. No, Oh,” he then shouted as he held one finger up and smiled. “Apples.” With that he sprang up and ran off into the forest.


Khsta frowned at that, once again wondering about the strange boy. Who was he? And why had he run off like that saying, “apples?” Strange. She then went about taking stock of herself. Her necklace the ghost had given her was still there and working fine as she could still see the trail only she could see. The small pouch with the payment was still tied to her belt, thankfully, and the small bag with her meager supplies was still with her. And of course her dagger.


Ashkii returned in due course, and in his hands he held two ripe apples, as well as a handful of fresh blueberries and two small shells filled with honey. He gave Khsta one of the apples and a shell with honey in it, and the two split the berries between themselves.


“Where did you get the honey,” she finally asked the boy as she stuck her finger in it and tasted it. It was very good.


“Honeybee pixies,” Ashkii replied as he looked over his shoulder, back into the forest. “I chased off a badger that was bothering their hive and they gave me the honey as a thank you.”


“And I thank you for it,” she told the boy with a smile. “Can I ask, what tribe are you from?” She honestly wanted to know as she had never seen his kind before.


“The very first,” the boy answered at length.


Khsta tilted her head down and looked at him for a long moment with her glowing indigo eyes. Was he serous? “The. . . the first tribe?”


Ashkii nodded his head. “The First Children of the Forest.”


Was he joking or crazy? She’d no idea. “You’re a very unusual boy.”


Ashkii bit into the apple and chewed for a moment before saying, “well I only been awake for a few months.”


Again, Khsta was confused by that, cautious, but interested. “Awake? What do you mean?”


“Well I was asleep in the ground since we got kicked out of the First Garden,” he explained. “My adopted mother, Jessica Soranto dug me back up out of a cornfield by the light of a harvest moon. I have been awake ever since.”


Khsta was shocked by this for a number of reasons, and those that know the ancient history of our worlds might understand why. Mostly she was shocked to hear the woman’s name the boy had spoken. “Jessica. The Woman Jessica Soranto is your adopted mother?”


Ashkii nodded his head.


“Jessica the sorceress,” Khsta asked in a disbelieving tone. “Jessica the White Witch of the Misty Wood? The Keeper of the Seal and the First Book? That Jessica Soranto? She’s your adopted mother?”


Ashkii nodded his head as he chewed the last bit of his apple, then he looked up at her and frowned. “She’s probably wondering where I’m off to. I should send her a message.” With that the boy sat upright and made a whistling sound. Instantly a sparrow flew down from a nearby tree and perched itself on the ground beside the boy’s foot. Ashkii then made a series of chirping and whistling sounds to the sparrow for a long moment—which sounded remarkably like the singing of a sparrow—and when he fell silent, the bird flew off.


“There,” he then said with a smile as he looked back at Khsta, “now she won’t get so mad at me because I have been out so long. Or maybe she will. O well. We should get going, there’s fresh water nearby, and that pirate ship has moved on. Best not stay still for too long or your luck will run out.”


Khast had to agree with that and soon after they set off in the direction the necklace showed her to go.


For the next few days the two traveled together, and over and over again, Ashkii showed himself to be true to her, helping her along the way to avoid pirates and other dangers, and often finding food.


She also came to realize that he had a habit of changing his outfits at random, one time covered himself with paint—and where he got that from she’d no idea—telling her it was his war paint. Other times he would adorn himself with leaves and wear a large mushroom like hat, and a few times covered himself with colorful rags.


One afternoon she asked him again where he came from, seeing that Jessica was his adopted mother, so she wanted to know who his real parents had been, to which he’d replied he had come from the earth. Another time he hadtold her he came from a tree.


“That why you’re green,” Khsta had asked him once when he’d told her he come from a tree, and the boy had looked at her as if she had grown a second nose.


“I’m green?”


“You are.”


“Must be something I ate,” he told her and said no more about it.


Along with his unusual and random dress, Ashkii often changed his name. One day on their trip she kept asking him questions to which he didn’t answer. This led her to believe he was mad at her and she asked him what she had done to anger him, to which he asked, “who’s this Ashkii person you keep talking about?”


“You.”


“My name is Larry,” he told her. At the time he was wearing a feathered cape that looked remarkably like bird wings, and even a hood on his head that looked a lot like the head of a crow. Not long after that, one morning he had told her that for the rest of the day she was to address him as Mormanto, Lord of Cross-eyed Chickens!


As mysterious, and she had to admit, as attractive as she found him to be, she was fairly certain after that morning that he was quite insane.


That aside Ashkii, or whatever he wanted to be called, proved to be both very powerful—he seemed to have the ability to control the crocodiles and talk to the animals of the forest—very skillful in hiding from pirates and even fighting when it came to that—and it did more than a few times—and a strong ally of hers.


