NOT MY WORK!link
'It's your daughters'?' Mrs. Everest chimed in, stepping over and glancing over Ichabod's shoulder at the tiny bootie. 'How can you tell?'
'Because my wife bought it for her.' He replied bluntly, letting his look linger for a moment then tucked the garment into his black waistcoat.
'Your wife?' The woman slightly stressed the word, having not even thought about the constable's other half. How she must be feeling, the stress she must be going through. She knew herself a mother's crave for her baby, and how she would feel if her Anne had been taken. Ichabod had failed to even give a grunt of acknowledgment. He just stared at the ground, silent and blank.
'Yes, miss Katrina.' Young Masbeth added to break the silence. 'Fair, kind and beautiful.'
Ichabod broke his silence with a quiet sigh. Raising his hand and lightly turning the wedding on his finger as he thought of his Katrina. Yes, she was everything Young Masbeth said she was, and so much more to him. She was mysterious, romantic and a protector.
'Yes.' He sighed, barely a whisper. Then looking up, the goggles still strapped to his head. 'This tree is our clue. Either it will lead us to another, or something I cannot even bear to think about has taken place.'
After witnessing what had happened to Lady Van Tassel on his last visit to the Tree of the Dead, her having been dragged to Hell by a murdering ghost .. he wouldn't be able to bear if something simular had happened to Harlow. He had disturbing images in his head as of now.
He carefully trod upto the tree, his fingertips brushing the haggled and chopped up bark from where he had savaged it with an axe. The blood dry on the leaves. But wait ... blood, that far? Any blood he had spewed from the tree either ended up on the bark or on himself. It wasn't possible for the blood near his feet to have been sprayed by him. He took a step back and glared at the various smuded leaves through his goggles.
'Sir, what is it? Young Masbeth questioned, watching Ichabod examine the tree and go silent.
'My bag!' He snapped instantly, turning round and extending his hand for it. Young Masbeth quickly ran upto him and handed him his dark bag which Ichabod quickly opened and rummaged through.
'What you after, constable?' Mrs. Everest followed the boy, her eyes darting upto the looming tree every now and then as Ichabod produced a rather biggish sized bottle containing a blue powdered substance.
'I am testing for haemoglobin.' He answered as he pulled off the cork, looking at the woman and seeing her lost expression. He rolled his eyes and sighed at her.
'Red blood cells contain haemoglobin. To keep it simple for you, Mrs. Everest, I am finding blood.'
'But .. we can clearly see the blood, constable? Why do you need to test for it is it is already there?' She asked. This earnt another unamused roll of the eyes from Ichabod.
'Do the people of this village use their brains at any point at all?' He snapped impatiently, Mrs. Everest looking as though she were about to interject with a defensive argument but Ichabod quickly cutting her off. 'There may be traces of blood we are not seeing and we may use to find our next clue.'
He held up the bottle.
'This, detects the haemoglobin.'
Ichabod then tilted the bottle over the more obvious blood stains on the leaves, the blue powdered substance spraying out and fizzing as it hit the leaves, the steam coming off it floating up into the air. He backed away slowly, tapping at the bottle with his finger and as the blue substance spilled, more steam rose up from the leaves. Now came the leaves with no blood sighting at all, but still they fizzed and steamed as Ichabod poured. He was definatley going in the right direction. He kept backing away and tipping a few more steps, then turned around and looked down the path he seemed to be heading down. It lead back to the village it seemed ...
'Follow the trail!' Ichabod cried abruptly, breaking into a run as he kept spraying the blue substance and following the steaming leaves.
Mrs. Everest leapt on her horse and followed after him. Young Masbeth grasped the reins of both his horse, and Gunpowder and ran between both of them after the two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Hmmm ...?' Katrina slowly came to as she felt a rough, thin tongue licking at her face. She blinked several times and looked up through her hair, seeing a black cat, with very friendly eyes. The cat ceased and took a step back, sitting patiently on the floor before the cardinal spinning disc. She furrowed her brow at the feline, looking a little confused then her eyes fell down at the object it had brought for her. Looking questionably at the cat, she only received a tilt of its' dark head and a slight tip forward, as if encouraging her to pick the cardinal-cage toy up.
Katrina received the hint the smart feline was sending her, picking it up gingerly by the string and twirling it lightly between her fingers as Ichabod had shown her.
' .. Did Ichabod send you for me?' She whispered to the cat, but received no pleasable answer just a blink of the eyes. The cat then stood on all fours and started stepping toward the door, tapping at the wooden framing with its' one white paw.
'That won't do anything, it is locked ... ' Katrina whispered, not even knowing why she was talking to the cat. But suddenly, with a final tap of the paw, the front door gently eased open. Katrina rose to her feet, awestruck. She even accidently let the cardinal-cage disc slip from her fingers and flutter to the floor.
The cat turned its head to look at Katrina and cocked its head. It then picked up the stringed toy in its teeth and darted off the opposite direction into the house. Katrina looked back at the cat that had now turned the corner and vanished from her sight, wonderng to follow after it, but then she looked at the slightly open front door.
'I must find Ichabod ... ' She breathed to herself, wanting desperatly to run back in and fetch Harlow back but knew it would be fruitless as she would only end up running back into the Lady. So, with a heavy breath, she quickly rushed out of the front door and into the village square, looking round wildly then darting off in the first given direction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harlow squirmed in the Lady's arms, wanting her mother.
'Stop that squirming, my dear. Goodness, your a stubborn little thing aren't you?' Mary cooed in a bright voice, though she felt a little irritated. Why couldn't the baby just accept her as her mother now? Right on cue, the little girl opened her mouth and started bawling.
