A Land Of Mystery - A Mel, Tab, Mewla & Cathy historical story

Chapter One

July 1792

   The sun was baking hot in the sky, and there was not a cloud to be seen, grey or white. The leaves of the plants were fresh and wet from the summer showers which had fallen, and the clear stream gushed down between the moss-covered rocks. The birds were singing again, and the air seemed fresh and clean.
   Rocky Valley had always been like this. No-one knew how many mysteries were buried deep in the lush green foliage, or how such a beautiful place still existed. It was like a secret corner from the garden of Eden - untouched, unharmed, perfect.
   The rough mud track wound its way through the dense green foliage, up high in parts, then down low again to the stream, where a little wooden bridge sat above the clear water. The path carried on along the side of the stream, and eventually, after many twists and turns, it ended on a rough ledge of rock, overhanging the ocean. The sea pounded up between the two fern-covered hills, but it never reached the path, and never came gushing up into the valley, disturbing the peace.
   Alongside the stream, pretty flowers grew, and so did blackberry bushes. Large Gunnera plants grew out over the stream, and all up the sides of the valley were ferns and gorse bushes. The paths up the sides of the valley led up onto the cliffs, where there was a beautiful view of the clear green ocean. Rocky Valley was completely hidden from sight unless you actually climbed down into it, and if you did, you would be captured by the sound of the water, the singing of the birds, and the sight of the little track disappearing into the foliage. The whole place seemed cut off from the rest of the world, and had a definite sense of mystery about it.
   The path through the plants eventually led into a dense green wood, and it was in here that a tiny cottage nestled. It had a crooked slate roof, and many rooms. A water-wheel creaked at the side of it, and lush green grass grew all around. It was here that sixteen year old Melania Wickley lived, with her fifteen year old sister Mewla, their baby brother and sister Purrlin and Mewlanta, and their mother and father.
   Melania had lived in the cottage all her life, and had learned all the skills she needed for helping her family. Each day she would take the washing down to the stream, where she had found herself a large flat stone to sit on. After that, she would take a basket and gather berries from along the path, then go back to the cottage and help her mother with the cooking. The thing she most looked forward to was her free time in the afternoon, when she would take her book and go along the path to the little wooden bridge. She would sit there, listening to the water, reading.
   Her sister Mewla was more of a tomboy, and she preferred to stay at the cottage, helping their father tend the land and the gardens. The family had a large vegetable plot in their garden, which was where most of their food came from. They all got on well, and were better off than most families.
   Melania and Mewla's father would only tend the gardens on Fridays; the rest of the week he would take the horse and cart off through the woods to work at a nearby farm, which was the family's only source of income. Luckily for him, he was a skilled blacksmith and gardener, and was well able to plough a field, so he did a lot of work at the farm. Sometimes, he came home so late that the rest of the family would be in bed. Their mother always stayed in the house, cooking and cleaning. She was glad of all the help that Melania and Mewla gave her, and so the cottage was usually very clean.
   Melania and Mewla had very few friends, as they did not go to school, but they were both best friends with two kittens who lived nearby. One kitten was fifteen year old Catherine Brady, and she lived nearby, at the farm where Melania and Mefather worked. The other kitten was sixteen year old Tabitha Salton, and she lived in a small, cosy cottage nestled on the cliff top above Rocky Valley. They were all beautiful young kittens, and they always went about together when they had free time.
   "Melania! Get over here now!" Melania's father called her angrily. Melania was sitting by the stream reading, as it was her morning off. She was dressed in a pale lilac dress and well-fitting brown bodice. She got up and ran to her father.
   "Yes, father?"
   "I told you to pull all the weeds out of this soil! They are still all there. How am I to grow our food if you don't do what I tell you?"
   "Father, I'm sorry.........." Melania said meekly. "I thought I had pulled all of them out!"
   "Well, you thought wrong then!" her father raised his paw as if to strike her. Melania cowered away. "Good for nothing, lazy thing! Too busy thinking about that shepherd kitten on the cliff, I suppose!"
   "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Melania pleaded.
   "And so you will be!" her father said. "Get that bucket from over there, climb up the water wheel, and untangle all the plants."
   "But father........" Melania said. "Last time I climbed up there, I slipped and fell!"
   "Don't argue!" her father said. "If you don't get up there now and clear those plants away, I will stop you from seeing that Salton kitten."
   "She does have a name, father." Melania said, picking up the muddy bucket from on the soil. "Why can't you call her Tabitha?"
   "I know she has a name." her father said. "Now get up there, and when you've finished that, you can take a basket and go along by the stream and pick some blackberries for your mother's jam."
   "Where has Mewla gone?" Melania said, hitching up her skirt as she began to climb up the slippery slats of the water wheel.