Some of you may be wondering here, why Khsta didn’t ask Ashkii or his mother to help her and the pixies in their plight with the pirates, and rightly so. The woman Jessica was very powerful, and obviously so was Ashkii. After all he had transformed a wooden carving of a swan into a real one. Such a person would be a great ally and weapon against the pirates and their king. The reason is, for those that don’t know the full and ancient history of our world as I do, and apparently as Khsta did—is because the Woman Jessica belonged to ancient peoples who were forbidden to interfere in much of the on goings in our world. Especially where humans were concerned, and pirates are human, of course. But if you think on this, as I have here, you’ll also realize that Jessica sending her adopted son, Ashkii to help Khsta when she needed it the most—and I’ve no doubt Jessica had sent him—was in a way, helping us all. . .


When the compass led her to the outpost of Burnt Hill, here the boy, who she came to simply call, The Green Boy, vanished. To where? she had no idea, but I can tell you, he went off to have his own adventures—and the rest of his story is for another time.


I could here, tell you of the suffering of the pixies and other peoples at the outpost of Burnt Hill, and how they’d lingered under the siege of the pirates. I can tell you of the brave commander of the outpost and his sacrifice, and of the two heroes, Nathaniel and Aaron, who Khsta came to know fondly. And tell you of their story and how they were the last of their tribe but we don’t have that time here. I can tell you of how Khsta helped the people of the outpost, and was solely responsible for breaking the pirate siege there—and how she’d tricked the fire-breather into doing that was very clever—allowing the pixies and others to escape into the mountains to safety, but that is a much longer story for another time.


Yes Khsta our little pixie had had a quite the adventure, and she’d met heroes and their opposite to get here. She’d seen the light and faced the growing darkness and dodged and in some ways defeated pirates along the way, and now it was at the end. The seeking stone the ghost had given her showed her that this was it.


Yenni was up there in that cave and she would finally speak to him and get the answer she needed to what should be done to save this world from the pirates.

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CHAPTER 3

*

Through the forest

And

Pirate Spies

Now a month later, Khsta Dawn Bell stood on the stony ground at the base of the cliff. This was where the seeking stone had guided her to, and somewhere up there in that cave was Yenni.


Her quest to get here was quite an adventure, I can tell you, and if I had more time I would go into the full detail of it all. Maybe someday, if those that wish to hear it want to, I’ll tell you it in full.


I could go into the detail of her first trial, stumbling into a confusing and very large serpent who called itself Gerrymander who tried to trap her in its endless coils, all the while telling her that he divided and added into districts and something about categorizing and subtracting. The only way she was able to escape the Gerrymander was by confusing it with her own name. This had come as an accident when she told him her name was Khsta Dawn Bell, but the Gerrymander had misunderstood her and believed she had said her name was Keisha Doorbell. This confusion had caused a loophole to appear in the Garrymander’s body, and she flew through it, escaping the Gerrymander for good.


She also had a few days where she had been hunted by an agent of the Pirate King, a beast named Gmork, who she had finally defeated by dropping a very large hornets’ nest on top of it.


Not long after that she had an annoying encounter with a very lusty Will-O-the-Wisp who had mistaken her tiny pixie form for one of its own kind and had flirted with her to no end, following her around the forest and asking her to marry him. Eventually she managed to ditch him and while she had felt a bit sorry for that, and sad for the lonely Wisp, she had moved on following the glowing blue vapor trail that the seeking stone allowed only her to see.


Then there were those two dimwitted spies for the pirates she had encountered in the forest one night. I will tell you some about them, just to show you how skillful our little pixie was. They had been looking for her, as a matter of fact, just as the Gmork had been, but she managed to change into girl size before they had seen her as a tiny pixie and so had convinced them she was actually a lost girl. Again, like with the Gerrymander, it was her name or the confusion over it that had saved her. Bill, the less intelligent of the two idiots, just couldn’t get her name right no matter how many times she told it to him.


“Dumbell,” he’d asked her, sounding very much like one himself.


“Yes,” she said in a sure tone—this after telling the man her full, correct name six times. “That’s my name, you got it lunk-head.” She didn’t just mean that as an insult, she also said it because the large man like brute had a very square head with lumps on his brow and small, beady eyes.


“Hey, my name’s not that, it’s Bill.”


“Nice to meet you, Bill.”


Bill had squinted his eyes at her and asked. “You a pixie?”


“Do I look like one?”


“I ain’t ever seen one myself so I don’t know” Bill answered as he scratched his head in thought. “I think I need to take you to Harry so he can see you.”