'Shhh! Hush now!' Mary said, rocking Harlow this way and that in an attempt to soothe. Unforunatly, the baby just arched her back and screamed harder. The Lady let out an aggrivated sigh and realised that she'd probably need Katrina to soothe the baby, if only temporarily. Obviously Harlow wasn't going cold turkey, she'd have to be weened onto a new mother.
Mary walked into the nearest room to her, and looked round. The room was familiar, it was the room they had lent out to Constable Crane on his first stay in the village. Her eyes swerved round. The bedding had been stripped. The blinds drawn, and the bedside candle-wick long since blown out. Walking upto the bed, Mary set Harlow down upon the mattress and petted her hair.
'I'll be back in a moment, sweetheart.' She said, then turning round and starting down the staircase. The house was empty, long since abandoned since Baltus' death and no servant girl Sarah left to tend to it. Supposedly no one had bothered shifting the furniture out. The hallway was now in sight, and soon the Lady's heeled boots were clacking upon the flooring.
'Girl! Wake up! I need you a moment ... ' Her voice rang throughout the hallway, but then she saw light shining through the now swung open front door. She had escaped.
'NO!!' Mary bellowed, bounding upto the door and staring at it in disbelief. ' .. But.. but .. HOW?!'
Her uncontent face faded to snarling anger. Without even thinking about it, she rushed out of the house and pulled up the black hood on her cloak, to be unseen, and mounted one of the carriage's horses.
'Yah!' She cried, snapping the reins and riding off in a bid to find Katrina.
Back upstairs in Ichabod's former lodgings, Harlow lay bawling on the mattress. In the doorway, stepped in the black cat with Ichabod's cardinal string toy in its mouth. It entered the room and hopped onto the bed beside the baby, dropping the toy and nuzzling her soft cheek with its' nose. Harlow still cried, but reached out her grabbing palm to the feline trying to touch it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'HOW THE 'ECK CAN YOU BE RUNNIN' FASTER THAN THE BLOODY HORSE, CONSTABLE?!' Mrs. Everest yelled after Ichabod who was legging it a fair way into the distance, his supply of blue powder running shortish now so he was only throwing it every few steps. He didn't answer, just kept running until he was in the town square of Sleepy Hollow. The place looked like a ghost town.
He stopped to catch his breath, only hearing the whinneys of some horses on a nearby carriage parked in front of a large house. A very familiar large house. In fact, it was the old Van Tassel place, but .. why would there be a carriage of active horses? The occupants were since dead and the only heiress had refused the inheritance and married off.
Saving the last of his powdered substance and tucking it into his coat pocket, Ichabod started up the steps slowly. Mrs. Everest rode up behind and slipped off the horse.
'Why you going in the Van Tassel's house, sir?! Nobody there that can help you?!' She called after him but he was unphased. Young Masbeth ran up with both horses, out of breath and exhausted, which the woman noticed and sympathised with.
'Stay 'ere and catch yer breath, lad. I'll go see what's got him intrigued.' She said to him, handing him the reins to her own horse.
'Thanks .. m'am ..' He gasped, leaning on Gunpowder for breath as Mrs. Everest took after him.
Ichabod entered the already open door, not really thinking about it. The room was dark and covered in cobwebs, so different to the light and warm atmosphere he had walked into on his last stay. He could almost hear the haunting sound of laughing children and the chants of a pickety witch ...
'Constable! Your scaring me now! What you in 'ere for?!' The woman bounded in after him, jerking him from his haunting memories. 'Shouldn't be here, sir! It's the old Van Tassel place .. no-one been here since ... '
Her voice trailed off and she paused.
' ... Well .. We don't like to talk about it.' She said reluctantly. 'It's sad though, ol' Baltus was such a lovely man, and his wife was such a kindly woman. No idea what happened to 'is daughter though. Some say she killed herself, some say she eloped, and some say she just .. vanished.'
'She married, actually.' Ichabod said quietly, back turned to her.
'Oh, how nice for her then. Haven't heard that one before though.' She said, raising her eyebrows. 'How'd you know?'
Ichabod turned around to look at her bluntly, sending a heavy hint. After a moment or so, she finally got it.
' .. OH!' Mrs. Everest gasped. 'Blimey, constable. You married Baltus Van Tassel's daughter?'
The she clicked onto something furthur.
' .. And she's the mother of your child too?'
Ichabod simply turned around and slowly paced on, this woman was unbelievably slow minded. He then froze, stopping silent.
'What is it?' Mrs. Everest said loudly.
'Shh!'
There was a muffled sort of whinish sound echoing through the house. Ichabod stood deathly silent, his ears perking. It sounded almost like ... crying.
'Harlow!' He cried, darting off down the hallway and up the stairs, following her cries. She could be hurt .. she could be in pain ... she could be ..
.. On the mattress in his old room.
He let out a short, sharp gasp as he ran into the room and scooped up the crying baby, holding her close to his chest. Harlow stopped crying there and then.
'Oh god, oh my girl!' He gasped, kissing her forehead. 'Thank god your safe.'
Mrs. Everest followed him in, panting for breath, but her heart melted at the sight.
'Awh, my Sawyer wasn't even like that when our babes were born.' She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and walking over. 'Oh, she is a darling ain't she?'
Ichabod was damn near tears. Harlow breathed softly into her father's chest, snuggling into him and falling asleep in his arms. He pulled his dark coat round her while still wearing it, holding the baby in a warm, close embrace.
The cat leapt off the bed and landed at Ichabod's feet. It dropped the cardinal-cage disc at his feet and looked up at him patiently.
