With half of the day shot, it looked as if their chances of getting to the other campsite before dark was out of the question. Even with the skies being mostly clear, and the half moon giving it's light; the dense tree tops covering the trail like a tunnel of leaves, made it too dark to see.
When it started getting dark, Carl considered the possibility of camping right on the trail. The occasional sounds of landslides, and not having Stupid to keep watch against wild animals, made this prospect unappealing. Then he noticed a small miracle. The occasional light of the rising moon caused Fluffy's eyes to glow, just like a cat's!
"Fluffy. Can you see in the dark?"
"Purryes."
"How convenient. Very good Fluffy!" This unexpected praise set her to purring and smiling. "Do you know the difference between your right paw and your left paw?"
Having made sure that she had learned right from left, the old man gave her further instructions. Hoping and testing her value as the main wagon driver (now that Hot Foot is being made into a desk ornament), he decided to give her a chance that he wouldn't give any other new monster. He's going to place the safety of the wagon, as well as his own, in her paws. Trust. No one in their right mind would give a monster this kind of trust, but he has a feeling that this monster can do the job.
The necromancer felt his way back into his bedding. And listened to the sounds of his undead tyrant pulling the wagon through the lively night forest, til he slowly drifted to sleep.

The kitten was even more fascinated by all the sights Groaning Forest has in the evening. More so, than what was visible during the day. Animals that she's never seen before became bolder, more active. Porcupines in the trees eating leaves. Raccoons play fighting and washing their meals in streams. Owls silently swooping down on unsuspecting rodents. Squirrels raiding birds nests. Bears munching on berries. Wolves singing to one another. Skunks digging for bugs.
The glowing of some of the mosses hanging in trees now made their presence known as much as the mushrooms do during the day. The outline of the trees swaying in the breeze made them look more alive as well.
The nightlife is much greater and fuller than the day. This is the time to be awake and enjoy all that is offered. Driving the wagon is fun. Doing it at night is a reward. Fluffy began hoping that all her duties will be at night. Staying to the left of the trail, ignoring all the right turns; Fluffy spent hours taking in every detail of the dark world that she was privileged to.

With the first sounds of Milk River ahead, a disturbing sight made her nervous. She couldn't be sure, but it looked as if one of the trees had a face. Keeping a watchful eye, the kitten remained ready to scream. Going past, out of sight, she remained on guard as she drove the wagon on.
The covered bridge at the end of this tree tunneled trail was designed to look like a giant woman's head,with a gaping mouth ready to swallow anything foolish enough to enter. Moonlight, like a dark halo, encircled and shone upon it's carved facial features. Getting closer, Fluffy was able to look at the other side of the river to the left and right of the bridge.
The images that appeared across the water burned into her mind. Paralyzed with fear, she tried to scream but couldn't. Tried to move, but couldn't. Unable to draw rein, her eyes widened as the undead golem pulled them into the bridge; onward through to the awaitng army of monsters. In the middle of the bridge she managed to let out a weak scream that was easily drowned out by the sound of the river below. Taking in a deep breath; her second, much louder scream, got the old man's attention. Pulling hard, she left the zombie tyrant standing just outside of the exit of the bridge and jumped in to her alarmed master.

Ripped from the world of dreams by his pet's ear splitting cry, Carl barely had time to start thinking when he felt Fluffy quickly crawl into the bedding with him. Her frantic stammering, meowing, and hissing made no sense to him at all. Fustrated by her incoherent ramblings, he grabbed her by both sides of her head, and pulled it close to where he guessed that she could see his face. Forcing as much strength into his lungs as he could muster, he yelled at the top of his voice,"SHUT UP!!". That did the trick. With her obediance snapping her into a thinking mode, she was ready to be questioned. "What has you raising such a ruckus?"
Tears began welling in her eyes, unseen by her master. Not that it would matter to him. But it hurt her that she provoked her kind master to have to yell at her. Fluffy vowed never to let it happen again. She will always be calm and brave for her master. In a voice that sounded a little bit like whining,"Meowthere are lots and lots of hiss tree monsters. I think that meowthey are meow going to hurt meowus."
"Oh , that." By the description, and the sound of the river, the old man surmised what she had seen that had terrified her so. "Don't worry, they can't hurt us."
"Meowhat are they?"
Figuring that she won't have her wits about her until she knows how safe they are, he gently wrapped his arms around her and began to explain. "Quite some time ago, there was a gambler who lived near Pictland. He made alot of money from the games that were played on his riverboats. This gambler, Peta was his name, became so wealthy that he then built race tracks. He started spending less time on his riverboats, and more time raising monsters to ride in those races. At first he rode zuums like alot of people do. But he began winning more by riding dinos. At the end of his gambling days, he rode only purple dinos. So, he got the name of Peta the Grape.
All that fame and wealth he got from using monsters made him go mad. He began crazy talk of treating monsters like humans. Eventually he built up a army of hypocrites and lunitics. They all acted as if it was wrong for anyone to own a monster except for themselves. Peta led them into a war against his own people. All over this land, he had people killing and looting one another. They would pull any kind of trick that they could think of to win. One of those tricks was done with the trees that you see out there.
To help protect the fort that they had in the North Groaning Forest, across Battle Gorge, they tried to make this area scary to some folks. With hundreds of those trees, they carved faces. So many faces made it look like an army of trees guarding the north river bank. Alot of people and monsters were fooled for a while. But Hollow Oaks managed to get up to the fort and kill every last one of them traitors.
A few years after that, the burgomaster got me connected with a whole bunch more masons that go around building laboratories. Some of them thought it fun to deepen the aged faces of these trees; as they watched over the train of golems constantly pulling wagons from the mountain to the lab site."
The old man paused, to let Fluffy think about what he had just told her. Her fears now gone, she began to play with his body. He chose not to send her back to driving the wagon,yet.

groan peta the grape?

watch out, pun lovers - this one could...go...all...the ...way!

I'm glad that you know where the name stems from. I thought it was a peeling.

of course i remembered him - he "concord" his enemies.

Uh...i don't get it. Maybe I'll look stupid for
asking, but could you explain what Peta the
Grape is?

Nice, carl.