The Veil part 1

Ch. 1



It was a cold autumn night, there was a wind that blew strong, beating on the town of Churchill. The skies were a brilliant shade of blue and the stars were hidden under the dense gray clouds. There was an eerie silence over the town and anybody with common sense knew it was foolish to go out into the deserted streets this late at night. The air sang with songs of a foreboding fate.
"The monsters would get you," teased the old ladies in town to the small children who complained about being locked in all night, but even those old ladies knew better than to set foot outside their house after dark.
"Vampires," others would say shivering at the thought.
"No werewolves," teased others.
"Worse than either of those," the elders would say to a scared populace. "The hooded ones."
"What are the hooded ones?" the little children would ask.
"Oh dear children," the elder would say. "They are the ones that fear the day and at night they would ride through towns such as ours and suck out the soul of any poor wanderer on the streets."
"Why elder," a brave kid would ask.
'Because they are born of the dark veil and that is what they do," the elder would reply.
"What's the dark veil," another brave child would ask, perhaps the bravest of them all for the answer to that question would make even the bravest man shiver in fear.
The elder would turn to the children with his ancient eyes wide and say "My dear children the veil is the root to all evils, and has grown tenfold since my generation, it is best you do not even utter its name unless you want to be overcome by it.
At this the children would turn around and cry in fear to their mothers.
This happened every time and this cold night was no exception except the little girl who asked this question though did not turn around and cry to her mother, she had none, and even if she did this girl was considered weird by the citizens of this town, her name was Ivy Lionel and she turned to the elders with her wide purple eyes and asked "Why hasn't anybody destroyed this veil."
The elder named McCloud turned this girl with an expression parallel to fear and replied "Countless have tried, but none have been successful."
"Why not?" Ivy asked.
"The veil has engulfed them and they have died," the elder McCloud said.
"Can anyone destroy this veil?" asked Ivy.
"One can only hope dear child," replied the elder McCloud turning his back on this young a foolish girl.

Ch 2

On a cold dreary winter night ten years later, that same young girl Ivy sat staring out the old, beaten up window of the orphans' home. Ivy sat with her head on her arms and her thick dark black hair was tied in a bun, like all other elder orphan girls had to wear it. Her purple eyes looked tired with deep circles under them, and her face was pale and skinny, as she had just recovered from an ailment the winter always brings. Her left palm had a birthmark, which others called a scar of a triangle. She had a delicate face, one that showed her sorrow over the years, she was considered extremely beautiful much to the envy of the other orphan girls. She knew no boy in their right mind would fall in love with her from her strange ways, but nonetheless she was the most beautiful girl in the orphanage, if not the town. She had always been the odd one out and never had much friends. Ivy hated the nighttime, it was the only time of day she was restricted to the place she hated the most, the orphanage.
Ivy loved the outside, she had many friends out there, the animals loved her and followed her as she did her daily chores, the wind danced with her breaking the mandatory bun she wore. The sun shone on her so that even in the cold winter she was warm. The snow fell upon her as if she were part of the earth itself. Ivy dreaded the sunset for it brought her back to the world of loneliness, ridicule, and torture.
Ivy stared out the window hoping to see a sign of the fabled hooded ones the long gone elder spoke of ten years ago. Ivy now fifteen thought for sure it was this so called beast that had killed her parents.
The elder McCloud was said to have gone out one night when an old lady in the village was sick, and it was said that very night a hooded one came into the village and had sucked out the old man's soul. In the morning the villagers heard a scream from a woman leaving her house, she had found a cold and limp elder McCloud laying on her front porch. Ivy being Ivy left the orphanage in a rush that morning to see the lifeless body of the elder that had warned her about the hooded ones.
"What a pity," said an elder who left her house to see the fallen McCloud. "He was so wise."
Ivy stared at the body and saw an expression of fear and pain stretched across McCloud's face. Ivy face was pale when she saw it and she cried. Her tears were heard by the animals around her and she was soon surrounded by the village cats.
"Go away girl," the elder woman had said to her when she saw all the filthy cats around her, "Your just like them."
Ivy who had still been crying ran away with the cats following her. That was the second time Ivy saw death, the first time was her parents.
Now Ivy wished to see the beast that had taken the elder and her parents both, but could not. Ivy was so frustrated.
She turned away from the window and the room behind her was dark, dusty, and very bleak. The elder orphan girls such as herself were already fast asleep leaving Ivy in the dark lonely shadow as she always was.
Ivy sighed as she slipped into her hard and stiff cot she had slept in her whole life. Sleep overcame her, it was a peaceful sleep filled with animals and a joy she had barely known, that of having loving parents.
"Wake up," yelled the scratchy and cold voice of the orphanage mother Melinda. She hit a pot with a spoon sending the girls flying from their cots in hurry to get ready and down to breakfast. Ivy was the last to rise and she sluggishly put on her standard gray dress, stockings, and shoes. She masterfully tied her hair into a bun and looked at her reflection in the looking glass on the wall.
