The days seemed to go by fast and,
soon enough, Mrs Winwood had gathered bits
and bobs for the youngsters to take with them
on their journey to the Academy. Tyler, Victor
and Casey wouldn’t be returning for a while,
so she stuffed their bags with stuff that Casey
had never seen before or had knowledge of
their usages.
Mrs Winwood had spent the last few
weeks knitting and gaining clothes, and on the
last few days cooked some of the most
glorious meals one could ever imagine—roast
meat, freshly baked slices of bread, sweet
cakes and biscuits—and she took care to
package up as much as possible into little
boxes that were mostly portable for them to
take along the journey.
“This should be plenty to keep you all
going for a while!” Victor grinned. Casey
smiled. Tyler groaned with embarrassment.
The last day in Winchester arrived.
Casey couldn’t sleep that night. It was early in
the morning when she was getting sleep, when
she heard the door from the next room open.
Casey opened the door of her room slightly
and saw that Victor rose early too. He entered
the bathroom at the door at the end of the
corridor. Casey went down the stairs and
opened the main door. It was peaceful
outside, she closed the door behind her and
went on a brisk walk in the woodland that sat
beside the Winwood Residence before the
departure.
The dawn brought a gentle breeze that
sang through the wild trees, and blackbirds
and ravens screeched in chorus to greet the
early sun that trickled through the overhead
canopy like liquid gold. Along the thicket
floor, squirrels, rabbits, and hedgehogs
snuffed about in the search of food. Casey
traipsed along a path unkempt with old leaves
and fallen branches. She sighed and breathed
in deep the morning air, savouring the
freedom she felt in such a place. She took a
seat by a large oak that stretched far above
her, and took in her surroundings, munching on one of the bread rolls that Mrs Windwood
had put in her bag.
It didn’t take long before the
surrounding nature grew comfortable with
her presence, and soon enough a small
chipmunk crept up alongside her, staring
inquisitive and curious. Casey looked back at it
kindly. Breaking a piece of bread off from her
roll, she extended her hand slowly into its
vicinity. The brown-grey animal cautiously
sniffed from afar for a while but ran away,
disappearing behind a log.
“I don’t think he likes you,” Victor
said, sitting next to Casey, taking a bite of his
bread.
“You followed me.”
“I thought you’d be here.”
“Why don’t you try it?” Casey said,
finishing her bread when the chubby fellow
appeared again at the top of the log.
The chipmunk came closer to him,
sniffing the piece of bread and eventually
nibbled at the bread in Victor’s fingers.
Eventually, it opened its mouth wide enough
to take the whole share from Victor’s hand and scurried off a few feet to enjoy it in
privacy.
Victor and Casey laughed. “I’m glad
you enjoy it too,” he said as he stood up and
Casey joined him. “We need to go now, friend,
but here you go.” Victor placed the rest of the
roll on the forest floor. “Take care, little one,”
Casey told the chipmunk as they started
walking back towards the house. Casey looked
back to the oak where Victor had sat. Both
the chipmunk and the bread had disappeared.
When Casey and Victor got back,
Tyler was already up, and busy getting his
cases ready as Mrs Winwood made a full
English breakfast for them; smoked sausages,
strips of black pudding and bacon, boiled
potatoes, topped off with an excessive pot of
tea and a mountain of bread that sat in the
middle of the table for them all. It was
sublime, and it woke Casey up properly after
eating it. She hadn’t realised how hungry she
was until she had wolfed down two platefuls,
and when she finished, she felt about ready to
fall asleep from overeating.
An hour later, horses trotted up along
the outside of the cottage, and Mrs Winwood rushed about the house to make sure that
everyone had everything that they needed for
their long journey ahead. She had heard
Tyler's parents talk about how they would be
safer this way than by car or train.
“I put some extra blankets in your
cases in case you are cold on the journey or if
the Academy doesn’t give you enough
bedsheets, and I made sure that you all have
some reading material for your journey
because it will bore sitting in a carriage for so
long, and in case you get hungry remember
there’s plenty of cooked meat and vegetables
for you in the boxes I made up for you, and if
you feel—”
“Ma, it’s okay!” assured Tyler to his
mother, giving her a big hug. She kissed him
on the cheek, much to his hesitation, and
hugged Casey and Victor as they stepped into
the carriage. It was small inside, but sizable
enough to be comfortable.
“Stay safe, children! Write to me when
you arrive!” called out Mrs Winwood, almost
in tears. They smiled and waved back as the
carriage carried them off toward the north
road. Tyler’s father was not present that morning. Casey thought maybe he was mad at
Tyler for what happened.
A few hours passed, and Victor was
already yawning. Casey felt hesitant to say that
the entire journey would feel like getting
cooked by the midday sun inside of the
carriage. It brought memories of her
grandparents and wasn’t a good joke to make,
anyway.
“Maybe I’ll try one of those books
your mum gave us,” he told Tyler as he
reached for his backpack, unbuttoning it
open.
“I think she put them in the other
bags—Ah!” Casey yelped in terror as a small
creature jumped out of Victor’s bag. It was the
chipmunk from the woods. It looked
inquisitively around the inside of the carriage,
eyeing everyone carefully one at a time before
looking up to Victor and settling on his lap.
“Oh!” Victor wasn’t quite sure what to
do with it, but it seemed most content beside
him. “I suppose you can stay with me for a
while if you want.” It seemed to make a small
purring noise as it curled into a more
comfortable position and fell sound asleep.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” joked
Tyler, looking a little more closely at the
chipmunk. “What are you going to call it?”
“Call it?”
“Yeah. What name?” Victor hadn’t
even considered for a second about keeping it.
His voice staggered into a sentence.
“I-I hadn’t thought about it at all. I
don’t think I’ll be able to keep him.” “Her,”
Casey finally said, having regained her
courage. “That’s a girl. Female chipmunks are
smaller than males.” Victor thought that
considering Casey’s life in the countryside, she
had probably seen a lot of chipmunks in her
time. “Oh, okay. I’m not sure what I’ll call her.
What about... Carrot?” he suggested. Tyler
burst out into laughter.
“Carrot?! You must be joking! That’s
so silly.”
“I think it’s cute,” said Casey, looking
a little closer at the sleeping chipmunk.
“Little Carrot.” She grinned, and Tyler
went quiet.
“You’re lucky. I was considering
getting one as a familiar, but I heard from my
grand—” Casey paused and continued, “... grandmother, that familiars choose their own
master.” Victor smiled, looking down at
Carrot, and let a finger lightly stroke her fur.
Casey leaned back heavily against the
window. She gazed at the colourful fields, and
a thought came to her almost instantly.
If only life were so easy, one could be like a
chipmunk and just eat and sleep all day.
A dark fantasy where the lives of nine people meet in the midst of an interplanetary battle between wizards and alien deities set in the Edwardian Era.
Note: This story is an extended preview of the actual novel, "Warlocks & Sorceresses: The Timeless Grimoire". The original novel was completed and published in digital and paperback print edition in April 30, 2021.
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