The Faithful Ones

Part 1- Chapter 2

Bright flowers grew everywhere, and streams trickled through the stones that formed their riverbeds. There was heaps of food around, which Freya and Blaze helped others to recognise. There had been many times when someone thought a particular plant was a weed and therefore inedible, but were always proved wrong when it filled their stomachs well at night. Raine slowly learned what the plants looked like, but still got confused very often. Leading was mostly making sure everyone was safe and fed, Raine found, but she knew that it would surely grow harder. Raine was glad it had  been easy so far, because she didn't know if she should really be their leader, but Nimue had said she must be.

"What do you think we have to do?" wondered Rose, who'd asked that question several times on the journey already
"Who knows. Maybe we'll have to fix the lighthouse?" suggested Freya.
"How are we supposed to know how?" asked Sunny.
"I wonder how long until we actually find out what we're doing," said Raine. They'd gone through a lot of possibilities, each more wild than the the one before it – this was one of the most boring ideas for a while – but none seemed to fit.

It was nearly a moon since they left. Raine had counted the days, since she had little else to tell the passing of time with. Wind blew her hair around, getting in her eyes, and she tucked it behind her ears even though the effort was useless. The sun began to set as the gusts turned into a gale, and then the seven were on sand. The sea was before them, a cove protected by two cliffs. The right one had a lighthouse. Raine led her friends up the hill, struggling against the gale into the twilight. Screaming, they suddenly found themselves falling, plunging deep into the sea. Raine struggled against the water, breathless, searching for the surface. She found air then another wave snatched it away from her, and she had to swim up again. The ocean tossed her, teaching her that not everything she'd always known about water was true – the waves were merciless. The remaining light showed the seven where to swim, and even though the current was strong they kept moving forwards. Struggling to see, Raine blinked and rubbed her stinging eyes in an effort to free them of salt.

When she opened her eyes again a bright light flashed in a sweeping arc, and Raine realised the lighthouse was on. The others saw this too and were equally surprised. Breakers picked up the friends and carried them to shore. Eventually they were washed onto the sand. They picked themselves up, exhausted and soaked, and the lighthouse turned off.

"How did the lighthouse turn on? There's no-one in there," frowned Rose.
"I don't know," said Rained, shaking her head. Then she felt a piece of paper integrating into her hand.
"What do we do now?" Sunny tossed her hair that had stuck to her dripping face.
"I just got our message: we will camp here tonight, and tomorrow we'll begin to travel north to the Dwarven Caverns." They searched for firewood and built two fires, and soon the night meal was ready. Raine only focused on getting warm and dry, and eating her dinner. She ignored the fires as well as she could, memories flashing through her mind, and when she'd finished eating she went to sleep to get away from the flames as she always did.

Raine was running through a snowy forest in dim twilight. She heard a growl and, thinking it was a wolf, Raine ran faster. A large marbled creature was following her through the trees. Searching for an escape from the nearing animal, Raine climbed up a tree, panting. The growling went away and a snow leopardess padded to her tree and looked up.
"You're lost Raine. Come with me, and I will show you the way. Trust me," encouraged the leopardess.

Raine opened her eyes and found Matthew standing next to her. She blinked, bleary-eyed, and knew that the familiar dream was gone. It was always the same, every day, although it was not usually as vivid as it had been this morning. Raine had learnt that if it was vivid something important had happened or would happen, so she assumed that their falling off the cliff last night held some importance. Well, they'd gotten the instructions for the next task, so they must have been the first task. But it was so strange, and although Raine trusted Nimue, this was such a weird thing to do. And the dream always led to questions: what did it mean?

The sun rose upon each new day, the same as it always did. Raine and her friends woke, and travelled. They gathered food whenever they saw it. Each child shared with the others what their life had been like in the Village, and retold how they'd met the Water-Spirit. Raine missed Nimue, as did everyone else, and as they neared their home they were tempted to abandon their tasks. The seven had already risked their lives, falling into the sea, and it didn't make sense, but when they passed close to the village, they continued north to the Dwarvern Caverns. It was the beginning of the second moon; two months since their adventures had begun.

Raine plaited blades of grass, listening to her friends talking, sometimes adding to the conversation. Rose and Salma were discussing what they would do to celebrate Midsummer since they weren't at the Village to join in there. They would of course have the usual feast, but Rose didn't know how they would gather the food and cook it while they had to keep travelling.
"The note didn't say we had to be there by a certain time, so I don't see why we can't stop and prepare our small feast on Midsummer's Day," said Raine.
"Oh," Rose smiled.
"Come on, let's practise our song," Salma said. The pair had been adding to an old lullaby, and Raine was eager to hear it.

Raine watched her friends prepare for Midsummer, only planning to help cook and join in the dancing and singing. The longest day of the year was in a week. Sunny was making up a dance with Freya and Matthew, and also integrating new parts to an old song. They travelled slower now, spending time to gather food and practise. When the sun was a hand's width from the horizon they stopped so that they'd have daylight time to sing and dance, and on the day of Midsummer they didn't go anywhere. Matthew and Blaze went to hunt early in the morning, wile Freya, Sunny, and Rose went on their own hunt for herbs and spices to cook with, and Raine and Salma built the fire. Around mid-morning, Matthew and Blaze proudly returned with two rabbits. When the girls returned with arms full of plants, Raine took their water skins to the nearby river and brought back enough to fill the one pot they had. The rabbits were skinned and put into the boiling water along with whatever tubers had been found. Raine made a salad with the other plants, then went to get more water. Soon the sun was nearing the west, and thankfully the preparations were finished.

"My friends, we have worked hard all day so that we can celebrate Midsummer's Feast. May all the creatures of magic bless us and the times ahead. We thank the sun for its light," Raine said the customary words that began the Feast. The others joined her to say the last part, and they celebrated with the food, dancing, and singing.