'It's your daughters'?' Mrs. Everest chimed in, stepping over and glancing over Ichabod's shoulder at the tiny bootie. 'How can you tell?'
'Because my wife bought it for her.' He replied bluntly, letting his look linger for a moment then tucked the garment into his black waistcoat.
'Your wife?' The woman slightly stressed the word, having not even thought about the constable's other half. How she must be feeling, the stress she must be going through. She knew herself a mother's crave for her baby, and how she would feel if her Anne had been taken. Ichabod had failed to even give a grunt of acknowledgment. He just stared at the ground, silent and blank.
'Yes, miss Katrina.' Young Masbeth added to break the silence. 'Fair, kind and beautiful.'
Ichabod broke his silence with a quiet sigh. Raising his hand and lightly turning the wedding on his finger as he thought of his Katrina. Yes, she was everything Young Masbeth said she was, and so much more to him. She was mysterious, romantic and a protector.
'Yes.' He sighed, barely a whisper. Then looking up, the goggles still strapped to his head. 'This tree is our clue. Either it will lead us to another, or something I cannot even bear to think about has taken place.'
After witnessing what had happened to Lady Van Tassel on his last visit to the Tree of the Dead, her having been dragged to Hell by a murdering ghost .. he wouldn't be able to bear if something simular had happened to Harlow. He had disturbing images in his head as of now.
He carefully trod upto the tree, his fingertips brushing the haggled and chopped up bark from where he had savaged it with an axe. The blood dry on the leaves. But wait ... blood, that far? Any blood he had spewed from the tree either ended up on the bark or on himself. It wasn't possible for the blood near his feet to have been sprayed by him. He took a step back and glared at the various smuded leaves through his goggles.
'Sir, what is it? Young Masbeth questioned, watching Ichabod examine the tree and go silent.
'My bag!' He snapped instantly, turning round and extending his hand for it. Young Masbeth quickly ran upto him and handed him his dark bag which Ichabod quickly opened and rummaged through.
'What you after, constable?' Mrs. Everest followed the boy, her eyes darting upto the looming tree every now and then as Ichabod produced a rather biggish sized bottle containing a blue powdered substance.
'I am testing for haemoglobin.' He answered as he pulled off the cork, looking at the woman and seeing her lost expression. He rolled his eyes and sighed at her.
'Red blood cells contain haemoglobin. To keep it simple for you, Mrs. Everest, I am finding blood.'
'But .. we can clearly see the blood, constable? Why do you need to test for it is it is already there?' She asked. This earnt another unamused roll of the eyes from Ichabod.
'Do the people of this village use their brains at any point at all?' He snapped impatiently, Mrs. Everest looking as though she were about to interject with a defensive argument but Ichabod quickly cutting her off. 'There may be traces of blood we are not seeing and we may use to find our next clue.'
He held up the bottle.
'This, detects the haemoglobin.'
Ichabod then tilted the bottle over the more obvious blood stains on the leaves, the blue powdered substance spraying out and fizzing as it hit the leaves, the steam coming off it floating up into the air. He backed away slowly, tapping at the bottle with his finger and as the blue substance spilled, more steam rose up from the leaves. Now came the leaves with no blood sighting at all, but still they fizzed and steamed as Ichabod poured. He was definatley going in the right direction. He kept backing away and tipping a few more steps, then turned around and looked down the path he seemed to be heading down. It lead back to the village it seemed ...
'Follow the trail!' Ichabod cried abruptly, breaking into a run as he kept spraying the blue substance and following the steaming leaves.
Mrs. Everest leapt on her horse and followed after him. Young Masbeth grasped the reins of both his horse, and Gunpowder and ran between both of them after the two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Hmmm ...?' Katrina slowly came to as she felt a rough, thin tongue licking at her face. She blinked several times and looked up through her hair, seeing a black cat, with very friendly eyes. The cat ceased and took a step back, sitting patiently on the floor before the cardinal spinning disc. She furrowed her brow at the feline, looking a little confused then her eyes fell down at the object it had brought for her. Looking questionably at the cat, she only received a tilt of its' dark head and a slight tip forward, as if encouraging her to pick the cardinal-cage toy up.
Katrina received the hint the smart feline was sending her, picking it up gingerly by the string and twirling it lightly between her fingers as Ichabod had shown her.
' .. Did Ichabod send you for me?' She whispered to the cat, but received no pleasable answer just a blink of the eyes. The cat then stood on all fours and started stepping toward the door, tapping at the wooden framing with its' one white paw.
'That won't do anything, it is locked ... ' Katrina whispered, not even knowing why she was talking to the cat. But suddenly, with a final tap of the paw, the front door gently eased open. Katrina rose to her feet, awestruck. She even accidently let the cardinal-cage disc slip from her fingers and flutter to the floor.
The cat turned its head to look at Katrina and cocked its head. It then picked up the stringed toy in its teeth and darted off the opposite direction into the house. Katrina looked back at the cat that had now turned the corner and vanished from her sight, wonderng to follow after it, but then she looked at the slightly open front door.
'I must find Ichabod ... ' She breathed to herself, wanting desperatly to run back in and fetch Harlow back but knew it would be fruitless as she would only end up running back into the Lady. So, with a heavy breath, she quickly rushed out of the front door and into the village square, looking round wildly then darting off in the first given direction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harlow squirmed in the Lady's arms, wanting her mother.
'Stop that squirming, my dear. Goodness, your a stubborn little thing aren't you?' Mary cooed in a bright voice, though she felt a little irritated. Why couldn't the baby just accept her as her mother now? Right on cue, the little girl opened her mouth and started bawling.
