S' TOO ARTSMITH AND THE BATTLE WITH THE STAR EAGLE

After his last adventure with the three towers, our hero S'Too Artsmith was called upon by the great god Bob to do battle with the evil Star eagle, a mysterious creature living in a land that time had forgotten, but which was known to all the freelanders as The Black Island.

Once again there would be terrors to face and the first of these was the old ones with the all seeing mobile eye.

They were thought to live in the remains of a great cathedral, built before anyone could remember and forgotten by too many of them. But it's name of Fort Rose was sometimes whispered by the Ochies. (These things have always got to sound obscure!)

Close by to the jagged ruins of the forgotten cathedral S'Too followed the olden ones, who might have had an all seeing eye, but it had to point in the right direction to see him!

 Once the watery sun went down over the Black Island, strange, slithery, winged creatures ranged over the land looking for easy prey. They shunned the daylight and slept, growling, in ramshackle wooden nests.

The poor landless peasants had bred white ghostcats to warn them of the approach of the winged creatures which they called The Killen Birds.

There was one part of the Black Island where even the Killen Birds were scared to go - the Rose Haugh Estate! Dark and terrible things had happened there in the past and few people ventured there, especially after what had happened to one armed Jack! But that's another story.

The land was permanently swathed in a foul smelling miasma which affected all living things. Some were seen to enter the Estate and were never seen again. It was thought that the Star Eagle had built it's nest from their bones.

 Through the clinging mists S'Too could make out the strange shadowy shapes (that's alliteration!) of weird buildings, the like of which he had never seen before.

Once he was close to them, he could see that they were ruined shells that might once have echoed to the happy laughter of children - but no longer.

Instead, there was the cackling of the olden ones, including the strange one with the crooked leg. S'Too had tucked in behind them and they could not sense his presence.

When the olden ones left to look for food, S'Too took the opportunity to begin his search for the Star Eagle. He stealthily entered the remains of what, to him, looked like the remains of a great storage barn. The Star Eagle was known to store it's victims against hard times in the depths of winter, which here could last for years at a time. He crept quietly in to find.......

...nothing. He would have to start again.

He had lost the Olden Ones and stumbled across some moss-covered, rickety stairs.

At the top, he came across something he had not seen since he was a boy - a fairy house. These used to be everywhere, when he was young, but people did not believe in fairies any more and they had gradually faded from the world of humans and the humans were the poorer for their leaving. He could not tell how long this house had been abandoned, but it's existence was a ray of hope in a desolate land. 

He heard a shuffling behind him. Turning quickly he thought he saw a dwarf, but he could not be sure as it moved with a blur. Actually Sharon didn't hold the camera steadily enough!

Leaving the fairy house to any remaining residents, S'Too continued through the dense, clinging forest. He spied massive fortified walls. This could be the place he was looking for. This could bring him closer to the Star Eagle. He was hopeful, but petrified at the same time. 

There were guards on the top that he could see, but he could also see that they were Olden Ones whose eyesight was poor and he knew that if needs be he could outrun any of them.

As he expected, the Olden Ones stopped there observations and set about preparing something to eat - they were so predictable!

S'Too observed their strange eating habits from afar.

And they were a strange lot indeed.

While they ate all manner of things, S'Too left the Olden Ones behind and started to search through the stark ruins of the fortress. The vegetation had begun to reclaim the stones as if to remind the long gone builders that nothing lasts forever.

From the viewpoint of a long-disused balcony, S'Too could see across the land and he thought he could now see where the Star Eagle might be.

He left the ruins and the Olden Ones behind and passed through the ancient celestial gate.

 He walked up the long mile avenue towards where he knew that he would find the great Fun Guy. 

He knew that the Fun Guy would be able to give him a mind expanding view of the surrounding landscape that would then allow him to finally find the deadly Star Eagle.

Sure enough, the Fun Guy delivered and S'too finally tracked the Star Eagle down. It flew from his left into his line of sight. It was concentrating on the fields, looking for an unwary worker who might be snatched away, never to be seen again.

The Star Eagle didn't sense S'Too, who used the strongest spell that he had been given the great god Bob. In an instant and before it could react the Star Eagle was turned into a very small and harmless frog, which fell from the sky into S' Too's open hand. 

 And so ended the battle of Star Eagle. As S'Too walked into the sunshine, he mused on that old saying of the the bigger they are the harder they fall.

Footnote: After their walk around Fortrose and the Rosehaugh Estate, the Dinosaurs went to Munro's for a nice cup of tea.