Untitled Story
Sounds...
Muffled footsteps on soft ground, the snapping of twigs as they are snapped
underfoot, The swish of leaves, branches and trees psuhed aside by someone running
at full speed, the labored breathing of the runner, and incomprehenisble angry
shouts from behind. The latter obviously being what the figure is running from.
Sights...
A dark forest rushing by, a small woman with long brown hair running at a reckless
speed into the forest, a number of angry men clad in metal armor weilding crossbows
and swords a few hundred yards behind her.
The woman, hardly more then the age of 18, pauses for a second looking behind
her. She climbs up a nearby tree. A large one with thick foliage and numerous
branches, perfect for concealment. She watches, holding her breath as the noisey
party passes beneath her hiding place. She lets out a soft sigh of relief, and
leans back against the tree trunk. She is crying. She softly mutters "I
didn't mean too." Her eyes close as she remembers how she got herself into
this predicament.
Her name is Katherine, and she survives by one of two ways, doing certain favors
for certain people, and hunting game in the forest. Usually it's the latter
she perfers, but when times get tough, the former is a last resort that usually
gets her into trouble. Like now. The 'favor' she was paid to do involved two
wizards. The first, her employer, required a certain something belonging the
the second, and the second demanded an exhorbant price from the first for this
certain item. So instead of paying the second, the first decided to have Katherine
'borrow' this item, as Katherine's 'favor' would cost a quarter of what it would
to buy the item outright. The wiazard made quite clear what he wanted Catherine
to 'borrow,' it was a shiny red bag, tied by a black string filled with a shimmering
gold sort of powder. He didn't explain what it was, but he was paying Katherine
about twice what she needed to survive the winter, so she took him up on his
offer.
He didn't explain however, that the second wizard lived in a well fortified
castle, which was also patrolled by a number of guards, a large number of which
were pulled from their napping, drinking, and gambling to chase after her. It
wasn't her fault that wizard;s lab tended to be a bit... flamible, and that
the iron worker who made that candlestick was obviously either blind or drunk
at the time when he fashioned the bottom. It wasn't her fault that the damn
thing tipped over when you looked at it funny.
"Well that woudln't be a problem," Katherine thought "If I had
gotten the damn bag out." But she hadn't, she was so startled by the sudden
fire, she'd dropped the bag and managed to spill some of the dust on herself.
The guards that suddenly came running weren't considerate enough to allow her
time to pick it up before running for her life. She can't go back to collect
payment without the bag, and she can't go back to get it. She really needs the
money, and can't think of any way she can get it, so she's crying in frustration.
It's just too hard to think right now, she's sore, tired, and just had to run
through an unfamiliar forest with a dozen or so armed guards chasing after her.
Katherine lays down on the thick branch, puts her head on her arm, and falls
asleep.
She awakes, feeling refreashed, but still a bit sore. She drops to the ground
and heads toward the general direction of home. After a few hours she pauses
to take a seat on a log, and takes some dried meat out of a pouch on her belt.
After her meal she gets up, only to find a small, for an adult, tiger staring
at her. She freezes, the tiger pounces, it's paws crash into her chest, knocking
her on her back. She clenches her eyes shut and waits for the bite that has
got to be coming. After a good fifteen seconds, she opens here eyes, to find
the tiger sniffing her. The tiger begins licking her face.
"Hey! Stop that!" says Katherine, trying to push the oversized cat
off of her. Much o her disgust the cat gets it's tongue in here mouth as she
gives voice to her annoyance. "Bleech!" screams Katherine, wiping
her tongue on her sleeve to get rid of the tiger spit. She manages to wiggle
out from under the tiger, who is looking at her quizically. She gets to he feet
and begins to back away slowly, only to find the tiger following her. Katherine
attempts to shoo it away, but the big cat keeps on following her. After awhile
she just begins to ignore the tiger, hoping not giving it any attention will
make it go away. After a bit she stops once again, to rest her legs.
Katherine pulls off her boots and begins absently massaging her sore feet while
she looks around at her surroundings. She apprently has wandered into the begining
of a swamp of some sort. Nearby a small, clear river flows. Katherine strips
and jumps in, hoping the cool water will releave the itching, and the slight
pain in her back. After washing her hair and giving herself a bit of a scrub
to get rid of the sweat, dirt, and dust she's accumulated over the past few
days, she climbs out of the river and lays down on a large rock nearby, letting
the sun dry her off. The itching is gone, and the sun is warm. Suddenly feeling
a little drowsy Katherine begins to doze off.
Katherine awakens after having slept for the rest of the day, and most of the
night. Right now the sun is coming up and there is mist hanging over the water.
Katherine finds a heavy, warm, large object laying partially on her. She pushes
off the paws of the over-friendly tiger and gets up, she streaches and walks
down to the river. She drops to her knees and leans over the water, to splash
some water on her face to wake herself up, but she pauses. He hands are covered
in fur. Katherine looks puzzled for a moment, and then moves her hands, in the
water is her reflection, she looks exactly the same as she did when she last
saw herself in the water, with the exception of tiger striped fur covering her
entire body, and a long striped tail extending from her tailbone.
Katherine stares at her reflection for a moment. Her face runs a gauntlet of
emotions, fear, shock, bewilderment, acceptence, and finally happiness. She
wonders what exactly it was that she was supposed to still. Elsewhere her employer
wonders how he's going to get the 'perfect lover' powder now that the only supplier's
workshop has burned down.
FIN
Copyright 2002 by Aaron Cayhill. If you want to post this anywhere else, please ask for permission first. Thank you.