   "She has taken the cart into the town to the market." her father said.
   "Well, I could have done.....ooh!" Melania slipped and almost fell down onto the rough earth below.
   "Just keep quiet and get on with what you're doing!" her father bellowed. "You talk so much that one day, you'll slip and break your back!"
   Melania bit back her tears and climbed to the top of the wheel. She started to untangle the fronds of wet green foliage from round the slats. She would have to be careful not to slip and fall.
   After about half an hour, she had untangled most of the plants from on the wheel. Her father had gone off to work in the vegetable plots, so she was alone. It wasn't long before she heard the sound of horse's hooves thudding on the mud, and the noise of the wheels on a cart. Mewla was back from the market.
   She drove the cart along the wide track to the cottage, then stopped the old brown horse and leapt down. Her long skirt was splashed with mud and she looked tired. Melania began to climb gingerly down the slats of the wheel to help her sister unload the food from the back of the cart.
   They both carried the goods into the cottage. Their mother was standing in the kitchen baking,
   "Ah, Melania." she said. "I want you to take this washing down to the stream and wash it, please."
   "Yes mother." Melania picked up the pile of muddy clothes lying on the big old table. She went out of the cottage, leaving Mewla to sort out the food.
   Melania always enjoyed the walk through the woods, which led out into the lush green valley. Down near the valley were the ruined shacks of an ancient Bronze Age  settlement, with strange, intricate patterns inscribed on the rocks, and Melania loved to walk inside the ruins. There was some sort of mysterious atmosphere about the place, something which she couldn't quite pinpoint. Something magical and mystical. In fact, she often had this feeling that there was something there watching her..............
   She strolled down to the stream and sat down on her big flat rock. The clothes that she had brought for washing were a couple of her dresses, Mewla's bodice and two of her skirts, and her mother and father's best Sunday clothes. She dipped her dress into the water and began to rub it hard on the rocks to get rid of the mud.
   As she washed the dress, she began to get a feeling that she wasn't alone. She could feel the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing up straight, and she looked around uneasily. But it was impossible to see anything, for everywhere she looked was dense green foliage, all up the sides of the valley and all along the path, until it curved round out of sight into yet more foliage. She looked back to the stream again, half-afraid of seeing a pair of eyes staring out of a bush at her.
   She then heard the sound of soft footsteps in the undergrowth behind her, and the crackle of twigs. She began to hurry up with the dress, until suddenly, someone's paws clamped down on her shoulders..................
   "Boo!" Tabitha Salton stood behind her, laughing. Her long shiny ginger hair fell about her face, and her bright green eyes sparkled in the fresh sunlight. She was wearing a simple pale blue dress and a well-fitting green bodice.
   "Oh, it's you!" Melania smiled. "You scared me! Why did you creep into the bushes behind me?"
   "Behind you?" Tabitha looked surprised. She let go of Melania's shoulders. "I didn't. I came along the path like I usually do."
   "You didn't go in the bushes to scare me?" Melania began to feel uneasy again.
   "No! Of course not!" Tabitha said. "I came straight down the cliff path and along the edge of the stream. Why?"
   "Someone was in the bushes behind me, just before you came along." Melania said. "They must have been watching me."
   "Nonsense!" Tabitha said. "It must have been a bird or something!"
   "It wasn't....." Melania began. She stopped. There was another crack, and then a scuffle in the bushes as someone hurried away..................
   "Listen!" Tabitha clutched at Melania. "Did you hear that?"
   "It could be Mewla, playing a trick on us." Melania said. "I'll call her. Mewla! MEWLA! Come here! Is that you, Mewla? MEWLA!"
   After about three or four minutes, Mewla came hurrying along the track from the woods.
   "What do you want?" she said. "I heard you yelling from the cottage."
   "The cottage?" Tabitha said. "You mean - you were at the cottage when we called?"
   "Of course!" Mewla said. "I was helping mother with the baking. Look at my hands!" she held out her hands, which were white with flour. "What is the matter with you two? You look terrified!"
   "There was someone hiding in the bushes, watching us." Melania said. "We thought it was you playing a trick, so we called you."
   "Look!" Mewla pointed up into the dense bushes up the side of the valley. They all looked up and caught a glimpse of a figure in black pushing through the foliage. "Come on!" she began to push into the bushes and climb up after the figure. Melania and Tabitha had no choice but to follow.
   They found nothing. The figure in black had vanished without a trace, and the three kittens couldn't even find any footprints in the soft earth. In the end, they gave up and climbed back down onto the path.
   "I must get back now." Mewla said.
   "I'll carry on with the washing then." Melania said. "Tabitha - do you want to stay and help me?"
   "Of course." Tabitha smiled. "My mother and father have gone off into the village, so I have got some free time."
   "See you later." Mewla said, and walked off back to the cottage. Melania bent down on her rock again and began to wash the clothes.
  
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