Horizon: The Sky Ship Aerismar - Table of Contents

[Rocket Rabbit]

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Horizon
The Sky Ship Aerismar
by Claire Hack

For all his life, Felix’s life has been… well, his life.

That is to say, dull. Tending to the goats, making cheese and taking care of his housebound mother. Things that needed to be done.

Even living next to an inter-dimensional anomaly – the great void – was surprisingly unexciting.

Although to be honest, he’d always imagined that adventure was something that happened to other people.

Grandma Gigi changed all that.

She says she's a witch.

She tells him he has to save a young girl who will attacked and killed by a vicious creature.

Well, Felix has always been inclined to obey his elders...

Chapters

1. The Sky Ship Aerismar
2. Vera
3. Grandma Gigi
4. Gruuuulch?
5. Away
6. Away, Away
7. Magic
8. Down the Chimney
9. Recovery
10. Leaving

Coming Soon - 11. Sergeant Trippet

[Angel]

Oooh that sounded painful! Poor Felix!

Noice chapter Robbit

[Rocket Rabbit]

Okay, next chapter is being edited. Since I wrote it using Write or Die, there tend to be a few typos and places where I could polish it a bit more.

Also...  ... I would like somebody who discuss plot with me in private? Any takers? *all embarassed at asking for help*

[Chinaren]

Okay, next chapter is being edited. Since I wrote it using Write or Die, there tend to be a few typos and places where I could polish it a bit more.

Also...  ... I would like somebody who discuss plot with me in private? Any takers? *all embarassed at asking for help*

I'll be happy to Robbit, as long as you suggest something in my latest chapter of 42! 

[Rocket Rabbit]

Deal. 

[Rocket Rabbit]

Quick!! someone kick me!

Browsing through my story folder looking for an old character template led to much perusal of all my old work on Scorch and ignited an urge to begin work on it again. Which, admittedly some of you may welcome... but I need to finish something elsefirst, like Horizon. Like I promised.

I really want to finish Scorch, cos it was my first story, it's fairly epic by my standards of writing and I loves all my characters. I think... yes, I think I'll work on planning it out a bit and then maybe take it from scratch for Nanowrimo this year...

In other news, I'm working through this plot more thoroughly, having had some news ideas about where it is going next. Yay! AND I've so far resisted the urge to go back and meddle, thus causing the universe   my head the story to implode. 

Now to get back to work.

[NicTei]

*kicks in the shin*

Although, I don't remember much of reading Scorch, but what I can remember was pretty good.  Perhaps reviving it isn't such a bad idea?  Good to have your NaNoWriMo '10 planned out! xD  Unlike some of us... >.>

[Rocket Rabbit]

8. Down the Chimney

That girl was so rude! She wouldn't even listen to what he had to say. And now she was in danger, he realised suddenly. The Drakken could strike at any moment. He had no idea how fast it could travel, but it definitely had a head start on him if it left the farm right after it attacked him.
He wished Grandma Gigi had given him more instructions. How was he supposed to persuade the young witch to let him help her?

After a rest and some lunch, he decided to head back to the witch's house. As he approached the iron front door, it opened and a tall thin man emerged, followed by the witch herself.

"Just come back if you have any more problems," she said. She saw Felix standing on the path and rolled her eyes. "Not you again?"

Felix watched the tall man pass him by and then nervously walked closer to the witch. She regarded him carefully, with what he suspected was pity.

"Please, listen to me, miss," he said, holding out his hands.

"What's your name?"

"Felix de Lucar."

"de Lucar? Like the cheese?"

Felix almost groaned out loud. "Yes," he replied through gritted teeth.

"You're from Middle?"

He nodded.

"What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

The girl rolled her eyes again. "The void. What do you think?"

"Oh." Felix thought about it. "It's not so impressive when you live right next it."

"Oh." The girl looked thoughtful. She half-turned towards her door. "I'm actually free now until three o'clock.”

Felix felt a strange tug in his stomach. He'd never been around girls his own age before. In fact, he was sure his mother would have something to say about it. Loudly. Still... Grandma Gigi had asked him to protect this girl, so it was probably alright. It was probably politeness to accept an invitation into her house. As he was thinking all this, he suddenly became very aware that she was staring at him again.

"You still in there?" she said, waving a hand under his nose. "You coming in or what?"

Felix nodded, then she nodded, then she led him into her house and told him to sit down on her sofa.

"What would you like to drink?" she asked, idly running her fingers through her hair. Felix swallowed drily.

"Uhh... I... uhh..." Oh no, oh no, he thought. He could feel himself breaking out in a sweat. Oh no, oh no. This was so embarrassing! "Tea?!"

"Okay, tea it is," the witch replied. She approached the door to what Felix assumed was the kitchen before pausing and turning back. She looked at him and smiled. He felt his stomach lurch uncomfortably. "My name's Vanna, by the way."

