Halloween Story
Allen Kitchen
I did for all you furs out there... were any
of you ever in the cub scouts? :)
Halloween Story
by Allen Kitchen
all rights reserved.
"Cubs." Packmaster Rogueston thought to himself goodnaturedly as he
looked across the campfire at the children huddled together on the other
side.
"So full of youth and mischief. But get them away from their homes, and
they turn into nervous little mice."
The woods were barely lit by the small campfire. The twelve coyote
children were used to the dark in their desert home, but this was their
first
night in the woods, and they kept jumping at shadows caused by the moon
and the clouds overhead. They weren't used to the trees, the moss, the
noises- Rogueston secretly enjoyed watching them fidget and hold onto
each
other for support.
The elderly coyote reached into a pocket of his knee-length cutoff
shorts (they all wore cutoffs, and no shirt. Silly uniform design if
you asked
his opinion) and pulled out his spiced nibble stick. He twirled the
aromatic
twig in his lips while he looked at the others.
"You all look scared." He flatly said. "Hmph. You have every right to
be. Do any of you have any idea where we are?"
The youngsters looked back and forth at each other a few times before
letting the oldest answer.
"Aren't we in Yipedese forest, close to the banks of the Calimar
river?"
he asked, trying to keep his voice from wavering. He failed.
Rogueston sighed expressively, and leaned back on the log that was
serving as his recliner for the evening.
"Yes, that's true. But do any of you know where, exactly, in the
Yipedese woods we are?"
12 blank expressions stared back at him in the yellow glow of the
campfire.
"I guess not. Well cubs, this here is a famous place. See that wall
over
there?" He raised a black clawed finger toward a ruined wall of rough
hewn
stone that stood a dozen yards distant.
"You mean that ivy covered ruin?" the oldest said again.
"Yes, that ivy covered ruin."
"That's just what's left of an old abandoned inn sir. It's been empty
for
a century. What's so special about that?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just that this particular place is haunted."
The youngest cub grabbed the oldest for protection. All of the cubs
suddenly clutched one another with trembling arms.
"Hau... Haunted?" the eldest whispered.
Rogueston nodded.
"Oh yes. The locals won't come near this place. Not even during the
day. What, none of you have heard about the ghosts that haunt this
wall?
Not at all?"
12 small shaggy heads shook in negation in the gloom. At least, he
thought they were in negation. They could have been shaking with fear,
although he didn't think he had them scared enough to be trembling yet.
Emphasis on the "yet" part.
"Well cubs- long, long ago, this inn was still open and alive with the
laughter of travelers. People from far and wide would spend their
nights
here, resting their dragons and exchanging tales and fortunes with their
fellow wanderers. The inn was run by a lovely young vixen. A fox, name
of
Bess. You all know what a fox looks like, don't you?"
12 shaggy heads nodded in rapt attention. Rogueston smiled and
chewed on his stick.
"Well forget it. Bess didn't look like that. She had black fur. Yes,
you
heard right. Bess's fur was as black as midnight on a moonless night.
The
other foxes took it to be a bad omen, so she and her father moved out
here,
far from the townfolk and their superstions, and created an inn between
two
cities.
"Now, living way out here might seem lonely. It was. There were lots
of people traveling to and fro, but most of them would just stay the
night,
then Bess would never see them again. So the poor vixen grew up without
a
boyfriend or anyone to love. Other than her father of course; and he
doesn't
count.
"Well, this one fox named Charlemagne took a shine to her. And since
his business brought him by here practically every other week, he made
it a
point to stop here as often as he could."
"What did Charlemagne do for a living packmaster?" The youngest of
the cubs asked while reaching for a fresh marshmallow and stabbing it
with a
stick. Rogueston smiled at him.
"He sold dragons son. He would move several of the firebreathing
steeds from city to city, buying them cheap in one while selling them
high in
another. That's what kept him running up and down this road so often.
"Anyway. One day he came by without any dragons except for the
one he was riding. He told Bess and her father that he was getting out
of the
business, and that he had a buyer who was willing to pay handsomely to
take
it from him. Charlemange proposed to Bess right there, in front of the
crowd, her father, everyone in the place. He told her how wealthy he
would
be when he returned in two nights, and how happy he would be if she
would
come away with him. Now, how could any lady say no to such a proposal?"
"Yuck." The smallest coyote grumbled. "Mushy stuff."
The cub beside him punched him in the arm and told him to shut up.
"But I thought this was gonna be a ghost story." He complained,
looking across the campfire expectantly at Rogueston.
