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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 20, 2006 14:57:40 GMT -5
"How could I have been so excited? And that. Mr. Beasel, too!" She shook slightly. Perhaps it was just the dawning hour that was making her quake, but she didn't like it one bit. The realization that she was going off on some adventure, with a complete starnger and might never come back slowly over took her, not allowing her shivers to quit. Just then her father walked in the room. "You okay, honey? Why are you up so early?" Tari quickly held herself higher--she couldn't let anyone know she was scared. "Oh! Morning, Dad. I've justs been thinking..." she replied in a would-be-happy voice. Somehow, she couldn't keep all of the angst out.
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 20, 2006 15:18:35 GMT -5
Apparently, though, her father didn't catch the clue. "Okay," he replied, "Beasel will be here soon. He wants to get going as soon as possible." Tari smiled. "Okay. Can I go get my broom?" Not even a minute later she was out walking through the long field across which the broom shed was located. Tari couldn't help but smile and twirl a bit. This was the reason she had been to secited, she now remembered. She just couldn't help but love the dark hours just before day break. The damp of the night, the dew on the grass and the chill that hung in the air, riding the stady of the breeze. "Isabu, Wasabu!" The doors flew open to reveal her family's brooms. She grabbed her green one, noticing how chipped and beat up it was. She ran her hand over it, feeling the notch from when she ran it into one of those cars and the scrape from the time she had got it stuck in their gutter. She swung up onto it and flew towards the house, the wind rushing at her face. She sighed with relief
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 21, 2006 16:23:05 GMT -5
"How wonderful, flying...." she murmured. She reached the house, but instead of getting off she flew level to her bedroom-window. She clicked the lock open and clammored through, leaving her broom hanging in midair. Dragging her small back pack over to the window, she hoisted it up with a huff. As Tari made to climb out her window a though struck her, and down again she went, going to her bookshelf. She quickly scanned the bindings, looking for just the right book. FInally, after some time, her eyes lit up and she slid a book of the shelf. All for You, the title read. It was one of her personal favorites--a story of a girl who risked her everything to save the man she loved. Tari herself, always stuck out in the country--home schooled--had never had a crush and had always had to dream of what it might be like. But that wasn't the only reason she loved the book. She loved how the girl went everywhere, trying and trying to save the man. Around the World and then some. That's how Tari used to Describe her imaginary adventures. "And now they're coming true...." she whispered excitedly, fingering the paperback. The excitment continued it's ascent as she go tonto her broom and flew out towards the front of her country house. As she touched ground Beasel arrived on his own broomstick. "Might we get going, then?" he asked. "No," Tari said quite defiantly, to both's surprise. "I need to know what's going on, and we need to talk it over with my father first, right?" Beasel smiled. "Very good thinking, kid," he replied. "Um... Mr. Beasel--" "Just call me Beasel, kid," he cut in. "Right, well, Beasel..." "Yes kid?" "I'm not a kid!" Tari told him, becoming frustrated. "Just call me Tari. My name, remember?" Beasel laughed and nodded assent. "Alright k--Uh, Tari." Tari turned to the house. "This is going to be a very long journey...." she muttered under her breath. "Be careful. Listen to Beasel. No goofing off. I mean that to you too, Beasel. Be safe. No wondering off. Got that Beasel? No, got everything?" Tari just watched her father. "Yes, Dad," she finally repied," DOn't wor--" Tari cut herself off. How could she tell him not to worry when she was scaring herself out of her wits? It was only a moment ago that the worry had returned, but it had kicked in at full intensity. Everything was a risk now. THis was really, finally, happening. "Okay, bye, Tad!" "Bye Daddy!" Tai watched her father slowly shrink over her shoulder. After some time, he turned and walked back inside. The last of the past gone, she looked forward, the blood-red daybreak approaching the broadening horizon. She shook her head--a failed attempt to keep her hair from tickling her face.
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 21, 2006 16:36:24 GMT -5
Her eyes stung in the cold rush of wind that swept the early morning ride. She looked over to Beasel, who was reading a map. "Beasel," she asked, "what exactly is our plan?" "Well, You see, Tari," he replied metter-of-factually, "we shall be traveling most of our trip along the wonderous Road of the Dragons!" Beasel read the Look on Tari's face like a book: that she had no clue, in fact, what the Road of the Dragons really was. "Why, my dear! It is, to be blunt and forth-coming, a road built and used by dragons. It connects every nook and crany of the Witch's World, almost like a train-track!" he explained, obviously feeling proud of his superior knowledge on the subjects. Although Tari wasn't altogether too happy about a giant "train-track" (she had had several horrible expirences on the things in her youth), she did understand one particular word. "Dragons?" Tari asked, trying to look as surprised as she could, so as not to let Beasel down. "Yes, my dear, hundreds of them!" the man explained with a spectacular voice of reason. "Uh-huh.... I'm not believing till I be a'seeing. Dragons? Building roads?" Tari stared at him with a look that read: Not a little Kid anymore! "You are a witch, Tari! You should know of dragons! Even if you are home-schooled in the lone country-side," Beasel added. "Like I said," Tari replied, stubbornly, looking at her backpack, "I must see it before me!" "You are a Mule, I tell you! Look up!" Tari looked up in just enough time to see something silver slip past her. Her hair whipped forward and she dquickly brushed it out of her face to get a better look.
