What are delicate?  A baby squabs feather, an exquisite owl wing flapping in the wind and an elegant African violet.

What are sturdy?  A well built hotel building, a hefty SUV and a heavy shopping basket.

What are hot?  My nan’s fireplace burning wood, a 90 degree day and a used pan still cooling off.

What are cold?  A scoop of mint choc chip ice cream, a snowman’s heart and a frozen pizza coming out the freezer in Aldi.

What are loud?  My younger cousin screaming when she doesn’t get her way, a Labradoodle chasing after a squirrel and a hyena cackling in the walls of a zoo.  

What are quiet? A sound of a whisper in your friend’s ear, an anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota and a bird’s feather falling off its body when it flies away from little children.

What are palatial? A huge, grand mansion that is castle-like, my trampoline and an elephant feasting on leaves.

What are petite?  A new rubber from a box, a baby robin first learning how to fly and a newborn tadpole desperate to grow into a frog.

Finally, they were off

The clock just struck midnight, as a well known family friend Rain the Lorikeets-carrier, alerted the Mushroom Warren that the Gorm and its tribe were on their way. No one was safe now. The old warren’s tunnels had been assembled many Haloween days ago and were way way to tottering. Its walls were way too gravelly to resist an onslaught. Its rooms would never pull through an ambush from the Gorm and his minions.

And so it was that the three rabbits Pipa, Parker and little, midget Poof, left their familiar, cosy home. Their journey would take quite a long time, they would have to travel through Shrek’s swamp, Candy Cane Land , Crystal Mountain and then and only then will they reach their destination Bouncing Mushroom Farm, the safest place near where they live.

Even the fearsome Gorm could not trudge towards this  field, because if they did then they would be getting hit by the mushroom that is why they call it Bouncing Mushroom Farm. There were many well known paths to Mushroom Land but there’s one where nobody knows where it is. But then, their aunt gave them a magical map that will take them to their destination without getting lost.

Firmly grasping the magical map, petrified to even let the moonlight get a glimpse of it, the trio of kittens carefully made their way bolting towards Shrek’s swamp. Only one thing was standing in their way to get to their next destination ,which is a dangerous swamp with giant alligators.

Finally, the little kittens got to Shrek’s swamp. All the rabbits split up, Pipa and Poof went together and Parker went on his own to look for shelter. “ Oi! Pipa I’ve found something,” Parker shouted to Pipa and Poof. Pippa came rushing over with little Poof in her jacket bouncing in it. There it was a hut. 

“Should we stay here for the night ?” said Parker.

“ We have to if not then we will freeze to death, plus no doubt  the Gorm is looking for us so if they arrive here we will be seen and possibly killed Parker” ordered Pipa.  

“ C-cold” Poof silently squealed

 “ See even poor little Poof is cold and hungry we have no choice or would you rather him to freeze to death.

“ Fine only because I don’t want Poof to freeze!” Shouted Parker

“ SHHH you might attract the Gorm dummy, keep quiet!” Whispered Pipa to Parker

They decided this is where they were going to stay for a night. 

That evening, as the sun was setting, the kittens settled down for a straightforward meal of radish soup, annona glabra, a range of leafy vegetables, fruits, nuts, mushrooms and turnips that they managed to steal from the chef’s kitchen when he wasn’t looking. They devoured some of the food in less than ten minutes. Poof let out a long yawn as he wiggled around in Pipa’s tunic before eventually dozing off silently.

Parker found out that sleep was not possible for him that night because all the memories of the Gorm attacking his parents, watching his parents get hurt, his aunt pulling all three of them in their parent’s bedroom and being pushed into that tunnel away from their parents. There was no denying that the Gorm petrified him to death. He kept on thinking that they were not safe at all! Would they ever be able to reach the Mushroom farm safely without the Gorm coming after them or not? Would they even be able to reach their next destination? 

The sun was just about to set, in Scary swamp Poof woke up and saw a miniature figure roaming around in the shadows.

“ Pi-a Pi-a !” cried Poof.

“Yes Poof, what do you want ?”

“Weird thing outside!” Pipa went to have a look. Suddenly, it came out of the shadows. It was Rain, the Lorikeet’s family friend.

 “Rain, what are you doing here?” 

“I came to warn you that your family is in captivity and the Gorm is running towards Scary swamp and destroying everything you and your brother and sister care about!”

“WHAT, MY FAMILY HAS BEEN CAPTURED?!!”

“Yes unfortunately.” Pipa woke up her siblings and told them what had happened, so she unwrapped the map out of the tunic (where she had kept it for safety) and grabbed Poof and wrapped her in her tunic. Then they set off towards Candy Cane.

