Hello everyone! I'm pretty new to these forums and was excited to know that there was a section for fan fiction. I have a story that I am working on and would like to share.
Notes: To My Dearest Rose: A story of revenge, sacrifice, love and friendship. This follows the basic storyline of Fable II, but I add my own scenes and some new situations. I use my hero, a female, and she is telling her story. It's a bit long, but bare with me please.

Hope you like it!

Chapter 1-Death

The wind was blowing in a most cruel way through the bustling city. Traders crossed the stony bridge into town, merchants stood by their stalls peddling their wares to whoever would pass and the townsfolk were all busy going about their daily routines. Snow began to fall, carried along by the blistering wind.
    Above the heads of the fussy people, up above the stony city flew a little sparrow. It fluttered it’s wings rapidly as it flew from the crowded marketplace towards another part of the city. It was a quiet place. In place of all the vegetable and meat stalls, there were broken and abandoned ones. Boards lay rotting and forgotten as dirty and downcast villagers trudge past broken windows. All the stone in this part of the city is grime covered and the cobbled streets and littered with dust and old rags.
   The little sparrow lands upon the large stone wall that surrounds the city. It looks around and looks down upon two small children huddled together by a trash can. There is a small fire going inside and the two young girls rub their hands together trying to warm up. The sparrow then turned and let out a small drop of guano. It fell and splattered on the smallest of the girls who was quick to try and wipe it off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
  I felt something warm hit my head, which was odd at this time, for winter had long since set in. My sister, older than me by a few years, recoiled as I pulled back my hand. “Oh...yuck!” She held her nose,”Here...lemme get that for you.” She took a bit of her tattered shirt and rubbed what she could from my hair. “There...is that all better?” She gave me a comforting smile that seemed to warmed my heart like nothing else. I needed all the warmth I could get nowadays.
   “Rose...” I sniffled as my tiny nose began to run,”I’m so cold...I wish..”But my throat tightened and the words wouldn’t come out. I had to turn away and look out towards a towering structure to hide my tears. Rose patted me on the back and looked up at the huge stony building. “Castle Fairfax looks so nice in the snow...Wish we could live there.” Her smile faded and she turned towards the street.

  There was sudden commotion. A crowd was gathered around a large caravan. “Looks like another trader’s come to town. Let’s go check it out!” Rose grabbed my hand and pulled me away, trying to distract us both from thinking about how little we had.
  It wasn’t a sad existence. There were plenty of other kids in the same situation. Their mother and father weren’t around anymore. There was a frigid winter five years ago. There weren’t many people who didn’t catch the flu that year. The little section of the city now known as Bowerstone Old Town used to be part of the major city, but that winter Lord Lucien, the man who lives in Castle Fairfax, had the most infected part of the city quarantined. Not many survived and ever since, the little corner of town has been nearly abandoned. All that live there are mostly homeless and orphans. There is the occasional trader who comes through after not being able to sell much to the more sophisticated area of town. And here once again is another, this one seeming fairly interesting at least.

  Rose suddenly stopped and I ran right into her and fell back. There appeared a scruffy man with a tall hat and ragged clothes. He had a grin on his face and was looking menacingly at Rose.
 “‘Ello there, Rose. Come to take me up on that offer?” The man chuckled. Rose sneered up at him and crossed her arms,”My answer is still no, Arfur.”
 “Eh, you’ll come round!” He called after her as she ran past him towards the trader. I ran after Rose and made my way into the crowd.

  “I can’t see past this crowd!” Rose tried craning her neck to get a look at what the caravan held, but she quickly gave up,”Sparrow, you’re small. See if you can wiggle through the crowd and get a look at what he’s sellin’.”
  I nodded and started to squeeze through and up to the front. I then pushed through and up to the very front, tripping as I did so and falling right in front of the caravan. “Oi, you there, young one!” As I looked up I saw a man with a big curly mustache and a tall red top hat. He held out his hand,”Come up here if you will, child!” I was a bit nervous and went beet red but took his hand and he pulled me up on stage. “There now! Ladies and Gentleman! I, the Mystical Murgo, have brought you some fantabulous mystical artifacts from all corners of Albion! Right here I have a gilded mirror, ah but not just any mirror, sir.” He said as he overheard a man at the front scoff. “No sir, this mirror will make anyone who looks into it appear beautiful!”
“I’ll take it!” Came a shout from another man in the audience. Everyone turned to see a balding man with patches of dirt on his face and several teeth missing. His ears went red and he just held up a small sack of gold. “Very generous sir! You’ll not regret it!” Exclaimed Murgo as he took the small bag and let the man carry off the big mirror. “Oh, one more thing, you must look at the mirror in complete darkness! ‘S the only way it works!” I watched as Murgo hopped back up on stage and pointed a grubby finger in my face.
  “Now! Child, do you believe in magic?” Murgo turned to me and had begun to spin his mustache in his fingers. I looked at the crowd and went a deep shade of magenta. Rose had evidently made her way up to the front and was smiling, but shaking her head. I swallowed hard, looked back up to Murgo and muttered,”Y-yes sir...”
  “Yes! Children believe in the magic! Come here child, take this.” Murgo had grabbed a key and shoved it into my tiny hand. I looked at the old junk piece of metal. “Now tell me girl, what do you make of this key?”

  At first I said nothing but just shook my head. Everyone was muttering amongst themselves as they watched Murgo and I. “It’s alright it’s just a key...but!” He pointed to the sky then pulled out another key from his pocket. “This key! Yes, this key is very special. Take this key.” My eyes glistened and I took it instantly. I could feel something funny about this key. It felt as though it wanted to jump out of my hands, as if it were trying to escape. Out of fear I held tighter to this key, hoping it wasn’t going to do something strange. Murgo looked down at my tiny hands strangling the key and smiled. “You seem to be gripping that key extra tightly, girl. Why is that?”
  “It...feels funny in my hand.” I muttered. Murgo gave out a hearty laugh and snatched both the keys up, putting the plain one in his pocket. “This silver key here” He held it up,”This key is one of many. It is unknown just how many keys there are total, but it is said that a great treasure waits for those who posses them all. I have one here. There are magical silver chest scattered all over and only these keys are able to open them. So...this key could be your greatest purchase!”

  A man in the crowd held up a satchel of gold,”I’ll take that!”
 “Very wise purchase, my fellow!” Murgo took his second sack of gold and pocketed while handing over the key. I saw as he was handing it to the man, that it was not the same key she held, but the plain one that did nothing. This Murgo fellow didn’t seem too nice. Rose waved for me to jump back down. Already the crowd was thinning. Me, Rose a few homeless people and a woman wearing strange garments with her hood up, still stood there watching. Murgo finally got to his last item. It was a strange silver box with odd markings on it and a bit rusted. I wondered if this was one of the silver chests Murgo was talking about.

 “Right, last item, but it’s a one! This here is a music box...a wishing music box. Just turn the handle and make your wish!” I gasped looking up at Rose,”Maybe we could...”
 Rose looked down at me and shook her head with a sigh,”This man is full of it. All this stuff is rubbish little Sparrow. Besides, there ain’t no magic left.”

 “That is sad to hear.” Said the hooded woman. She spoke with a raspy, but commanding tone.
“What?” Rose turned to her. “It is sad to hear that you do not believe in magic. All children believe in magic.”
 “Yeah well I don’t. Sparrow might, but believin’ innat stuff is...well...we need to be thinkin’ about what we’re gonna eat tomorrow.” Rose told the woman.
 “Surely you believe a little. This trader does not realize what he has there. For five gold pieces you could have your answer.” The woman shifted in place and looked down at me. I jumped as I saw her eyes completely white, but oddly staring right into mine. She was blind.
 “For five gold pieces we could eat for a week.” Rose told her, anger rising in her voice now.
“Rose...”I tugged on her sleeve to get her attention.
“Yes, but at the end of that week, you and your sister would be no closer to your dreams...no closer to the inside of that castle...” And with that the woman turned and began to walk away. Rose shook her head but then she looked over at the magic box.
   “Rose...I want to..”I looked at the music box. Rose seemed to understand and smiled,”Alright little Sparrow. Tell you what. You get five gold pieces and we’ll buy the music box.”I felt my heart leap. We never were able to buy anything besides food for ourselves. Now the only problem was getting the five gold pieces...


   Rose and I decided that begging might have been the way to go, but on our way there seemed to be a problem. “Oh, children!” A large hulking man wearing an official looking uniform approached us looking distraught. “Oh hello there Derek. What’s the matter? ‘Nother criminal at large?” Rose asked. Derek was the main guard in Old Town and looked out for the two of us when he could.
 “Yeah, several criminals in fact and I’m responsible for handlin’ their papers only...there was this big gust o’ wind an’ now all the papers ‘ave been scattered. I dunno what I’ll do if Lord Lucien finds out...”
  “Don’t worry Derek, we’ll get the papers for you, won’t we little Sparrow?” Rose winked. I smiled and held out my tiny dirt covered hands. “We’ll be needin’ a gold piece though..Sir” I batted my big green eyes at him. “Oh right...you get me those papers an’ I’ll give you a gold piece. Promise!” The guard crossed his heart. I instantly ran off down the ally, too excited to contain myself. Usually I was shy and kept out of the way. Rose was the one who always got the gold and brought home food. This time it was my turn to do something for my big sis. “Wait little Sparrow!” Rose chuckled and ran after me.

  Ahead of us there came shouts and jeers,”Leave it alone Rex!” Came the voice of a little girl. A small boy ran past me yelling,”Rex’s found a dog an’ ‘e’s gonna beat the crap out of it!” Rose ran on ahead of myself and there was a big boy holding a stick and whacking a dog about.
  “Hey! Stop it!” Rose shouted at the boy, who just turned to her and puffed out his chest. “Oh yeah? What’s a girl gonna do about it?”
 “I’ll knock you out is what!” Rose stood just an inch above him, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with the hat he was wearing. I stopped to look at the scene. He smirked and head butted Rose, knocking her flat on the ground. “Hey! You just hit a girl!” Yelled one of the boys. “Yeah, and I’m about the hit another one!” I fumbled for the toy sword Rose had gotten me last year for my birthday and faced the boy who now looked taller as he came towards me. This was a lot scarier than I had thought it would be. The boy swung at me but somehow I managed to dodge it and swung with all my might and my eyes closed. “Ow! Hey!” Rex yelled as I hit him in the ribs. I was stunned. I hit him! But I must have stood there a bit too long because he hit me in the back of the head with the stick he had. “Aah!” I had to blink away the tears and started to swing wildly at the boy. I managed to hit him three more times before I hit the right spot. The boy cried out in pain and dropped the stick, crumpling to the ground. Now he was whimpering and holding his crotch. “Lemme alone you nutter!” All the kids began laughing as the bully ran off. Rose sat up,”Ow....that boy is horrible...but, you ran him off little Sparrow. for you!”
   I helped Rose to her feet and we both turned to see a crowd of little kids all staring at us. “Um...h-hello...” I stuttered. The kids just giggled and ran off. There came a whimpering from a corner of the alley and the dog that was beaten came out from the shadows. It’s tail was tucked under it’s legs and it was looking up at Rose and I. “Aww...look at you. You poor thing. That bully’s ran off, you’re safe now.” Rose held out her hand and the dog licked it. Rose stood straight again and looked down at the dark mutt. The dog’s ears perked up and he began to pace around. “Oh..oh dear...I’m sorry doggie. You’re very sweet, but we can barely afford to feed ourselves.” Rose frowned. I looked sadly at the dog as we both walked away and out of the alley.
  Rose and I walked down the street until we came upon another crowd and a man standing behind some strange accordion looking device.
  “Yes, yes, gather round now and I will show you all this wondrous contraption. Now I’ll need some volunteers from the audience. I’ll give you a gold piece-” said the man. “We’ll do it!”I yelled before I could stop myself. Rose chuckled as she walked up onto the stage. I eagerly followed.
  “Alright now children, now just strike a pose and I shall capture your likeness with this photographication machine.” I decided to make a funny face and Rose just folded her arms and smiled. There was a blinding flash and a loud click. For a moment I thought this is what must have made that strange lady blind, but after blinking a few times I was alright. I blinked the stars away and the man spoke again,”Right, in three months you shall have your picture and will be absolutely betwazzled by the results! Here’s your gold piece.” The man handed me the coin which I quickly pocketed. “The name is Barnum, by the way. Remember that name. I’m gonna be big someday! Just wait!” I just nodded and smiled sweetly as Rose and I trotted off down the street..
 
  “We’ve got our first gold piece! Alright! When we get those papers back for the guard we’ll have two. There has to be more to do around this place...” Rose said now walking along ahead. I took the weathered gold piece out of my pocket and twirled it in my fingers. I’d never got to hold the money before. It was so shiny and kind of heavy in my hand.
  It wasn’t long before we had three more pieces. One for helping out the warehouse man with a pesky beetle problem and another for helping a couple run away together. We also got one for helping out a barmaid with an old drunk. I had picked up four of the five papers needed to give to Derek and on the way the dark mutt had brought us the last one.
  “We have them all little Sparrow, let’s go give the guard his papers! I can’t believe we got them all. We’ll be able to buy the music box –“ But she was cut off as Arfur stepped into the alley,”Hey! You there!” My eyes widened and I clenched onto the papers.
  “Hey kid, how ‘bout you give me them papers hm? I’ll give you a gold piece for ‘em. Save you the trip back..What do you say?”
  Rose,”Well...I s’pose gold is gold...” I shook my head and held onto the papers,”We can’t. We have to give them to Derek remember? He’ll be in trouble if we don’t.”
 “True...alright then. We’ll just be going to our friend the guard. Sorry Arfur, no deal.” Rose said and pushed past him. Arfur grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. “Ah! Hey! Lemme go!”It seems today was my day to be brave. I stuffed the papers in my shirt (which actually made me feel warmer) and I ran at Arfur kicking him in the shins. “Ow! You little-“ Rose got out of his grip and kicked him in the crotch making him keel over. We then proceeded to run like a bat outta hell towards the guard.    
   We arrived out of breath and holding the papers outstretched. “Well, well. You got ‘em all! As I promised. Here is your gold coin.” He took the papers and placed a shiny new gold coin into my open palm. I put it in my pocket and stood there catching my breath.
  “Well,” said Rose now able to speak,”Now we can go buy the music box, little Sparrow! Let’s go before he closes!”

  Rose and I ran back to the caravan with the wind at our heels. Murgo was outside finishing packing up his caravan and getting ready to close when we arrived holding out the five gold coins. “Aha! You’re back! Come to take the music box off my hands have you? You won’t be disappointed.” He pocketed the coins and took out the music box from a red velvety bag, handing it to Rose. Rose curtsied to Murgo and handed the box to me.
  “Come on little Sparrow! Let’s go make our wish!” Rose had grown exceedingly excited as the chance of getting the box became more of a reality. Rose usually didn’t show her playful side. She was the older sister and she did everything she could to take care of me, her baby sister. I wasn’t really much of an outspoken girl because Rose did all the talking and protected me from the world.  Today I free. It was as if things might finally be turning around. Living in a big warm castle...it would be wonderful.

  “I wonder what it’ll be like...”Rose started to ramble on,”Big fireplaces...big beds of course. We’d have loads of food and blankets. We’ll never go hungry again! Maybe we should wish that mum and dad could come too...”
  Rose never mentioned mother and father. It was such a sensitive subject for her. I was too young to remember either of them very well, but Rose loved them so much. She got to know them.
  We finally got to a spot that was seemingly void of people and set the box down on an empty crate. Rose rubbed her frozen hands together and grabbed the handle,”What should we say?”
 I stopped for a moment to think of just the right wording. If this was one of those one wish things, I wanted to get it right,”I wish...that me and Rosie could live in the castle..and, and Rosie could have mum and dad back!”
 Rose turned the handle and at once the music came out. The top opened and Rose stopped turning in surprise, but it didn’t matter. The box continued to spark and make a strange melody that made both of their hair stand on end. The sparks grew and the box began spinning around.
 “This is it little Sparrow!” Rose’s eyes shone as she watched. My jaw was almost on the floor with amazement. The box spun faster and looked as if it might fly into the air when it suddenly vanished.

  Rose and I stared at the spot where the box had vanished. It didn’t happen. It couldn’t have happened. Maybe it had just gone to the castle? Should we try to show up there and hope it would be there too? How would it look if two homeless children arrived at Castle Fairfax asking if a magic box had come by? We’d be thrown in an asylum!
  “Well...it’s been a long day little Sparrow. Let’s go to bed.” said Rose in her usual humdrum voice. She simply walked away, not looking back. I stood there a few seconds more still staring and hoping it would come back. I felt the crate thinking it might have even turned invisible. I snatched at the air believing it just couldn’t be true. After a few minutes of scraping the crate with my fingernails and prying open the loose boards, I turned and headed back with Rose. She took my hand and I had to hide my face as I wiped away a few tears. “I’m just sleepy.” I tried to tell Rose, but she knew I wasn’t fooling anyone. We both felt miserable.
  Finally, we reached what we called home. It was a small assembly of boards designed to look like a shelter of sorts and on the porch lay a very familiar dog.
 “Hey. What are you doing here? I told you we can’t keep you...oh well...I s’pose you can stay.”Rose patted his furry head and stumbled up the small steps and lay down on a ragged towel.
“Night little Sparrow. Tomorrow will be better. I promise...”Rose shuffled a bit and I could hear her muttering something about “...five gold coins...” and “...whole day wasted...” I sat on a part of the board that wasn’t covered in snow.
I hugged the dog and then went to my little blanket on the floor. The dog lay down on the “porch” and whined a bit as I fell to sleep.

   There came a barking and a man’s voice,”Easy there...there’s a nice angry, stray dog...”
Rose spoke next,”What’s goin’ on?”
 “I’ve been sent to collect you miss. Lord Lucien requested to see you and your sister.” The man said and I opened my yes to see a guard standing in front of our little shelter. The dog was growling and Rose was smiling as she turned to shake me awake. “Come on little Sparrow! Wake up! We’re going to Lord Lucien’s castle!” I sat bolt upright and stood.
 “Well then, let’s go.” Said the guard.

Before we knew it we were walking a long and winding road up to the castle. The guards lead from in front and some from behind kept me at an uncomfortable pace. Rose happily skipped along, despite the alarming cold at this height. The snow soaked through my cloth shoes and made my feet numb.

 Finally we arrived at the great stone halls of Fairfax Castle. A butler named Jeeves greeted us at the door,”Oh, you’ve arrived. Well, come, come in!”
 He had such a polite manner and his clothes fit him well. I noticed that he had no stains or bits dirt on them anywhere and his coat looked particularly warm.

  We stepped into the castle and my eyes grew the size of the pies I had seen in the market. There were huge stone pillars reaching all the way to the ceiling, which seemed as high as a mountain. The walls were draped with lavish tapestries, woven with bits of gold and seemed to portray a family tree. I saw candelabra’s hanging from the walls displaying little tiny fires from each one. I could feel the warmth spread over me and I took a lung full of air, breathing in the wondrous smell of something cooking further in.
 I must have been dazzled because Rose tapped me on the shoulder and told me to come along.

  I snapped out of it and stumbled over to where Jeeves was beckoning.


 We followed the stretch of hallway with Jeeves. Rose was chatting up a storm but I had no words. It had worked. We were in the castle and Lord Lucien was going to tell us we could stay there with him. We would all live together. But what about mother and father? Would they show up as well?

