The back cover reads: "The invasion of Hafren has begun. Two youths are thrown into the fray attempting to thwart the invasion of their homeland." One witch who happened to read this fantasy was not happy with it because of the Christian worldview.

1. HAFREN:
A FANTASY FOR THE
YOUNG AT HEART
Craig Dressler
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2. CHAPTER ONE
The stars sparkled in the winter sky as Shuh and Ufh plodded along. The
spongy earth took concentration to traverse; one false step and their three
foot frames tumbled over. Not that the ground hurt, but righting themselves
was tough. Their chunky frames contained power in the legs; nevertheless,
with little upper body mass and little firm footing the problem persisted.
Shuh’s cream-colored face nearly glowed in the twilight. (Because of their
otherworldly look, they were often shunned by others.) It was little wonder
that the Huh were considered touched by the gods by those who avoided
them. Ufh, on the other hand, was an anomaly: small-eared, dark-skinned
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3. and talkative. Now, though, concentrating to remain upright he kept silent.
Without warning the earth gave in; the companions plunged into the
depths and plopped onto the harder soil below.
“Oh, by heaven, now we’re in it!” exclaimed Ufh.
“Don’t invoke our only hope,” Shuh sternly replied.
“What’s there to do?” a perplexed Ufh asked.
“Nothing but go on,” Shuh responded. “It was our own stupidity that…”
“You mean travel in a garrow burrow?” Ufh interrupted excitedly. “Are
you crazy?”
“What choice do we have?” Shuh answered. “We’re in luck. It looks as
if the burrow heads west, at least at first.”
“But what if we meet up with it?” Ufh ask somewhat frightened.
“We shall see what we see,” Shuh replied philosophically.
“Courageous but foolhardy,” Ufh responded. “Well, if it must be, lead
on.”
They set out.
“By the way, how was it you came by the name Shuh?” Ufh inquired.
“It’s an unusual one.”
“When I was little more than a toddler, I faced down a Rotty pup over a
biscuit,” Shuh began. “The story got around my ward, and, eventually,
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4. Stout-hearted was abbreviated to Shuh.”
“How about yourself?”
“ My father was constantly tripping over me, so Underfoot I became,”
Ufh answered. “Ufh is, of course, the shortened version.”
Chuckling, Shuh picked up the pace and left little chance for
conversation. On the harder surface the faster strides were easy to maintain.
Though the burrow meandered a little, it kept generally to a westerly
direction.
About an hour later the burrow began zigzagging to avoid the roots of
trees, and a peculiar rhythmic sound pervaded the burrow. Shuh’s large
sensitive ears perked up. He stopped suddenly; unaware Ufh slammed into
him.
“Watch it!” hissed Shuh.
“Sorry,” Ufh whispered. “Let’s notch one of these roots, climb up and
dig out of here. We must be in Crawh Forest.”
“No, wait!” Shuh emphatically replied. “There’s a strange sound up
ahead. We can get closer and stay concealed.”
“But what if it’s the garrow?” Ufh nervously asked.
“That noise isn’t a garrow,” Shuh quietly responded.
“Are you sure?” questioned Ufh.
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5. “Yes, absolutely,” Shuh replied a little perturbed. “Now, be quiet.”
Under his breath Ufh mumbled, “I think there’s another reason you
are called ‘Shuh.’”
Proceeding cautiously for a short distance they stopped almost directly
under the pulsating, chanting sound that could now be clearly identified.
Above the ground hundreds of hump-shaped beings swayed to the chant.
Their orange eyes glowed in the firelight. Grotesque protusions covered
their bodies like leprosy. A huge creature twice the average size stepped out
and raised a hand. The chanting subsided. With his other hand he flung an
object into the blazing fire. The fire roared up to a brilliant pitch almost
matching the frenzy of the chanters.
Fear gripped Ufh as he leaned close to Shuh and whispered, “It’s the
Horroh. They’re getting ready to attack.”
“Yes, yes,” Shuh answered softly. “How did they get here so soon? We
must warn Knoh. No, we must stop them.”
“Sure, may our feet destroy thousands but not in one battle,” Ufh quietly
responded. “If you think we can stop this bunch, you’re cracked worse than
Mt. Crumbh!”
“Listen, here’s what to do,” Shuh replied.
And so locating the nearest root they set to work making footholds with
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6. their knife-sized swords. Upon reaching the ceiling Shuh immediately
began knocking peat away with his sword. This horridly dirty work
continued unabated for some time.
Still fearful of what they were attempting Ufh interrupted by saying,
“Don’t you think we’ve dug far enough?”
“Naw, we’ve got at least five more feet to go,” Shuh confidently
answered.
A few more feet, though, and a mass of humanity broke through and
tumbled down on them. In a few minutes they were trussed up and brutally
thrown into a tent reeking of smelly feet.
The preceding is an excerpt from the Christian teen fantasy
novel entitled Hafren: A Fantasy for the Young at Heart
which is available from the Lighthouse Christian
Publishing website by clicking on the following link: http://
lighthousechristianpublishing.com
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