The Chicken hero saga 14: Maria's curse Part II

  The night sky was becoming as dark as an African.........night, he was distracted by some moving object and had trouble finishing that last thought. He would need to focus now though, for trouble was coming. Had it been that long already? Maria wondered aloud, a thousand years went by seemingly in the blink of an eye, but the hero didn't have time to listen to the polite ramblings of the old woman as off in the distance he saw a figure emerging from the darkness, they were short in stature, for a moment he had hoped it was the long awaited return of Byronus, but that could not be possible, for after being thrown by Robbius the strong a fortnight ago there were still reports of him sailing through the air. People were actually using him as a unit of measurement for travel, telling people that if they wanted to go to the next village all they had to do was go as straight as the Byronus flies.
  The figure was cloaked but he could tell it was a woman, yes he knew what woman this was, it was the witch that had cursed Maria. She removed her cloak and a rare look of horror crept over the face of the hero, her face resembled the skin of a chicken left laying around for days, her voice was the harshest sound he had ever heard, and he had heard Allysius speak in her high pitched gibberish. Time had not been kind to this decrepit old hag, and he had a feeling that she was not going to be kind to him.
  "Come on Maria, we have to run till I can figure out a plan"
   But it was the middle of the day, despite the darkness, and everyone knew that Maria didn't run well in the middle of the day. The hero picked up whatever he could find and threw it in the path of the witch, who was now gaining, doing whatever he could to block her path, he even grabbed a nearby baby and showed it to a group of serving wenches, causing a circle formation that was hard for the witch to get around and would buy them some time. On the way they were met by Jamieus the hemp smoking leprechaun, when the hero told him what was coming Jamieus had no fear.
  "Sure that's nothing, she only needs a hug, and I'm just the one to give it to her"
  "You don't understand Jamieus, she is going to swallow us up in a big dark hole"
  "HA, that's what she said"
   "That is exactly what she said, she was screaming it at us when she was approaching"
    The hero grabbed Jamieus and led him and Maria to find a place where he could think, he looked back and saw and the old woman getting closer and closer, he wondered why Maria couldn't move that way, The hero saw the lights of the harvest drawing near and he knew he couldn't let the darkness overtake it, for nobody in that village wanted anything do with dark, they were all white, white, white. The hero now stopped running, he had a plan, he urged Jamieus to run and get the giant Brendanus, their trio had dominated in the sport of hurling, he stopped and urged Maria to run before everything got cold....and dark. He set up a net using his trusty and effective chicken string, hoping it would hold until Jamieus and Brendanus returned. The old woman ran straight into the string, it was working, she was being held back, but then she wasn't, through some witchcraft the string disintegrated, he could wait no longer, he took out his hurling ball and threw, a good shot, it hit her, she wobbled and did not fall over, he threw another, but missed, he silently cursed his wild inconsistency. Then from behind to the left came a whirling orb that ended up hitting the witch head on knocking her far back, before he even heard the all too familiar words he knew what had happened.
  "Did you see the curve on that, what a hook" roared the giant Brendanus
  Jamieus stood by with an approving look until a huge gust of air sent him flying into the night, the hero and Brendanus stood stopped in their tracks as a bigger gust of air sent Brendanus flying. She had recovered well for a woman who was thousands of years old. It was just them now.
  "Why do you run boy, is it so hard to be polite that you would rather flee then talk to me, well your problems are almost over, for soon the only words these wretched fools will no how to say will be Hello, and how are you, and excuse me dear, and there is nothing you can do about it."
  "Listen lady.....ish thing, whatever you are, I have manners, I was always told to help old ladies across the village streets, and now I'm gonna help you across the street, INTO HELL."
  Feeling proud of himself for that last line he charged.....backwards, as a gust of air knocked him over, dazed he looked up to see the witch standing over him, her bony hand nearing his face.
  "With one touch you will be under my command, you will be cursed like the girl was cursed......."
  Just then she stopped talking, her hand stopped moving, she was frozen in fear, what is that could possibly scare this supernatural entity, the hero crawled backwards and looking behind him he could see what stopped her, emerging from the darkness came the pasty frame of the far undressed Bogeyus, man of numbers and literature. The image that once haunted the hero now haunted her.
  "My eyes have never seen such small amounts of denim pantalooms, or such amounts of wool for feet coverings, the horror..........the horror, the curse is not worth this."
  With that the old hag was gone, and the skies lightened, it appeared the trouble was over, they were safe for the next thousand years, or at least till the next threat came along. Bogeyus looked at the hero with a confused look on his face.
  "Who was that, one of the villagers complaining"
  "Um something like that, she said something about wanting all dark and not getting it, I'm glad you showed up Bogeyus, now lets go get you some longer pantalooms."