'Shhh! Hush now!' Mary said, rocking Harlow this way and that in an attempt to soothe. Unforunatly, the baby just arched her back and screamed harder. The Lady let out an aggrivated sigh and realised that she'd probably need Katrina to soothe the baby, if only temporarily. Obviously Harlow wasn't going cold turkey, she'd have to be weened onto a new mother.
Mary walked into the nearest room to her, and looked round. The room was familiar, it was the room they had lent out to Constable Crane on his first stay in the village. Her eyes swerved round. The bedding had been stripped. The blinds drawn, and the bedside candle-wick long since blown out. Walking upto the bed, Mary set Harlow down upon the mattress and petted her hair.
'I'll be back in a moment, sweetheart.' She said, then turning round and starting down the staircase. The house was empty, long since abandoned since Baltus' death and no servant girl Sarah left to tend to it. Supposedly no one had bothered shifting the furniture out. The hallway was now in sight, and soon the Lady's heeled boots were clacking upon the flooring.
'Girl! Wake up! I need you a moment ... ' Her voice rang throughout the hallway, but then she saw light shining through the now swung open front door. She had escaped.
'NO!!' Mary bellowed, bounding upto the door and staring at it in disbelief. ' .. But.. but .. HOW?!'
Her uncontent face faded to snarling anger. Without even thinking about it, she rushed out of the house and pulled up the black hood on her cloak, to be unseen, and mounted one of the carriage's horses.
'Yah!' She cried, snapping the reins and riding off in a bid to find Katrina.
Back upstairs in Ichabod's former lodgings, Harlow lay bawling on the mattress. In the doorway, stepped in the black cat with Ichabod's cardinal string toy in its mouth. It entered the room and hopped onto the bed beside the baby, dropping the toy and nuzzling her soft cheek with its' nose. Harlow still cried, but reached out her grabbing palm to the feline trying to touch it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'HOW THE 'ECK CAN YOU BE RUNNIN' FASTER THAN THE BLOODY HORSE, CONSTABLE?!' Mrs. Everest yelled after Ichabod who was legging it a fair way into the distance, his supply of blue powder running shortish now so he was only throwing it every few steps. He didn't answer, just kept running until he was in the town square of Sleepy Hollow. The place looked like a ghost town.
He stopped to catch his breath, only hearing the whinneys of some horses on a nearby carriage parked in front of a large house. A very familiar large house. In fact, it was the old Van Tassel place, but .. why would there be a carriage of active horses? The occupants were since dead and the only heiress had refused the inheritance and married off.
Saving the last of his powdered substance and tucking it into his coat pocket, Ichabod started up the steps slowly. Mrs. Everest rode up behind and slipped off the horse.
'Why you going in the Van Tassel's house, sir?! Nobody there that can help you?!' She called after him but he was unphased. Young Masbeth ran up with both horses, out of breath and exhausted, which the woman noticed and sympathised with.
'Stay 'ere and catch yer breath, lad. I'll go see what's got him intrigued.' She said to him, handing him the reins to her own horse.
'Thanks .. m'am ..' He gasped, leaning on Gunpowder for breath as Mrs. Everest took after him.
Ichabod entered the already open door, not really thinking about it. The room was dark and covered in cobwebs, so different to the light and warm atmosphere he had walked into on his last stay. He could almost hear the haunting sound of laughing children and the chants of a pickety witch ...
'Constable! Your scaring me now! What you in 'ere for?!' The woman bounded in after him, jerking him from his haunting memories. 'Shouldn't be here, sir! It's the old Van Tassel place .. no-one been here since ... '
Her voice trailed off and she paused.
' ... Well .. We don't like to talk about it.' She said reluctantly. 'It's sad though, ol' Baltus was such a lovely man, and his wife was such a kindly woman. No idea what happened to 'is daughter though. Some say she killed herself, some say she eloped, and some say she just .. vanished.'
'She married, actually.' Ichabod said quietly, back turned to her.
'Oh, how nice for her then. Haven't heard that one before though.' She said, raising her eyebrows. 'How'd you know?'
Ichabod turned around to look at her bluntly, sending a heavy hint. After a moment or so, she finally got it.
' .. OH!' Mrs. Everest gasped. 'Blimey, constable. You married Baltus Van Tassel's daughter?'
The she clicked onto something furthur.
' .. And she's the mother of your child too?'
Ichabod simply turned around and slowly paced on, this woman was unbelievably slow minded. He then froze, stopping silent.
'What is it?' Mrs. Everest said loudly.
'Shh!'
There was a muffled sort of whinish sound echoing through the house. Ichabod stood deathly silent, his ears perking. It sounded almost like ... crying.
'Harlow!' He cried, darting off down the hallway and up the stairs, following her cries. She could be hurt .. she could be in pain ... she could be ..
.. On the mattress in his old room.
He let out a short, sharp gasp as he ran into the room and scooped up the crying baby, holding her close to his chest. Harlow stopped crying there and then.
'Oh god, oh my girl!' He gasped, kissing her forehead. 'Thank god your safe.'
Mrs. Everest followed him in, panting for breath, but her heart melted at the sight.
'Awh, my Sawyer wasn't even like that when our babes were born.' She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and walking over. 'Oh, she is a darling ain't she?'
Ichabod was damn near tears. Harlow breathed softly into her father's chest, snuggling into him and falling asleep in his arms. He pulled his dark coat round her while still wearing it, holding the baby in a warm, close embrace.
The cat leapt off the bed and landed at Ichabod's feet. It dropped the cardinal-cage disc at his feet and looked up at him patiently.
