Four days after William’s 1 year old birthday, the old hag draped herself in black and scurried off, into the obscure dark night… On the table, Grettel had left a simple message for her son. Two moonstalks were placed with care, parallel to each other. Harvick saw this strange arrangement and noticed the absence of his mother and the dinosaurs… Two moons… Two months…
He muttered to himself “She’ll be back in two months, huh…”.
The reason why Grettel didn’t sell the dinosaurs to Blaise castle’s lord, was because he would pay half the price, when compared to his enemy. The lord of Windamere fort…
For him these hatchlings were a trump card on the battlefield, for the Blaise castle's lord specialized in fire breathing dinosaurs. If one could send out warriors who could resist fire, it would make Blaise castle’s flamethrowers, powerless against them. So Grettel left for a journey to sell the cubs to the highest bidder...
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It was the first day of June, when news of Grettel’s return sounded through the village. William heard of this and wanted to see the condition of the woman: Whether she had failed or not. But he was currently fighting of the chickenpox…
The day after. Grettel was seen carrying a large sack, that clinked when she walked. She was transporting it, along with her son, towards the castle gates. Then at noon they came back to greet William’s family.
Although the blisters from the chickenpox itched like hell, William wanted to listen in on the drama. So he followed along behind his parents, towards the entrance where the knocking resounded. Grettel was all smiles, which William’s family members found extremely uncomfortable to look at.
She said “We just came by to thank you for looking after my Harvick! You have been so tolerable of him. Even letting him eat at your table and play with your children. But the time has come for us, to make a breach on the agreement we made during december… You see, the lord wishes to adopt Harvick as one of his sons. He will be living at the castle from now on, and so he won’t be able to help you hunt and do other miscellaneous work…”.
Both parents frowned at this breach, but Grettel wasn’t done explaining her visit.
So she continued uninterrupted “During my absence, for two months you have been holding out just fine without Harvick, who had to look after our own. This shows me, that you’ll also be fine in the future! I hope you can understand what a grand opportunity this is for Harvick, my son…”. This both parents understood quite well.
William’s father clenched his fists in indignation and spat out “So what!? We had an agreement, Grettel! Letting your son off for two whole months was lenient enough! Now you ask for more? How greedy can you be!?”.
The woman only shrugged her shoulders and was beginning to speak. But she was suddenly slapped in the face by William’s father. Before she could utter a sound. Her face went blank and her sly eyes opened wide for the first time. She was astonished in the beginning…
Then she realized what had happened. A flicker of anger boiled in her eyes, but before doing something rash, she quickly knelt down on the dirty ground and cried like an ugly beggar “You must listen to me! Although the deal is different we can still bargain, can’t we!?”.
Vanessa who stood beside her seething husband. Felt disgust at this woman’s hopeless nature, but at the same time a tiny spark of hope was also lit inside her heart. Could this breach mean, that she would be able to keep her daughter?.. This thought crossed Vanessa's mind and remained. She was fervently hoping for the best...
Harvick didn't seem touched, as he watched his mother’s groveling. In the end Grettel was doing all of this for her own selfish needs. It never had anything to do with caring for her son…
Grettel’s plan was simple.
She was a widow and dirt poor. Their property was easy to invade and her sons wouldn’t be able to protect them, if someone should come with bad intentions... Thus keeping such a large sum of money lying around would be insane...
Even if her husband was still alive. He wouldn’t have been enough to protect their riches. That would also be the case if her husband had actually bonded with a dinosaur, which he hadn’t… For people as poor as Grettel, keeping a dinosaur could only be a dream. They were high maintenance after all…
Even William’s father who had a dinosaur, couldn’t keep it at home or even on the island’s vicinity. It had to roam alone on the mainland. Fending for itself and finding its own nurishment. The chance of it getting hurt or killed was a 50/50 chance. The father would even have to use a unique horn from dinosaur bone, to call his dinosaur, when it was time for duty! Simply said, it was only the rich and powerful who had the money and land to accommodate such large creatures…
So Grettel thought ahead.
If there was someone who could keep such an amount of gold safe, it would be the lord of Blaise castle! So she invested in the lord. He agreed with some coaching to accept her oldest son, Harvick...
With this, Harvick would have the chance to shine someday. If he performed well enough, he would be awarded with riches and maybe even allocated some land. On this land he would be able to build his own castle!
Should this miracle happen. Grettel was sure that her faithful son would repay her hard work. She was convinced that when it was time, he would accept Grettel along with the rest of their family members. And they would be welcomed onto the grounds to live in luxury, till the end of their days. Ah! What a beautiful dream! Grettel could hardly wait for this day to come!..
And of course Grettel didn’t give all her money away to the lord...
She kept a modest amount to buy tools and clothes for herself and the household. They were daily necessities that would last for a long time.
With such a bright future ahead, you would think that Grettel was satisfied? Welp! You can think again! Her greed was indeed insatiable...
She wanted William as her property as well!
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Thanks for chappy!
nice.