Yep 2 parts in 2 days, I was super motivated to write I'm getting excited. As always please give some tips, ideas or feedback and enjoy!
I get down on my knees in front of Philip, Kiya and Jared and tell them, “Guys I'm going to go home. You guys are going to stay with the Bard and travel the world, ok?”
“Okay, but why can't you come with us or why can't we go with you?” Jared asks sadly.
“I have to go home, and I can't take care of 4 kids by myself, plus you will have so much fun with the Bard and all your new friends.”
“Where is Sylvy? Shouldn't you tell her too?” Kiya asks.
I look at my feet hoping they won't be mad and say carefully, “Sylvy is coming with me… she doesn't like it here so I'm taking her with me.”
“But what about us you still like us, right,” Philip asks very concerned.
“Yes! I like you very much, I just can't take you with me right now,” I say reassuringly.
The children look at their hands, feet anything but directly at me. I feel awful, is this the only way? Then Jared asks, “Will you come visit us please?”
“Yes! As soon as possible I will! Okay?”
“OK!” The children say .
“Mr. Bard plans to leave tomorrow okay? So get some good sleep and we will say goodbye tomorrow.”delighted.
The next morning the Bard left Dugtown with all of the orphans except Sylvia. Julie, Sylvia and I started towards Glipwood. I knew I would miss the children deeply but I would go visit them soon. I thought of that morning sadly and remembered how they had not wanted to leave me but wanted to stay with their friends. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted when Sylvia cried out, “Wren! Look, it's fluffy!” She points to a gray ball of fluff from Julie's arms, and I wonder what it is. It turns around and I can see what it is, “Julie, come on! Let's go!” It’s a squeeblin, Julie looks at the creature and says, “Aww, it's cute! Wren, wait just a minute, look at this little guy!”
“No, Julie! It's a squeeblin! They are dangerous! Come on!” I say exasperated and grab Sylvia out of her arms.
“How could such a little guy be dangerous?”
“Their fur has little needles called fleshooks in their fur”
“Oh. Well sorry, let's just keep moving.”
We walk for a little while when we encounter a family of travelers on some horses. A young man, on the lead horse, calls out to me, “Hello there! Where are you headed to?”
“Glipwood, we are heading home after… um some travels” Julie says.
A grim look crosses his face, “Glipwood?....Haven’t you heard?”
I feel my stomach drop as I ask, “Hear what, we left only a week ago.”
The man looks back at his company, and they nod, he turns back with a downcast look and says, “Lass… Glipwood is in ruins, there was a massive storm, all the people left or were taken by the fangs.”
I stumble backwards with surprise, “What? No, no no!”
Julie takes Sylvia from my arms and sits down on a nearby rock with a stunned look on her face. The man says with regret, “I’m sorry, nobody is there any more.”
I sink to my knees with shock and my hands go to my face. The man dismounts his horse, hands the reins to a younger girl and walks over to me. He places his hand on my back and says, “Lass, I know this is hard to hear. Glipwood was a good place and hopefully we can rebuild it soon. We are on our way to our house a little ways down the road if you would like to join us.”
Julie stands and says, “Thank you very much, that would be greatly appreciated so we can figure out our next steps.”
“My name is Tobias, and these are my siblings Charity, Issac and Rose. Follow me to our house.”
We follow them to their house where we are greeted by a big dog barking and running towards us. “Nutmeg! Come here girl,” Issac calls out while dismounting his horse. The dog romps over to Issac and greets him wagging her tail. An older man and woman walk out of the house, I notice the woman is holding the hand of a young boy. “Ma! Pa!” Rose cries out, “Tobias found some friends and invited them to stay at our house!” Pa walks toward and says to Rose, “Did he now, and what would the friends be named?” He lifts Rose down from her horse. “Yep! Ummm,” she turns to me and says, “Hey! What’s your name you never told us?”
I walk over to Pa and say, “My name is Wren, this is my sister Julie and this is Sylvia” Tobias comes running over and says, “Pa, they are from Glipwood they have no home to go back to, so I invited them to stay here. I-i hope that’s ok, I didn’t want to leave them all alone.”
“Hmm,” Pa turns to me and says, “is this true?”
“Yes sir, we were coming home from Dugtown when we met your kin, who told us of Glipwood.”
“And you would like to stay at our house?”
“Yes sir, that would be most appreciated. Just until we figure out what to do next, we can pay and do chores!”
Pa laughs and says, “You’re welcome to stay lass, no pay needed, though I might take you up on your offer of chores.”
“Thank you very much, what can I do to help?”
Tobias looks relieved and says, “You can help me put away the horses.”
“Ok”
We walk towards the horses, I grab the reins of the horse that Rose was on and follow Tobias. Charity and Issac give us their reins and we walk toward the stables. We put the horses away and Tobias asks, “Wanna help feed and brush them?”
“Sure that would be nice,” He hands me a brush and I start to brush one of the horses, “thanks for inviting us, I don’t know what we would have done without a place to stay the night.”
“I couldn’t just leave you out there, when I knew your home had been destroyed… so why were you in Dugtown?”
I look at my feet in shame, “We were taken by the Black Carriage.”
Tobias’s eyes widened in shock, “How are you standing in front of me? I’ve never heard of anyone coming back from the Black Carriage!”
I smile a bit at that, “Well, this man named the Florid Sword saved us from the carriage, that’s where we found Sylvia.”
“Really I thought she was just a sister, tell me more about your travels.” I tell him about the past few days after we got taken by the Carriage.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking but what was it like being taken by the Carriage?”
I look down and say, “Maybe I should start with why we were taken.” I tell him about our journey to Glipwood and our encounter with the strangers and even about my mother and Ki.
Ma peeks her head into the stable and says, “Sorry to interrupt you two, but it’s time for dinner.”
I blush and say, “thank you, Mrs. umm, what was your name?”
“Mary Archer, your’s was Wren correct?”
“Yes,” we walk out of the stable and toward the house. We walk inside and a wonderful smell fills my nose, “it smells amazing Mrs. Archer.”
“Thank you,” she says. We all take our seats and thank the Maker for the food. I notice the little boy I saw earlier with Mrs. Archer, sitting between Charity and Rose. I look toward him and ask, “what’s your name?” He doesn’t answer me or look at me which I find odd. Charity nudges him and whispers, “she’s talking to you.”
He looks startled and says, “I’m Samuel, but you can call me Sam.”
“Hi Sam, I’m Wren. Mrs. Archer, this food is delicious.” We spend the rest of the night chatting and playing games.
I like this story so far! Well done!