"Patience cub. Patience. You know what the book of Guile says about
that, don't you?"
The smallest cub closed his eyes, and began to recite. "The early bird
gets the worm. But the patient Coyote who waits can have them both."
Rogueston nodded to the lad. "Yes. Very good. You've been
studying I see."
"Yes sir." He said, hopping off his log and moving closer to the fire
with his marshmallow stick.
"Well, poor Charlemange never heard about the book of Guile. That
was too bad for him, because it could have saved his life. Do you all
remember what it says about strangers and loose talk? You do? Well,
one of
the people in the inn that night belonged to a gang of thieves.
Cutthroats and
murderers, the whole lot of them.
"Two nights later, a bit before sundown, all 8 of them entered the inn,
and put out the shingle saying that the Inn was closed. Bess's father
protested. One of the murderers slit his throat... SLIT, just like
that." he said
standing up suddenly and making a cutting motion with his finger across
his
neck. "Killed him plain as day, right there in front of Bess!"
He looked over the cubs to make sure they were properly unnerved
before continuing on with his story.
"The leader told Bess that he was gonna rob Charlemange just as soon
as he arrived. Then he and his crew tied her upright to the stovepipe
in the
kitchen. They figured that when the newly rich Charlemange came by
looking for his love, they would hear the noise and go out the back
door.
Then they would come at him from both sides of the house. So they laid
their guns next to the doorway, and quietly played cards while waiting
for the
fox to return.
"Bess was gagged, bound, and scared. She knew they were going to
kill poor Charlemange, and probably her as well. She was terrified
about
what was about to happen, when all of a sudden, she heard a familiar
clicking noise. Click. Clack. Click. Clack." Rogueston made clawing
motions toward the nervous children as he made the noises. "She knew
that
sound well; it was the sound of Charlemagnes dragon's claws coming up
the
road.
"The thieves were too caught up in their card game to notice it. But
the sound kept growing louder and louder in Bess's ears, and she knew
that it
wasn't but a few seconds before they heard him and sprang their trap.
She
knew she had to do something, anything, to warn him! That's when she
noticed that her feet and legs weren't tied up. She could reach out
with them.
And as luck would have it, the guns by the door were just barely in
range.
"She quickly shot her leg out, and smashed it into the guns as hard as
she could. The steel barrels made quite a racket as they fell about on
the
stone floor. The thieves probably jumped out of their pelts at the
sudden
noise. Her idea was to make such a commotion that Charlemange would
notice it, and realize that something was wrong.
"But alas, she made a mistake. One of the guns hit the edge of the
stove, and the weapon fired! Right into her breast and straight through
her
heart!"
All the cubs jumped at his sudden exclamation. Rogueston ignored the
youngest roasting a marshmallow as he fervently continued the story.
"Yes, she had made a racket all right! But at the cost of her own
life.
Charlemange stopped in his tracks at the sound of the gunshot.
"All the thieves cursed at their bad luck, grabbed what weapons they
could, and poured out the back door of the inn. They left poor Bess
there in
the kitchen; left her to die all alone.
"When Charlemange saw the cutthroats coming at him from around
the corner, he knew that Bess was in trouble. He drew his sword while
all
the murderers pointed their muskets at him. They fired! And poor
Charlemange was mortally wounded. They shot him in the chest, just
missing his heart. And they shot his dragon as well, which wasn't too
smart a
thing to do.
"As you know, dragons flame when they are angry. Well, being shot
sure angered this dragon! He reached down into his deepest recesses,
and
breathed out a fire onto those bastards the likes of which has never
been
seen! Not even in the deepest hottest parts of hell!"
Rogueston had their full attention now, and they leaned forward,
hanging on to every word and syllable. He continued, playing it up and
getting more and more animated.
"All 8 thieves died in an instant, burned beyond belief. But the
flames
also set the building on fire, and Charlemange knew that Bess was
inside.
Summoning the last of his dying strength, he forced himself through the
burning brush, and into the inn, ignoring the rapidly spreading flames.
There, he found Bess, already dead.
"Oh, but the mournful cry he let out my cubs!" he shouted. "He
screamed and he cried for Bess, his valiant steed, and for himself. He
howled in agony, over and over until the flames finally took him and
ended
his suffering!"
Rogueston looked over all the frightened faces as he relaxed a bit,
chewing on his spice stick once more.
"And that, " he softly continued settling down onto his log once more.
