Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

“You were hiding in the dark here, too, weren’tyou?” Tabitha whispered towards the ghostly presence.

“Yes—now shush, and stay put,” the ghost said.The witch now peers down upon us. She sensed apresence here, and it was not mine! I had time to maskmyself from her spell when the others had not. I maskus both now!”

From where the witch peered down, she saw onlypitch darkness. No other sounds, except that of afleeting wisp of wind, could be heard. Just as the witchbegan to float down into the darkness to search for anystray entities, a flurry of movement caught her attentionalongside the far wall of the crevice.

Root rats! Tabitha realized, also catching theirskittish and sudden movement.

She felt some relief for the distraction that theycaused as they forced the witch’s attention away fromher area. The rats were most likely seeking furtherdarkness than what the canyons had to offer.

The witch shrieked, causing the rats to scurry likelightning through the crevice and away from harm totheir own selves. Looking upwards, Tabitha saw thewitch then move back in a sweeping display of fury.

“She’s making for her burial hole,” the ghostsaid inside Tabitha’s mind. “You’re free to make yourescape—I’ll lead you away…”

~ CHAPTER III

~ The DARK FOREST of GIANT LEAVES

Through the rain-soaked surface of a dark forest,Tabitha crept along in silence. She stepped carefullyalong giant, fallen leaves that were pitch-black andsoiled from centuries of decay. Only glints of moonlight crept through the towering branches and oversizedleaves that covered the vast forest outside of the canyonnarrows.

Every now and then she stopped to tie her cloakaround her waist a bit tighter; it continued to loosenitself from the wear and tear of the travels, and the cold,damp air kept giving her a fit of chills.

Coming upon an old, rotted-out tree stump thatwas covered in thick moss, Tabitha stopped to rest for amoment. She reflected on the ghost that had saved herthe day before…

She had arrived in the dark forest after being ledout of the narrows of the canyons by the stone traderghost, grateful the ghost had been a friend and not afoe. The ghost had guided her through the deep andunstable crevice that had been split violently openthrough the middle of the riverbed, which extendedthrough the long length of the canyon narrows to theedge of the dark forest.

It was in traveling through the dark crevice thatthey had remained out of sight of the witch, should shestill be lurking about. The ghost, still unseen due to theextreme darkness, had led her to the edges of the darkforest of giant leaves.

Before departing with Tabitha, the ghost hadspoken within her mind, telling her that it could go nofurther with her: it had sworn an oath, along with theother stone trader ghosts, to keep the narrows guardedand watched from any evil doings. It was an oath, orrather, a very well-crafted spell of sorts that wascenturies-old.

That oath now included holding the witch’s spiritforever bound in the narrows of the canyons, ever sinceher downfall years earlier. And even though the witchhad returned from the “grave” and could cast her ownspells once again, like the one that scattered the ghostsfar and wide into the pockets of the canyons, the ghosts’own spell to contain the witch in her burial spot hadremained intact. It was that particular spell—thatoath—that the witch could not break.

The two ghosts that now embodied the souls ofTabitha's dear friends had departed the narrows underthe witch's possession spell. But it was more importantthat Tabitha's savior ghost remain with the other stonetrader ghosts: to make sure that no other wanderingsoul would be captured in the same wicked manner asthe souls of Jonathon's and Haley's.

So here she was wandering the dark and creepyforest, hoping that she was headed in the right directionhome!

Home, she thought. Whatever was she going totell her folks, Kelsey and Sonny? Oh, how upset theywould be with her! And with Jonathon and Haley nowlost, possessed by ghosts that, in turn, were alsopossessed by the witch! It was the same witch that herfolks believed was buried years ago! And on top of allthat, the witch was planning on crushing the realm withher dark magic from the fabled pumpkin seeds—thesame ones her own mother had left in the deadwoodswhen she, too, was just a little girl! Oh, how was thisever going to sound to them?

Tabitha shook her head; the fear and confusion ofit all made her head feel as if it was going to spin rightoff of her body.

The dark of night had become very black; thebeams of moonlight that stole their way though the tinyopenings in the forest canopy were disappearing.Strange clicking and scratching noises echoed softly outin the forest, and Tabitha soon found herself curled upin a ball of fear at the base of the tree stump; her cloaknow covering her head and face, with only a slit in thecloth to peer out from.

After a moment, she decided it best to use one ofthe giant leaves that lay upon the ground to coverherself with while hiding against the tree stump. Theleaf was a bit heavy from the damp floor of the forest asshe quickly snatched it and pulled it over her body. Ithad a moldy, sour smell about it; but she could dismissthat if it meant keeping her well-hidden should any foulcreatures come sniffing around.

Some time later, Tabitha awoke from a sleep sheforgot she had fallen into. Peeling a bit of the blackened leaf away from her face, she peered about and sawthat it was still pitch-dark in the forest. She then peeledthe rest of the giant leaf from her body, and proppedherself up against the base of the tree stump; sheshivered terribly from the cold. Cinching her cloaktightly around herself, Tabitha began picking throughher knapsack for something to eat.

She and the others had left their homeland withplenty of dried rations; including fruits and cheese andbread, as well as some dried fish. But now she realized,with some concern, that the knapsack she had beencarrying since they’d fled the deadwoods was actuallyJonathon’s. It contained only a few pieces of fish,