The Second Instalment

  I'm finally back with another part of this story. Still need to think of a title. It's a little bit shorter than the first one, but hopefully just as good. It contains a little bit more dialogue. But then again one doesn't have much time for talking when running for one's life. :P Anyway option three won.
So here it is,



 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. I prayed that the window was fastened shut. But it wasn’t. It swung open with an ominous creak. A shadowy figure jumped gracefully to the floor. Relief washed over me in a flood as I saw that it wasn’t a hare, but a cat. Mind you it was a huge cat, more like the size of a sheepdog. It advanced slowly staring at me with icy blue eyes which were oddly out of place in its warm yellow fur. Those eyes seemed to hold me in a trance. I couldn’t move nor speak. I tried to swallow but my throat was dry. The cat stopped a meter in front of me. It opened its mouth wide and my heart leaped into my throat. I could see its razor sharp teeth glinting like little shards of diamond. I closed my eyes and prepared for the attack. It was deadly quiet until…

“Meow.”

I slowly opened my eyes to see the cat now sitting, still watching me but a little less intently. I breathed again. The breath caught in my throat though as the cat began to swell. It grew bigger and stood on its hind legs. The face began to change with the ears shrinking and swivelling till they rested on the sides of the creature’s head. Sure couldn’t call it a cat now. The whiskers were sucked into the nose which had grown less pointed and more snub like. Finally the transformation seemed complete, and it looked kinda human. A furry human still possessing ice blue eyes though. But as I watched in fascinated horror the fur began to fade away into skin. Now it was finished. It had the appearance of a little old man. He was a head shorter than me and had a bushy snow white beard. Actually it gave the impression it could have been home to a number of small creatures, it was so big. I suppose that was to compensate for the fact he was utterly bald. He had a wrinkly face, a snub nose, and those piercing blue eyes. But he looked nice enough. As nice as a man who had just transformed from a cat can be.

He grinned at me and said,

“Hello, what have we here? What might you be doing in my house?”

I stared at him for a long moment before I decided to answer him. After all, his hut had just saved my life.

“I’m Poppy, and I’m hiding from the hares.” I replied.

“What were you thinking wondering outside at this hour? Everyone knows that the Hélior emerge from the hares at the full moon’s light.” He looked at me in surprise.

“Well, I’m not everyone.” I answered just as surprised to learn that this was supposed to be common knowledge.

“Yes, well, that is obvious. Where do you come from?” He was starting to look just as puzzled as I felt.

“I live with the hunter and the village healer.”

“But not their child?”

I shook my head, “No, they adopted my brother and I after our parents disappeared.”

He nodded his head. “I heard rumours Paul and Primrose had taken on a couple of kids.”

“But who are you?” I asked. I was telling him about me, he could at least shed some light on himself. I’d never seen him before, and I didn’t think anyone lived in the woods near us. Briefly I wondered if Poppa and Mamma knew anything about this man.

“I am Hínnior of the Harlian Hall.” Seeing the blank look on my face he continued, “There is a clearing on the western side of the hut. It is call the Harlian Hall by the folk who live in the woods. I am the caretaker of the Hall. I make sure the Hall is kept clean and ready for the next lot of meetings held there.”

“Wait you mean there a more people like you around the woods?” I was skeptical to say the least. I was in the woods on any given day and I had certainly never seen another soul anywhere. But then again who was to say they couldn’t turn into ordinary creatures? I could believe almost anything in my present state of mind.

“Sure. Plenty of them around, but they keep themselves hidden well. That is unless they choose to reveal themselves to you. Otherwise nobody ever finds them.” He said.

“You mentioned something about Helium and the hares?” I asked now thinking back to my recent adventure.

He chuckled and smiled, but his face quickly grew serious. That can’t be a good sign, I thought.

“Not helium, Hélior.” He answered.

“And that is?” I prompted. He seem reluctant to further explain.

 “They are the evil spirits that live in the hares. They can’t emerge and take control of the hares until full moon, because they are weak under the spell. But the spell is weakest at the full moon so they can break free from it then.” He finally managed.

“What spell?” I asked. It was intriguing in a scary kind of way.

“The spell put in place by Allor, the great sorcerer. It protects the woods from----

Something threw itself against the door with great force. The door creaked and bent under the weight, but held, though it was obvious it wouldn’t hold for much longer.

“What’s that?!” I cried fearing coursing through my veins once more.

1. “They’ve come.” He whispered, fear evident in his voice.

2. “I don’t know, but they’re gonna get it. How dare they bash my door down… or try to anyway.” He started hobbling toward the door with an indignant cry.  

3. Before he could answer the door fell in with a loud crash. Dust filled the room. I coughed and my eyes stung painfully. An angry, hoarse voice spoke up from the whirling dust.

“Where is it?”

 I hope you liked it. I will get onto a photo for it soon.

So, I haven't been up to much. We went and watch Rogue One on Saturday at the movies. I thought it was pretty good, I'm just not a big fan of movies where they kill all the good guys in the end. I know in this movie it was kind of necessary, but it still bugged me. Other than that I liked it. 

Sunday was that concert I mentioned. It went really well, in my opinion. Besides the fact my bridge slipped out of my violin right as we were getting ready onstage. Real helpful I know. But my teacher saved the day and put it back in without snapping any strings, and tuned it before we were supposed to start. I'd had the feeling it wasn't going to stay in much longer. It was leaning precariously to one side. Now I'm going to need to get another one. Other than that it was reasonably uneventful. We were first on, and we watched a little of the other performances, but we had to leave before it finished because Mum had had an attack of vertigo the day before so she wasn't feeling well. 

We got a new piece of music on Wednesday call Celtica and it is really beautiful. There is a violin solo, and it is really nice ( way out of my league :D ) my teacher played it for the rehearsal. They're thinking of sharing it with the violist who's music is a little too simple and boring for him. 

We celebrated our little miracle baby, Ali's twentieth birthday on Thursday by going out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I got lemon chicken which was very yummy, and I managed to eat it all. ( which is a great achievement for me ) He had a red velvet mud cake which was heavenly. We had to cook it at my sister's place because our oven is broken at the moment. It was a very nice day, albeit with some sad memories attached. Mum was sad, and no doubt Ali too. Sometimes I image what it would've been like to have another Ali around. It's so hard to do though. Next year it will be harder because it will have been his twenty-first. I wonder how Ali feels knowing he could have had another half. I know I've mixed feelings on the subject. But I'm thankful we have Ali, because he very nearly didn't make it. One of many blessings to count. :)

And then Friday finds me here writing this. This week I was supposed to write a story for English, which is coming about very slowly. It's a lot harder to do than this story, because they are very different styles. But I think it will work this time. ( It's not my first attempt :P )

Looking back it was actually a busy week. How was yours?

Cheers!

Antonella Rose ♥