Dear Diary My first assignment! And guess where to! Not, not House of Foryx. The Marram Marshes. That's right. A top secret spell for Zelda Heap. Hurrah. I should really have put that in the paperwork, shouldn't I? Marram Marshes excluded. Of course, it's a bit late now. Oh well. Three pennies in it for the trouble. Hurrah! And I actually meant that one. I caught a donkey-cart out of the Castle. I heard the driver say he was going to the Port. So I sat back, thinking it would be an easy ride. No such luck. We got as far as the South Gate when the donkey spotted me. Just my luck to hitch a ride with a rat-phobic donkey. It saw me and started snorting and braying, kicking up dust and bits of the unfortunate cart. I was thrown off, and went flying though the air, like a furry bullet. But the landing was definitely worse than the flying. Smack! I went, Smack! straight into a filthy puddle. I was soaked and muddy, and didn't think it could get could.A scabby, balding creature had claimed the puddle as its own, for reasons beyond my understanding. It did not take kindly to me splatting into said puddle, spraying stagnant dirty water everywhere. Now this creature may have had territorial feelings over this patch of road, and thus the puddle, but it didn't seem that happy about getting a soaking from a creature was a yowled and shook itself, then its green eyes fell on me. Such hatred I never saw in the eyes of another beast. It wanted to kill me, it did. It wanted to murder me, callously and cold-bloodedly- me, the innocent, defenceless creature forever its prey. It wanted to rip me apart and scatter my innards in the dust. I could see it in those furious green eyes. Obviously, I ran. I legged it in the opposite direction. The mangy cat yowled again and aimed a swipe at me. I missed by the tip of my tail. I darted left, then right, dodging blow after ginger-furred, grubby, extremely sharp and curvy I was out of range for the claws to do their damage, the chase began. The cat sprang to its feet and pounced. I darted across the road, weaving in and out, in and cat was just as quick. It skittered across the dirt, hot on my tail. Desperate now, I dived headlong into a throng of people wandering down the road. They squealed with fright as I threaded my way through the forest of legs. People jumped out of the way as the cat followed. Mercifully, someone trod on the cat's tail in their haste to get out of the way. Whilst it was occupied in yowling with pain and scratching at legs- which in turn caused a heck of a lot more yowling- I managed to throw myself out of the way of the heavy stomping feet, into a ditch. I tumbled down into the damp depths, safe at last.
Stanley.