IMAGINATION

Where does your imagination take you when you see a patch of toadstools?
Here's where mine took me.

Ailionora's little heart thumped frantically as her gauzy wings carried her to hide beneath the tall toadstool cap. She clung tightly to the cool, damp stem, and waited. "Where, oh where be me friends?" She wondered. "An I be thinkin' they followed close behind me, but alas! I am alone and ever so frightened." It wasn't the first time she had been chased by that nasty old Macha."What a horrid one crone she is, always trying to cause trouble, and make war among me friends." Ailionora thought.

Out of nowhere, Flynn zipped in beside her. "Draw up yer' feet Ailionora, " he whispered, "They're danglin' beneath the rim o' the cap!" Quickly she yanked them up under her chin and thanked her good friend. Flynn was such fun. His hair was red as fire and he was usually making jokes and doing things to make her laugh, but today he was frowning and very serious. Flynn was a fighter with a wild temper too, and sometimes that was not a good thing.

Suddenly there was a loud 'boink' and the toadstool shook violently, as a familiar voice slurred, "well an why don'cha look out wher yer' goin ya fey thin thing y'are?" Gripping tight to the toadstool, lest they be shook loose, Ailinora and Flynn looked down to see the old lush Mabh. She had landed on her belly, skirt askew, her fanny in the air, but still holding her bottle of poteen tightly, as if it were a bottle of gold dust. "get ye up ye auld fool!" Flynn called to her, but Mabh just laughed as she drunkenly rolled on the moss beneath their hiding place. "I'll have to go n' ger er' before she gives us up," He whispered to Ailionora. He tried desperately to talk sense into the old Mabh, but she wasn't having any of it. She didn't even understand the danger she was in.

Through the tall toadstool stems, wise old Lugard came strolling; his tall walking stick lightly thumping along the way. "Well, well, well, an what ave we er?" He asked. "It's ald Mabh again. "Flynn answered. "She's been into the fermented potatoes again and a sorry lot she is. We must do something with er' before Macha sees us." Lugard, being the wise old one that he was, puffed on his smelly old clay pipe, and looked around. Then with the authority of an Army General, he said, "Make er' drink it ull. Quickly noo, jus pour it doon er' wrinklled auld throot." Flynn was sure she'd had enough of the stuff, but knowing old Lugard's wisdom, he kneeled beside old Mabh and held the bottle as she eagerly chugged it down. In just seconds, her tattered old wings drooped to the ground and she was out like a light. "Now take yer wee sword and chop off the floppity cap from that ripe toadstool oer' there an we'll cover er' with it and none'll be the wiser."

Flynn quickly obeyed and no soner was the drunken Mabh's lifeless body hidden and Flynn and Lugard tucked under the toadstool cap with Ailionora, when they heard Macha, screeching like a banchee. "Where air ye Ailionora? Answer me right this instant! Where ye be hidin?" Ailionora shivered with fear, and her friends moved in close beside her. "Don't ye be frettin yerself, I'll not let the old hag harm ye if I can help it." Flynn protectively whispered. She thanked him but her chin was trembling so, he could barely understand her.

They clung together waiting, then suddenly she was there. "AHA!!! I knew ye couldn't be far off. I could smell yer flowery fragrance AIlionora! Did ye really think ye could escape me?" Flynn flew between them and held up his shiny sword. Macha threw back her ugly head and cackled wickedly, "Do ye really think ye can stop me, ye wee red haired fool with nothin fer a brain!" Hot tempered Flynn was angered by her insult. His sword flashed in the bright sunlight as he lurched toward Macha, whipping it from side to side. The wicked one removed herself from harms way and growled for her back up.

Out from the tall stems marched two of the ugliest little trolls imaginable. The one she called Gloophn, had green slime hanging from his mouth and through his snaggly, decaying teeth. More clung to his filthy, gray jacket and even dripped from his raggedy trousers. His long fingernails were brown and looked like chicken claws. His ears were those of a donkey and his feet like bear claws. But the most shocking feature of this hideous little creature was his eyes. Very large, they took up nearly half of his face, dark pea green in color with red around the edge of the iris. His nose was large and blobulous and covered with more green slime. He smelled like the sewer he lived in.