NOT MY WORK!link
'It's your daughters'?' Mrs. Everest chimed in, stepping over and glancing over Ichabod's shoulder at the tiny bootie. 'How can you tell?'
'Because my wife bought it for her.' He replied bluntly, letting his look linger for a moment then tucked the garment into his black waistcoat.
'Your wife?' The woman slightly stressed the word, having not even thought about the constable's other half. How she must be feeling, the stress she must be going through. She knew herself a mother's crave for her baby, and how she would feel if her Anne had been taken. Ichabod had failed to even give a grunt of acknowledgment. He just stared at the ground, silent and blank.
'Yes, miss Katrina.' Young Masbeth added to break the silence. 'Fair, kind and beautiful.'
Ichabod broke his silence with a quiet sigh. Raising his hand and lightly turning the wedding on his finger as he thought of his Katrina. Yes, she was everything Young Masbeth said she was, and so much more to him. She was mysterious, romantic and a protector.
'Yes.' He sighed, barely a whisper. Then looking up, the goggles still strapped to his head. 'This tree is our clue. Either it will lead us to another, or something I cannot even bear to think about has taken place.'
After witnessing what had happened to Lady Van Tassel on his last visit to the Tree of the Dead, her having been dragged to Hell by a murdering ghost .. he wouldn't be able to bear if something simular had happened to Harlow. He had disturbing images in his head as of now.
He carefully trod upto the tree, his fingertips brushing the haggled and chopped up bark from where he had savaged it with an axe. The blood dry on the leaves. But wait ... blood, that far? Any blood he had spewed from the tree either ended up on the bark or on himself. It wasn't possible for the blood near his feet to have been sprayed by him. He took a step back and glared at the various smuded leaves through his goggles.
'Sir, what is it? Young Masbeth questioned, watching Ichabod examine the tree and go silent.
'My bag!' He snapped instantly, turning round and extending his hand for it. Young Masbeth quickly ran upto him and handed him his dark bag which Ichabod quickly opened and rummaged through.
'What you after, constable?' Mrs. Everest followed the boy, her eyes darting upto the looming tree every now and then as Ichabod produced a rather biggish sized bottle containing a blue powdered substance.
'I am testing for haemoglobin.' He answered as he pulled off the cork, looking at the woman and seeing her lost expression. He rolled his eyes and sighed at her.
'Red blood cells contain haemoglobin. To keep it simple for you, Mrs. Everest, I am finding blood.'
'But .. we can clearly see the blood, constable? Why do you need to test for it is it is already there?' She asked. This earnt another unamused roll of the eyes from Ichabod.
'Do the people of this village use their brains at any point at all?' He snapped impatiently, Mrs. Everest looking as though she were about to interject with a defensive argument but Ichabod quickly cutting her off. 'There may be traces of blood we are not seeing and we may use to find our next clue.'
He held up the bottle.
'This, detects the haemoglobin.'
Ichabod then tilted the bottle over the more obvious blood stains on the leaves, the blue powdered substance spraying out and fizzing as it hit the leaves, the steam coming off it floating up into the air. He backed away slowly, tapping at the bottle with his finger and as the blue substance spilled, more steam rose up from the leaves. Now came the leaves with no blood sighting at all, but still they fizzed and steamed as Ichabod poured. He was definatley going in the right direction. He kept backing away and tipping a few more steps, then turned around and looked down the path he seemed to be heading down. It lead back to the village it seemed ...
'Follow the trail!' Ichabod cried abruptly, breaking into a run as he kept spraying the blue substance and following the steaming leaves.
Mrs. Everest leapt on her horse and followed after him. Young Masbeth grasped the reins of both his horse, and Gunpowder and ran between both of them after the two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Hmmm ...?' Katrina slowly came to as she felt a rough, thin tongue licking at her face. She blinked several times and looked up through her hair, seeing a black cat, with very friendly eyes. The cat ceased and took a step back, sitting patiently on the floor before the cardinal spinning disc. She furrowed her brow at the feline, looking a little confused then her eyes fell down at the object it had brought for her. Looking questionably at the cat, she only received a tilt of its' dark head and a slight tip forward, as if encouraging her to pick the cardinal-cage toy up.
Katrina received the hint the smart feline was sending her, picking it up gingerly by the string and twirling it lightly between her fingers as Ichabod had shown her.
' .. Did Ichabod send you for me?' She whispered to the cat, but received no pleasable answer just a blink of the eyes. The cat then stood on all fours and started stepping toward the door, tapping at the wooden framing with its' one white paw.
'That won't do anything, it is locked ... ' Katrina whispered, not even knowing why she was talking to the cat. But suddenly, with a final tap of the paw, the front door gently eased open. Katrina rose to her feet, awestruck. She even accidently let the cardinal-cage disc slip from her fingers and flutter to the floor.
The cat turned its head to look at Katrina and cocked its head. It then picked up the stringed toy in its teeth and darted off the opposite direction into the house. Katrina looked back at the cat that had now turned the corner and vanished from her sight, wonderng to follow after it, but then she looked at the slightly open front door.
'I must find Ichabod ... ' She breathed to herself, wanting desperatly to run back in and fetch Harlow back but knew it would be fruitless as she would only end up running back into the Lady. So, with a heavy breath, she quickly rushed out of the front door and into the village square, looking round wildly then darting off in the first given direction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harlow squirmed in the Lady's arms, wanting her mother.
'Stop that squirming, my dear. Goodness, your a stubborn little thing aren't you?' Mary cooed in a bright voice, though she felt a little irritated. Why couldn't the baby just accept her as her mother now? Right on cue, the little girl opened her mouth and started bawling.
