The Author

Chapter Four

            Alice and Bo sat for an hour in silence, too shocked to move. It appeared to Alice that no one must have seen them leave, or there would have been Blackcoats surrounding them by now, and their trail must have been washed away by a thunder storm which began to fall on the village and surrounding hills just as they reached the forest. An hour later the rain and lightning were letting up, rainbows were shining and the village was reduced to a collection of smoking heaps of charred timber.

            “What was that all about?” Alice asked, finally emerging from her dazed state. Bo jumped slightly, like he had forgotten she was there.

            “That was Recyar, leader of the Blackcoats. They’re the ‘law enforcement’ of Betton Reim and Vachne Reim.” He emphasized “law enforcement” with a flick of his tail to underline his apparent disdain for the group. “All they do is terrorize and destroy, like you saw. But because they are supposed to be upholding the law, they have free rein to do what they want.”

            “What about the man who was hanged?” Alice remembered the man and his wife and how she was unable to save him. Her heart hardened a little as she developed nothing but enmity for this Recyar person. “What could he have possibly done to get that kind of treatment.”

            “Antagonist fighter, most likely. Recyar and his men like to make examples of them. The sad thing is, it works. The Antagonists are dwindling.”

        Because of her literary background, Alice realized that the Antagonists must be some kind of resistance movement against the Blackcoats. She liked the idea of the Antagonists and deep down she decided that their ranks had just increased by one. Then she suddenly marvelled at this new world she was in. Her life had gone from mundane student to secret resistance fighter on the lam all in a span of twenty four hours. What would the next day hold in store for her?

            “One thing you never have told me: what are you doing here?” Bo asked.

            “That’s a difficult question to answer. I’m not entirely sure myself. For the last several days some really strange things have been happening to me. Then yesterday this odd guy who just seemed to appear from nowhere handed me this.”

            Alice took the envelope from her purse. She had folded it so that it would fit. Pulling out the papers, she laid them each side by side so that Bo could see them. He looked over each one, ears and tail twitching. He was deep in thought. However, when he read the letter he gasped.

            “The Hallon Bei!” He looked at Alice in amazement and continued to read. When he finished he looked at her again with a mixture of surprise, admiration, confusion and fear. “You’re the new Author?”

            “I don’t even know what that is. I’m certainly no author back home. I’ve never written anything besides research papers. I’ve studied authors, but I’m not one myself.”

            “I think you’ll find our Author is somewhat different than yours.” As he said this, Bo turned the letter over to look at the map. It showed the village they had just left and several roads leading from it to other villages. The center arrow appeared to be resting on the forest in which they had taken refuge.

            “This must be you. Your location. Alsce. That’s your Vachnish name. Are you sure you come from Nechne Reim originally?” Bo asked.

            “Yup. Born and raised in Nechne Reim by Nechnan parents.” Alice amazed herself with how easily these new words rolled off her tongue.