"Felix de Lucar!" he blurted out, and then proceeded to turn beetroot red with mortification as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, he scolded himself. What was he even doing here? He didn't know how to talk to girls! Especially not ones with lots of shiny curls who had a spring in their step and who rolled their eyes and laughed cruelly at him.

Vanna popped her head back around the door and Felix jumped in his seat. "Milk? Sugar?"

"Urgh..." he groaned. "Just milk. Wait," he said, just before she disappeared again. "Is it goat's milk?"

"Oh, no. Definitely not." She smiled. "I don't like goat's milk."

Felix sat on the sofa, wishing himself into a person who wasn't about to wet himself with fear. He could hear her clanking about in the kitchen. There was a sudden crash, and he leapt to his feet.

"Are you okay?" he shouted, dashing into the kitchen. He saw Vanna calmly restacking a pile of dirty pots that had apparently fallen over, and she looked over at him curiously.

"No problem," she said, smiling reassuringly.

"Oh." Now Felix felt foolish. Everything he'd felt leading up to now paled in comparison to this moment right here. Vanna told him to sit back down.

The living room was a mess, but it really did look like a witch lived here. Or a 'magicionnaire', as the sign outside said. Felix wondered why she used that fancy word when a simpler one would do just as well. The way he saw it, it didn't really matter what you called her, she was still the same thing either way. Only, if she used the word 'witch' on the sign outside, there might be room for something else to be written on the sign. Or 'witch' could be written in bigger letters to attract more attention. The way it was, 'magicionnaire' was crammed on a sign that was too small for the word. Felix thought it sounded silly.

He thought he heard another clatter from the kitchen. Vanna seemed to have a lot of trouble with her washing up, he thought. He wondered why she didn't just use magic to keep the place clean. Surely that would be better than letting it become messy like this? He looked around the room again. There was a giant scorch mark on the floor beside the fireplace, and the edges of the tatty rug were singed and sooty. There was a bunch of silk flowers wilting on a table by the window, which Felix thought was strange, but not as strange as the small black kitten that was staring at him from the top of the bookshelf in the corner. It squeaked at him and retreated into the shadows.

He realised suddenly that Vanna was taking a long time with his tea. Hang on, he thought, and started listening carefully. The kitchen was quiet.

"Vanna?" he croaked. He had a bad feeling.

The kitchen was empty. The stack of dirty pans had fallen on the floor and the back door was hanging off its hinges. Vanna was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no..." Felix ran to the door and looked out. The door opened into a tiny patch of grass bordered by four high stone walls. Directly in front of him, he saw a wrought iron gate, swinging open, and a gravel path extending beyond it. “Vanna!”

There was a quiet squeak at his heel and he looked down to see Vanna’s kitten. It bristled all its fur on end, swished its tail and spat in the direction of the gate.

"Vanna!" Felix shouted. He didn't hear any reply. Trying to ignore the painful protesting from his injured foot, he set off running out the gate. The gravel crunched under his feet and made running hard. He soon found himself in a copse of trees, tangled with underbrush and weeds. There was a overpowering, sickly smell of wild garlic weighing on the air.

He stopped a few feet in and stood, trying to listen for her over the sound of his own heavy breathing. She could only have been out here a few minutes, he thought desperately to himself. That's not long enough for anything bad to...

“Vanna?” he called uncertainly. He rubbed at a stitch in his side and turned in a small circle, searching for any sign of movement.

A fit of rustling came from off to his left, and a form came crashing through the undergrowth. Vanna had her arms over her head and she ran in a half-crouch, like she expected to be attacked again at any minute. As Felix leapt over the tangle of weeds to meet her, she tripped and crashed to the ground.

"It was..! It... What is it?" she sobbed, covering her face.

"Where did it go?" Felix demanded, kneeling down beside her. "Did it hurt you?"

He managed to pull her hands away from her face and his gut wrenched when he saw her cheeks were bloody. If the Drakken had poisoned her, he would be helpless to stop the venom from wreaking its havoc.

"Did it hurt you?" he said again, but was cut off by a sound in the undergrowth behind him. It made his skin crawl when he registered. It was the Drakken's sickly cry.

"Get up!" He tried to drag Vanna to her feet and she hung loosely on his arm like a rag doll. Doing his best to support her, he staggered onwards through the trees. It was only after a minute that he realised he was only getting further away from the house and that the Drakken was probably standing in their way back that way. He was fairly lost.

"We have to keep moving," he gasped. "Come on." Their only chance was... what? The beast would follow them wherever they went. He couldn't do anything with Vanna in this state. He needed something to fight it off with.

Felix heard the Drakken's cry again from behind them, and he felt Vanna stiffen beside him. She seemed to be calmer now, at least.

"What is it?" she said.

