Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (good beach reads .txt) 📗

with whatTinspar had said of the trees and their roots rising out ofthe water, Tabitha soon focused back to the task athand.

Tinspar softly whistled a dreary song as he keptthe raft steady; and Tabitha soon fell into thinking ofher friends, and of the blacksmith they’d soon meet.

Old man Will! Tabitha thought with a frayedsense of hope as she fell into a deep sleep. May thespirits find him still wired with life—and maybe thatcrazy little robot, too!

~ CHAPTER VI

~ DOOMSDAY

A soft flutter of snow was falling gently upon thelake of a fishing camp located near a humble village inthe Land of Iron and Anvil.

An older gentleman sat quietly in a small, idlingboat upon the quiet lake, and busied himself tying alarge fly to a fishing line. Lost in his own thoughts, hecalmly hummed to himself; and every so often hesipped from an iron cup, or cupped his hands to hismouth to ward off the cold air.

In the distance, three large mountains loomedhigh into the pale sky: the dormant, volcanic mountainmines. Snow draped their tops like a crisp whitefrosting on three gigantic cakes. Near the bottom ofthese mountains, steam could be seen rising in greatplumes where the iron mining was constantly underway.A number of hard-labored men worked alongside theirrobot counterparts in these lava-broiling mines—it washot and heavy work to be sure; but with the “magic”that had been unearthed in these mountains, it was workthat was well-rewarded.

The magic that had been exorcised from withinthe mines was a magic that so many throughout therealm had adopted very graciously: robot-droids;carefully crafted by the skilled blacksmiths back in thevillage using hammer and anvil—and, of course, themagical iron from the volcanic mines.

As the man cast the fishing line into the water,his thoughts drifted back to the children—his owndaughter, Tabitha, and her friends. They had been gonefar longer than expected on their little escapade to thewilds. Out in the middle of the lake with a fishing polealways seemed to ease his worried mind; but thoseworrisome thoughts always found a way to sneak theirway back in.

They’ll be arriving any moment, he told himself,remembering that he had been a kid once, too; and thathe’d always been a wanderer and explorer. Timing wasnever my most charming quality either; especially whenmy imagination got the better of me…

Then his eyes grew misty as his thoughts fondlydrifted to the memories of his old pal, Ranger, and ofthe good old days when they would both wander far andforever into the wilds of the lands.

I miss you old friend…he thought solemnly.“Sonny!” a shrill voice suddenly called out fromthe far side of the lake, breaking the man’s reverie. Heturned about and could see a woman waving to him.

“Sonny! Come in before you catch a strange bugfrom this cold!” she hollered.

He smiled, feeling a warmth radiating through hisheart every time he laid eyes on her.

Ah, Kelsey…my girl—you’ll never stop bringinglight into my soul… Sonny told himself as he wavedback, acknowledging her.

“Yep! Be right there, sweetie!” he shouted back.

Then, just as Sonny was turning back around, agreat boom broke the chilled air, shattering the worldaround them. Kelsey was knocked to the ground by theearth quaking under her feet. Sonny stared in horror ashe saw the biggest of the great mountains erupting.

In a matter of seconds, the mountain had becomea volcanic fury of madness that plumed into the air; itwas bringing smoke, dust, rocks, and ash high into thesky.

Sonny quickly grabbed the oars and started forthe shore, where Kelsey was now hopping about in apanic. It seemed an eternity getting there; all Sonnycould focus on was the volcano and the workers thathad surely perished in the eruption.

Devils below! Sonny thought with horridsadness.

He rowed the boat harder and faster towardsshore as rocks began pummeling the lake from thedarkening sky. He used all his might to get as far awayas he could from the massive mushroom-like cloud ofblack and gray ash and its impending doom.

“Hurry, Sonny!” Kelsey was screaming to him.“Please hurry!”

Sonny reached the shore just as another eruptionburst through the air—it was the second volcanicmountain. Kelsey shrieked in fear and ran to Sonnywho was just jumping off the boat—they grasped eachother tightly. Without a word spoken, they immediatelymade for an iron shed atop a steep hill, bursting into theshed as the third mountain erupted its deathly howl.

In minutes, the sky had turned black. Thepoisoned fumes from the volcanoes had quicklyblanketed the whole lake, and had soon swept thoughthe village, causing everyone present to fall into a deepand eternal slumber.

In just a matter of hours, the entire Land of Ironand Anvil had been covered in soot and ash. Moltenlava had flowed hard and fast into the lake and thevillage. Many villagers had perished, including all therobot-droids. These robot-droids, of which alwaysremained on low ground to tend to land maintenanceduties, had been short-fused and melted to a liquid andlifeless form by the fiery volcanic bath.

Any villager that had been lucky enough to havebeen on higher ground, or within some sort of hardenedsteel or iron house, was spared—but not entirely saved.

For within the volcanic explosions was theformer sleeping spell of the evil witch—a spell that was“planted,” as it were, into the main mountain’s corefrom the uprooted pumpkin. Jonathon and Haley hadarrived. With the ghosts under a controlling spell of thewitch—and, therefore, acting out of her direct orders—they could then pull the strings of the children to herevery whim.

Thus, the children had dumped the pumpkin andits evil into the volcano’s lava core.

The witch’s devilry had begun.

~ CHAPTER VII

~ SKELETAL TREES and CEMETARY HILLS

Tinspar’s raft approached a narrow and gloomycourse in the river where the roots of the skeletal-liketrees were now poking out of the water in greaternumbers.

Tabitha cringed, and huddled closely to thecenter of the raft for fear of being plucked away by oneof the skeleton roots. Tinspar kept a close fix on theriver, careful to bank left or bank right depending onhow the water carried them along through the eerie rootsystem. He was constantly hunched over,