Meghan Heistings and B.E.A.S.T

Book 1: B.E.A.S.T

  “Meghan! Get up and get ready for school!”came a loud voice from a few rooms away. “Coming, Mom!” Meghan screamed back. She got up and prepared for her school day. Little did her mother know, she wasn't going to school that day. She was going to meet up with her friends, Jason and Rick. They were going to explore a creepy alley they found walking home from school the previous week. “Bye sweetie, see you after school.”

“See ya, mom!”

  Meghan walked all the way to the crossways between her school and the high school and took a left. Soon she saw a little path jutting off the main road, and followed it to the alley that they found on their way back from school that day.

  “Jason? Rick?” Meghan called. They were nowhere to be seen. Where were the Year? They promised they would be there. “AAAARRRGGHH!!!!!!” Jason and Rick jumped out at her from either side if the alley behind large dumpsters. “Been dumpster diving, huh?” Shot Meghan, more than a little miffed. “No, we were waiting for you, slowpoke.” Jason snapped back. “Guys? Aren't we supposed to be exploring here?” Rick whispered timidly from behind a recycling bin.

“You're right. Let's get to it.”

  As they were exploring the dark alley, and not finding much to their interest, they heard a WHOOSH! And a bright light filled the usually dark alley. But it wasn't a normal light.

It was an odd light, like it was coming through stained glass. The light reflected off the walls and seemed like it was coming from everywhere at once. The teens turned around, searching for the source of the strange light, and it appeared to be coming from behind a dumpster. Rick crept behind the dumpster and his legs disappeared. “RICK!” Jason and Meghan called in unison. They both went to see where he could have gone, and when they got behind the dumpster, the multicoloured light blinded them temporarily, and they stumbled and fell. Meghan braced herself, ready to hit the ground, but it never happened. She felt her stomach turn, and then she was lying on the ground. But it wasn't the cold, hard concrete of the alley they were exploring. It was soft soil. And grass.

  “Rick? Jason?” Meghan called, not daring to get up off the warm, soft ground of this mystical place. There was no response from the boys. Or anything else. The whole place was dead silent. Meghan cautiously sat up, wondering what was going on and how she got there. She was in a beautiful meadow, and would have stayed to look around some more if she wasn't so worried about her friends. The meadow was beautifully green, with nicely trimmed grass, and trees surrounding it. There were no birds, or bugs. Or so it seemed. “Ow!” Meghan cried, as a sharp pain shot up her leg. She looked down to see a large, crimson red ant and a deep looking cut. That bit her? It left a wound that deep? No way. Meghan glared down at the horrific insect and flicked it off her shin. Sooner than she could say “Bloody leg”, there were hundreds of those creatures swarming all over her legs and biting her. They  weren't as big as the first one, but those cuts stung. Meghan reached in her pockets for something to swat them off with, and came up with her swiss army knife. Her father had given it to her for her birthday the previous year. That won’t be any help, she thought. Meghan tried to get up and shake them off, but realized she was tied by the ankles to a ring a few feet away. She flipped open the serrated blade of her knife, and sawed through the rope as best she could, considering she was still being bitten all over. Meghan turned around to try to run off the ant things that were all over her, but they were retreating off her legs as she looked. Two dark figures were sprinting across the meadow. “Jason? Rick?” She called. She felt a stabbing pain in her neck and everything went black.

  “Meghan? Meeeggghhaaannnn?” Was all Meghan could hear as she slowly came to. “SHE’S AWAKE!!!!!” Jason bellowed as she opened her eyes, wincing at the migraine she had. “Meghan? Are you okay?” Rick said in a concerned voise, as he had just run around the entire building they were in. “I’m fine. Where were you guys and why are we here? Where are we?!”

“Slow down. One question at a time.” Rick said in a concerned tone.

“Fine. Where were you two when we were teleported or whatever?”

“We weren’t teleported. This is a different dimension.”

“WHA-”

“After. Let me finish. When we went through that portal thing, it was like a wormhole, but it teleported us to a different dimension instead of just a different place. The dimension we’re in is called Sagragia. It’s basically the same as our universe, but there are different creatures and there are mythical creatures here.”

“MYTHICAL? As in Unicorns and Dragons and Chimaeras?”

“Yup.”

“Have you seen any yet?”

“Well…. We did see a manticore on the way here after we found you in the meadow.”

“Did it atack?

“No.”

“Ok. That sucks. But where is ‘here’?”

Jason sighed and Rick put his face in his hands.

“What? What are you doing that for?” Meghan sounded worried.

“We don't know. The people who brought us here won’t tell us, and we have no clue” Jason sighed in one breath. Rick looked timid and was cowering in a corner of the small room they were in. “YOU MEAN WE’RE KIDNAPPED?!?!? IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT?!?!”

