Monster

Calm Before the Storm

The door of the house opened and his uncle stepped out. Beor gave the child to him with relief. He had things to do!

"Hero, you are in trouble, child. You cannot run away like this! We were looking for you all morning!" Grandpa Grake began to scold the child with a tone more sad than angry. The toddler's smile fell a little and guilt appeared in his face. Maybe he understood a little more than Beor gave him credit for.

"Uncle, since he's back, I'm going to get my children ready. There is still plenty of time so we all could go to the market today. Are you going to come?" Beor offered.

His uncle nodded without looking at him. He must still be grumpy because Beor and Rangil failed to keep an eye on Hero this morning. Beor sighed. His uncle's concern was not without a good reason.

"All right. We're going to get ready." Beor said firmly and went inside the house.

...

Half hour later the entire family stood gathered outside their house. It was sunny and quiet. Their new house stood on the very edge of the village, separated from it by wheat fields and some bushes, which made it feel as though their house stood alone.

Little Margol stood with a beaming face, proudly waiting while Beor checked again over his new "grown-up" gown. His hands held on tightly to a beautiful large basket that Grandpa Grake made for him just this morning, its edges decorated with intricate motifs that also appeared on its handle and bottom. Margol's younger brother, Tnul, was looking at his happy brother with slight envy and a face still red from crying, now mollified with a promise that once he got a little older, Grandpa Grake would make him such a special basket, too.

Holding his foundling safely in his hands so he wouldn't toddle off again, Grandpa Grake watched with a smile as Beor straightened the little villager's festive gown, while Rangil did the same for little Tnul. Finished, the villager looked over his children and with a satisfied humph turned and lead their entire family to the market. Sun poured down brightly. And everything was calm and well.

Patiently, they stood by and waited for Margol to repeat the Trading words, which uncle Rangil from time to time whispered with everyone pretending not to hear him. The little villager stumbled and slurred, but the villager in the stall patiently waited for them to finish, smiling at them with a kind expression. For his age, Margol was doing very well and such small blunders were allowed. There was laughter and friendly voices not far from them. Everyone just went about their daily routines.

Then, the voices began to hush. Finally, even the villager they were trading with, looked up and his eyes widened. Noticing this, Rangil, Beor, and Grake turned as well.

Coming along the middle of the village path was the Witch. It seemed almost as if a faint shadow fell over the market where she passed. Ignoring everyone staring, she unhurriedly made her way past the numerous stalls until she stopped right in front of Beor's family. All three grown-up villagers tensed as they looked at her and the villager in the stall completely shrunk and tried to remain unnoticeable, realizing that the being had no interest in him at all.

Alien eyes with violet tinged irises held on the oldest villager, first, and Grake immediately clutched tighter to his foundling, turning so Hero would be hidden behind him. Child's white eyes searched his caretaker's face with growing confusion and apprehension settled on his face, even though he obviously didn't understand a thing. Still, the child blinked and hid his face against his caretaker's shirt.

Rangil, too, drew Tnul behind him, though he shrunk back a little and his eyes widened, filling with anxiety. Margol, who noticed the Witch last as she listened to the little villager still trying to repeat the last sentence, before he finally became aware of the silence, gasped and darted behind Beor, who lay a protective hand on his child's shoulder and frowned at the strange villager from his height of nearly two heads up.