 We reached a huge wooden door decorated with little pictures and symbols. The butler turned and began to speak,”Now, when you enter only speak when spoken to, address him only as my lord, treat him with utmost respect at all times, don’t ask questions and do not mention Lady Fairfax or miss Amelia.” After he finished speaking he opened the doors and let Rose and I enter.

 As we walked in, our eyes met with a huge stained glass window. Large bookshelves that towered to the vaulted ceiling filled with volumes upon volumes of books. There were big wooden desks laden with more books. Ink bottles were littered among the books and quills lay forgotten beside them. At one of the desks stood a tall man with dark brown hair and mutton chops. He wore a ruffled noble shirt with noble pants and fancy buckled shoes that shone in the candle light. He turned towards me and upon seeing us he smiled. I noticed that there seemed to be a bit of a gleam in his icy blue eyes.
  “Ah,”His voice was rough as he spoke,”Welcome. I am Lord Lucien. And you two must be...”
“My name is Rose, sir and this,”She grabbed me by the shoulders,”this is my little sister. I call her Sparrow see and-“ Lucien held up his hand to stop her from saying anymore,”I suppose you’re wondering why I brought you here?”
 Rose nodded as did I. “Well I had heard that you bought a rather, er, interesting music box from a trader.”

“Y-yes sir, we did.”Rose muttered. “Interesting, where is it?” Lucien asked.
Rose looked at me but all I could manage was a few stutters and a hiccup. “Well sir we...um..made a wish and...”
“Made a wish?” Lucien’s eyebrow raised in intrigue. “Yes sir, but the music box vanished after we did.”
 “Extraordinary..”Lucien turned to me. Rose shifted then asked,”Sorry sir but, what’s extraordinary?”
 “What’s extraordinary is that you were able to use it...what did you wish for?”Lucien asked, turning to his desk again. I spoke up this time,”I wished that we could live in a castle like this one...sir.”
 
Lucien nodded,”Well, perhaps that could be arranged. But first I would like you both to stand on that circle.” He pointed to a stand right in front of the window. Rose looked at me with a concerned face and I returned the look. “It’s alright, it won’t hurt you. I promise.” Lucien told them both.
 I decided to be brave and stepped up first and. Rose quickly followed. Lucien turned towards us and as he watched, a faint blue light formed and rose up to surround Rose and I.
 
“Wh-what is this?” Rose backed into the middle with me. Lucien smirked but only for a moment,”Yes...this is very interesting...” He extended a hand towards the light but he recoiled and the light turned a deep crimson. “What? What is this?”
 “What’s going on?” panic filled Rose’s voice now.
“No..this is all wrong..”Lucien was now thumbing through his books as quickly as he could,”One of you is the hero but you’re not one of the three...one of you is the fourth...”Lucien grabbed something unseen off his table and turned to face the both of us. Rose screamed,”What are you doing?!” Something she saw frightened her. I couldn’t see what Lucien held but Rose began to cry,”Please don’t!” But it was too late. Lucien pulled a large pistol from behind his back and aimed it at her. “NO!!!” She screeched. Lucien fired and Rose fell to the ground.

  My heart leapt and stopped. My eyes welled with tears and my heart began again, racing inside my frightened chest. “ROSE!!!” I wailed. Lucien just looked down at her tiny body crumpled on the stand, not moving, not breathing. I just stood rooted to the spot, too scared to move, in too much shock to speak.
  Lucien then turned to me and aimed the gun. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to live either...I’m sorry.” I looked up as he drew closer and fired. I felt an intense pain in my chest. There came a pain in my back and a sound of glass as I stumbled backwards. I felt myself suddenly falling. The cold air rushed past my ears, the horror of what happened up in the tower feeling as if it were only a horrible nightmare. Down, down, down I fell. I seemed to fall for an eternity, the pain in my chest waning. Suddenly I hit something hard. There came a sickening crack and white hot pain in my skull. More pain coursed through me. My arm felt as though it had been broken in several places, my back throbbed and I couldn’t feel my legs. Darkness and stars filled my vision and everything became a blissful nothingness.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Here is chapter 2 for anyone interested! In this chapter Sparrow recovers from her near death and realizes she wants revenge, but she takes matters into her own hands...

Chapter 2
   -Rebirth-  


  Out of the darkness walked a hooded woman. Alongside her was the dark mutt which bolted from her side to where I lay on the ground. He barked and I could feel his tongue on my hand. The woman knelt and scooped up my broken body. “Death is not your destiny today little Sparrow...” She said as she walked, dog at her side and me in her arms. She hummed softly as if to bring me comfort. I couldn’t open my eyes from the pain, but I could hear everything and feel everything around me. The bitter cold stung my open wounds and made me whimper. The woman spoke,”You hurt little Sparrow. It’s okay, you can cry.” I felt hot tears begin to stream down my face.

 I remember she walked for a while. It seemed ages before we finally came upon a small village. I could hear all the laughter and the music, the tambourines and crackling fire.
   All noise stopped as the woman entered camp. People dressed in colorful head bands and scarves, tunics and skirts gathered around to look as she brought me to them. This vibrant community, usually cheery and filled with song fell silent and quickly took me to a caravan where they treat their sickly and wounded. The hooded woman who brought me to the camp followed them and watched.
 
  Stars turned to clouds, and the veil of night was removed to reveal a pale pink and blue as dawn came. The gypsies welcomed the morning with familiar singing and celebrated dancing. I woke to hear this wondrous sound. The sound of survival and a second chance. The hooded woman entered the caravan, sitting beside me. I opened my big green eyes to the morning and looked up to see her familiar face. Pain filled every inch of my body. There was nothing that didn’t hurt, but at least I could feel my legs now. My head still pounded with a fury and my arm felt as if it were shattered. Tears fell and I began to sob. The pain and the realization that Rose, my sister, was dead had sunken in. “Little Sparrow...”The woman spoke as she placed a cold rag on my head. I looked up at her, trying to keep the sadness away. “My name is Theresa...you had a very bad night, but you are alive.” Theresa dabbed at scratched on my face, making me twitch. More tears leaked down. I couldn’t bear to speak. What was this woman doing here? Where were they now? How did I survive such a long fall? Everything was pulling at my mind. So many questions...
  “I promise I will tell you everything when you are better, but for now you need to rest. The sooner you get better, the sooner-“She stopped. “Well, perhaps I’ll leave that for later. Sleep little Sparrow.”
  I could think of nothing else. I slept for days at a time and each time I woke I was healed tremendously. And each time I awoke Theresa was there beside me, to lay a wet rag on my sweating forehead, or to offer a few comforting words. Then sleep would come again. At first there was only hours of nothingness, but as I healed, the nightmares began. Lucien stood there holding a smoking pistol and my sister’s body lay at my feet, blood pouring from her. Then Lucien turned the gun to me, but he suddenly became Theresa and fired the gun. I began to thrash about and even scream in my sleep. Theresa just helped me drink a strange potion and I would sleep more soundly.
 
  It had been a month and now I was fully healed, though my nightmares grew worse, the last one ended with me nearly drowning in Bower Lake. I had taken to sleep walking now and Theresa has had to tie me down on several occasions to keep from throwing myself off of the nearest hundred foot cliff. Besides all the near death experiences, life at the camp was decent enough. At least here everyone looked out for each other and I never went hungry. Even the dog that Rose and I had saved was there to keep me company. He never left my side and kept me warm through the night. But angry thoughts clouded my mind. Thoughts of Lucien and what he was doing at this moment seemed to haunt my every waking moment. I often wondered what he had done with my sister’s body, if he had buried it in a proper cemetery or if he had burned it...
  Theresa would come by every so often to tell me of her travels and to give me some new things, but besides that I was living on my own. It hurt so much. Sometimes I would catch myself laughing and think of telling Rose what I did, and then it would all come back.
 “Rose is gone.” I would tell myself. “Lucien killed her.” And then I knew. In that moment, I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to kill that man.
  I felt the anger swell within me until I could contain it no longer. I stood up and walked straight for my caravan. My dog whined and scampered after me.  I spoke not one word as people said their “Morning’s” and “ day’s”. I marched slowly, almost hypnotically until, I came upon my caravan and reached inside the pillow. Inside, I had hidden a pistol she given by one of my gypsy friends. I tucked it away under my clothes and decided this was it. I wasn’t coming back to this place until I had killed Lucien. Though...if I succeeded I would most likely be arrested or killed on the spot. But I didn’t care. It was now or never and I would have my revenge.

  I shut the door to my caravan and began walking towards the entrance of camp. Chickens pecked at the ground in front of me and in my anger I kicked one, sending it flying into a fence. The people around me stared and just kind of chuckled at the distraught chicken. But I pressed on.
   I knew the way there and would find it. Bowerstone. It was dead set in my mind. Many of the people I passed began to whisper and had looks of concern, thinking I may be sleep walking again. “Where you headed there, Sparrow?” Asked a particularly tan gypsy man. “Just...going out for a bit.” I  responded monotone. He raised an eyebrow at me but let me pass. I made my way out of camp and down to the lake, following the winding trail towards the city.

 Back at the camp Theresa had returned, bringing more sweets and stories for me to enjoy. She stepped into the caravan and set down her things. Not seeing me here was natural. I enjoyed running around the camp and playing with the gypsy children. Theresa stepped out and decided to take a stroll around the camp. She walked around for a bit and having not found me she decided to ask.
  “Oh, Sparrow? She took off.” Said the tan gypsy from before. “Took off where? Did she say where she was headed?” Theresa asked, now thinking it unwise to have left Sparrow alone for so long this time. “She didn’t say but...she took her dog with her. She should be fine. Headed out of the camp just this mornin’.” The man had lit his pipe and was puffing on the end. Theresa knew now where I had gone. She was surprisingly fast for a woman of her age and in no time she was on her way to Bowerstone.

  The sun was now setting as I made her way into the bustling part of Bowerstone. Everyone was on their merry way to shops and stalls, not bothering to look at another child wandering around the streets. It had only been a month, yet everything seemed so different. I navigated my way through the crowd and up towards the fancier part of town. Fairfax gardens was full of the rich and stuffy. As I walked into town everyone seemed to turn their noses up in disgust. But I didn’t care. A few guards kept their watch on the me, in my rags with a scroungey mutt marching up to the castle. I didn’t realize how much my heart was racing as I walked up those steps. Everything was almost in slow motion. I reached the huge wooden doors and raised a fist, knocking promptly.
 
There was nothing. No answer. Perhaps the butler was still making his way towards the doors. I knocked again, louder. The guards moved a bit closer, still keeping watch on me.
  I waited and waited but no answer came. Tears formed at her frustration. Why wasn’t he answering? Did Lucien know I was coming so he told his butler not to answer? I began to bang on the door with both fists, kicking and flailing wildly.
 The guards walked up to this wild girl,”Easy there miss. What ‘chu doin’ ‘ere?”
I stopped and looked at the man,”I have come by royal invitation. Lord Lucien asked me to come here himself and I need to get into this castle.” I said, hoping maybe the guard was stupid enough to let me in. He just shook his head and grabbed my shoulder,”Come on miss. Get away from there.”
 
  I pushed his huge gloved hand away,”No! I need to get in there!”I shouted at him. I threw myself at the door again and began screaming,”Let me in! Open this door!!! Open it right now!” The guards all grabbed and pulled me from the door  as I kicked and pleaded,”Let me go! I need to get in there! Let me go right NOW!!!” I shrieked and the huge doors opened. I stopped and looked, along with the guards. There in the door stood the butler. The one that had led them into that horrible room.
  “Oh..ness, what is going on here?” The butler asked. “Nothing to see ‘ere Jeeves. Just some little girl who claims she was invited here.”
 “Wait...y-you...”Jeeves went pale as he saw my face. “You know this one then?” The guard asked. “Y-yes..I... ” his voice failed him. The guards set me down and I marched up to the butler. “Well, we’ll leave you to it then.” The guards walked away leaving Jeeves and I standing there staring each other down.
  “I can’t believe...but how did you survive?” He whispered. I suddenly remembered what I was doing there and it must have shown on my face because Jeeves backed up a bit. “Um..”he tried to speak but I stepped towards him.

“Where is he?” I spoke low and dark. The dog whimpered and lay down. Jeeves mumbled but said nothing. “Tell me where he is! Where is he?! What did he do with my sister? Did he clean it up or did you?! Huh?!” My voice carried over the now darkened gardens and the guards turned their attention back to the castle. Jeeves looked down at me and his face was somber,”If I had known...I...I’m sorry...your sister...” He just shrugged. I was growing more angered by the second,”Tell me where he is now!!!” I pulled out the pistol and aimed it at him. The guards seemed to take that as their cue and ran towards me. Jeeves backed up and the guards rushed the stairs. “Tell me where he went or I’ll shoot you!” Hot tears streamed down my cheeks.
 
 “I don’t know miss! H-he fled!” Jeeves had finally found his words. The guards reached for my gun and I heard Theresa shout,”SPARROW!” In the shock of it all, I pulled the trigger. A shot rang out and there were gasps from onlookers. The guards pried the gun from my tiny fingers and pulled my arms behind my back. Jeeves fell to the ground gripping his chest and some more guards rushed over to him. “I hate you!” I screamed my rage. “I hate you! I hate you! You let Rosie die!!!” I collapsed and began to sob as the guards held me. Theresa stepped up looking grave.

 “What have you done little Sparrow?” She said monotone. I didn’t dare look at Theresa, I couldn’t. Meanwhile my dog had begun to fight off the guards in an attempt to reach me.
 “It’s okay...it’s okay, boy...”I whispered and the dog stood by as the guards hauled me away.

 
   They placed me in a big cell, clad in irons. My dog and Theresa sat outside just sitting and waiting. Theresa wasn’t speaking to me. I knew Theresa was very angry with me. I just sat with silent, shuddering sobs awaiting news of what would happen to me.
  “Well, you’re in luck. He’s alive and not pressin’ any charges. Seems like you got off easy there miss.” He said to me. “But you’ve still got a criminal record now, and also...”He pulled out a piece of parchment,”You will need to complete some community service!” He handed the note to Theresa, who still said nothing. “Well,”The guard had pulled out his keys and opened the cell,”You’re free to go for now, but you can’t leave town. We’ll keep an eye on you so don’t try skippin’ out!”
 “She won’t.” Theresa said coldly. I held out my arms and the guard removed my shackles. Once they freed me I walked out, not daring to look at Theresa.

  Theresa, the dog and I walked to a local pub and Inn called the Cow and Corset. Theresa paid for drinks and made me go straight upstairs. I lay down on one of the beds and began to cry once more. Everything was going wrong. And probably the worst part was that Lucien, wherever he was, no longer took up residence at the castle. He was most likely far away by now and far out of reach.
  Theresa brought up two bottles of what I could only guess was wine. She poured a glass and set it on the night stand. Then she poured another and held it out for me to take. “Here.” Theresa said, still cold. I rolled over, sat up and grabbed the small glass. “But...I’m not supposed to drink-“ I began but Theresa spoke again,”Drink. It will help you sleep.”
  I tipped the glass to my lips and drank a bit, but quickly spit it back out,”Ehh...that’s horrible stuff...”
  “Just drink it. You’ll sleep better.” Theresa took her glass and downed it in one gulp. She then walked over to another bed in the room and lay down. I held her nose and drank it straight down. I had never drank wine before and hoped never to do so again. It didn’t taste very nice at all. But all that didn’t matter as I soon felt very drowsy and woozy. My head hit the pillow and instantly I was woken by Theresa.

  “Wake up little Sparrow. Morning is here and the guards are waiting for your community service.”
  Morning already? But I had just lay down. Sure enough when I rose there was light filtering through the windows and people were once again bustling about in their busy manners. I threw the covers off of me. I had not one nightmare, no recollection of sleep at all.
But I supposed it was probably better that way and followed Theresa out into the cold morning.

 Right on cue there was a guard stationed outside and upon seeing the two he nodded,”Right. I have the papers here. Sheriff says there’s some beetles to be taken care of. There’s a major infestation in one of the basements.”
 Theresa just bowed her head and the guard handed her the orders. “I’m to accompany you to the area infested, but it’s all up to you to kill the beetles and since you’re such a sharp shooter...” The guard pulled out a small pistol and handed it to Theresa.
 “Right well...let’s get on with it then.”

The guard led them down the street and into a nearby alley before arriving at the door to a cellar.  Theresa handed the gun to me and the guard opened the cellar.
  It was an easy job, just like when I cleared out the warehouse for the store owner. Before I knew it the basement was full of dead beetle bodies. I came out and the guard checked the cellar. “All clear. Very . You may leave now but we’ll keep our eye on you.”


  It was night again when they arrived back at the gypsy camp. Theresa made me go back to my caravan. Everyone seemed to be happy that I was back, but I didn’t want to see their happy faces. If they knew what I did, they wouldn’t be so happy. I went into her caravan and curled up. My dog curled up by my side to keep me warm. A little while later Theresa entered and set down the wine bottles. “Sparrow,”She spoke softly,”What you did-“
“I’m sorry...”I blurt out. I’d been holding it all in, but now it was too much. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I just wanted to kill Lucien. He killed my sister and I wanted...”I trailed off, bowing my head in my anguish. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.
 
“I knew you would want revenge for what happened to your sister, but I wish you would have told me of your intentions sooner. It was tragic what happened to you, to Rose. I am only trying to help.”
“Yeah but why are you trying to help?” I sat up,”What do you care what happens to me? Or to Rose? You just showed up out of nowhere and now you just seem to keep an eye on everything I do just like a m—“ I stopped myself.
 “A mother.”Theresa tilted her head,”There are things happening right now that could very well affect all of Albion. You included. You are very special little Sparrow and that is why I am looking after you.”
  I just turned away and hugged onto my dog.
“You haven’t given him a name yet.” Theresa said, trying to change the subject. “He needs a name, don’t you think?”
I silently agreed, but said nothing. Theresa stood back up and walked over to the door.
“Courage.”I spoke and Theresa turned to me. “His name is Courage. He’s my courage...”
Theresa smiled and walked out.

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My closest friends are in my head!

Wow, pretty   um.. whats in called? a story of the past of a another story.. ah whatever. stuff, but you know that jeeves is alive during the main story right?

Thanks for the story. I hope you write more.

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Chickywow:

Wow, pretty   um.. whats in called? a story of the past of a another story.. ah whatever. stuff, but you know that jeeves is alive during the main story right?

yeah I know that jeeves is alive. He managed to survive being shot. Also, i have change some things and add things to my version. And thanks for reading it! I'm definitely writing more!

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My closest friends are in my head!

Thanks for reading, here is the next chapter. In this one Sparrow comes of age and is finally ready to learn who she is. Theresa comes to the camp and gives her a mission to enter the strange cave in the middle of the lake....

Chapter 3-Journey-

  Ten years passed and I grew up peacefully in the small gypsy camp. They all seemed to enjoy my presence in the community. If anything, they were cheerier and for some reason, no bandits came their way. Theresa had come by less and less in the recent months, but I had grown more mature and was perfectly fine without her there. Although, I had grown a bit of a dependance on the wine to keep my slumber nightmare free. And I had Courage there for me, too, but he wasn’t much help while I slept.
  Today felt different though. Today I turned eighteen. Everyone had chipped in and gotten me some things for my party that night and I felt happier than ever.
   I sat on the dock of Bower Lake, Courage by my side and I held a fishing pole. I placed my feet in the water to cool off as I stared up into the clouds. “Theresa said she would come on my birthday...”I sighed. “Maybe she’ll stay for my party. I wish she would.” Courage picked up his ears and looked at his friend. His coat shone in the beautiful Spring sun and wind whistled through lush green trees. The clouds drifted lazily by like big clumps of wool through a cool blue river. Again I sighed, setting down my fishing pole, I stood up. Courage got up as well, awaiting any further movement from me. I pat his head and together we walked back to the gypsy camp.