“They said we were guests, and we were to treat this place as our home.” Rick said from his little hideout in the corner of the room.

“WE’RE NOT GUESTS! WE’RE HOSTAGES!” Meghan yelled. She was getting red in the face and did not look to be well enough to be under this much duress. “Meghan, calm down” said a deep voice from the doorway. A tall, sturdy man was standing ominously in the frame of the door and spoke calmly and soothingly. “Are you responsible for keeping us here? Huh?!” Meghan snapped.

“No, Meghan, we are not ‘keeping you here’. We brought you here to stay so you wouldn't be eaten by the several chimaeras that were closing in on you and your friends. You are free to go at any point in time that you may wish.”

“Oh.” Meghan’s face grew hot and she knew she was getting red. “The way people were talking it sounded like we were in captivity. And I guess I was scared of the unknown,too.”

“It’s alright, Meghan. We just need you to know that you are safe here.”

“OK. I’m sorry.”

“Really. You did nothing wrong.” He walked out the door and Meghan listened as his heavy footsteps thunked down the stairs and faded out entirely. In a low voice, Meghan began to speak. “Who the heck was that and how does he know my name?!”

“He brought us here, Meg.” Jason said almost sarcastically.

“We almost died, and we would have if it weren’t for him.”
“What’s HIS name anyway? Hm?”

“They call him Jakora.” Jason said impatiently.

“They call him Ja-who-know?” Meghan blurted.

“Jakora, Meghan. Enough of this! I’m sick of people not even trying to understand what I’m trying to say to them!” Jason was yelling now. His voice sounded meek compared to this Jakora person, but still more powerful than Rick’s, who was trying to calm Jason down. “Jason? Jay-Son…? JASON!!!!!!” Rick was fed up with being ignored and put aside as the weakling, the one who won’t make it. “Calm down. If we ever want to get out of here, we need to work together, and to do that, we need to get along.”

“You’re right, Rick. I’m sorry.” Meghan said in a sincere tone.

Just then, all hell broke loose.

  Meghan ducked just in time. The manticore’s spikes sailed through the air and landed where her head just was. Rick yelled and let out a groan of pain as he slumped to the ground, seemingly unconscious. “RICK!!” Meghan screamed, her stomach doing a somersault. The world was spinning around her, and she was going to pass out. She had time to think “why?” and look down at the spike protruding from her abdomen before she blacked out.

  When she opened her eyes, It was night, and there was one dark figure sitting beside her bed in what looked like a hospital in the olden times. It was too dark to see all the details, but meghan could make out a few other beds, none of which were occupied, a tray that looked to have surgical tools on it, and a jar the held something black and pointed. Meghan’s hand flew to her abdomen to find it heavily bandaged and with the brown stain meaning she had bled a lot when the spike was removed from her body. She tried to sit up, but pain shot through her core and she lay back down quickly, wincing. “Try not to move too much.” came an unfamiliar voice from the area where the figure was sitting. “Who is this?” Meghan called uncertainly into the dark.

“It’s your friend, Jason! Why don’t you recognize my voice?” The voice sounded hurt. “You sound different. Are you alright?”

“What do you mean?!” The voice sounded angry now. “What do you mean, am I alright? I am the leader of B.E.A.S.T!!!!!!!!” By now the figure that claimed to be Jason was yelling at the top of his lungs, but nobody was coming to her aid. This was not Jason, she had to keep saying. Not Jason. The figure stood up and walked slowly over to the bed where Meghan was resting. The ominously tall figure could not ever be her best friend. It was so tall and lank that it was almost unhuman. It stalked over towards her bed, taking long, meaningful strides. When the figure entered the light of the lamp beside her bed, she fell back in shock. It had a pale scarred face with unnaturally thin limbs that stretched and bent as he walked. At least it looked like a he. It bent over her, its rancid breath washing over Meghan’s face, making her gag and retch. It grabbed her by the wrists, pulled her up, and roughly shoved her into a chair. It was surprisingly strong for looking like it had no muscle at all. It began pacing around her chair, pausing at her ear to lean down and hiss: “I am Shardhan, leader of B.E.A.S.T! How dare you challenge me?” Meghan was terrified, but she answered calmly without a quiver in her voice. “ I did no such thing as challenge you, and who the heck is B.E.A.S.T?”

“B.E.A.S.T is not a who, it is a what! B.E.A.S.T is e Beast Execution and Solicitation Troop! We track down and kill all of the horrid beasts that plague this land with their filthy pelts and disgusting manes.”

