The Destruction of Meridell - From a Whinny's Eyes by ritikira |  |
I slept peacefully in my pen, alongside the other Whinnys.
The night air was cool and fresh, a refreshing change from dark, sooty air of
the battleground. The war had finally ended, and I was happy. I wasn't sure
who had won, but me and all the other petpets were certain that it was Meridell
who arose as the victor. After all, almost all of the really strong pets had
been fighting for Meridell... hadn't they?
The soft thundering of hooves in the near distance
jarred me from my sleep. I also heard voices, panicked voices. A Wocky rushed
past our paddock, and I recognised him as the farmer who had grown all those
huge Marrows in the pastures to the north. What was he doing up so late?
After the Marrow Wocky, a whole stampede of Meridell
pets came rushing past - Sinsi, the Cheese-making Techo, the turnip growing
Lupe and the berry Gelert. They were all galloping by as fast as their legs
could carry them. Now I was confused, and very worried. I had no idea what was
going on! A few of the other Whinnys began to awaken as well, only to watch
the entire population of Meridell thunder past.
It was then that I heard the laughter. A terrible,
racking laughter. I turned my head in it's direction, and saw Lord Darigan,
mounted atop a huge Uni, carrying the treasured Orb of Meridell in his grimy
claws. Behind him, there stood a army of at least four score Darigan soldiers,
most of them mounted atop Unis. Darigan tossed the orb in the air and deftly
caught it, then began to thunder down the hill, his army doing likewise.
They charged into Meridell, and began destroying
and ransacking the village. The game that Sinsi had laboured on for so many
days was reduced to rubble in seconds. They torched Bullseye and tossed the
poor Buzzer as high as they could into the air. They then entered the foods
shop, and, after stuffing their faces with as much as they could, they destroyed
that, too.
By now, all of the petpets in the paddock were
awake. The Crokabeks cawed in panic, and the Ganuthors roared in bewilderment
at what was happening to their home. After the Darigan soldiers had ransacked
Illusen's glade, Pick your own and Cheeseroller, they turned their attention
to the peacefully sleeping Turmaculus, the king of all Petpets. They laughed
and began kicking him and tugging at his ears. Us Petpets felt the fury growing
inside of us. They couldn't do that to our king! We saw them begin pushing and
pulling him towards a large cage, and it was then that we attacked.
Me and the rest of the Whinnys reared up our
hooves and charged at the Darigan soldiers, butting them as hard as we could
with our horns. The Crokabeks and Ganuthors flew into the air and struck at
them with their claws and beaks. All the Petpets fought valiantly, but it was
a lost cause.
The soldiers simply laughed off what little damage
we had done, and knocked as aside with their feet. A vicious looking Lupe growled
at me, and struck me over the head with his gauntlet clad paw. I rolled partially
down the smoky grass before hitting my head on a boulder and blacking out.
***
When I awoke the next morning, I was surprised for a minute to see where I
was. Why aren't I in my paddock? I thought, and then I remembered. All
around me, Petpets who had tried to subdue the Darigan forces were beginning
to awaken, and recall the events of last night. Meridell lay in ruins. Everything,
including our old paddock, was destroyed. My eyes fell upon the Turmaculus'
usual sleeping spot, and I let out a strangled cry.
The Turmaculus was gone, only a large dent in
the landscape suggested that he had ever existed. I felt the tears rolling down
my cheeks as imagined how our king had felt, being pushed into a cage, and then
watching your subjects make a pathetic and vain attempt to rescue you. We had
failed our lord.
With heavy hooves, I trudged down to my destroyed
paddock. I sat down by its wreckage, and let out a deep sigh. Meridell would
never be the same again.
The End |