  “Today, I am able to leave, boy! Theresa said she would come and tell me what to do next. Then we can get out of here for some real adventurin’...just you and me. We’ll find Lucien....” As I walked into camp people shouted “Happy Birthday’s” and “Congrat’s”. I met them with smiles and waves and walked directly to my caravan. There was a large chest sitting outside that I had never seen before. I looked to my neighbors, but they just shrugged. Perhaps they were acting as if they didn’t put it there? Maybe it was a surprise present. The only thing was: the chest was locked. “No way to open it just yet I s’pose.” I shrugged, and Courage just whined and tilted his head.
  From there I took to goofing off as usual. Showing off for the little ones and helping old Dan with some crates of stuff for his shop. The camp was nice for the simple life and all, but the only downside was that there were no people around her age to hang around with...No boys to crush on or girls to talk to about the boys. There were a lot of children around and a few people who were close to her age or there were the older ones. Still, everyone had someone.

“Sparrow!” Came the voice of an older man named John. “Oh, hey John. What’s going on?” I looked up from my woven dandelion headband I had made out of boredom.
 “Well, I just come to tell you Happy Birthday.” He smiled and I looked around nervously. “Okay. Well...thank you, John.” I looked over at Courage and raised an eyebrow. John spoke up again,”Well...it sure is lovely weather today, don’t you think?”
I nodded and started to weave a dandelion bracelet. John leaned up against a tree and watched as I wove delicately. Courage looked up at the man as he watched. I glanced up at John who smiled again. “Is...something bothering you? Can I...help with...anything?”I asked hesitantly. John grinned even wider then went red,”Well it’s just. Well, now you’re all grown and....”He trailed off and looked down at his “what-could-only-be-described-as” shoes. I waited and he spoke up again,”Well I’ve always been kinda partial to yeh, Sparrow. And I don’ got no one fer me self.” I held up my hand and closed my eyes. “Wait,” she said and looked up at him,”You...want me? To be....your...girlfriend?”
John nodded slowly. He was an older man yes, about 40 to be exact. “Um...Well...I uh...”I stuttered and blinked trying to think of something, ANYTHING to say when someone came running up,”Hey! Sparrow!”
I panicked and stood up shouting,”Okay! I’m of age! I know but don’t everyone jump at me at once!”
“What?” The man just looked at me and said,”I only came to tell you that Theresa just came into town and she’s looking for you. She’s up at the lookout point.”
I heaved a huge sigh of relief at being given a reason to not give John an answer.

  I bolted, Courage at my heels, for the lookout spot and arrived happier than ever. Theresa still looked exactly the same as ever in her gypsy clothes and she was still as blind as ever, but somehow she managed to go anywhere without bumping into anything. “Happy Birthday little Sparrow...well..not so little anymore are you? You have finally come of age and now you can begin your life on your own. But before you leave I have one final task for you.”
I nodded and then spoke up,”Um...Theresa...I...,”
“Yes?” Theresa looked at me. “Well...it’s just...thank you for...looking out for me. All these years. I don’t think I could have....s-survived if you hadn’t...you know been there for me.”
Theresa smiled and placed a warm hand on my shoulder to stop my stuttering,”It’s alright, Sparrow. Today is just the first step on your path to avenging your sister,” She lowered her hand and turned to look out over to the lake. “Now, Sparrow. Look over there.” She pointed over to a small island in the middle of the lake. On the island sat an old tomb. It had been there as long as anyone can remember. I had often wondered what had been hidden there and I had a feeling that maybe I was about to find out. “Here,”Theresa held out a small rusted key”This is the key to that chest outside your caravan.”
 “Oh,”I took the key,”You brought me things for my birthday?” Theresa smirked,”Get your things and meet me by the front gates when you are ready. Now go.”
I smiled big and took off at a dead run with Courage running a bit ahead of me. I made it to my caravan, again out of breath, and I quickly shoved the key into the lock opening the chest. I heaved open the heavy lid. I must have been a little over zealous because as I thrust open the lid, the whole thing toppled and spilled everything (including myself) over backwards, nearly impaling myself on the contents inside. Up on the look out Theresa pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head,”Oh, this is going to be tougher than I thought....”She then proceeded to walk to the front gates.
  I collected myself, as well as a rusty sword, a crossbow, a collar for Courage, some dog biscuits, a dog elixir and some potions for myself. I got a ruck sack from my caravan and threw what I could in there. I strapped my weapons to me with a leather strap and carried my bag of things with me up to the front gates.
 “Well, that took a while. Are you ready now?” Theresa asked and I nodded eagerly.
“. Now follow me.” Theresa lead me out of the camp and onto the bridge that leads towards Bower Lake. “Here. Another gift, take it.” Theresa held out a small decorative token of some sort. I took it and looked it over. It had a large “S” on the front as well as spikes jutting out at four corners. “What...is it?” I questioned. Theresa turned towards the lake again. “Take it and go to the old tomb in the middle of the lake. I will instruct you further when you get there.”
  “So you’re coming with me?” I asked with a little bit of excitement.
“You’ll see.” Theresa smirked with that smile that says she is up to something. “Just make your way there for now.”


  I knew when to not ask questions. All things reveal themselves in due course and the faster I get this over with, the faster I can get to Lucien. I meandered my way down the merry lane with Courage following leisurely behind, looking at passing butterflies and barking at nearby bunnies. Spring was fresh in the air today as we trotted towards the cool shimmering lake. Flowers swayed in the breeze and trees whispered to each other. Finally I reached the lake. Now all I had to do was get over to the island. Come to think of it how was I going to get over to the middle of the lake? It was so huge and I’d never tried before. In fact, I wasn’t sure I knew how to swim at all. Courage of course threw himself at the water, nipping at small fish in the now choppy water. I sighed and looked at how far it was. Maybe the water wasn’t that deep. I’d never been out into the lake before. I decided to try it.

  Taking care not to get my clothes wet, I set them aside and kept the rest of my things (except the dog biscuits) with me. Everything else could come. I then waded out into the lake, which was VERY cold. All I had on was my underclothing and my metal weapons which were even colder on my back with the freezing water. I got deeper and deeper, up to my chin even and now I was thinking I may have to swim. Which I couldn’t do, let alone with the huge sword and crossbow on my back. Then, looking over at Courage, who was swimming around like a pro, I had an idea. I whistled for him to come over and he immediately did. “Come here, boy! Come on!” Courage swam to me and I put an arm over him,”Okay boy, you’re gonna need to help me here...” I leaned on him a bit more and he had to struggle a bit to swim,”Okay boy...okay now..swim over there. I motioned towards the island and he seemed to understand because he began to swim towards it. Slowly but surely I kicked my feet and Courage paddled towards the island. Finally, soaking wet and panting we pulled ourselves up onto the bank and I collapsed. Now I was wet and cold and stuck in the middle of this huge lake. Courage just shook himself off and proceeded to lick my face. “Eh! Hey! Cut it out!” I pushed him away and sat up, still strapped with my weapons, which still weighed me down. I wasn’t used to this at all. I have a long way to go if I can’t even carry a few weapons. With a frown and enormous determination, I stood up, in my undies and marched over to the lake tomb.
 
   I walked up to the Bower Lake tomb and pushed against it. It didn’t budge. “Well...I tried.” I turned around and looked at Courage who barked up at me. “What? If I couldn’t swim over here with all these things, what makes you think I can open this door?” Courage barked again and licked my hand that still clutched the strange object Theresa gave me. I looked at it again, walking up to the door and saw a perfect match for the seal. I looked back at Courage,”What would I do without you, boy?” I smiled and placed the seal in the empty slot and immediately, the door began creaking, clinking and whining. I then pushed and it easily opened. A freezing cold gust of wind swept past me from inside the tomb and I shivered greatly. With Courage by my side I hesitantly entered.

  My feet touched cold, wet ground as I entered the cave. There was a drip, drip, dripping coming from my left and the walls were slick with residue from the limestone. There was a single torch at the end of the chamber that I could see and there were strange clicking noises from further down. I found her footing as I crept my way steadily down to the torch. I slipped a few times, only catching myself on a bit of the wall that jutted out. Courage just trotted up ahead to the torch. Finally I made it to the torch and picked it from it’s holding place. “Okay, now we can go on ahead.”I said as I held out the torch to see down into the winding cave.

  “Sparrow.” I heard loudly as if it were right next to me. I yelped and swung the torch hoping to hit whatever nasty beast was lurking in the darkness. “Do not be alarmed, it is only me,”Theresa’s voice rang through the cave. “I am speaking to you through the Guild Seal I handed you earlier.”
  “Don’t do that to me! You don’t know how horribly dark it is down here!” I bellowed back into the tiny seal.
 “There is no need to shout. I can hear you perfectly and you don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.” Theresa spoke calmly.
I stood straight. “Um..unnecessary attention? Like what exactly?” My voice cracked a little and I swallowed hard.
 “Nothing you need to worry about if you can wield that sword properly. There are only beetles in this cave...at least, that is what I believe.” Theresa began to instruct me on where I should start looking. She told me to look for a long bridge leading to a secluded room.

 “This will be easier than I thought. From what she’s told me, it’s pretty linear in here.” I said to Courage who just tilted his head and licked his nose. I mostly spoke to keep from hearing an odd noise from further down in the cave.

  Slowly but surely I slunk through the slime covered halls. The noise grew louder and felt I may be losing my mind. I heard almost a chattering as if there were people further down. Were they in this room Theresa wanted me to find? Or was it just my mind making voices from the drippings of water in the distance? I walked until I came to a sand dusted passage and sighed a relief that my journey would be a bit easier.
  Suddenly there was a buzzing. It echoed through the long corridor and I felt a vibration beneath my feet. I pulled out my sword as Courage started barking madly. Pebbles rained from the ceiling and gigantic beetles rose from beneath the sand. Their huge shells opened with beating wings creating an unbearable humming. I swung madly as the buzzing wings kicked up sand into my eyes.
 “Aah!,” I shouted,”Courage! Help!”
My dog lunged at the beetles, taking one in his jaws and I heard a sickening crunch. I opened my eyes a bit to see green ooze seeping out of his mouth, just before he leaped at another. I pulled out my rusty pistol and fired at the buggers. I was already a aim and easily finished them off. When the buzzing stopped I tried to look around, but my eyes burned from the sand. They could hardly water and the burning was getting worse.
  “Courage...” I whispered to him. I felt his reassuring tongue on my hand. “You’re gonna have to help me here, boy.”
 Again, he seemed to understand what I was saying as I grabbed onto his collar. Courage led me down the path and again I could hear, even louder this time, laughter and the clinking of mugs as if some party was going on. Perhaps Courage could hear it too, because as he led me, it grew louder. I expected any moment to crawl into the room full of rowdy people and for them to help me up. But on he led until he stopped and began to whine. I let go of his collar and pulled out my pistol again just incase more beetles showed up.
 
  Courage licked my face and whined some more. This didn’t seem like a beetle problem. I opened my eyes as much I could and noticed a ledge. I peered over and saw shimmering water beneath me. “Crap.” I slapped the floor and put my pistol away. It did look as if there were another light source coming from below, but the problem was dropping down into the probably freezing cold water and still managing to swim whilst blind. And then there was hoping there was land to swim to.
  I mustered up all the strength I had and jumped. I hit the water, freezing as I expected, with an impact that knocked the wind out of me. I sunk deep, kicking with ferocity. My lungs were screaming for air, burning. I reached the surface and gulped down the water that had entered my mouth in order to take a breath of much needed air. My eyes were suddenly much clearer from the water washing them of sand.
  I felt weighed down from my weaponry, but somehow kept myself afloat. My long hair wrapped around my neck and stuck to my body giving me a little more warmth. There came a barking not far from above and I shouted,”It’s okay boy! Come on!”
  I looked straight ahead and saw a few spots to climb ashore. I swam over and pulled myself up. Courage quickly followed as he jumped and swam over to me.

I laughed as he started to dig at something,”What are you doing, you crazy?” I stood up and trudged over to where he was making a little hole. I leaned over to see something white sticking out of the ground. Out of curiosity, I pulled on it. Out of the sand came a spine. My stomach dropped and I screamed, dropping the human remains. I shrieked at the top of my lungs at seeing what was left of someone, dead and buried in this cave. Courage still continued to dig and barked at me as I sat huddled in fear.
  He saw my dismay and trotted over bringing something in his mouth. Again I screamed, fearing he was trying to show me more of the bones, but instead he dropped something shiny at my feet. Shaking, I picked up the shimmering object and held it to the light of a torch near me. All my fear seemed forgotten as I looked at the gem. It was pink and glittered beautifully in the dancing of the fire.
  “Courage....this is so pretty. Thank you, boy!” I pet him and rubbed his face. He seemed to enjoy it and licked my face in return. I stood up, forgetting the bones and Courage began to run further in to another long passage way.


  There was nothing. No sound for a long while, then, the voices returned. There were only a few speakers this time and it sounded as if there were occasional cheers. Courage continued to run along at a steady pace and I felt my mind slipping a bit. I felt clothes on me, though I know I had none but my under clothes on. I felt strange as we approached the bridge Theresa had talked about. I looked around and a great grief fell over me. Everything was in ruin. I barely made it to the middle when I collapsed to my knees and began sobbing.

 Courage stopped and whined a bit. I tried to stop but I only felt pain, sadness, loss. Courage barked and I stood up, entering a large room.

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My closest friends are in my head!

hmm.....hmmm.....hmmmmmmmmm....

I like it alot!

Great work

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Thanks so much! I'll try to post a chapter a day!

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My closest friends are in my head!

Well this weekend i won't be able to post any since i am going to a convention, but here is Chapter 4! Sparrow finds herself in ancient room, with an ancient purpose...

Chapter 4
-Awakening-


  It was stunning. A shaft of light shone down upon a stand in the middle of the room, illuminating the entire dome. I heard Theresa’s voice once more through the seal, or perhaps more in my head,”Well done. You have made it to the Chamber of Fate.”
  Her tone was welcoming and comforting as if she were really congratulating me. It was strange but now more than ever she seemed familiar to me. As if she were a long lost friend or something...

  “Sparrow, look around you.” Theresa instructed and I did as I was told. I looked to my left and saw a large tapestry. On it was a picture of a man, clad in shining armor with a long flowing cape.
  “This hall is the hall of your ancestor. Early in life he suffered a terrible loss. Much like you, he had lost his family.”
  The next mural showed an intense battle scene.
“But he learned to fight when the world tried to crush him.”
Another picture depicted a masked man in red, seemingly a puppet master. On the left there was a woman on the right, there was a child.
“This hero fought a legendary foe and defeated him in battle. He was the Hero who saved Albion from a true terror. His blood runs in your veins. You have the blood of a hero, Sparrow. It is time to become the hero you were always meant to be. Now, step into the light.”

I did as Theresa told me and stepped up to the platform. I noticed the symbol on it. The same one Rose and I stepped onto in Lucien’s castle. Now I know what he was talking about. But I still do not understand why he did what he did.

  I walked under the light, bathing in it’s surprising warmth. I could my feel my body trembling as if my being was trying to escape. The tips of my toes and fingers tingled and I felt myself rising from the stone platform. Courage stood still and silent. I let myself float up and I felt an intense surge of energy coarse through me. My feet touched back down and I let out a mighty roar, shaking the empty halls. Courage lay flat and looked up at me worried.
  “Can you feel it?” Theresa asked,”This is the power of the heroes. You have gained immense strength and will from making your way through this cave. Try using some of that will now.”

  I looked around and felt almost an excitement within me that felt as if it could burst from me. I couldn’t contain myself and felt something welling in my fingers. “I don’t know what you’re talking about? Will? Something feels funny!” I yelled to her.

 “It is alright. Will is the term for magic. That “funny” feeling is the energy trying to escape. If you don’t let it loose once and a while, it wells up inside you and becomes unstable. If you wish to channel this energy, just aim at something and focus. Try aiming at the other platform in front of you.”

  I moved my hand towards the other stand and instantly I felt something flow from my fingers. It felt like silk moving over my fingers and it hit a strange floating red orb, making it disappear. I felt relieved as the odd sensation stopped and I watched as a blue flame rose from where I shot. Courage came to my side and whimpered a bit.

  “Use the portal in front of you, it will return you to the outside.” Theresa’s voice echoed.

I walked up to the flame and stuck my hand in hesitantly. Nothing. It felt like more silk, warm and smooth. I closed my eyes and walked into it and felt an instant breeze.


  I opened my eyes to see twinkling stars and a velvet blue sky. The moon shone full and bright. I felt like I was finally alive. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I could do anything. Courage barked to let me know he was there and I smiled down at him before realizing I was still nearly bare. My face went hot even though there was no one to see. I slipped down the mountain and back to the spot where I had left my things.

  There were a few crows hopping and fluttering around my bags, I assume looking for the dog biscuits. Courage and I shooed them off and I put my clothes back on, picked up my bags and started walking back towards the gypsy village to speak with Theresa.
  Before I got very far I heard Theresa again,”Sparrow. Head to Bowerstone and meet me in the market square. I must discuss something with you, it is very important.”
   I stopped and looked around. “Okay?,” I questioned. Why would she send me back there? I didn’t want to go back there! There was too many bad memories. But orders were orders I suppose and I set on my merry way towards Bowerstone once again.

  I came upon the road that would lead me to Bowerstone, when I met with a very large barricade with a guard standing by.
  “Excuse me, sir,”I spoke so softly that he had to lean in to listen,”I need to get through here, please.”I tried to be as polite as I could.
  He just shook his head and pursed his lips,”Nope, sorry miss, the road is closed here. You’re gonna have to turn back ‘round ‘til we can get this road secure.”
 I shook my head back and stuttered,”I-I’m sorry, but I have to get through here. It’s very important th-that I get through here.”

The guard held up his hand to stop me from speaking anymore,”You want through, how ‘bout taking care of the bandit problem? There’ve been too many killin’s because of the bandit Thag and his vicious band of cut throats. I can’t let anyone through ‘til we’ve captured him and his crew. Now run along back where yeh came from and let us handle this.”

  And with that, the guard pushed her away. “Well! I guess I’m just gonna have to get rid of this Thag then, huh?!” I shouted sarcastically at the frustrating man. I huffed and kicked at small stones in the road. I had to get to Bowerstone somehow. The guard had said something about getting rid of a bandit leader.

  “Thag...I have to get rid of Thag to get through to Bowerstone.” I said mostly to myself as I walked back along the road. There came a noise from the road to the right of me. The sound of swords and screaming. I drew my own sword and started running as fast I could towards the commotion. Courage ran ahead, barking and growling.
 
  When I came around the turn I saw an overturned caravan. There was a man dead on the ground and another picking through things scattered around. “Hey!,” I yelled and the man looked up at me. He appeared to be homeless, but then again, I’d never seen a bandit before,”What do you think you’re doing?!” I yelled again with my sword above my head and he grabbed what he could, taking off into the bushes. “Hey!” I called after him, but he disappeared. I decided to continue my way along this road as I saw a trail of fresh blood spattered in the dirt.
  Courage sniffed at the ground and I followed with my gun drawn. I could hear voices reveling in their thievery, commenting on each others spoils. I began shaking. Facing beetles was one thing, but having to attack bandits? I took a step and heard a loud crunch. I winced at the sound and heard a scrambling then silence. They had heard me coming.