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 21, 2006 16:43:55 GMT -5
But just as quickly as it had come, the silver ripple had disappeared. "That, my dear Tari, was a dragon," Beasel told her calmly, seeming satisfied with the utter look of surprise on her face. "Get used to it, Tari. You'll be seeing a lot of them on our journey." A huge screeching noise came from up ahead. It was a horrible noise that sounded like no other before. Beasel watched, amused, as Tari jumped half a foot off of her broom. "And that," he replied to her loss of words, "was a dragon's call." He now shifted his concentration forwar to what they were coming upon. Fo up ahead of them, the country road used by the non-mystical people took a sharp turn to run along the side of a huge field of grass. Tari knew that if they kept following the road they would come upon the non-mystical city. KNowing that they couldn't fly there, she turned her attention forward to the wide field that expansed the land. At the end was a huge ridge. Tari knew nothing beyong but for the rising sun behind it.
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 21, 2006 16:52:05 GMT -5
"Um, Beasel? I have some questions," Tari began, not quite sure where to begin. "Go ahead," Beasel instructed as they started off through the field. "I shall try my best to anwer." Tari took a deep breath and began. "Where are we going?" "I told you, the Road of the Dragons." "No, I mean the whole game plan. What is it?" "Oh, well, we shall ride over that hill, there--you see it? Then, we shall go carefully through the mountain range behind it until we reach the center, where the Road runs through. We will ride along the Road until we get to the Mystic HEaler of Witches. Then, we turn around, reverse order, and come back!" Tari stared. "The journey is that simple?" she asked in awe. "Simple?" Beasel chuckled. "Simple? Heck no! Just to even get to the road is treacherous! We may encounter horrible plants, or werewolves, or dark unicorns. I mean, you truly never know. Then, the trip along the road will be long. And before entering each section of the Road, you must be searched and given permission to pass through. And..." His voice faultered to a stop as he hesitated. "Yes?" Tari pushed him on. "Well," he said, obviously choosing his words wisely, "we'll just say that dragons are not very trusting creatures. They're good creatures; very civilized. It's more of the fact that the human race has done a few too many untrustworthy things." Beasel stared at Tari, seeing if he had gotten the message through to her. But apparently, from the look on her face once again, he had not. "Listen," Tari said. "I could really care less what other, dispicable humans have done to the dragons."
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 28, 2006 19:52:43 GMT -5
She paused for a quaint moment, rethinking what she had just said. "Well, I suppose it is wrong; very much so. If they did something cruel then they deserve to be excluded. But I would never do that. Really." Beasel shook his head. "But they don't know that. They can't entirely trust you yet. There's a saying," he said. And what followed was presumably mumble-jumble, however it sounded quite like this: "e-ushu ushmye kni pehknisfamul aph ushmher eushu yushxaih."
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Post by Lily of the Night on Jul 28, 2006 20:25:47 GMT -5
Tari just stared at him questioningly, oblivious to his meaning. "Is that Pig-Latin?" she asked, and he laughed at her. "Onay," he replied, mockingly, "The saying is of the old language, of those Spiritical, and literally translates into You only to hurts the ones you love. Do you get it now?" Tari shook her head, finding the conversations a bit disorienting. Beasel rolled his eyes and turned to look forwards once again. Following his lead, Tari noticed that they were now at the bank of the hill. She turned to Beasel and was surprised to see him coming to a stop. Halting her broom, Tari watched curiously as he got off his broom, then did the same. "Why are we getting of now?" she asked, rather puzzled. "We';; be too conspicious in the forest riding around on our brooms, "Beasel answered, only adding to Tari's puzzlement. "Wait," she said, trying to understand, "You're telling me that we will be more conspicuous riding our brooms through that dense forest then we were riding our brooms down that Non-Mystical country road?" "Yes," BEasel replied, all seriousness, so much that it was unnerving. "How can you say that with a straight face?" Tari asked, her eyes gleaming suspiciously. Beasel had to laugh. "As odd as it first sounds, it's true. Things aren't always as they seem." As Tari continued to glare at him, Beasel sighed and launched into explaination. "Were there any other forms of life on that road? To be blunt: No," was his reply. "Aha!" Tari exclaimed, "What about the dragon?" Beasel smiled. "Do you really think a dragon would be on a Non-Mystical road if there were any Non-Mystical people? Dragons are very smart." "Where are you going with this?" Tari asked, eyeing her watch. Each passing minute was bringing her mom closer to bigger problems. "Why watch your watch? We've got plenty of time; it's only 7:30," Beasel joked.
