The Novelle Diaries & The Wampus Cub

Chapter 20: Wild Magic

Wren pressed her face to the cold, damp wood and peered through a crack in the floor. The dim orange light swathed the room below in shadows but as Wren's eyes grew accustomed to the light, the image of what she was seeing became clear. Rather than a cellar as first believed, this room was as large as a warehouse, far bigger and taller than the building above. At the end closest to them were piles of crates and cages though most seemed empty, covered in tarpallings and sheets or abandoned in hap hazard piles, all of them bearing the red, winged bear logo. From what Wren could tell, the other end of the room held very little except some benches set against the walls and a circle drawn out in white paint on the packed earth floor. This sight was rather puzzling to Wren as this barn seemed a rather unlikely place to hold theatre productions. At the furthest end of the room, beyond the painted circle was a doorway, emitting a flickering orange light, no doubt cast from a candle or lamp. As she strained her ears she could hear a low, muffled conversation issuing from the room. They were not alone.

Wren was about to back away from her spy hole, uneasy by the presence of strangers when another noise caught her attention. A quiet twittering, chirping noise that Wren had heard a hundred times before. Her heart jumped into her mouth as she followed the sound to a shadowy corner, overshadowed by a wall of crates to where a large cage, half covered with a tarpaulin, stood. Something very large was moving in the cage, making the metal bars shake a little as it paced. As Wren watched, the creature came into view and on sight, she nearly exclaimed Chirrups name. However, as she scanned the creatures face, she realised that this was not the cub she had raised. Infact, it wasn't a cub at all, but a grown Wampus cat, its face a mess of fresh, oozing wounds and old healed scars and scabs. Wren observed the creature, twitter and press its large, powerful forehead up against the bars, then, as Wren watched, another twittering chirp answered it from a smaller cage set on one of the crate piles. Wren turned her gaze to see a cub laying in the cage, its eyes staring longingly at its mother. There was no mistaking that this cub was not Chirrup. Wren could see its ribs through its plum, rosette covered fur. Though as large as Chirrup, its body looked frail and weak. Wren new in that moment that she had found Chirrups family and her eyes teared up at the sight of them. They had been here all this time, and she hadn't known.

Wren sat up and wiped the tears away from her cheeks then turned to her friends who already knew what she was about to propose. 'We have to free them.' Wren whispered in despair.

'And we will,' Erris replied, determination set on his face.

The children began to scan the barn for a way down into the basement, only realising after a few moments that they were standing on a trap door the entire time, its handle consisting of a simple knotted rope that blended in well with the messy floor. In their search, Rory had found a set of large bolt cutters and a spanner so large that its only use could be large machinery, propped up against one of the walls. He handed the bolt cutters to Wren as he weighed the spanner in his hand, evidently viewing it as a weapon. Erris eyed him with an incredulous expression.

'Can't use magic, mate.' Rory pointed out, 'Migh' com' in handy. Prepare for th' worst, hope for th' best situation.' he explained. Seeing Rory's point, Erris grabbed a large metal pole that looked as though it had once been a pipe and gave it a swing to practise its effectiveness for defence.

Once the children were all ready, they opened the hatch and crept down the ladder, landing on the dirt floor as quietly as possible. Rory, Erris and Rosewaine followed Wren behind a stack of crates, hiding them from the rest of the room.

'Can you act as lookouts whilst I try to release the cats?' Wren asked in such a quiet whisper that her friends had to lip read.

'We have your back,' Rosewaine replied as Erris and Rory nodded, though their expressions were nervous as their eyes darted around the room skittishly.