Chapter One. EDITED! YAY! Finaly, takes me so long.
I still haven't decided if I'm going to change the Harestins first speech.
Also, I am currently working on Covter's home. It really is not detailed enough. May take me awhile though.
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Harestin, The Tale Of
Chapter I
19 years later.
It was a beautiful, bright morning and the sun was just barely above the horizon. It was Spring. Birds were hopped on the wet ground in search of worms to sate their appetite, others chattering happily in the budding treetops.
That is, until the terrifying bellows erupting from a being, scared them away in a rush.
A hare was leaping along in a tattered tunic, carrying a grain sack with one hand and swinging a large stick at all and sundry with the other.
Yelling fearsomely he turned his head and struck out at a fern, but the weight of the grain made him lose his balance, cannoning him straight into a tree.
“Yowch!”
Then stumbling along he continued to the market, muttering indignantly as he went. “Rotten guy! Come up behind me and smack me when I’m not looking do yeh? I’ll show you!” With that he swung mightily at an overhanging branch and succeeded only in breaking his stick and numbing his hand.
“Ooh, it’s a cruel world when a chap gets sent to the market and has to fight through hundreds of warriors twenty feet tall with swords of stone.”
On he continued, talking to himself about all the injustices of life and looking for a new stick.
Upon arriving at the marketplace Harestin’s eyes skimmed over the many stalls and their owners, shouting out about their goods.
Slowly he turned his head surveying all that was going on. Ferrets under broken down hutches haggled with rabbits over blankets and other wares, as hedgehogs plodded over the cobblestone street, pushing rickety carts.
Stepping up to the gate that led to the mill, he jounced to a stop when his eyes alighted on a hare.
A particularly pretty hare. She was on her knees making furrows in the mill's garden; her long ears carefully folded back, out of the way.
Harestin swallowed, and opened the squeaky gate, which announced his presence.
Telina turned her hazel eyes to see who it was and smiled when she saw it was Harestin. He was a regular customer for the mill, and he always had heroic adventures to tell that he had made up himself. Mostly about him too, she thought with a laugh.
Harestin started the usual conversation with a particularly obvious statement. “I’ve got another sack of grain for the mill.”
“Okay, bring it right in. Have you made up another chapter for your story?”
“Yes,” answered Harestin as he stepped through the doorway.
“Will you tell it to me while the grain is grinding?”
“Sure.”
And so, for the next hour Harestin sat in the garden with Telina, his words painting a picture in her mind.
After the grain was ground Harestin decided to take a walk around town, before heading home.
His feet made a slight thumping as he walked over to a darkish alleyway. Harestin had always liked alleyways, because they were dark and mysterious deals went on in them. They were also a private place to think, on the main road it was always hard to think. This alleyway was his particular favorite because his best friend lived just a little ways in.
Covter Crow. Harestin liked Covter Crow because he had all sorts of interesting things, most of which didn’t have much use. But it was great fun to sit and look at the amazing variety of things, while he told you about how he had gotten them from his journeys.
Harestin’s heart leapt when he saw that Covter Crow was in. Covter was gone a lot on journeys to here and there, so it wasn’t real often that Harestin got to see him.
“Hares! How are you ya Longjumper? I’ve got something new from my journey that I think you’ll like!”
“Hello Covter, I’m doing just fine, I had to take some grain to the mill, that’s in this sack. What’s in the pouch?”
“What I’m going to show you.”
And with that Covter opened the pouch and took out a scroll, which he plopped on the table between Hares and himself.
It was a map.
Harestin loved maps. They were always covered with mountains and little circles on lines, which meant trees. Another neat thing that Harestin loved was the Legend. It told which signs were which. Two lines going across another two other lines further apart was a ferry spot. The other two lines was a river. Where the mountains ended and more continued afterward, there was a pass. And there were always towns and villages on a map. The best part though, was if there were castles. Castles were always neat. Set way up on a cliff or deep in the wilderness, castles always carried mysteriousness about them. What if it was an evil maniac’s castle?
The interesting thing was that there was a castle on this map.
The name below said, “An Evil Place, Beware!”
That got Harestins’ attention.
More importantly it said that this was the place where a so-called evil ruler had set himself up a kingdom using The Medal Of Prosperity.
The Medal Of Prosperity. Just think. What if he were to go adventuring, as he had always wanted to, and bring back The Medal Of Prosperity?
It would be great! Everyone would be cheering for him. A great banquet would be prepared. Harestin decided that he was the one that was destined. He had to go. To save the town!
Snapping out of his reverie, Harestin decided it wouldn’t hurt to talk to Covter for an hour or so before heading home. As it turned out it was a little more than Harestin had planned on, but it wasn’t as if there was something he terribly needed to be home for. Besides, he had plenty of time to get there anyway.
“It was great seeing you Covter, but I guess I had better head back.”
“Okay, but take the map as a gift, I don’t really need it, can’t read very well ya know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure lad, don’t I know this land like the back of my head?”
Harestin was about to comment that Covter couldn’t see the back of his head, but thought better of it.
“Oh, yeah, Thanks Covter!”
And with that Harestin set out for home, his thoughts filled with the map and questing.
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Hares is pronounced Harris, if anybody wondered.
)! It was in some ways different though, so it's not like your copying or anything. Good job and keep it up. PM me too when there's more if you don't mind.
) is that you drop the 'humanness' of this story. What I mean by dropping the humanness is this: get rid of all clothes, houses, gardens, mills, carts, markets, and all that stuff. Have Harestin live in a burrow and the crow in a nest. This would be quite hard, especially you having already started the story, but that's why it's just a suggestion. The plot would still work but you'd just have to rewrite some things. This would be hard i know, but i highly suggest you do it. It would separate your story from one of Jacques' even more and would make things more original and interesting.
