PART ONE:

Once upon a time, there was a small elf, named Lucy, which lived alone in the dark Forbidden Forest, far away from all the other elves. She was afraid of the other elves because she didnâ??t want them to laugh at her mismatched socks. Long ago she had lost half of each pair in the river when she was doing laundry. So to hide her mismatched apparel, she wore the baggiest pair of pants she could find. Day in and day out she would wander the forest, her only friends the forest creatures, tripping over the cuffs of her pants. It didnâ??t seem to matter how many times she rolled them they would either show her socks or make her trip. Sometimes she would sit on the edge of the forest, watching the village elves, work and play. Desperately she wished she had the courage to go down there and buy matching socks and have friends. Some lonely nights she would even cry herself to sleep. She was a very sad little elf. Now the reason the Forbidden Forest was forbidden was because of a large angry blue dragon that lived way up in the tallest pine, way in the middle of the forest. On cold nights you could hear the angry cries of the dragon, and even the bravest of elves would tremble in fear. Some of the young elves would dare each other to see how far in to the woods they could go before getting scared. Lucy would come and watch them, egg each other on and run back out. She would smile when the biggest boys would pretend they werenâ??t afraid even as they would run back to waiting friends. Not many of the adult elves ever ventured near, even in the bright noon sun. Even Lucy didnâ??t travel into far into the forest, and especially not at night. Her home was nestled gently into an ancient leaning oak, far enough in but not to far. Lucy was afraid of the giant dragon; some nights she could hear him fly so low as to shake every window in the house. Some times she would get so lonely and sad she wondered if she should go visit the dragon, and let him eat her up. Then she would hear him howl and change her mind, for a while anyway. On warm sunny days Lucy would climb to the very top of her oak, and look up into the rolling forest and wonder, where exactly the dragon lived. For she saw many tall trees, but couldnâ??t pick the biggest, so she would sit up in the bright light thinking, until the moon graced the sky. On rainy days, she would stand outside, and watch the rain play tag and race along each leaf until it touched the ground. Lucy lived in her little home for many years, watching the village elves and looking for the dragon, but she was always alone. She was a young elf herself, only 300 years old, but she felt older that her oak, so she thought, this was all her life would ever be, or at least that was until the dragon decided to come off his tree and into the forest and village.

PART TWO:

It was a strange morning when Lucy awoke, there were no sun shining, and no dark clouds. She shivered under her warm covers; she wondered what kind of evil magic would cause the sun not to shine. She could hear no birds, or chipmunks, and there was no wind to move the leaves. Silent and still, the world seemed to be caught in a strange dreamlike spell. As she looked out her window she thought how like a painting it looked, lifeless, and dry. Pressing her little pointed ear to the panes she listened as hard as she could for any noise, any signs of life. What she did hear had her jump so high as to bang her head on the ceiling. The dragon, he roared! The sound shook her home, and had her diving for cover under her bed, quivering in fear, she waited. She could hear the rush of air from his wings, and the deep call of his roar, moving closer and closer, louder and louder. Finally she couldnâ??t stand it any longer, gathering all her might she peeked first one eye then both out from under the small bed. Nothing! She could see nothing out her window. Where was he? Where did he go? The sounds grew further away, quieting just a bit. Shaking, she crawled on her belly, to the window, peeking around the corner up into the sky, through the leaves. Still shivering she moved to her knees, looking out further, still nothing. Finally standing up she watched the sky, and yelped when the dragons tail, whipped the tip of her oak, and she nearly dove for cover. But the dragon didnâ??t stop this time, and he moved further away, relief washed over Lucy as the danger seemingly passed by. Her legs no longer able to support her, Lucy slid down the wall, to sit and catch her breath. Just as she took her second lungful of air, she froze again. Suddenly she was terrified all over again, the dragon may not be over her, but he was on his way into the village! All those little elves! What could she do? She couldnâ??t out run the dragon! Oh what could she do? Jumping to her feet, she raced to the front door, threw on her mismatched socks and muddy shoes, and very nearly flew outside, racing with all her might down the hidden path to the village. Bursting through the briers that lined the forest boarder, Lucy skidded to a stop, just in time to see the giant blue dragon, plunge down after the panicking elves. In complete horror she watched the dragon scoop up an elderly elf and a young one who had tried to free the older one. Fire came spouting from the dragons nostrils, as piercing cries shook timber from houses. With one mighty push the blue monster was airborne, after circling a few more times, he sped of into the Forbidden Forest. Torn between wanting to help and wanting to go home, Lucy stood stupefied for a moment longer before dashing back into the forest, with a glance over her shoulder at the burning homes and falling walls of the village. She briefly saw gestures in her direction from weeping and angry elves, terrified she ran faster. Lucy ran as fast as she could possibly run, until she thought she could run no more, but the faces of the other elves haunted her, and made her run further into the forest.

PART THREE:

Finally when her legs had turned to mush, and the air in her lungs to fire, Lucy collapsed against a giant fir, gasping, as tears ran down her cheeks. Somewhere she could hear the roaring dragon, and she could still see the angry faces looking up at her. Whipping at the tears she dragged her body to the first branch of the tree. Painfully and frustratingly slow, she made her way from branch to branch, higher and higher into the mountainous fir. When she could go no higher, she hugged the tree as tight as she could, and desperately tried to move air into her deprived lungs. The roaring calls of the dragon made her close her eyes as tight as she could and she could feel her tears mixing with the tree sap on her face. The smell of burning wood, made her flinch in reflex, and slowly she opened one eye at a time, scanning the wide forest scape before her. In a trancelike state she watched the blue dragon, circle through the air, no more that a stones throw from her perch. Holding her breath as still she could in her tight chest, she watched him swing low to a thick mess of knotted trees. Her eyes nearly bulged from her head as she watched the small limp bodies of the captive elves, fall from the deadly claws, down an impossible distance. She turned away sharply, anticipating the deadly drop, she found herself looking back in a seemingly morbid curiosity of what the dragon would do now. To her amazement, the elves had landed, not as believed to the ground but had been caught in a crudely colorful nest, laid deep within the knotted tree line. Letting go of the breath sheâ??d been holding, nearly as tightly as she held the tree top, she felt the little strength she had left, waning. As she scanned more of the sky she could see a thin wisp of smoke from the far edge of the forest, where the village stood, and turned back to the huge monster, which had begun to settle into his nest. Taking one more deep breath, Lucy, let go of the tree, she began a nearly uncontrolled fall, down into the mess of branches below her. Waiting until the last possible moment, she reached her small arms out and grasped onto the flowing limbs of a nearby birch and swung gracefully onto the soft earth, at a dead run. Racing down, under and through the tangled limbs and brush, she made her way nimbly deeper into the darkening forest. She ran as she had never run before, fighting fear and tangled limbs with every step. Arguing with herself with every breath, she pounded her way along, thorns and branches scratching and biting at her skin. Every so often she would glance up, watching as the menacing dragon draw closer and closer. Finally she stopped, head thrown back looking up into nest half the size of the village, she could see many things hanging in there with the dragon. What scared her most was the horse sized egg, cradled by the giant flying lizard. She could see movement, to small to be anything but the missing elves, and suffered with mixed emotions. Again and again in he mind she could hear part of her saying, just do it while another part said run away!