"Never mind. Where do these woods lead?" Felix surprised himself with the authority in his voice, and Vanna seemed surprised too. She gave him a look of mixed horror, and then stared vacantly at the path ahead of them.

"The river," she replied eventually. She dashed a hand across her cheek, smearing blood everywhere. "The path comes out by the river. Felix, what -"

"Forget it. Can you walk?"

She could, and Felix happily let her go. His foot was aching again, and he wasn't sure how far he'd be able to run like this, but anything was better than the alternative.

"Whatever happens," he said breathlessly, "don't stop running. Get to the river, get across and keep going, okay?"

Vanna shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What is it?"

"It's not -"

"Just tell me!" she shouted, punching him in the shoulder. Hard. Felix winced.

"It's called a Drakken." He gulped, feeling nauseous. "I don't know what it is."

"I can fight it." She sounded so sure of herself that for a moment, Felix believed it too. Then he remembered how that venom felt when it was pulsing through his body. He shook his head and tugged on her arm for them to keep moving.

“Don’t even try.”

There was a grey blur from above them. Instinctively, Felix shoved Vanna to the ground as the Drakken dropped out of the trees. It landed on his shoulders, all of its claws digging in hard, and Felix screamed. Desperately, he tried to grip it by the arms to tear it away. It clung on, pushing its slavering lips in Felix’s face and howling madly.

"Don't move!" Vanna shouted from somewhere beyond the writhing, leathery form that was trying to rip his throat out. He heard a whoomph sound, felt the heat near his face and smelt cooking flesh. The Drakken give a high-pitched shriek of pain and leapt off Felix. The force of its jump knocked Felix to his knees and he swayed, dangerously close to passing out completely.

He could feel blood running down his shirt. His head was swimming. Oh no, he thought. The venom, again. He felt his insides tremble and he vomited heavily on the grass in front of him. He was going to die.

"Get up." Vanna grabbed him by the shoulder and helped him to his feet. She straightened up and forcefully pushed her hair back from her face. Her eyes were clear and focussed, darting all around the scene.

"Where is it?" he said thickly. His view was starting to blur, but he couldn’t see the grotesque beast anywhere. “Is it dead?”

"I think I scared it away."

Felix heard the creature's wail somewhere nearby and he knew it wouldn't stay scared of them for long.

"How?" he asked. The pair of them stumbled through the wood, winding around the trees and struggling through the weeds. Up ahead, Felix could just make out the glitter of the river, just as promised, and the sound of running water.

"Fire spell," Vanna said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. When they reached the riverbank, she let go of Felix, and he collapsed to his knees again. "Are you okay?"

Felix honestly didn't know. He tried to look down at his wound but it was underneath his chin. He coughed, feeling the skin of his throat pull apart. The blood had seeped all down his shirt. He looked like a murderer.

"The Drakken... sss..." he wheezed.

"What?" Vanna crouched beside him. "It's gone, Felix."

He shook his head, slowly. "It's poisonous. Very..."

Vanna's jaw dropped. He saw her look again at his wounds, and then her hands reached for her own blood-smeared cheek. "What do I do?"

Felix didn't know. He tried to communicate this to the witch, but by now he was on all fours, barely able to support his own weight. He sensed Vanna leave his side for a moment, and when she returned, he saw she had water cupped in her two hands.

"Hold on," she whispered. She splashed most of it on his neck, and he winced as the cold liquid stung. A good idea, he thought hazily, to try and flush the venom out. She'd already rinsed her own face off, and Felix could see that she wasn't badly hurt. Just a few shallow scratches.

Suddenly, Vanna tensed again and looked back towards the trees. "It's there, Felix," she whispered hoarsely.

Felix struggled to sit up, propping himself on his elbows, and he saw the Drakken at the edge of the woods. It sat on its haunches like a tamed dog, with its head cocked on one side. He could see a scorch mark that stretched down its side, and it looked even meaner than before.

"Cross the river," he said. He heaved himself to his feet, trying to ignore the feeling of needing to throw up again. "Keep moving."

“There’s a bridge up that way, I think,” she said, wrapping an arm around his waist and taking some of his weight.

As the pair of them started to pick up speed, Felix felt the nausea begin to subside and a little of his strength return. After a few moments, he told Vanna this and she took her arm away. They ran side by side until the bridge came into view up ahead of them.

"Where does it lead?" he panted, slowing down, feeling the stitch return in his abdomen. His new wounds were swelling and inflamed and his old wounds ached.

"If we can reach the road, it should lead us back around to the town." Vanna paused at the end of the bridge to catch her breath. "Do you think it followed us?"

"I don't think so." Felix turned to look back the way they'd come. The Drakken had just sat there at the edge of the trees and watched them leave. He couldn't understand it.