Bill took Khsta to see Harry, who was larger and more brutish than Bill, and only slightly smarter. And Harry, who was fixing them a dinner of hot corn cakes and mushroom stew, was not at all happy about his dumb friend bringing a guest to dinner. “What you bringing lost girls here for? We only got eats for the two of us!”


Bill had explained that he wasn’t sure if she was a pixie or not so he wanted Harry to see her because he was smarter. Harry then hit Bill over the head with a spoon, a very large wooden one—the sound of it hitting Bill square on the head was much like the bonking sound an empty coconut might make when thumped—and shouted, “there’s a reason your mother named you Bill Limbo, I tell you. She’s a lost girl, plain as the wart on my chin!” Harry did have a wart on his chin.


“Well, you sure she ain’t a pixie?”


“Do I look like a pixie,” Khsta then asked as she turned to the side for them to see her form. At the moment she looked like a small human girl with long, flowing dark hair streaked through with blond highlights, wearing a skirt and halter top, holding a bag in one hand, and wearing a belt with a dagger on it. In this form, her wings were invisible to all but those with the most powerful magic, and the only magic these two idiots had between them might be enough to toast one side of a slice of bread, lightly, if that. . .


“I don’t know, I ain’t ever seen a pixie ‘fore,” Bill admitted.


“Pixies got wings, nipple head,” Harry told Bill Limbo, “and they’re tiny as a pea and glow. She’s a lost girl and we ain’t got no food to feed her. Toss her in the woods and forget her.”


“But we’re supposed to be on the lookout for that pixie the pirates told us was on the way to see the Old One,” Bill Limbo told Harry.


“Shut your trap on that subject, Bill Limbo,” Harry warned.


This lead to a long argument between the two idiots, which ended with Harry slugging Bill in the gut and shouting at him to toss the girl in the woods and forget her.


Khsta took advantage of that and pouted like a human girl would, stomped one foot and shouted, “but you said I could have dinner with you if I sang!” Why was she doing this you wonder? To find out more information about the pirates who were looking for her, of course. She wasn’t sure how to go about it, but hearing what Bill had said had both sacred and interested her and she wanted to see if she could learn anything from them that might later help her avoid being caught.


“You said what,” Harry asked as he turned on Khsta and made an ugly face at her.


“He said I could have dinner with you if I sang you a song.” Yes our little pixie was very clever, I tell you.


“Did not!”


Angry again, he seemed to be angry a lot, Harry snatched onto Bill’s nose and squeezed it, while asking, “you promising lost girls food for a song, is it?”


Bill howled loudly at having his nose squeezed and protested before saying he had not done such a thing, the girl was lying.


“That the truth of it little one, you making stories up is it,” Harry asked as he turned on Khsta.


Khsta acted delighted at this and shouted in girlish excitement, “oh I like stories!” She then sat down on the log beside their campfire, and glanced at the nice corn cakes and simmering stew before looking back up at Harry. “Especially scary ones. Which one are you going to tell me?”


“You said what,” Harry asked again, appalled by the idea of telling anyone, especially a lost girl, a bedtime story.


“I did not,” Khsta said to Harry.


Harry frowned at her. “I think you’re a little nuts in the head, is what I think.”


“I think she’s that pixie the pirates and their king want,” Bill suggested, showing that maybe on some level he was smarter than Harry.


“Quiet you,” Harry warned Bill.


“You guys are spying for the pirates,” Khsta asked, wanting to know more about this subject.


“No,” Harry shouted.


“Yes,” Bill blurted out, so Harry belted him across the face with the spoon a second time.


“How do you know they’re looking for a pixie I wonder, if you’re not spying for them,” Khsta then asked aloud, and she wanted to know just that.


“A rock-pixie-goblin thing,” Bill then said with a smile. “He was disguised as a rock and hiding outside their cave, spying on them and heard everything.”


“I said quiet,” Harry shouted and belted Bill in the gut a second time and then stomped on his foot. As Bill howled again in pain, Harry then looked back at our little pixie and said, “you ask a lot of questions. What you say your name is again, girl?”


Before Khsta could answer him, Bill blurted out, “Dumbbell!”


Khsta, having seen the way Harry seemed to enjoy hitting Bill, seized on this and shouted, “you said what,” as she pointed at Bill.


“What,” both idiots blurted out confused by the girl.


“He called you a dumbbell,” Khsta told Harry as she pointed at Bill. I told you, our little pixie was very smart and clever, and had decided that the best thing she could do now was find a way to get away from the two brutes before they discovered her true nature.


“I did not,” Bill shouted in protest.


“Did too!”


“So I’m a dumbbell is it,” Harry shouted and slugged Bill right in the snout. “And after I spent all night cooking for you!”


