¤ Unnatural
It was spring. A slender figure stood beneath the flower-laden tree, trying her best to reach upwards to the lowest branches.
Brother Salmer! Could you help me get that flower there? The girl gave up on her futile attempts. She sat down in a huff, glaring at the tree as if it owed her something.
Salmer laughed as he stretched to his full height and easily plucked the bunch of blossoms down. Who knew a girl who seemed so lifeless three months ago could hold such fire?
There you go, Aurora.
Thank you, Brother Salmer! Aurora gave him a brilliant smile as she took the blossoms from his hands. Her long dark blue hair fell to cover her face partially as she bent down to breathe in the fragrance of the flowers.
Salmer smiled. His parents had scolded him soundly for bringing home a complete stranger. However, they soon warmed to the hapless creature lying so helplessly on her borrowed cot, even helping Salmer pay for a healer to nurse the childs horrific injuries. Aside from a nasty gash at the side of her head, her back was ripped open with two deep bloody scores. Miraculously, those healed up rapidly during her coma and left only the slightest of scars.
After one week, the girl woke up and was puzzled to find herself in the cottage of Salmers family. After questioning the girl, Salmer discovered that she could not remember anything from her life before. She could not even remember her name. So they decided to name her Aurora, after the strange lights that accompanied her arrival to El Nath.
The villagers were suspicious of her at first, what with the strange manner of her arrival, and her unusual appearance. She had dark blue eyes set in a fair face and dark blue hair to match, which stood out in the village where everyone had either dark brown, or blonde hair.
Unnatural. Some of the old wives in the village would whisper as she passed them in the marketplace.
If she noticed, Aurora did not show it. In the next couple of months, she proceeded to charm the villagers with her quick smile, kind spirit and dazzling wit so much that she was welcomed into the fold even by the most hardened cynic.
Salmers family took her in, bringing her up like one of their own. Aurora could often been seen in the company of Salmer, the two becoming inseparable as they wandered together through the forests around the village. They spent their time exploring natures delights, often stopping for Salmer to start sketching a plant or an animal.
Salmers parents often berated him for wasting his time on such frivolous pursuits. Even as his skill in sketching, painting and carving grew, they continued to nag at him to pick up something more worthwhile, like hunting. They were worried that their only child could not make a living in the future, and he would often argue with them about it.
After one particularly bad spate, Salmer escaped into the twilight forests, and sought the refuge of his tree at the cliffs top. Sitting there, he stared down at the familiar outlines of the village, the lights growing blurry through the tears in his eyes.
Hey, Brother Salmer. A soft voice called him from below the tree.
Hastily swiping away his tears, he answered hoarsely, Hey, Aurora.
A few moments later, the girl had clambered up to his level. Dont be sad.
I am okay, Aurora. Salmer leant back against the trees stout trunk.
Your parents are just worried for you, you know that right? Aurora mimicked Salmer and relaxed against the tree trunk.
Yeah. But I like what I am doing. I am even getting well known in the village for my art. I might even be able to make a living out of it one day. That would be grand, would it not? I can do what I love, and earn my way with it.
Still, it is good to learn something practical. Aurora sighed and reached out to hold Salmers hand. What if you cant make enough money to feed yourself and your family next time? Youll need to hunt to bring in some food.
Salmer blinked in surprise. He had not thought of it that way.
Do it this way then: you continue to practise your art, but go and learn some skills from the hunters on every other day. It will be useful too. Ill come and learn with you?
Yeah, that sounds okay. Together, the pair descended from the tree and went home.
¤ Kicking of Behinds
Aurora kept her word. The child followed me to the village hunters every other day, going through the same training with me. These hunters were one of the most respected people in the village, and only took us in after Aurora persuaded them to.
Though she was younger than me, Aurora outshone me in almost all aspects of the training. Her reflexes were lightning fast, and she made use of her limited strength economically. The other apprentices of the hunters scorned her enthusiasm in training initially, because of her small size. But all that stopped soon after Aurora began to kick their behinds soundly every training session.
Training swords at the ready, the two opponents circled on the sand arena. One was a slender girl, long hair of an unusual shade of dark blue bundled up into a neat knot at the back of her head. Her opponent, a strapping young boy who held his sword easily, dwarfed the petite girl. His confident posturing, however, was betrayed by his eyes, which stared intently at the girl, nervously trying to predict her next move.
The girl just kept circling, her dull-bladed training sword only held loosely at her side. After a few more minutes of just circling around the arena, the boy got impatient and charged up to his opponent. As he closed the distance between them, the girl brought her sword up and thrust it to her left. The boy moved immediately to counter that blow.
A loud clang sounded through the arena as the swords met.