"Well, if it comes back, I'll be ready," Vanna said determinedly. Felix glanced at her and saw how tense she was. Her head was bowed, her fists balled into fists and she was trembling all over.

He stepped onto the bridge, which was fashioned crudely from uneven planks of wood. It creaked unnervingly when he approached the middle and again when Vanna started following him.

"How much of a walk is it back to yours?" he asked, massaging his side. His throat seemed to have stopped bleeding; he didn't think the wound was that deep, but he found himself more concerned with whether he had been poisoned again. He remember the jar that Grandma Gigi had given him before he left, containing some more of her homemade antidote. He wasn't sure how far it would stretch between the two of them, but it might help.

"About half an hour," the young witch explained. "Felix...?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know?" She glanced over at him. "It came out of nowhere."

"I've met it before." Felix showed her where the Drakken had bitten his arm. "I was sent here to... to make sure it didn't hurt you."

Vanna laughed drily. "You didn't do a very good job."

Felix smiled half-heartedly and then found himself laughing too. He was exhausted from the chase and his injuries, and he'd like nothing better than to lie down right here in the middle of the road. Why he was laughing so hard was a mystery to him.


Read Chapter 9!

Off-Topic:

Woah!! Action! Fear! Poisonous monsters!

[NicTei]

Awesome chapter, and that was some pretty sound typo-checking!  I didn't see anything that looked off or misspelled.   Can't wait for more of this!

[Rocket Rabbit]

Thanks Nic. =]

Would also just like to say that I've updated the starter post to include all the new chapters, and also added links at the bottom of each chapter to take you to the next one (Go to next chapter!). For if you just want to jump from one to the next. Bear in mind that all the links with open in the current window, rather than creating a separate one.

[Chinaren]

Another wonderful chapter! Perhaps he's a bit immune to the poison now, having recovered from it before.

Loved the tongue tied shy bit!  Excellent. 

[NicTei]

added links at the bottom of each chapter to take you to the next one (Go to next chapter!). For if you just want to jump from one to the next.

I may or may not start using this. >.>

[Rocket Rabbit]

added links at the bottom of each chapter to take you to the next one (Go to next chapter!). For if you just want to jump from one to the next.

I may or may not start using this. >.>

It's pretty handy, right? If you want them to open in the same window instead of a new page opening every time, use

Code: [Select]

[iurl=blah] moreblah[/iurl]

Off-Topic:

The google tags never fails to entertain me. This thread is tagged: growing flowers difficult soil!

[NicTei]

Thanks for telling me the code.  I went through an HTML course, so I probably would've tried something like

Code: [Select]

[url=www.blahblah.com target='window'][/url]
Or something like that.

[Angel]

I have to agree with the posts above! Although i did spot a typo of Vanna's name. You called her Anna just before she disappeared.

[Rocket Rabbit]

Located and corrected. Thanks Angel. 

I'm working on the next chapter now. 

[Angel]

 

I look forward to it very much

[Rocket Rabbit]

9. Recovery

By the time they reached Vanna's house, the laughing had stopped, and Felix was feeling grim. Vanna's face was pale grey and Felix doubted he looked any better, covered in his own blood. The tiny kitten greeted them when they entered the house, mewling to be fed when Vanna picked it up.

The pair of them sloped into the dusty room and collapsed on the threadbare sofa. Felix closed his eyes. For a while he drifted on the verge of sleep, but it threatened to be difficult, nightmarish sleep. After a while, through the haze of exhaustion, he discerned the faint sounds of someone pretending not to cry.

Suddenly he was wide awake. What was he supposed to do? Would it be weird if he tried to comfort her? They’d just survived a brush with death together, but they’d only met that morning.

Vanna’s wet sniffles continued for what felt to Felix like a small eternity. All the while, the argument went on in his head. There was certainly a part – more than one actually – that wanted to put his arm around her. The sensible part of him said he could barely lift his injured arm as it was. Vanna probably didn’t want him to hug her, he decided. He was covered in blood.

"You can use the bathroom upstairs," Vanna said finally. Her voice was quiet and cracked.

Grateful for the excuse to leave the room, Felix thanked her. The climb up the stairs seemed to drain him of the last of his energy, and when he reached the bathroom, he had to lean heavily on the sink to keep from falling over. His reflection in the mirror was more ghoulish than he'd imagined. His eyes were red and bloodshot and his face had taken on the same corpse-like hue as Vanna's.

Unsurprisingly, his neck was the worst thing to see. It burned when he tilted his head back to get a good look, but the wound didn’t seem too deep. It oozed more blood as he examined it and the ragged edges were stained black as if with ink. Venom.

Sighing wearily, Felix peeled off his sticky shirt and deposited it in the sink, not sure what steps he should take next. Grandma Gigi hadn’t told him very much about how the venom should be treated. He didn’t even know how to dress a bandage.