Bill was mad at that point, and done with being hit by Harry, so he picked up a branch and knocked Harry over the head with it. That was it, it was on after that, and both brutes went at each other, beating and punching each other senseless until eventually, they both knocked each other out.


With both of the brutish spies down for the count, our little pixie girl settled in and helped herself to a nice hot corn cake and a bowl of simmering mushroom stew. After that, she rummaged through the spies' belongings to see if she could find anything in regards to the pirates looking for her. Instead all she found was a few gold rings, jewelry and some coins. That upset her and she jumped up on Harry's chest as he lay unconscious on the ground and drew her dagger.


“I wonder what poor fairies you stole these from,” she said to the comatose brute with the large lump on his forehead, as she looked from the objects she had found to her dagger, to the brute again. “Or who you killed to get them. I should run you through or turn you to stone if I had that magic.” She didn’t have that magic, and she didn’t run either of those idiots through with her dagger while they lay there unaware of the night around them. Instead, she put that stolen jewelry and coins in the sack with the payment to Yenni the tribes had given her, transformed herself into her tiny form and flew off, leaving Bill and Harry behind for good.


I believe both of those idiots currently are working in the mines as punishment for letting her go, but that’s the longer part of the story, as is much of the story behind what took place that night, but you get the idea.


Chapter 4 coming next week!

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CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 

*

Khsta Dawn Bell

Skulls and Ghosts in the Barrows  

Now I shall tell you of the pixies and what became of them after Concord began his war, but to tell you of all, would take too long. Instead I will tell you the story of one pixie and her struggle, because her struggle and quest directly relates to you all.


This little one I am talking about was a Duende Pixie named Khsta Dawn Bell. Now so you understand, Khsta was no ordinary Pixie; she was a Sprite. As such, in her pixie form she was small, about the span of a boy’s hand from the bottom of the palm to the tip of the middle finger, and naturally could fly. In that form her body would mostly appear as a glowing pale blue pixie with lacy butterfly like wings. For the most part, she resembled her great grandmother, Bell. However, Khsta also had the ability to transform herself, as some Sprites can do, into a more or less, human form, and as such would appear as a small human girl. Well a human child with the exception that her pale skin had faint blue tint to it, her long, silky hair was of a dark blue—so dark in fact that it looked black—coloring streaked through with golden blond highlights. Her face was delicate, oval shaped and without a doubt, attractive, with her small nose and very large, oval shaped eyes that were of an intense indigo blue coloring. Her ears, like all of our kind, were slightly pointy at the tip, and her wings, while still there, were invisible. That aside, in her mostly human form she stood about the same height as a human girl of eight-years in age, and despite what I’ve told you of her appearance, overall looked like a child of that age.


But she was no child, nor human, as I’ve said. Khsta was also the only one from her tribe of pixies that could change her size. A very rare and special gift she had.


At the moment she was standing barefoot on the stony ground in the clearing at the base of a tall cliff face, looking up at the distant cave entrance far, far above her.


Her people had asked her—but in reality she had been chosen by the sprites of the woods, and not just because she was a sprite—to come here to seek out, Yenni the Wise, who it was said lived far up in the cave.


This was because not more than one full cycle of the moon (one month ago, and if you’re wondering a half dozen months since the war began) the pirates had attacked her village in the dead of night, coming in their massive flying ships beneath a thunderhead, with cannon fire and rifles and swords and destroying . . . well everything. That night had been the worst night of her life, and one that would haunt her nightmares for a long time to come. The sight of those pirate ships in the sky light up by the flickering lightning from the storm clouds above, and the flash of their cannons were terrifying, as was the booming sound of thunder and explosions. Cannon shots had blasted apart the hilltop and burrows of her village, gouging huge holes in the earth and blasting homes, and even pixies to dust.


The people of her tribe had done their best to fight back. Khsta herself had twice, flown up to one of the pirate ships. The first time she had gone after the helmsman and actually put out his left eye with her dagger, but as the man had fallen away, crying aloud, a pirate had snatched onto her when she was in her tiny form and both had tried to crush her in his grip, like she was a bug he was trying to squeeze in his hand, while at the same time he pulled her toward his homely, hairy face, his ugly mouth open, teeth broken and craggy. His breath had been hideous, and for a moment Khsta had actually thought the man had intended to eat her.


Before that could happen, she changed into her larger size, suddenly, while the man had been holding on to her. Holding onto something that is very small, that suddenly changes into something fairly large is pretty much like holding onto a bomb that suddenly explodes in your clutched fist. Very painful and damaging I expect. It was to the pirate, who suddenly fell back away from Khsta, screaming, his hand shattered and arm broken.


Two other pirates had seen her standing there in her girl size, and fired off their pistols at her, but Khsta had been faster than those rounds, and shifted back into her tiny pixie form before leaping over the side of the ship, flying with the rain out into the night.


