Mianda and the Tools of Oblivian by Brigitte Stotzka (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

terrible had happened to the farmer and his family.
“Run as fast as your legs can carry you” shouted Boomer at the top of his lungs
It started to rain heavily, drowning out most of the screams.
Mianda ran as fast as she could carry her. Boomer was in a pouch around her neck and here he held on for dear life.
“Don’t stop. Keep running, no matter what, just keep running.”
After a while Mianda stopped running because she was out of breath so crouched down between some huge roots of a large tree. The rain was quite heavy now. She cowered down and tried to protect herself and Boomer from the rain.
The sound of the rain and thunder drowned out the screams coming from the farm. The fires must be out now; the rain would have taken care of that.
A few tense minutes passed before Mianda could speak.
“Boomer, what is going on? What was that thing?” shivering either for fright or because it had gotten quite cold.
Boomer stuck his head out of his pouch and looked at Mianda with his small black eyes. He waited a few moment before answering her.
“Mianda, I really don’t know. I just know we have to keep moving, away from here. You’re not safe here anymore” answered Boomer truthfully.
“You said that before. But why?” She asked again feeling helpless, “It’s just that nobody deserves anything like that, no matter what they did. Even if I had to work all day, this was still my home”.
She thought back. All the times where she went hungry to bed because she wasn’t finished with her chores, because she did something wrong. For the beatings she received when things went wrong.
“Okay, I don’t think they liked me much but they still gave me food, well, sometimes at least”.
She remembered the times where she would go to bed hungry, like last night. The times when the children would laugh at her, play jokes on her.
She sat there and thought back at her life on the farm. It hadn’t been easy. Then she shrugged her shoulders and got up on her feet and said to Boomer with more confidence now.
“Okay, then let’s go before that thing finds us”
Mianda got on her feet and continued through the woods. It was light now and the rain had stopped and the clouds were moving on. The sun was coming through now, high above their heads. They needed some place where they could hide for a while, until they could be sure that creature was gone. They walked on till late in the afternoon and soon they came to a small brook, where they sat down to rest a while.
Mianda was feeling very hungry; she hadn’t eaten for nearly two days so she began searching for something to eat. Not far from the brook she found some wild strawberries. She picked some and ate them and she also gave some to Boomer.
They didn’t eat all, but saved some for later. “Who knows if we find any more” explained Mianda, carefully putting them in her back pack.
A couple of hours later they came to a small clearing in the woods.
“Be careful, open ground.” warned Boomer “Let me take a look first if everything is clear”.
“Ok” whispered Mianda. Boomer sprang out of the pouch and ran towards the clearing.
Standing in the long grass, looking to see if the area was clear, he noticed a horse not far from the edge of the clearing.
Mianda, having crept up behind Boomer exclaimed with joy. “Oh, a horse. We could use it go help us on our way”
Boomer looked at her somewhat annoyed. He had told her to wait till he said it was ok.
“Children” shaking his head annoyed “Never listen to anyone”
Slowly, not wanting to frighten the horse, Mianda tiptoed up through the grass. She got closer and said gently “Hey, nice horse, don’t be afraid, we won’t hurt you” The horse lifted its head startled at hearing a voice. Mianda gave a cry and fell on her behind. “Ouch, that hurts” This was no horse. At least, it wasn’t just a horse. The bottom half was a horse and the top half was a man. The Halfling was as much surprised to see the girl and Mianda were startled to see that it wasn’t a horse but a Halfling.
Boomer, thinking she had been hurt, raced over to her, jumping through the grass wanting to help her. He too was surprised to see the so called horse.
Mianda just stared at the Halfling in front of her, never before had she seen such a being.
“It’s rude to stare” said the half man grumpily. “Didn’t your mother tell you that?”
“And it’s rude to frighten anybody” Stammered Mianda bewildered “And, I don’t have a mother”
“Well, that explains everything, and you startled me first. By the way, why did you creep up on me like that” asked the Halfling angrily.
“We thought you were a horse” answered Mianda softly “And I like horses even though I have never rode on one”.
“We?” asked the Halfling. “Who else is here? Come out and show yourself you coward. Letting a child, and a girl at that, to do your dirty work”
Slowly Boomer lifted his head out of the grass. He looked up and said “Here I am. Down here”
The Halfling looked around upon hearing the voice. Then looking down he saw the rat.
The Centaur asked him slightly shocked at seeing a rat down by his hoofs. “Who are you? And what are you two doing here in my woods?”
“”We didn’t know it was your woods.” Responded Mianda “Even if we had known that we would have come through here. It would take too long to go around the woods”
The Halfling looked down on her “Do you have a name child? I can’t always say child you know”
“My name is Mianda and that there is my friend Boomer.”