“Felix?”

He spun around, trying to cover his chest and blushing. Vanna was standing at the door, swaying slightly and steadying herself on the wall. She closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head before speaking again.

“I looked in my books,” she gasped. “I couldn’t find anything about your Drakken or its poison, but I started making up a healing tincture. It should help.”

“There’s a jar in my bag downstairs.” Felix remembered suddenly. “We should use that too.”

“Right.” She nodded wearily. “Your neck… do you need help?”

Felix nodded. With some effort, Vanna retrieved some rags and towels from a hamper in the corner. She flicked the taps on the bath to fill it up and gazed steadily over at Felix.

“Let me look at that,” she said finally. Felix tried not to shrink away when she stood incredibly close to him – and his bare chest! – and began cleaning the injury on his neck with a wet rag.

“It should be fine once we treat it,” she said after a few minutes. Felix nodded gingerly, and watched as she dropped the bloody rag in the sink with his shirt. “You should take a bath. I’ll find you some clean clothes.”

Without looking him in the eye, Vanna backed out of the bathroom. After a minute, Felix went to the door and locked it. It was bad enough she’d seen him without his shirt on. The only way things could get any worse was if she walked in on him naked in the bath.

Felix sank gratefully into the hot water, then winced as it soaked into his bandages and irritated his healing wounds. He made a mental note to change the bandages later when he was dressed, but for now he tried to ignore it and enjoy his bath.

The water soon turned a rosy pink as he rinsed the blood that was dried onto his chest. It was in his hair too, so he inched himself down until he was flat on his back and his head was underwater. Of course, that triggered another wave of pain from his throat and shoulders. He sighed, trying to relax.

After his muscles eased off their insistent aching and he felt as clean as he was going to get, he stood up and realised that the towels were out of his reach. Shivering in the cold air, he stepped away from the warm aura of the bathtub, dried himself off and reached for his clothes.

Wait, he thought. Covered in blood, stupid. Wrapping himself in another coarse, scratchy towel, Felix cautiously approached the door and knocked in case Vanna was waiting outside. He wasn't sure why she would be, but he didn't hear any answer. Opening the door a crack, he peered out into the empty hallway and spotted the bundle of clean clothes stacked neatly there on the floor.

When he was dressed, he found Vanna dozing on the sofa. She'd changed into a faded blue dress, which Felix tried to pretend didn't look very fetching on her, and her face had regained a little colour.

"Uhh... hey," he said uncertainly. She jumped slightly and looked up at him. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better," she answered, rubbing her cheek, where her scratches were looking pink and irritated. She stopped and pointed at the table. "Bandages," she said.

Felix nodded and sat down heavily in one of the wooden chairs nearby. Lifting his foot onto another chair, he gently teased away the soggy wrapping. His foot was looking a lot better, he had to admit. The dark discolouration from the poison had retreated, and it was starting to look like a normal injury. This seemed like a good sign to Felix. It meant that the treatment Grandma Gigi had given him had worked.

He reached for his bag and found the jar still intact. He redressed the bandages on his foot and arm, and then Vanna helped him do the same for his neck. It hurt a lot more than he thought it would, putting the greenish salve on the wound. Then he offered the jar to her to smear some on her cheeks. When she was finished, Vanna went back to the sofa and sat down, wordlessly.

"So... is that thing going to come back?" she asked eventually.

"I think so." Honestly, it was only a vague feeling that made him think so. Grandma Gigi was the only one who knew anything about the Drakken, and she hadn’t told Felix much.

"I mean, I blasted it with the best fire spell I know," Vanna continued. "It barely left a mark."

Felix nodded in sympathy. The sooty black kitten detached itself from the shadows in the fireplace and approached Vanna, who lifted it up into her lap. She sat there stroking it absently, a haunted expression on her face.

"It came down the chimney." She blinked. "Scared the life right out of me."

"It was a lot smaller the last time I saw it," Felix said, thinking about it. The Drakken had been tiny at first; today it had been about the size of a large dog. That thought scared him. If it kept growing at that rate, he dreaded to think how big it would be in a week's time.

"I ran away," Vanna said hollowly. "What a stupid idea."

The kitten mewled loudly, and Vanna hushed it and stroked its back.

Felix thought about home. He'd done just as Grandma Gigi had asked. He'd stopped the Drakken when it came into Vanna's home to attack her. He could go home now, if he wanted, but did he really want to?

He knew deep down that the Drakken would come back again, and keep coming back. It probably wouldn't stop until it had killed them, he thought gloomily. The best thing to do would be to make sure they killed it first.

The kitten, tired of complaining for food unnoticed, hopped down out of Vanna's lap and ambled across the room towards Felix. It eyed him with its wide, green eyes and mewled appealingly.

"Zibby," Vanna said tiredly. "Shut up."

