Kyara took on the air of someone with better things to do. “Are we goin’ explorin’ or aren’t we?”
“We’re goin’, we’re goin’,” Tommy said. “But we gotta get Jake first.”
The two headed down the narrow streets until another boy came running out of his house and joined them.
“We’re goin’ explorin’,” Tommy informed the newcomer. “And if you’d taken any longer ’n that to get out here, we mighta just gone without ya.”
“You wouldn’t,” Jakob said confidently. He’d heard such threats before, and they had long since ceased to worry him. “Where are we gonna explore t’day?”
“The woods,” Tommy said mysteriously.
“That ain’t nothin’ special,” Jakob said. “We been there a million times.”
“Yeah, but this time we’re goin’ to a new part of the woods. Where we’ve never been b’fore.”
Jake looked suddenly apprehensive. “Hey, we’re not goin’ to the…” his voice dropped to a whisper, as if he feared being overheard, “To the upper woods, are we?”
Tommy didn’t answer, instead taking on an expression of importance and not a little defiance.
“Aw, come on, Tommy,” Jakob said, his voice suddenly pleading, “we can’t go there!”
“Why not?” Tommy demanded.
“It’s too dangerous,” Jake said. “People like us aren’t supposed to go there. Just the ’stocracy.”
“My dad says that’s a rotten rule,” Tommy said. “He says we oughtn’t to listen to it. We got as much right in those woods as they do, that’s what my dad says.”
“Sure we got a right,” Jakob said, trying to be agreeable. “But that don’t mean we gotta go there.”
“Don’t you want to go there?” Tommy asked.
Jakob’s face suddenly wore a rebellious cast. “No,” he said. “I don’t. An’ you shouldn’t either.”
Tommy looked at his friend for a minute as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Finally, he spoke. “Fine. Stay here then. Me and Kyara’ll go it alone.”
Tommy beckoned for Kyara to come with him. The two started to stroll nonchalantly down the street. In no time they heard the sound of running feet coming up behind them, and Jake, out of breath, joined them. Tommy’s face wore a smug, “I told you so” air that conveyed his pleasure at being right again.
The wood, bordering all of Beren to the west, ran down through the hills to the waterfront. Where the trees met the water was a swampy area that covered most of the region near the docks. They had learned to ignore the unpleasant smell of stagnating mud, and though the garbage that washed up from the waterfront to the swamp was full of things that could make a strong man’s stomach turn, it gave up its share of treasures too. The swamp had its treacherous spots, particularly when you got closer to the sea, but it had enough solid ground for children to play there, if not safely, then at least with an illusion of safety. As uninviting as the swampy area was, with its grime and mud, the children of Beren’s tenements had played there for years.
Uphill, toward the richer section of Beren, the atmosphere of the woods changed from gloom to welcome. The aristocracy took great care to keep their part of the woods clean, well stocked with game, and completely clear of peasantry. Any resident of the docks who chanced to be caught in the upper forest faced severe penalties, ranging from imprisonment to death, depending on the mood of the nobleman who caught him there. Occasionally some daring soul chanced it, sometimes looking for game to feed a starving family, sometimes just acting in rebellion. The rebels encouraged the peasantry to defy the aristocracy when it came to the woods, but most valued their lives enough to stay away.
The three children moved through the swamp quickly, taking care to step only on solid ground. They shouted hello to Old Manfor, the scavenger, sitting out in his little boat looking for anything valuable. Manfor raised his hand in greeting, but said nothing. Most people thought he was mute, others said he just preferred not to talk. Either way, no one had ever heard him speak.
The children came to the place where the solid ground began to push back the water and the trees became taller and more green. This was the farthest they’d ever gone, where the swamp became the forest. They could go safely in for a short distance more, but past that was forbidden ground.
They had kept up a light chatter most of the way here, but now their voices died down, and they moved on in silence. Apprehension showed clearly on all their faces, even Tommy’s. Jakob was breathing funny, and he looked as if a gust of wind might blow him right away. Kyara started at every sound. They were in strange territory now, and they knew it. Still they walked on, determined as only a child can be to see all that they could of the forest of the aristocracy.
Fear and worry began to relax their grip as wonder and curiosity forced their way in. The trees here were much taller, and more stately than those of the swamp; the sunlight filtered through their branches and made a soft fairy light of yellow and green. Flowers grew here, not the vines and scraggly weeds of the swamp, but bright, delicate flowers of all shapes and sizes. It was no wonder the aristocracy wanted this for their own!
