Praxip's Second Escape from the Shadow Overlords

Praxip stood stone faced, staring forward and not moving while the Shadow Overlords and their aristocratic friends towered over him and reveled in the Shadow Overlords’ victory (and Praxip’s defeat.) Three nights ago, Praxip tried to escape from his dictatorial, power-hungry rulers, only to be thwarted by the fact that he was apparently a ‘Garden Gnome’ and the Overlords magically fused his legs together. Praxip didn’t agree with the stone statue overlooking the cross-roads that he was doomed to serve the Shadow Overlords by staying put in his spot, forgoing all thoughts of freedom and adventure. He also didn’t agree that the land he tried to escape from was nothing more than a garden and the evil creatures he tried to escape from were nothing more than flowers planted by the Shadow Overlords.

He knew, knew for a fact, that the Shadow Overlords plotted their lands with dangerous Snapping Dragons, a large and deep Bug Bane Pond, vicious White Bearded Goats, treacherous Orange Wild Dagga and Wart Infested Spiders. There is no way (according to the stone statue) what he passed were flowers called Snapdragons, Bugbane, Goatsbeard, Lion’s Tail (or Wild Dagga) and finally Spiderwort, that was ludicrous. 

He slowly moved his eyes up to look at the Shadow Overlords but his vision was partial blocked by a banner erected yesterday after a series of foreign, upper class (and snobby) judges adjudicated the Shadow Land’s ‘aesthetics’ as compared to the neighboring kingdoms. Apparently, the judges found the Shadow Land to be the most pleasing to the eye (which shocked Praxip, since he knew the Shadow Land to be dangerous and repulsive.) The Shadow Overlords must have bribed the judges, most likely with the Baskets of Gold and the Golden Bells that the judges commented on.

Then, Praxip heard one of the Overlords’ praises to their aristocratic friends and what he heard chilled his blood; the Overlord called their neighbor a Murky Tyrant. Not only did Praxip need to escape the Shadow Land, now he knew, right outside of the Shadow Lands stood the Murk Land, and Praxip felt there was most likely other dangerous lands afterwards. This did not bode well for his escape, his destiny with freedom, independence and liberation, all things he lost three nights ago.

Praxip leaned to the left a bit around the site line of the banner, trying to see if the Shadow Overlords and the Murky Tyrants were moving, and they were, to the west, the direction Praxip originally thought he could travel to and escape. I think I might have escaped a dastardly fate the other night by not making it out towards the west, and the land of Murk Praxip thought. As the Shadow Overlords and Murky Tyrants drifted out of site, Praxip leaned back to the right and started looking to the east, his next path for escape. A large forest stood on the horizon, tall trees billowed in the wind, but a path opened up towards the north and Praxip knew that must be the road to his future life of freedom and adventure.

“Dalnot. Dalnot? Dalnot, can you hear me?” Praxip asked.

Dalnot stood firm looking forward, almost mesmerized by the banner.

“Dalnot stop looking forward, the Overlords left, you can talk to me now.”

Dalnot slowly and just slightly turned his head towards Praxip and whispered “Praxip, stop dreaming of getting out of the garden, our duty is to stay here and be decoration to make Mrs. Overton’s flower garden look amazing, and it worked since she won Lawn of the Week again this summer, one more than Mrs. Taylor her neighbor. I will not take part in your silly schemes, now leave me alone and just stand there you doofus.”

“That is not a Mrs. Overton, nor a Mrs. Taylor, no matter what you and the statue say, that is a Shadow Overlord and she enslaved us, magically bound our legs together and forces us to stand here looking like fools for her pleasure. The other is a Murky Tyrant and I will not be a part of this injustice, I will not be forced to live like this, and I will not be denied my freedom. If you don’t want to go with me, fine, stay here!”

Praxip quickly turned away from Dalnot, his eyes slightly moist. His best friend called him a doofus and told him he didn’t want to be part of ‘your silly schemes.’ How rude. How soul crushing. Praxip always felt he could trust Dalnot, but that trust just disappeared in a quick puff of smoke. Praxip now needed to do this on his own.

Well, he almost made it out the other night, surely, he could make it out on his own in the future. He just needed to come up with a plan that enabled him to reach the break in the forest. He felt he only needed a few nights to figure out a new path to the east, one that avoided all the dangerous creatures in the Shadow Land. Yes, he would make his move in two nights, and freedom would be his at last!

As the sun started to set, Praxip’s smile returned. He knew his path forward, now he needed to stand his ground and not give the Overlords a reason to throw him in jail. Be good, be quiet, be invisible he thought. Better than his last mantra of keep low, keep quiet and keep going, that got him nowhere.