“Well, Mianda and Boomer, I suggest you be on your way. I have other things to do, so, run along, that way” pointing away from him, “Will take you out of my woods.”
Mianda picked up Boomer and she began walking in the direction the Halfling has pointed to.
Then the Halfling said to Mianda “And by the way, I’m a Centaur, and my name is Firehoof.”
Firehoof started making his way through the woods, not further interested in the two.
Suddenly the centaur cried out in pain. He was careless and hadn’t looked where he was going. His front leg was caught in a trap.
Upon hearing him cry, Mianda quickly turned around to see what had happened. She saw the centaur break down in pain so she hurried over to see if she could help him. Boomer, back in his pouch, stuck his head out and cried out. “No, don’t go back, he didn’t want anything to do with us, so let’s just keep going”
“No, I can’t just leave him, what if that thing comes and he can’t run away?”
Mianda looked down at Firehoof’s front leg and saw the trap.
Quickly Mianda freed the centaur of the trap and took a look the wound. It didn’t look to bad. She tore off a piece of her dress, wet it with some water out of her water bag, and cleaned the wound as carefully as she could. Then she tore off another piece of her dress and carefully wrapped it around the wounded front leg.
The Centaur watched her carefully to see she did it right.
“Thank you Mianda” said the Centaur gratefully.
Just at that moment, Mianda heard a familiar sound. It was the same creature that had attacked the farm.
“It’s coming …………quickly, we must hide” cried Boomer in panic.
Firehoof looked up to see somewhat startled. What was coming? Then, he too heard the sound and with a frown on his face, he looked at Mianda standing in front of him.
“What’s coming?” he asked curios.
“We don’t know what it is but it just destroyed the farm I had lived on this morning.” Answered Mianda filled with fear. “It looks like it killed everyone there and I don’t know why, but Boomer seems to think it’s after me”
Firehoofs listened to the nearer coming sound. Then he made his decision.
“Climb up on my back; we will be quicker this way.”
Quickly she climbed up on Firehoofs back and he ran towards the trees away from the clearing. Here they took cover under the low hanging branches several large trees.
Then, the sky darkened. A shadow fell over them.
Firehoof put a finger to his lips and motioned Mianda and Boomer not to make a sound. Time passed. Carefully Firehoof lifted his head and looked up and saw the dark shadow slowly moving above them as if it knew that they were down there hiding. It was becoming cold and Mianda began shivering in her thin rags. Firehoof noticed this and wondered why she was dressed in such torn clothing.
Then, after nerve wracking minutes, the creature was gone. Mianda was shivering, not just because she was frightened but also because she was freezing. Firehoof decided to wait for a while, just to be sure. Then, with Mianda on his back, he hurried as fast as he could to his home.
“You should be safe there for a while.” Promised the Centaur. “At least for a while. And you’ll get a chance to warm up a bit”
Mianda had to hold on tightly, she didn’t want to fall off so she grabbed hold of his mane for dear life. Boomer rolled up in his pouch and fell asleep.
After a while they arrived at another clearing. There were several large and tall trees in the center of the clearing.”The tree in the middle, go there and wait for me.” Firehoof begged Mianda to get down and go right on in. He would follow as soon as he able to.
Mianda jumped off his back and ran to the trees. To her surprise, the largest tree in the middle had a door leading into it.
She could see as she looked through one of the small windows small fireplace in which a fire was burning and she could imagine how comfortable it must be in there.
Firehoof came up behind her with Boomer on his shoulder and he opened the door and motioned her to follow him.
At first, the room was somewhat dark after the bright sunlight. But soon, her eyes got used to the semi dark and she could see the comfortable living quarters, with an old but comfortable looking sofa. A small fireplace, in which a fire was burning, and over which hung a small iron pot with a delicious smelling soup cooking in it.
“Make yourselves comfortable.” Urged Firehoof. “, I will be back in a few moments .We’ll be needing more wood for tonight.”
With that, Firehoof went outside, closing the door behind him.
Mianda, leaving Boomer in front of the fireplace, decided to take a look around. In the far corner she could found a large mirror, which stood at the back of what seemed to be a bedroom, but instead of a bed, there was a heap of straw lying on the ground. On it was a sheet and a blanket carefully folded together.
“Well” she thought “After all, he is more horse than human”
She had never had the chance of looking into a real mirror before so she decided to go over and see what she looked like. What she saw was a thin, pale little girl in shoes that were much too large and a dress that had seen better days. She could use a wash as well. Mianda was surprised at how green her eyes were. The