Forest Guardians Chronicles: A Matter of Humanity Beth Roose (good books for high schoolers TXT) 📖

Hornet Queen and her drones was almost drowned out by a different, stronger buzzing sound. He knew there must have been an issue and that Zonga’s tribe shape-shifted into honey bees. “They must be pushing the Hornet Queen and her drones to us,” he whispered to himself.

That is when he heard Bitty. Her whoops! were ear-piercing; she was not using infrasound. Instantly, Cleg knew something had gone very wrong and that his little one was greatly frightened. The moment he saw her, Cleg stood up and ran toward Bitty. The fog had finally lifted, so they could see each other clearly. He scooped Bitty up into his arms and headed for the Everett Covered Bridge for protection.

Cleg could see that the Hornet Queen and her remaining ten drones were not far off. The humming and buzzing sound were deafening. Bitty covered her ears and buried her head in Cleg’s hairy, warm chest as he laid down on the wood floor of the Everett Covered Bridge and covered Bitty with his arms in case the Hornet Queen or any of her drones made it through the tribe. He would sacrifice himself to save Bitty if it came to that.

As he lay there protecting Bitty, he could hear whoops! However, they were not infrasound whoops. The entire Cuyahoga Valley echoed with whoops, roars, humming, and buzzing. Cleg knew that it was an all-out war now.

KiKi led the charge of attack from the rear which prevented the Hornet Queen and her drones from turning back in an attempt to escape. As the queen and her drones flew over the tall grass close to the Cuyahoga River, Cleg’s tribe stood up with their right hands extended, and six of the drones went into attack mode and flew right into their hands. The pine sap Cleg had given them made the drones stick to the tribesmen’s hands. Then they clapped their hands together, destroying the drones in one big smoosh. Cleg’s plan had worked flawlessly!

The Hornet Queen was horrified. She only had four drones left, and she became angry as she realized this. She turned and started to fly back through the shape-shifted Pukwudgie tribe. She dodged in and out, slipping through their line of defense.

KiKi found a huge chestnut tree and landed on a sturdy branch. She shape-shifted back to her Pukwudgie form and pulled a delicate red arrow with a silver tip from her quiver. She loaded it into her bow quickly with shaking hands. She had only one shot at taking the Hornet Queen down, and she didn’t want to miss.

She slid one of her legs back until she felt the trunk of the tree and braced herself against it. She inhaled deeply, trying to steady her aim, and closed one eye, focusing in on the Hornet Queen. Under her breath, she said, “I do believe. I do, I do.”

Then, she launched the arrow just as the Hornet Queen turned around. The queen had no time to move out of the way, and the arrow hit her in the stomach, pinning her to a large maple tree. At the same time, her four remaining drones fell to the ground.

Zonga and his tribe shape-shifted back to their Pukwudgie forms and began to cheer. Cleg’s tribesmen roared, and all the animals of the forest came to life, vocalizing their relief that the Hornet Queen and her drones had been defeated.

Cleg knew something had happened. He lifted his head to see Princess Celia riding a beam of light down onto the Covered Bridge and behind her was Ja’al. Cleg stood up nervously and watched Bitty prance to her mom.

The tribes came together on the bridge, and they were all surprised to see Bev riding on the back of Freda the Great Blue Heron.

They were all together now, grateful that they were able to defeat the evil Hornet Queen at last.

Princess Celia threw three sparkling balls of light into the air. All looked up at the beautiful sparkles of different colors in celebration of their victory. Bev said, “This looks just like a Fourth of July celebration which, for humans, means freedom and liberty.”

Certainly, the defeat of the Hornet Queen was freedom and liberty; but instead of just being for humans, it was for all creatures, which truly meant freedom for all.

Part III

Forest Guardians and the Time Grabber

1

The Mistake

Morgan King, he thought to himself, I will be recognized worldwide and no doubt will be awarded the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is something Morgan always dreamed of receiving. A plain boy in his youth, Morgan did not receive the attention of all of his beautiful counterparts that surrounded him in the woodland forest, in fact, most of the time, Morgan felt invisible, even as an adult. The Nobel Peace Prize, that would create fame for Morgan, yes, but his ultimate goal was to help others. He sat back in his office chair and put his hands behind his head as he looked around his lab. He leaned forward again and looked at the slide on the platform of the Crisper splicing microscope. He leaned back, shaking his head from side to side in disapproval, tut-tutting to himself, “Morgan, Mr. Garman taught you how to mix chemicals together! You can do this. Gosh, I wish I could get with Mr. Garman at Woodridge. So many years have gone by. I wish.” He leaned forward pulling the slide from the Crisper Splicing Microscope platform.  He looked at it, stared at the sample for a few seconds, and suddenly threw it across the room, striking the old glass window, and rebounding to the floor. As he stared out the window into the darkness, Morgan heard a loud buzzing sound behind him. He turned and peered over his shoulder and jumped at the sight. Trembling and shaky voiced, Morgan greeted the sight: "My Queen, how are you doing today?" In a low and hostile voice, she responded. ”Fine. I want out of here so I can get