 I slowly peered into the camp, there was no one in sight, but there were two people sitting in a caged caravan. My first thought was slavery and I knew I had to get them out of here. Looking in all directions I walked out into the middle of the camp, hoping that I may have scared of the bandits for now at least.
  The two noticed me and started shouting,”No! It’s a trap! Go back! Run while you can!”
“What?” I asked as suddenly four bandits dropped out of the trees and flung a net over me. What they didn’t realize is that Courage was still hiding in the bushes. The moment they pinned me down he launched from behind a shrub and tackled one of the men, trying to bite his throat.

  “Aah! Get this thing off me!”The bandit screamed, just barely able to hold him back. In the distraction, the others let go of the net and I scrambled to my feet, pulling out my pistol and aiming it at the men. They pulled out swords and guns trying to attack Courage. I tried pulling the trigger on my gun, but my finger wouldn’t budge. I could have shot them all and be done with it. A bandit swung his sword aiming for Courage’s neck and I fired. The bullet went through his hand and he dropped the sword howling in pain. The other bandits turned their attention to me and started swinging away with their swords. I panicked, not wanting to shoot unless necessary. Again I felt a build up of energy in my fingers and I let it loose on the bandits who were thrown backwards by the force. Courage ran to my side, growling back at the men who were trying to pick themselves up after being tossed around.

“You wanna try that again?” I asked with a bit of a smirk. “You won’t lay a hand on either of us.”

“Is that so?” Came a rough voice. I looked over to where a rather large man who stood on the porch of a cabin. He was wearing fur clothes and patchy leather boots. His face was gruff with cuts, scars and stubble. On his head he wore the skull of a stag, antlers and all and in his hand was a large steel sword.
 He tilted his head for his men to back off and started sauntering up to me. I backed up, holding my sword out. “Whatchu doin’ ‘ere?” The man asked in his gruff voice.
 I just held out my sword as my heart threatened to jump out if I opened my mouth.
“I said, whatchu doin’ ‘ere missy? You come to offer yourself to us?” He let out a disgusting laugh and I shrunk a bit stuttering,”I-I-I have c-come t-t-to take you in!”
The man stopped and looked at me,”Me? Thag? You come to take me in?” He stepped closer and pointed his sword at me. “I tell you what. If you can kill me, you can have me.” He let out another hefty laugh and swung wildly at me.

 I moved just in time and started running backwards as he slashed. Courage tried nipping at his ankles while I dodged. I hadn’t learned sword fighting yet, what in the hell was I doing here?! Nevertheless, I pulled my sword from it’s sheath and held it up, blocking his sword as he swung at me face. He was ready for that and punched me hard in the stomach, knocking all the breath from me. I held up my sword as he swung down again and Courage finally bit his calf making him scream his rage. The other bandits were cheering him on as he kicked Courage in the ribs making him yelp and scamper off. I didn’t know what to do. I could barely wield my sword and had no intention to actually kill this man. I just couldn’t bring myself to hurt another human being, not after what happened to that butler all those years ago. Thag slashed at my leg, but I managed again to block it. He wasn’t very at sword fighting either, which made predicting his movements a lot easier. I kept him at bay as much I could, but he was becoming extremely frustrated with not being able to connect a hit. I needed a plan, a strategy to capture him without killing him, no matter how much he deserved it.

 Thag began taunting me,”When I get you, I’m gonna tie you up nice and tight,” He slashed,”I’m gonna enjoy tonight.” He chuckled. I decided to run. “Hey! Where you goin’ sweety? I’m not done witchu yet!” He called after me. I frantically searched around for some rope, finding some in one of the tents. I turned around and saw Thag running at me. “Oh, you had the same thought then, eh?” Thag commented upon seeing the rope. I ran at him with my sword ready tryig to catch him off guard.
  Thag swung at me again just barely clipping my left arm. I gasped at the pain, blood starting to seep through my cut sleeve. I used my Will once again and pushed him back, making him stumble. If I could knock him over I could maybe wrap him up quickly. I pushed again making Thag stumble again.
  “Quit doin’ that! What the hell are you, some kinda witchy thingy?” Thag said as he nearly toppled over the camp fire. I pushed once more, feeling myself being drained. He finally fell, tripping over some loose stones. I ran over and held out the rope, straddling him. I pulled the deer skull over his face, tying it securely. “Get off!” Thag yelled muffled by his hood. He struggled, getting an arm free and grabbed my waist. I screamed and Courage was right there biting his hand. The other bandits started running at me in anger of their fallen leader. I panicked again knowing I couldn’t take them all. I managed to turn him over and tie his hands behind his back before the others attacked. Thag lay squirming on the ground as his comrades attacked me. One of them got a hold of my arm, pulling me to him. Another grabbed my hair and placed a sword to my neck. The other two threw ropes around Courage’s neck and pulled him to the ground. “No!,”I screamed as they held us. The people in the cage started jeering and rattling the bars. Another man walked up from his tent and pulled out a knife to untie their leader. I kciked and screamed trying to get free. The man held his knife to the ropes, but as he went to cut them off a shot rang out. All of us looked as the man fell over, dead. There was a frantic search for who had shot him. Just as they started pulling me and Courage towards the cabin, more shots echoed through the air and the men holding me fell to the ground. I ran over to the men holding Courage and pushed them back with my Will. They let go and two more shots came, killing them of. Only Thag was left, writhing in his bonds. I looked around as a group of guards came over the hill. The captain came over to me as his men grabbed Thag.

 “Well, well. We watched what you did. That was pretty , but a stupid move. Why the ‘ell did you come looking for them?” He asked me. I looked up with extreme relief and said,”Well, one of the guards said if I wanted to get to Bowerstone, I needed to get rid of Thag and his gang.”

“And you actually took ‘im seriously?!” He laughed at my audacity and slapped me on the back,”You could make a great guard someday.”
  They let the two prisoners out of their cage and made sure they were alright. Thag was tied up further and being held by two of the guards. I saw them remove his hood and one of them walked over towards me.
 “‘Ere,”the guard handed me the hood and deer skull,”Take this.”

“What for?” I questioned, taking it from him.

“Well you’re the one who tied ‘im up and if you show it the guard down the way, ‘e will let you through to Bowerstone.” the guard explained.
  I thanked them all and called for Courage to follow as I ran up the road to get to the blockade.

When I arrived I showed the guard on duty that I had Thag’s trademark deer hood. He blinked stupified for a moment. After explaining what happened, he kindly thanked me and let me pass.

  Finally, I was on my way to Bowerstone. It had been ten long years since my last journey there and I wondered what surprises it held for me....

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My closest friends are in my head!

story, you're a really dedicated writer!

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Well thank you! It is much appreciated and I am happy to know that people read this! Here is Chapter 5. Sparrow returns to her old hoetown to discover much has changed since she left....

Chapter 5
-Return to Bowerstone-

  I came over the hill leading up to the entrance of Bowerstone. There were more guards stationed at the entrance. Villagers were now able to leave the city and were happily walking along the road out. I felt a mixture of happiness and fear as I approached, not knowing what to expect bbut happy to be back. The guards nodded as I entered and Courage just walked along with me as I came to the bridge. I was expecting something big, drastic change or something new, but it was essentially the same. The only difference in the city were the people in it. New faces and a few new stands. This was a bit of a relief for me and a smile grew on my face as the strangers greeted me. I headed for the center of town expecting to see Theresa waiting for me when suddenly a boy popped out of nowhere.

 “Hello there!,”He took off his hat and bowed low,”You look like a new face in these parts!”
He placed his cap back on his head covered with shaggy blonde hair. “The name’s Danny, Miss, but you can call me Beedle. It’s my bard’s name.” He pulled a lute from his back and strummed a little tune.
  “I don’t have time for this.” I said, putting my hand to his face and pushing him aside.
“Hey!” He said muffled.
I continued on my way to the town square, but the boy followed.

“Like I said before, you look new and I know everything ‘bout this place. I could show you around if you want. No charge!” Danny offered.

“No thank you.” I tried to say politely, walking up into the square where the large stone clock tower stood.

“Well, alright, but I’ll be here if you want a tour.” Danny trudged off back to the entrance.
I stood looking up at the time. I was extremely tired from the journey and I had stayed up overnight. It was now seven in the morning and the sun was shining up over the walls of Bowerstone, flooding the market with golden light. I sank against one of the pillars and rested my head on Courage. The sun felt warm, like a blanket had been laid over me and Courage felt much like a comfy pillow. My eye lids grew heavy and my mind fuzzy.

  I was woken by tiny hands shaking me awake. “Hey, Miss you fell asleep!”
I looked up to see Danny’s grinning face. I pushed him back in my stupor and he toppled over with his lute. I just turned and lay back down on the ground. Danny grumbled and got to his feet,”Hey! You gotta get up!” Danny threw himself on top of me and started shaking my shoulders. “You can’t sleep here!” He yelled.
  Frustrated, I rolled over, making him fall off and yelled,”Lemme alone!” before laying my head back on Courage. But Danny wasn’t ready to give up just yet. He started strumming away on his lute and singing at the top of his voice.

  “There was a young woman who slept in the square, she snoozed and she snored and she roared like a bear! Where did she come from? No one may know, but I do declare that she could be a h-“
I leapt up and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck,”What do you want?!” I screamed and onlookers gasped at my sudden outburst. Danny smiled again,”There’s an Inn over there miss, you can sleep in there for free and you won’t have no one in your pockets. Or at least it’ll be less likely.”
 I dropped the boy and looked over at the Cow and Corset. I remembered this place from when I was last here. Theresa showed no sign of showing up at the moment and I was in dire need of sleep, so I trudged on over to the Inn, paid for a bottle of wine and went upstairs.
I took a big swig of the stuff and lay down for a rest.

  “Sparrow,”Theresa’s voice entered my mind,”I have been delayed. Why don’t you take a look around your old hometown. I will try to be there by noon tomorrow.”

  I woke to the familiar strumming of a lute. I cracked an eye open and saw Danny sitting on the bed opposite mine. I sat up groggily and noticed the sky fading back to darkness and a faint orange glow. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the boy, just sitting and strumming.
 “Hey,”I spoke, making the poor boy jump up,”What are you still doing here?” I asked.

“Waitin’ for you to wake up. I told you I was gonna take you around Bowerstone.”Danny replied.

“No, I mean, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at home or something? Boy like you needs to eat.” I set my feet down and looked at Danny as he fell silent and stopped playing his lute.
 “Well....the thing is. I got no home to go to.” He sighed and faced me. I bit my lower lip and suddenly felt like the biggest jerk in the world. “I-“
He stopped me from saying anything,”So will you let me take you around Bowerstone now?”

I nodded and grabbed my bottle of wine from the night stand. “Lead the way.” I said with a smirk. Danny grinned and strapped his lute to his back. “Let’s go! We ain’t got much time ‘til the shops close up!” He ran on ahead and I followed quickly after. Courage joined back up as we ran outside and the three of us ran around the market.

Danny showed me most everything I knew about already, but he did include a few interesting facts about each place. Such as the owner of the bookstore is a historian only recently hired and the blacksmith was hiring extra help.

“Well, what do you think?” Danny asked.
  “How about you show me Old Town?” I asked. Danny nodded and pulled on my hand to lead me down the alley. The cobbled streets began to get filthier and more ragged in appearance. It seems that not much had changed so far, but upon actually entering the town, my eyes welled with tears.

The entire place was different. There were actual houses and little white picket fences. Flowers bloomed beautifully in this Spring air and happy middle class people roamed the streets instead of homeless, ragged ones. Danny tugged on my hand trying to get me to move, but I just stood there in awe of everything. I could even hear the chirping of little blue birds as they flew around making their nests. Then I remembered: Rose and I used to live here. Without thinking, I started walking. Danny was trying to pull me in a different direction, but I stayed my course. I made my way past old alleyways and new houses. I knew the direction and headed down a familiar road until I came to where we once placed that old music box on that rickety crate.
  I knelt down in that spot and looked out over the way towards Fairfax castle. A sudden flash. I saw myself back in the castle, Lucien stood there and Rose was still alive. We stepped up to the platform, Lucien shot Rose, then he turned to me and shot. I fell.

Danny placed his hand on my arm and I snapped back. “Are you okay?” He asked innocently. I nodded and walked from there, over to where I knew our little make-shift house was. When I came around the corner, it was gone. All I saw were bee hives, dripping with honey and humming with it’s busy occupants. Again, my eyes filled with tears and I couldn’t stop myself from yelling,”No!”
  Danny stepped back,”Hey, Miss....are you sure you’re okay?” Courage whined and licked my hand, but I pulled it away and screamed to the sky, letting my tears stream down my face. My throat tightened and I felt a pang in my heart. I don’t know why I expected it to still be there. After all, it was just a rickety shack.

  “But it was our rickety shack...,” I squeaked out,”It was our house. Rose and me lived here. We lived here!” I shouted walking towards the bee hives. Danny didn’t say anything, but just watched as I sank to my knees. My face screwed up in agony as the reality of everything sunk in. I couldn’t bare the thought of Rose gone from the world and the things we shared were demolished. I didn’t even have a place to go and visit her. Courage barked and ran over, sniffing the ground. I paid no attention as he began digging next to the hives. I buried my face in my hands and cried for the longest time. It was then I realized that I had never really mourned the loss of my sister. But now the sad truth was, Rose, my Rosie, was gone.

 Courage stopped and nudged me. Danny walked over and stooped beside me. I gulped down my tears and sniffled. I looked over at what Courage had in his mouth and I nearly fainted. I grabbed the worn leather bound book and looked it over. It was severely faded and nearly falling to pieces, but I knew what it was. Roses diary. I opened the pages, thumbing through, reading a few of the entries.

  “Dear diary,

  Today me and little Sparrow went looking for a lost chicken. Turns out it had wandered into Bowerstone market and was about to be someone’s dinner. But we brought it back to the original owner who offered us a free meal. We got a nice hot dinner and best of all, Sparrow smiled for the first time in weeks.”

Another entry:

“Dear diary,

  The winter is setting in and we got a pretty nasty blizzard. Luckily, there was a traveling family with room to spare. They were awful nice and they say we can stay with them for the winter. I’m glad for that as our little shelter won’t save us from those harsh freezes. Little Sparrow seems to get on well with the other children as well. This will be the best winter so far.”

I read on and on, I couldn’t stop. It was like Rose were writing me letters from somewhere far away. This was enough. I tucked the diary into my pack and stood up, wiping the tears from my face.

“Are you alright, now?” Danny asked. I nodded and started walking away. Danny followed and we both headed back to the Cow and Corset for the rest of the night.

  The next morning Danny was the first one up. He shook me awake, despite my many protests, and we hobbled downstairs for breakfast. After a hearty meal of eggs, juicy bacon and buttered toast, we walked out into the warm Spring air. Courage picked up his head and I tossed him our left overs. Danny smiled up at me,”So where are we going today?”

“Well today, I’m supposed to meet someone.” I said light-heartedly, looking around at all the shop-keepers setting up. Danny sat down on a curb and started to tune his lute.

“So,”I decided to make conversation,”When did you decide to become a bard?”
Danny pondered this a moment. The boy couldn’t have been more than twelve and here he was, parentless, homeless and yet still so cheery. I suppose he reminded me a bit of myself in a way.

“Well,”Danny spoke up after a while,”I saw this other bard singing and playing his lute. It seemed like a idea and people paid him to sing songs. And I needed money so....”

I nodded and agreed,”How about we make a deal, huh? I will pay you 100 gold to sing songs about me.” Danny’s face lit up.
  “Really?! You would pay me that much to sing about you?!” He stood and started strumming away.
  “Hang on there! Not yet, you don’t have anything to sing about yet and I don’t have much money. But I’ll tell you what, you can follow me around and get some material for your songs. How about that?”I offered.

Danny seemed as if he were going to explode in his excitement. He hugged me tightly and I hugged him back. Perhaps it was my turn to look after someone.

“Sparrow,” Theresa appeared from nowhere and approached me,”Who is your little friend?”

“I’m Danny, ma’am! But you can call me Beedle the Bard!” Danny almost sang.

Theresa smiled,”Sparrow, I need to speak with you now. It is of the utmost importance.”

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My closest friends are in my head!

Sorry it took a while to put more up, there was Ikkicon, which went great and then I had writers block... But finally I got the flow again. So here is Chapter 6. Theresa has returned and given Sparrow a special mission to see the abbot in Oakfield, but Sparrow encounters a big problem on her way through Rookridge...

Chapter 6
-Tragedy-

I told Danny to stay put and play with Courage a bit, as Theresa and I walked to a secluded area behind the Cow and Corset.

  “Is this about my first mission?” I asked trying to hold back my excitement.

Theresa shook her head,”So eager, young Sparrow. You mustn’t jump in so quickly.”
  She shifted in place and spoke calmly,”I do have your first quest.”
She stopped again because I couldn’t contain a gasp. Theresa merely smirked and continued,”I need you to travel to Oakfield. There, make your way to the Temple of Light and speak with the abbot. He is having a bit of a problem at the moment and I believe you will be able to help. If you need further instruction I will contact you through the seal. Have fun.”


I nodded and ran back to the streets of the market. Danny smiled up at me,”What’s up? Where are we going?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I am going to Oakfield.” I held my chin high and waves for Courage to follow as I headed for Old Town.

“Hey, you said that I could follow you and get stories for my songs!” Danny made a disgruntled face and stormed after me, trying to keep up with my stride.
“I know what I said, but I have to go through Rookridge to get there and what’s in Rookridge?” I asked the stumbling boy.

“There’s travelers in Rookridge?” He looked at me slyly.

“Nice try, but you can’t follow me. There are bandits in Rookridge and I can’t risk someone else getting hurt. I have heard too many stories.” I turned around and crouched down to his level.

Danny stopped and frowned at me. “Listen, I promise when I get back I will tell you all about it and then you can write a great song.” I reached into my pouch and pulled out a handful of gold pieces and lay them in his hands. Danny’s jaw dropped and I just smiled. “I don’t want to carry all that gold traveling through Rookridge anyways....” I ruffled Danny’s hair and stood up walking into Old Town.


  It wasn’t long before I found myself meandering down a long muddy road. The sky was clouded over and I could hear low rumbling in the distance out to sea. Ahead on a towering crag, I could see a large dark structure of what I could only guess was a temple. A strong cold wind blew right through me making me shudder. I had my gun drawn for safety and Courage walked on a bit ahead. He sniffed at the ground and pricked his ears every so often.
  I started to hear a crackling and some voices. Courage ran back to me and I stooped low. I hoped more than anything to avoid confrontation. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to get hurt, no matter who it was.

“Heh, heh yeah. You should have her face....” I heard a gruff voice. I slipped into the shrubbery to avoid being seen. Careful not to step on any twigs or dead leaves, I crept along the sidelines and out of the way. I kept a close eye and ear out for the bandits gathered around their campfire. There were three of them and they seemed to have just robbed a traveling merchant.

“So what did yeh get? Somefin’ I ‘ope” spoke another burly man with a scruffy beard and an eyepatch. The first man held up a bottle of gin. “Yeah, I managed to get lucky this time. Found meself a liquor trader.” He popped open the top and took large gulps, some of it dripping down his muddied face.
 
 I stopped when I saw a blockage of tangled vines in my path. I tip-toed slowly around them the only way I could: towards the bandits.  My heart was pounding. If I got any closer they would notice me. Courage of course could run without making sound. He knew how, but me, well I was never so lucky. CRUNCH.