Darkness crept along the Shadow Lands, and Praxip kept looking around (with his eyes) and hummed be good, be quiet, be invisible….be good, be quiet, be invisible. A plan started to form, a way out, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Wait! What was that? Praxip thought as he heard a crunching noise. Then quickly, he thought…

Be quiet, be invisible.

Be quiet, be invisible.

Be quiet, be invisible.  

The noise grew louder, then a dark shape loomed over him, but he knew it was not a Shadow Overlord, this shape seemed smaller. His trusted mantra continued to echo quickly in his head…

Be quiet, be invisible.

Be quiet, be invisible.

Be quiet, be invisible. 

His mantra did not work again. A hand reached out and grabbed Praxip, who almost shouted for help, but decided not to sound like a weak helpless fool, so he kept his mouth shut.

He felt himself lifted off of the ground, higher the hand took him, higher than the stone statue. If only the sun were shining, Praxip thought, I could see to the east and know how to plot my escape. Always thinking of his plan, always scheming to find freedom, his mind set on his goal. 

Then, darkness. A darkness and a closeness he didn’t know before. He felt around and realized the hand stuffed him inside some large sack. What is going on? he thought.

Carefully he slid around and lifted his upper torso towards what he thought (and hoped) was the opening of the sack. Maybe he could look out and see where the dark shape was taking him.  Unbelievably, he found the opening and peeked out, and his mind exploded with joy.

The dark shape was walking away from the Shadow Land, away from the life he wanted to leave, and hopefully towards freedom. Then, the dark shape climbed atop a weird horse and started rotating its feet around in circles, propelling both itself and Praxip away from the Shadow Lands quickly. 

Praxip was free!! He escaped the Shadow Lands, escaped the Shadow Overlords, and knew freedom rested on the ‘horizon’. A slight breeze blew in his eyes, making them tear, but this time he knew the tears were tears of joy, not the sorrow Dalnot gave him earlier. The breeze tasted like heaven on his lips, the sweetest taste he could imagine. In just 20 seconds the dark shape pulled him from his own personal hell and gave him the thing he most longed for, freedom. Whoever his benevolent benefactor was, Praxip needed to find a way to repay him for his kindness.

Suddenly the weird horse jerked up and down, tiled a bit sideways and then the dark shape flew off, and Praxip braced for the upcoming impact. The dark shape fell, and the sack holding Praxip slipped off its shoulders, opened up and Praxip slid out, falling on his own, with no protection. Praxip hit a wet gooey substance and immediately stopped moving, stuck, in what he figured out was a large, deep muddy swamp. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even stand up, his hat buried itself in the mud with his legs sticking up in the air, and his arms too short to reach the mud, providing him with no leverage to escape.

Looking around, Praxip saw the dark shape reach out and grab the sack, repositioning it over its shoulder, righted the weird horse and pumped his legs in circles again, riding away, not realizing Praxip was no longer in the sack. Praxip almost cried.

Not 10 seconds ago, Praxip tasted freedom, now, he couldn’t move, couldn’t see where he was, and felt he lost his freedom. What could he do? He tried, and tried, and tried to get his hat unstuck and right himself, but nothing worked. For hours he tried, but he stayed legs up, hat down, stuck in the mud. The predicament Praxip found himself in might be worse that the predicament he left. At least there he had Dalnot and could see the forest, now the only thing he could see was a few rocks and an old gnarled stick stuck in the mud like himself. He cried himself to sleep, tired and sad, afraid of his future.

Praxip woke to a tug, and a loud pop, as his hat slipped out of the mud. Before he could open his eyes, a large cloth surrounded him, caressing across his body. He felt himself moving with a pair of hands wrapped around him outside the cloth. Maybe this was the end, maybe he died and the hands of God were bringing him to Heaven. At least in Heaven I will be free Praxip consoled himself.

Then he felt a twist in the hand and a downward movement, followed by his feet hitting ground, not muddy ground, but firm ground. The cloth circled his eyes one more time and vanished, causing a flood of bright sunlight to scorch Praxip’s eyes, causing tears to spontaneously flow, trying to sooth his lenses from the light.

Praxip blinked once or twice and soon his eyes found their focus, and his mind found his setting, and a small smile found his lips. Right next to Praxip stood his friend Dalnot, staring out into the distance like always.

The Shadow Overlord lifted her hands away and stood over Praxip looking at him, then reached down and adjusted him a little, stood back up, looked and walked away. Praxip had escaped, thrown into sticky mud, and found himself right back where he started.

Dalnot turned to Praxip, grinned wickedly and whispered “Up and down, in and out, yes and no, lost and found, swings and roundabouts, but always in balance, always in balance, just like the universe my friend.”

Praxip smiled and nodded back to him, then looked forward, trying to see the forest, and, right there and then, impishly he knew he might need an extra day or two to plot his next escape plan, giving him more time to convince Dalnot to come with him.