Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The falling snow and the cold wind had emptied the small cobbled streets of Daisyfield of the people, who had all gone to shelter inside by the warmth of their fires.  Well, almost emptied the streets anyway; battling through the winters storm was Millie, with Flake clinging onto her back.  Snowflakes settled on Millie’s eyelashes, her fur was both cold and wet, but she could not stop.

Slowly she tiptoed up to the first house, and peered through the window.  Raising her head so slowly so her eyes were level with the glass panes, she squinted at the brightness of the light shining out.  There was a very tall man reading a newspaper in an armchair, and a very skinny little boy with a large nose doing a jigsaw on a low table.  Not Lyla’s house.

Flake let out a little whelp when Millie turned swiftly and bounded across the road, to a low cottage with a thatched roof.   She could hear long before she had peered through the window that this wasn’t where Lyla lived.  There were two voices inside having a very loud and very heated argument – this wasn’t Lyla’s house; Millie knew (without even asking) that Lyla lived in a happy house with her mommy.  Millie was on her way long before a plate smashed against the wall.

She stood in the middle of the square, Flake clinging to her back and being completely silent.  The wind kicked up the powdery snow into a swirling masse, Millie was beginning to lose hope.  She shivered and looked around for the next house. She shook her head to be rid of the snow, and squinted at the shape of a big white house with lots of ivy growing up the front, and for some reason, felt sure that it was where Lyla was.  A smile parted her black lips as she entered the garden to the house; the garden was full of poppies and was the most beautiful and most happy-looking house in Daisyfield (yes I realise that poppies don’t grow in winter, and so I’m pointing out my own little plot flaw.  Stop judging me, I’m trying to be cute!)

Before she looked through the window, she could hear a lovely soft sound, the loveliest sound she had ever heard.  Peering through, she saw Lyla and her mommy sat together at a piano, their backs to the window where Millie was.  The two of them were playing and singing together.  It was beautiful, and all Millie wanted to do at that moment was watch the two of them play and sing, and listen to their angelic voices.  I suppose it was a good job Flake was there then!

Quick as a flash, Flake darted all around the house, looking for any way to get inside, to get to Lyla.  Nothing Flake could see, and no cat flap (which was sort of a relief, that there were no cats around, but right now it wasn’t good news).  Flake returned to Millie, who was stood on her back legs openly looking into the window.

“Millie, we can’t get inside!” Flake said in a breathy rush.

“What?  Oh!  Lyla probably can’t hear us with all the singing either.  We will have to go to that window there,” Millie said, nodding towards the narrow window just over the piano.

Lyla was sat right next to mommy, and they were both having a happy time playing the piano and singing.  Mommy was doing the low notes (on the piano, not singing – mommy wouldn’t be able to sing low notes with her voice) and Lyla was doing the high notes.  The two of them smiled happily at each other, and Lyla thought to herself how wonderful her day had been.  She turned back, facing the front where the sheet music was, and then suddenly noticed a blur through the narrow window above the piano.

Millie was stood as tall as she could be, her hind legs in the snow and her front legs against the wall.  She was in a bad mood right now; the window was quite high up, high enough so she alone could not get to, so Flake was on her head, jumping and bouncing up and down to get seen.  Yep, Millie was in a bad mood.

Flake was jumping as high as he could go, shouting with joy with every leap.  He stretched and made himself as big as possible so Lyla might see him. 

Lyla had stopped singing and made a mistake playing the piano.  She was right, it was Flake!  Flake, jumping at the window.  The window was pretty high up; quite how a squirrel could jump the distance was amazing. 

“Erm, mommy I really really need to go for a minute,” said Lyla in one hasty noise, and she was gone.  Pulling on her boots, she ran out of the back door and around to the window.  As soon as she turned the corner, she saw Flake sat atop Millie’s head and she was stood against the wall.  Clever!

“Flake, Millie.  What is wrong?” Lyla asked worriedly.

Flake was too out of breath, so Millie answered for him.  “It’s Volbert, he’s been captured.”

“What?  Captured?  By who?” Lyla was panicking now.

“The humans, in this village.  They captured him and took him away somewhere,” Millie answered.

“I need to rescue him!” Lyla said, and just as she was about to go marching off to the prison cell at the centre of the village – Volbert would be kept there – when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Lyla?  What are you doing outside?  It’s too cold and dark to go and play.”  It was mommy’s voice.  Mommy was right; Lyla had told mommy that she had fallen in a hole earlier and was trapped for hours, so mommy would not want her to go out.

Lyla grimaced.  “I-I can’t help him right now.”  Millie and Flake stared at her, expressionless. 

Then, an idea! Something Volbert had said. “Wait, I know what I can do!  Okay, you two head home, and I will save Volbert,” Lyla continued.  Flake and Millie just stared at her, still.  “Go, go!  I can solve this, I promise,” Lyla said, and with that she was off.