I mean, right at this moment, thousands of men and women, girls and boys, are working away in the intense heat of the desert sun. And here I sit in a sparkling marble palace in the midst of a shimmering lake surrounded by soft grass, absolutely helpless and unable to go to their aid. It just doesn’t seem fair! If the king says the word “Patience” one more time ----
Is this really how I am? I should be grateful for his help, and yet here I am complaining. Even Green tells me that I’m lacking in patience. That boy is certainly far wiser than I am. And far more patient. I suppose he has good reason to be patient though, for everything he’s been through in his life.
But who is Green? And how did I get here?
I suppose patience is my answer. In time, everything will become clear.
For now, let us return to the clearing in the forest.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
“What happened to you, girl?” He asked. “Did you sleep in the woods?”
I scowled at him.
“Where else?” I snapped. The pain in my wrist and the dryness of my throat were starting to irritate me.
“You sound thirsty. And your wrist! It’s practically the size of a snake egg!” He exclaimed.
“I fell.” I said. “Are you the Ivory King’s agent? The one who can help me get into the Rainbow Valley?” I fired my questions at him in rapid succession.
He fell silent for a minute, his bearded chin tucked close to his chest as he considered my questions.
“You’re a bit young to be travelling that path by yourself.” He said finally. “Come on inside so I can take a look at your wrist.”
“You didn’t answer my question!” I complained as I followed him inside.
“Patience, girl!” He said as he lifted a pail of water from a hook just outside the door and then took two mugs from a cabinet on the wall. His house was very small. It had only one room, with a small bed in one corner and a table against one wall with a window over it.
He gently pushed me into the chair at the table, and set a mug of cool, sweet water in front of me. He then took another pail and turned it upside down to sit on like a stool. After he situated himself and took a few sips of his own water, he began to examine my injure wrist.
“I don’t think it’s broken.” He said after a painful moment of poking and prodding.
“There may be a crack in the bone though. I’ll make a splint for it, and you should be fine in a few days.”
As he started to splint my arm, he said, “Now, before I tell you anything, I want to know your story.”
I winced, but not from the pain in my wrist. The last thing I wanted to do was to relive the past twenty-four hours again.
“Just start at the beginning.” He said taking another sip of his water.
I sat in silence for a moment. The sound of the birds through the window was a beautiful sound. The light from the early morning sun shone through the trees and the green-tinted light stained the dirt ground around the house, creating beautiful patterns. As I sat there, I tried to come to grips with the fact that my life would never again be normal.
“You still in there?” His voice called me back into reality.
“Look, I understand that you’ve probably had a rough couple of days, but I can’t know if I should trust you unless I know your story.” He said. “Try starting with your name, then go on from there.”
“My name,” I started, “Is Rebekah. I come from the Kingdom of Learning.”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I told him everything. Once I started, the words poured from my
mouth like a waterfall. I told him of
the slavery in my Kingdom, of Catherine’s plan, and of the circumstances
surrounding my escape. I relived every
painful memory again. It felt good to
talk about it though. Like the weight of
it was being stripped off of me. And he
listened silently all the while.
When I finally came to the moment I
encountered the worm creatures, he interrupted me. “Those snakes almost had you!” He exclaimed. “Another second and you would have been dead! Why didn’t you run?”
So those were snakes.
“I didn’t know what they were.” I explained. “And I couldn’t run. I couldn’t even scream. It was like I was frozen.”
“Your first encounter with one of those demons can have that effect.” He said. “I suppose I know the rest then.”
I nodded, not meeting his eyes, but focusing on the grain of the wood on the table in front of me.
“I am so sorry about your friends.” He said comfortingly. “I had the honor of meeting Lady Catherine once in the Ivory Kingdom. She was quite an extraordinary woman. And your Jenna sounds like a girl full of wisdom.”
I looked at his face, and saw a single glistening tear sliding down his cheek.
What kind of person was this man who had saved me? Surely he must have been very brave to live here, in these horrible, demon-possessed woods all alone.
His build and well-tanned face told of countless hours spent in the sun, yet his hair was a color that I had rarely seen. A blond color only ever sported by a few of the royal family in Learning.