The second time she tried to use her dagger to cut and shred the sails of one of the ships, but again, the pirates had seen her and fired off their pistols at her, laughing as they did so, and apparently unconcerned with the number of holes they shot in the sail of the main mast—nor where they concerned when they shot dead one of their own as they tried to blast her out of the air as she retreated.


“Eh it was just old Tim,” she heard one of the pirates laugh about the one they had shot as she fled. “G’me his pistol and toss his bones over the side. We’ll split his rum between us.”


More laughter.


Not long after that, the battle was over. The pixies, despite their numbers and powers were no match for the pirates with their ships and weapons of war. Many of her people perished that night. Some had fled into the forest and were lost, and some were taken by the pirates, made slaves. For what purpose I can only imagine.


Dawn came the following morning, cold and gray, revealing the naked horror of the battle. Gone was the hilltop village, the earth raw and blown apart like a gaping wound in the glade, and all around, the surrounding forest was smoldering from the fires the pirates had lit. Above, a steady, silvery rain fell as if all of heaven was crying over the devastation the men had brought down on the pixies.


For two days afterward, Khsta and the survivors of her tribe had wandered the marshes, trying to find a safe place, and came upon a small band of Woodling Pixies that also had been attacked by the pirates as well, and were hiding in a cave in the swamp.


After a bit of arguing and anger between the two tribes (the Pixies of the Glade, as Khsta’s tribe had been known and the Pixies of the Forest often didn’t get along entirely well and avoided each other most of the time) it was decided that they would—at least for the moment—remain together in order to survive the next encounter with the pirates—for they were all certain they would return to hunt them all down.


Once that was settled, a lengthy, and fairly loud, discussion broke out on what they should do next. Some wanted to band together with other tribes and go to war with the pirates. Others suggested they remain in hiding, and still others suggested they head off to the hidden fairy kingdom and remain there.


“And what good will that do us in the long run,” Thorn, a male pixie, and one of those who’d argued for war, had asked.


“We’ve retreated to the hidden kingdom before and hid there from the pirates,” another told him.


“True, but only for a time, and then they found us,” Thorn reminded them. “We can go there, but they will find us eventually. I for one am done with hiding. I say we fight back.”


Several agreed with him on that, and of course, an argument broke out with one side saying they should go to the hidden kingdom and remain there, and other’s calling for all-out war on the pirates. This argument was brought to an end by Belfel, the old pixie mage from Khasta’s tribe, who had returned from her long walk in the forest, and shouted that it was not time for war yet. Everyone had looked at her with fear and respect as she was old and wise and powerful.


“Yet,” Thorn had then echoed. “We don’t understand.”


“We are pixies,” she reminded him. “We cannot stand alone against the pirates for they are skilled in—and have weapons of war we cannot imagine.”


“We have the power of the elements in our hands,” Thorn told the mage. “The power of the wind to command.”


Belfel nodded her head in agreement with that, saying that was true and they could use that power to ground the pirates and their ships, but all that would do was form them into a land army, and there would still be death.


“Then what,” many asked.


“One of us must go to the barrows in the middle of the swamp,” Belfel told them.


Many gasped in fear over hearing that, for the ancient barrows she had spoken of where the tombs and graves of ancient and forgotten people, and they were said to be haunted!


“Those are not the tombs of fairy folk,” Thorn reminded her. “what could we hope to find there?”


Belfel told them there was one who slept there who had made an agreement with the old mage of their tribe long before she’d become the current mage—to help the pixies if he could. This because the old mage had helped him. One of them needed to find his tomb and remove the cover stone to awaken him, and ask him what he might know they could do, and where to find help.


To that, Thorn reminded Belfel, “we’re pixies, and even with our magic we might not be able to remove the cover stone of his grave.”


“One of us can,” Belfel said as she looked at Khsta. “One of us who is a Sprite and can change into a larger, human size can move the stone and wake him.”


Khsta was a bit taken back by that, “but I am not a mage. The spirits of the barrows might try and trick me. And I cannot speak to the dead, as a mage can. Are you coming with me?”


“I am forbidden to enter the barrows,” Belfel told her, which was true. “Do what you can, Khsta Dawn Bell. Find his grave, remove the cover stone and bring to me what you find beneath. When you do, I’ll be able to speak to him here.”