"It figures," she said sullenly. Her purple eyes were so bright and noticeable, no one else in the town, or even this world as she knew it had purple eyes, it is said not even her parents had purple eyes. They were a deep shade of violet and were large, and they dominated her pale and fragile looking face. She looked at her left palm with the scar, it looked as if it had been burned into her hand, but Ivy never remembered being burned and had thought it to be a very strange birthmark.
Ivy turned from her reflection and headed down the fragile old stairs down the dim hallway lit by only one worn candle. In the dining room the girls sat laughing and talking at a very long table. There were dishes of porridge in front of them and cups of water. Ivy found the last empty chair at the end of the table. She sat staring at the cold cup of porridge in disgust. She picked up a spoon and began trying to force it down. Every morning it was the same, nothing but stale old porridge, but it was food and for that Ivy was great full.
"Oh look its Ivy," said a tall blonde girl with her face in a sneer. "Late again I see."
"What's it to you?" retorted Ivy taking a sip of her water.
"I wonder how Miss. Melinda will take that news?" wondered the girl with a nasty look on her face. She had blue eyes and a face tainted with her cruelty. She too was an orphan, but she was Melinda's favorite. Her name was Isabella and her parents died in a fire.
"I truly do not have the faintest care how Miss. Melinda takes the news," said Ivy looking away. "I have never cared what Miss. Melinda thought of me, and I have never cared how you have thought of me."
"Humph," sneered Isabella turning away from Ivy.
Ivy gave a quiet laugh and returned to eating her food. She felt a sneeze coming on and quickly put down her spoon. She grabbed her napkin.
"ACHOO," sneezed Ivy, and as she sneezed the water in every cup on the table shot out of the glass and hit most of the girls in their face.
"AHH," they screamed rushing for their napkins.
"Witch," Isabella shouted at Ivy as she wiped her soaked face.
Ivy sniffed and saw Miss. Melinda walk toward her. "HOW DARE YOU!" she shouted at Ivy.
"I'm sorry I didn't intend for that to happen," replied Ivy not looking at Miss. Melinda. Ivy was prone to these types of accidents that could not be explained rationally.
Miss. Melinda had her gray hair in a bun like the girls and wore a dark black dress as if she planned to go to a funeral. She had many wrinkles and gray eyes. She was tall and lanky.
"APOLOGIES WILL NOT DO THIS TIME GIRL!" yelled Miss. Melinda. "YOU WILL GET BATHROOM DUTY AND THAT'S FINAL."
"Whatever," Ivy said jumping up from the table, she was used to bathroom duty, but she would do it at night when there was nothing else to do anyway. Ivy left to the sound of Isabella's haughty laughs.
Ivy left the orphanage in a hurry outside waited three cats and a rabbit, an odd pair.
Ivy skipped along to an old rickety house. It had its window's boarded up and the wood was peeling. As an orphan the girls were required to help around the village in order to pay their dues. Ivy got stuck with the job no one else wanted, taking care of old lady Susan.
Ivy knocked on the door then picked up the lone white rabbit. The three cats circled around her legs purring intently.
"Who's there?" grunted the old lady from inside.
"Ivy Lionel Miss. Susan," replied Ivy in her sweet voice. "You're late," Susan grunted as she opened up the door. She was a short woman with wild gray hair and wild green eyes to match. In the town she was considered batty or senile. She was fat and had more wrinkles than Ivy could count.
Miss. Susan though as crazy and mean as she was, was Ivy's only human friend and Miss. Susan even though she'd never admit it publicly loved Ivy.
"Morning Miss. Susan," Ivy said as she dropped the rabbit by the door and the cats sat down by it. "I see you haven't done much to the place."
"'Course not," replied Susan. "That's why I have you."
"Yes ma'am," replied Ivy as she began to dust the furniture.
"So have you talked to any more animals lately girl?" asked the old lady as she say down in her old rocking chair.
"Not really," said Ivy. It was a secret between old lady Susan and Ivy that Ivy could talk to animals. "I've been too sick."
"I see," muttered the old lady. "Call that rabbit over here would you?"
"Yes of course," Ivy said. Ivy closed her eyes and opened her mind to where only the white rabbit could hear her. "Hello my friend what is your name?"
"Koto," replied the rabbit proudly.
"Would you come to me?" asked Ivy.
"Of course," said Koto the rabbit bouncing merrily to in front of Ivy.
"You've gotten better girl," smiled the old lady.
"Thank you Miss. Susan," smiled Ivy. Susan was the only one to ever compliment Ivy.
"You've got quite some gift, when I was young I was an avid archer," reminisced Susan. "Have you ever tried archery girl?"
"No ma'am there are no bows at the orphanage," replied Ivy finishing her sweeping with Koto on her head.
"Well then we shall try it now," said Susan abruptly getting up from her chair and grabbing Ivy by her dress collar.
"What?" asked Ivy. "I have to finish cleaning."
