Chapter Twelve

Back at Greene's Cabin, the children decided to take a break from home-searching and begin foraging to have as much food saved as possible by the time Istelle and Gwanwyn returned.

They went to tell Evan this, he asked them "can any of you hunt?"

"no," Jude answered and they all shook their heads.

"How would you like it if I taught you then?" he offered,

"Oh yes please!" said Liz with much excitement,

"No thanks," Lina was less enthusiastic,

"Oh cool!" Jude was as eager as Liz.

So while Arin, Alistair, and Lina went foraging for herbs, Evan gave Liz and Jude archery lessons. He showed them how to position their feet, to straighten one arm and how far to pull back the string, where to put the arrow, what not to do, and how to pull the arrow out if it was buried caught under the grass.

They practiced for a long time before finally tiring, and then Evan sat them down and taught them how to carve traps out of pieces of wood, or was going to until he realized the two had no clue how the knives were used and took them away so that they wouldn't cut themselves.

Both Liz and Lina wondered how it was possible that Evan could be so good at all these things, old men from their time just slouched around in chairs…

"I plan to get a bow and quiver of arrows when I get back home," said Liz to Jude as they sat on the ground at the base of a hill where Evan had left them, with instructions to bring the bows and arrows back up to the cabin when they came up.

"Yeah me too," Jude agreed, "but when's that going to be?"

"...you mean when are we going to get home?"

"Yeah"

"How would I know? As soon as possible I hope."

"Really?" Jude was a little surprised, "you don't want to stay here?"

"Well…" Liz thought about it, "I mean, I like it here, but I miss back home. All my younger siblings and my parents and my other friends and my room, don't you miss yours too?"

"Yeah, I do."

They got up and back to archery, turning it into a competition in which neither would back down until they were both too tired to continue.

Jude grabbed the bows and Liz the arrows and they journeyed up the hill.

Arin and Lina decided not to forage inside the circle of hills so that the creatures would still have any food that was there.

Instead, they went down the hill in another direction and set out.

Because of the recent rain, there were many brightly colored and interestingly shaped mushrooms everywhere. Arin taught Lina the few mushrooms she knew how to identify as edible and they collected them in a stretch of cloth.

They moved on to plants, Arin knew some good leaves that they could dry to make teas and some that they would make paste out of for medicinal purposes.

And of course, they gathered all the wild edibles they could find; wild onions, berries, chick-weeds, dandelions, violets, purple deadnettles, and many others.

After several hours, they decided to finish and go back up to the cabin with their findings.

When they got there, they found Liz and Jude wrestling in the front.

"Jude, look what we found!" Arin ran over to the two and laid out her cloth filled with plants.

Liz and Jude stopped wrestling to look.

"Ooooh"

"Cool!"

And they went inside where they set up at the table and Jude and Lina helped them mash certain plants and lay others out to dry.

And when they had finished with all that, they sat by the fireplace, Arin curled up in Evan's lap, Lina leaning against Liz, Jude scratching Alistair's ears. And so they stayed the rest of the evening.

When Istelle, Gwanwyn, Nayana, and Talion met back together at sunset both had more companies with them.

Nayana and Talion seemed to be walking in the middle of a swarm of tiny people, Many were winged and flying, others hopped, walked, or rode on Talion or Nayana.

They were pixies, elves, fairies, and sprites.

The pixies and elves were mostly hopping, while the fairies and sprites flew.

Talion looked more than a little annoyed and impatient to get out of the cloud, while Nayana was very happy and excited, reaching out her arms for the fairies to land on, looking all around at the creatures surrounding her.

The pixies, elves, and sprites all looked quite serious, carrying bags of provisions, ready for a long journey.

The fairies wore fancy gowns and dress clothing as if preparing for a ball, with twigs for swords and acorn caps for shields like they were in some kind of war game.

Gwanwyn smiled, watching them approach.

Istelle and Gwanwyn were accompanied by an impressively long line of gnomes in red caps and carrying bags and mining tools.

When the four met together, surrounded by their newly-collected future-army, Talion gave Istelle a look and said "you know this isn't going to work. We can't bring them all with us. How are we going to feed them?"

Istelle and Gwanwyn looked at each other. The centaur was absolutely right.

And so they all decided, after talking, to send the creatures back, with an agreement.

In half a month, on the day before the night of the next full moon, they would come around to their homes and gather them and take their army with them. They were to be ready by then.

