root, branch and leaf - part two

[wytchcroft]

And so saying the old woman gathered the children to her with her long and spindly arms and she walked them up the narrow stairs of the cottage and into her bedroom. Standing by the wooden chest of drawers and the foggy mirror and the open jewellery box and the folded pieces of material and pointing out to small window she spoke again.

“From here you can see the wood,” she said, her voice rustling like the forest she was describing. “At night you can watch the dancing lights, sometimes you can hear little voices in the dark, drifting songs, faery talk…” she sighed, “or rather you could do. Not any more. One by one, it seems, the lights have gone out. There are so few now… three perhaps, yes, just three.” And Grandma sighed again.

Fred looked at Sue. Sue looked at Fred. They both looked at Grandma.

“Where have they gone?” The children asked.

 

Their grandma seemed to think about this carefully before answering. Finally she said, “I believe that the Earl has taken them.”

The children knotted their tiny fists and narrowed their eyes.  “What a horrible thing to do!” they exclaimed. They looked at one another and nodded together. “But don’t worry Grandma,” said Fred. “Yes,” said Sue, “we will get them back!”

Grandma nodded. “And that is why I am sad,” she said. “I knew you would say that – and now you will have to go on an adventure – adventures can be wonderful but they can be dangerous too – and no/one that goes on adventure comes back entirely the same. Adventures change people.”

The children were not at all sure what Grandma meant by this but Sue said”well, we’re growing up you know. I mean, I grew an inch and Fred grew an inch and that was just recently and we didn’t have to do a thing.”

Fred nodded. “Yes, we’re changing all the time.”

Grandma smiled at that, “My, such wise children.” She sounded relieved.

Turning away for a moment Grandma opened a drawer and took out from it three objects. She placed the objects on the top; a hairbrush, a small mirror and a ring.

Dainty trinkets indeed; old fashioned in style being wrought with silver and pearl, and clearly much loved since all three were of tiny size, designed for children not old women.

“These are for you” said Grandma, pointing to the beautiful objects. “You will need them,” she added.

“Need them for what?” asked the children.

Grandma sighed, “For your adventure of course.”

“Of course, of course!” echoed the children.

“Yes, this is how it must be,” said Grandma, “You will find the last three lights, the last spirits of the tangled wood. Find them before the Earl does – and perhaps those last three will lead you to where the others have been taken.” She handed them the precious objects, the mirror and the ring for Sue, the brush for Fred.

Her little grandchildren nodded their ruffled heads and blinked their wide eyes.

Grandma nodded back. “Ridiculous I know,” she said, “but, well, that is often the case with these sorts of things. Now run along, the spirits only play at night – perhaps you will be lucky and find them in the dusk when the woods are not so dark that you might get lost.” The old woman straightened her back with an effort saying, “And remember children, you”-

But Fred and Sue had already raced away and down the stairs, and out into the garden and off on their adventure.

“Ah,” said Grandma.

…..

Dusk it was then, falling around the children like silks across a lampshade, colouring the trees and the woodland floor and the darkening patches of sky and even the air around them, colouring everything in rich hues of purple and blue.

“I hope there’s a full moon tonight,” Fred whispered to his sister, “it won’t be so dark if there’s a moon shining.”

“Hmm…” said Sue, “we’ll see.”

 

 And so it was that the children entered the dark parts of the forest where the paths twisted like the old trees and made Fred and Sue dizzy as they went around and around and all the time in gathering darkness.

Suddenly Fred raised his hands. “Stop!” he hissed. “Look!”

Sue could see already a faint shimmering between the trees and among the shadows. There was a light – and getting brighter by the moment.

“Quickly!”

She pushed her brother behind the nearest tree trunk. From their hiding place, the two children took a deep breath full of the heady damp smells of the forest and held it tight as they watched the light come dancing towards them.

It was soon so close that they could see with the brightness a flickering figure, a child perhaps like them, spinning around and singing as it went.

“Oh I am so bright and beautiful,” sang the little spirit, “I glitter like a jewel, I shine like precious metal, I come from the magi wood and I’m beautiful, yes I am! I‘m beautiful, I’m very, very” –

“Vain,” said Sue sharply, snapping the lid of the mirror shut with a snap!

“What did you do?” asked Fred, he was wheezing a bit from holding his breath so long.

His sister sniffed. “That faery was so vain it practically danced right into this mirror!” She waved the mirror in her hand – and indeed, very faintly, a voice could still be heard singing away to itself.

“Very clever!” Fred smiled.

“I hope the others are so easy to get hold of!” Sue smiled back. The children enjoyed their moment of relief and then once more they stepped out onto the winding path and into the dark.

By now the forest was becoming gloomy and blackness swallowed the length of the path and the shapes of the trees. High up above them though, Fred and Sue could make out the first stars twinkling, perhaps the moon would be up soon as Fred hoped it would.

There were sounds around them of scurrying animals and the distant hoots of night birds and the flutter of wings.

“Shh!” said Fred coming to a stop so suddenly that his sister almost trod on him.

“Listen!”

“What?”

The two children held each other’s hand and stood with their heads to one side as their ears strained. There was a sound, yes, a sort of vague munching and crunching and thudding. What could it be?

“A giant?” Fred was sure it would be.

“No… Big Foot!” Sue had always wanted to meet Big Foot.

And then they heard the clear but far off sound of a trumpet.

“The Earl!” they cried in unison.

The Earl! He must be trampling with his soldiers into the woods to find those very last faeries that the children were seeking.

“We’ll have to hurry”, said Fred.

“Yes,” his sister agreed, “hurry A LOT!”

Together they started walking again, this time quickly and uncaring of the night as it blocked their way and made them bump into bushes and trees or trip over stones and sticks.

And then they saw at last a light, zooming and swaying this way and that and much faster than the children. It had to be another faery – a faery on the run!

As the children waited the light grew brighter by the second and they could hear a strange high pitched sound as it travelled.
Clearly the spirit inside the light was very scared.

All of a sudden the noise stopped and the light stopped. It just froze on its way and without warning.

“What?” Fred was baffled.

“It must be stuck or something,” Sue grabbed for her brother, “and we have to help!”

….....................

end of part two... 
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posted from dreamwidth

 

 

Comments

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

oh, my.. suspenseful... :)
Nasty Earl!

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

cheers squidy :))

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

uh, i'm a jelly... ;)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

and i'm a blindy! :))



(btw - live journal is not working for me except in a very limited way - so apologies for any delays in reading and commenting. )

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

well, we're both pretty gelatinous either way you look at it!
so, no worries!
and i know, LJ has been a stinker today!

LJ has been a stinker today!

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

yep, it's very frustrating actually - especially when i try and read people's journals and just get a blank page or whatever. sigh.

oh well, i do love a good moan i guess.

*goes to make tea*

:))