Land of the Phoenix Part 6

The Mansion

Amid hills and across rivers and, not to mention, acres and acres of forests they trekked. Anne had not worn the right shoes for traveling for hours in untamed wilderness, so she took them off. However, all sorts of unpleasant things lie in untamed countries.

Anne’s feet were constantly bothered by slimy forest leaves and the sharp edges of pine needles. Every so often she would put her shoes back on, only to find that it hurt worse than before. The reason was unknown to her, but she kept switching; shoes to no shoes, no shoes to shoes. Her body was pleading for comfort but not finding it in any way available to it.

Finally the lion-man led them out of the forest to a old, run-down mansion. It resembled a colonial town hall with three gables jutting out from the red roof, three upper floor windows and three lower floor windows aligned perfectly. Remnants of white paint scattered the fake brick walls. The small front porch outside the front door was so rotten that they had to go through the back kitchen door.

Inside the house, the floorboards moaned desperately and the whole house smelled badly of rotting wood. The only safe place to walk was the front sitting room where there was a fairly new looking bed and an old sofa.

“Well,” the lion-ma sighed, “This is my house; we’ll bunk here for the night.” Said the beast as he took two slabs of dried salted meat out of his pack and threw one to Anne. (With amazing accuracy for not even looking at her) She sat on the couch as he sprawled carelessly on the bed on the opposite side of the large room and again they ate in silence.

At first Anne hated the dark, musty house but checked herself and decided to love it.

“I love how the floorboards creak; it makes the house feel haunted!”

The beast frowned and wondered how she could possibly like that.

“And, this couch is so squishy and comfy!”

The beast knew for a fact that it wasn’t. As surprised as it was however, he found himself liking her positive outlook. He liked how she did not fight back at being taken to the Sorceress and how she somehow loved his nasty house. It was definitely not the way a witch was supposed to act.

After eating, they both became sleepy and the lion-man was just about to drift asleep when he got a shiver and started to pull the blankets over him. Then, he remembered Anne; he thought about giving her the blanket but then remembered how lumpy the sofa was. He got up and did something he never dreamed he would do in his entire life.

“Um…you-you can sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep there.” The world shifted again like a tiny earthquake, making the walls tremble dangerously. Anne looked up amazed. She couldn’t see him very well because the room was too dark but when he started walking over she knew he was serious.

The bed was indeed more comfortable then the couch and the place where the lion-man was sitting was still warm. Soon, she fell into a happy sleep; the lion-man didn’t feel too bad himself either. He fell asleep quickly despite the lumps in the sofa, knowing that he made Anne happy.

***
The sun rose higher and higher but neither Anne nor the lion-man stirred because the poor sun, no matter how hard it tried, could hardly penetrate the dark rotten house. But outside nearby animals rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and greeted the sunlight.

A group of creatures sensed a change in their environment. The crumbling house they lived around was inhabited once again. But, not only had its owner returned but he brought someone else in with him. However, these observing creatures knew that the lion-man would never allow visitors.

They then assumed that this creature he brought into his house must be really unique and special. But, why should the lion-man get to have this special creature and not them?

“This new creature should be identified and captured,” said the leader of the creatures, “It must be taken to the Sorceress for distributing; the man lion has no right to keep it!”

Fear of the lion-man kept them from even thinking of entering the house. So they scurried up the walls of the mansion and peered through cracks with their large round yellow eyes.

Finally, Anne opened her eyes with the strange feeling of being watched. In an instant, however, she brushed that feeling away telling herself it was only the creepy old house that made her afraid.

She looked over to the couch where the lion-man was sleeping. There he was facing her; something urged her to get up. She walked barefoot towards him to get a good look at his face. The morning light hardly penetrated the musty air in the house so Anne had to stand directly over him to see. She gasped at what she saw then quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. But, she was too late; the lion-man awoke from a deep sleep and instantly realized what she was doing. He slowly stood up with a grim expression and looked down at her.

He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He had wavy strawberry blonde hair that almost completely covered his blue eyes. His eyes were deep and full of meaning almost as if they had a personality of their own. She was very astonished a his appearance, she had always imagined him to be more animal than man

At first the lion-man was angry at her. He had started to think, and even hope, that maybe she wasn’t a witch after all. But after waking up to find her standing so close him he thought that she was trying to put a spell on him in his sleep. His first impulse was to slap her or push her away but, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He saw the fear and surprise in her eyes that made him want to punish himself for being so big and hairy.

Finally, he said to her, “What were you doing? Were you putting a spell on me?”

“No, no! I wasn’t I-I promise!” she said desperately on her own behalf. “I don’t know how to cast any spells!”

“Then, what were you doing?”

“I’m sorry! I…I…”

He knew, he just knew, that she was a witch! One who was going to try to bring feeling back, but he didn’t want them, nobody wants feelings!

“You tell me the truth, witch!” he snarled so fiercely that Anne burst out crying. He immediately regretted yelling as he watched her cry.

Never had he seen anyone cry before and to see her in that strange condition made his insides tie themselves in knots again. He found himself wanting to hold her and make everything better but, instead he backed away from her.

“Stop it!” he cried almost in anguish. Anne gulped for air and tried to stop crying but the tears kept coming. The lion-man retreated towards the door.

“You leave me alone with your feelings!” He said as he grabbed his pack, “I don’t want them!”

With that he left and slammed the door behind him, nearly knocking it from its rusty hinges.

“Don’t-don’t leave me here...” She said in an unintentional whisper as she rushed to the door. But, he was gone. She broke down and cried on the doorstep.