*/Pic above is Opal (played by Emma Watson)/*
*/Slight edit 07/30/2018
We've been driving North for around 3 1/2 hours already. Pearl supplied us with a small wooden wagon and a young unicorn named Sapphire to pull it.
"So, I know we went through Merriot Village already, right after we left the palace. I'm pretty sure we skirted Fogon Town just after that as planned, but I, uh.....i have.....no idea where we are," confesses Mathilda, glaring shamedly at her hands which are holding onto Sapphire's reigns. I hear the rustling and chattering of Azore and Zircon freeze from behind me.
"I must confess, as well girls....I, I am not exactly from up this way, I'm from the South, so I don't exactly know this area well either,"
I glance at Matt and she glances at me. I know we are both thinking the same thing; what in the world was Pearl thinking sending along a stupidly huge 'Army Bird' who doesn't know his way 3 hours from the palace??!
I sigh.
"We'll, then. I guess we should just keep going straight until we reach a town where someone can give us directions to..." I look through the map in the heavy book from Pearl, "...to Wendle Mount."
Wendle Mount is our end destination for day 1. We got that all planned out yesterday so we know where to stop for the nights.
"Well, I'm hungry, if you ask me," states Zircon, floating up to my shoulder, his usual perch.
"Ya know what Zirc'? I am to. I'll go find something from the back," I reply, hearing my stomach growl and agreement. I step carefully over the back row of wooden benches and into the small storage conpartment in the back of our ride. Searching through our packs, I hear the sound of metal rubbing on metal. Hmmmm...
Switching my search from food to the sound, I quickly find where the noise is coming from.
"Matt?" I call, "we didn't pack any huge dinner knives or arrow things did we?"
"Ummmm.... nope, I don't think so? Why? Come to mention it, we should have..." She replies.
I hand the 2 large knives and the arrows over the seat to her and she chuckles as she slides her fingers over shining metal blades.
"These aren't 'huge dinner knives', Elise. These are daggers! And this is a bow and arrow set!"
"Oh," I reply dumbly. I frown at the thought of using those weapons. I mean, isn't that violence stuff just...disgusting?
"I haven't used either one of those specific weapons before, so this'll be a new experience for sure," Matt continues, not showing any concern that they are WEAPONS that are used to HURT people!
"Who says we'll have to use them?" Although I already know the answer.
Turning in her seat to look me straight in the eyes, Matt starts her lecture,"Elise. I know you don't like weapons or pain or anything of that sort, but face it. We are going to encounter Seth's men, and possibly Seth himself. Trust me, his men will do anything, and I mean anything to please their king. Even kill. And I want to return you to your parents alive."
"You didn't have to say that," I quickly touch her shoulder, "of coarse I'll make it back-" but a memory comes where I heard that promise, and it was broken.
"Chase? Chase! CHASE! Where are you?" But I don't hear anything through the thick brush.
"Chase?" My 8 year old voice cracks as I realize i'm alone.
"El-Eli' im-m over he-ere," I faintly hear my older brother call, thin and weary to his usual confident voice. I scurry through dry leaves which cover the ground until I reach where I heard my brother call from.
My voice catches in my throat as I see pain shoot through his eyes, something I had never seen in my 15 year old brother. He was the strong one, the one who coached me, the one who played with me, the one I could punch and play with and keep up late into the night and he never complained. He was the one who was always happy, and never showed pain. That Chase, laying in the leaves of the public forest behind our house, his chest heaving as he struggles to sit up to comfort me, when he is the one wounded. Wounded bad.
The only words I can make out that he whispers to me is "I love you, Eli'...go get...Mom, and...dad, please," but I can't bring myself to leave him.
"Are you going to die if I leave?" I ask, my young self barely knowing the meaning of death.
"No, 'Lise, I'll make it back alive. But I ne-eed you to get Mom and Dad."
"Promise you won't leave me forever?" I press.
"Promise," he finished, and with that I run as fast as my short legs can carry me, to our backyard to get Mom and Dad, the same place as where we left to go for a quick stroll through the forest trails. "Eli'!" Calls Mom. "Where's Chase? He sure is good at training you to run, you beat him here!"
"Mom..." I pant. "Chase got...hurt....in, the forest, by a....mean man.... need help, he's hurt.....real bad." And with that, my parents follow me through the forest to the place I left him laying, bleeding.
