The Cunning

Chapter 1

Flashes of light accompanied by thunder lit the quiet neighborhood. The only sound was the terrible unyielding weather. Cold rain hit everything it could reach but this storm was nothing compared to the violent one that was nearing.

Within one of the more unnoticed homes in the neighborhood a young girl was staring out the open window as her parents rushed to and fro in a frantic rush to pack. They were frightened of something. Of course the four year old knew that, it was why she was standing guard at the window where the glass was magically enchanted so that it could only be peered through from the inside. She knew she had no reason to fear anyone spotting her but her curiosity about what had her parents so terrified lead her to try and catch a glimpse of whatever the coming evil was.

Her parents were researchers, not the sort that would typically find themselves in any real danger with the exceptions of their odd trips from time to time. In the years she had been alive the young child had seen dragons, trolls, ogres, even a Griffon, although only once, and many other things. For the most part her parents did their best to show they meant no harm but there were those times where defending one’s self became necessary. Even in her own bedroom tomes of knowledge lined the shelves, some dusty from age.

A firm knock on the door drew her attention away as she hurriedly went to open it. Swinging the door open revealed a wrinkled left over of a woman, her grandmother who was forced into using a knobbled cane to get from place to place. She was a monstrous sight and was known for scaring kids with her scarred appearance and sharp icy eyes, eyes that the girl had inherited although hers looked more beautiful on her youthful face. The grandmother had a permanent scowl etched into her pale splotchy features and her white hair flew about in wild tufts. Any proper lady would have fainted from the sight but her grandmother had never been a proper lady, no she had been the paranoid sort. Father said the paranoia was what birthed the trouble that she always encountered; the encounters though had only made her caution grow.

A lecture was on its way, the girl was smart enough to see the signs of it and ready herself for the scolding. "You moronic child, Has everything I taught you gone straight over your thick head?" The little child didn't even flinch as her grandmother's cane swung an inch above her head violently. "You should always check whose is at the door before answering, verify their identity. These are perilous times, perilous times indeed. Right this very minute your parents are scampering about to make ready to leave." The old woman's voice roared with power that you wouldn't have expected from someone so ancient. Of course the four year old couldn't help but think that her grandmother considered every time perilous but she kept her mouth shut not eager to egg on her grandmother who was already vicious enough. Her tone changed to sound self important as she continued, "I told him, I told Victor that if he was planning on collecting artifacts he had better be ready to attract the wrong sorts of attention. Now he is finally listening. Took him long enough though, waiting until after he gets the warning." She scoffed.

At that the child's eyebrow raised slightly. The warning? She hadn't heard of a warning although she hadn't been in the room when her parents started acting funny. Now that she thought of it her grandmother did look ready for a fight. She even had a dagger concealed within the faded tent like robes she often wore. Her thoughts were caught short as her grandmother continued. "You ought to be getting ready as well, there is danger coming and it is best not to be caught unawares." One of her grandmother's eyes became more noticeable as she raised her eyebrow looking down at her like a vulture, the wrinkles lessening to make it pop out more. Most would have cringed under the piercing gaze but the four year old stood firm where even her father who had been raised by the odd woman would not have.

This only served to increase the grandmother's idea that her granddaughter was brain damaged. Only someone who wasn't all of the way there would never more. Of course the woman believed the child's thoughts to be elsewhere. , lost in her own little world like always."One of these days Girl you are going to pay the price for your missing brain. I told your parents that they ought to have killed you the moment they gave birth to you. No crying, no nothing." She hissed looking disgusted as her eyes trailed up and down the silent child. "Dark mark on the name of Ravenclaw you is but they wouldn't hear it. , angel my shoe." She spat referring to the term everyone else conjured for the well behaved child.