Swiftly, the girl spun anti-clockwise, spinning into the boys space. Gaining momentum, she lifted her elbow high, and drove it backwards, bashing him hard on the chin. The boy staggered backwards, dazed. By the time he had recovered, the girl had swept her sword around and held its point steady at his throat.
The old hunter at the edge of the arena clapped and boomed in satisfied laughter, Thats my girl, Aurora! The tall lanky youth sitting on the bench beside him grinned and gave the girl a thumbs-up. The shorter boy next to him grumbled, and started to count out mesos from his pouch. That girl was just lucky, Salmer. You wait, shell get beaten one day.
Ah, just pay up, Chris. Until that day, Ill make as many mesos as I can from you stubborn cows. The tall youth laughed.
Still grumbling, Chris chucked the mesos into Salmers outstretched hand and walked away.
The boy in the arena backed away from the sword leveled at him, respect in his eyes. Nice one, Aurora. The girl merely shrugged and said, Tease me or Brother Salmer again, Gestan, and I wouldnt even wait for you to attack next time. Then, sheathing the dull blade, she joined the pair at the edge of the arena.
Good work. Salmer unfolded his tall frame from the stool to offer her a towel.
I couldnt have done it without Eriks training. Aurora said modestly, grabbing the towel and drying up her sweat.
Nah, you had it in you already, Old Eriksen patted her on the back. Aurora flinched a little at the contact. That move would never work if you werent as nimble as a mouse.
Squeak? Aurora said. Laughing, the trio walked out of the arena into the glaring summer sunlight outdoors.
Outside, there were villagers lining up at either side of the small dirt road that serviced the village and marketplace of El Nath. Aurora and Salmer exchanged puzzled looks while Eriksen tapped the nearest villager on the shoulder. Whats the occasion, young man?
King Kranz sent the fairies down from Orbis! They just announced their arrival. The man said, excitement high in his voice.
Hmm. Didnt think the next Selections were so soon… Eriksen muttered.
——————————————————————-
Next chapter: link
Links to previous chapters:
link link link link link
link
School, school re-opens again. Let the funeral bells peal, for woe is me.
Wouldn’t you like to have some cookies? (Urgh. Bad rhyme. Bad bad rhyme.)
uh. What? O_O
*takes cookie appreciatingly*
Great story ^o~ Keep it up! Your writing rules, like totally =D
*cry*
Brilliance. I WANT TO SEE THE FAIRY MINISTER GUY. I’m in love.
School!?
Oh, do you go to a year-round school? XD That might be why I am so confused.
Anyway, AMAZING chapter. I actually did a REALLY GIRLY GIGGLE when Aurora said “Squeak!” ^_^
It was so adorable. I am totally in love. I will grant you with your fourth thumbs up, and send you on your merry way to the front page!
^^ Thank you, guys. lots of <3
And yeah, I go to a , year-round school (strange, I have never called it year-round school. To me, it’s just, school. Eh. No difference in the amount of torture they give, I guess.)
yr round school >.>
and yes, the squeak made me laugh. Hard.
Not, bad, Jaysen panted in relief.
Silver gave him a faint smile, her face pale and bloodless in the cold.
Before Jaysen could rise, however, she teetered, and toppled over next to the Yetis carcass with a soft sigh.
It was dark and comfortable here. It felt as if she was being suspended, weightless amongst mild dancing motes of light.
Silver, Silver! Listen to me. There are some things that They do not want to be known. But you have to tell the world the truth!
Hnngh? Silver suddenly felt herself break through the cool swathe of unconsciousness. Slowly, fragments of friendly conversations and the welcome sounds of a crackling fire came to her ears.
-so I took me spear and stabbed her real hard, right between her ribs! That dark Yeti didnt stand a chance at all!
Cool, sir!
What cool? El Nath not cold enough for ye, boy?
Opening her eyes, she found herself staring up at the wooden beams of a cottage from a warm bed covered in fur pelts. Lazily sitting up in the bed, Silver stretched, enjoying the warmth that enveloped her. But a sudden sharp pain in her side made her wince. How could the old wound, Oh. The Yeti.
Hey, shes awake. Jaysen got up from his seat next to Scadur at the fireplace. He beamed happily at her.
Good morning, young missus. Scadur grinned at Silver. That was quite a scare ye gave our young friend here, swooning over like that.
Silver smiled sheepishly, Umm, sorry?
Ha. I didnt expect ye two to be able to handle one of those monsters anyway, let alone forty. Scadur stood up from his chair with a wince. I cant be much better either, with these cursed arthritic knees of mine. The weather here doesnt help much too,
Silver sighed. So I guess we cant get your help.
The elder hunter turned to give Silver a grave look. Theres a reason why I gave you an impossible task, missus.
Seeing her disappointed face, however, Scadur chuckled. But seeing yer pretty face fall makes me old heart break so. Yer young friend here already talked me into helping ye, so rest easy.