Khsta was scared of course, but in the end she agreed to do this, and the next morning she flew off into the swamps and eventually found the barrows. They were a creepy place, several shrub covered earthen mounds at the center of a murky swamp filled with gray-black water that smelled like death itself. A few crows perched themselves in the branches of dead trees and watched her silently as she hunted around the hills for the marker Belfel had told her about. A few times she heard an eerie cry, like a woman screaming or a child crying, and more than once she saw shadowy figures in the mist, moving or walking by. In time she found it. The marker of the grave was a square stone tablet, hidden in the weedy grass, on the third hill. The center of it was carved with the symbol Belfel had told her to look for, the ancient astrology symbol for Mars. (And if you know old mythology, you know Mars was the ancient God of War. Appropriate considering what I’ve told you so far, don’t you think?)


Transforming herself into her girl size, she knelt down in the damp, yellow straw grass and cleared the stone off, then dug around its edges until she was able to get her fingers under it, and with some effort, lifted it up and moved it aside. Beneath was a stone box with a single human like skull, grinning up at her. That had startled her to see and she jumped up on her bare feet with a startled gasp.


The voice, a deep man’s voice, that spoke next startled her even more and she almost turned small and flew off in terror. “What brings you to the barrows? One as young and pretty as you should not spend her days in a graveyard. Or is it that with the pirates and their war on your kind, you’ve come here to wait for the inevitable, like a child lying in bed waiting for night and sleep to come?”


The voice had not come from the skull, but the ghostly, man like figure standing above it. After her fear and shock was beyond her over this, Khsta told the ghost who had sent her and why. “Belfel sent me to ask what can be done. What we need to do?”


For a long moment the ghostly image said nothing, just remained there floating in the air, like a misty shapeless phantom above its skull and Khsta feared she would get no answer. Then it spoke in a soft, deep voice, saying one word. “Yenni.” He then told her that she must go and seek out Yenni, the Old One who it was said had the ability to answer any question. He had the answer to what she and the pixies needed to do and how to deal with the pirates.


Khsta had heard of Yenni, but up until that moment had considered him a myth and told the ghost so. “And I have no idea how to find him.”


“Beneath my skull is a necklace with a stone on it,” the ghost had told her. “It is a seeking stone. A compass of sorts. The wearer of it will be able to see the way to that which they seek. Take it. Use it to find Yenni and ask him for the answer to the problem of the pirates. Go now. The darkness comes, and there are those less friendly than I who rest here, and may harm you once night falls. For the dead do not like to suffer the living.”


With girlish disgust and squeamishness, and a lot of silly faces that made it obvious that our little pixie was not at all delighted with handling the skull of some long dead person, Khsta managed to remove the skull from the stone box, and true to what the ghost had said, beneath it she saw a silver chain neckless, with a small, coin sized disk hanging from it. In the middle of the disk was a small, turquoise stone in the shape of a teardrop. This she took and because she had nowhere to put it—her usual dress was to be barefoot, and wear a simple tan skirt with lacy sky blue trim and a belt with her dagger in it, as well as a lacy tan and blue halter top—she looped the chain over her neck, replaced the skull in the box, telling the ghost the chain would be returned once Yenni had been found, she put the stone tablet back over it and left, flying back to the cave where the rest of the pixies hid.


I should point out to those that don’t know, anything that was touching her, such as that necklace she had taken from the grave, transformed with her when she turned to her small pixie size, so it was as small as she was. Of course only if she wanted it to, mind you. And when she transformed into her girl size, the same was true.


Back at the cave she told everyone what had happened and showed them the necklace the ghost had given her. No one said a thing to this, just looked at her in silence, and for a moment she feared they either thought she was making the whole thing up, or had lost her mind in the swamps. She did not understand that they were fearful of her, for only someone very powerful such as a mage or someone stronger could speak to the dead.


“It’s all true,” she told them. “See here. The necklace the ghost gave me.”


Finally it was Belfel who spoke to her. “You are the one to go to Yenni.”


Khsta was a bit shocked to hear this. “Me? Alone? I am just one pixie.”


“You made it through the barrows,” they reminded her. “And spoke with the dead. You wear the necklace.”


“And you are the only one of us who can change into a human size,” Belfel reminded her. Again, this ability to change her size was something only Khsta had, and was another sign that she was no ordinary pixie—even if she didn’t yet realize it. “Better to disguise yourself from the pirates if need be. For in your larger form, you appear as a girl, not a pixie and they would be fooled by this and not know of you or your quest. Yes, it is you who must go and find Yenni for us. Find him and ask him what we must do to be rid of the pirates.”


That was all there was to it. There was nothing more to say on the subject, and Khsta argued no more on it. This was, after all, for all her people, all the pixies in our world in fact. As nervous and frightened as she was going on this quest to find this Yenni, she had to do it, and in a way she wanted to. Belfel then told them that Yenni would want payment in some form for his answer, so she had everyone give in something of value that they had managed to bring with them the night of the pirate attack. It was not much, some gold dust, a few gem stones and some bits of gold and silver ribbon. These she put into a sack and gave to Khsta to bring with her and give Yenni.


