Travel to Sockland

Chapter 27

Arnie and Isabelle worked well together in the training of the pens and pencils. As they didn't know what situation they would face when they arrived at the stronghold of the paintbrushes they focused on basics. Basic training such as team work, basic combat, observation and other such vitals. They made sure that pens and pencils worked closely together, all the time building the rapport and friendship among them.

Arnie was pleased with how far they had come in the couple of days they had been working. Throughout the entire time, teams of pens and pencils were arriving into the village. Each group that arrived was told the full story of what had happened. A special team of pencils had been set up with the task of housing them all and organizing the food. The village was becoming packed and crowded, it's population growing beyond what it was built to hold.

As the last of the groups arrived a campsite was set up just outside the village walls. It sprawled out towards the trees. Arnie, being able to see over the wall easily, thought it looked like a music festival campsite. Though he had never actually been to a music festival that is what he thought of when he saw it.

Once it was confirmed that the last of the groups had arrived back, pens and pencils both, and everyone was fed and set up Arnie and Isabelle were called to a meeting. They were in the middle of combat practice with one group of soldiers when they were summoned. The summons came in the form of a large, thick, pencil soldier.

"Arnold. Isabelle." he bowed, "Your presence is requested in the leader's chamber. Make all haste." he then turned to the leader of the group they were training. "You are also requested, all leaders are meeting now to discuss the course of action." The squadron leader indicated he understood with a thumbs up gesture before turning to address his soldiers. "Continue practicing, it looks like the time is drawing near when we will need to use it. Bantamore" he said the name while looking at one of his soldiers. "You are in charge while I am away."

Arnie and Isabelle turned and got onto the path, the squadron leader walking alongside them. He didn't take up a lot of space on the path. Arnie looked around at the bustling village, both inside and outside the walls. There were pens and pencils hurrying along the path and scurrying between buildings. Some were carrying things, and others were empty handed, though they could have been on their way to pick something up or merely carrying messages.

They made their way silently up the path towards the house of the leader. The front door was being held open for them by a thin pencil Arnie thought he had never seen before. It was also being guarded at either side by two of the thick pencil soldiers. They nodded to the group of three as they entered the building in single file. The squadron leader led the way straight down the hallway and they arrived at the open door to the main chamber. The room itself was exactly the same. The notable difference as Arnie looked in was that it was full of pens and pencils, leaders among their people. An additional chair had been added at the front and The Pencil leader and Pen leader were both sitting together at the front of the group. They both sat silently, gazing out among their people. The rest of the room was chatting animatedly, excitedly.

Arnie and Isabelle followed the squadron leader in and they picked their way through the crowd to an empty spot. There were cushions on the ground here, and it seemed to have been set up especially for them because two of the plain blue, shiny cushions were normal sized cushions for humans.

Once they were seated a gong sound reverberated through the room. Arnie couldn't see where it came from despite craning his neck to look. The pen leader, still sitting, spoke. There was about an equal number of pens and pencils all together now, since all the arrivals had appeared at the village. "Brothers, we have brought you together as the leaders of your groups to discuss tactics and plans. We need to decide how we address this problem."