Julian found himself wandering aimlessly. He was lost.
Not just lost as in the sense he took a wrong turn in the meat aisle
and couldn't find his mother, but lost in the sense that he had no idea
where in the hell he was. He had been out of the forest for about two hours
and was in the middle of a large corn field that seemed to have no end.
Over top of him, a clear dark night loomed. Julian tried to climb atop
a corn stalk to get his bearings, but the stalk merely crumbled, and the
warrior tumbled to the ground. Should he turn back? No, he had to follow
this through if anything to prove Bazil and Balanthalus wrong. Three
more hours went by.
Julian stepped out of the field, with the feeling
that he could never be able to watch children of corn again. As he got
his bearings, Julian noted that he was in front of a small, seemingly deserted
farmhouse. This house was far too small for that gigantic corn field, he
thought. He walked hesitantly up the porch stairs, listening to them creak
beneath him. Reaching the front door, he promptly knocked on it, and it
promptly fell in. "That is a good enough welcome as any," Julian muttered
softly. He stepped inside. "Anybody there?" He called. His voice echoed
through the halls. Suddenly, the warrior was struck from behind. Knocked
to the ground, Julian turned onto his back and started to get up, when
he realized what had hit him. It was the door. The door had formerly seemed
to be an old, simple wooden door. Now it had grown in mass, and had also
grown a face.
"How dare you enter the house of the haunted furniture,"
the door growled woodenly, "you are a tresspasser here. Guards, sieze him!"
The last thing Julian remembered was being hit by an overly angry armchair.
Later (not much, just a tad)
When Julian awoke, he realized he was moving. "This
must have all been a dream," he thought out loud.
"I am afraid not, my friend," said a voice next
to him. Julian nearly fell out of the carriage in fright. Next to him was
a finely
dressed man. He had the trapping of a famous hunter, but of what? "Myname
is Argio, I saved you from those beast in the farmhouse."
"Huh? How did you find me?"
"I wasn't exactly looking for you. I am a furniture
hunter, you see, I kill possessed furniture and sell their bodies to the
king for gold. Great business, you know. More and more furniture is possessed
everyday. But anyways, I raided that farmhouse and found that the piano
was about to string you up, so I saved you and got some fine specimens
in the process." He pointed to the back of the carriage. Attached to it
was a large wagon, and on it sat broken pieces of the door that had attacked
him, as well as pieces of a piano, two sofas, and a lamp.
"The lake, I must get to the lake," Julian uttered
desperately, though he wasn't sure why.
"Oh, I see, you are one of those people," Argio
said with disgust. "Very well, you are in luck, there is a port town
just ahead." Yet as they rode on, no signs of any town were visible.
"Do you smell smoke?" Julian asked.
"Yes, I wonder why, because the aroma is rather
strong." As the rode further, they realized the cause of the smoke. The
whole town had been burnt to the ground!
"This is horrible!" cried Julian, always the humanitarian.
"This is wonderful!" cried Argio. "You have no idea
how much furniture will be possessed in the remains of this town. It won't
be worth as much because it is scorched, but I can make up in quantity
what I lack in quality."
"But I need a boat to cross the lake"
"You will not find a boat here, human, but that
is the least of your worries." Argio and Julian turned in unison to come
face-to-face with a demonic kitchen table and hordes of other furniture
beasties grinning and licking their chops.