The Tale of Happy Tree

The Tale of Happy Tree Chapter 7 - From Tree to Sea

Morning came the next day without any new, unexpected happenings. Truffletree forest remained a peaceful and joyous home for the animal folk as they carried on their routine. Inside Flaky's cottage however was a very rambunctious if slightly less joyful affair. The five unlikely companions sat at Flaky's dining table, the twins ate rather vigorously, not having experienced breakfast prepared for them.

"More please!" Said Lifty and Shifty, their faces covered in bits of food while holding their plates to Flaky. Flaky took the plates calmly without any fuss. In truth, she was flattered that her cooking skills were being highly praised, recognized, and eaten. Disco Bear and Axel however were not quite so amused or flattered by the twins behavior towards their gracious host and new companion.

"Geez, don't you have any manners?" Asked Axel, calmly chewing some cake.

"We lost them around the time we were in jail for the second year in a row. Cut us some slack! We haven't eaten something this good in ages!" Said Lifty, Flaky gave him and his brother another serving of what seemed to be a honey cake she had baked.

"You two don't even have the good manners to appreciate high-class food. Typical bandits" Said Disco Bear, stabbing a piece of cake with his fork in a dignified manner.

"Well our manners weren't built up over time only to be squandered on renting out girls so, lecture us on something original for a chance Baron Bear." Shifty objected snarkily. Both he and his brother didn't take being addressed as lower-class or lesser Tree Friends lightly. Not to mention that they were pretty damn sure they had done less sketchy and dubious things than the Baron had done. It was at this particular remark that Flaky finally seemed to grasp the tension overflowing within her cottage.

"G-guys, i-its just cake. I-its not something to fight over." Sweat-dropped Flaky.

"Yeah stop scaring her." Axel bared his teeth in a slightly more threatening way to get his rowdy comrades under control. It ultimately did the trick and breakfast continued and finished without a hitch.

The five companions eventually set out for their journey, the reluctant thieves limping with their still fresh wounds they got from last night. It'd take some time for them to fully heal but at least the cream seemed to make it so that it wouldn't take nearly as long as it would normally. They admitted to liking camping out in the forest considering how run-down Happy Tree had gotten at the advent of the criminals release but were ready to move on. Nearing the exit of the forest and towards the mountain trail that would take them well beyond Happy Tree, conversation started back up again.

"So where are we headed? Why aren't we like, building a huge staircase to that fucking castle in the sky anyway?" Asked Shifty.

"Because a barrier is surrounding the castle, further preventing entry." Disco Bear pointed out.

"So like, besides the castle being unreachable, you can't even get in... How the hell does going on a journey somewhere else going to help?" Asked Lifty.

"Splendont, the guy who was responsible for freeing the bandits, including you two, ordered me to find Splendid and kill him, another wizard or something. Then there's the fact the Barrier can possibly be broken if we gather enough powerful mages. He didn't give us the exact location but I'm going to find him, killing him though, is something up to debate, so for now, we're heading to the great library of Mondo. Hopefully on the way we find some mages." Said Axel.

"So Flaky here is one of them?" Shifty asked.

"Y-yeah... I specialize in nature magic but um... I'm not sure if, if he won't attack us while we try to break the barrier or something. Hopefully we'll be able to be well-armed or have a lot of friends to help us..." Flaky confessed.