The Witch, The Wizard, and The Out-Worlder

A lot of Eyes, A Lot of Noise

 

We followed the path for what seemed like hours, while the sounds of the forest never rested. We were consistently being watched. My legs were growing tired and my body just needed a break.

"Can we rest up a minute, I need to get a drink." We slowed our pace, and began looking around for a place to rest. There wasn't much outside the path aside from darkness, much less an adequate place for a rest stop.

"Let us stop at another fork in the road, surely there will be more open space." It sounded good, but even stopping to rest didn't sound relaxing, sadly. I picked up the pace again and pressed on.

The silence was eating at me. I started to pick my brain for some interesting conversation, surely there was plenty to talk about, all things considered, "So, how do you like being a human?" I asked him, feeling a bit eager to hear how he felt about his new body.

"It is different. I miss having four legs and being able to jump as well as I could. This body is far less agile in nearly all ways," he looked as if he missed being a cat more than he liked being a human.

"What about being a human? Is there anything you like about it?" I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be a cat, the freedom. Everything that has happened to him had to be a bit jarring.

His pace slowed down a for a few moments while he fell into a rather deep thought, "Well, I do get to talk to you." I could feel my face flush with embarrassment.

"Well, you meowed at me, that was almost like talking." I couldn't help but give a small laugh. I even got him to smile, if only briefly.

"Yes, the meow. No matter how hard I tried, I could never form the words to talk to you. Cats were just not meant to speak the way people do." We both laughed. It felt good to just talk, to laugh, as if we weren't stuck somewhere far away from home.

Fortunately, the path had led to another fork in the road and our awkward conversation was cut to a close. Without saying anything, we set our bags down on the ground and took a seat on a pair of rather large boulders. I rummaged through my bag for the container of water.

No sooner did I take a drink than did the bushes directly in front of me shake and squeak. Leaves and twigs crushed and snapped. Squeaks and whimpers sounded, as if something was fighting within the bush itself.

"Seems as if looking is no longer good enough for our shadowed friends." Felix stood up and watched intently upon the bush.

"What do you think is happening?" I asked, nervous and scared. I wasn't nearly as comfortable as Felix was. I could my hands trembling as I walked backwards, just behind Felix.

The bush ceased all movement abruptly. Felix didn't say anything, and I found myself holding my breath in anticipation. The silence lasted for only a few seconds.

Without any warning, something was tossed out of the bush. It was hard to tell what it was at first glance. I thought it was a large ball of lint, but lint doesn't move on its own. The green ball of fluff quickly starting scrambling for footing. I could make out small little feet from under its thick fur.

We watched as the creature struggled to get up for a few seconds before it was thrust into the air a few inches by a small pair of wings. The wings moved so fast and came from out of the creatures dense fur. Once it was gently grounded, it was on its two feet staring at us, motionless. For it only being about half a foot tall, it had rather large humanlike eyes. The eyes were a little more oblong and the iris was much larger than ours, revealing a gleaming emerald set of eyes. Aside from the eyes, there wasn't any other characteristics noticeable through its coat. Once it was grounded, the wings had returned beneath its thick fur, as did its feet.