'Shhh! Hush now!' Mary said, rocking Harlow this way and that in an attempt to soothe. Unforunatly, the baby just arched her back and screamed harder. The Lady let out an aggrivated sigh and realised that she'd probably need Katrina to soothe the baby, if only temporarily. Obviously Harlow wasn't going cold turkey, she'd have to be weened onto a new mother.
Mary walked into the nearest room to her, and looked round. The room was familiar, it was the room they had lent out to Constable Crane on his first stay in the village. Her eyes swerved round. The bedding had been stripped. The blinds drawn, and the bedside candle-wick long since blown out. Walking upto the bed, Mary set Harlow down upon the mattress and petted her hair.
'I'll be back in a moment, sweetheart.' She said, then turning round and starting down the staircase. The house was empty, long since abandoned since Baltus' death and no servant girl Sarah left to tend to it. Supposedly no one had bothered shifting the furniture out. The hallway was now in sight, and soon the Lady's heeled boots were clacking upon the flooring.
'Girl! Wake up! I need you a moment ... ' Her voice rang throughout the hallway, but then she saw light shining through the now swung open front door. She had escaped.
'NO!!' Mary bellowed, bounding upto the door and staring at it in disbelief. ' .. But.. but .. HOW?!'
Her uncontent face faded to snarling anger. Without even thinking about it, she rushed out of the house and pulled up the black hood on her cloak, to be unseen, and mounted one of the carriage's horses.
'Yah!' She cried, snapping the reins and riding off in a bid to find Katrina.
Back upstairs in Ichabod's former lodgings, Harlow lay bawling on the mattress. In the doorway, stepped in the black cat with Ichabod's cardinal string toy in its mouth. It entered the room and hopped onto the bed beside the baby, dropping the toy and nuzzling her soft cheek with its' nose. Harlow still cried, but reached out her grabbing palm to the feline trying to touch it.
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'HOW THE 'ECK CAN YOU BE RUNNIN' FASTER THAN THE BLOODY HORSE, CONSTABLE?!' Mrs. Everest yelled after Ichabod who was legging it a fair way into the distance, his supply of blue powder running shortish now so he was only throwing it every few steps. He didn't answer, just kept running until he was in the town square of Sleepy Hollow. The place looked like a ghost town.
He stopped to catch his breath, only hearing the whinneys of some horses on a nearby carriage parked in front of a large house. A very familiar large house. In fact, it was the old Van Tassel place, but .. why would there be a carriage of active horses? The occupants were since dead and the only heiress had refused the inheritance and married off.
Saving the last of his powdered substance and tucking it into his coat pocket, Ichabod started up the steps slowly. Mrs. Everest rode up behind and slipped off the horse.
'Why you going in the Van Tassel's house, sir?! Nobody there that can help you?!' She called after him but he was unphased. Young Masbeth ran up with both horses, out of breath and exhausted, which the woman noticed and sympathised with.
'Stay 'ere and catch yer breath, lad. I'll go see what's got him intrigued.' She said to him, handing him the reins to her own horse.
'Thanks .. m'am ..' He gasped, leaning on Gunpowder for breath as Mrs. Everest took after him.
Ichabod entered the already open door, not really thinking about it. The room was dark and covered in cobwebs, so different to the light and warm atmosphere he had walked into on his last stay. He could almost hear the haunting sound of laughing children and the chants of a pickety witch ...
'Constable! Your scaring me now! What you in 'ere for?!' The woman bounded in after him, jerking him from his haunting memories. 'Shouldn't be here, sir! It's the old Van Tassel place .. no-one been here since ... '
Her voice trailed off and she paused.
' ... Well .. We don't like to talk about it.' She said reluctantly. 'It's sad though, ol' Baltus was such a lovely man, and his wife was such a kindly woman. No idea what happened to 'is daughter though. Some say she killed herself, some say she eloped, and some say she just .. vanished.'
'She married, actually.' Ichabod said quietly, back turned to her.
'Oh, how nice for her then. Haven't heard that one before though.' She said, raising her eyebrows. 'How'd you know?'
Ichabod turned around to look at her bluntly, sending a heavy hint. After a moment or so, she finally got it.
' .. OH!' Mrs. Everest gasped. 'Blimey, constable. You married Baltus Van Tassel's daughter?'
The she clicked onto something furthur.
' .. And she's the mother of your child too?'
Ichabod simply turned around and slowly paced on, this woman was unbelievably slow minded. He then froze, stopping silent.
'What is it?' Mrs. Everest said loudly.
'Shh!'
There was a muffled sort of whinish sound echoing through the house. Ichabod stood deathly silent, his ears perking. It sounded almost like ... crying.
'Harlow!' He cried, darting off down the hallway and up the stairs, following her cries. She could be hurt .. she could be in pain ... she could be ..
.. On the mattress in his old room.
He let out a short, sharp gasp as he ran into the room and scooped up the crying baby, holding her close to his chest. Harlow stopped crying there and then.
'Oh god, oh my girl!' He gasped, kissing her forehead. 'Thank god your safe.'
Mrs. Everest followed him in, panting for breath, but her heart melted at the sight.
'Awh, my Sawyer wasn't even like that when our babes were born.' She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and walking over. 'Oh, she is a darling ain't she?'
Ichabod was damn near tears. Harlow breathed softly into her father's chest, snuggling into him and falling asleep in his arms. He pulled his dark coat round her while still wearing it, holding the baby in a warm, close embrace.
The cat leapt off the bed and landed at Ichabod's feet. It dropped the cardinal-cage disc at his feet and looked up at him patiently.
