by sparrow; » Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:25 am
Okay then, here's the first chapter! I'm writing in 3rd person because I prefer writing that way - this can be changed if you want. For now, I've just put "D"s name as "D". We need name ideas for him asap! Also, the village's name is Village and the council's name is Council. Again, I need names for this.
xxxCassia wandered slowly home from school. It was nearing the end of autumn, and the paths of Village were littered with gold and red leaves that crackled under her feet and shimmered in the afternoon sun like fire. Some had been swept up, but most were left behind in the many cracks on the pavement.
xxxHer brother held a collection of these leaves in each fist. Crumbling them into dust, he threw the leaves above his head and they rained down around him like confetti. Cassia sighed, and tried to sweep some out of his short brown hair, but he darted away from her to a leafless tree just off the path. After a few moments of circling the tree, he began to clamber up the low-hanging branches with surprising skill for a 10-year-old.
xxx"Malix!" Cassia called up to him in vain. "Get down from there! We need to get home soon, you know how worried mum gets if we're late!"
xxxIt was true - even walking home slowly (with a few minutes spent in trees) would make their mother come out to try and find them, believing them to be kidnapped. It wasn't exactly a ridiculous fear. About once a month, some child would go missing from Village. The Council had told everyone, after the third missing child, that a person had been seen taking a child in the Wilderness. And anyone who ventured in the Wilderness never returned.
xxxBut she wouldn't let herself or her younger brother be taken away. In fact, Cassia was slightly offended by the assumption that she wouldn't be able to fight off a kidnapper. Out of habit, she reached up to her silver necklace. Her father had made it for her after the sixth disappearance, and given it to her the day he'd entered the Wilderness on a rescue mission.
xxxAnyone who ventured in the Wilderness never returned.
xxxCassia paused for a moment, taking deep breaths. Her father would be different - she just knew it. her father would come back. He had to.
xxx"Malix! Come on!" Cassia yelled again. A few meters above, her brother's face poked out between the branches. His hair was full of twigs and leaf dust. Poking out his tongue at her, Malix scrambled down. Their mother would never let him go this high into a tree, but Cassia knew that Malix could perfectly judge his own climbing abilities, and that he would never be stupid enough to put himself in danger.
xxxThey made their way home a bit more quickly than before, though once they arrived at the four-room cottage where they lived with their mother, she was standing outside with her arms crossed.
xxx"You shouldn't be staying out on the streets so late! I've told you the dangers, but you two just don't listen!"
xxx"Mum, it was just a couple of minutes. There's no reason to freak out. Malix wanted to climb a tree, that's all." Cassia could barely prevent anger from entering her voice. The sundown curfew that applied to everybody under 18 had been reduced by their mother to just after school. Just two more years, and I'll have my own home. She can't tell me what to do then, Cassia reminded herself.
xxxWith a sigh, their mother opened the door to let them into the house. Cassia and Malix went straight to their shared room. Each had a side belonging to them, with frequent fights breaking out about exactly where each person's area ended and the other's began.
xxxOn Malix's side was a jumble of dirty clothes and wooden toys, with a small bed just visible underneath the mess. Cassia's area was remarkably more tidy - a nicely made bed, a bookshelf, and a workbench where she carved the wooden toys her brother played with.
xxxIt would, obviously, be a terrible idea to leave sharp tools where an excitable 10-year-old could reach them. The bench had nothing to carve with on it - just a box of birch wood scraps, paints, brushes, and a bin to sweeps the wood shavings into. Cassia's necklace, however, was sharp enough to scrape through the soft birch.
xxxShe took it off now, and chose a new piece of wood from the box. It already had a design drawn on in light pencil - a tiny turtle, part of a collection she was making for Malix's Winter Solstice collection. One of her books had a picture of the creature, although she'd never seen one herself. The book showed the turtle in black-and-white without a description of its real colours. Cassia envisioned it as a blue creature, able to easily blend into its ocean home.
xxxAfter a while her brother had gotten bored playing by himself, and was annoying Cassia so much she feared she would completely mess up the carving.
xxxGiving in to Malix, she took him into the kitchen where they began cooking dinner together. Although their father's occupation as a hunter had given them enough money for schooling and a nice house, they didn't have enough saved up for any extravagant food. Most nights, dinner was rice or potatoes with a vegetable or two for flavor. It was still better than some families, though, and Cassia was grateful for the fact that they never went hungry.
xxxThey had a good life. Cassia was planning to be a healer when she was older, and the schooling they were lucky to have meant she could be. Her mother could support them, and soon her anxiety about the kidnappings would be over.
xxxAfter all, the town's hero "D" was planning to take a team into the forest to find the kidnappers. They wouldn't fail - "D" never had. Everything was going to be perfect.
xxxShe hoped.
Word count - 955
Well, there it is. Editing would be very welcome, I can post it once we've got names sorted. By the way, I have no idea of a time period so I made it a slightly modernized past. No technology or anything, but mostly with more present-day beliefs.
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