The Magical Village of Quincannon Derry
A Fantasy Adventure
by
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Lurching to his feet, he grabbed a broom and advanced unsteadily toward the innocent looking animal. He raised the broom threateningly intending to wound it enough to either kill it or be able to throw it out of the house. He struck at it several times with the broom, almost losing his balance, but the cat agilely avoided him. This seemed to make him even angrier than before and he began to swing the broom wildly, cursing the small animal.
As he continued to swing the broom at the cat, his anger increased each time he was unsuccessful. The cat seemed to enjoy the game and hissed and spit at him angrily, egging him on to more reckless and careless movements. He began to sweat from the exertion and the high level of alcohol in his blood. Sweating increased the repugnant odors emanating from his body and further angered the cat.
Suddenly, an angry roar erupted from the animal as it appeared to explode and the huge panther was standing in front of him. There appeared to be flames all around the animal, but it was not being harmed by them. As Adam watched, the orange and red flames changed into white hot fire. With a snarl, the beast advanced on the hapless man. The fright of facing such an awesome beast began to sober Adam and he realized that he was in mortal danger.
Adam tried to run to the door, but with a popping sound the animal appeared between him and the door. Turning in desperation, he lost his balance and fell to the floor, staring in disbelief at the horrible apparition. Raising his hands as if to ward it off, he tried to scream, but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a hoarse groan of fear.
Leaping onto his chest, Samson pinned Adam to the floor and the man cringed in fear of the fire as much as the beast. Incredibly, the fire didn’t feel warm to him, but it continued to flicker and blaze brightly. Adam was trembling in fright and he seemed to realize that he was facing imminent death. With his fangs almost caressing the man’s throat, Samson had difficulty controlling the desire to rip him apart.
However he knew that a violent death would raise questions that might involve his family and he didn’t want that to happen. It had to appear as if Adam had died of natural causes. With that goal in mind, he continued to threaten and frighten the helpless man. There was no compassion in his raging heart for this unworthy human, and he could find no redeeming qualities in the man. The cruel selfishness of this individual was apparent to the panther.
Keeping his claws retracted so that he wouldn’t leave a mark, Samson growled menacingly deep in his throat. He opened his mouth wide to display the long lethal teeth. Fear and shock rushed through Adam effectively sobering him to the reality of what was happening to him. He knew that there had been mountain lions in the rugged forests surrounding
He knew that this horrible beast was somehow connected with the departure of his wife and stepdaughter. He had always known that Rosemary was capable of magic and able to defend herself if it was needed. Due to that fact, he never physically abused the girl for fear that it would cause her to free herself from his control. He had contented himself with verbal abuse of Paradine and denying her a social life with young people her own age.
Rosemary had been easy to intimidate because of the death of her husband and her fear of judgment by the Council. He used that fear and her concern for the safety and welfare of her daughter to manipulate her into subservience. There had been times that he had unwisely chastised her in front of the child. He had learned very quickly to wait until she had gone to sleep before he mistreated her mother.
The cat’s breath was hot and suffocating on his face and Adam found it hard to breathe. Somehow, the panther sent images of the man being violent with his family, striking his wife in the face and smashing furniture. Other images appeared, like Paradine’s pale face stamped with fear and unhappiness. Adam’s cruelty was apparent, with no way that he could justify it to this avenging beast. He thought that if he could get the animal to let him up, he might have the chance to run out the door and yell for help.
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About the Book
Paradine Devlin is an ordinary girl of fourteen living in the poor village of Medford deep in the Appalachian Mountains. She and her mother, Rosemary are frequently abused by her stepfather. She has no hope for a brighter future, no shining dreams as young people frequently do.
Then, unexpectedly she is whisked away to the magical village of Quincannon Derry hidden deep in the towering mountain. She finds that she is capable of performing many wonderful feats of magic. But inevitably, there is an underlying threat of evil and she finds she must master her skills very rapidly in order to protect herself.
She meets a young man who becomes very important to her and finds that she has family there that she never knew existed.
About the Author
Jean Carver is a mother of three and grandmother of nine. She often read to her children and told them fanciful stories as they were growing up. She was encouraged by her grandson, a budding author in his own right, to write some of these fantasies down in a book. This is her first attempt as an author, but she hopes it won't be the last.