Jakob stopped to admire a long trail of moss that was making its way up a tree trunk, and Tommy wandered away, distracted by a squirrel. Kyara watched her friend go with a little concern, then decided he was too smart to wander far and found a distraction of her own. She had just called Jakob over to admire a purple flower she had found when the sound of something bursting through the trees startled them, and they looked up to see Tommy, his face white with fear, rushing toward them.
“There’s someone over there!” he whispered. Jakob’s face drained of blood, instantly becoming as white as his friend’s.
“Did they see you?” he whispered back.
“I don’t think so,” Tommy answered, “but if we don’t get out of here but quick, they will! They’re comin’ this way!”
The sound of someone strolling leisurely through the underbrush a little way off confirmed Tommy’s report. The three children scampered away, keeping as quiet as they could in their frightened state. Finally, determining that they were safe for the moment, they stopped and hid beneath an overgrown bush. They sat there for some time, panting, and at last Kyara spoke.
“I’m goin’ t’ see if they’re gone,” she whispered loudly. “Wait here.”
“No, don’t—” Tommy started, but Kyara ignored him, deftly slipping out from under the bush and avoiding Jakob’s hand as it made a grab for her arm.
She slunk quietly through the trees, thankful the boys hadn’t tried to follow her. They made so much noise in the woods—not like her. She’d always had the ability to move silently, a skill she often utilized when surprising a friend or sneaking out of the house when she was supposed to be sleeping. This last she had done many a time, and her parents had never once caught her. She had discovered long ago that there was nothing she liked more than taking a walk at night, in the dark. She liked to be alone, alone with her thoughts and her feelings.
She heard the sound of voices and hesitated, looking for a way to get closest to the strangers while still remaining hidden. She moved from tree to tree, bush to bush, until at last she came to rest behind a tangle of branches, looking down a small slope to a clearing where two strangers sat with a basket full of food between them.
The stranger Kyara noticed first was a large woman in a proper, no-nonsense sort of dress. She wore a pair of small spectacles, through which she kept a stern eye on her companion. The woman looked stiff, Kyara thought. She sat on a blanket with a rigidity that made it obvious that she didn’t spend much time sitting on the ground in the forest, and that she didn’t think much of doing so.
The companion was much more interesting to Kyara for various reasons, the chief being her age. She could not have been much older than Kyara, although she seemed taller. She had long, pale hair that was tightly braided, and when she turned to say something to her stern companion, Kyara could see tha
t her large eyes were a sparkling blue. The girl smiled, and it was a delightful smile, pretty and shy and hinting at humour that wasn’t supposed to come out. The girl was wearing a blue cloak of obviously fine material, and Kyara thought for a moment of the little ragged nightdress she had been so proud of, and she felt ashamed. The clothes she was wearing now were nothing to speak of either. She was dressed like a boy, the way she always did because it was more practical. Besides, you could have more fun in trousers than you could in a dress, weighted down with frills and petticoats. Still, she wished for just one minute that she could own something as beautiful as the blue cloak, or the lacy pink dress underneath it.
The girl in the clearing sat down on the blanket and exchanged a few quiet words with the big woman. She lay back on her elbows and stared up the slope through the trees, a half-smile caught on her face.
Kyara was so taken with the scene that she did not at first realize that the girl was looking directly at her. She didn’t seem at first to know what she was seeing, but then she gave such a start that Kyara had no doubt the girl had seen her.
Other Books by Rachel Starr Thomson
Novels
Worlds Unseen: Book 1 in the Seventh World Trilogy
Burning Light: Book 2 in the Seventh World Trilogy
Coming Day: Book 3 in the Seventh World Trilogy
Exile: Book 1 in The Oneness Cycle
Hive: Book 2 in The Oneness Cycle
Attack: Book 3 in The Oneness Cycle
Renegade: Book 4 in The Oneness Cycle
Rise: Book 5 in The Oneness Cycle
Taerith (Fantasy)
Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe (Juvenile/Humour)
Lady Moon
Angel in the Woods
Reap the Whirlwind
The Babel Chip
Short Stories
Magdalene
Butterflies Dancing
Ogres Is
Fallen Star
Journey
Wayfarer’s Dream
The City Came Creeping
Of Men and Bones
Non Fiction
Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled (Humour/Memoir)
Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord’s Prayer
Letters to a Samuel Generation: The Collection
Fifty Shades of Loved
Mind Soul Ink Paper
Now For the Not-Yet
Undivided Devotion
Still Praying in the Wilderness
Angel in the Woods Page 18