The ground quakes beneath my paws, making the hut I pass shake. The thatch roof makes a swishing sound as the walls sway and nearly collapse. This telltale sign of my approach causes me no concern. Though people scamper from my path and pull back into the shadows cast by dusk, they don’t run. They know better. There is no escape. Any attempt to do so would only raise the ire of my master even more and she is not one any soul~living or dead~would want to aggravate.My long tail whips out behind me, deterring any would-be-heroes stupid enough to challenge me. I pass a man huddled against a hut who tried once. A jagged scar mars half his face and closes one eye; a reminder of his stupidity. I bare my fangs at him just to see him quake and nearly collapse. My striped chest shakes with a chuckle as I move on.
There is no door upon the hut that I approach, nothing to even give the occupants the illusion of the ability to keep me out. Within a woman kneels upon the dirt floor, rocking back and forth as she prays over a smoldering fire. I let out a small roar to get her attention. She looks up, but not at me, at the young girl huddled in the back corner. Ignoring the woman, I trot toward the girl. The woman claps her hands and hollers a word in the old tongue. My next step lands upon green grass in a meadow far from the hut. A roar of frustration tears from me. Thwarted by another witch. My master will not be pleased.
This work of fiction is original and my own. Please do not copy of reproduce it in any way without my permission and linking back to me with credit. Photo credit: Designed by CP Design from images at: © Tsmolek | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos.
