Saving Arba

Chapter 1

        Guin carefully crept into the beautifully manicured gardens of the Arba palace.  She glanced around at the hedges and up at the walls to guarantee that no one had seen her sneak in.  Growing up as an orphan had provided Guin with a keen sense of detecting when people were nearby.  The crowded life at the orphanage rarely gave Guin any time to herself.  Occasionally, like at the present moment, she was able to slip away from her irritable guardian, Adrianne Ratcliffe.  These quiet moments calmed her and gave her the courage and resolution to last through another day.

        Seeing that the way was clear, Guin released a deep breath and began to wander the gardens aimlessly.  If anyone caught her here, in the palace’s private gardens, it would mean immediate flogging and almost certain death.  She stopped abruptly, sensing an instantaneous change and heard a low whine.  Whoosh.  An arrow sunk into the ground right in front of where she would have been standing, except Guin had leapt off like a fleet-footed deer and was diving into the bushes.

        Her heart beat rapidly as she glanced up at the only window on this side of the palace.  The rocky, gray stone of the looming palace crawled slowly towards the sky.  Her eyes finally came to rest on the giant window near the peak of the castle wall.  A shadowy male figure sank back into the darkness until Guin could not even see the outline anymore.  Expecting a legion of soldiers to come bursting through at any moment, she calmed her heavy breathing and tried not to move.  Time seemed to pass slower than ever as she awaited her doom.  After what seemed like an eternity, she finally realized that no one was coming to arrest her.

        Through the bright green leaves of the bush, Guin carefully eyed the arrow.  The shaft looked strange, much bulkier than it should have been.  She carefully crept out to inspect the cryptic arrow.  It seemed like a small piece of paper had been carefully attached. The young girl gracefully removed the arrow from the moist ground and enclosed her skinny fingers around it.  Bumpy markings on the arrow head rubbed against Guin’s fingers.  It felt like some kind of engraving of a cross and three other strange symbols arranged around it.  However, the eerie feeling in the pit of her stomach prodded her to move on and she did not have time to examine the symbols.  She quickly crammed the dirty arrow in her apron pocket.

        Boom.  She strained her ears to listen out into the silence that pressed tightly around her.  She had thought that she had heard something, but it must have been her imagination.  Boom. Silence.  Boom.  There it was again.  Ever so slightly she could hear a rhythmic pounding in the distance.  Something bizarre was definitely going on.  There was no doubt about it, she had to get going.

        Expertly, Guin jumped over a small gate, ran through an impressively large hedge maze, squeezed herself through the bars of the wrought iron fence, and plunged herself into the dark, dank Arba forest.  She quickened her pace as she skillfully navigated through the woods.  She had spent much of her time in this forest and knew almost every tree and rock by heart.  These trees comforted Guin just like a family would, only she had never had a family.  Oh, how she longed to be loved by someone.  Just to have a tender hug from her mother or even a gentle scolding by a loving father.  Tears began to reach the brim of her eyes, and she wiped them away angrily.  This was no time to be reminiscing about what she might have had.

        Nimbly, she ducked under a fallen tree and took an immediate right turn.  She walked on until she heard the faint gurgling of a creek. The noise grew louder until finally a stream came into view.  Dark water swirled and twisted around as it rushed downstream.  Guin pranced alongside of the water until she came to a large Wellgum tree.  This was her favorite tree in the whole kingdom.  She had grown up with this tree. As it grew taller and stronger with each year, it watched over her every move and comforted her when she had difficult trials in her life.