Legacy of Ages: The Colony

Chapter 10

Widget opens his large eyes, to a dark forest. He panics for a moment because it was early morning when he entered the small clearing by the spring. He sits up and looks around himself. Everything is different now, and he tries to remember where he needs to head to get home.

He stands and thinks about his mother and the warm fire in the fireplace, when suddenly he can feel a nudge on his mind when he looks in a certain direction. He knows that it is his mother he can sense and smiles because he will be able to fill the gap that is making its presence known in his stomach.

He heads off through the trees, getting scratched by the branches as he gets too close to the them in the dark. Eventually, he is standing at the door to their small cottage at the edge of the trees. He enters and his mother Wipit looks up, glad to see her son return safely from the night.

Widget is amazed that when he looks to his mother now, he can feel her presence in his mind.

"I am so happy to see you," smiles Wipit, as she crosses the floor to hug her son. "I thought you were lost in the trees and would not be able to find your way home or had been attacked by the Guardian."

"The Guardian?"

Wipit looks to her son blankly as she tries to remember what the Guardian is, then it comes to her as Widget reaches out and holds her hand affectionately. "The Guardian is a smooth skinned, shiny beast that guards the entrance to the land of the Small Eyed People. We are not to go anywhere near the tunnels that lead to their world, because it is forbidden."

Widget looks to his mother, as he thinks about this new information. "No, I woke, and it was dark, but I could feel you in my head. That is how I was able to return to our home."

Wipit steps back from her son, as her large brown eyes go even wider. "You have the sense! Your father had the sense also. He was a brown eyed man that was smart, not as smart as the True-Blue Eyes though. He wandered from village to village looking for females that he could sense. Then, when he found one, he would stop for awhile and get his clothes mended a few times before moving on."

Widget sits down on his stool by the fireplace and stares at the flames flickering, as his mother gets him some stew from the big pot for his supper. He eats all she gives him, as he thinks about his dreams and what his mother had just told him.

Wipit pulls her stool over beside his and looks at her son differently now. "Tomorrow, I need to go to the village. I think it is time for you to go with me, so you can see the world."

He nods his head and gets up from his stool. He crosses the room to the front door and heads out to the trees before returning to the cottage and his room for the night.

Wipit watches her son leave, then return a short time later. She smiles at the changes in him, not sure what they mean, but happy for him. She gets up and enters her room to sleep on the grass filled bag for the night.

Widget wakes to the sun lighting his small room at the back of the cottage. He quickly goes to the trees before returning to get the fire going for the porridge sitting in the big pot to the right of the fireplace. The left side is for the stew they have at supper.

Wipit comes out of her room to see Widget put the big pot on the hook over the fire. "Widget, when did you learn to start the fire?"

He lifts his head and turns to face his mother. "I have been watching you do it all my life; I just did what I have seen you do."

She shakes her head as she smiles and pours some water from the bucket by the front door into the pot on the hook and starts to stir the contents slowly at first till it warms up enough to make it easy to move the big wooden spoon. She uses a thick cloth to grab the handle of the pot and bring it over to the table, so they can scoop out their breakfast.

Widget eats two full bowls, thinking it must be hard work to dream all day long. Wipit watches him and smiles at his appetite, which to her is a sign of a healthy child.

He pushes his bowl towards the center of the table and covers the pot with the heavy cloth that protects the contents from the ever-present insects and bugs. Next, he returns to his room and puts on his best clothes for their trip into the village.

Widget re-enters the main room to find his mother still sitting at the table, staring off into space. "Are you ready to go now, Mother?"

Wipit is startled by the sudden interruption and looks to him. "What did you say?"

"Are you ready to go to the village. You said we were going to see the world today before bed time last night."

She stares at him for a moment, before she remembers her promise from the night before. "Yes, we should go right now before it gets too hot under the midday sun."

Widget moves to his mother and takes her hand, as he concentrates on helping her remember things. She looks up at him and smiles. "We should get going," she says softly.

They leave the cottage and head down the path that will take them to the main road that runs parallel to the high cliff to their right. There are fields of plants growing in long rows behind low fences to keep the small animals out of

the crops. Then, the closer they get to the village, the bigger the fields become, and Widget can see people working in them. Some he knows are Brown Eyes because he can sense them in his head, the rest he can only see and assumes that they must be Blue Eyes, but he's not sure.

They continue till they come to the main street between taller buildings, with some of the inner ones being two stories. He had never seen anything like it before, because Mother had always kept him safe at the cottage.

They enter one of the large two-story buildings and Wipit goes to the front counter. The blue-eyed man behind the counter smiles as he sees Widget, before turning back to Wipit. "What have we here? I think you have been feeding this one to much, just look at the size of him," says the man, as he comes around the counter to inspect Widget. "Open your mouth boy, lets see how good those teeth are?"

Widget looks to his mother, who just nods her head. He opens his mouth as the man reaches up to pry it open even farther before taking a closer look. "Good teeth," he comments, as he backs up and looks Widget up and down as if assessing his worth. "He looks good and strong," he adds. "I bet Ned the metal worker could use a Brown Eyed boy, or Ed out in the fields would be another. Does he have any wit to him, or is he one of the slow ones?"

Wipit doesn't answer, and Widget knows enough to keep his mouth shut in front of the True Blues.

The man nods his head as he returns to his side of the counter. "So, what can we get you today, you still have lots of credit from your male friends."

Wipit points to a couple bags of grain for the porridge, plus vegetables and meat for the stew. The man turns and gets them from behind him and places them on the counter for her, before producing a rough piece of paper for her to put her mark on for the supplies.

Widget moves to the counter and picks up the sacks easily and slings them over his shoulder. The man smiles at the ease of which he did it. "I will let Ned and Ed know about the boy. I suspect that one of them will be paying you a visit any day now to collect him."

Widget leaves the shop before his mother does, because all he wants to do is get away from the True Blue and the way they treat the Brown Eyes. His mother comes out soon after and walks beside him down the main road. "When they come for you, try not to act too smart. They don't like smart Brown Eyes and could expel you from the village forever."

He doesn't say a word, but just keeps walking towards their cottage set in the trees close to the cliff. He glances up at the workers in the fields and pictures himself doing the weeding with a long stick in the heat of the day. Some of the workers look up at him as he passes. He smiles because it is all the ones he can sense in his head.

They eventually return to the cottage and Widget puts the sacks in the corner with the rest, before turning to his mother, who looks at him sympathetically.

"It is the way of things for us Brown Eyes, we are here to serve the True Blues, as they protect us from the beasts of the trees and other villagers. Each of us has to do our part for the good of everybody."

Widget doesn't know what to say to his mother, so he just walks out the door and into the trees, and heads for the spring, where he lays down and thinks of Ela. The dream starts again as he relaxes.