Chapter 1.

THE CATICUS.

            Philomena lived in Romana, many years ago. She was a beautiful seven year old girl, whose life was very happy. Her mother and father looked after her very well. She lived on a great big old farm on the edge of The Dark Forest with her parents and her twelve year old sister, Lilia, and her four year old brother Marcus. Marcus was autistic, something that only became apparent after he was nearly two years old. Up till then he had seemed to have developed normally. Autism is not an illness, it is the way you are. As It is not an illness it cannot really be cured. It meant that Marcus was made differently from other people. It had shocked the whole family, but they had tried very hard to deal with it and they always worked with him to help him cope with living in our world.                                                                                            

            The farm house was built of stone, with thick walls and small windows, which kept it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The main house was single story with a thatched roof. Opposite was another similar building which was empty at the time. To the right of their front door was a big barn and all three buildings were linked with wooden fencing. To the left of the front door was the gated entrance to the courtyard. The path outside led through the fields to the main road which in turn took them to the nearest village. This was Wharton, with a population of about one hundred and fifty. There was a small school there which the girls went to. Lilia was very clever and always the best student there, while Philomena was happy just to go there at the moment. She enjoyed school, but found it very boring at times. She had learnt to read and write at an early age and realized she was educationally far ahead of the other children of her age.

            There was also a church, which was very old. It had a tall spire that was visible from a great distance and was surrounded by a graveyard. It covered quite a big area. Most of the people that died in the village were buried there. A lot of the graves were marked with gravestones or crosses and many generations of some families could be seen there. Philomena always found the graveyard to be a very peaceful place. She liked to walk round and read the names and inscriptions on the gravestones and monuments. Unlike many others, she always felt comfortable there.

            All the other buildings were dwellings for the villagers. Many of them helped her father harvest the crops on the farm in the summer. In return he gave them a share of the produce which gave them enough food to live on. The nearest big town was Lausinium, which took a day to get to by horse. The fields in which they kept their animals and grew their crops surrounded the buildings. They had sheep cattle, pigs and chickens which provided them with all the food they needed along with the crops they grew. These were mainly wheat and maize but they also grew some vegetables. Next to the barn there was a small orchard of apple and cherry trees. They were not a rich family, but their parents made sure they had everything they needed. She was very happy with her life and loved all her family very much. She often thought that she was very lucky to have all this. She could not imagine living any other way. She never felt that there was anything missing in her life. She was very content.

            Behind the barn was the Dark Forest which was known to be a dangerous place. This was full of strange creatures of which the worst was the caticus. But none of them ever came near to the farm. Philomena knew this was something to do with their father, he was different from everyone else and had powers that made the creatures scared of him, They also had a dog that protected them called Bohemia, He was not like any other dog and looked like a large Hyena with a wolfs head. He was very intelligent and fearless and always guarded them vigilantly. He was also a great friend and playmate to the children.             It was a very windy spring day, but it was warm and they could play outside in the farmyard. The yard was covered in lovely green grass and flowers were beginning to blossom along the ground by the fences. After the grey gold winter they had just endured it reminded Philomena what a wonderful place the farm was to live on. All the children were wearing clothes made for them by their mother. The girls wore long dresses and Marcus was wearing a shirt and trousers with a woollen jumper. They all had brown hair and blue eyes, inherited from their father. Their mother too had brown hair, but with brown eyes to match. Marcus could now tolerate being in the yard with them, as their mother spent hours every day coaxing Marcus back into their world. It was always difficult to find anyone who really understood autism but their mother studied it endlessly. Marcus liked to play with a ball and had brought one out with him. They were all enjoying themselves.                                                                     

           Their father, Aurelius, was away on one of his trips. Philomena did not know where he went or why, but was sure that one day she would find out. Sometimes they were long, but normally they were short lasting for about four days. This trip was planned to be a short one and he was due back today. Bohemia was looking after them as they played. He often joined in their games but always kept alert, listening intensely for any strange and unusual sounds.

            "Kick the ball to me," shouted Philomena as Marcus looked up at her with the ball at his feet.

            "Come on,” she urged, knowing how difficult it was for him to react. But before Marcus could do anything there was a piercing sound from The Dark Forest. It was partly a scream and partly a roar, a sound that whirled around the children in the wind. Philomena and Lilia stood rigidly still. Marcus continued to play as he did not know that this sound was unusual or dangerous.

            "Quick, into the house," cried Lilia as she picked Marcus up and made for the front door, closely followed by Philomena. Bohemia placed himself between the children and the forest, not taking his eyes off the edge of the trees. The children raced through the front entrance into the hall and Philomena shut the door behind them. She wished her father was there. Her mother, Lucia, quickly locked and barred the heavy door.

            "Into the kitchen and under the table," she calmly said to the children. "Bohemia will protect us,” she pronounced as she knelt to look through the spy hole in the front door. Of all the creatures in the forest, only the caticus would fight Bohemia, and without a doubt that noise had been made by one. Lucia knew that sound from past times, but had not heard it since the Great War. No caticus, or indeed any other creature, had bothered them since they moved to the farm and she too wished her husband was there. She knew that Aurelius could deal with any caticus.

            Bohemia still watched the edge of the forest. He could hear the creature moving around in the bushes. He knew the caticus would be wary about leaving the safety of the forest. However it was a formidable enemy and would be difficult to repel should it attack. The huge black caticus suddenly emerged from the trees with another piercing scream, looking like a large sabre tooth tiger. Its green and grey stripes made it difficult to see against the backdrop of the trees, but its white fangs and claws were clearly visible. It was the biggest caticus Bohemia had ever seen and at least twice his size, but he stood his ground ready to fight to the death.

            The children huddled together under the table, Marcus thinking it was a game. Philomena was not sure if anything they had around them really provided any protection and being under the table would not deter a caticus from attacking them, but at least they felt safer. She could not understand why it had come here. Such a thing had never happened before. Philomena had been born on the farm and as far back as she could remember she had never heard one or known of one coming near them.

            The caticus slowly approached Bohemia, walking through the farm fence as if it didn't exist. Saliva drooled from its mouth as it snarled and its head swayed from side to side. Bohemia still stood his ground, trying to work out the best way to attack the beast. He knew he could move a lot faster and this was a distinct advantage, but it looked very powerful.

            Just as it drew near to Bohemia, there was a huge thunderclap and a blinding flash and a ray of light that fell upon the snarling animal. It glowed and screamed loudly as it disintegrated into a pile of dust.

            Bohemia turned and looked towards the farm gate where the ray had emanated from and saw his master standing there. At the same time the family burst out of the farms door and ran towards Aurelius who stood there calmly resplendent in his wide brimmed hat and long black coat and riding boots. His horse was tied to the gatepost.

            "Daddy, Daddy,” called the girls as they cried with relief and Joy. Marcus ran behind them clapping his hands. Philomena knew their father had saved them. The two girls hugged their father when they reached him.

            "Thank God you came back,” sobbed Lucia, as she held her husband as well. Bohemia barked loudly in agreement.

            Philomena knew the creatures of the forest could not overcome the powers of her father. But why had the caticus attacked them? What had made the caticus do this? She had never heard of anything like this ever happening before. Although it was a dangerous animal, it was known that normally if you left it alone, it never attacked. This was a mystery that surely had to be solved.