Zibby glanced back her curiously and then he crouched down until his belly touched the floorboards. Swishing his tail from side to side, he wiggled his backside and then pounced convincingly on Felix's rucksack.

"Zibby!" Vanna called, but the tom-kitten freely ignored her. He batted at the bag's straps playfully and then wriggled his way inside, dislodging most of Felix's belongings. Felix blushed as his clean set of underwear fell out on the floor and he reached out to snatch them before Vanna caught sight. Zibby ventured further into the rucksack, and Felix suddenly remembered that there was food in there. Zibby was probably making a meal out of the sealed round of goat's cheese his mother had sent with him.

"Here, kitty," he said, poking at the opening of the bag, trying to tease the kitten out. Vanna gave a loud sigh of irritation and stood up sharply.

"For crying out loud," she muttered darkly and marched over. Picking up the bag by its bottom end, she tipped it upside down on the table. Zibby the kitten rolled out, along with everything Felix had brought with him, including another pair of underwear. Felix’s face turned a deeper shade of red.

"Get out of here, you little devil!" she cried, shooing the feline off the table. She didn't apologise for emptying Felix's bag out, but he watched with amazement as she boredly started pawing through what was there.

"What's this?" she asked, holding something up. It was the bundle of velvet that Grandma Gigi had given to him. It was tied up with a piece of string. Before Felix could reply, the young witch had tugged the string away and was examining the necklace inside.

“Huh.” She didn’t look impressed. “Looks a bit like mine.”

“Yours?”

   Vanna nodded. She placed the necklace back on the table and felt about under her collar. After a moment of fumbling, she pulled out a golden chain with a heavy pendant on the end and showed it to him. The two necklaces were remarkably similar. The one Grandma Gigi had given him was tarnished silver with a broken moonstone, while Vanna's was polished gold with a smooth blue stone set in it.

"It's nothing really," she said. "Lots of mages have them. It helps us identify each other." A pause and then, "Are you a mage?"

"No.

"Then why do you have it?" A dark look crossed her face. "Did you steal it?"

"No!" Felix shook his head emphatically. "A witch gave it to me."

"Oh really?" Vanna didn't sound convinced. "Who?"

"Grandma Gigi."

Vanna snorted. "I know all the mages in this area, and I've never heard of her."

Felix considered this. "I don't think she's from around here."

He leaned back in his chair and yawned. Then he wished he hadn't. Flexing was not good for his tender neck. Vanna picked up the kitten and deposited it on the sofa, where it began to attack a loose thread.

“Oh,” she said dully. “Tea.”

“No thanks,” replied Felix.

“No, magic tea.” Vanna plodded into the kitchen. “Healing tincture.”

“Oh.” He thought about this. “And then what?”

"Food, bed and then morning," said Vanna.

"Oh."


Read Chapter 10!

 

Off-Topic:

Big shiny thanks to those who voted Felix for this month's FeSt. Your reward? Lots of shiny new chapters over the coming weeks, new pointy sticks with nails in to beat me with when if I don't deliver - and eventually, hopefully, a completed story.

[Chinaren]

Excellent chapter Robbit!  I am enjoying Felix's discomfort around this attractive witch.  Very nicely done! 

[Angel]

 
Loving all the awkwardness I have to say. I like Vanna's decisiveness.

[Rocket Rabbit]

Still, Felix could see some distinctly unwitchy items that seemed out of place. The baby’s pram, for example. It was rammed behind the sofa, and covered over with a thick yellow blanket embroidered with little duckies. Felix would never have imagined a witch tolerating cute little duckies in her house.

 

RR x

[Rocket Rabbit]

 

Just a note to say that Horizon has just hit 20,000 words. This just about makes it a novella. Yay!

[/random shameless pointless posting]

[Rocket Rabbit]

Ch. 10: Leaving

Felix awoke to the feeling that he’d been fed through a clothes wringer. As he stirred, the kitten asleep on his chest flexed its claws as warning to keep still. The dull aching through his body suggested to him that this wouldn’t be a bad idea.

He stared up at the ceiling. A spider the size of his hand stared back at him before scuttling into a corner. The room smelled like garlic.

Felix stood up, expecting his inside to try and exit his body through his nostrils like before, but was surprised to find that he felt fine. A little light-headed, maybe. Perhaps he needed some air.

Ten sharp pins dug into his chest and he looked down to see Zibby still hanging on, claws embedded in his jumper. The kitten looked at him, eyes full of carefree innocence and pure evil. Gently, Felix disengaged the cat and placed it on the sofa, where it sat blinking at him.

He could hear movement on the floorboards upstairs. Vanna must be awake. He wondered how she was feeling. She hadn't been feeling very well last night, even before she served that awful healing potion and he'd heard her moving about in the night. The floorboards above the sofa didn't just squeak - they discharged flurries of thick dust and dead insects. Felix had resorted to sleeping face down, eyes and mouth firmly shut.