  “What was that?!” The third man swung around and they all drew their guns pointing into the bushes. I held my breath and didn’t move. If they heard me, I was as as dead....or possibly worse. Why did I have to go through Rookridge to get to Oakfield? It seemed such a stupid thing to do. Courage seemed to understand my dilemma and he rushed out into their camp. I wanted to shout, but if I did, it would have been for nothing.

 “Hey!” Shouted the first bandit,”It’s just a stupid dog!”

“What the ‘ell is it doin’ ‘ere?” Said the scruffy one, putting his weapon away. Courage let them pet him as I quickly slunk my way around the camp. Then, I met a wall. Heaving a huge sigh I shook my head and drew my gun again. Making sure Courage had them well distracted, I snuck out from behind a large shrub and darted to the road ahead. Once I felt it was safe, I booked it as far as I could manage until I came upon a large statue of some sort and fell down in the grass, gasping for breath.
  It wasn’t too long before Courage came up and licked my face. I hugged his fuzzy head and thanked him over and over. He was really clever...
I got to my knees and looked around. There were no bandits that I could see or hear, so I decided to continue. I walked on further and saw a bridge leading to the road I needed to take to Oakfield. I grinned and ran for it.

 Three men appeared on the other side and I stopped dead as I saw the bridge splintered in the middle. The men laughed at me, pointing and called out,”Hey there pretty! You wanna get over here?”
  “You gotta jump for us there girly!”Another one shouted.

“JUMP?!” I screamed back,”Are you insane?! I can’t jump down there! Why the hell would you destroy the bridge in the first place?!” I was in shock at the thought of having to leap into the frigid waters below me. I glared at the men heckling me, questioning my bravery. I grew angrier by the second. I was only trying to do as instructed and here again was another obstacle.

I leapt. The men all stopped and looked as I dove, flicking them off as I did so. I hit the water with enormous force and it hurt badly. The water was freezing, as I thought it would be and it was hard to breathe.

 “She jumped! You idiot you actually jumped?!” I heard the men calling to me. There came another splash and I turned to see Courage struggling to the surface. All my weapons and items weighed me down considerably, but I diligently swam as best I could to a sandy shore a little ways over from the bridge. I pulled myself from the water and trudged up to where I saw a small camp fire. “Oh great, MORE bandits?!”

“Help!,”Came a cry from just up a tiny hill. There stood a trembling man near the entrance to some sort of mine. He looked quite shaken and I wondered if he had jumped from the bridge as well. “Please, please, you must help! My little boy, he..he went in the cave there and he hasn’t come back out! I’m so scared that he may have been captured by hobbes!”

I stopped him,”Hobbes? There are...hobbes in this cave?”
 He nodded,”I think so, I’m not sure. But my boy went in there....”
“Well, I’m stuck here, so I’ll help you find your boy.” I replied.
The man pulled me into a hug,”Thank you! Oh thank you...”

  We both entered the howling cave together with Courage following up behind. I could hear noises from what I suspected to be hobbes. The man was shivering behind me and jumped at every little sound. “Shhhhh....” I tried to quiet him, but it was no use.
  “You know....I heard that hobbes are actually children that were transformed.” He told me.
“You don’t think that’s actually true, do you?” I asked with a hint of hesitation in my voice.

“They are only rumors, but I don’t know. That is why I am scared for my boy...”the man replied. I nodded and walked on. Courage barked and ran ahead. “Wait!” I yelled as he ran past. He ran from my sight and became worried so I grabbed the man’s hand and ran, pulling him along. “Aah!” he yelped as we quickened our pace.
 
 I saw Courage standing above a huge pile of human remains, the sand beneath stained with blood. I felt my stomach churn and the man behind me hurled. “Oh my god!,”He screamed,”What is all this?”
  “Be quiet!” I yelled back at him. A scream from a young boy. The man went running out of the door. “No!” I tried to stop him but he was determined to get to his son. I whistled to Courage and we bolted after the desperate man.

 There was a loud howling of wind blowing through the cave and it carried sounds of growling to my ears. I finally caught up with the man who was pounding on a large metal door,”Billy! Billy!”
 I grabbed his hands and looked him straight in the eye. ”Listen!,”I whispered harshly,”You listen to me, if you want to find your son AND get out of here alive you will STOP making all this noise! Do you understand me?!”

 The man nodded furiously and I let him go. Just then came a small voice,” Daddy?!”
We both looked to the door. He was on the other side. “Billy!” The man yelled again.
“Daddy, help me!” Billy called to his father.
No time. We had no time. Their cries will only attract bad attention. I had to find a way through or around this door.
“Sparrow,”I heard Theresa speaking,”Follow Courage. He will lead you where you need to go.”
Just then Courage darted off and I had to follow, leaving the man behind.

I dashed through the narrow halls and slipped on the slick ground, just trying to get to the boy before it was too late. I followed Courage until we came to a large room. Full of hobbes.
 I could do nothing. There was no time. I pulled my gun from the holster and fired, felling all of them. I didn’t stay long and kicked down a boarded up doorway. I ran to where Courage was leading.
  And then there he was. The small boy was laying against the door, not moving and his father was screaming for his boy. It was heart wrenching to listen to. Were hobbes really children? I didn’t have to wait long for my answer, for the boy began a disgusting transformation. His eyes bugged out and he let out a wail. His teeth sharpened and his gums turned from pink to a very dark grey. His fingernails grew out long and pointed from stubby grey fingers and his face became a mush. I held my breath and felt tears fall from my eyes. This poor boy and his father...

The metal door opened. “No!” I yelled as the father came through the door. The little hobbe turned and attacked him. He screamed as the little teeth sunk into him and I turned away, unable to save either of them. “Sparrow. You need to get out of there as fast as you can...there is no time.”Theresa advised.

 I ran towards the only other exit and didn’t stop until the screams disappeared. I couldn’t control my sobbing as I entered a very large room with lots of wooden bridges. I collapsed in the entranceway and tried to stop crying. “It-was-so-horrible!” I sobbed to Courage who whined. “And I shot those others! I’m a horrible person!”

  There suddenly came gnashing teeth and scratching claws on my head. I screeched and used my will to push them away. More hobbes with maces came swinging. I pushed them back and ran. Courage attacked them, gnawing and biting. I couldn’t sand one more minute in this place. I needed to get out now. I swung my sword and pushed them back, blinking away my tears. Children, they were only children. Why was this happening?

  I finally reached the top and ran through a narrow passage to a rusty ladder. I felt their tiny claws on my bare legs as I climbed. I tried whistling for Courage, but I couldn’t manage it and just yelled. “Courage! Come here....come here boy!” He rammed through the hobbes and I grabbed his collar, helping him up the ladder.

 I kicked at the hobbes as they tried clambering after us. My head hit a large wooden door and I threw my shoulder into it, thrusting it open to the outside. I pulled Courage up by his collar and threw him with all my strength out of the hole. Then, I pulled myself up and sent a wave of will down the chute, knocking all the hobbes off the ladder. I grabbed the doors and slammed them shut and slid the lock into place. It wasn’t long before the hobbes pounded against the doors trying to escape.

I gripped Courage and held him tight as I shuddered and cried into his fur. My heart was pounding in my ears. I had never been more scared and saddened at the same time. “This-place...is horrible! Why would such a place like this exist?!” I hollered. Courage licked my hands and seemed to want to continue. I picked myself up and began to stumble out of the abandoned barn. I looked at my surroundings and noticed that I was on the other side of the bridge. The three bandits were sitting on the edge of the bridge talking and drinking.
  Anger welled within me and I felt like doing something drastic. I felt the same as I did that day with the butler Jeeves. I felt the energy surging down my arm and into my finger tips. They felt hot, almost as if they were very close to a camp fire. I held up my hand and saw steam issuing from the tips of my fingers. This shocked me to the point where I forgot my anger and decided to continue. My legs burned and bled with the claw marks the hobbes left on me. It was almost hard to walk, but Courage trotted alongside me keeping me on the right track. I looked up to see the dark temple just ahead. In fact it was on the way. I wondered about this large structure. It couldn’t be the temple of light, not in this dreary place. But I felt it deserved some checking out and perhaps there would be someone there who could take care of these deep scratches that were starting to look a bit purple and oozed dark blood.

  I breathed heavily as I walked up the slope to get to the temple. The sky still remained angry and dismal, dampening my spirits further. But still I climbed until my vision blurred. I heard a rushing and felt coldness wash over me. It was raining hard, making the ground turn to muck. My boots stuck fast in the soft ground and I had to put more effort into walking, which I did NOT want to do. Thunder roared above me and lightning struck the tip of the steeple. I saw a large stone bridge as I cleared the top of the mountain. I broke into a run, tripping occasionally and stumbling towards the entrance of the temple.
  I arrived out of breath and clutching my chest. My legs itched and burned terribly and rain mixed with tears on my face.
  “Help!” I called to a dark figure standing just out of the rain. I fell to my knees and continued to crawl towards them. I crawled under the awning and clutched onto the warm robes. “Please...I was...attacked. I need help.....” I looked up and saw a scary red face with a large nose staring down at me and grinning.
  “You want my help?....Well...if you insist...” And with that I fell unconscious at his feet.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

I am wondering who the scary face belongs to.

---

I finished this one pretty quick. It's a bit longer than my previous entries because i got a bit carried away with the first part. Thought I would post it before bed, I'm working on chapter 8 now. This one is a bit more mature in nature, at least the beginning is.

Chapter 7-Sparrow wakes up in a strange place surrounded by hooded dark figures and red candles. Then the mysterious leader makes a lasting impression on her....

Chapter 7
-The Pilgrim-

I was woken by a hot liquid being poured down my throat. I choked and sputtered, the awful taste lingering.
 “Well, now look what you made me do.” Came a menacing voice next to me. I could hardly move and pain began to creep through me. I opened my eyes to see cloaked figures all wearing red masks. The room was lit with many red candles and I saw on the walls, chains and devices of torture. Dread filled me and I looked down at myself. I was chained to a stone slab, with blood drizzled on my nearly naked body. My legs still seared with pain and I began to scream at the top of my lungs. “What the hell is going on here?! Who are you people?! What are you doing to me?!”
  I struggled against my bonds. The men around me all chuckled at my attempts to free myself.
“You can’t get free....” Came a silky dark voice. I froze as long fingernails stroked my exposed neck. Hot breath met my ear and I gasped, holding mine. “Mmmmm....” The man came into view. His skin was very pale with a hint of grey, his eyes blood red and he had long smooth black hair to his waist. He was very thin and wore long black robes different from the other men. They were made from a finer material and had a slight red sheen in the candle light.
  “Well, now what is all this shouting for, hm?” He smiled at me, revealing sharp fangs. His voice was calm and his skin soft as he brushed a hand against my stomach. I tensed up and shuddered slightly, not speaking one word. The man tilted his head and sat on a bit of the stone slab on my right side. I was wondering what they were planning on doing to me, but thought it best not to. A room full of men with a young woman strapped down? Wasn’t too hard to guess.

 “You may call me Kama miss.....,”He leaned forward and licked my neck causing me to yell out in my constant fear. He laughed softly near my ear and the other men let out loud cackles. I heard barking and knew that Courage was somewhere nearby. I called to him in a shaky voice,”C-Courage! Where are you boy?! Come help me!”
  Kama sat up and looked me over. I could see blood on his lips and an insane look in his eyes. I just stared back into them, my heart pounding all the while. This man was frightening yet at the same time extremely beautiful. I didn’t know what to make of him. Friend or foe? He looked back at my legs and waved his hand, hovering just above them. There was more pain and I screamed as tears flowed down my cheeks. I was sure that these men would torture me and rape me until I was dead. Then the pain stopped. It was gone and I looked down. They were no longer bruised and scraped, but smooth and clean. Needless to say I was stunned.
 
 Kama smiled back at me and his eyes narrowed. “All better?” He asked in a quiet tone. I nodded hesitantly. “There’s a girl....”He shifted a bit and waved for the others to leave and they obeyed. ‘Here it comes.’ I thought. As soon as the men had left, Kama stood up and walked to a basin. He stuck his hands in and pulled out a rag, wringing the water from it. I felt the heat from the candles and could hear noises further down and Courage barking. I wondered what they were doing to him, if he was safe. I was glad I left little Danny back in Bowerstone or he would be in this mess with me. Kama walked back over and lay the cool wet rag on my forehead. I inhaled sharply at it’s temperature. It was strangely cold for this hot room.

“Why...,”I spoke raspily,”Why are you...doing this?....What are you going to do with me?”
Kama grinned and narrowed his eyes at me,”Oh, I thought you wanted our help? Whatever would I do to you?” He leaned over me once more and placed a hand on either side of me. I gulped air as I had no spit left and waited for him to do something. “Do you want me to do something to you?” Kama asked with a bit too much excitement in his voice.

“No, no...,”I quickly refused,”I’m okay...I would really like to be on my way please.”
“On your way where?” He asked with a hissing in his voice.
 I stuttered slightly,”W-well...O-Oakfie-ld....I have to get to Oakfield....”
Kama licked his lips, tasting the blood and staring into my eyes. I tried to put on a neutral face, but he could see right through my facade.
 Before I could even blink, Kama had mounted me and was looking down at my helplessness.

“You came for help and I helped. I think it’s time for a little repayment...don’t you?”Kama then sank his fangs into my neck. I screamed at the pain and cried out for help, but knew no one would come. Kama let go of my neck and sat up letting the bright red blood drip down his chin as he smiled at me. I whimpered as his long finger nails trailed up my stomach, then stopped. I closed my eyes trying to wake myself from this awful nightmare. “You can’t make it go away young pretty....” He whispered to me, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

  The room became increasingly hotter and I heard Kama yell. I suddenly felt lighter and heard a thud on the floor. I saw flames eating at his robes and he rolled around on the floor trying to put them out. I felt my bonds melt away and I was freed from them. The candles were burning intensely making the wax ooze onto the floor and Kama had finally managed to put out the fire on his robes. I looked around for my things, not spotting them anywhere. Kama stood, furious and leapt pinning me against the wall. He bit me again and tried to hold me there, but now I could fight back. I kicked him in the most sensitive area of a man and he crumbled to the floor. Taking this chance I ran out the only door in the place. The other hooded men grabbed for me, but I kicked at them, knocking them all away. It was then I saw Courage, chained to a wall. I shot a fireball at the tether and it burned away. Courage broke from the wall and mauled the nearest cloaked figure. I had never felt such a rush in my life!

  I kicked and punched and threw fire anywhere I could until I finally spotted my weapons. I didn’t bother with finding clothes for the time being and threw the weapons on my person. The men backed off and Kama rushed to the front. We all stared each other down as I held fierce fire in my hands. There was nothing they could do now. I stood at the stairs leading out and Kama started to laugh, low at first, then loud and frightening. He sauntered up to me. I stood on my guard, ready for them to try anything. It was then Kama pulled off his robe, which seemed to be free of any scorch marks, and held it out to me. I eyed it suspiciously for a moment before snatching it from him. He grabbed my hand and I threatened to plant a fireball in his face if he didn’t let me go. But he grinned and pulled me close kissing me deeply. I struggled for a moment, but became bathed in such an overwhelming calm.

Kama let me go and walked back to his fellow men. I had to ask,”What is this place?”
  “My dear....this is the Shadow Temple and we are it’s members....if you ever want to come join our ranks...just pay us another lovely visit.”
I laughed a bit at just how unnerving this comment was before dashing off and away from this horrible place.

  I pulled the robe over my head as I walked out of the temple. It felt so soft and warm. My heart was still pounding and I felt on edge, but now I was (hopefully) safe and on my way to Oakfield.

  When I arrived, I saw a bright sunny town filled with loads of crops and cozy cottages. It was no wonder it was called Oak field. I wandered down the sunny path into town, past a gaggle of giggling children and toward what looked like a bar. There were guards here, usually , but right now I don’t think I looked like someone they wanted in their town...

  “Hey, you there.” I was stopped by one of the deputies,”What d’you think you’re doin’ ‘ere? Think your kind can just waltz right into town? Well not on my watch.”

I kindly explained my situation and showed him the bite marks on both sides of my neck. He humbly apologized and showed me into the bar.
 “The Sandgoose!,” He bellowed,”No finer place ‘round ‘ere to get your booze of any sorts. And there is a nice place to rest up. Far better than that other place!” He nudged me with his elbow and left me to it. I gave him a half-hearted smile before entering and sitting down at the nearest table. I had lost some of my things at the temple including my bottle of wine.
  A barmaid walked up to me and asked,”Anything for ya miss?” She didn’t seem to care what I looked like or what I was wearing. “Um..wine please. The whole bottle.” I told her. She nodded and walked off. I sunk in my chair and trembled slightly, still remembering Kama. That frightening look in his eyes, then that intense calm. “What was his deal?” I asked out loud.

Several people looked at me but I just ignored them. I smelled terrible. The blood still dried on my skin reeked of death. I heard a gasp and a whimper and looked over to see two light robed men running from the tavern. I chuckled lightly and the barmaid set the bottle of wine on the table with a thud. I turned to her and she held out her hand,”That’ll be 200 G then.”
 I pulled out my pouch and fumbled around pulling out my last 200 gold and lay it in her hands. I uncorked the bottle and put it to my lips. The horribly wonderful taste filled my mouth and washed out the taste of blood. I heaved a heavy sigh of relief knowing that I had finally made it to Oakfield and was closer to my first quest.

  I put the cork back in and tucked the bottle under my robes as I stood. I left a little tip and made my way back outside where Courage stood. I realized he was still wearing the spiked collar that the shadow members had put on him. I decided it looked pretty cool and that it may make him a bit more frightening in battle. We both strolled down towards some stands that looked as if they held something worth checking out. I saw that the first one had some weapons, decent enough, better than mine anyways. The second one held clothes. Nice normal decent clothes. I jogged over and startled the poor young man who appeared to be the merhcant.

“Hey, sorry,” I apologized,”I really, really need some different clothes.” I told him. I put my hands together, begging. He smiled at me and shook his head. “So...you’re not...one of them?” He said in a calm manner. I shook my head and smiled. I could feel the wine start working already.
  “Well, if it’s clothes you need, it’s clothes I got there miss...uh...miss...?”He raised a brow.
“Just call me Sparrow.” I told him.

“My name is Jeremy, miss Sparrow, and this is my shop! Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?” Jeremy gave me a big smile.
“You got anything cheap? I’m a bit low on cash at the moment. Anything discounted or...could I put it on a tab?” I smiled, hoping.

Jeremy seemed to be thinking it over and then he looked at me,”I’ll tell you what. There’s a job opening just over yonder there at the windmill. You can chop up some fire wood. You look like you got a pretty build, if you’re up to it.” He winked. I nodded and thanked him. “I’ll be back later, I promise!” I yelled as I went running.

  Sure enough, there was a wood cutting job. I took it and made a pretty penny, chopping wood nearly all the rest of the day. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, but remembered to stop by the little clothes stand.
  When I got back, Jeremy was still waiting for me, even though most shops were closed.
“Hello there, Sparrow.” He said with a bit of a smirk. I smiled big and jingled my pouch full of gold. He let me look over the items he had in stock. I saw lots of things that were patched and old, but also some new things like a set of light cloaks like I saw on those two men earlier. I also saw some wrapped gloves and boots. Since I was barefoot, I paid him for the wrapped boots and I also like the gloves. As for my new clothes, I bought a tunic and skirt. I handed him the gold for it and thanked him again.
  “I’m closing up shop for now, would you like to come have a drink with me?” Jeremy asked. I stopped and pondered this. “Well...for a little bit. I am very tired and I have something very important to do.” I told him.

