White Ghost and the Poison Arrow (9 page)

After a while
of crying, the tears dry up and Arella composes herself. She now
has a kitten to look after, to help grow up. Arella picks herself
up from the resting place of the great auron cat, uses a lake close
by to wash away the blood from her hand and the dagger and cleans
her face. She is beginning to come to terms with what she has done.
The auron cat was going to die eventually, Arella just made it
quicker and less painful. The auron cat seemed to be asking for it
too, which was strange. There is nothing wrong with what Arella
did, and she knows, however hard I was the end the life of the
auron cat, it was the right thing to do.

A whimpering
cry breaks Arella’s trail of thought and she is instantly reminded
of the kitten. The sound came from inside the black den under the
rocks. Arella’s first thought is to go straight to the kitten, then
she remembers the body of the mother. “If the kitten sees this it
might distress it. I should probably bury her or something.” With
this thought Arella begins to look around for an area of ground
soft enough to dig up to bury her. She comes up short. The only
thing she can think of is to put the mother under rocks, and bury
her that way.

The body of the auron cat is heavy, but Arella manages to drag
her behind the rock she was using as shelter. It dips down lower
than the rest of the ground here, and will be easier to bury her
there. “
I can’t bury her with this arrow in
her. She should be buried how nature intended her to die, without
human weapons.”
With deft fingers, Arella
grips the arrow as close the auron cats skin as she can and gently
pulls until it comes free. The arrow grips at he auron cats cooling
flesh, difficult to pull out from between the matted fur of the
cats body. The tip of the arrow is black stone but there is
something different about it. It looks like there is some kind of
sticky green on the end. “
What is
that”
She touches the green substance on
the end of the arrow. It’s sticky and burns a little. She then
smells it. It smells sweet and sickly. “
Poison? I didn’t know we were using poison now. That’s
ridiculous. Where is the need for that. The arrow would have killed
her anyway.”
Arella is seething with anger
now more than ever but she must finish her job. She gathers rocks
and builds them up in a small wall around the mother cats body. She
then finds larger rocks to place over the top, finally sealing her
in a tomb where she can rest in peace, free from the vultures that
circle the skies above. By the time Arella is finished with this
she is sweaty and dirty, her muscles all ache and she is tired, but
there is a little kitten that needs her attention. She just hopes
it is old enough to be eating meat rather than suckling milk,
otherwise she will not be able to raise it, and the kitten will die
also. Arella takes one long look at the rocky tomb the mother cat
rests in, clumsily built, but to will do the job intended. Another
tear falls from Arella's purple eyes, falling onto the dusty ground
below.

A screech from
above startles Arella. She looks up to see the vultures diving to
the ground, towards the entrance to the auron den. Arella takes her
grathon in hand and runs for the den entrance. Her quick movements
frighten the vultures away, all but one of them fly off into the
sky, screeching as they go. One of the birds seems more determined
that the others and stays on the ground. It’s head inside the den,
snapping at the kitten within. Arella reaches the bird and
instinctively hits it on the back with the flat of the grathon.
This shocks the vulture and it turns on Arella, snapping its great
white beak at her. Its black feathers look dirty, and its body
covered in scars. This vulture is clearly the more dominant of the
flock, and he does not look like he is backing down. He pulls his
wings back and stretches them out wide, making himself look big in
an attempt to frighten Arella. He then lets out a piercing screech
aimed directly at her. Arella thinks for a second then mimics what
the bird did to her. She takes hold of the edges of her black
cloak, throws her hood back, pulls her arms out to the side and
shouts “Away” at the vulture. It looks like it’s working. The
vulture looks unsure, so Arella moves her arms in the same motion
as flapping wings and shouts louder “AWAY!” This works and the
vulture flies away, clearly not impressed at the idea of losing its
meal. The vultures don't move far away, resting and squabbling on
the branch of a nearby tree.

