An Unexpected Friend

Zeus’s world spun in a dizzying kaleidoscope of leaves and branches before a jarring *thwack* brought him back to a rough, barky reality. He’d landed, not so much on his feet as with his entire head firmly wedged into the hollow of a grand old oak. Darkness pressed in, thick and absolute, punctuated only by the frantic thumping of his own heart against the unyielding wood. Then, a pair of luminous orbs, like twin moons, blinked open directly in front of his nose. He yelped, a strangled sound of pure terror. To his astonishment, the eyes blinked again, and a disembodied voice, sharp and clear, echoed from somewhere above.

“Well, now! What have we here? A rather peculiar sort of woodpecker, wouldn’t you say?”

Zeus squirmed, his paws scrabbling uselessly against the rough bark. “Who… who’s there?” he stammered, his voice muffled by the tree.