EPISODE I: JANUS AND THE BEAST Part I: "Janus the farmhand"

This is an epic, sort of. I'm not going to make poetry into a story this long. It is about a young boy named Janus (YA-nus) who becomes a great warrior. I'll try to make weekly installations. I hope you enjoy it.

 EPISODE I: JANUS AND THE BEAST

           Part I: "Janus the farmhand"

     Janus awoke in a bale of hay. He stood, stretched, and removed straw from his scratchy brown tunic. Today was an important day. Omar, the other farmhand, shook his golden hair to remove the hay.

     "Big day, eh Janus?" asked Omar. He had always been like a brother to the smaller boy.

     "Mm hm," muttered Janus, rubbing his eyes. Today, they  were to take the livestock into market to be auctioned off. The village was two miles away.

     "OMAR! JANUS! I WANT ALL THE SHEEP TOGETHER BY SUN-UP OR IT'S YOUR HIDES!" The boys walked out of the barn into the wide pasture. Eric, the farm owner, was largely built and red in the face. The stars twinkled overhead, with a glowing pinkness in the east. A heavy Nordic frost coated the ground. The sheep were resting.

     "Maybe we can get them to come calmly," said Omar.

     "When pigs fly out my backside," said Janus. Half an hour later, the bruised , scraped muddy boys closed the back of the cart on the sheep. Janus hitched up the oxen right as the sun came over the mountains.

    "HEY! I SAID I WANTED ALL THE sheep in the cart. Oh. Good work, boys. Come get something to eat, and we'll be in the village in an hour's time." The farm hands followed Eric inside as the sun began to melt the thick frost on the grass.

 

     Omar and Janus had ridden on the side of the cart, with their feet in the sheep pen. Eric drove. They rattled into the village and to the square.

     "That's our stall, boys," said Eric, pointing across the center. The cart rolled over to the setup. Janus jumped down, and kicked a rock. It bounced out into the square. The sound the rock made echoed into the ground.

     "An echo?" said Janus, "That's not right." He tapped the ground a few times, hearing the hollow resonance. Then, he hit the ground. "Hm. Oh, well." The ground began to crack.

     "Janus, get away!" yelled Omar. A hole appeared where Janus had hit. The cracks spiderwebbed. "Janus, run!" The boy rushed for safety as the abyss opened around his feet.

 

           TO BE CONTINUED