The next morning, she started out on her quest, and while she did, Belfel and those that wished to remain in hiding until Khsta got an answer from Yenni, took off to the hidden kingdom to wait. Thorn and those that wished to fight went off in search of allies to raise an army to fight against the pirates.


Their story is for another time.



Chapter 3 continued next week!

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CHAPTER 1

Neverland The Next War

Story by: Nick Tamboia

* 

The Pirate King and his Grand Plan

It was many years ago that the boy who wouldn’t grow up did just that and the land once home to the brave, adventurous boy who could fly is now barren, empty and almost eerie. You see, everyone grows up and even Peter Pan decided to leave behind Neverland to do just that but that’s a different story. I am here to tell you what happened after Peter left. My name is Nhayti. I am the record keeper of the pixie world, tasked with the responsibility to record all the events that happened and now I must retell our story in hopes that you can save us.


It all started one morning when Concord, the newly and self-appointed (appointed through pistol, and the threat of death I can tell you) Pirate King had called together all the captains of his fleet onboard his flagship to take part in a special war council.


Once all the pirate captains had assembled in his war chamber, Concord came before them, dressed in his usual manner, all in black with a black coat etched with red trim, and on his bald head, he’d a long scarlet red scarf. It was because of that scarf he later became known by us as the Scarlet Pirate King. Eyeliner and make up he wore around his large blue eyes, and unlike others, he’d no beard but did have a very long blond mustache that hung down the sides of his face so that it always looked as if he was frowning. “Gathering you all while I’ve been wondering here,” he then said to his captains as he took up his spot at the front of the cabin.


That, of course, confused them all and they all sat there exchanging startled and confused glances with each other, none sure how to respond to that.


“That’s a joke,” the Pirate King then said in a firm tone. “Laugh!”


They all did, and it was unsure and nervous laughter that filled the cabin for a moment and then Concord slammed the palms of both hands down on the table, silencing them at once.


“Captains, my captains of my fleet,” Concord The Pirate King then said as he stood upright. “I have called you here to tell you of a vision I have had. Yes. It was this very morning, while taking my bath that I suddenly realized why I am destined for magnificence.”


Someone snickered at that, while the others glanced around at each other, unsure.


Smirking as he began to pace the Pirate King went on speaking, “That which I now speak of, gentlemen, is not just my destiny but the destiny of us all, for the greater good of us all, and that is the full and complete establishment of a pirate empire here in this world.”


“We have an empire here,” one of the captains said in a soft tone. “We are the only pirates in this world, and control—”


“Control What,” Concord shouted as he looked around the table. “Control what? The mines? The pits and ports? That is not control. I am speaking of complete and total domination of this world, for all of us. All of it from one shore to the other, from one horizon to the opposite, all of it ours! Under our control with me at the head of it as emperor.”


All the captains seated around the table looked at each other, not sure what to say to any of that.


The Pirate King went on. “I am talking about taking over complete control of Neverland and making it an empire from which we will reach out from, and take what we want, from whom and where we want it. As it should be. But one thing stands in our way. Do you all know what that is?”



Everyone looked around unsure how to answer at first, and then one captain suggested, “bad weather?”


“No, not completely, although that can hinder us at times,” Concord sighed. “At least you’re trying. Anyone else?”


“Churches,” someone blurted out.


Concorde frowned at that. “No,” he growled.


“Very robust, ill-tempered Russian woman,” another asked.


Concord looked up toward the rear of the cabin where a very portly small woman with long blond hair sat in a chair knitting socks—who glanced up at him and scowled at what she’d heard as if daring the Pirate King to agree with his captain. On the wall behind her was a framed picture with a hook in the center of it. “Umm, no,” he then said as he stood upright again.


Before he could ask another question or shout again, a man standing in the corner of the cabin, half hidden in the shadows blurted out, “Pixies, those annoying fluttering little glow bugs that they are.”


“Yes,” Concord then shouted happily as he swatted the tabletop before him. “Yes! Pixies. At least one of you here has half a brain! The Pixies have gotten in our way and hindered our expansion every step of the way. At first I thought it was that annoying flying freak and his stinky little friends, but they’ve been gone from our world for a while now, and still we’re only slightly better off than when they were here. The reason is the Pixies. They are holding us back—me back—keeping us all from fulfilling our destiny. This leaves us only one course of action; we must rid ourselves of them entirely. We must exterminate them completely, then we will have complete control over this world and I—I will be emperor!”


“Emperor,” one elderly captain scoffed. It was unclear if he was just scoffing at the word, or Concord’s suggestion that he should be emperor of all of Neverland.


The Pirate King glared at him for a long moment before asking, “excuse me, what was your name again?”