'It's your daughters'?' Mrs. Everest chimed in, stepping over and glancing over Ichabod's shoulder at the tiny bootie. 'How can you tell?'
'Because my wife bought it for her.' He replied bluntly, letting his look linger for a moment then tucked the garment into his black waistcoat.
'Your wife?' The woman slightly stressed the word, having not even thought about the constable's other half. How she must be feeling, the stress she must be going through. She knew herself a mother's crave for her baby, and how she would feel if her Anne had been taken. Ichabod had failed to even give a grunt of acknowledgment. He just stared at the ground, silent and blank.
'Yes, miss Katrina.' Young Masbeth added to break the silence. 'Fair, kind and beautiful.'
Ichabod broke his silence with a quiet sigh. Raising his hand and lightly turning the wedding on his finger as he thought of his Katrina. Yes, she was everything Young Masbeth said she was, and so much more to him. She was mysterious, romantic and a protector.
'Yes.' He sighed, barely a whisper. Then looking up, the goggles still strapped to his head. 'This tree is our clue. Either it will lead us to another, or something I cannot even bear to think about has taken place.'
After witnessing what had happened to Lady Van Tassel on his last visit to the Tree of the Dead, her having been dragged to Hell by a murdering ghost .. he wouldn't be able to bear if something simular had happened to Harlow. He had disturbing images in his head as of now.
He carefully trod upto the tree, his fingertips brushing the haggled and chopped up bark from where he had savaged it with an axe. The blood dry on the leaves. But wait ... blood, that far? Any blood he had spewed from the tree either ended up on the bark or on himself. It wasn't possible for the blood near his feet to have been sprayed by him. He took a step back and glared at the various smuded leaves through his goggles.
'Sir, what is it? Young Masbeth questioned, watching Ichabod examine the tree and go silent.
'My bag!' He snapped instantly, turning round and extending his hand for it. Young Masbeth quickly ran upto him and handed him his dark bag which Ichabod quickly opened and rummaged through.
'What you after, constable?' Mrs. Everest followed the boy, her eyes darting upto the looming tree every now and then as Ichabod produced a rather biggish sized bottle containing a blue powdered substance.
'I am testing for haemoglobin.' He answered as he pulled off the cork, looking at the woman and seeing her lost expression. He rolled his eyes and sighed at her.
'Red blood cells contain haemoglobin. To keep it simple for you, Mrs. Everest, I am finding blood.'
'But .. we can clearly see the blood, constable? Why do you need to test for it is it is already there?' She asked. This earnt another unamused roll of the eyes from Ichabod.
'Do the people of this village use their brains at any point at all?' He snapped impatiently, Mrs. Everest looking as though she were about to interject with a defensive argument but Ichabod quickly cutting her off. 'There may be traces of blood we are not seeing and we may use to find our next clue.'
He held up the bottle.
'This, detects the haemoglobin.'
Ichabod then tilted the bottle over the more obvious blood stains on the leaves, the blue powdered substance spraying out and fizzing as it hit the leaves, the steam coming off it floating up into the air. He backed away slowly, tapping at the bottle with his finger and as the blue substance spilled, more steam rose up from the leaves. Now came the leaves with no blood sighting at all, but still they fizzed and steamed as Ichabod poured. He was definatley going in the right direction. He kept backing away and tipping a few more steps, then turned around and looked down the path he seemed to be heading down. It lead back to the village it seemed ...
'Follow the trail!' Ichabod cried abruptly, breaking into a run as he kept spraying the blue substance and following the steaming leaves.
Mrs. Everest leapt on her horse and followed after him. Young Masbeth grasped the reins of both his horse, and Gunpowder and ran between both of them after the two.
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'Hmmm ...?' Katrina slowly came to as she felt a rough, thin tongue licking at her face. She blinked several times and looked up through her hair, seeing a black cat, with very friendly eyes. The cat ceased and took a step back, sitting patiently on the floor before the cardinal spinning disc. She furrowed her brow at the feline, looking a little confused then her eyes fell down at the object it had brought for her. Looking questionably at the cat, she only received a tilt of its' dark head and a slight tip forward, as if encouraging her to pick the cardinal-cage toy up.
Katrina received the hint the smart feline was sending her, picking it up gingerly by the string and twirling it lightly between her fingers as Ichabod had shown her.
' .. Did Ichabod send you for me?' She whispered to the cat, but received no pleasable answer just a blink of the eyes. The cat then stood on all fours and started stepping toward the door, tapping at the wooden framing with its' one white paw.
'That won't do anything, it is locked ... ' Katrina whispered, not even knowing why she was talking to the cat. But suddenly, with a final tap of the paw, the front door gently eased open. Katrina rose to her feet, awestruck. She even accidently let the cardinal-cage disc slip from her fingers and flutter to the floor.
The cat turned its head to look at Katrina and cocked its head. It then picked up the stringed toy in its teeth and darted off the opposite direction into the house. Katrina looked back at the cat that had now turned the corner and vanished from her sight, wonderng to follow after it, but then she looked at the slightly open front door.
'I must find Ichabod ... ' She breathed to herself, wanting desperatly to run back in and fetch Harlow back but knew it would be fruitless as she would only end up running back into the Lady. So, with a heavy breath, she quickly rushed out of the front door and into the village square, looking round wildly then darting off in the first given direction.
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Harlow squirmed in the Lady's arms, wanting her mother.
'Stop that squirming, my dear. Goodness, your a stubborn little thing aren't you?' Mary cooed in a bright voice, though she felt a little irritated. Why couldn't the baby just accept her as her mother now? Right on cue, the little girl opened her mouth and started bawling.