The kitten
inside the den cries out again. Arella peers into the hole and
looks at the animal within. Inside the den is dark, but Arella can
feel the warmth on her face. She can see furs of animals on
the floor of the den, as well as lots of dead leaves and plants to
make the floor soft to sleep on. Bright eyes peer at Arella from
the back of the den. Those eyes blink at Arella. One of them bright
green, the other an orangey yellow. “Hello little one.” Arella says
in a soft voice. She climbs inside the den, the little kitten
backing away from her. She holds up a hand. “I won't hurt you.” The
kitten seems unsure of her. Arella moves to the side of the den and
leans against the wall.

After a while
sitting there, Arella starts to get tired. Her eyes start to close
as she stares at the wall in front of her. She jumps a little as
she begins to fall asleep, catching herself.

The next thing
Arella remembers is the feel of soft warm fur against her leg, and
the sound of purring close to her. She wakes up, a little shocked
that the kitten actually came close to her. The sunshine is shining
through the opening to the den, lighting up the kitten so Arella
can see it. Arella can tell from looking at the shape and build of
the kitten that it is male. His fur is black as the night, long,
fluffy and warm. She runs her fingers through the fur on his back.
The kitten purrs louder and nudges closer to her. The kitten is
quite small, but looks like he would be old enough to eat meat. At
least Arella hopes he is. “Don't think I could bear it if you died
too.” She whispers softly to the kitten.

Arella sits and
lets the kitten sleep for a while before she decides they need to
go back to her tree house. “Okay little one...” She says. The auron
kitten stirs and looks at her with his odd eyes. “We need to go
now. It’s a long walk back to your new home, and I'm going to have
to carry you all the way back.” The kitten just stares at her and
yawns, hid pink tongue and bright white teeth viable as he does so.
This makes Arella yawn too. The kitten stands up and stretches. He
then puts his front paws on Arella's shoulder and licks her cheek
with a rough tongue. She giggles as he does this. She stands up and
the kitten stays close to her feet. Arella watches him. As she
steps forwards, he moves forwards with her. “Interesting.”

Pulling herself
out of the den isn't so easy. Arella feels like she has pulled
almost every muscle in her body. She turns around to help the
kitten out. He is sitting just by the entrance, unable to climb
out. Arella extends her arms down to the kitten and he moves
willingly towards them. She picks him up and pulls him out of the
hole. He blinks his eyes at the bright sunlight. “Yeah I know how
you feel.” Arella opens up her cloak and wraps the kitten in it. He
snuggles into her side and begins to purr once again. Arella picks
up her weapons, puts the dagger back in her boot and carries her
grathon in her left hand, using her right arm to hold the kitten in
her cloak.

Once back in
the woodland Arella feels a little more at ease. She still does not
like being out in the open, but it was all worth it for the little
guy under her arm. “I don't know how we're going to do this you
know. I've only just learned how to catch fish for myself. Now I'm
going to have to learn how to catch other types of game, and enough
for two rather than just one.” Arella continues to talk to the
kitten, although she is sure he is not really listening to her. His
head pokes out from the cloak, watching the landscape pass around
him in silence. “How am I going to stop you from running away as
well. I mean, I don't want to keep you if you do not want to stay
with me. You are a wild animal after all, but I would feel so
guilty if I lost you.” The sun is starting to go down as they walk,
but the night time doesn't bother Arella, it never has. “So what do
we call you then? I mean, you have to have a name.” Arella looks
down at the kitten, who is staring at her with his odd eyes. “Hmm,
let’s think... Seke? What do you think? Or Koko? No maybe not.
Sucki? No that doesn't work either. This is hard. I know. I will
call you Maska. How about that?” She asks the kitten. He huffs at
her then purrs. “I'll take that as a yes then should I?”

“You're heavier
than you look you know Maska.” She says, testing out the name as
she does so. “Yeah I like the way that sounds. But seriously, I'm
going to have to put you down for a couple of minutes, my arms hurt
and we're nowhere near back home yet.” Arella stops, kneels on the
ground and lets Maska free from her cloak. “Please don't run off
little one.” She begs him.  This is not needed however. Maska
simply sits in front of her, the end of his bushy tail flicking
slightly. “Well that's interesting. Will you really just sit there
until I move?” Maska tilts his head to the side, flicks his ear,
sneezes and blinks, but does not move from where he is. Arella sits
down on the ground leaning against a mossy tree. “I don't know
about you, but I'm getting hungry.” Arella says to the kitten. He
moves closer to her and nudges her hand until she strokes his head.
“Aww sweet boy. I hope I can do well by you.”