***

One hour later, the four found themselves in front of a wooden fence. On the other side, they could see a cozy looking little cottage, surrounded on one side by farmland, they could see many different kinds of fruits, berries, and vegetables, not all of which they recognized, and on the other side, there were open fields and tall grass, the occasional tree or bush. Large pools of clear water had been set up every here and there, and grazing in the fields were..." pegasi!" exclaimed Nayana in excitement, startling her friends who had also been staring over the fence in amazement.

"Yes," breathed Gwanwyn, "they are so beautiful."

"Shall we go in to speak to the residence of the cottage?" asked Talion, looking to Istelle.

"I suppose so," Istelle began to open the gates in the fence, but Nayana stopped her, "aren't you afraid the pegasi might not like us? You don't think they might attack?"

"I don't believe they will harm us." Talion answered her, "don't worry."

The four entered the property, Talion in the front, followed by Nayana, Gwanwyn after her, and Istelle in the back.

They walked down a little path paved by wooden planks, leading up to the little cottage.

Talion knocked lightly on the small, wooden front door.

It was answered by an aging woman in a brown robe and long, greying, dirty-blonde hair.

Upon seeing them, she took a step back, quite surprised, surveying them.

"How many of you are there?" she asked.

"Only four," replied Istelle, pushing her way to the front in the crowded doorway, "we come in peace."

The woman opened the door wider and stepped back, allowing them to enter.

After seating her guests on comfortable couches (except for Talion, who preferred to stand), the woman introduced herself as Brooke and explained that they were on her family's farm and Pegasus habitat. She said that her husband, 'Asher,' was outside, changing the water for the Pegasi and watering the crops, and her son was out hunting.

"You have a son?"

"Oh yes, his name is Pendre and there's nothing he loves more than hunting," the woman smiled, "how old are you girls?"

"Sixteen," replied Nayana,

"Eighteen," said Istelle,

"Nineteen," answered Gwanwyn.

"And my Pendre is seventeen. He spends all his time outside hunting by himself now," her smile faded a little, "trying to work everything out, to find his place in the world, see what makes him happy…"

Istelle and Gwanwyn eyed each other, then Istelle said "we have begun a quest to gather an army from all across the land...we wish to end the war by helping the Lette win so that the Akeefa will retreat to their territory and there will be peace."

"It is a good cause you are fighting for then...and you believe it will be possible?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then I wish you luck," Brooke sighed, and I'm sure Pendre would be interested, you would like to stay and wait for him to get home. Perhaps his destiny is to become a warrior...as long as he is happy…"

"I believe we must be going though," said Gwanwyn gently, "thank you for...talking." They stood up, but Brooke stopped them, "what are your names before you go?"

"Istelle,"

"Nayana,"

"Gwanwyn,"

"Talion."

"It was a pleasure to meet you all," she said and handed them each an orange as they headed out the door.

***

It was only forty minutes later when the travelers stumbled upon a tall, brown-haired boy equipped with a bow and quiver of arrows, sitting on the ground behind a bush.

He wore a plain white shirt and black pants, with a furry sweater tied around his waist.

He clutched his bleeding right foot, his boot laying on its side nearby.

Gwanwyn ran up to him, while the others approached with more caution.

The wolf ashy kneeled next to him, inspecting his foot, "what happened?"

The boy didn't seem to fear her. "It was an accident."

"Well of course it was. Does it hurt very badly? It doesn't look very deep…"

"But it's bleeding a lot. And I don't want to walk on it…"

"You'll be alright, here-"

Gwanwyn stood up and began gathering leaves from around.

"Who are you?" Istelle asked him, when she, Nayana, and Talion caught up with Gwanwyn.

"Pendre, son of Asher. Who are you?"

They exchanged glances.

"Pendre, I am Istelle, this is Nayana, and this is Talion. We actually just visited your mother, Brooke at your home. She spoke of you…"

"Why were you there?" Pendre was suddenly looking at them with suspicion.

"We have been traveling around, in search of people and creatures to help us end the war by sending the Akeefa back to their territory. We plan to gather an army to help the Lette. Your mother suggested you might be interested."

Gwanwyn returned with some green leaves and once again took her place by the boy, helping him with his foot. By the time she stood up, his boot was back on.

She helped him to his feet.

"Let's get you back to your home, shall we?"

That night, Istelle, Gwanwyn, Nayana, Talion and Pendre all stayed at Brooke and Asher's cottage. The next morning, all five of them would set out together.