The Golden Bird Quest continues in my other Blog

I've created a new Blog for "The Golden Bird Quest," so check it out here:

http://thegoldenbirdquest.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter One, Part One:

"The Golden Apple Thief"

I had a dream last night...

I found myself under the full moon of a cloudless, starry night, in the middle of a grand and elegant garden of a great king.

All around me were a collection of wonderfully extravagant plants: strange animal topiaries of beasts I had never seen, flowering bushes from distant lands, and fruit trees of every kind and color. All protected by a towering stone wall, encircling both the garden and the king’s castle itself.

Among these beautiful trees, there was one that bore apples as golden as the sun, with skins that even shimmered in the moonlight. And standing beside this tree, was a young man in expensive clothes, with a bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver across his shoulder.

Staring up at the golden fruit, he asked “Why does my father doubt me so? For the past two nights my older brothers had their watch, yet two more apples were stolen!” And he raised his bow to aim at the garden wall in the distance. “Well the spoils shall end with three.” and he let the arrow fly, watching it as it deflected off a stone of the wall. “I will sooner die in the struggle than succumb to sleep such as they!”

The prince, for that’s surely what he was, must have paced around the golden apple tree for hours, waiting for the thief to appear, but never heard as much as a dog barking in the distance.

Beginning to grow weary, he approached a low-hanging branch of the tree, and reached out to cradle one of the fruits in his hand.

“Who wouldn’t want you.” he noted. “It’s no wonder father goes as far as to have you counted everyday, with the magic properties you’re said to possess.”

And as the prince looked at the apple, studying the reflection of the moon through its skin, something rose up into the sky behind him.

Turning around, he saw a large golden bird, resembling a pheasant, but as large as an eagle, with a long trailing tail and a crest that curled off the back of its head. The prince, stunned with awe, watched as the bird silently flew over him, seemingly unaware of the boy’s presence, and gently landed in the branches of the tree.

The golden bird turned its head around, as the moonlight shimmered across its body, and preened several of the glittering feathers on its back. Then, looking at one of the apples hanging beside it, the creature carefully used its beak to pluck off one of the apples.

The Prince was still lost in wonderment as he stared up at the bird, watching as it stood up on the branch, and began to spread its wings, before he finally realized that it was about to get away with one of the apples.

Quickly, he drew an arrow from his quiver, and raised up his bow, steadying his aim as the bird lifted itself into the air. He let the arrow fly, and it shot up behind the fowl, missing its body, but striking one of its feathers, sending the golden shaft floating down toward the ground.

Catching the feather in the air, the prince didn’t bother to draw another arrow, but watched as the bird flew across the night sky to the north. “Father has to think more of me now. Not only have I seen the thief, but I have a token of his identity, and proof of the splendor that lies behind it.”

The Golden Bird Quest: The Taking Of The Golden Apples

Welcome to my Fantasy Blog, where I'll be dreaming up my own versions of epic fairy tales!

"The Golden Bird Quest"

Chapter One: The Taking Of The Golden Apples