h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*She kneels before him and says just one word*


Why?


*looking at him with tears in her eyes*

*Robel giggles and then suddenly the smile drops from his face*

WHY...? WHY..?

I'll tell you why....

*He launches the bottle towards the fireplace, shattering it against the bricks and making the fire flare with a bright orange light*

YOU TRY BEING ALONE FOR YEAR AFTER YEAR.
CONSTANTLY FIGHTING. WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR...
AND NO ONE. NO ONE EVEN WONDERED WHETHER I WAS ALIVE.

*Robel slumps back down on his stool and begins to weep*

Sometimes the booze was the only thing that could get me through the night...

*Lil pulls him to her and rocks him gently*


ssshh Rob. ... I have always known you were safe.....


... I have always felt you here *points to her heart*.... I have always known you were safe and alive....



*continues rocking him in her arms*

*Robel cuddles in close to Lil, he begins to weep softly as she cradles him in her arms*

You don't know how hard it has been..

*sniff*

How much death and slaughter I have seen

*sniff*

There was no other choice

*Memories come flooding back to her... She can't reveal them to him.*


*She knows he would never understand*


... Yes Rob, I remember... I worked along side you too... *closes her eyes*


*She can't tell him what she has seen in more recent times*

*She rocks him gently in her arms*

*Robel gently sobs in Lil's arms until the strain of years of loneliness catches up with him and he falls queitly to sleep*

*He awakens what seems like days later, his clothes arrayed neatly at the side of the bed*



*The smell of freshly cooked bacon and sausages greets him as he sits up and slides himself out of bed, he looks to the bedside and finds a tray filled with food and a large pitcher of crystal clear water. Suddenly his headache hits him and he instinctivly reaches for his hip flask to take away the pain*



*With the knowledge that no matter what he does he is very unlikly to find anything other than water to drink he tentativly begins to eat. All to soon he realises the plate is empty and so is his stomach*

Hmmm I wonder where that Tin Servant got to..
OI MINTY. erm MINDY... Where are you, you godforsaken bag of bolts...

*Receiving no reply Robel dresses and goes on a hunt for more food. As he passes Lil's quaters he pauses, raising his hand to knock, the memories of the night before flood into his mind and colour flares in his cheeks. He decides better and instead heads to the kitchens*

Lil sits at the window, looking out at what is left of the orchard.

She is remembering another time and place.... when she first met Granny and Robel.....


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


She bearly had any control over her shapeshifting.... Robel, totally distrusted her. He would have destroyed her as the animal she appeared to be, convinced it was witchcraft.

As head of the village Granny argued with him and others. All Lil could do was watch and listen as these strangers decided her fate. They were seated in a long room with bare walls, wooden floor and thatched roof. It appeared to be some sort of court room and Lil was frightened at all these hostile people staring at her.

Her thoughts began to wander when she became aware of the hush inside the room and the look of fury on Robel's face. She felt rough hands pulling her to her feet and dragging her from the room, she had no idea what has just taken place and was uncertain what was going to happen next.

She was pushed into another room and the door locked behind her. Lil paced the room, taking in the small table and a chair in the far left corner and a bed on the opposite wall. A small shelf with a washbasin, water jug and cup. Her eyes stared about the room, her heart beating rapidly and as her eyes raised to take in the small barred window, her soul howled as she panicked at her confinement.

The wolf paced the floor and scratched at the door until her paws bled. Whining, panting heavily, she sniffed at the beings on the other side of the barrier that was stopping her from leaving.

"Fear and Danger!! *sniff* Fear and Danger!!" Her instincts warning her of the preditors on the other side of the barrier!

Suddenly!.. Three men with knives are standing inside the room. She scrambled beneath the table, but they were determined. She whined and showed her soft belly and still they came!

The table and chair were thrown aside, she leapt for the gap and there was a scream as deep heat runs through her belly. She heard a man roaring orders angrily as she fell to the floor.

Someone was talking quietly to her... Lil opened her eyes and looked at Robel as he cradled her gently in his arms.

As the pain washed over her, she accepted the darkness as it enclosed her.......

~~~~

*She looks towards the old orchard once more*..


Stupid woman.. you can't let your past keep pulling you back. Where is Robel now? It is too quiet </>


MINOS!!!... Where are you? Have you seen my useless brother this morning??

*nothing stirs*

MINOS?

*opens her bedroom door.. and she can feel the difference*

NO!.. Robel.. you can't have!!... *she runs upstairs to Cara's old room*



He's taken it.. HE HAS!!.. HE'S TAKEN CARA'S SPELL BOOK!!!..



*Minos and the enchantments in the Tower are gone.. Lil can only use her untamed natural instinct and the books in the library to help her from now on*


*She picks up a discarded wine bottle and throws it in disgust!*

HOW MANY DRINKS WILL THAT BOOK BUY YOU.. DEAR BROTHER!!??


*Storms back down the stairs, into her workshop and begins to learn her art all over again*

*She paces up and down her workshop in a rage*

*Her arm sweeps along one work bench and knocks everything in her path to the floor!*


WHY THAT!!???.. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE THAT!!.. YOU COULD HAVE HAD ANYTHING ELSE.. EXCEPT THAT!!!

*Her voice echoes through the tower... nothing answers her back*

Hi!

I just quickly post here so I don't forget about it tomorrow. (yes, I could simply subscribe, but that feels like spying)

Welcome on board.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1772809?thread=1045491&post=11552559#p11552559