Clockwork Forest

Chapter 4 - The pilgrimage

Chapter 4 – The pilgrimage

Alinson woke up only to be greeted by the sun in her eyes and a knock at the door, her dream was weird as visions of the past and her future tried to distort her mind, but she knew they were dreams and nothing more, she rubbed the sand from her eyes and looked around the room and at the sofa in particular, nothing, she was by herself with the boots that Kendor , there was another set of knocks at the door, Alinson sat up and stretched as she said “come in”

The maid from the night before opend the door with a smile, her out fit was cleaner and more whiter or it was the trick of the bright sunlight “hello my dear, sleep well?”

Alinson yawned “yes...oh sorry about that”

“not at all, you have breakfast ready for you and your cloak has been cleaned”

“breakfast? Cleaned cloak?”

Alinson was confused as she never asked for breakfast or anyone to clean her cloak, she the maid was only peering in but turned her back and walked backwards with a trolly with a plate full of food and her cloak in the lower section “yes my dear, Kendor said that you needed it cleaned and would need breakfast for the morning”

The maids cheeks blushed as she mentioned his name but Alinson didn’t notice as her gaze was on the face of the clock, the small hand was on nine while the other hands was on the six, Alinson felt embarrassed that she couldn’t read the clock, she knew what it was as her encylopidea and her fairy tale book helped her recognise what it was, she looked at the maid who started to dust the shelves, Alinson had a idea “excuse me but what is the time?”

The maid looked at her then the clock “oh, its nine thirty my dear”

Alinson nodded with a appreciated smile “thanks”

Then her attention drew to the food cart, on the plate was a steaming meal, eggs, thick sussages, thick cut bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast, once again it was another set of smells and flavers that wafted through her nose, the bacon smelled smoked and the sausages tasted like a mixture of pork and stuffing when she tucked in with glee, it was another experience.

By the time she had finished eating and her stomice full the maid had finished the dusting and with another smile took the trolley cart and then left closing the door behind her, Alinson stood and streached herself looking down at what she was wearing, she was still in her clothes which made her smile, it was her first time sleeping in clothes but it was still new to her, as she walked around the room to find any signs of Kendor or where he went was in vain, her searching led her to her fairy tail book on the sofa, it was a bit odd she thought and wondered if Kendor had been down her bag, as she picked up the book underneath was a note that read “Dear Alinson, when you read this i have gone, my journey is long and i have many books to read, your fairy tale book intrigues me to a degree, maybe one day we will meet up and talk about it, i left you what coins i had left to help you on your journey, us dragons have our ways of getting money and don’t worry about the boots consider them a gift”

The note was signed by Kender in both his signature and written name, Alinson understood some of the note, that he had a interest in her book and the boots were a gift, she smiled and sighed as she looked at the boots and tiled her head this way and that, the boots were bigger then her feet but he told her that they can fit any size, Alinson walked over to the boots and sat down, she shrugged and put one boot on, it was a pair of brown boots that stopped at the lower calf, it had laces and felt heavy as she picked one up and placed on her foot, the boot shrunk to fit and the laces did up by them self’s, it was light but it felt strange, she then placed on the other boot which did the same thing, her feet felt slightly heavy then normal but what got her attention was the boots did up by themselves, she smiled as she looked down at her back sake and inside true to his word was another bag of coins.