Midorea V3 Development Merch | Search | Memberlist | Vault | The Forge | Battle! | Temple
   
  
Goody Shop Reward

      Log-In   Not a member? Register Now! 
Midorea Forum Index / The Storybook
Post new topic   Reply to topic Original Story 2
P.S. Moon



Send private message


 PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:45 pm Reply with quote        
Chapter One
Stolen Childhood



The earth shook, as an inhuman scream rent the air, and the sky turned crimson. Obsidian shapes ate up the sky as they loomed over the dead bodies of the villagers. Husbands had fallen protecting their families. Dead Mothers clasped the stiff, cold fingers of their deceased children. Red blood stained the earth as if a giant inkpot had been spilled on the ground. The dark shapes became crows descending from the air to swoop in for the feast. They cawed with delight at finding this carnage first. Greedily they dug in, gouging out unseeing eyes, and pecking the gray flesh away from the bones. Their sharp hooked beaks coming closer and closer…

Effryn the barn owl hopped up and down a long slender branch of the old willow tree. His luminescent eyes darted from his mistress to the ground below. His sharp ears told him there was a small plump, field mouse in the brush next to the small birch tree that hugged the bank of the sluggish river and no pesky faeries in sight or sound. Effryn looked back at the slim figure covered with a worn blanket lying down on the small platform his mistress had built using the discarded boards of the villagers.

Deciding that she could sleep without his watchful eye on her, he flew silently down across the tiny clearing to the birch tree and landed on an outstretched limb. Listening carefully he detected a slight rustling, painstakingly aiming his body he dropped like a stone and pounced upon the mouse and making it squeal, before seizing it in his talons. A quick peck and it was dead.

Lifting its carcass along with him he swooped back across the clearing to the old willow tree. Arriving with a soft thump, he victoriously tore at the small body in his clutches, swallowing the little body in two gulps, fur and all. Preening his feathers, he settled back again to wait for the next feast to come his way.

Turning back to his human friend he cocked his head sideways and observed how the moonlight reflected on her tanned face and her sun bleached hair. A certain part of him noted the loneliness of the scene, and something told him that she needed a companion, one of her own kind.

Effryn started when his mistress moaned, rolled over, and then gasping for air, she bolted upright. Her long, hair flew in disarray as she pushed off the platform, down the trunk of the willow, and ran to kneel at the edge of the gleaming moonlit water. Her hand slipped and splashed into the water and she pulled it out swiftly.

Pushing her hair back from her face she peered at the distorted reflection in the water waiting for it to clear. When it did, she stared anxiously at her image and breathed a sigh of relief when her face showed no sign of cuts or bruises. Cupping her hands she lifted a drink from the river. She sat sipping the refreshing liquid then dropped the rest of it back. She leaned against the birch and sat there in her “borrowed” breeches and woolen shirt she had taken from a wash line in town during one of her night raids. She stared down at her bare feet, dusty and black from use.


Glancing at Effryn as he came hopping over, she spoke in the rough tongue the villagers used. “They came back Fryn, the night ghouls came back.” She turned her head back to the water and watched it glimmer in the moonlight. Sighing, she took her long hair and began to plait it, getting it out of her face.

Fryn gave a soft coo of sympathy as he came nearer wishing she would lower her arm. “Why can’t they just leave me alone? Why are they torturing me with pictures of dead people whom I can’t help?” she exclaimed tying off her clumsy braid with a bit of wool yarn she had pulled from the blanket. She looked near to tears. This time he hooted and raised both his wings slightly. “Thank you for being such a good listener.” She said sarcastically as she looked back at him.

She sighed again and put her arm down for him to hop on to. Gracefully he stepped up and waited for her to lift up her arm and stand. As she did, he wobbled slightly and put a wing out to balance. “My stars Fryn, you’re getting big.” She exclaimed, “Soon you’ll be too big and fat for me to carry.” He hooted indignantly.

Laughing she flung him up into the air and raced back to the old willow scrambling up its smooth bark to get onto the platform first, only to see that Effryn had beaten her to it. She watched as he sat there trying to look noble and distinguished. Tittering she pulled herself forward and in a deep accent she announced to him, “Et seems ye’ve beat meh at mae auld game.”

Bobbing his head as if to agree with her, he fluttered his wings as he jigged from one foot to the other in a little dance, making her laugh. Jumping up and down and shaking and twisting his head in comical ways he danced around her and pretended to be a fool, like the one she had had seen at the First Day fair. He completed his dance by leaping into the air and pumping his wings a few times. He landed and hooted. His mistress was laughing so hard by now that tears were running down her cheeks and all thoughts of night ghouls were forgotten.

“Enough…I give up…please…have mercy…please” she finally manage to gasp out. Jumping up, Fryn seemed to consider. Then, solemnly, he bobbed his head up and down, as if in consent. His mistress’s peals of laughter rang through the dark forest.
Post new topic   Reply to topic



Powered By phpBB Home | Rules | FAQ | Help | TOS | Privacy Policy | Contact us