Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
Home Friend's sites Construction Help

Chapter 2

     I ran, weaving between the tall trees, ignoring the undergrowth as it whipped past my knees. I was running because I was so full of energy and had nothing else to do. I hadn’t given any thought to what I’d do once I got here. I guess I thought something would jump out and kill me as soon as I entered, but nothing did.
     As I ran I looked around taking in the strange beauty around me. Trees of many sorts towered high over my head and formed a green canopy, blocking out the light. Only narrow curtains of light passed through it. Birds fluttered unseen in the heights and the movement on either side of me suggested small creatures running away. I wondered where all the bigger “things” were. I didn’t mind, after I realized I was still alive, I discovered how much I wanted to live.
     I saw no sign of people and was glad I had found a place away from them. What if they were to follow? No, they wouldn’t, they would never know where I went and if they did they wouldn’t fallow me here. If someone did, if someone was brave enough to they would never catch up, I was running really fast. I never knew I could run so fast, it felt great. I spent that night underneath a huge tree.
     I woke with a wave of confusion at not being in my bed. Then with a wave of relief I remembered where I was. I was free! I was far away from those awful people. I got myself up and continued walking. I had nothing better to do. I was hungry but that couldn’t bring down my mood.
     After a while I realized I was following a path. I froze. A path?!! In the middle of the forest?!! A path meant people. A path in the forest meant people in the forest. I turned off the path and ran away. I was full of fear, felt that people would find me and make me go back to the town, to the orphanage, to these people who were out to get me.
     After what seemed like hours of running pointlessly through the thick undergrowth I came to a stream. There were bushes of full of little red berries growing near the water. I figured it would be a good place to stop. I sat down on the soft grass and began eating the berries off the bush nearby.
     Afterwards I took off my shoes and waded into the stream. The water was cold and refreshing. After drinking my full and washing up a bit I made my way back to the clearing and lay back on the grass. From the sunlight I guessed it was about 1 o’clock, but I decided to take a quick nap anyway.
     I sat up with a start. I had no idea how long I had been sleeping for. Was that a growl I had just heard? Glancing around I noticed a pair of eyes looking out at me from behind a bush. They weren’t human eyes. With a roar it jumped out at me and I got my first good look at a real monster.
     It sprang out into the light. It was big. It had the body of a beast but the wings of a bird. Its fur was of a tawny color and the feathers on it’s wings had blue and green in them. It was like nothing I had ever seen or imaged.
     I made to run but only got as far as my feet before it landed on top of me and knocked me back down. As I screamed and struggled to get away, I felt its sharp claws sink into my arms. Panicking, I watched the rows of sharp teeth coming closer and closer. I could smell its fowl breath and I waited for the teeth to sink into my neck.
     But the teeth never made it to their destination. And the creature was flung through the air. I winced with pain as I got to my feet to see what had happened. On the ground a few feet away lay the creature that had just tried to make me a meal. It wasn’t moving and there were little wisps of smoke rising from its body. It looked dead.
     I still didn’t understand. I looked around and notice the man. He was old and wearing a long robe and was looking at me. I don’t know what scared me more, the thing that had tried to eat me or the man who had saved me. Either way I didn’t like it and ran off again into the woods.
     Desperately I ran through the woods, not even paying attention to where I was going. I looked behind me and saw the man again, standing, closer as if I hadn’t even moved. When I looked forwards again I ran into a tree and fell over, unconscious.
    