“ You’re killing them?” Meghan’s mind wandered back to the time when Jakora took them to see the unicorns by the silver pond. They were so silent, so innocent. They could not be killed. No way.

“Of course we're killing them you stupid girl! They interfere with our plan!!”

And he stormed out of the room, leaving Meghan to wonder what that plan was and how they could stop it.

  The next morning, Meghan was brought downstairs to speak with the others about what had happened the previous night. According to Jakora, they had heard noises around 2:30 in the morning, which was just after Shardhan, as he had called himself, had left. They had rushed up the stairs to her room, but found it empty, and her in the chair, out cold. “We thought you were dead at first. Then we saw you breathing.” Jason sounded relieved.

Jakora then spoke, in his deep calming voice, the worst words they could here right now. “Shardhan has declared war. He intends to battle us on Troyaday.

“Whatawhata? Meghan asked, baffled.

“Troyaday. The fifth day of the week. It’s Moranday right now.” Jakora said.

“So it’s Monday, and he wants to battle us on Thursday?”

“In your human language, I assume so. But we are NOT going to play by his rules. No way. We march for the fortress at noon.” Jakora now had the air of a commander, not a father figure. Rick looked terrified, and Jason seemed resigned to his fate. Who knew what kind of weaponry  Shardhan and his henchmen had at their base? He was insane!

“Excuse you, what do you mean WE? I’ not going anywhere NEAR that maniac’s house. He’s freakin’ crazy!!”

“By we, I meant myself and my army.”

“Oh.” Meghan’s face grew red as she spoke.

“But you three are coming too.”

“WHAT?!” They spoke in unison. Meghan felt rage bubbling up inside of her. She did not sign up to march to her death! “Nuh-Uh! No way! This is not on my bucket list!” Jakora barked something in a foreign language and several guards (or so they seemed) walked in and grabbed Meghan, Jason, and Rick by the arms. The last thing Meghan saw was Jason breaking free and running through a dark doorway, then everything went black.

  Meghan woke in a dark cell and thought she was in a dungeon of some sort, then she heard the clip-clop of hooves and felt bumping, and realized she was in a carriage. A carriage, being dragged to this battle against her will. Then meghan remembered what Shardhan had told her. “Of course we’re killing them! They’re interfering with our plan!” And she realized she wanted to fight. The carriage stopped and Meghan jolted forward. As the door was opened, light flooded in, temporarily blinding her. When Meghan regained her sight, A bow was thrust into her hand and arrows on her back. The fortress loomed over her, casting a shadow over the forest it was located in. The troops were assembling and all was going well, Meghan was ready and proficient with her weapon. Then, a trumpet blared, causing all the soldiers to drop their weapons and cover their ears, to no effect. A voice came over the loudspeaker, the words reverberating around in Meghan’s skull. “ I know you are here, Berathians. I know your plans to surprise attack the Fort B.E.A.S.T. Give up now, and give me Jakora. I will forgive your treason and let you into the ranks of my highest soldiers. Together, we will conquer Arladia! Together, we will rule!” The voice cut out and Jakora gave the signal. “CHARGE!!!” came the battle cry from every squad leader all around the fort. Soldiers began scaling the walls and everything happened in our favor. Until he let it out. The berserk beast. What it was, no one knew. It tore through the soldiers like a hot knife through butter. We swarmed over it, fighting for our lives. The first squad broke down the doors, and the tides turned once again in our favour. We overtook the beast and began fighting for the door. Meghan started towards the doors, meaning to join with the rest of the army. A rough hand grabbed her shoulder, holding her back. “Stay out here with the rest of the archers, we need you to take care of the soldiers up top.” Jakora then ran into the fort, brandishing his sword, and giving the order to divide and conquer. Meghan began targeting individual enemies. One tall, One short, one old, one young… As the young soldier fell, she realized that he was not wearing the enemy crest. He wasn’t wearing any crest… A black and white shirt… She had shot Rick! She stormed into the castle, searching for a set of stairs… There! By the door. Everything happened in a blur until she got to the roof. She ran past all the fallen bodies until she reached Rick. His lifeless body, crumpled against the stone wall. The arrow had pierced his  lung, by the way it was positioned. He was dead.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Next time on Meghan Heistings and B.E.A.S.T…

Jason grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her back and forth. “What have you done?!” He yelled through tears. “How could you?” Rain began to pour down as Meghan sobbed. “I shot a soldier and it was Rick! I couldn’t stop the shot!”

“You could have if you tried!” Jason sobbed through gritted teeth as he pushed with all his might and sent her flying off the turret.

“Finally, sweet peace” Meghan thought as she plummeted to the rocks below.

Look for Part Two at wickedcrafts.blogspot.ca and make sure to follow for more of Meghan’s adventure.