Lilylong Book 10: Tales of Tossledowns

By Laurence Knighton

Not just anyone can be a wizard. It doesn’t happen that way. The touch is either there at birth or it’s not there at all.
Lilylong has the touch but she doesn’t know. Not yet.
With the help of a mischievous friend, a special coiled stick and a grumpy, eccentric neighbor, she embarks on an adventure that will change her life forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laurence Knighton
• Release date: Mar 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452440613

Laurence Knighton

Born in the Rocky Mountains under a loaf of wry bread, Laurence (Larsky) Knighton is a graphic designer and illustrator by trade, having written and illustrated Disney's 'Donald Duck' syndicated daily comic strip for years before its cancelation in the American market. Still illustrating and writing fun, entertaining stories, he resides in Boise, Idaho with his handsome plush-stuffed black Lab 'Buck' who never sheds, barks, or runs away.

Book preview

Tales of Tossledowns – Book 10

LILYLONG

by

Laurence Knighton

Smashwords Edition

*

PUBLISHED BY:

Laurence Knighton on Smashwords

Lilylong – Book 10 - Tales of Tossledowns

Copyright © 2011 by Laurence Knighton

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

*

Prologue

Spiders are a cruel bunch and as serious as they come. They’re a perfect predator because everything about them is geared towards survival—particularly their very own. They’re selfish that way.

They’ve got cold, steely eyes that see everything and what they see is neither liked nor disliked. That’s how everything is in a spider’s emotionless life: no sides to choose. The behavior is part of their very nature, what they do—instincts—how it’s supposed to be for callous spiders and their cruel ways.

That’s just the way they are.

On the bright side, spiders are also hard workers—in a creative, cruel way. Where they choose to place their webs always deserves merit. More than that, they’re webs are engineered marvels, woven in the most efficient patterns possible so that nothing can escape the magical behavior of sticky silk. That is, unless it’s a spider. How cruel is that?

Still, crueler than anything a spider might do out of habit comes down to what they do very well—wrapping a victim in sticky silk to be hung up and cured for a tasty meal later.

Imagine the prolonged terror!

Yet, sometimes, just sometimes, the spider is the one who must deal with a bit of cruel angst. That’s what happened to a yellow spinspider that built an array of sticky snares beneath an old abandoned house atop Karnberry Hill.

She was smart, as spiders go, smarter, actually, because she didn’t take kindly to the erratic whims of weather and built her traps in the narrow crawlspace where wind and rain couldn’t destroy all her hard work. Other than that, she was much like any spider worth their silk and tended to her sticky snares like a true perfectionist. It’s a pride thing, the way spiders are.

Yet, she wasn’t like other spiders. She didn’t know exactly how until something unusual happened to her perfect spider world.

The spinspider’s webs were strong and well placed throughout the crawlspace, so it was no surprise when one of her sticky snares captured the granddaddy of all catches, the sort that only happens once in a lifetime. It was a rare tomebeetle. He was huge and she set upon him immediately lest he get away. While she imagined how many meals she might get out of his enormous bulk, he put up a terrific fight. But once she had his legs and lower parts securely wrapped, she owned him. The beetle was hers.

Only, it didn’t entirely go the way it should have.

Spiders adhere to strict rules. Cruel or not, the rules serve a purpose that has everything to do with why spiders are so good at what they do. One rule is quite simple and to the point. Never, ever act on impulse!

She was well into doing a handsome job of wrapping strands of sticky silk around the beetle’s torso when she broke the rule. It wasn’t intentional, and looking back on it, she really didn’t have much choice considering the circumstances. While tying a few wads of silk against the web for extra strength to keep her prize more securely attached, a few of her many spider eyes noticed a book he carried in a tattered pack.

When the beetle told her it was a collection of all his travels, she took a brief interest in the book he called Tales of Tossledowns. In that short moment, she forgot how spiders never show interest.