The other she called Maaglah and he was just as ugly as Gloophn. The main difference in the two was that Maaglah's hair was a yellowish color and was matted with filth, and his eyes were yellow, one of which was always looking in different directions. He wore a rust colored jacket and dark grey trousers, both covered with filth from the sewer. His nose was long and very pointed at the end and his teeth were mostly missing. Maaglah drooled constantly. Flynn could understand why Alionora was repelled by them, and why Macha was so eager to keep them as her friends. They were very intimidating just because of their filth and ugliness.

Flynn looked them over carefully to see if they had weapons, but saw nothing to fear. He shoved Macha out of the way and challenged the trolls, who grinning wickedly, stepped slightly back. This gave Flynn more confidence and he whipped his shiny sword to and fro in the air as he smiled delightedly. Lugard warned him, "Careful my young friend, they've got somethin' up their sleve, watch yerself!" Slightly taken aback by his wise friend's warning, Flynn was reconsidering his plan when they rushed him, Maaglah knocked his sword from his hand while Gloophn sunk his filthy teeth into Flynn's wrist. The fetid breath of the thing as unbearable and Flynn fought the urge to wretch.

Maaglah pulled Flynn's arm behind his back and began to twist until Flynn thought his arm would pop from it's joint. He screamd in pain, as the wicked beast twisted harder. Then he heard Ailionora shriek in terror as Macha, cackling loudly, scratched at her ankles. Lugard kicked at Macha's claw like fingers and she howled in pain as one of her claw like nails fell to the ground. "Ye've broken me fingernail, ye fool! Ye fool!" She screamed.

Flynn's arm was bleeding profusely as Maaglah yanked at his fiery red hair. Gloophn was now clawing at Flynn's stomach and kicking at his legs. Flynn was loosing the battle and he knew it. What to do, what to do? Suddenly he let out a stifling Irish war cry and immediately help was there. First the warrior Murchada came to his aid, huge sword swinging wildly, cuting off Gloophn's right ear, which fell with a with a thump to the ground. Maaglah was taken aback; momentarily stunned by this change of events. He looked behind himself just in time to see the great warrior, Sloan dart in behind him, huge golden swords with emerald hilts in each hand. Gloophn shrunk back. Not a none had ever overcome the great warrior. He was unbeatable. "I am doomed," he thought. "I am no more."

Macha saw Sloan too, and with a quick duck from under the toadstool cap, she darted through the small forest. But the enraged Flynn saw her and was in hot pursuit instantly. He caught her just on the west side of the forest, and one quick thrust of his retrieved sword and it was all over for the old crone. "Ye'll never again harm those I call friend." Flynn proclaimed, as a huge black crow carried her lifeless form into the clouds.

Flynn rushed back to help Sloan and Murchada destroy the Trolls but found that they had taken care of that ugly deed and already the black winged angels of death were in flight with the trolls filthy bodies. Green slime still dripping from Gloophn's lifeless form and the scraggly yellowed hair of Maaglah flying in the breeze, in stark contrast to the black wings that carried him away.

The friends gathered at the base of the toadstool to inspect and care for their wounds, They eventually uncovered the frowning and quite hung-over Mabh. "What'r ye doin ere?" She asked. "Flynn smilingly remarked, "Oh well, we were just about to have a wee party, old Mabh. Won't ye be joinin' us?" Oh an to be sure I will" she replied. "but ye'll have to be waitin on another day, fer I need to be findin' my wee bed just now."

In minutes, Ailionora was reunited with her mother, Caireann at their wee cottage tucked into the mossy crevasse of the Innisfree hillside. "Come now me wee fairy child," Caireann smiled "Ye've had a busy day o' play no doubt, an now it's bein time fer yer supper. I've got the colcannon ye so like, and just look what yer mither found on the knoll today. A lovely shamrock tis, an good luck it'll bring to our wee cottage."

Happy St' Paddy's Day

(Just incase you are a wonderin' NO! I did not eat the toadstools)

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