This kind of thing, Felix reflected, would never happen at home. Having a mother who couldn’t leave the house meant she channelled all of her energy into the house - when she wasn’t shouting at Felix, at least. Edge Cottage was humble and the de Lucar family poor, but that was no excuse for slovenly housekeeping. So the cottage gleamed.

Vanna’s house was exactly the opposite. It was untidy and cluttered and a thick layer of dust blanketed everything. The place certainly had the right image for being a witch’s home. Still, Felix could see some distinctly unwitchy items that seemed out of place. The baby’s pram, for example.

It was rammed behind the sofa, and covered over with a thick yellow blanket embroidered with little duckies. Felix would never have imagined a witch tolerating cute little duckies in her house. It made him sad to look at though. He’d tugged the blanket aside expecting some bizarre magical apparatus, only to find an unused pram.

Vanna came down the stairs. Right on cue, Felix blushed. She was a lot rounder than he'd realised. Especially in... some places. And she wore a lacy black dress that showed off her... roundness.... to good effect. Felix blushed some more.
Vanna gave him a look as she tugged a ratty grey shawl off the coat stand and put it on.

"What's wrong with you?"

 "Nrrrrr...."

"Okay then. Are you hungry?"

"Mmmmmmm...ah."

"Good. Toast alright with you?"

"Gruuuuuulch..."

"Excellent."

Felix sat down on the sofa and tried to bury his face in his hands. In the kitchen, he could hear Vanna making breakfast. The smell of coffee hung on the air. Suddenly  the room felt too hot and stuffy.

He went to open the window and gazed out. Vanna's garden was wild and overgrown. The grass curled and ensnared bits of debris - a crumbling wheelbarrow, a rusted spade standing upright in the earth.

There were signs that someone had once taken very good care of the garden. Rose bushes that were wild and overgrown, and a collection of climbing plants that had taken over the trellis they were growing on and were now dismantling an old shed.

And... something moved in the bushes. A flash of pale, mottled skin - the kind of skin that would be clammy to the touch. Felix recoiled instinctively.

The Drakken was out there. He stepped closer to the window. He could see it clearly now. It sat like a dog, in the bushes, staring at the house. It was completely still.

Not just sitting, Felix thought with a shudder - it looked like it was waiting.

He couldn't understand it. If it wanted to kill them, why hadn't it just attacked again already? Why sit around? How long had it been out there, he wondered? All night?

Felix ran to the kitchen. Vanna was chewing thoughtfully on a piece of toast, waiting for the kettle to boil. She looked at him, and he realised how awful he must look, with his face still all red and sweaty. But there wasn't time to be embarrassed now.

 "We should go," he said desperately.

 "Have some toast," she replied, offering him a plate. Helplessly, he took it.

"Vanna-"

"What's your problem? Just eat it."

Felix picked up a triangle of toast and tried to cram it all into his mouth at once.

"We have to go. Now," he said indistinctly, spraying soggy crumbs across the kitchen.

"Go where? There's no rush, you know."

Felix tried to speak again, found he couldn't and swallowed the mouthful of toast. He almost choked.

"The Drakken. It's outside." He gasped for air. "I really think we should leave."

Vanna's eyes widened. "Why didn't you say?!"

The kettle started whistling on the stove, but she ignored it. She looked warily at the chimney.

"I don't think it will come down there again," Felix said. "It's not really doing anything. It's just sitting out there."

"Just sitting?"

"And watching." Felix thought about it. "I don't know what it's waiting for, but I don't think we should be here when it decides."

Vanna looked critically around the room. "Right. I'll need to take some things with me."

Felix nodded. The witch took the kettle off the boil and dumped its contents into the sink. She opened a cupboard nearby and began searching through the contents, muttering to herself.

"We should hurry," he said.

"Just go sort yourself out, Felix," Vanna said irritably. "And keep an eye on it."

He nodded, grateful that she seemed to be taking charge of the situation. He didn't know what he would do if she'd started panicking.

He found his rucksack underneath the table, its contents still scattered across the floor. Zibby seemed to have taken up residence in there. Would Vanna want to take the kitten with her? Surely she wouldn't leave it behind. The Drakken might eat it.

Hurriedly, Felix started shoving his belongings back into his backpack, including the now-soggy, half chewed round of goat's cheese. From the kitchen, he heard the strangely reassuring sounds of Vanna apparently drop-kicking crockery around the room. She came into the living room with an armful of jars and bottles, which she dropped on the table.

"Could you put those in your bag, if you've room?" she said, and then disappeared upstairs. Felix packed the bottles carefully into his bag. None of them were labelled, but they definitely looked like they contained ingredients for witching. There were more noises from upstairs, and small showers of dust and plaster rained down from the ceiling as Vanna marched across the floorboards.