"I never did get to say a proper good bye to him, but before he passed, he wrote me a note, delivered to me by the nurse who tried to save him. She delivered it, about a day or so after....after he, left. Unfortunately, he made a promise to me he couldn't keep, but I don't hold it against him. He fought and fought, but too much blood was lost and..... This is what his note said" I finish explaining my sudden memory to Matt, who is listening intently with a small frown of sympathy.
Please give this to my sister Elise -
Eli',
I don't really think there is anything I can say right now that will make you feel better. I've probably been gone for a while now, and you've probably shut yourself in your room and cried your pretty little eyes out. I know I have always been able to comfort you somehow through your 8 years of life, but now....it breaks my heart that I won't be there for you when you need me most. I'm sorry, Elise, that I'm gone, but please, keep living life like I always taught you - brave, stong and with God. And please, don't blame anyone for what happened to me. Don't blame Mom or Dad for letting us go into the woods, don't blame God, don't even blame the man who made all this happen to me. Continue to be the stong little girl that I know Elise to be.
Love forever and Always to my little Polar Bear,
Chase ♥
"And so, that's why we moved to Tybee; I continued to have memories and flashbacks and..." I try not to let the tears come, but they do.
"And so finally, my parent decided to move so I wouldn't have the familiar secenery and such to bring back memories. Basically everyone used to call me Eli' in Canada, but after Chase...you know....well, I didn't want people calling me Eli', since he made it up, so I'm glad you call me 'Lise rather than Eli'."
I sigh. I can't believe I blurted out basically my whole life story when I promised myself no one would ever hear what I keep bottled up in myself.
"Wow, umm.? I'm sorry, Elise. Really, I'm sorry that I just, jerked you into this, you know...without telling you that, yeah, maybe there will be some necessary fighting..."
I touch Matt's tense shoulders lightly again, and she relaxes as I speak.
"Matt, it's...it's ok. I just, I didn't mean for you to know all this. I've just had it bottled up in me for so long, I needed to....get it off my chest."
Trying not to meet Matt's guilty eyes, I glare at the weapons in front of us. Stuck to the bottom knife, the corner of a green slip of paper shows. Reading it, I realize these were gifts from Queen Pearl. One thing I did not think I'd be doing was overcoming my fear of weapons. Surprise, surprise!
"Hey, uh would it be better if we....left this subject for a while?" Suggests Matt, and I agree with the nod of my head.
"Good, because, I see someone who can give us directions and tell us where we are!"
Thank you, God.
Matt pulls up beside a familiar looking pixie with short, white blond hair.
"Hey there!" Calls Matt, and the pixie walks over to our wagon with a....pleased? smile on her face.
"Uh, we are wondering where we are? And if we could get some directions to Wendle Mount."
"Yeah, no problem! I'm Opal, by the way," says the girl, shaking hands with Mathilda, as Matt gives her name as well.
"You are in Taragon, which is about 3 hours south of Wendle Mount."
"Okay, great. Thanks!"
I flip through our book of maps and images and trace my fingers to the town name Taragon Village. Yup, roughly 3 hours from here.
"So, why are you heading North up to Wendle Mount? No one really goes up there without a reason, especially with King Seths men roaming around"
I look at Matt. I don't really know where our mission stands - is this like a don't tell anyone your whole reason for doing what you're doing or a sure tell anyone kind of thing? Agh. I don't know.
"Well, King Seth has taken...an important...well, he took and destroyed the Starfleur. So we're on a mission to...you know, bring a Starfleur back to the palace."
"Ah, I see. Well, I just remembered I need to go to Wendle Mount as well today, so could I hitch a ride with you guys?"
"Of coarse!" Answers Matt, and they both hop into the wagon. We set off North to Wendle Mount, where our first night will be spent.
I'm pretty sure Opal is the pixie I saw at the back of the crowd this morning while Pearl was giving her speech, and something seemed off about her then. Now, I'm still not sure about her, but she seems nice, and we're just giving her a 3 hour ride. We'll see how things go from here...
*/ 2 posts in a span of 48 hours! Wow. You lucky, lucky readers!
How many of you trust Opal? And what are your thoughts on Chase and Elises flash back? A heart wrencher, I know....😋 Let me know, I would love to hear you thoughts so I can make this book better!/*
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Amador | Is It Truth Or Fantasy? |
Fantasy**(2nd Place in The Chillin' Awards General Fiction Category)** Hero's don't have to come in shining armour. They don't have to come with gleaming swords, or muscular sidekicks. They also don't have to be fearless and brave, although it helps to be...