Jaysen laughed as Silver clapped her hands to her face in embarrassment. Look sir, you made the lady blush. He pretended to duck the look Silver threw in his way. Anyway, you did admit Silver there was sincere enough in her quest to take on something you only dared to go up against when you were older than her,
Quit spreading such false rumors, rascal. Youll ruin me reputation! Scadur cuffed Jaysen lightly on the head. Turning back to Silver, the man said, That signature on the sketch belongs to me grandpa. Ill tell ye what I know about him, but ye have to promise not to tell anyone else that it was me that told ye, understand?
Curious as always, Silver was about to ask why, but just in time, she caught Jaysens eyes. He frowned a little and shook his head ever so slightly. The message was clear: If you want to continue on your Project, save the unnecessary questions.
Alright, sir. She nodded gravely.
¤ What It Used to Be
Me grandpa was a strange man. His name is Salmer. Salmer Scadur. He always had this, strange, faraway look in his eyes. Me grandma told me once that he became like that after a long trip to Orbis. When I was young, I thought he was a little, ye know, touched in the head.
But he was always kind to us kids, and drew us little sketches or carved little animals for us. Funny thing was, he never made any images of humans or fairies. All the artists that visited the town had in their wares so many sketches and carvings of beautiful fairies and women, and brave warriors. But we never saw me grandpa Salmer do anything like that, though his skill was definitely much better than those penniless artists. I know, because he always had a sketch in his room, that he drew a long time ago. The sketch looked exactly like this one that ye showed me,
Grandpa Salmer! Young Scadur dashed up to the old man and hugged his legs. Look at me! I can finally throw the spear just right! He pointed excitedly to the straw dummy at the edge of the backyard. A small spear quivered on it in the light of the setting sun, its sharp edge buried in the rough cross marked on its body.
The old man smiled, his weary brown eyes looking kindly down at his grandson. Good work, Scadur boy. How about I tell you a story as a reward? We can have it with some cookies and warm milk.
Oh right! Scadur yelled in joy and dashed into the cottage. Salmer chuckled indulgently and followed the hyperactive boy slowly into the cottage.
When the boy settled down, Salmer started his tale. Once, when I was as young as you were, boy, El Nath was only a small village. Small and backward as it was however, it wasnt always covered in snow.
Scadur nodded, happy to listen to this old tale again. I know! There were four seasons, Winter, Autumn, Spring and, and, I cant remember, grandpa.
Summer. The hottest season of the year. So hot, that the young men of the village would strip off their tops to work in the fields.
The young boys eyes widened in wonder. The concepts of weather being that hot and fertile fields were so foreign to the young boy who had grown up in a town perpetually covered in snow. Anyone who dared to walk around half naked would soon catch the cold of his death, and any fertile soil was long frozen beneath the layers of snow and frost that forever covered the ground.
Salmer continued, his voice almost melodic. The forests around El Nath then were so beautiful. There were many other types of trees besides all those evergreen pines and firs, and when they bloomed in Spring and Summer, it was like someone splashed the forests with all the colours in the worlds paint palette.
The forests were completely safe then. Other than some harmless animals that the villagers could hunt for food, there was nothing dangerous there. Some adventurers from the village had wandered through the forests and built bridges across some of the ravines out there, so that other villagers could also travel to explore the lands beyond the village.
Scadur clapped his small hands in excitement, knowing that the exciting part neared. The cookie he was nibbling on was left abandoned on the plate. What happened then?
Then, one year, when Autumn was supposed to give way to Winter, the weather suddenly became very cold. A strange tempest stirred up from far beyond the village El Nath and the forests around it, and swept through the forests and the village fields, freezing everything in its way.
Plants were immediately frozen to death. The calls of the animals that dwelled in the forests were silenced in an instant.
Strange creatures flooded through the barren wasteland that the tempest left behind. All manners of monsters and nightmarish beings sprung up from the dead ice-covered ground.
The forests were no longer safe for travelers. People who lived in the forests fled to the village for safety. The warriors in the village fought to keep out these strange creatures and build a barricade against them. Those barricades are that which you now know as the barricades that surround your town.
The comfortable warmth of the cottage, together with the lulling tone of Salmers voice and exhaustion from the days practice, made the young Scadur drowsy. Yawning, the young boy pointed to the small framed sketch that sat on the dresser in Salmers room. Whos she, grandpa?
One of the warriors that helped protect the village, dear boy. Salmer picked up the sleepy Scadur and tucked him into bed. Through the blur of slumber, Scadur faintly heard his grandpa murmur in regret. Only one of the warriors. She did not deserve her fate, she didnt.
Watching his grandson sleep, Salmers grey eyes seemed to refocus on some image from the past, and grief would appear in the lines on his face, “