Sophie and the Magic Flower by Gabriele Ewerts

Author:Gabriele Ewerts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: children fiction fantasy, children magic, children adventure stories, magic adventure story, children 9 and up, children and family, adventure action fantasy, magic fantasy adventure quest, magic adventures, magic adventure stories for children and teens
Publisher: Gabriele Ewerts

Chapter 16

Sophie ran after Nelwyna but didn’t have a chance keeping up. Pain stabbed her back and legs as her feet pounded the ground.

Nelwyna trotted ahead with her long graceful legs. She let her catch up a few times, but each time Sophie almost grabbed the tail, the horse kicked out and sped up again. Horrible tease. Sophie kept jogging, and because she kept her eyes on the horse and not on the ground, she missed a rabbit hole, stumbled and went down. Now her knees hurt, too. She brushed herself off, glowered at Nelwyna’s disappearing butt, and limped after the horse.

Bramble stayed on the horse, and even though she bounced left and right, she always righted herself in time and bravely dug her fists into the mane.

Sophie must have run close to two miles over rolling hills in record time when she saw the branches and leaves of a huge tree rise above the crest of the next hill. As she stumbled up the rise, the tree seemed to grow even more. At the top of the hill, she stood and stared.

Down in a valley around the giant tree, weeping willows stood side by side with Quaking Aspen and pink, red, and white-leafed blooming trees Sophie had never seen before. The huge tree stood like a skyscraper in a small town’s center, reaching high into the sky.

Nelwyna slowed and let her catch up. Sophie bent over and held a stitch in her side; sweat was running down her back and was sticking the tunic to her skin. Kick that horse.

“Pretty,” Bramble said and pointed down the hill.

At first glance, the grove seemed like a simple copse of trees, except for the tall one in their midst of course. But when Sophie squinted, she made out small houses built on, around, or in almost all of the trees, including the giant one. The large and small houses seemed woven like baskets or lobster traps. Fenced-in gardens with dark and rich soil, but with nothing in them, surrounded each tree.

Nelwyna trotted down the hill, once again leaving Sophie behind. Tinkling laughter and women’s voices drifted toward her. A sudden flurry of activity made the place look like an anthill. Women and girls hurried up and down the paths that crisscrossed and intersected the tree town.

“Come,” Nelwyna said, “it is not far now.”

Some women and girls spotted them, pointing. Nelwyna whinnied a hello and strode down a wide lane between trees and houses. Soon, she veered right onto a smaller path, turned left, then right again, until they were deep inside the town, and the trees blocked the hills behind them.

Sophie lagged behind and stared back at the women and girls who eyed her curiously. Most were no taller than Bramble. Their pale skin and white-blond or light brown hair shimmered silvery green, like they ate too much spinach or something. Tiny little white petals framed their faces along the hairline, down their cheeks and chins. They stood slender and willowy, like fairies from a fairytale.

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