The Adventures Of Edwin Groob - Chapter One

Chapter One – The Beginning

Land Of Hark – Far, Far Away.

“Promise me you will never, ever enter the wood. Promise me, Sophie”

These words came back to Sophie as she walked out of the gates of the castle and across the bridge into the golden fields. She skipped down through the long grass until she reached the edge of the wood, the very same wood which her father had told her never to enter.

Whilst she skipped she rubbed the golden pendant which hung on the end of a chain around her neck. Sophie had bored of playing with the other children, the games were the same and she wanted to play something different. Sophie wanted to go and explore. She had heard stories of how people would enter the wood to collect fruits from the bushes or fire logs and then never be seen again, the tales were well known. When people never returned it was because of The Catchers, the thought of them made Sophie shiver. Dark cloaked figures, riding huge winged beasts with sharp teeth and huge wings.

Sophie reached the edge of the tree line, curiously she peered in through the trees, the birds were singing and at one point a deer ran through the trees, stopped to look at her and then carried on without a care in the world. She smiled, this could not be so frightening if a beautiful deer lived here, she thought. Slowly she stepped over the last of the long grass until her feet touched down onto the floor of the wood, covered in dry soil, twigs and bark from the trees. The sun was hot, but underneath the trees a cool breeze blew and every now and then the twinkle of the sun would flicker through the leaves.

The wood was peaceful, the stories she had been told about the scary creatures which live inside were far from her mind as she moved gently through the trees, brightly coloured flowers grew from the base of the trees, different shades of green bushes sprung up from the dry ground and Sophie skipped along staring down at these wonderful sights. She moved further and further into the woods, the trees grew in number and it started to get darker and darker, even though the sun was still out overhead. The thick leaves from the trees blocked out the light which should have been shining through and after a while it took on the image of night.

Sophie walked along a small dirt path, she was peering around as the sounds of the wood came alive. The path had been quite wide when she had first skipped into the wood, now it became thinner and muddier. Her small flat pink shoes were covered in the dark mud, there were splatter marks up the back of her white tights and her flowing pink skirt was dirty and smudged. In her excitement she had forgotten to remember the way back and now she was totally lost in the darkness.

A rustle behind a large bush caused her to stop, her eyes opened wide and she stared straight ahead, even though it was dark she could see the leaves moving about on the bush even though there was no wind to make this happen. Suddenly from behind the bush a large figure leapt out, Sophie screamed and fell backwards onto the floor. There standing in front of her was the deer she had seen earlier, it too was scared and scampered off in a different direction. Sitting on the dirty floor of the wood Sophie began to cry, she did not want to be in this wood any longer and wanted to be back with the other children playing the same games that had bored her earlier. Slowly, Sophie rose to her feet and brushed down her skirt which had twigs and mud on it, she was upset that she had ruined this because it had been made by her mother only the other day and she loved the pretty white lacing which ran down from the waist band to the base of the skirt.

In the distance Sophie heard a loud screech, her eyes opened wide and moved behind a tree for safety. The screeching stopped and then after a few moments she heard it again, but this time from behind her, she quickly moved around the tree and then the screech came from her left, then her right, the noise was coming from all around and it was getting closer. Sophie looked in different directions, trying to find out which direction she had come from, but the darkness was getting thicker by the moment and the sounds were getting closer and closer. Scared Sophie ran from behind the tree but found herself running through bushes which slowed her down, she tripped on a low hanging tree branch and fell into a bed of leaves, she heard a swooshing sound above her and just caught a glimpse of a dark shadow disappear behind a tree, then came a loud screech and Sophie gazed up above her to see a dark figure sitting astride a dark creature which hovered in the air. In the darkness she could not quite make out what it was and then it dived down towards her and Sophie let out a loud scream.

On the wall of the castle a guard was walking along the tall battlements in the bright sunshine, staring out across the field, then he heard the piercing scream and quickly looked over at the wood. As he watched he saw the dark figure on top of the creature move up from the tree line and then fly off into the distance. Immediately the guard ran to a nearby bell and shook it as hard as he could. The resulting noise of the bell made everybody behind the castle wall stop what they was doing and stare up in fear at the sound of the alarm. The Catchers had taken another person, but now the panic set in as family members rushed around to make sure their loved ones were safe and well.

Set at the back of the castle was a huge hall, a large framed figure stepped out onto the balcony and stared up at the guard ringing the bell, his heart was pounding and he had a horrible feeling cover his body. The feeling grew, he gripped the rail of the balcony and stared down at the people running around the courtyard below.

Although he was not witness to the event, he knew that his beloved Sophie had been taken by The Catchers. As important, the pendant was now in danger of falling into the wrong hands. His face showed the sadness and a single tear began to trickle down his cheek. Slowly, he stared over at a servant who had joined him on the balcony. Behind the servant the wife of the man stood crying uncontrollably.

“Get me Kale,” the large figure said slowly and the servant scampered off as fast as he could. “We’ll get them back,” the man said to his wife.