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Post by Lily of the Night on Aug 3, 2006 14:31:49 GMT -5
Tari groaned. "Beasel, let's just go." Beasel consented immeadiatly, a smile radiating off his face. "Then follow me, please," he told her, "And keep right behind me now, hear?" Tari nodded, facing ahead with a serious visage. The duo headed off up the hill, scaling it inch by inch. The going was slow, and Tari was getting more and more irritated by the minute. For such a small hill it was sure a long treck to the ridge. "Beasel, when will we get there?" she whined. "As the saying goes--" "Never mind." "I hoped you'd feel that way." "What?!" Tari yelled, hitting him in the back. But when she ran in front of him, she found him with a small, satisfied smirk on his face. "Ugh, you annoy me so much!" she told him, punching him lightly. When his face held she bounced a little and got behind him again, pouting. "You're no fun," she mumbled. But his only reply was a chuckle, which served to rile her more. "This is absoluely tiring!" she said, in a scolding tone, and hit him again when he laughed outright. "You think this is tiring, kid, but it's only the very beginning!" he pointed out and Tari screeched. "Well, old man I'm so sorry that I want to save my mom!" Beasel turned to face her. "You think I don't want to save her? Just who do you think I am to your mother? To your father? Don't you dare think, even for a second, that I don't care." He turned back around and kept up the pace. Tari, slightly taken back, nodded--although Beasel himself couldn't see. "So, do you know what will happen to my mother?" she asked. Beasel had to stop once more, although this time he didn't turn to face her directly. "I know what can happen, not what will." Tari's interest was peaked. "What? If you know, then why don't you tell me?" When a long silence pressed, she hit his back. "What will happen?" she pressed forwardly. Maybe BEasel was going to be stubborn, but he had no clue what she was like herself! "Listen, your mother's--uhm, allergy, can be cured. That's all you need to know," he told her. "What? That's unfair!" She glared suspiciously at his back. "Why? Why can't I know mo--" "Oh look!" he told her, feigning surprise, "We're here!" and he stpped aside to let her walk to the top of the hill. Tari's mouth fell open, and for a moment she forgot the question she was about to pin to him. What Tari had at first taken for cloud cover rising behind the hill she now found to be a huge canopy of trees. Stretching out into the far distance, falling away at the horizon, was a forest whose existance she had never known before. The earth colors combed through the wood, while little flits of reds, yellows, and oranges weaved in and out of the cover every now and then. "Why?" she asked, straining to find her voice. Beasel looked at her, his look altogether amused and questioning, voicing his own thoughts. But he said aloud, anyways, "Why what?" "Why have I never know of this place? It--It's so amazing," was her answer. To further express her point, she spanned her arms out, gesturing to the new world before her. Beasel smiled. "Not many people come here. Which is a good thing. Not everything can be hid. That's why the Road of the Dragons is such a great accomplishment. The dragons have sucessfully hidden their Road for so long."
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Post by Lily of the Night on Aug 3, 2006 14:49:48 GMT -5
Tari nodded, and struggled to withhold the real question she wanted to ask: "If we were already here, why did you wait to cut me off in the middle of an important question to show me this?" But she was a good little witch and didn't say anything. "Let's get on, then," Beasel urged, and she followed silently in their downward flight, which was--believe it or not--just as bad as the walk up. Slowlym as they entered the woods, a shade fell over them, so that the rising sun held no effect. And Tari was not quite sure what Beasel was doing. For he seemed not tobe heading in any specific direction. Already they had made so many odd angling turns that Tari had lost track of the way from which they had come. The one time she had questioned him, Beaselhad just shooed her off, saying that they needed to walk silently. When she had further pressed, questioning why, he had thumped her on the head, explained quickly that they couldn't be noticed and that he need to concentrate. After that she had lost the lust to bug him.
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Post by Lily of the Night on Aug 4, 2006 13:27:07 GMT -5
"Stop!" Tari halted just before she ran into Beasel. She shook herself a little, then looked around Beasel to see why they had stopped. There, lying right in front of them, was something big, white, and... dead. Tari gasped, and put her hands to her eyes. The sight of the Unicorn's horibbly mangled body was not a pleasant one she wished to remember. "Why?" she asked, hesitantly. Beasel turned around to face her, looking grim. "I dont' know. Unicorns, although they stick out like a sore thumb, are usually good with escapes. How or why this one was killed in a mystery. They don't often die, so not often many are born. And this one looks like it was in it's prime...." He trailed off with a soft, "Huh...." The poor creature looked so horrifically estranged in it's awkward position. "BEasel," Tari said with a shudder. When she didn't get a reply she continued on. "Beasel, please, can we be on our way?" Beasel turned to her and sighed. "Alright."
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