With that, he finished locking down his sales stand and we walked to the Sandgoose. Since I already had my bottle of wine we shared that and he bought me something to eat. Jeremy and I had a lot of the same things in common. He told me that he was orphaned at a young age. His brother owns the weapon stall near his. They too have problems with bandits and the shadow members come to town trying to recruit every so often, hence the guard stopping me earlier.
  I just laughed and told him everything I went through from yesterday. He nearly choked on his food when I told him about Kama.

 “K-Kama?!,”He sat up and his eyes bugged out,”And you’re still alive?!”
“Well, I can’t take all the credit...,”I took another swig of the wine and continued,”If I didn’t have this hero blood, I’d be a goner.”

“Hero blood?” He questioned.
I stopped, realizing I may have let a little more info out than I should have. “Uh...n-never mind...I’m just drunk.” I rambled.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow and shrugged but I felt like that wouldn’t be the last of it.
  We said our night’s and he left for home, while I found a bed upstairs.

  The very next day, I asked some locals about the temple of light and they were courteous enough to show me the way. After changing into my new clothes and tucking the bloody robe into my pack, we set off. Again there was a long road leading up a large hill to a temple. This time, it was white and bright and had a wonderful feeling. I thanked the people again and walked into the temple. Upon entering, I over heard a loud discussion.

“You do not understand. I don’t want to risk my daughter’s safety! I must find someone strong to go through the cave...oh! We have a visitor, brothers. You are dismissed.” The men bowed and left. I stood looking at the wizened old man holding out his arms to me.

 “Welcome, welcome...welcome. What is your name child?” He asked me.
“Sparrow, uh, Sir.” I answered. “Sparrow. A becoming name for you. What has brought you to this temple? Are you a lost soul seeking enlightenment from the darkness?” He began preaching but I stopped him.

“Actually I came here because I was told you have a problem.” I told him.
 The man looked dumbstruck. “Uh...ah, well yes. Yes I do have a problem. It’s this golden acorn-“
I stopped him right there,”I’m sorry, a golden acorn? So, I take it that you are the abbot?”

He nodded,”Indeed, I am. And I did say golden acorn. You see, every hundred years or so it needs to be replanted so that a new golden Oak may grow. It is the lively hood of this town and we depend on it to stimulate crop growth. If we do not replant this acorn our town will revert back to it’s dismal state and the town will lose everything....”

I stared at the abbot in disbelief, thinking, ‘How on earth could a little acorn save a town?’ But then I remembered the magic of a certain music box and stopped myself. “So, you need my help planting it? Is that what I’m supposed to do?”

The abbot shook his head,”No, I need two monks to enter a cave and fetch water from the Wellspring. It is essential to the acorn’s growth, but the problem is that I need someone to protect my daughter. She is one of the monks I am sending to carry the urn full of water into the cave. So you see I cannot just send anyone.”

“I’ll go.” I offered knowing I must have a part to play somewhere. The abbot chuckled,”Send you? I’m sorry my dear but you’re hardly an adult. I can’t go sending children in there...Perhaps if I had heard something you’ve done then maybe....” He waved me away and turned back to a sunlit statue. I continued to stand there and furrowed my brow at what he said and then it hit me.

“Maybe you heard about a stranger that came to town who escaped the clutches of the shadow temple?” I smirked. The abbot turned to me again.
  “Why yes. Some of the brothers mentioned it to me. Said that some young..woman came to town...wearing a dark robe and...covered in blood....”

I pulled the robe from my pack and showed him my bite marks. He clutched his chest for a moment and looked me over. “My...dear, you couldn’t have possibly. Kama is greatly feared and he doesn’t easily give up his chase once he’s tasted blood....Well, now I must reconsider. Yes yes...”
 The abbot began mumbling to himself as I put my robe back. He then stood straight and cleared his throat. “Yes.”
  I blinked. “Yes?” I asked.
“Yes, you may escort my daughter through the Wellspring cave. I would be delighted.” He bowed to me.” You may find her near the cave just a little ways from here on your left side.”
I curtsied to him and was on my way down the path. I looked for an entrance anywhere and I soon heard a melodious voice singing:

Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Swim the Sirens of Oakvale
Out to the seas
Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Float the souls left unbroken
By white balverines...

I followed the voice until I saw someone sitting on a wall. It appeared to be a large woman with a bottle of booze and fiery red hair.
  “Hello there!” I called out, interrupting her song. She looked at me as Courage and I stepped onto the path.
 “Well, day!” She hopped down from the wall. I noticed she was quite hefty and upon looking at the urn she had to carry I understood why she was the one to carry it.

“Sparrow is my name, what’s your’s?” I asked politely and cheerfully.

“It’s Hannah.” She held out a hand for me to shake and I took it. I winced at her grip, but still smiled. “Although some people around here like to call me Hammer when they think they’re being funny...” She paused and sighed,”So are you here to escort me through the cave then? Took father long enough. Said he had to find someone strong enough and brave enough. So what did you have to do to convince him?” She laughed picking up the urn.

“Well actually, I just showed him this.” I pulled out the shiny black cloak that seemed to look darker every time I pulled it out of the bag.

“That’s it? What else?” She chuckled as we started walking into the cave.

I tilted my head and showed her my bite marks and she winced. “Ouch, that looks terrible...” She reached out and touched them just slightly but I gasped at the pain. I didn’t realize how much it hurt....

“Sorry. Those look pretty nasty though. You might want to have my father give them a blessing when we’re done. He’s at healing that kinda stuff. What were bitten by, if you don’t mind my prying?” Hannah asked me.

“Kama. At the shadow temple...” I said, remembering those frightening eyes.
“You’re joking right? I’ve heard stories about him...nasty fellow if you ask me. Never known anyone to survive an attack from him. Well...you first.” Hannah waved towards the entrance to the cave. I reluctantly entered. I had recently come to hate caves and I had a feeling that this one would turn out very much the same....

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Woo, totally different. Very, I just can't find the words.   You write very well.  

---

Thanks to all who read this! I finally got around to finishing this chapter. I felt the "blah's" creep in when she was in the cave...gah...So I played some more and got a little inspiration. Chapter 8!

Chapter 8
-The Hero of Strength-

  “Watch your step now.” Hannah advised. She had been chattering non-stop since we entered.

“I know, I’ve been in worse caves than this one, I know what I’m doing.” I told her.

“Well, I’m just making sure mostly for my sake. I haven’t done much of anything around here. This is my first time doing anything exciting.” Hannah replied. I nodded and sighed when we entered a large circular room.

“Ah, here we are.” She stepped on a button on the floor, raising an iron gate to my left. I smiled at this and walked into the next hallway.
 
“This is going a lot smoother than I thought it would....” I said cheerfully as we trekked through the cave. Hannah agreed and we both saw stairs leading up to a spout. She walked ahead of me.
 “Alright, now you stand on that button.” She pointed as I reached the top of the steps and onto a small platform. I stepped on the button and water poured into the urn. I giggled at this.

“What?” Hannah asked with a slight chuckle.

“I’m sorry. It’s just hard to believe that your father thinks you’re some fragile little girl that can’t enter a cave by herself.” I started to laugh.
Hannah laughed a bit and explained,”Well, we monks take a vow to never kill things or you know, beat the crap out of something...That’s why he sent you I guess.”

“It’s funny you mention that. It was really luck that got me this far actually.” I told her.

“Luck?,” She looked taken back,”What do you mean? You couldn’t have escaped from the shadow temple on luck.”

“Well, why not? If you really wanna know...you can’t tell anybody else, okay?” I asked her.

“What, like a promise? Alright, as long as you aren’t like a member now or something....” Hannah shifted the urn on her back.

I held up my hand and felt the heat coming until fire formed in my palm, then I quickly extinguished it. Hannah clapped,”That was so cool! I never seen anything like that before! Well, maybe my father wasn’t wrong in sending you inhere. If something does happen, you can take it. Right, well, I think that’s all the water we’ll get from this one.” She said, hoisting up the urn.


We returned to the first room and pressed another button lifting up a second gate. This time I ran ahead and up the steps to the button. I waited until Hannah sat with her urn before pressing the button. I waited as the water filled up to the top and Hannah pulled the jug on her back once more.
  “Last room, you ready?” She smiled. I couldn’t help but become giddy. We both seemed to be having a time and would be done in no time at all. Then I could await further instructions from Theresa.

  We strolled back into the first room and opened the third gate. Suddenly Courage started to growl and he ran down the hall. The gate was only partly open and I couldn’t fit through it unless I removed my weapons. “Courage!” I called after him as he fled down the hall. I looked at Hannah and yelled,”Why isn’t it opening all the way?”

“I dunno! I’m stepping on it!” She kept pressing the floor button, but it wouldn’t budge. I waited and soon Courage came running up with something in his mouth. I screamed and jumped back a few feet staring at the mummified head in his jaws.

“Eeew! Ew ew! Drop it! Drop it now!” I ordered him. Courage looked confused but did as he was told and let the head drop and roll on the floor. “EEW!” I shrieked and ran towards Hannah.

“It looks like a hollow man’s head...” She looked it over. It was then the gate opened and I let out a wail. “What is a hollow man?” I asked frantically.

  “It’s a corpse that was brought back to life by a bad spirit...I’ve never actually seen one, but heard they’re a right nasty piece of work.” Hannah explained.
 My heart started pounding. For as long as I can remember I have been terrified of undead things. The gypsies used to tell me horrible stories about people raising from their graves and attacking whole villages and taking their kills back with them to the underworld. Just thinking about it now sent chills through my entire body.

“What’s wrong?,” Hannah asked,”Not afraid of a puppet are you?” She jokes and nudged me.

“Eh heh! Of course not! What makes you think that?!” I laughed nervously. Staring down at the head I envisioned soulless killing machines attacking me without thought or reason. I gave a great shudder and snapped out of it, realizing that Hannah had run ahead of me. I heard a scream from the next room and dashed to help. When I entered the room, I saw just what I had feared. There were about ten hollow men stumbling towards Hannah and I.

  Courage was the first one to leap into action, knocking one to the ground and pulling off it’s head. I grabbed my sword and tried to take a step forward, but found that my foot wouldn’t budge. It felt like I had been cemented to the floor. My body trembled and all I could think about was how horrifying they all looked. Clad in rusted armor, wielding blunt axes and large swords. Panic squirmed it’s way from my stomach, up my throat and found it’s way out in the form of a blood curdling scream. My knees buckled and I continued to cry out.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Hannah yelled as I backed away into a corner. “You’re supposed to protect me! I can’t fight these things!”

“I can’t!,”I yelled back as they started closing in on us,”I can’t do it!”

 “Why not?!” Hannah backed up next to me as the hollow men raised their weapons to strike.
We were both pinned. Courage was still fighting his little doggy heart out. It seemed that to him they were nothing but big chew toys.
 “Sparrow! Do something! They must just be protecting the water!” Hannah picked me up off the floor and shouted in my face. There came a burst of energy in my finger tips and as Hannah released me from her grip, I let loose.

  Fire erupted from my hands, scorching most of the hollow men to cinders before my eyes. They really were nothing but bags of bones. I was careful not to hit Courage as the flames purged the room of all undead. When they were all reduced to nothing but ash, I stood there panting. The heat and the pressure had gotten to me.
 Hannah looked at me with her jaw wide open,”Bloody brilliant....” was all she could say. I wiped the sweat from my brow and held myself up with my hands on my knees. I was relieved. I had destroyed them all and now we could continue.
  Hannah moved forward to enter the next room when there came a loud roar and the sound of tiles being upturned as something crawled from beneath them. It was then I saw a larger hollow man. He was wearing better armor and held bigger axes than the others. Hannah retreated again.

  “Uh...I’ll just leave this one up to you then...”She said, pushing me forward.
“Don’t throw me at it!” I yelled back turning to face the monster as it swung blindly in my direction. I looked up to see why it was acting so strangely and noticed: It’s head was missing. Evidently this was the one Courage had decapitated earlier. I wanted to laugh but at the same time as still scared witless. I shot a few fireballs at it and parts of it dropped off, but it still came after me. I pulled my sword from my back and swung at the flailing skeleton before me, knocking away it’s arms. It was becoming more hilarious by the second and I finished it off with a fireball, reducing it to cinders.

 “Thanks ,boy” I kissed Courage and hugged him tightly afterwards.

“Can we go now?” Hannah sighed, relieved that the hollow men were gone. I nodded and we proceeded to the next room.
  Upon entering, I saw a path leading to another doorway, the way out. “Right,”Hannah stumbled over to a stone plinth, lugging the jug along,”Now all that is left is the blessing. You stand over there, Sparrow.”
  I did as I was told and stood on another plinth adjacent to hers. Light flooded into the foggy cave and shone upon Hannah and the urn.
  “Oh Light, bless this water. As new life rises, so shall we.” Hannah spoke loud and true. I stared into the light. It was so serene and peaceful. I didn’t want it to end, but then there came a noise from above.

  “Sister Hannah!,”shouted one of the Light monks,”It’s your father! There is someone here with a gun and he’s threatening to shoot your father!”

Hannah dropped the urn and water spilled all over the ground. The light faded and I snapped back to reality. What on earth was going on? Why would someone threaten the abbot? Hannah ran up the path to where the monk stood and she grabbed a hammer from one of the nearby statues. “Take me to ‘im!” She shouted. I could hear the panic in her voice and I ran after her.

  She was surprisingly much faster than I and was out of the cave and up the path towards the temple before I emerged. Moonlight hit me as I leapt from the mouth of the cave. Courage sped on ahead. I heard shouting from Hannah and the low growling of another as I pushed past monks gathered in fear. I felt my legs and my lungs burning in my rush towards the temple. I had to protect them. It was my duty, that is why I came here in the first place isn’t it?!

  “Let him go or I’ll break you in half!” Hannah screamed.

“I can’t do that...You have to come with me, or he dies.” The man threatened.

I heard a shot ring through the air and Hannah howled her rage to the skies. I arrived just in time to see her hammer collide with the man’s face. I stopped and clapped my hands to my face. The man lay dead on the floor with his face imploded, blood pouring out. Hannah dropped the mallet and fell to her knees at her father’s side. A bright red ooze was issuing from his head as she picked up his limp body, cradling it. Hot tears trickled down my face and my breathing became erratic. It couldn’t be.

  Hannah sobbed into her father’s robes and I stumbled up the steps into the temple. I looked to the man who lay dead across from them. I saw his gun a bit further from where he lay. It was wrong, this was wrong. Why would this random man suddenly threaten to kill this harmless man? His booming words echoed through my head,”You have to come with me, or he dies.”

  I shook my head in anger and walked over to his corpse, looking him over for some sign, some reason for his actions. I picked through is pockets frantically, it was just too much of a coincidence.
  “What are you doing?,”Hannah hiccuped as she saw what I was doing. I felt something in his chest pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. I looked it over carefully, reading each word. It was written in exceptionally handwriting. The mark of someone who is well educated. I read:

Bring me the one they call Hannah. She is the daughter of the abbot in Oakfield. Use any method to bring her to me. It is imperative that she is brought to me at once. And don’t let anyone interfere.

It was then I knew, this was one of Lucien’s men. I pocketed the small piece of paper and looked down at the man. I felt some sense of satisfaction in his death. I hated myself for feeling this way, but it was almost a justice to see one of Lucien’s henchmen drenched in his own blood. I heard Hannah sob and I trudged over to comfort her. She flung her muscular arms around me, crying into my shoulder and we both drown the night in our tears.


  The next few hours felt like an eternity. The other monks came in to remove the heathen who killed their beloved leader whilst Hannah and I consoled each other. Some monks prayed softly while others brought a basin of holy water to bless the temple. Hannah thrashed at anyone who tried to come near her father’s body.
   “Hannah,”I whispered,”They have to take him...give him a proper sending.” More tears found their way out at these words.
 “No...I’ll carry him.” She said with pain in her heart and she lifted his lifeless body with ease. The monks had brought a stretcher, laden with golden flowers for the abbot and Hannah set him down softly, cradling his head as if he were a newborn babe. “You be careful with him.” She said solemnly and then backed away. I stood by her side all the while. Courage lay at our feet, not making a sound as if he understood our sadness. They carried him down the sloping path and out of sight. Again Hannah burst into tears and held me.
  “Come on,” I said, feeling like my tears had all but gone,”Let’s hit the bar.”

  We guzzled in floods and floods of drink. Hannah with her beer and I with my wine, we drown our memories of the night. We toasted to revenge, to life and to Light, for a new dawn and a better tomorrow. Many joined us in songs of old tales and heroes. The Light monks sang praises for the Light and prayed for the abbot’s safe journey in his afterlife, after which Hannah threw one of her empty bottles at them. I laughed until I cried and then I laughed some more. I felt the beginnings of a fond friendship with Hannah that night as we gulped down our drinks together. I hoped that perhaps I could become close to someone after losing Rose. It seems that time would tell on this one.
  Hannah slapped me on the back as her eyes started rolling back in her head. I hiccuped loudly as things started to slow down and people retreated to their homes and soft warm beds. “Sup-harrow....I..*hic* I juzz want you to know....you’re...prolly the bess friend I ever h-had.” She smiled at me and I nodded, fearing that if I spoke my wine might come back to say hello. And with that she lay her head down on the table, clasping a bottle in her hands and fell sound asleep. I needed a more sound place to retire and found a spare room with a nice comfy bed. The instant my head hit the pillow I was out and snoring away.

  When I awoke, birds were chirping and the wind was whistling outside. I heard bottles clinking together and people murmuring. It took a second to remember where I was and all of last night was a big blur. I stumbled out of my room to see Hannah still snoozing away at the table I left her. I chuckled and walked over, shaking her awake. She lifted her head, drool and imprints from the table stuck on the left side of her face. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at this. Hannah looked up at me, dread locks draped over her right shoulder and she raised an eyebrow. My knees buckled and I had to sit down from guffawing so hard. Hannah realized what was going on and she wiped off her face, grumbling a bit. “I’m sorry!” I chuckled,” I’m-still-so-tired!”
  Hannah put her large hands on my tiny shoulders and shook me furiously. When she stopped, the room was spinning and I felt my stomach lurch. I ran outside and hurled all over the ground. People around me wrinkled their noses in disgust and walked well around to enter the bar. Hannah stepped up and slapped me on the back as I spit out the remainder of my retching.

“I deserved that I guess...” I said hoarsely, finding my throat to be very dry and sore; the result of all my drinking and singing at the top of my lungs. “Yup.” Hannah said simply.

  We then took the long trek back up to the temple, Courage following, where we were shocked to see the body of the abbot. Hannah froze on the spot and I could feel her rising anger. I took her hand gently and looked up at her with the same puppy dog eyes I used to give Rose. Hannah seemed surprised at this and all her tension seemed to melt away. We looked back at the abbot.

It was probably the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. He was lain on a pure white marble table lined in gold and covered in golden flowers. His robes were snow white silk and his face was nearly as white. The monks had done a wonderful job cleaning his wound. I wouldn’t even know it was there if I hadn’t seen it the night before.

  One of the monks, Brother Adrian, stepped forward and handed Hannah his old robes along with a note. Whatever it said must have upset Hannah terribly. She crushed it and threw it into one of the little fires they had burning nearby.
  “We need to bury him, Sister.” Adrian said quietly. “I know that.” Hannah said sharply. I winced at her words.
 “We need to dig his grave first. At the top of the hill I think,”She said mostly to herself,”He would have liked that. The sun hit’s that spot perfectly everyday.”

“I want to help.” I blurted out. They all looked at me. “I’ll help dig the grave. I came here to help and I’ve made a mess. I owe it to you all as well as the abbot.” I bowed low.

