More Taffan

He leaned back farther in the sun warmed grass and let the rays cover his body. It was a perfect balance of warm sun and cool breeze. It seemed nothing in the world could interrupt Taffan's refuge of serenity. He summarily decided that his idle state would be the perfect way to fill the entire afternoon and he lazily daydreamed about books and heroes and stories. Before long he could almost hear himself gently snoring away in the warm grass before he was truly fast asleep..
Abruptly he was startled awake. Had he dreamed it? The bright sunny sky visible over the clearing that was making the water sparkle, and the grass warm, and the trees bake had suddenly vanished. With eyes closed, Taffan was visibly only aware of a sudden darkness. In the instant that the darkness ascended, Taffan's big eyes had flashed open and the sunlight was as present as ever. A shadow had cast itself over Taffan's little piece of sunshine and disappeared as quickly as it had occurred. No cloud could have come and gone so abruptly. Was it something that had flown over? It must have been absolutely emormous to cast such a large and sudden shadow. Half asleep, startled, and confused, Taffan was surely ill at ease and it took him some moments to regain composure and catch his breath. He relaxed back in the grass again and relegated the incident in his mind to naught but sun exposed imagination, a silly dream, nothing more, and he found his little paradise intact once again.
His regained serenity would not last. No sooner had he become comfortable than three surly and burly soldiers of the King's private guard awkwardly thrust themselves through the brush and into the clearing. The largest of the three barked at him.
"Taffan!? Taffan Tingle!?"
Taffan bolted upright, rubbed his eyes, and resigned himself to the fact that this interruption would probably not be as brief as the shadow had been. His plans for the rest of the afternoon had decidedly absconded with the guards' intrusion. His frustration, however, was not outweighed by his timidity and fear in the face of the unfriendly looking guards who, bewilderingly, were looking for him!
"Y-y-yes. I-I-I'm Taffan Tingle."
"All elves are expected at the town counsel on this day. Why are you absent?"
"I-I-I-I don't know. I-I-I hadn't thought I was welcome, . . . or-or-or really missed."
"The king has business with you. Come along now."
"The King!?" Taffan was incredulous which momentarily endowed him with more confidence while confronting the three brutes. "Surely, you are mistaken. What business could the King possibly have for someone so ill-considered, and regularly ignored as myself. Why I'm sure the idea is perfectly ridiculous and I've been quite bullied and teased enough in my life. I'll thank you to take your cruel jest with you when you turn right about and leave me in peace. You might find its foolishness droll, but I assure you that I do not. Now, be gone!" Taffan's last meek attempt at sounding courageous and authoritative utterly failed him in its intended result. The guards' dangerous looking spears simultaneously descended from their erect vertical posture to a horizontal position, with three pointed ends aimed squarely at him. He sighed and took silent note in his mind that attempts at verbal bravery from the meek rarely carry the desired psychological effect on those not intelligent enough to be tricked by reverse psychology. The lead guard barked again.
"No jest, Taffan. The King wishes to see you, yes YOU. NOW! MOVE!"
Taffan was still absolutely certain that there had been some ridiculous mistake made but realized fully that it would not be resolved by arguing with the guards. He scurried about on his knees to collect the few books he had scattered about into his arms, brought himself to his feet, and attempted to stand as tall as he could next to the three large guards.
"Fine then. Let's get this mockery done with quickly. Lead on."
The three guards stumbled and fumbled and bumped into one another and succeeded in doing nothing more than proving that none of them had any idea which way to return. Taffan sighed again.
"Nevermind, then. Follow me," and all four of them traipsed heartily into the thick wood in the direction of the King's castle, a direction that obviously only Taffan knew. And unbeknownst to himself, Taffan left behind his little forest solace for much longer than he would ever have imagined.

See you in hell,
Shakes.