Monster

Brine Water

A Year and a Half Later

"What's going on here?" Rangil frowned at the strangely quiet children, whom he discovered giggling in the barn.

"Nothing!" Margol lied to him with a straight face, while both of the younger children, Tnul and Hero, gave him tell-tale guilty glances. Rangil frowned heavier and gave the barn around him a careful look in an attempt to learn what mischief the children had gotten to this time.

Nothing seemed out of place. Stacks of wheat and woven baskets filled each side of the barn neatly along with several heavy jars of water, milk, and juice. A small anvil and a table stood to the left, filled with tools, reaping sickles and threshers.

Rangil's gaze swept across the wheat stacks, uncertain. He just opened his mouth to tell the children to go and wash up when a hiss sounded behind him.

"Hssssst."

The sound froze Rangil's feet to the ground, making his heart explode in a flurry of frantic rhythm as all of his old fears burst to the surface. His blood running cold as his cheeks slowly paled, he slowly turned around. His eyes fell on a blanket that held over a small, shifting form. On the ground beneath it, Rangil's eyes found the end of a rope, which one of the children had hastily dropped.

Still not quite believing himself, he reached out to the blanket and slowly slipped it off. A small green creature gave him a rather sad look.

"Pssssttt." It complained.

"Aaah!" Rangil yelled, violently stumbling back until his spine hit the table and some of the tools crashed to the ground. The creature, its neck constricted by a looped rope, tensed. It's chest began to pulse, the color changing from light green to amber.

"No, Poofy!" Hero lunged to him and hugged the being with both arms, looking at it insistently with both eyes. White eyes gazed deeply into amber glowing ones, and then the light within the creeper's chest began to calm, disappearing beneath its green fur, which briefly puffed out only to settle into a sleek surface. Hero petted the being's fur gently.

Feeling his entire body trembling and his foot aching where a heavy wooden handle had hit it after it fell, Rangil cast a fuming glance at the two older children, now nearly two heads taller than the little Monster. He caught Margol smirking at him with derision. Frowning more, he pointed a shaking finger at the door.

"Out... Go!" He first whispered, then yelled. Then, noticing the creature startling, forced himself to calm down again. "And tell Grandpa Grake that you won't be having any dinner."

The smile on Margol's face had fled. Giving his uncle an angry look, he grabbed Tnul by his arm and pulled him toward the door. "Let's go." He said sharply. The younger villager obeyed, casting his uncle and little Hero a guilty gaze. Hero paid no attention, still cautiously petting his creature.

"Poofy is good. He won't explode." He said softly.

"Why is he here?!" Rangil hissed, himself sounding like a creeper.

Hero hesitantly shrugged his shoulders. "Margol and Tnul said... It would be safe... I told them that he is my pet..."

"Take him out! I warned you before. If I saw another creeper around here then there'd be trouble. You asked for it! Get rid of him. This instant!"

Hero's lips turned upside down as he pouted. Not daring to look up, he nodded and picked up the rope, gently tugging on it as he pulled the being with him toward the door. Rangil followed them with his eyes until they both disappeared, after which he took a shaken breath and breathed out slowly.