"Nonsense archery is way more important than cleaning girl," said Susan grabbing a case out of her closet and headed through the back door with Ivy.
In the back as Ivy expected was an unkempt yard with weeds everywhere. There was a wooden fence with a bullseye on it.
"This is where I continue my archery," said Susan. "I don't wanna get rusty."
"I see," said Ivy watching Susan unpack her bow. She was agile in her old age and she aimed her bow at the target and was dead on without much thought to it.
"You try girl," said Susan handing her, her ancient bow. It was made of a strange wood not to soft or to hard, it felt right in Ivy's hands.
Ivy took a stance that felt right to her aiming the bow at the target.
"That's a perfect stance," complimented Susan. "Are you sure you've never used a bow before."
"I'm sure," replied Ivy. She held the bow to the target with an arrow in place. This all felt so natural. Ivy pulled back on the string and released the bow. It was a bullseye.
"Hmm, luck," said Susan. "Again."
Ivy took another arrow and backed up some to see if she could make the bullseye from far away. Ivy pulled back and it was another bullseye. Arrow after arrow, it hit the bullseye. Susan had a smile on her face, one of a mother would have to her successful child.
"You are better than even I," said Susan pulling out the arrows from the target.
"No, I can't be, you're amazing," blushed Ivy.
"No girl you are better," said Susan bluntly. "No use arguing.Take that bow with you when you leave."
"No its yours," said Ivy.
"I am old, and I have no use of it, you may want need it one day," said the old lady.
"If you truly want me to have it," said Ivy bowing with her gratitude.
"Off with you now then its nearly noon," said Susan waving her wrinkly hands.
"Of course," said Ivy skipping through Susan's worn back gate. "See you tomorrow then."
"Whatever," Susan said going back into her house.
Ivy put the case of the bow and arrows on her back, and being followed by Koto and the cats Ivy made her way merrily back to the orphanage.
"Bye dear friends," Ivy said as she got to the orphanage's front door.
"Bye Miss. Ivy," they all replied as they turned to go and search for lunch.
Ivy walked into the door to find the orphanage as it always was, boring and drab. Everyone was already in the dining room eating their bread and cheese. Ivy hurried to her dormitory to place her bow and arrow in her draw of belongings. She took her lock she had made years ago and locked the trunks door.
After Ivy headed back down the stairs to the dining room. The girls were eating and laughing and talking nonstop. Ivy sat in her usual edge seat and ate her lunch in silence. She hated the orphanage.
"Oh princess Ivy has decided to join us," sneered Miss. Melinda who walked over. "Your late and do not deserve lunch."
"So," replied Ivy taking a bite of her stale bread.
"Do not talk back to your superior," retorted Miss. Melinda crossly. "No lunch for you go."
Ivy shrugged and threw down her bread and left the dining room with not so much as a pout. Isabella laughed as Ivy left.
It was Ivy's day to sweep so with a musty old broom Ivy got to work. By midafternoon the house had little dust on its floors and when Ivy was done she left the orphanage in a hurry. She was done until that night.
"Dears where are you," called Ivy from the front door. At that dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, birds, and lizards flocked from their hiding places with a cry of relief.
"What took you so long Ivy?" asked the first dog that ran to her.
"I'm sorry dear I had chores to do you know," Ivy stated dropping to the ground on all fours following the animals to the back streets of the town.
"We know, but still we all hate waiting," said a fat gray cat.
"Look at that girl crawling with those animals," said a disgusted woman who looked down at Ivy and those animals as they passed the main street.
"Don't mind her," said another woman. "That's just the little weird orphan."
"Witch," muttered the woman.
Ivy didn't hear either of the women's words, she was completely engulfed by the speech of the animals, and how she loved them. They at the very least understood her and respected her. They were her friends and frankly they were better friends than people could ever be.
Ivy crawled into the back alley where the stench of garbage reeked. This was a place no normal human would ever come to, Ivy was no normal human by their standards. It was quiet and the animals loved it.
"Dear friends what shall we do today?" asked Ivy.
"Play," they all chorused in.
"Play what?" asked Ivy.
"We should run," said a rabbit. "Run and jump over this fence and be free of this cursed town."
"I would love that," dreamed Ivy. "But I could not leave this town where would I go."
"We would be free," said a dog. "Does it matter?"
"No, no I suppose not," sighed Ivy. "I can't leave though, I am tied down to this city, they would never let an orphan like me just leave. The gate men would just laugh."
"You are not a human like the rest of them you are of the peoples, you are one of us," said a cat. "You do not belong here with these humans that ridicule you and call a witch, or an animal."
"I know, but I'm forbidden to leave unless I am betrothed and no sane man would ever want to wed me," sighed Ivy.
The animals leaned on Ivy's knees and the cats purred soothingly. They with a few pats from Ivy fell asleep. As soon as the world settled into a cozy and lonely afternoon elsewhere in the Kingdom of Rose a young boy traveled to find her.