Sorry for missing last week's post, but I didn't finish the installment till late. And Saturday I went to a conference thing. That was very interesting. So here I am, and most importantly is the first installment, of.... bother, I didn't even think of a title! Arhh scatterbrained me. Read the story and tell me your suggestions. Hopefully between all us terribly smart people we will come up with something brilliant. :P
Without further ado, here it is
It was a picturesque little scene. The cute little hare
nibbling away at the lush green grass in the middle of the nice, cool clearing. I mean it would have been picturesque for
most everybody. But not me. I took a deep breath and released my last arrow. It
sailed in a near perfect arc toward the hare which was grazing contentedly
unaware of my presence Some might have felt guilty at shooting at an innocent,
little critter, but I most definitely did not. Mind you I’m not a heartless
hunter. If it had been a deer, rabbit, or even a bird I would have regretted
what I had to do.
But it was a hare.
I don’t know why, but ever since I was a little girl hares creeped me out. Not
you don’t want to pet it creeped out, but the shivers up and down your spine,
freezing in terror kind of creeped out. Rabbits, they’re cute and adorable, but
hares? I’m convinced they are downright evil. Not that I’ve ever come across
any concrete proof, but I can tell it in their little beady eyes. But it didn’t
really matter, because I said ‘near perfect arc’ for a very good reason.
It missed.
The hare barely glanced up, but I
swear it was grinning, and bounded off into the dusk. I heard a suppressed
chuckle from behind and turned to glare fiercely at the tall lanky boy who had
moved from his concealed hiding pace and was now leaning against a tree.
“It’s not funny,” I forced the
words out through gritted teeth.
“Oh, yes it was. Definitely funny.”
He replied grinning broadly.
I stomped off to retrieve my
arrow. I strained to see through the dim light, and saw it lying at the base of
a large tree. I hurried and scooped it up. I turned and walked straight into a
low-lying branch. The loud guffaws echoing from the trees around made my blood
boil. I couldn’t see clearly for the reflect tears clouding my vision and fine
red mist of nearly uncontrollable anger. I strode quickly to a tall, blurred
shape which I thought was him and pointed an accusing finger directly at it.
“You’re scaring all the wildlife away,” I
nearly yelled. The laughing only increased in volume to a hysterical point. I
wiped the tears from my eyes and saw why. I’d pointed to a sapling instead of
my brother. He was rolling around on the ground several meters to my right
laughing in uncontrollable fits. I practically leaped over till I was standing
over him, and nudged him, not too gently, in the ribs.
“Stop it!! It’s sooooo not
funny.” He managed to control his amusement long enough to say,
“It doesn’t matter, you totally
scared everything away with your stomping, branch bashing, and tree whispering,
except it was more like tree shouting.” And with that he dissolved in to
giggles once more.
“I’m going home. You can follow
when you’ve stopped being so insensitive.” I declared and abruptly turned on my
heels and started off. I heard him scrambling up, and soon heard his quiet
footfall beside me.
“What did I do wrong?” I wailed.
“It was so close, and that evil hare knew it. Did you see it grin before it
took off?
“You have a habit
of breathing out right before you release. It’s affecting your aim that tiny
bit. And I didn’t see any grinning hares.” He answered with no hint of
amusement this time. He knows how scared I am of them, so he doesn’t tease me.
But I don’t think he necessarily agrees about their evilness either.
“And the only way to fix that
is?” I tentatively asked of him. I had the feeling I wouldn’t like what he
said.
“Practice, practice, and some
more practice!” Preston chirped cheerily. I groaned. I didn’t have a lot of
free time to do what I wanted. You see I have to help Mamma with the herb
collecting. She’s the village healer so she has to have a good stock on hand in
case of emergencies. And when she doesn’t have what she needs, she sends me out
to fetch them. So I know my way around the woods and I can get them fairly
quickly. Sometimes she lets me off helping her fetch and brew things so I can
go with Poppa on his hunting trips. He’s a hunter, and he’s teaching Preston
his trade. So Preston is often with him. I treasure the times I go hunting with
Poppa alone. Preston helps me by giving me tips about things I’ve missed. Sometimes
it doesn’t end all that well, as this trip indicates. Generally though it’s
fine. So basically that means I will have hardly any time to practice my
archery.
As we came in sight of the little
three room cottage, I saw Poppa going into the log cabin which serves as a barn
for our two horses, Mora and Nara. By the time we had walked to the cottage
door, he had finished feeding them and it was time for dinner.
I lay in bed that night thinking
of archery practice and wondering how I was going to slot it in with my day
tomorrow. I was comfortably full of turkey pie, and a warm fuzziness was taking
hold as I drifted into sleep. Before I completely succumbed to sleep, I had
time to reflect on my wonderful family. Surely no one else had a mamma that
could make the best golden, crunchy pastry for pies, nor a poppa that could
make the most tender, juiciest turkey filling to go in that perfect pastry with
the divinest gravy to accompany it. And I was ninety-nine point nine percent
certain that I alone had a brother who could make apple and blueberry filling
fit for angels to eat. Combined with that perfect pastry it was heavenly. Not
only that but they were loving enough to allow me two slices of each. Probably
because they knew I adored them both. I slipped into dreamland happy. Which
didn’t last for very long. Soon in came bounding hares with fangs dripping
saliva.