'Shhh! Hush now!' Mary said, rocking Harlow this way and that in an attempt to soothe. Unforunatly, the baby just arched her back and screamed harder. The Lady let out an aggrivated sigh and realised that she'd probably need Katrina to soothe the baby, if only temporarily. Obviously Harlow wasn't going cold turkey, she'd have to be weened onto a new mother.
Mary walked into the nearest room to her, and looked round. The room was familiar, it was the room they had lent out to Constable Crane on his first stay in the village. Her eyes swerved round. The bedding had been stripped. The blinds drawn, and the bedside candle-wick long since blown out. Walking upto the bed, Mary set Harlow down upon the mattress and petted her hair.
'I'll be back in a moment, sweetheart.' She said, then turning round and starting down the staircase. The house was empty, long since abandoned since Baltus' death and no servant girl Sarah left to tend to it. Supposedly no one had bothered shifting the furniture out. The hallway was now in sight, and soon the Lady's heeled boots were clacking upon the flooring.
'Girl! Wake up! I need you a moment ... ' Her voice rang throughout the hallway, but then she saw light shining through the now swung open front door. She had escaped.
'NO!!' Mary bellowed, bounding upto the door and staring at it in disbelief. ' .. But.. but .. HOW?!'
Her uncontent face faded to snarling anger. Without even thinking about it, she rushed out of the house and pulled up the black hood on her cloak, to be unseen, and mounted one of the carriage's horses.
'Yah!' She cried, snapping the reins and riding off in a bid to find Katrina.
Back upstairs in Ichabod's former lodgings, Harlow lay bawling on the mattress. In the doorway, stepped in the black cat with Ichabod's cardinal string toy in its mouth. It entered the room and hopped onto the bed beside the baby, dropping the toy and nuzzling her soft cheek with its' nose. Harlow still cried, but reached out her grabbing palm to the feline trying to touch it.
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'HOW THE 'ECK CAN YOU BE RUNNIN' FASTER THAN THE BLOODY HORSE, CONSTABLE?!' Mrs. Everest yelled after Ichabod who was legging it a fair way into the distance, his supply of blue powder running shortish now so he was only throwing it every few steps. He didn't answer, just kept running until he was in the town square of Sleepy Hollow. The place looked like a ghost town.
He stopped to catch his breath, only hearing the whinneys of some horses on a nearby carriage parked in front of a large house. A very familiar large house. In fact, it was the old Van Tassel place, but .. why would there be a carriage of active horses? The occupants were since dead and the only heiress had refused the inheritance and married off.
Saving the last of his powdered substance and tucking it into his coat pocket, Ichabod started up the steps slowly. Mrs. Everest rode up behind and slipped off the horse.
'Why you going in the Van Tassel's house, sir?! Nobody there that can help you?!' She called after him but he was unphased. Young Masbeth ran up with both horses, out of breath and exhausted, which the woman noticed and sympathised with.
'Stay 'ere and catch yer breath, lad. I'll go see what's got him intrigued.' She said to him, handing him the reins to her own horse.
'Thanks .. m'am ..' He gasped, leaning on Gunpowder for breath as Mrs. Everest took after him.
Ichabod entered the already open door, not really thinking about it. The room was dark and covered in cobwebs, so different to the light and warm atmosphere he had walked into on his last stay. He could almost hear the haunting sound of laughing children and the chants of a pickety witch ...
'Constable! Your scaring me now! What you in 'ere for?!' The woman bounded in after him, jerking him from his haunting memories. 'Shouldn't be here, sir! It's the old Van Tassel place .. no-one been here since ... '
Her voice trailed off and she paused.
' ... Well .. We don't like to talk about it.' She said reluctantly. 'It's sad though, ol' Baltus was such a lovely man, and his wife was such a kindly woman. No idea what happened to 'is daughter though. Some say she killed herself, some say she eloped, and some say she just .. vanished.'
'She married, actually.' Ichabod said quietly, back turned to her.
'Oh, how nice for her then. Haven't heard that one before though.' She said, raising her eyebrows. 'How'd you know?'
Ichabod turned around to look at her bluntly, sending a heavy hint. After a moment or so, she finally got it.
' .. OH!' Mrs. Everest gasped. 'Blimey, constable. You married Baltus Van Tassel's daughter?'
The she clicked onto something furthur.
' .. And she's the mother of your child too?'
Ichabod simply turned around and slowly paced on, this woman was unbelievably slow minded. He then froze, stopping silent.
'What is it?' Mrs. Everest said loudly.
'Shh!'
There was a muffled sort of whinish sound echoing through the house. Ichabod stood deathly silent, his ears perking. It sounded almost like ... crying.
'Harlow!' He cried, darting off down the hallway and up the stairs, following her cries. She could be hurt .. she could be in pain ... she could be ..
.. On the mattress in his old room.
He let out a short, sharp gasp as he ran into the room and scooped up the crying baby, holding her close to his chest. Harlow stopped crying there and then.
'Oh god, oh my girl!' He gasped, kissing her forehead. 'Thank god your safe.'
Mrs. Everest followed him in, panting for breath, but her heart melted at the sight.
'Awh, my Sawyer wasn't even like that when our babes were born.' She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and walking over. 'Oh, she is a darling ain't she?'
Ichabod was damn near tears. Harlow breathed softly into her father's chest, snuggling into him and falling asleep in his arms. He pulled his dark coat round her while still wearing it, holding the baby in a warm, close embrace.
The cat leapt off the bed and landed at Ichabod's feet. It dropped the cardinal-cage disc at his feet and looked up at him patiently.