The Prime Of The Outcasts

Part 11

And right he was. The oak door that Terry suddenly evacuated from shook like an earthquake for a split second. My insides juddered and jiggled along with the uneasy rhythm. I was waiting for something horrible and ugly to waltz through the door. Something with slime oozing out of weird pressure points in the body, and the head, oh the head. Unrefined facial features bulging from the mouldy skin. Eyes mad and bloodshot, huge nose, vast and pointed, mouth spurting saliva and creamy bits of last nights meal. I was scared. But I was ready for it. I was ready to face the big ugly gnome that would arrive with whatever weird and wonderful meal I was to consume.

'I would stand back,' Astrid told me with great caution. 'They don't like anybody blocking the entrance way when they've got food on trays'. I nodded with agreement.

A high bolt of energy blew down the door just as Astrid stopped speaking. The flash was both hot and blinding. I shielded my eyes and seldom went to pick up the door that sat tiredly on the floor. Out of the outlined gap in the wall dawdled out two little men. Old and squat, they couldn't be more than three feet tall. They had a spherical podgy head that was bright pink and wrinkled with white facial hair forming a moustache and Santa Claus beard.

Their little bodies were dressed red dungarees with a blue horizon top and black doc shoes. A tall, sharp red hat that was perched on the top of their heads was vibrant. The names of these funny looking people were stitched in navy on their hairy chests. One read "Wart", and the other read "Warren". Clutched in their hands were wooden trays containing some (supposedly edible) entrees' that made my nose tingle.

'Red bread and Cloud Pop. Take your daily dose Red Bread and Cloud pop,' one announced bleakly with no cheer nor happiness at all. 'Oh for goodness sake Astrid, take the tray! My arms are only a few inches long.' Astrid grabbed the tray from the gnome claiming to be Warren, and huffed.

Her face then went fire lorry red. As the tiny gnomes turned around to mutter about time wasters for a moment, Astrid flicked a blonde lock behind her shoulder to make a diversion to face Terry. She started mouthing some rather angry words incredibly quickly his way. Terry got the message after he received an "Astrid Slap" and ran up the wonky staircase in the corner in a snap.

I eventually got the message once Astrid winked at me. Apparently only me and her new about Terry's illegal magic trick where he can appear in another elements home asides from his own. Wart and Warren couldn't see him. They would take news like that straight to Lark Umbra. Terry departed just in time - as Wart and Warren decided to rant at me and Astrid again a minute later.

'What are you staring at, girl?!' The other, slightly elder gnome Warren glared at me. 'Who are you? I've never seen you here before.' It was my turn to blush.

'My name is Serena... Serena Pavock. I'm new.' Astrid nodded along with my words.

'Ah, Serena Pavock. Red has been speaking about you.' I blushed even more. 'He said you're one to watch. Your lateness for arriving is talk of Overcast right now.' My curiosity turned into humiliation. Wart sneered at his double and fixed his slanted hat.

'Don't mind that guy,' said Wart slightly nicer. 'He has a rough history. He was one of them garden gnomes that was never purchased from the shop. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a lifetime of dust clogged in his ears.' I laughed a little, as did Wart. Warren however was fuming. He snatched Wart's hat from his head and threw it out of the (what used to be) an oak door.

'You have no right wearing the fire hat!' He screamed in his throaty voice. 'You disgrace the name of Umbra, speaking so light heartedly about your co-gnome. Stooping so low as to talk about my lonely background.'

'Well!' Screeched Wart. 'You made the girl sad. Maybe you deserved it.'

Astrid's face fell. The painful expression drawn across her face suggested that she knew where this was going. Without letting out another deep sigh, she took the wooden door that was weighing down my hands and walked towards the arguing gnomes. With one good whack of the door rim, Wart and Warren squealed as they tumbled and turned on to the death-defying bridge outside. Astrid propped the door back into its rightful position and stuck it down with a quick spell. She let herself collapse against the door.