And I couldn’t hit a single one.
The next day Preston and Poppa
went hunting. They were out to get pelts today, because the markets were on the
weekend, and Poppa wanted to take as many pelts as he could muster for then.
Mamma needed my help brewing various concoctions for the village stock. We also
needed to bake provisions for the trip to the markets.
Now towards nightfall, I was out
in the woods practicing my archery. I couldn’t believe my good luck. Mamma had
finished with me after dinner and I still had an hour of daylight. So here I
was practicing on the wooden targets Preston had fashioned for me. I was
definitely improving. When I’d finished I had ten minutes till dark. I packed
up my things and turned to head home. I looked up and stopped dead in my
tracks.
There were hares blocking my
path. Lots of hares. My blood turned to water and my knees started to shake. I
could have handled one or two in my way. But there was a dozen. Besides the
fact hares don’t congregate like this, there was something unnerving about the
way they formed a loose semi-circle around my chosen path. I stood stock still
eyeing them off, weighing my options.
Until they all bared their fangs
at me, and then I turned tail and ran.
I had no idea where I was going;
I just hoped they wouldn’t follow me. Five seconds later I heard their pursuit.
I was freaking out big time. I am certain I ran the fastest that night than
ever before. In fact so fast I didn’t think it was even possible. For a full
horrible minute I ran blindly through the woods with no purpose in mind just
absolute terror. But very quickly common sense kicked in. I began to run
quietly still fast but with not as much noise. My mind flashed through the
options open before me. I was still ahead of the hares, and gaining ground. But
I couldn’t keep going forever. I needed to hide. The hares would be tracking me
with their noses, so logically I had to throw them of my scent. And the best
way I could think of was through the stream I knew was just a little ahead of
me.
I crashed through the stream, and
nearly made it to the end before I slipped on the slimy rocks and face planted
the water. I dragged myself clear, so glad that these freaky hares were just as
stupid with fangs and without. If they’d had brains they would have corner me
off.
That was right before one charged
alongside and skidded to a stop in front of me. We stared at each other for a
long moment. It seemed to be gloating in the fact it would beat me without a
doubt. Not on my watch, you ugly beast, I thought fiercely. I saw out of the
corner of my eye a big branch leaning against a tree. I grabbed it and faced
the charging hare. It had started for me the moment I’d moved, but perhaps it
didn’t have very good eyesight in the dimming light, because it kept coming
despite my weapon. I bided my time till the time was right and then I hit it.
Real hard.
It flew
through the air and crashed in to a tree. I don’t know if the tree or the force
of my hit broke its neck, but it certainly wasn’t getting up again. Take that,
I thought triumphantly.
Suddenly the woods was alive with
the sound of scrabbling feet and I realized with shock that the others had
caught up while we’d been having our skirmish. I could see the leaves shaking
as they reach the far side of the stream.
I turned and frantically search for a place to hide…
1. My eyes alighted on a small
cave, and I entered rushing to the very back. Suddenly the air was alive with
black wings scratching and screaming to exit. I had a horrible thought of hares
investigating the noise. I fainted.
2. I looked around despair
closing in. Then I remembered hares can’t climb. I rushed to the nearest tree
and began to climb. The hares rushed around clawing at my legs.
3. Unbelievably I saw a little
hut nearby. I ran to it and threw the door open slamming it behind me with all
the force I could muster. The yelps of pain indicated I’d hit some. Hard.
Suddenly there was silence. Then something cast a shadow across the floor. I
looked at the dark shadow outside the window.
Ok, this looks a little plain. I'll try next time to find a picture to use as a header thing.
What have I been doing? Do you know what I've been doing? Please tell me if you know, because I hardly do myself. Ummm..... Oh yes, I've been doing that most pleasant thing we all adore. Take a guess... breathing!! ( I'm tired if you haven't guessed already ) I meant school work actually. I've also been reading quite a bit. I picked up a book at the conference I went to last Saturday. It was a Rod and Staff Publishers book, called Just Thirteen and I started reading it Monday. It was so good, that I'd finished it in about three days, and then I was hungry for more Rod and Staff books that I started reading The Way She Chose which though was twice as thick I finished in a day ( I'm fairly sure anyway ). And now I'm Rod and Staff deprived. Has anyone else read Rod and Staff books? We have a few others, and I find them very good.
Sorry for such a short post, but I hope the installment makes up for that. It is rather long. I must go to bed now, for I'm tired and I have to go out tomorrow.
Please don't hesitate to comment and tell me your favourite option!!
God bless you all!
Antonella Rose.
