Arthur Hood: the Heir of Robin and King

Chapter Seven

'Come on, Fury,' Merlynna begged and puffed as she chased after her flying friend, who was zipping around outside the Home for Enchanted Girls. 'Please come down. If you do, I'll give you your favorite treat, a dragon bone. Hmmm, yum. Wouldn't that be nice.'

Fury was not duped by the bribe. Instead he just meowed and purred with content as he dipped and yawed through the air without a care in the world. He then soared high and glided as if he was floating amongst the starry sky before drifting off around the sacred rocks resting on the sacred mound nearby, each one humming with magic.

Merlynna wagged her finger. 'Well, if you're not going to cooperate, I will have to take this up a notch. No more tickling spells from now on.' And with a flick of a hand, a suspending charm shot upwards and towards Fury like a streaking firefly. However, as it was about to connect, her furry companion dodged it with ease.

The airborne cat swerved around the next one and the next one after that, his happy chattering now turning to angry hisses.

'Pretty please with a wand on top,' Merlynna implored, watching the feline dive over a pumpkin patch, around a stack of large cauldrons and under a bewitched climbing frame for the younglings. 'And don't you dare get angry with me, mister.'

Another failed spell attempt sent Fury up and onto the roof of the orphanage, where he perched on the gutter and began grooming his wings.

'Now you're just teasing me, aren't you?' said Merlynna, herself getting a bit angry too. 'Rubbing it in. Because of that, I may not take you along with me to my placement. And being that Miss Harrower, Madame Joan and Mrs Good don't want you around unless I'm here, you'll have to find another home and another human to befriend. I bet you wouldn't like that.'

Fury stopped his licking and just gave out a long drawn out yawn in response.

'Tired, are you? I'm not surprised. You've been going nonstop all day. How about this, I take you inside, into the warmth, and you can have a lovely sleep.' Merlynna raised her arms and gestured with her hands. 'Come on. Just imagine curling up on my bed or a rug in the dining room, shutting your eyes and dreaming about chasing mice.'

Fury flashed a wanting look down at Merlynna.

'Ahhh, that sounds nice, doesn't it? Then come on, I'll take you inside.'

Fury, however, had no intention of going with her. He got up from his roost and meandered further onto the roof.

'Where are you going? Inside is not that way.'

But Merlynna was wrong.

Fury skulked over to the largest chimney stack, spread his wings before flying up and down into its flue.

'Oh, come on. Seriously,' Merlynna moaned before rushing over to a window and opening it with a spell. 'Fosgail.'

After almost knocking over a lit candlestick sitting on the sill while climbing in, she ran down a corridor and through a set of doors.

Inside the dining room, the aroma of roast dinner still in the air, her gaze descended over the many round tables and to the fireplace at the other end, it almost covering the entire back wall. She could hear scratching emanating from it and saw soot showering down onto the hearth.

'Got you now,' Merlynna said to herself, ready to cast a more powerful suspending charm at the first sign of movement.

And the moment she saw fur, she sent it over, the spell bedazzling the dining room with a vibrant, pulsating blue.

But the charm wasn't fast enough. Before it even reached the head table, Fury was on the hearth staring at it as if it was one of his toys. And after watching the spell disappear up the chimney, he took to the air again, darting over Merlynna's head and out the set of doors.