    
     I woke in a soft bed. For awhile I just lay there enjoying the warmth and comfort of the covers. Then I remembered and sat up quickly. I was in a small bed piled with covers. They were much softer then anything that was at the orphanage. The room had a large round window on the wall beside the bed. Looking out I didn’t see the familiar stone of the town. Instead I saw a neat little sunlit garden in a clearing surrounded with trees. On the wall were many shelves full of large old books. There was also a large table on which sat many bizarre items which I couldn’t figure out.
     Whose house is this? I wondered. Then with a shock I remembered the creature and the old man. Oh why couldn’t that creature have killed me back then? I would have finished my life and accomplished the reason for my coming into the forest in the first place. But that man….what did he do? The creature had been flung off me, an old man could not have done that nor cause it to smoke the way that it did. What did he do? And who is he?
     I looked around wild eyed hoping to find a door leading outside by which I could escape. The only door I found was across from the window and I assumed the rest of the house was behind it. How could I get out and way with out the old man knowing? Why did he bring me here anyway?
     My questions had barley formed in my head when the door opened. One glance confirmed that it was the old man. He smiled at me. I ducked underneath the covers. I know it was pointless but it was the only thing I could think to do at the time.
     I heard him chuckle to himself. “So this is the brave one I found in the forest?” he laughed again. “Well if you are brave enough to come out of your hiding then you may join me for breakfast” he chuckled again and I heard the door close softly. Tossing the covers aside I rolled out of the bed. I was wearing the same clothes as I had been the night before yet somehow they were clean. The stains I had acquired from sleeping in the woods had vanished. I crept quietly to the door and opened it a crack. In the next room, on the right, was a large fireplace surrounded by three high backed arm chairs. On the other side of the room was a round table with breakfast food on it and settings for two. The old man was at one end already eating. He looked up as I opened the door but turned back to his food without a word. The far wall had more large round windows through which I could see more garden and forest. The front door was straight ahead.
     The food on the table filled the room with the delicious odors witch were making my mouth water. It had been at least three days since my last real meal and I was starving. I figured that now that I knew where the door was I could run for it, after I had eaten.
     Taking a breath to build my courage, I stepped into the room. The old man didn’t even look up until I was sitting down at the table and reaching for food.
     “So you decided to join me after all.” He said with a smile. I quickly looked away. “Oh come now” he said, “No need to be shy, my name is Illiquith, help yourself to some food, then afterward you can tell me what a young one such as yourself is doing in these woods alone.”
    
    
     We ate in silence. I ate looking at my plate, the food, the window anything but the man. When my pace had slowed to an occasional bite now and then Illiquith spoke again.
     “How long have you been in these wood young lady?”
     I looked down as I shrugged
     “How many? Three? four?”
     I shrugged again. My thoughts wondered to the door behind me; my way out, away from this man. Yet my eyes never turned away. Illiquith continued talking.
     “four days by the look of your hunger.” He nodded and chuckled to himself, “three days would take you out of the forest if you were running fast, Are you from that town? What’s it called again…?”
     “Renklan” I whispered.
     “Renklan, yes, yes” He chuckled again. “Lovely place I’ve been there a few times myself.”
     I remembered Renklan well. It did not seem all that lovely to me. To many chores and hate… I guess my feelings towards Renklan stood out on my face because Illiquith raised an eyebrow and said “Ah, you have something against Renklan? Is that perhaps why you’re here in the forest instead of there?” I nodded.
     “Look at me a moment”
     Slowly I looked up and meet his gaze. He smiled at me and continued talking. “You don’t look like those Renklanders. Green eyes and dark hair, Where were your parents from?”
     I had slowly built up my courage and answered him in a quiet voice. “I don’t know. I’m an orphan.” He smiled at me with an understanding which I didn’t understand.
     “What’s your name young one?” He finally got around to asking.
    “Andrea.”
    
    
     “Andrea, you’re special. Did you know that? You have something others do not. I can feel it and I bet you can too. Do you feel the energy in this forest? Do you feel all the strength that is building up inside? Yes I think you can. “He smiled to himself again. “You aren’t like those other people from the village. You’re better.”
     This of course peaked my curiosity.
     “Better then all those other people? How?”
     Illiquith dropped his voice as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear him but me. “You have the magic of the Earth.”
     I gave him a puzzled look.
     “Do you know of magic young one?” he asked.
     “No I don’t think so…”
     “You have it I’m sure. That’s how I found you in the first place. I could sense your magic, it was protecting you.”
     Everything seemed to make sense before these last few sentences were spoken. I was in an old mans house and was buying my time to run out the door. But now, all this about magic and things and my being better was confusing.
     “You still don’t understand. Well I could give you a long explanation about magic and how it can be used but a demonstration may be better.”
     I eyed him suspiciously. He pointed at a fruit in a basket on the table.
     “See that fruit? I can make it fly, watch.” He pointed at it again and it floated slowly out of the basket. I watched amazed as he made it fly across the room, stop just before it hit the window and come back.
     “H-how’d you do that?” I asked still staring at the fruit which had settled on the table in front of me.
     “Magic” was the answer that I got. I picked the fruit up and looked at it closer.
     “It has nothing to do with the fruit Andrea. It was me and the magic that I have.”
     “You say I have this magic too? I can make a fruit fly? How?”
     “Whoa young one, one question at a time. Yes I do believe you have the magic and yes you too could make the fruit fly. All you need is to be taught.”
     “Well you teach me? Well you show me how to use magic?” I asked urgently.
     “Yes I would, if you’d stay and let me.”
    Stay. I thought about this a moment. If I were to learn how to do this all I’d need to do was stay here? I looked at Illiquith again. He didn’t seem all that bad I decided. He hadn’t yelled at me or blamed me for anything yet. I decided to stay, the thought of the fruit still burning in my mind.