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

When she had reached the pillars, Tabithastopped and stood very still—watching and waiting.The only sound was that of the cold wind howling inthe deep of the canyon below her. She shivered andcupped her hands to her mouth to ward off some of thechill. The object continued to move eerily and silentlyalong the rail.

Suddenly a deep growl issued forth behindTabitha, causing her heart to leap into her throat.Paralyzed with fear, it took her a few moments to turnabout to the source of the sound. As she did, she couldsee Stella popping her head out from under a tarp thathad been laid out over the wagon cart in case of rain.

And then it dawned on her: the object movingabout on the stone rail had to be the lonely sorceress’sspirit!

Tabitha kept her gaze fixed on Stella for amoment, fearful to turn back around, but also spookedby how the cat was acting. Stella’s eyes were as wideas ever and focused not at Tabitha, but at the placewhere the spirit was lingering. Stella started to let out alow moan, and crawled forward, her back hunched lowand the hairs on her back raised high.

Stella sees the spirit! Tabitha told herself.

And then two red eye-lights beamed their littlerays of light towards the spirit’s area, startling Tabithaand the cat. Tabitha looked at Anvil and saw its eyeszooming in and out from its iron-cast body.

Anvil can see the sorceress’s spirit, too!

With a deep breath to try and calm her nerves,Tabitha turned around to face the spirit. There, dancingin the fog on the edge of the railing, the spirit wasglowing in a faded, bluish hue. Her eyes were dazzling;they had the color of amber and they pierced straightinto Tabitha’s own eyes.

“Come closer, young child; do not be afraid,” thespirit spoke in a lullaby tone of voice. “I was onlywandering this new dawn and happened upon you andyour guests.” The spirit motioned her hand towards theothers that were still asleep. “I was wondering whythose that are now dead wander it, too?”

Tabitha stared at her; spellbound by her presence,and slightly confused at her question.

“Are—are you the sorceress spirit?” Tabithaasked, a bit nervous. “We came looking for you…if—ifyou are her…”

The spirit shifted its place, smiled at Tabitha’sfrown and the lost look on her face. “I am, youngmiss,” she said with a graceful bow.

She then moved closer to Tabitha, her fluidghostly appearance making a colorful flow of blue andpurple vapor-like mist; and yet her form was indeed thatof a beautiful, young woman.

“Again, I wonder—why the dead would bewandering about this valley of gloom? And why belooking for someone like me?”

“What—what do you mean, dead?” Tabithasputtered. “We are not dead; we are very much here,and very much alive!” Tabitha patted herself whilestaring into the sorceress’s eyes—an attempt to showthe spirit that she was indeed real, and full of life. “Yousee! I am here, and we are not at all dead!”

The sorceress then frowned herself, and movedcloser; she came within a few feet of Tabitha.

“Well, as you can well tell, you’re soul is not freelike me!” she said with a delightful swirl through thefogged air. “My soul has been freed from my earthlybody after it was released, due to a vile poison from anold and dark witch.”

“Then you are who we seek!” Tabitha quipped.“I was told about you and what happened from thatdirty witch!”

The sorceress paused and tilted her head; her red,transparent hair drooping low over her shoulders.

“Dirty?” she pondered. “Hmm…yes, I guess onecould say that. But the funny thing is, my dear, is thatlittle did she know that when she poisoned me, that shewas actually releasing my soul to life! And she hadpoisoned me only because I had come to accept the newmagic—like that I see your party has with you,” shewaved towards Anvil, “as another form of magic to beblessed with!”

Tabitha stepped back and sat down upon a largestone. Anvil whirled over towards her and bleeped afew times; his eyes leveled with Tabitha’s own.

“But your soul,” the sorceress continued, nowwatching Anvil with a whimsical gaze, “well, it is onlytrapped in that body you wearthat shrine if youwill—somewhat like this here robot…”

She glided up to Anvil, motioning her transparenthands over the robot’s metallic surface. “It has magicjust like a soul; and yet it is contained within all thatiron and metal!”

Tabitha looked at Anvil with a glassy-eyed stare.“Wow, I think I see what you mean…” she sighed. Shethen smiled when Anvil whistled softly. “So Anvil,then—he is sorta dead in a way, too…right?”

The sorceress looked at Tabitha, and grinned.“You are catching on! If the magic in his iron bodywere released, then he would be alive and free, too!Just like my soul now is. You see, I fled the body likethousands of others before me, and now wander manydawns and many evenings, alive to ponder and roam—forever!”

Tabitha was clearly amazed, yet a bit baffled, too.This spirit seemed lost herself; crazed, or so it seemed.Alive—forever! Tabitha thought.

Then thinking upon that of the evil witch’s ownspirit, and all the other spirits she had come across,Tabitha wondered if they, too, were all alive forever…

“Well, Miss, uh—” Tabitha started to say.

“Aleeria, my child,” the sorceress offered. “Myname is Aleeria; and they call you?”

“My name is Tabitha. My friends and I—we aretraveling to get rid of this same witch; the same one thatpoisoned you! She has come back to, uh—life, Iguess…”

Tabitha scratched the top of her head in deepthought, and then looked back to the sorceress. “Imean, she is like you—a spirit type of a ghost.”

Aleeria shook her head. “My, my…then she, too,is very much alive like myself! That is, since you’veseen her spirit…”

Tabitha nodded her head. “Yes! We—um, myother friends and I—we accidentally awakened herfrom where her spirit was killed and buried a long timeago.”

“Killed, you say?” Aleeria thought aloud. “Well,that’s one way of looking at it. However, my ownbeliefs are of the idea