The Allegorian Tales

Chapter 2: Giselle's Assignment

Hey guys!! Wow! Seventeen reads already, thank you all so much! Here's Part 2. Sorry if it's a little long and ends at a weird spot. I couldn't find a good place to end it. 

   Giselle climbed down the ladder into the mine which Gethin called his home, and saw him standing straight in front of her. I followed, unseen, trying to block out the stench, which the girl had gotten used to, evidently.

   "Hello, Giselle dear," He hissed in his ugly native tongue, running a large, black hand over her cheek. I shuddered.

   Gethin was an ugly creature, huge and hulking, with skin as dark as the night sky. No one else of his kind lived in Allegoria at the time, to my knowledge, but then, neither did anyone like Giselle's family. They were the only natives left.

   Giselle, as if corned by a ravenous pack of wolves, took a step back. "Just get to the point, what do you want me to do for you?"

   "Ah, yessssss," He replied, grinning, but with evil in his eyes.

   "I want you to get a Harria Stone for me."

   As I stated before, Gethin always asks for the impossible. Now he asked for the one thing Giselle could physically not be able to get for him. I suppose you are wondering what a Harria Stone is, as I am sure you are not acquainted with Allegorian folklore.

   Most Allegorians know the tale of when a humble coal miner living in one of the remote woods of the island found the first Harria Stone. He was digging normally one day, when he found a marvelous, glowing red stone in the wall of the mine. He kept it, and the man started having very good fortune. He found more and his fortune increased, and he concluded it was because of the stones. He bought his way up the government system, eventually becoming Leader. However, he was corrupt, and treated his people horridly, and since the stones could not exist under corruption, they disintegrated, and the man was assassinated.

   However, I know more on this story. I know all that has happened before the Great Allegorian Fire, history that remains lost to the Allegorian people, and the rest of the world. Though I shall not bore you with all the history facts, I will tell you that the Harria Stones used to be very, very different artifacts. There were only about fifty stones left in existence, though there used to be thousands, and they were all in Cardoni, except one. Giselle was a smart girl, and she knew this.

   "A Harria Stone?!" The girl yelped. I am sorry, but that is impossible, there is only one left in all of Allegoria, and it belongs to..."

   "Perseus Moreau, I know. Your family always had a rivalry with him, even when you were in power," He said, sliding up to her. And when your mother was alive, the Pid-tuton." Now you may be laughing, but this was a horrible Allegorian insult. It was used a derogatory name for the widows and hags living on the streets.

   This enraged Giselle, and she threw her malnourished body at the creature with full force. I couldn't bear to see what would happen next to the poor girl. Gethin easily grabbed her with one arm, and hurled her into the cracked stone wall.

   Giselle's arm was bent at an odd angle, she had broken it, no doubt, from the force of it. It was obvious the child was in a lot of pain. She was only 21 in Allegorian years! (15, to those who are foreign to the island, though I will not bother explaining the logistics of it.) Even so, much too young to have lived like this. There was no way of knowing how she had done it.

   Gethin walked over to her and helped her up to her feet, knowing he had won. "Get the Harria Stone for me girl, these are valuable. Do so and you will be greatly rewarded."