As they rode a boat across Greenhill Lake to get to Candy Cane Lane, they saw ferrets running after each other, possibly running towards candy canes. Owls flew around and one even tried to nip the face of Poof. 

Several hours later, the weary three kittens found themselves nearer than ever to Candy Cane Lane. For a moment they even forgot the Gorm was after them, they were distracted at the face of the beauty around them. There were Candy cane Ferrets running around with Sparrows on their backs and Owls flying after them. They could hear Owls hooting, squeaking and sneezing from Ferrets and clicking from Reindeers joints.

Instantaneously, Poof saw an average size wave coming towards their boat.“ Pi-a Par-er wha that??” Pipa and Parker turned around to look at the two foot wave zooming towards them and their boat.

“Why is that wave so big!?” Said Parker. Pipa looked surprised that he even knew what is was being as he skipped all his classes ”At least he knew what it was so he wasn’t constantly asking me.” Pipa said in her mind. Suddenly, the wave sprinted towards them ruining their boat and set them flying out their boat. 

“Great now our boat is ruined!” Pipa said angrily, “ How are we gonna get to Candy cane lane now!”  

“ I don’t know Pipa, is there anything other way we can get there?” How would they get there now…..

Within a second of being at Candy cane lane, a siren went off!

“ URG MY EARS!” Parker cried.

“ Where is that coming from?” questioned Pipa. 

Suddenly, a spear almost landed on Poof, leaving all the rabbits in shock. Tucking Parker and Poof into a tunnel, Pipa dragged some boulders to cover up the entrance. Pipa quickly entered the tunnel before it closed up. Before it did, PIpa saw a gorgeous looking creature that looked like Grip the Griffin (A family relative)defending them. “ Go.” Grip whispered “GO NOW!” she said louder. Suddenly, Pip watched the boulder close up the entrance and heard a scream. It was Grip,  she had been stabbed in the wing. She died. The three kittens managed to escape for a couple of seconds.

“ What happened out there Pipa?” asked Parker.

“ You know Grip…”

“Ye? What about her ?”

“ She got stabbed in the wing and died….” There was complete silence the 

With the sound of rattling iron, rabbits screaming for their lives, the sight of poor rabbits begging for the Gorm to leave them alone, the two kittens with little Poof bouncing around in Pipa’s tunic, bolting as fast as they could. Hoping that they were actually safe when they got to Mushroom farm. The thought of seeing Grip die left Pipa in horror. 

After a good four hours of constant running Pipa finally said, “I can not run anymore Parker, we need to find a place to stay for the night to rest!” 

“I know, I know I’ll go look so stay here.”  Parker went to go look and came back in two minutes. “I FOUND SOME PLACE WHERE WE CAN SLEEP FOR THE NIGHT!” They went to the place Parker had found, a little burrow which had dangling stinging nettles covering the entrance.

Munching through the nettles, the entrance was finally uncovered and Parker opened it slowly and peeked inside to make saw nothing dangerous was in it. It looked like nothing was in it or has been touched in years. Being aware of danger the rabbits unpacked the bag to see if they had any food left. They found grass, seeds, fruit and vegetables and devoured the food in less than an hour.

Hugging together for warmth, they almost fell asleep before Pipa asked Parker “Hey, did we ever open the parcel from nan?” 

“I do not think so.” Parker reached inside the bag and took out a parcel and carefully tore apart the parchment paper and continued until they got to the last piece of paper.

Pulling back the final piece of parchment paper they saw it was a pen. 

“ Well how is this gonna’ help us?” 

“ There’s a note.” Pipa read it out loud “Dear Pipa, Parker and Poof – my dear grandchildren- I have sent you this pen in case you have to deal with the Gorm like your grandfather did. You might be thinking how this is helpful? If you push a little button on the top, it will turn it into a magical sword, here is some information about it. Its name is Scarswor, it can cut through anything except for silver. If you lose it, it will magically appear in your pocket or in your hand. Thank you for listening to these instructions my precious grandchildren. I hope you succeed. I’ll see you in the land beyond soon, remember I’ll always be watching over you. Goodbye children, Love your Grandmother.” 

“Ok now this is useful.” Parker grabbed the pen and pushed the button. Suddenly it turned into a sword and almost whacked Parker in the face.

“Oooooo Shiny. ” said Poof racing towards it.

“ No Poof no shiny that is Parker’s not yours.” Demanded Pipa dragging Poof away from the sword.

The next day, they woke up in a rush and packed all their stuff and left the burrow unattended and headed towards Mushroom farm. There was not far to go on, only half a river to cross and once they see mushrooms they were extremely close to the Mushroom farm. Suddenly they faced a dangerous sight. The Gorm had beaten them there. His whole army too.