Paladin's Pendant

Paladin's Pendant - Prologue

Chat was a raccoon born on the coldest day of the coldest month in the coldest year in memory.  The litter was 7 strong, filled with plump and hearty little ones.  Chat though, was small, and his parents gave him little hope of making it through to the morning.  The wind raged and the snow sped its way to the ground at an ever faster rate.

Their good family friend Dr. Kite, the Mole, had already come and gone.  He had done what he could to help Chat pull through.  But he too, if asked, would not have been very hopeful at all.  Not only was this the coldest winter in recorded history, but the entire island was ensconced in the middle of the longest prolonged outbreak of war ever known.  Shelter was scarce and food was even more hard to come by.  Disease had settled into the countryside and even the healthiest of animals found it difficult to find a way to make it through every winter.

Mr. and Mrs. Chatterly tucked the mewing racoons in after feeding them and stood by the brood and silently prayed they would all make it through til the morning.  Mr. Chatterly coughed a bit and wiped his mouth with a hankerchief.  Mrs. Chatterly put her arm around her husband and helped him adjust his sliding spectacles back up onto his face.

“Its a blessing.  They are amazing blessings, each one.”  Mr. Chatterly coughed again as he continued on.  “We will just have to see what happens in the morning.”  He blew his nose into his kerchief and wiped his brow.  He gave a furtive glance in Mrs. Chatterly’s direction and then wished he hadn’t.  Mrs. Chatterly had tears running down her face and it caused him to tear up as well.  And the one thing Mr. Chatterly disliked even more than porridge was crying.

“It will work out” Mrs. Chatterly eeked out between sniffles.  “I know it will.”  Mr. Chatterly nodded in agreement and began to prod his wife towards bed.

Later that night, as the snow continued to fall and the wind continued to pummel the small cottage, a dark black shape pressed itself up against the side of the home.  The shape moved as if it was listening for something, but in that extreme wind it couldn’t have been hearing much.  With a single fluid motion the shape had popped the lock on the window and slid it slightly ajar.  Reaching its long and spindly arms through the opening the shape grabbed a key off the wall and then retreated from the window.

In another moment the dark figure was around to the front of the small cottage and through the door.  Quietly tripping the latch and turning the key, the door was replaced in its place before any of the occupants of the house were any the wiser.  In the late night darkness that permeated the house the shape completely disappeared as it slid closer to the back bedroom.

As the individual approached the sleeping newborn racoons it stopped for a moment and stared.  It cocked its ear to listen as the eyes soaked in the little raccoons before him.  A slight chuckle jolted out of the dark shadow, and then was quickly stifled.  The midnight darkness of the room and the black shroud slowly began to shift in hue.  A small ember of a light began to radiate from the closed hands of the interloper.  At first the light was hardly perceivable.  But then the glow that slipped from between the figure’s fingers was a pinkish, then a more brilliant yellow.  The hands worked harder to enclose and entrap the light - but the light would have none of that.

With the sound of fire reacting to wet wood - the light began to pop and hiss as it grew brighter.  And then suddenly, the visitor couldn’t contain the light any longer.  The glow snapped out between each of the fingers and then launched into the air.  The popping and hissing stream circled near the ceiling several times and then plunged into the crib where the raccoons lay.  A sweet warm radiance permeated the entire room and the little raccoons shuffled this way and that with the slight disturbance.  The shape shook stood for a moment more then the shape quietly tipped his hat and then slipped out of the house the same way he’d come in.