As the two of
them sit under the tree in the forest, the creatures around them
sing a soft night-time song. The cricket chirp to each other,
telling stories and laughing at jokes, the owls hoot and screech
from miles away and bats flit through the trees above them,
catching moths and other bugs as they fly. Maska can hear them
chirping, and he cocks his head to listen, but Arella's ears are
not sensitive to pick this up. In the distance a wolf howls. Maska
buries himself  into Arella's side, shaking a little as he
does so. “Are you frightened of wolves little one?” She asks him.
“Well don't worry. Arella is here to protect you.

So the fourteen
year old girl with white skin, silver hair and purple eyes, carries
an auron kitten with obsidian black fur speckled with purple, his
eyes different colours through the woodland and back to the tree
house they will both learn to call home.  As she walks, Arella
thinks. “Maska doesn't seem to be all that bothered that I am
taking him away from the only home he has ever known, and that he
no longer has his mother. This is strange, but in some ways it
might be good. I was getting lonely, and I guess I'm not going to
be lonely with this little bundle of fur with me all the time.”
Arella looks down at the kitten in her arms with admiration. “No I
really won't get bored with him around. I will need to learn how to
hunt bigger game though. I don't think Maska will be happy to eat
grue bulbs at all, and I'm not sure if he will be happy just eating
fish either. I think rabbits shouldn't be too hard. I can make
traps to catch them, and I've seen them be caught and skinned
before. It can't be that hard. Then I guess when Maska gets bigger
we will have to hunt wild pigs, and motto dear. That's a point.
When Maska gets bigger he will be able to help me hunt, and then we
can protect each other. Come to think of it. Maybe the shooting
star was signifying this moment. It must have been. This is huge,
and a lot more comforting knowing that the gods want me to look
after Maska.” Arella smiles to herself. She now feels completely at
ease with the whole situation, although a little unsure about how
she is going to manage it.

The entire time
back to the tree house, Maska just sits in Arella's cloak, looking
out at the trees as they pass, purring as they go. He is happy to
be with Arella, although he is not entirely sure why. He buries
himself into Arella's side every time he hears a wolf. Howling
terrifies him. It is such an awful noise and sends shivers down his
spine, making him shiver.

The sky is
starting to turn by the time they reach the clearing by the lake
where Arella's tree house sits and every single muscle in Arella's
body ache. Her feet hurt, and Arella feels as though she has walked
thousands of miles, but the sight of the tree house nestled in the
clearing is a very welcome sight. “Here we are Maska. Your new
home.”

Chapter 7

Putting Maska
down on the floor, Arella looks around. “Okay so it’s not much, but
this is your new home. What do you think?” Maska just stares at her
with his odd eyes, blinking and purring. “I have never met anyone
as quiet as you Maska. Should I show you around?” The kitten gets
up from his seated position and walks towards Arella’s feet. She
giggles at him. “Okay so over here is the lake where we can catch
fish, wash clothes, not that you need to, and get our drinking
water. Then if you look over there at that group of white trees
with the branches attached to it… Gods it looks awful at the
moment… Is the house we will be living in.” She looks down at Maska
who blinks at her. “I know it doesn’t looks like much now, but I
have big plans for that tree house, trust me.” Maska simply purrs
at her and blinks his big bright eyes. Arella is excited to be
telling someone else about her home. “So over there by the lake I
have planted grue bulbs.” Maska pulls a face that could almost be
disgust. Arella laughs. “Yeah I know you don’t eat plants, but I
do, and I can’t survive on fish alone. Plus, what do you think I am
going to use to make traps to catch rabbits for you?” Maska blinks.
“Didn’t think of that did you?” She looks over at the big clearing
in front of the house. “I want to plant some bushes here, you know,
ones with nuts and berries.” Maska pulls that face again. “Oh
please don’t look at me like that. I won’t make you eat any of it.
It’s for me Maska.”