Quick as lightning a sack was
thrown over my head and a strange perfume filled my nose. Within minutes I had
drifted off to sleep due to the drug.
I was cold and my head hurt. Upon opening my
eyes I discovered it was still dark. I blinked trying to get my bearings and
realised I was still in a sack lying on very cold and hard ground. I attempted
to remove the sack finding, to my surprise, that my hands were tied behind my
back.
Not good. Friendly people don’t
dump you in sacks on the ground and tied hands behind backs.
Now I was in trouble.
But I didn’t have to wait long to
find out what kind of trouble I’d gotten into. The sack was abruptly pulled
off. I squinted in the dazzling light. A shadow fell across my face. A really
big shadow. I slowly raised my eyes upward my heart thumping in my chest. And
then my eyes focused on the dwarfish figure of Iggy.
“Good morning, lassie.” He
grinned down at me. “Isn’t it a lovely morning?”
“You!” I gasped. I opened and
closed my mouth in shock. Whatever I had expected it was certainly not this. As
I had this thought I anxiously wondered if Hínnior had anything to do with it.
I had liked the short, old man.
“Me indeed!” Iggy cackled. Or tried
to. Half way through he broke out into a coughing fit.
“Mas’er, are you alrigh’?” Izor said
as he ambled up with concern evident in his voice. Funny how I hadn’t noticed
him before. Hard not to notice an eight foot giant, one would think.
“Fine, fine. I’ll be okay,” Iggy
croaked to his faithful manservant. It, however, did little to reassure Izor.
“What do you want with me, shorty?”
I asked.
“I highly recommend you don’t
call me shorty. Remember you’re the one tied up on the ground,” He said this in
a dark voice which Izor visibly cringed at. If he was cringing maybe I should
be afraid too. “As to why you are here, I want to know something.”
“What?” I inquired cautiously.
After all I’m sure people don’t go to such great lengths as kidnapping just to
ask you when your birthday is. But I was also pretty sure I had nothing of that
much interest to tell Iggy.
He didn’t seem to agree.
“Last night,” he murmured, almost
to himself, “last night how’d you do it?”
Now I was thoroughly confused. “Do
what exactly?”
“Don’t play stupid with me!” he
shouted, “You know precisely what I mean.” I stayed silent not wanting to agitate
him more which was actually harder said than done. He took a deep breath and
started talking to me like I was three, “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten
already, but to recap last night you were chased by the Hélior hares, were you
not?”
“Umm, yes.” I warily affirmed. I
still had no clue where this was going.
“So how come you’re still alive? Nobody
survives the Hélior hares. Not unless they have strong magic. So what magic did
you use? I command you to divulge your secrets right now!” Iggy, red in the
face, was breathing heavily now. I sensed it would get rather ugly if I wasn’t
careful, but I didn’t quite know how to let him down gently, so I decided to
put it simply. Hopefully he would accept the truth, and not explode.
“Ahh, well, actually I didn’t use
any magic at all.”
“None at all?” he stared at me in
disbelief.
“Nope.”
“Then how?” He demanded.
“With a stick,” I answered, but hurriedly
add when he glared, “a big stick and I hit it against a tree and snapped its
neck.”
He continued staring at me
intently. Finally his eyes narrowed and he snarled, “I don’t believe you! Fancy
killing a Hélior hare with a stick! No one escapes them without magic. I see we
are going to have to do this the hard way. Izor, search her!” He delivered this
command curtly to Izor, who had been watching the proceedings quietly. He
started as if someone had hit him with a stick.
“Bu’,Mas’er, I couldn’ possibly!” He protested loudly.
“You can and you will!!” shouted
Iggy spitting saliva in his rage.
“Honestly, Izor, are you going to
let a tiny man who comes up to your kneecap boss you around?” I asked
exasperated at his cowardliness. Obviously the thought had never crossed his
mind. You could tell by the furious concentration now clouding his brow.
“Izor, listen to me!! I am your
master. Do as I say!” Iggy was hopping up and down in his rage now. Izor seemed
to come to a decision after this outburst. “
“Mas’er, can do i’ if he wan’ i’
done so badly!” he countered defiantly. Good for you, Izor, I thought. Iggy definitely
did not agree. His face turned scarlet and he started frothing at the mouth. It
took him several minutes to recover from his speechless rage.
“You are a disgrace to your
kind!!” he spat, “You will regret this.” Izor, to his credit, didn’t even
flinch. When Iggy saw that he wasn’t going to back down his eyes hardened.
“I will do it myself then. And
you,” he turned his attention to me again, “you will regret the moment you
opened your mouth when I am finished with you.” He started toward me with a malicious
glint in his eyes. Suddenly a whistle echoed through the clearing.
1. Iggy spun around just as Izor
came charging across toward him. He swatted the little man like a fly and he
went flying into some bushes. Izor and I waited breathlessly waiting for him to
reappear.
But he didn’t.
2. Preston shot up from behind a
wall of brambles and released an arrow. It sped through the air hissing as it
went and ended in a thunk as it hit Iggy in one of his legs. I saw Preston
drawing back for another shot presumably this time at Izor. I shouted out, “Preston,
no! The big one’s a friend!” He released.
I didn’t know if he’d heard me.
3. Two cloaked figures seemed to materialize
into the middle of the clearing. One raised its arm and pointed in our
direction. A blur of fur bolted, heading straight for us. I squeaked in fright
as it leaped upon me.
Okay. I really struggled writing this one for some reason. Probably why it took me so long, I guess.
Tomorrow I'm going to a Sydney Youth Orchestra intro workshoppie thing. I'm supposed to play first violin, but I'm not entirely sure I can do it. But we'll see how we go. And I'm playing two songs in our local eisteddfod. And some other songs with our orchestra for the eisteddfod too. So my musical life will be hard work this term. How is your music coming along?
Now, I have to go.
See ya'll later!
Antonella Rose
