90

Once the tea was brewing, Les sat at broken down table top set up on the floor. As Gunther busied himself around the kitchen, Les knew that she would normally have pondered how he, such a small mouse, could function and do what he did. But right now, she thought about what the order had told her, and whether or not she should speak of it with Gunther. They had known him after all. As she was choosing her words to begin again, Gunther spoke first.
"I take it you've met the order then." Les snapped to attention. "Well, at least some of them. They really do mean well, but they put their mission above everything else. It gets quite tiring at times." He paused climbed up to open a cupboard. She watched as he scooped sugar out of a dish and expertly dropped it into the cups below him. "I'm not sure they would have told you, but I was once a member. That is until I was changed into a mouse. They saw the explosion of light and assumed I'd died, and I let them. And to answer your question, No. I do not know that Lord Moore, but I did know one."


89

"So he conjured an image of someone and it looked like you? Why would he need to find you?"
"I'm not sure." She paused. "I think he said something about 'You shall not defeat me.' Who? What? Why?..." Les couldn't' find words to say next. She was confused, then she thought of Grant and all of the events which had happened to her and what they spoke of. Could this be related to what they had spoke of? Was that the great evil guy she was supposed to be trained up to defeat? "Have you heard of a Lord Velimir Grant Moore?" Gunther looked up and studied her face. Then invited her inside and offered to make tea to calm her nerves. Reassuring her that the house was now as safe as it had been before today's events.  

88

Her terror began to fade until she heard the faint whisper. She held her breath, afraid that something else bad had appeared near her. Then the small voice called her name, and she saw Gunther out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and stared at him wide eyed. He crept closer to her and smiled faintly.
"Are you alright?" Les blinked. "You're not hurt, are you? How much of that did you see?"
"Who was that?" Was Les' reply.
"I'm not sure, the robe and hood obscured their face. The only thing I do know is they weilded a powerful magic, and were here lookign for something or someone. Did you hear or see what? He spoke so strangely." The mouse held his chin in his small hands as he thought out loud and questioned her. "I didn't have the best vantage, trying to flee the house in case he was going to destroy it. I'm sue he didn't see me. Did he see you?" Les was torn on how to answer that.
"Yes." He looked shocked, but before he could comment, she went on. "No. I mean, I don't know. If he saw what I saw, then he saw me, just not me. It was like version of me, or a copy..." She trailed off as she thought about what she had seen.


87

Les, frightened, pulled herself back behind the tree abruptly. The Robed man started laughing a terrible laugh and Les heard clearly what he said next. "I have you now precious! You shall not defeat me!" As he cackeled out in seeming victory, A bright light flashed all around her. When it was gone, all noise had ceased and when she looked again, the man had vanished. Full of fear, dread, and wonder at what she had seen, Les wanted to run away from this place and forget what had happened. But when she stood, her legs failed her, turned to jelly in her terrror and she fell. She lay there on the ground shaking, all of her limbs numb. Her mind blank. Tears streamed down teh sides of her face even though she was not crying as she staried up at the treetops. After some time, she heard a small whisper.

86

Satisfied that she hadn't been seen, Les did her best to remain unseen behind the tree as concentrated. Still she could not understand what was being said and shouted. Nor could she comprehend why this figure would be shouting at the cottage in the first place. From this better vantage though, the sounds the figure made were full of hissing and sounded otherworldly to Les, even though, she was sure it wasn't a foreign tongue. All of a sudden, the figure pulled something long from inside it's robes and it manifested into a long staff. It glowed purple with a strange light, essence and energy as it grew and the figure, which seemed to be a man, pointed it towards the cottage. A beam of blue/black light shot towards the dilapidated doorway. After a moment, a shadowing figure emerged from within. Les clasped her hand over her mouth to keep her gasp of shock from being heard. The shadowy figure which emerged, looked exactly like her.

85

The next morning, life went on as normal. So after her morning chores, Les went out to the woods as she usually would. She made her way out towards the old cottage, lost in thought. As she drew closer, her thoughts were interrupted by shouts that did not sound at all friendly. Les slowed her pace and crouched down, so as to not be seen. Hidden behind a bush, she observed a foray just in front of her destination. A tall figure dressed in purple and black robes was shouting at the house in words which she didn't quite understand. Not sure if the shouter was speaking her own language or not, Les pressed in closer to try and listen more clearly.
Softly, Les tried to step closer without being seen, and creep behind another hiding place in better hearing range. Her heart raced and she told herself she should probably go and leave this ordeal behind her. As fast as she could, she darted behind a large tree and listened more intently.