“You didn’t do this,”Hannah said pulling me from my bow,”You were only helping. And I would be glad for your help. We’ll dig the grave ourselves.”

  Hannah brought me to the hill she was talking about. It was indeed a stunning spot and so we began. Our spades tore up the ground as a Spring breeze brought welcome relief from the sweltering sun on our backs. The monks brought us water all day to soften the ground and wet our dry tongues. Even Courage helped, digging with his furry little paws. The sun was nearly setting when we finished, wet and dripping with sweat and mud. Hannah pulled herself out of the hole and then turned to me, taking my hand, she lifted me out. We threw our spades aside and watched as Adrian led his fellow monks to the hill carrying the late abbot. They had him on the stretcher once more. With the time it took to bring him to the hill, I had woven together some of the flowers and placed a wreath on his head. Hannah was grateful for my consideration. This time there were no tears. Only pain and anger at what had been done. When the monks were finished we all threw more golden flowers into the grave enveloping the abbot in precious sunshine. Hannah and I finished up by returning the soil into the ground.

  There came an unexpected surprise when more monks came carrying a golden acorn followed by two more carrying the urn filled with water. They dug a small hole in the fresh soil and planted it deep in the grave, then poured the blessed water onto it.

  “Sister Hannah, we need to say the blessing.” Adrian said.
“You do it.” She replied and turned away to face the setting sun.

“As new life rises, so shall we.” Adrian chanted and waved his hands over the grave.

I stood next to Hannah, watching the sun returning to the earth along with her father. Everything felt at peace and I sighed long and sad. We sat on that hill staring at the fading light for a while wondering what came next, what we were going to do until the night blanketed Oakfield and all the monks had gone.
  There came a shining to our right and we both turned in time to see Theresa walking up to us.
“Who are you?” Hannah asked looking at the strange blind gypsy woman.
“My name is Theresa. I know what happened to you and I am deeply sorry. It seems that both of you have lost someone very close to your hearts and now share a common interest.” She spoke.

Hannah narrowed her eyes,”Yeah? And what is that?”

“You wish to seek revenge on the man who killed your father. No. Not the man who shot him, the man responsible for sending his thugs to do all the dirty work.” Theresa explained.

“Lucien,” I said, looking to Hannah,”Lucien killed my sister and he tried to kill me. He said something about ‘Heroes’ and ‘one of us is the fourth’.”

“Which means there are others,” Theresa smiled at Hannah,”You have the blood of a hero, Hannah. Which means Lucien will be hunting you and Sparrow, using anyone he can to get to you. That is why you need to come with me.” Theresa held out her hand to Hannah.

  “Fine. Lucien wants to start something, I’ll finish it. And from now on, call me Hammer.”

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Again I kept getting the Blahs when writing some parts of this. I enjoy lots of drama and intrigue in my stories, so when I get to a part where it's kinda slow going, i get the blahs....but here is Chapter 9.

In the aftermath of the abbot's death, Sparrow hangs out and waits for Theresa to call her. She runs into a familiar face in the Sandgoose....

Chapter 9
-Date-


  Theresa’s voice echoed through my head,”It will take some time for Hammer to over come her grief, and even longer to explain her role in Lucien’s downfall. I suggest for now, you take some time for yourself. Perhaps upgrade your weapons, stock up on potions. I’ll call you back to the guild when I have the next assignment.”

I sighed. The last few days had been horrible. It was hard enough with Rose’s death lingering over me. Now there was more blood on Lucien’s hands, even if he himself didn’t pull the trigger. Oakfield felt it’s loss and the whole village had a heaviness about it. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing someone talk about it and it was starting to wear on my nerves. I overheard one such person talking flippantly about the incident and it made my blood boil.

  “Yes! He’s dead alright! Why don’t you shut up about it already!” I shouted at the man. When I turned back around I heard mumbles about my being there. I just took another swig of wine and tossed my hair back.
  “I thought I heard your voice.”A familiar man spoke. I looked up to see the clothes stall vendor, Jeremy.

“Oh! Sorry....”My face went red as he sat down.

“Bad day. I know. It happens to us all. I’m sorry.” Jeremy set down his beer and looked at the clear amber bottle. For the longest time we just sat in silence, drinking and watching other peole bustle in and out.

  “So,”I spoke up first,”Where’s your brother?”

Jeremy chuckled,”He’s at home. He can’t stand bars or beer for that matter. Says it’ll kill me. I keep telling him,’Rather the beer kill me, than a balverine!’”
This made me smile. I could tell that they had opposing views, but generally looked out for each other.

  “So he sells weapons right? Think you could get me a little discount? I need some new ones. These rusty things won’t cut it for long.” I pointed to the sword stuck to my back.

“Well...I might be able to help.” He smiled.

“What? Do I need to beg?” I said as I took another swig.

“No. But how about you go on a date with me?” Jeremy asked.

I choked on my wine, spitting some onto the table in front of me. Jeremy slapped me on the back laughing at my reaction.

 “You’re joking.” I looked at him.

He just smiled and shook his head. I blinked stupidly for a bit, looking him over.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I looked down and my face went red. Jeremy grinned at this.

“Okay then, it’s a date.”

  The next morning, I stepped out of the Sandgoose tavern. I had tried to tame my hair, but it seemed that it didn’t want to cooperate today. I straightened out my skirt and fixed my blouse as Jeremy walked up. I could see that he was wearing a nice clean farmer’s shirt along with a straw hat. His pants were a deep blue and looked brand new. Being a clothes dealer, I imagine it wouldn’t be hard to acquire new clothing. Jeremy smiled at my attempts to pretty myself.
  My clothes were dirty with spots of blood and small cuts on them and my hair needed a soaking as well. I told Courage to stay here and gave him a few treats to keep him satisfied.

“It’s alright. You look fine.” Jeremy took my hand, which made my heart flutter momentarily.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he lead me down a dusty trail to the west.

“There’s something remarkable over here. It’s a giant stone that talks.”Jeremy said.

“Yeah right. Stones can’t talk.” I laughed as he lead on. We wandered down the path, looking out at the sea sparkling with all it’s splendor. A gentle cool breeze swept through making my hair dance. Jeremy smiled at that and put his hat on my head. It felt warm and snug and I giggled. I giggled. My stomach did a flip-flop and Jeremy pulled me along towards a large stone face.
  When we stood before it, suddenly it sprang from the wall, yawning in a deep booming voice. I shrieked and nearly fell off the cliff behind us. But Jeremy caught me and put an arm around my shoulders.

  “Oh! Look at this? Could these two be lovers?” The stone spoke.
My jaw was on the ground and my eyes nearly popped from my head staring at this thing. This stone face was talking and moving!

“Am I still dreaming? Tell me I am still asleep at the Sandgoose.”I said to Jeremy who just shook his head and brought me closer.

The stone spoke again,”Are these two betrothed, mayhap? I do remember my own love. She was beautiful. Her hair shone like the rays of the sunshine and had a smile to match. Oh...to be in love....if I could see a proposal of two lovers...or perhaps a kiss between them....it would be lovely.”

“Such a weird stone....”I said as I poked at it.

“Hey!,”It boomed in my face,”Stop doing that! If you have no business with me, then go somewhere else and let me reminisce in peace!”

Jeremy pulled me away from the stone and we ran away laughing. It was a bit frightening, but very fun. We ran up a small hill into some lush green grass where we stopped and looked down at the ocean. I sat down with Jeremy and we just watched the ocean together. He put his arm around me again and I felt his scratchy stubble on my cheek as he kissed me. I went rigid and felt my face get hot.

 “Sorry,”He said softly,”I just had to. You’re being so cute.”

My face went hotter,”I-it’s okay. I just...it...I’ve never been on a date before. Never been kissed either.” My hands twisted my skirt up, making it even more wrinkled.

“Never? Really? Well...”He scratched his chin and held me closer. I felt all flustered. My heart pounded as he rest his head on mine. I think he could sense my unease, but found it even more adorable. We sat a while longer looking at the crows as they flew to different fields and listened to the waves lapping at the shore. It was noon before we decided to head back.

 Jeremy stood up and offered his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. I looked up into his blue eyes. He was so nice and I felt happy just being with him. Jeremy smiled and pulled me to him. He hugged me tightly and rested his chin on my head. I rest my head on his chest and listened to his heart beating just as quickly as mine. I closed my eyes and just let him hold me. I had never felt this way before, but I liked it.

  We walked back along the path headed back into town, past the disgruntled stone face and back to the Sandgoose. We sat down and ordered some food. I ordered myself a salad and he ordered a chicken pot pie.
  “Why are you only eating a salad?” Jeremy asked.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I don’t eat any meat. I just can’t bring myself to eat dead things....not that I have any issue with others eating it. And I grew up on celery as a child. It was always cheaper anyways. Fruit and veggies.” I smiled.

Jeremy nodded and pat my back. We finished up our food and headed outside. Courage barked up at me. “Hey boy!”I hugged his face and gave him a kiss on his big wet nose.

“That’s a really nice dog. Does he follow you everywhere you go?”Jeremy asked, petting his shiny coat.

“Surprisingly yes, he does. It’s rather strange, but I couldn’t do it without him. I named him Courage because he seems to have more of it than I do.” I explained. Jeremy just nodded and looked out towards the ocean again.
 “You think he’d like the beach? There may be some sticks to play fetch with.” He offered.

Soon we were at the beach throwing sticks as far as we could and watching Courage catch every one of them. The sand felt on my bare feet and the water was nice and cool.

“Sparrow,”Jeremy said softly,”today has been fun. And, to tell you the truth. I’ve never been on a date either.”
I just slugged him in the arm softly and leaned against him. “Well it was a first date then.”

I looked far out over the ocean to the horizon. I blinked a few times and squinted at something. It seemed to be in one spot, so it wasn’t something wrong with my eyes.
  “What is that?” I pointed at a large black mass far out in the distance.
Jeremy looked and saw it as well. “That? It’s been there for a while. I don’t know what it is, but whenever I ask my brother about it he just tells me I’m seeing things.”

“Jeremy, it’s been fun, but I have to go.”I said, my heart now pounding for a different reason.

“What? Where are you going?” He asked hastily.

“I have to go talk to someone, but I’ll be back later I promise.”I said walking off. Jeremy stopped me and turned me around. “I promise, I’ll be back. It may be a while, but I’ll come back.”

Jeremy tilted my head up and kissed me gently. A big smile spread across my face and I looked down. “I promise.” I said once more and I ran off, Courage following with a big stick in his jaws.

I knew what this meant. Theresa hadn’t explained what I was doing exactly. All I know is that I am supposed to defeat Lucien. I had to get back to Bowerstone to fetch Danny as well. I had been gone for nearly two weeks and had much to tell him. I was already on the road into Rookridge when I heard a shout behind me.
  “Sparrow!”It was Jeremy and he looked like he was carrying something large and heavy. I stopped and he ran up carrying a shiny new sword and pistol. “Here,”He panted from running,”From my brother. No need for money, he told me to give them to you.” I took the new weapons and handed him the old ones.
 “I don’t need these anymore. And thankyou so much. I wish I could stay longer, but I am on a quest and it is very important.” I told him. Jeremy nodded.
“So you’re like a hero then?”He flashed a smile.

“Yeah. I guess you could call me that.” I tip toed and gave him a peck on the lips.

“I’ll spread the word then!” He called after me as I waved and ran into Rookridge.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Here is chapter 10 finally. sometimes it's hard to come up with situations...

Sparrow leaves, only to realize the bridge is out...

Chapter 10
-Bridge is Out-


  I ran as fast as possible, my legs screaming at me as I pushed them forward one more step, one more step. My chest ached and heart pounded as I neared the bridge. It was then I remembered-the bridge was out. I skidded to a halt in front of the splintered wood that used to be a large bridge to the next cliff. My path to Bowerstone and back to Danny and Theresa.

I was cut off. I couldn’t see a path below that lead up to the other side, so jumping was futile. I paced nervously and irritably back and forth, eyeing the other side gruelingly. Courage sat down and panted while I continued to pace. There was nothing for it. I had no where else to go but back to Oakfield.

  When I returned, I felt angry at myself for not remembering. I dragged my feet all the way into the Sandgoose, brow furrowed, eyes staring straight ahead. I was yet AGAIN caught in a tangled web. I looked around for a place to sit. The bar was full downstairs so I decided to look up on the second floor. When I reached the top, I heard A low disgruntled mumbling and looked to my left.
  The shock hit me. It was the man who had taken Rose and I’s picture ten years ago. He was here in Oakfield, but what for. And why was he muttering and hitting his own head with his fist?

  “Stupid, stupid!” He said to himself as I approached.

“Hey, you need something?” I asked. The man looked at me, startled at my sudden appearance.

“Oh! I was just muttering to myself. Nothing you’d be interested in...”He looked at me carefully, furrowing his brow and then spoke again,”You look familiar, have I seen you before?”

I nodded,”You have. Me and my sister got our pictures taken by you when we were little.” My words were lightly spoken as if uttered by a whispering wind. I was lost in thought as Barnum reached inside his vest and pulled out a small, wrinkled piece of paper.
  “I thought I’d seen you before.” He handed me the picture. I took it carefully and my eyes widened as I saw the two of us, striking a pose. Rose just smiled, with her arms crossed and eyes staring at the odd machine in front of her. I stood tall, grinning stupidly. I had my hand over my mouth in awe of the likeness. I laughed at such a simple thing as a grin on my little face. And Rose, just smiling, almost seeming to look up at me.

“You know, I’ve taken lots more photographs since then. Got myself a nice business brewin’! But that one was my first. The one that started it all. You can keep it if ya like.”Barnum said.
I pulled Rose’s diary from my pack and placed the picture gently inside.
  “Thankyou, you have no idea how much this means to me. If you’d like, I can help you with your problem.”I offered.
Barnum seemed to be mulling it over, looking up at the ceiling and screwing up his face. I waited patiently for him to respond. He nodded,”Right. Well, you see, I am trying to get the bridge fixed-“

I blurted out at hearing this,”Are you serious?! I need to get back to Bowerstone and I was wondering about getting the bridge fixed! This is perfect! So, how do we go about repairing it? Supplies? Workers?” I rubbed my hands together, ready to get things started. Barnum frowned.

“It’s not really that simple actually, there is still the matter of bandits terrorizing the abandoned Inn. They took out the bridge and are guarding the only other entrance and exit through. If we could take them out, then it would be no problem to get supplies and workers the fix the bridge.”Barnum explained.
I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes. “Is there any other way?” I asked.
  Not unless we figure out how to get my flying contraption working. I myself am a bit reluctant to start diving off the nearest cliff with it strapped to my back. Heh heh heh...”He chuckled lightly. I cringed at the thought of having to face more bandits, but there was no other way that I could get back to Bowerstone.

“Okay. I’ll get rid of the bandits. You just get things ready. I’m going straight through to Bowerstone when I find that alternate route, okay?”I told Barnum.

“Right! Smashing! I should have it fixed up by the time you bet back. luck!” Barnum grinned. I turned and left the Sandgoose. I went back into Rookridge once more, heading towards where I remember seeing an abandoned building. I ran down the path, heading for a set of stairs when I heard two men talking.

 “Hey, did you hear that? I think someone is coming. Go tell the boss, I’ll wait here for ‘em.”

I peered around a large stone I was hiding behind to see one of the men heading up towards the old Inn. The other pulled out a sword and looked around. Waiting until the other man was all the way out of sight, I snuck further along and found a small rock. I picked it up and chucked it as hard as I could towards a bundle of grass near the bridge. The bandit looked towards the disturbance and ran over, raising his sword. I threw another rock, hitting the bridge this time. He looked and walked cautiously over. I silently tip-toed up behind the puzzled bandit and pushed with all my might. He yelled as he fell over and into the water. I looked down as he came up and stared at me. He shook his fist at me and yelled obscenities. I smiled a bit and then started heading for the Inn. I was trying to think of something to do when I got there. I still had trouble using a sword and couldn’t bring myself to kill another human being. There had to be another way to possibly scare them off and find another place to hang out perhaps? But how in the hell was I going to? There must be something they are frightened of. I thought back to the hollowmen and how I froze. Surely they must be terrified too? But how was I going to bring a hollowman, or several to the Inn? It was then I had a better idea. A ghost. It was easy to fake and certainly, if done properly, would be scary. I pulled Rose’s diary from my pack and thumbed through, finally finding the entry I was looking for.

“Dear diary,

 Today me and Sparrow scared the wits out of Arfur! He’d been bugging us for a while, so I decided to play a little trick on him. We got him to go to one of the cellars around town. He thought I was waiting for him there and then we struck. Me and Sparrow had nicked a bag of flour and I doused us in the stuff. We also got some torn sheets from one of the trash piles. We came out of the shadows wailing and ‘booing’ at him. Sparrow got a little carried away and bit him, so we got found out. But he was practically pissing his pants! Nearly ran him out of town for . Oh well, it was worth it I suppose.”


I remembered the robes Kama gave me and a sly grin spread across my lips. I would banish them from the area for ....

I quickly changed into the silky dark robes and let my hair drape over my shoulders. I put my hood up and found some mud to put around my eyes and a bit on my lip. I smudged some mud on Courage as well, making him look mangy and dangerous. He seemed to enjoy being filthy and rolled around in the stuff. I looked at my reflection in the pond near the bridge. I looked pretty menacing to me. As long as I kept in character, I think I could pull it off.

 I ascended the stairs slowly, keeping in mind his fluid movements. I heard a shuffling up ahead as I approached. I carefully entered the Inn. The bandits above suddenly noticed me there and fumbled for their guns. I shot fire from my hands, making the wood on the weapons burn away and they dropped them, pulling out swords. I used my force push to knock the weapons from them and they stared at me carefully.

  “Foolish!” I boomed in the manliest, yet still smooth voice. “You cannot lay a hand on me...I am one with the shadows!” I tried to sound menacing as I could. The bandits must have realized who I was impersonating as they took off out the back door. I ran up the staris and out the door to follow.

  “What the hell are you doing?! Get back in there and murder-“ The apparent leader of the bandits tried to order his men back, but they pushed past him and ran away. “What? Eh? Who is this?” He looked over and saw me walking out.
  “Hey! I told you saps to stop comin’ ‘ere! You listenin’!” He shouted raspily,”I’ll slice your bloomin’ neck open yeh hear?!”

I shot a blaze of fire in his direction and suddenly he took off running, turning the air blue with all the curses he shouted. I ran after him as fast as I could, but this man was something else. He was really booking! I met up with a few of his followers as I was running. Once they caught sight of my robe, they started running as well. I just laughed as they fled. Whatever Kama did to make these men so scared, I don’t know, but I was thankful. Courage had run far ahead to catch up with the quick bandit. This continued for a while and I was getting tired. I kept my pace at a jog until I finally came to the end of the trail. I couldn’t see any of the men, but noticed a gate that lead to another trail. There was also a trail leading up a hill where I could hear shouts from the bandit and barks from Courage. I made my way up the hill and saw Courage barking up at the man.

  “Go away you stupid dog!”He yelled.

“You there!,”I said in my best impression of Kama,”Give me your name!”

“You stay back! I’ll shoot!”He said in a panic.

“Give me your name and I shall spare you!” I held up a fist of fire and the bandit nearly toppled off of the stone structure.

“It’s Dash! I’m Dash the bandit!”He shouted.

“Then, Dash, I banish you! You and your men are never to return here, do you understand? Or I will come for your souls....”I said getting excited. Dash leapt from the stone and ran around with Courage nipping at his heels. I backed away as he ran by and down the path. As soon as he had gone I felt tremendous relief. Then there came clapping from behind me. I whipped around to face the real Kama, grinning and leaning against a rock.

