Eirene ( Fantasy series book 1)

Chapter Twelve - The First Encounter

Chapter Twelve – The first encounter

It was a warmer evening than usual and I was not ready for bed yet after a heavy dinner, so I decided to take a walk.

It was much cooler in the gardens and I settled down in the swing, rocking it to and fro. I was counting the stars when I heard a noise in the bush nearby.

At first, I thought it was just the wind. But there was not much wind to begin with. I stared hard at the bush for some time but it remained still and quiet.

It must be my imagination, I thought. So I went back to counting the stars. It was an extremely calm night with extraordinary amount of stars.

I turned sharply to stare at the bush again when I heard the same noise. It was the sound of leaves rustling caused by movement and disturbance. Despite being curious, I did not venture to dig the bush thinking it might be some stray pet. I continued on my swing, casting a side glance at the bush.

And the next thing I saw was a pair of eyes staring at me! It gave me such a fright that I almost scream out loud!

Under usual circumstances, you would usually run for your life and hide under the blanket covers but I found myself rooted to the swing.

Not wanting to be sceptical, I stared back. It was a pair of harmless eyes with no evil intention. As I continued staring, the creature  revealed a head and a body. It was neither a cat nor a dog nor any animal of any kind.

I thought I was looking at a real life form of a picture out of Enid Byton's fairytale books.

It was a she, I presumed. Dressed in a skirt-looking dress or skirt or whatever you called it, with mid length blond hair, the creature was barely up to my waist. She had a pair of wings, translucent and similar to an insect and was wearing a pair of pointed shoes. Her clothes seemed torn and she looked frightened.

Before I knew it, she came running towards me. Whoa! What was I supposed to do?

She stopped at some distance in front of my feet and spoke in the softest voice I ever heard. I had to bend down to hear her.

"Please help me," she pleaded.

Help her? What was I supposed to help her from?

I looked around and saw no apparent threat. Turning back to her looking puzzled, I asked her. "How?"

Before she could reply, I heard  the bush rustled again.

How many creatures are there in the bush tonight, I thought.

Another pair of eyes appeared. But these eyes were fierce looking. It did not take long for the creature the step out.

It was a small he-dwarf or elf-looking creature with a pointy hat. He looked like a miniature of Peter Pan. He was snarling and hissing.

"You!" he hissed at me.

I stared at him wordlessly.

"Do not interfere!" He threatened.

Now, this was getting a little on my nerves. First, some weird creatures appeared out of nowhere. One asked for help and the other threatened me. I thought I had enough.

"Hey!" I said, as I stood up. "I don't know what's going on here and I'm just a passer-by. Whatever is going on between you guys are none of my business."

I turned to go, but found the small little she-creature tugging hard at the bottom of my dress. For a small creature, she had really great strength, I thought.

"Please help me," she pleaded again.

With a sigh, I turned back to the he-creature.

"Now, what has she done?" I asked. "Don't you know she's a lady?"

He pointed at me, and with a mumble jumble of words, I found myself being thrown backwards unto the ground!

The she-creature came before me and with a finger pointing at him, uttered a string of funny –sounding words, and emitted a string of blue electric current towards him. He lifted up his finger and rebuked her with red. At this moment, I thought I was in the movie set of Harry Potter.

What on earth was going on?

Apparently, the lady was weaker and I saw her back-tracking her steps and her power going weaker. Eventually, she was engulfed in a ball of red crystal. Knowing not what to do but felt that I had to help her, I took a pebble which I grabbed nearby and threw at him. Immediately, it turned to a ball of ash. But it was enough to distract him to lose concentration of her of which she fell to the ground next to me.

Glaring at me with intent to kill, he walked towards us slowly.

Suddenly, from behind us, I heard a deep strong male voice. "Repelimus!"

The male-creature was thrown backwards to the bush. He looked up, looking scared when he saw who it was. He took to his feet and scattered back into the bush. Then it was all silent.

I turned back to see who it was.

Alex was standing behind me. Looking angry, he spoke, "I see you have met them."