"Is why this ruin is haunted. It is haunted by the spirits of Bess, her
lover,
and his dragon. It is said, that on quiet nights like this one, you can
hear him
cry out in the darkness. And that sometimes, if you are really unlucky,
the
spirit of the dragon will come and spew forth fire again, trying to save
its
master."
The eldest sat on the end of the log, trembling slightly.
"You... You don't really believe that their ghosts come back to haunt
here, do you?" he stammered. But before Rogueston could reply, there
was a
sudden flash and a whoosh.
A giant fireball had erupted in the middle of the campfire, and sped
upwards into the sky! The youngest cub who'd been closest while
roasting a
marshmallow fell backwards onto the ground.
Sheer panic broke out. The cubs screamed out in terror, jumped off
the log, and ran every which way into the woods. The one laying on the
ground appeared to have fainted from the fright. Rogueston chuckled as
he
listened to their panic-stricken voices calling out in the night. Their
voices
carried their terror for miles as they desperately crashed through the
thick
brush, trying to escape.
Rogueston waited for their voices to quiet down, then stood up and
walked over to the unconcious cub and took the roasted marshmallow off
his
stick.
"Okay Ruiz." He called out, popping the gooey treat into his muzzle.
"You can come out of hiding now."
A few seconds later, another coyote came around the edge of the
ruined wall, and walked up to the campsite.
"That was the funniest thing I ever did see." The elderly white-haired
coyote laughed as he stepped up to Rogueston. "Did you see their faces?
And take a sniff; one of them soiled his britches, I'm sure of it."
"Yes, it _was_ a good gag all right. But I thought you were just going
to start screaming in the dark to scare the cubs. I wasn't expecting
that
fireball. I almost peed in my _own_ pants when that thing went off.
How'd
you do that anyway?"
Ruiz's smile faded from his muzzle.
"I didn't get to scream," He quietly said. "because the fireball went
off
first. I thought... I thought YOU did the fireball bit."
Rogueston shook his head, and frowned.
"I didn't make it. I wouldn't know how."
"Me neither. So, if you didn't make the fireball, and I didn't do it,
then
who did?"
They stared at each other for exactly one heartbeat before screaming
and charging into the woods themselves. The other cubs, now lost in the
darkness, began crying again at hearing their packmaster's terrified
voice
screaming out that the dragon was real and was out to get them!
Their voices shrieked out in the night, moving around and calling out
their mommys for about 10 more minutes before the youngest coyote opened
his eyes again. He sat up, and stared into the woods behind him.
And he smiled.
"Heh. Nice story Packmaster." He snickered, rising to his feet. "But
I
read all about it last year in the library. When I heard where we were
spending the night, I figured you'd pull something like this. And when
Ruiz
didn't join us at the campfire, I knew the game was afoot. Like the
book of
Guile says; 'When you know your opponents plan, it becomes a trap for
them.'
"As for making the fireball, it's amazing what happens when you
throw one of these cheap, disposable plastic lighters into a campfire.
I'm
surprised nobody saw me do it; but then, everyone was caught up in your
story."
He stepped purposely to where the packmaster had been sitting, and
reached down for the bag of marshmallows.
"Looks like everyone ran away." He laughed. "Oh well. More
marshmallows for me then." He then took out a marshmallow, and threw it
next to the wall for any spirits who might be living there before
reaching in
for his own.
Allen Kitchen
don't know what caused it, but I'll try and
fix it this evening. I suspect using proportional
fonts in my source is responsible, as some
linelengths are going over 72chars.
I'll fix it tonight people. Sorry for the
inconvenience.
Allen Kitchen (shockwave)
Allen Kitchen
rans...@au-au.extern.ucsd.edu wrote:
> The Book of Guile... cute, I like it. So how come we never find out whether
> what's-her-face accepted Charlemagne's hand or not?
When it says "now how could any lady say no to such a proposal?"
it implies she said yes. In fact, she did.
And yes, she plaited loveknots into her black hair! I'm glad to
see everyone recognized my source material for this :)
Allen Kitchen (shockwave)
http://www.blkbox.com/~osprey/
rans...@au-au.extern.ucsd.edu
what's-her-face accepted Charlemagne's hand or not?
-Dan
--
"like hypnotizing chickens."
-Iggy Pop
m...@netcom.com
A great "read-and-grin" to start the day off with!
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Allen Kitchen
m...@netcom.com wrote in message <70q63j$ggi$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
>BTW, I *loved* the story!! The third prank was perfect!!!
>
>A great "read-and-grin" to start the day off with!
Thank you Mel. I appreciate it :)
Allen Kitchen (shockwave)