Swallowing hard the old man answered, “Ted, sir. One eyed Ted,” and as soon as he’d spoken his name the Pirate King drew his pistol from his belt and shot One Eyed Ted dead.


No one moved, reacted or said a thing about this.


“There now,” Concord sighed as he looked over at the man sitting at a desk beside him, writing in a book. “Let the record show that Captain . . . Ted, decided to take an early retirement to someplace nice, this day and so on and so on.”


“Aye sir,” the man said as he continued writing.


Concord then looked over at the man standing in the shadows, the same one who had answered his question about the pixies correctly. “You there. You were his First Mate, where you not?”


“Aye sir. Well I was, up until a moment ago,” the man replied as he stepped out of the shadows.


“What is your name,” asked the Pirate King.


“Jack, oh Great Pirate King.”


Concord smiled at that, “Well Jake, congratulations, you are now promoted to Captain of the Pearl.”


“At your service, Sire,” the newly appointed Captain Jack said with a bow, and then stood upright and stepped over his former and now retired captain’s body and approached his seat at the table.


“Now where was I again,” Concord said as he looked around the table.


“Something about exterminating pixies and becoming emperor of Neverland,” Captain Jack told the Pirate King as he dusted off the chair and sat down in it.


“Right,” Concord said with a smile. “I now, before you Captains of my Pirate Fleet, declare all-out war on the Pixies. We must hunt them down and destroy them wherever they are. Burn every forest to the ground, pound every hill to dust and blast every burrow wide open. And then when they flee to their hidden kingdom, we will chase them there and destroy it once and for all.” That speech done with, Concord stood there with his hands in his coat pocket, looking around the table at his men.


Finally one man dared to speak, and said, “then they’ll be no pixies left in Neverland.”


“What,” Concord asked in a soft, cold tone.


“If we destroy the hidden kingdom of the pixies, then they’ll all die and there will be no more pixies left in Neverland.”


“No pixies left in Neverland,” Concord echoed, pretending to be saddened to hear this. “Oh dear me, a single tear rolls down my cheek. OF COURSE THERE WILL BE NONE LEFT! That’s the whole point,” he billowed aloud in rage. “How are we to fulfill our destiny? How am I to become Emperor of Neverland with them in the way, you stupid twit—I’m sorry,” he then said as he stood upright, his anger suddenly changing to what appeared unusual calm. “My apologies everyone, for that rude outburst. Bad form on my part. I simply must do away with having caffeinated beverages first thing in the morning. I simply must.”


No one said a thing to this. All the captains just sat there looking around at each other, none daring to move or speak.


Standing upright and drawing in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, the Pirate King cleared his throat and said, “Now, Captains, that is my plan. Exterminate the pixies once and for all and take over complete control of this world. What say you all?”


For a long moment no one spoke or moved or even looked at the Pirate King, and then the newly appointed Captain Jack shouted. “Wonderful idea. Love it. I say we all get out of here now.”


“What,” Concord asked in a questioning growl.


“I mean,” Captain Jack said to the King. “The faster we leave this meeting of ours, the faster we can get on with the said extermination of those fluttering little glowing strumpets. And the less chance there is of one of us getting shot next.”


All the pirate captains then glanced around at each other and then all at once they shouted, “Yes. Yes! On with it. Exterminate the pixies!”


The Pirate King was delighted by this.


Later that morning the Pirate King stood on the deck of his floating flagship and addressed all the pirates on all the ships and all those working in the mine pits below and told them of his grand plan for war, domination and the obliteration of all the pixie races of our world. He ended his grand speech by throwing his arms wide to the masses and billowing aloud, “READY MY FLEET! TO WAR AND THE ANNIHILATION OF THE PIXIES!”


This was met with thunderous cheers, as all the pirates on all the ships and all those in the pits below shouted and applauded the Pirate King and his plan. Then the drums began, and all began to chant and sing, “Exit light. . . Enter night. . . Off to Never-Neverland!”


So this is how the war for the conquest of our world and the extermination of the pixies began, with thunderous cheers and dark song. . .

Chapter 2 coming next week..

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Volunteer Applications Are Now Live!

Because our aim is to make camp bigger and better every year we have made a few changes. Kenzie and Landon are only two people and sometimes too shy to ask for help, even losing sleep a few nights weeks before camp putting it all together. Truth is we take on more than we can chew. This year we want to allow people to help us make camp great in fields we have fallen short of our expectations.

There are now 5 volunteer opportunities so rather than link them all please browse to this blog site to the the menu "Volunteers" and browse to the different areas where we would love help.

Please help us spread the word and lets make 2016 camp better than the last.

Thank you all in advance,
Mckenzieky Resident & Landon Edenbaum

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