And I would hardly have been able to guess his age. Bits of grey in his scruffy yellow beard suggested someone older and wiser, and yet his sparkling blue eyes told of a youthful spirit I had only ever seen in Catherine.
He noticed me studying his face and a hint of a smile crept into his expression.
“Not exactly what you’re used to, huh?” He asked, reading my puzzled face.
“I suppose it’s my turn to tell a story now.” He said having finished constructing the splint on my wrist.
“My name is Hunter. I was born in the Amber realm, which is sometimes known as the yellow band of Rainbow Valley. My parents moved to the Ivory city when I was a baby, because they wanted to live farther away from the ocean. As I grew, I developed my hunting and survival skills, and I found that I had a passion for helping people, especially after I heard of the oppression in your kingdom. I’ve lived in this house since I was eighteen, helping people through the horrors of these woods and across the river on the border of Rainbow Valley. There’s only one bridge you see. It leads directly into the Viridian Realm, which is the green band of the Rainbow. I’ve been helping people across for twenty-five years now.”
“No wonder you aren’t afraid of the creatu- I mean, the snakes.” I said.
“As it happens, the snakes in these woods are afraid of the smell of their own blood, so once a week I sprinkle it all around the edges of my clearing. They don’t bother me in here.” He said, proudly surveying his tidy home.
“Also, if you hadn’t accidentally stumbled directly into the middle of their nest and disturbed their ‘king,’ I doubt you would have even known that they were there.”
“Is that the only nest in the forest?” I asked nervously.
“Actually, no. There are three separate nests with three separate species of snakes in these woods. The one that you happened upon this morning houses the smallest species in the forest.”
My eyes widened.
“Those were the smallest!?” I said.
He chuckled at my outburst. “Hard to believe that those could be classified as small isn’t it? Yes, those are the smallest species, and the only ones with red eyes and poison in their teeth. The largest of them won’t grow to more than twenty feet long. The yellow-eyed snakes in the northern part of the forest can reach lengths of forty feet or longer. Those don’t have poison, but they do have yellow eyes like their black cousins in the southern-most part of the forest. The northern variety grows so big that they live in caves because they can’t fit in the trees without breaking them.”
I shuddered to think of these demon creatures growing any larger than the one that I had come face-to-face with that morning.
“We’re off topic now though. I suppose you’d like to know what’s next for you now.”
“Yes, I would.” I said.
“Until you’re free of the forest, the danger of travelling will be significant, even with me around. And when you get into the Valley, you’ll have to be extremely cautious. Color-snatchers still roam, and they prefer to prey on lone travelers.”
“You won’t be traveling with me?” I asked, starting to feel panicky.
“I can only travel as far as the bridge, but no further. After that, it’s just a matter of following the river north.”
The feeling of dread crept up my spine. The thought of all that time alone scared me. Then something else stuck in my mind.
“What are Color-snatchers? Are they the creatures that suck the color from your skin like the blood in your veins?” I asked.
“Color-snatchers appear to be human. They may have been human at some point. But unlike us, who need food and water to survive, they live on color. They feed on the color of living creatures, usually humans.” He explained.
“Where did they come from?” I asked.
“The Black king of Ebony created them during the great war between the kingdoms as a way of crippling the people in rainbow Valley. Back then, thousands of them roamed the valley, but now only a handful of their decedents still live. But there are still enough of them out there for you to be very wary of anyone you might meet on your journey.”
I sat in silence for a moment. My wrist began to ache underneath the splint, and I yawned, suddenly realizing how tired I was.
Seeing my exhaustion, Hunter smiled and rose to his feet.
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about the journey just yet. You’ve been through a lot and you need to recover for a day or two. We can talk more about the next step tomorrow. For now, you can use my bed.”
“Where will you sleep if I have your bed?” I asked concerned.
“Don’t worry about me.” He said. “On warm nights like we’ve been getting, I often take my fold away cot and sleep out under the stars.” He smiled warmly.
“Thank you for your kindness.” I said gratefully. “How will I ever repay you for all that you’ve done?”
“No need for that.” He said humbly. “Just reach the Ivory Palace in once piece. That is all the reward I need.”
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