Felix wondered what other things she would pack. It seemed to him that the contents of his own rucksack were like a small representation of his own life. They said things about him; the worn-out but extremely clean underwear, the cheese and, of course, plenty of goat's hair, which seemed to get everywhere. Even inside the house, despite the fact that if a goat even set foot inside the house, his mother would... well, she’d be very, very angry.

And then there was the shard of metal too. Felix had packed it because... well, it seemed right. And it was very sharp. It could be used as a weapon.

Remembering his task, Felix went to the window and peered out at the Drakken. It was still there. Felix wasn't sure whether this surprised him or not. Felix shuddered and backed away from the sill. Something about the creature bothered him, more than just the fact it seemed to want to kill them both.

"Is it still there?" Vanna said from behind him.

He was disappointed to see she had changed out of her lacy dress into something much more practical and, inevitably, much less attractive. She had a rucksack on her back and a pointed black hat on her head. Felix stared.

"What?" she demanded, sticking out her chin.

"Your hat..."

"It's a witching hat. All witches have them." She turned away and started looking through the books on her shelf.

Felix thought about it. Grandma Gigi didn't wear a hat. At least, not a big pointy one like that. She wore a little felt one with wooden cherries on it. That certainly wasn't very witchy.

He watched as Vanna apparently found what she was looking for. She pulled a slim, dusty tome down from the shelf, cradling it like something very precious, and wrapped it in a rag and placed it in her bag. Felix caught a glance at the title - 'Memories'. Ah. A book of magic, if ever he saw one. Which he hadn't. But the writing was all curly and fancy, and the book was battered and old. It had to be magic.

"Shall we go?" Vanna said, straightening up. Felix cast a nervous glance out the window. The Drakken hadn't moved.

"Out the back, I think," he said.

Felix followed her down the same path they’d used the day before and she led him to a rough track, which he hadn’t seen last time. It cut through the forest, winding amongst the trees and Felix found himself wondering which had come first.
“Pay attention,” Vanna hissed, after he trod on her heels for the second time.

“Sorry.”

The forest seemed much louder this time, although Felix thought maybe it was because he was straining his ears listening for sounds of the Drakken following them. Whatever Vanna thought, he was concentrating on the task at hand.

This, after all, was his mission. He had to keep Vanna safe.

They followed the path across the river and back onto the road. They rested for a moment there. Felix shifted the weight of his pack – so much heavier with Vanna’s things in too – and gazed at the river.

“It won’t cross the water,” he said quietly.

“What?” said Vanna, turning around. She’d been squinting across the river at the forest, looking for the Drakken.

“It doesn’t like the water,” Felix repeated. It made him feel much better. “It won’t cross. We should be safe for a while.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Vanna frowned. “It followed us across yesterday.”

Felix didn’t think it had. He thought it must have backtracked through the woods to get back to the cottage, rather than cross over the river. He said this.

“Oh yes?” Vanna said. She was sneering at him again. Felix felt himself begin to blush. “And how do you know, huh?”

Felix considered it. The realisation had come to him from nowhere, but he was certain it was true. He didn’t think it was something he could easily explain, even though it seemed to him as simple as knowing which way was up and which down.

“I don’t know,” he said eventually. The look Vanna gave him made him feel small.

“Come on,” she said dismissively. “We’ll head back to the town and then take the road out towards Derwent.”

She began striding along the road, leaving Felix hanging his head, feeling foolish. He glanced back towards the woods. The Drakken was in there somewhere. It had followed them from the house – he knew this. How he knew this, he couldn’t say, but wasn’t it enough just to know?

Sighing, he shifted the straps on his bag and trundled away after Vanna.

Off-Topic:

Two chapters in one day. I'm aiming for a chapter a day, and since I'll be out all day tomorrow, you're getting it early. Admittedly, it is almost 1am now, but my point remains valid. It's only 'tomorrow' after you've been sleep.

Off-Topic:

This is also my 500th post!  Took me two years to get to this point, but here I am at last. The big five-oh-oh.

[Angel]

Go Robbit!
This is really really good. I love the way you capture Felix's emotions.

[Perry Tratchett]

I'm only up to chapter three so far, but really enjoying this tale so far!  (you forgot to link to chapter three from chapter two by the way, like you did for chapter one/two).

Also I can't comment in earlier chapters it seems, so sorry for messing up this chapter.

[Rocket Rabbit]

Nah, no worries, Tratchett. Glad you're enjoying.

[Rocket Rabbit]

  (you forgot to link to chapter three from chapter two by the way, like you did for chapter one/two).

Are you sure about that PT? I just checked it and the link is there and functional.

[Chinaren]

[/hypocritical]

[NicTei]

[/even more hypocritical]