| Subject: I will eventually...Chapter 4 |
Author:
Torleep
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Date Posted: 22:13:16 03/01/03 Sat
In reply to:
Torleep
's message, "Ok, i'm going to post this story again so anybeast who missed it can read it and then i'm going to post new parts and by crickey if no one replies i'll be fair peeved because i spent ages on this story for you chaps." on 20:46:23 02/20/03 Thu
Chapter Four.
Everything appeared to be shrinking before his very eyes, when in fact, he was growing at an extremely fast rate. His arms and legs became as thick as tree trunks, his paws the size of barrels, his head the size of a small logboat. Ham, Berry and Glippin, rapiers in paw, stared in amazement, while the rodents dropped their swords and began to back into the woods. Brogo had become a gigantic badger, twice the size of a normal one. He felt a great strength surging through his body.
He looked towards the vermin. They yelped, turned around and ran, but Brogo had a point to make with his new found strength. He reached down and picked one of the fleeing rodents up by the tail, then lifted him to his face. ‘Pay attention, because I’ll only teach you this once.’ His voice boomed among the trees, disturbing birds and other woodland creatures from their rest. He then lifted the weasel above his head and began twirling it easily in his hand. The weasels screams reverberated throughout the area.
As soon as the Brogo-Badger had the weasel spinning at high speed, he released. He sailed over the trees, his screams ended by a resounding crack as he crashed into the ground.
‘Whoa!’ Berry and Glippin exclaimed in unison.
‘That was cool!’ said Glippin
‘Totally!’ Replied Berry.
Brogo took off the thing. His body returned to its normal size, then he turned and smiled at his friends. But Ham wasn’t smiling.
‘Brogo, I told you to leave that thing in my bag!’
‘Well, I figure I found it, so I should get to keep it.’
‘Alright then, but I think you’d best leave it in your bag until we get to Fort Tussock and Handilf tells us a bit more about what’s going on.’
‘Geez, alright, if you insist!’ Brogo put the thing into his bag. ‘Well, I think it’s time to get back to sleep. Glippin, I believe it’s your turn to watch.’
Ham, Brogo and Berry were soon asleep, while Glippin watched the woodlands, with his back to the fire. The rest of the night passed uneventful.
Berry was up and about making breakfast, having taken last watch. A flock of birds flew overhead in the cloudless sky, and the river flowed lazily towards the ocean.
The smell of warm food caused Ham to awaken. He walked over to the cooking pot and sniffed the contents, then looked up. ‘Good morning, Berry.’
‘Ah, Ham, you’re awake. Would you fill this bottle down at the river for me?’ He tossed a small bottle to Ham.
‘Sure’ replied Ham, catching it easily. ‘What are you cooking?’
‘It’s just a vegetable stew. Nothing special.’
‘Well, it smells great.’ Ham wandered down to the river and filled the bottle. Then, placing the bottle beside him, he washed his hands and dunked his head. Finally, he grabbed the bottle and walked back to Berry. ‘Here’s your water.’
‘Thanks.’ He unscrewed the lid and added the contents to the cooking pot, stirred, then sat and let it warm up.
Brogo and Glippin soon awoke and washed at the river, then sat with Berry and Ham. They all shared a loaf, which they dipped into the now bubbling mixture and ate. It was not long until all four companions were full. Berry filled some empty bottles with the remains of the stew.
‘We’ll have this for breakfast tomorrow. Meanwhile, I think it’s time we got moving!’
They packed up camp and began marching on. They stayed near the river, both so they wouldn’t lose their way and to prevent an ambush. The temperature was near perfect, the going easy, the river water cool. They took a swim before having lunch, then continued their march. But, all through the day, dark storm clouds had been moving in form the south.
They continued on into the late afternoon, with only a few short breaks. The sun was beginning to set when Brogo saw a lightning flash and a great thunder boomed overhead. Glippin felt the first drop of rain. ‘I think we’d best get going’ he said.
And so they ran. They had been running only a short time when the storm became much ore fierce. They ran wildly, searching for a suitable camping spot.
‘What about here?’
‘No there’s a little water ditch running straight through it!’
‘How about that spot?’
‘That tree looks like it could topple and second and crush one of us!’
They continued searching, long into the night, yelling and arguing. Finally, Ham spotted a hut on the other side of the river. ‘Lets get over there!’ he yelled. ‘That place looks perfect!’
They searched further along the bank and eventually found a small ford. Crossing quickly, with the surging waters trying to knock them over, they jumped to the other bank and ran back towards the hut.
More thunder rolled overhead as they hammered on the door. It creaked open and a vole could be seen from the firelight inside. ‘Yes?’ he asked.
Ham had to yell over the din of the storm. ‘Please, sir, could we hide from the storm in your hut?’
‘Of course. Please enter.’ The vole moved from the doorway, and the four friends ran in and sat by the fire, steam rising from their sopping hair. The vole brought in some tea and oatcakes, and the four shrews were soon wandering the house.
‘This is a great house, sir.’
‘Please, call me Som.’
‘This is a great tapestry, Som. Who’s it of?’
‘That’s my daughter. She left home about three seasons ago.’
Ham was busy staring out the window. Berry walked over and looked out too. ‘What’s up?’
‘There’s something moving out there.’
‘Where?’
‘Over there by the ford we crossed earlier.’
Berry stared harder through the wet window. ‘I don’t see..’ There was a flash of lightning and more thunder boomed nearby. Berry saw the creature. ‘Wait, there it is. What IS that?’
‘I don’t know, but it certainly is strange.’
The creature seemed to be made of darkness. It had a long, whippy tail, and was bent down on all fours. It seemed to be sniffing around, but suddenly looked up, straight at Ham and Berry. As they looked back into its eyes, which seemed to be balls of fire, a feeling of pure despair entered their hearts, though only for a fleeting second. The creature turned away and scampered off into the night. Ham and Berry looked at each other, then Ham sighed.
‘Whatever that thing is, I think it’s going to cause some trouble.’
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