  “Very ...”He spoke praising my accomplishment. I stood frozen to the spot. What was he going to do?
 “Very ...What a performance, scary, intimidating...”He waltzed over to me and lowered my hood, playing with the strands of hair hanging in my face. “I must admit it wasn’t bad...though, I would have still killed them all.” He smiled and placed an ice cold hand on my face, making me flinch. Kama wiped the mud from my eyes and lip. “Such promise I see in you, Sparrow...”
 He leaned close, very close and inspected the bite marks he had left on our previous encounter. He touched them lightly, making me gasp. Kama smiled and put his hands on my hips, pulling me a bit closer. I tensed up, preparing for another bite, but instead he whispered in my ear.

“I want you....and I shall have you. Not today, no, but soon. I will make you mine.”Kama leaned his head against mine as he dug his nails into my hips. I cried out and Courage came running back up the way, barking as he saw Kama gripping me. Kama let go and walked behind a stone. Courage ran after him, but whined and came back. He had vanished. This put me at an unease and I quickly left.

  I found the gate had been opened and so I took the path to my left, leading back the way I had entered Rookridge originally. I found myself back in Old Town and relieved to be so. Here there were guards and warm beds to sleep in. It was well into the night and I was in dire need of some sleep. I headed up some stone steps and came face to face with a sheriff.
  “Who goes there?,”He boomed in my face,”Not skulking around trying to hurt people are ya?”

I knew that voice.”Derek?” I asked.
“Sparrow?” He replied. He saw my big green eyes in the torchlight and knew.”Well, how have you been? Where’ve you been? Last I heard you were living in some gypsy camp! Actually, I think you were the girl who came to Fairfax that one day...”

“Uh...I don’t want to think about that day....please...I’m not like that.”I buried my face in my sleeves, which smelled oddly of perfume, and shook my head.

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry. They told you he survived right? Jeeves I mean. He still hangs out ‘round these parts, mind I don’t think he’ll be happy to see you.” He chuckled at his own statement. I nodded and smiled trying to change the subject.

  “So, you’re sheriff now huh? How is that going? Got the town all cleaned up I see!”

“Yeah, with your help actually. As soon as I got those papers, I broke up Nicky the Nickname’s whole crew. Lord Lucien made me sheriff for it, though...he left shortly after. No one is sure why...But anyways, glad to have you back! Oh and by the way, if you need anything around here, tell the vendors I gave you a special discount. The same applies Rose too, should she be in town.” Derek told me and slapped my back. I gave a weak smile as he walked away. He didn’t know what happened. I doubt anyone knew, except for Jeeves. If I found him, I would have to ask the difficult question of what happened to my sister’s body. That is, if he didn’t run screaming first...

  I walked back into the market where I proceeded to the Cow and Corset. There I could buy some wine and get some sleep. But when I approached, I found Danny outside, tuning his lute. When he saw me, he leapt to his feet and hugged me so hard, I nearly fell over.

“I thought you’d died! I thought some bandits caught you and killed you or something! I’m so glad you’re back!” Danny yelled up at me. I hugged him back.
 “No, I’m tougher than that, and plus, I have some stories for you.”I said kindly. Danny pulled me into the tavern. We found a table and I had my wine. Danny had a tattered piece of parchment and wrote down all he could as I told him all about my escape from Hobbe cave (which he was now truly frightened of Hobbes) and then of how I woke up in the Temple of Shadows. About Kama and I tugged on the robe to indicate that I was wearing it. Danny felt my sleeve and then rubbed the soft material on his face.

 “Despite it’s association, it’s quite comfortable.”I said, drinking a bit more wine and continuing with my tale. I told him about Hammer and the abbot and the horrible hollowmen. Danny’s eyes were wide open as I described their horrid features, but his pen was still flying all over the paper. Then I told him about the abbot’s death and funeral, how I stayed and helped out. I left out Jeremy, I thought it best not to mention him for the moment, I still felt a little shy about the whole thing. I finished my story with what I had just gone through. When I was done, Danny just slumped in his chair and stared at the ceiling for the longest time.

  “So, you think you can come up with a few jingles for that?”I joked. Danny looked at his paper and then stuffed it in his vest pocket. “It can wait til morning I think. For now, let’s go to bed. I have to meet someone tomorrow, and you can come with me this time.”

Danny hugged me once more and then we both retired to bed. In the morning I bought us a blueberry pie to share as we walked to Bowerlake. I gave Courage a piece of mutton which he gulped down in a second. I looked out towards Hero Hill and out over the shimmering lake. It was so beautiful and the weather was a bit warm. Danny seemed to be thinking the same thing, tugging at his warm shirt.
  “I think we have some time to kill, Danny. How about we stop at the lake for a bit and swim?”I asked. He agreed and so we stopped at the lake. Courage, of course, jumped in and swam around, chasing birds and nipping at fish. Danny threw his shirt to the ground and dived into the water. I set my things down a distance so they wouldn’t get splashed and I removed the robe, folding it gently and setting down with everything else. The water felt on my feet as I waded in. Danny came up for air and looked over at me.
 “Hey! You in your underwear! You can’t wear just that, you’re a girl!”Danny yelled at me.

“I can wear whatever I want, it’s not a law or anything!” I screamed back at him.

“But you have boobs!” He yelled out, making me turn red.

“Hey shut up! You have them too, your’s just don’t pop out! And I’m covering them up!” I splashed at him. This sparked a water fight that lasted for a 20 minutes before we attracted unwanted attention from some passing gypsies. I knew them from the camp, thank ness.

“Hey, Sparrow! Haven’t seen you in a while, you’re lookin’ !” One of the men said. Danny snickered. I just pushed him back into the water. My face got hot as I saw them looking me over and I suddenly felt very self conscious. Danny shook his head and swam back out with Courage.

“I’ve, uh...been kind of busy.”I said to them.

“I heard about the abbot in Oakfield. Sad stuff. You were there weren’t you?”The other one asked. I just nodded and pulled the robe back on. The two men talked amongst themselves for a bit as I gathered my things.
  “Sparrow, come back to the guild, I have some more information regarding the second hero.” Theresa’s voice rang in my head.

 “Danny! Get your stuff, we’re going!” I called to him. The gypsies headed back to their camp and Danny grabbed his lute and his shirt. I lead him and Courage up Hero Hill and into the cullis gate to enter the guild cave. When we stepped through I saw Theresa standing at a table and Hammer sitting on the floor with a bottle of beer in her hand. She waved.

Theresa met me with a smile,“, you’re here. We have much to discuss.”

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Chapter 11! Theresa tells Sparrow she must find the second hero in Brightwood. What she doesn't expect is running into a lonely farmer with a sad predicament...

Chapter 11
-A Lonely Farmer-


  Theresa spoke,”I think I may have found our next hero.”

I stopped her right there,”Wait, first I need to ask something.”

“Ask away.”Theresa said, placing her hands in front of her and looking(?) at Danny.

“What are we doing exactly? You haven’t told me how exactly you intend to bring Lucien down, or what our involvement may be. So far, I’ve trekked all over the place and still don’t know what the hell I’m doing it for.”I said, a little anger in my voice.
  Theresa shifted in place and then began to explain,”Lucien has been constructing something called the Spire. It was used long ago by someone called the Archon. The Spire is used as a conduit for all the Will in Albion. The Archon used the Spire to make a wish. A wish for a hollow and corrupt world to end and a purer one to take it’s place. Centuries of civilization were wiped out in an instant.”
  Theresa walked over to me,”I do not yet know what his intentions for the Spire are, but you can imagine what kind of power he would have, should he finish it. And that is why we must stop him before he completes it. Furthermore, why he should not come to capture any of the heroes.”

  I stepped back and looked at the ground. “I hadn’t thought of that. I did see it. I saw the spire, or at least part of it. It was out in the ocean, far away, but it’s there. How are we going to stop him?”

 “I need you to go find the second hero for now. That is our next step in Lucien’s downfall. His name is Garth and he lives in a large tower in Brightwood. He is a mage, a great Will user and our second hero.” Theresa stopped and looked over at Hammer who was petting Courage and talking to Danny. I looked over and smiled.

 “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I picked up a bard-in-training. His name is Danny. I told him he could write stories about me if he liked and I’d pay him per song. He’s got no home....no parents...it’s okay isn’t it?” I asked Theresa. She frowned a little.

  “He reminds you of yourself. You and Rose, when you were children. He seems to be about her age. I just hope you don’t think he will replace what you lost.”Theresa warned.

  “How could he? Rose was everything to me. She could never be replaced in my heart! I’m just helping this poor boy out. I know what it was like, living everyday not knowing wether you were gonna have food to eat, or shelter in the winter. The least I could do was take him under my wing, give him some sense of security.” I whispered harshly. Hammer stood up and walked over.

  “What’s going on here? We going or not?” She asked.

Theresa turned to face her,”Hold on, Hammer. There is a bit more I must explain. Garth’s involvement in this is deeper than his blood. He used to work with Lucien in studying the Old Kingdom.”

 “What?!,”Hammer burst out,”He worked with the slimy git?! How can we trust him then, huh?”

Theresa held up a hand to silence Hammer,”This I knew would be especially difficult for you to except. Even for you Sparrow, I can tell it is bothering you.”

I tried to think of what she was talking about, but couldn’t find any real reason to object. “If he is willing to work with us to stop Lucien, I see no reason to resent him. After all, he left didn’t he?”

Theresa nodded,”Yes, he did. But what I suspect you don’t realize is that Garth was there the night your sister was killed.”
  It felt like ice had run through my body. Was he really? I tried to remember if I had seen another there. Thinking back, I do remember seeing a peculiar man on our way to Lucien’s study...

Before I could speak, Theresa held her hand up,”He did not know what Lucien intended for you, nor did he notice you on his way out. He and Lucien had a falling out when each had learned the truth about the other. It was that night they had parted ways. Garth, I am sure, would be willing to help. I only need you to persuade him, bring him back here.”

  “Alright. I’ll do it.” I said coldly. Hammer scoffed.
“How can you believe the rubbish she just fed you? I don’t feel obligated to care for anyone that worked with that ***, Lucien. I’m sorry, but I’m staying here. You can go on your own, Sparrow.” Hammer sat back down on the steps with her drink.
 
 Danny walked up to me cautiously,”Can I come with you this time?”

I looked down at him. He looked concerned. I couldn’t just leave him again, but I was afraid of more bandits or monsters. Danny kept looking up at me. I couldn’t quite tell what it was, but there was something about him that really wanted to go.
  “Alright, this time you can come. But if it gets too dangerous, I’ll march you right back to Bowerstone. Do you understand?”

Danny nodded and picked up his lute. Courage barked and jumped up, eager and ready to leave.
I waved -bye to Hammer and Theresa as we walked into the cullis gate. Fresh cool air met our faces as we arrived outside in the fresh Spring afternoon. Danny started walking along with Courage down the hill. We walked down the hill into the fields where little bunnies hopped through the flowers.
  I knew our journey would be long. I thought of Danny, how long could he keep walking? I didn’t know him very well, or how much he was able to push himself. Perhaps leaving him behind was the best thing for him, but I couldn’t deny him what I had promised. I promised adventure and daring journeys and that is just what I will give him.

 We made it to Brightwood road quickly and entered Brighrwood for the first time. It was such a sight. Large trees stood tall, only allowing little leaks of light to shimmer through to the leaf covered ground. Lush green grass grew up through the dead leaves and flowers bloomed in shades of blue, red and yellow. I could hear water trickling off in the distance somewhere and little birds chirping and chattering. Danny had a huge smile on his grubby little face.

  “Now, stay close to me. If we’re attacked I don’t want anyone to go for you first, alright. Courage, you guard Danny first. Make sure he’s alright, understand?”I ordered them both.

“I’ll be fine,”Danny said as he walked a little ways in front of me,”I’m not a baby or anything.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but realized: I used the same argument on Rose several times. I found myself smiling and kept on walking with a bounce in my steps. I was the big sister now.

  We walked for a long while before I realized I had no idea where I was going. I was following Danny the whole time. I had the feeling like he knew where we were going.
 “Wait, stop.” I told him. Danny stopped and turned,”What? Did you see bandits?”
I shook my head,”No, where are we headed? All I know is that we are supposed to be going to a large tower and I don’t even know where that is! I’ve just been following you the whole time. D-....do you know where we’re going?”
Danny looked around. “No, I was just walking...”

I heaved a sigh and took his hand,”Come on, I’m going to lead this time. The last thing I need is for us to get lost in this place. So far all I see is a whole lot of trees that go on forever. And some grass.”
 With that, I dragged him along down the path. He seemed to protest this by trying to pull away every once in a while. “This looks like it goes somewhere.” Danny would say. I just pulled him away and continued straight. I looked for road signs or big towers in the distance, but nothing came up. I was beginning to get fed up with my sense of direction and Danny’s constant nagging.
 “Fine, you want to lead so bad, then go ahead! Show me where to go.”I lost my temper and yelled at him.

 “Okay,” was all he said and he lead on. Courage followed and I just stood there, staring as he walked off. How does he know where he is going? Did he used to live here before he was orphaned? Interest now peaked, I followed. He just calmly walked through the forest, occasionally looking back to make sure I was still following. This bothered me a bit. I didn’t know anything about Danny, save for the fact that he was an orphan. Was I even sure he was telling the truth about himself? How did I know he wasn’t somehow planted for me to find by Lucien and I was being lead into a trap at that moment? My heart started pounding as I was lead deeper and deeper into the thick forest.
  I started sweating and worrying. Courage grew concerned as well, whining as the forest grew from lovely to slightly unnerving. Danny still continued on and I reluctantly followed, expected any second to be attacked and dragged off by Lucien’s men. Courage still walked ahead with Danny and I wanted to call him back. But at the same time, if Danny were just an innocent little boy, he could be hurt! I wrung my hands in my nervousness and started breathing faster. It was all I could do to keep from screaming when...

  “Sparrow!,”Danny shouted at the top of his lungs. I let out a shriek and pulled out my sword, shaking. Danny jumped back,”Hey! What?! Bandits?!” He looked around frantically.

 “What? No! I thought-...never mind. What are you shouting for?” I asked, trying to put my sword back with rickety hands.

  “We’re almost there, we just need to go through here first.”Danny said.

“How do you know this? Danny, have you been here before?” I asked him. His smile faded and he looked to his right, “Uh....look, up there! It’s the tower! See! That’s how I know!”

I blinked, nonplused,”Oh...yeah of course.” I felt a little suspicious still, yet slightly relieved.

Danny lead me through some thick brush and up the trail a ways before he stopped in his tracks and hid behind a bush.
  “Why are we stopping?” I whispered, joining him. I looked up the road and saw a small cabin. Outside there were split logs next to a stump with an axe in it. Dead leaves littered the ground and roof. There was a rocking chair outside that looked as if it had been used recently. I looked up to the sky, poking through the trees. It was getting dark fast and I didn’t want to travel at night, mostly because of Danny. He was most likely getting tired from all this walking and both our stomach’s were growling. I didn’t have much food with me, only wine.
  “Danny, you stay here. I’m going to see if someone lives here.” I told him. Danny grabbed my arm.
 “No. I just want to go through and get to the tower, please.” He pleaded.

“Sorry, but I don’t want to travel at night when we can’t see...” I shook him off and stepped from behind the bush. I looked around, making sure no one was watching me and I ran up to the porch. Before I even had a chance to knock, there was a low singing from someone inside. I listened for a bit at the slow sad tune. Whoever lived here must have ben very lonely.

 I knocked softly. There was a shuffling and what sounded like the cocking of a gun. The door swung open and a man shouted,”I thought I told you to get!”
  The man before me looked tan and covered in dirt. His clothes were just as filthy and tattered. His rough hands held an enormous shotgun pointed at my belly. His hair fell in his eyes, making him appear insane.
  “I’m sorry! I was just seeing if anyone lived here! I’ll go now!” I said barely above a whisper.

The man lowered his gun,”Pardon me miss, I’m terribly sorry. I thought you were one of those bandits come to harass me again.” He put his gun down and I could breathe again.

  “Bandits?” I asked. The man nodded.
“Yeah, bandits. My name is Giles, by the way. This is my little farm....not much grows here though. Oh, come in, come in please. So rude of me not to welcome you in...”He said.

“I have my dog and a friend, can they come in too?” I asked.

“Sure, the more the merrier.” Giles allowed as he cleared things from his table.

I ran back over to the bush where Danny and Courage were. “Come on, I’ve got us a place to stay. Let’s go!” Courage was ready and joined me, but Danny wouldn’t budge.
  “What’s wrong? I said I found us a place to stay the night, now come on.”
He still didn’t move and crossed his arms.

 “Why can’t we keep going?” He said almost complaining.

I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out from behind the bush. “Boy, for someone who has to beg for handouts, you sure are picky!”

Danny kicked at me and screamed,”Lemme go you crazy lady!”

Giles poked his head out the door,”What’s going on out here?”
 Danny stopped moving. I sighed and tried to pull him further, but he stuck his feet in the ground and refused to move any further.
  “Sorry about this, he’s just being a little stubborn right now.” I kicked him in the bum just enough to knock him off balance and picked him up, carrying him to the door.
 “No! No! You can’t do that! I’m not going, I don’t wanna! You can’t make me!” He fussed.

“Danny?,” Giles came out onto the porch,”Is that you?”

Danny went limp in my arms,”Yeah it’s me dad.”

“DAD?!” I dropped him and he landed with a thud and an “ouch!”.
“You told me you were an orphan! You said that both your parents were dead and you had nowhere to go!” I yelled at him.
 Danny got up and dusted himself off,”Yeah well I couldn’t really get your sympathy if I you knew I still had a dad. I needed some money. I can’t very well tug at heartstrings if I have a home, now can I?”
 Giles walked up to Danny and gave him a big hug,”What are you doing back here? What happened to your guardian? Where is Goeff?”

Danny shrugged,”I dunno. He went to report back to you and I never saw him again. So I thought something happened and decided I needed to come up with way to support myself. The city is nice, I like it a lot.”
 Giles hugged his son again,”Oh thankyou stranger for looking out for him, but whatever did you bring him back for?”

“My name is Sparrow and I didn’t bring him back, I was actually trying to get to Brightwood tower. He was leading me there when we came upon your house.” I explained.

Giles nodded,”Well come inside. I have some food and bed is you should need it for the night.”

  He led us into the house and we all sat down at the table. He served us tea with cheese sandwiches. It was quite delicious considering he didn’t have very quality food here.
  “I hope it’s alright. Don’t get many travelers out this way and making the cheese myself is very difficult.” Giles rubbed his tired eyes and pat his son on the back.
 “It’s perfect. I’m just happy to have something. I only have some celery in my pack and wine for drink.” I said, drinking the sweet tea. “So, you were saying something about bandits before. Do they bother you often?”

“Nearly everyday. I live on a pretty piece of land and they want it. Sadly...I was too stubborn to leave. My wife....they killed her right in front of me. Danny was in the house, he didn’t see, thankfully. I don’t want him to ever have to witness such a thing.” Giles hid his face in his hands.
  I found it hard to eat after that statement. They killed his wife right in front of her.
“I know what it’s like, seeing someone you love, killed like that. Right in front of you and you can do nothing.” I said, setting down my sandwich. Giles looked up at me,”The bandits keep trying to kick me off my land. I used to be a guard in the towns and I think some of them know who I was. I was the toughest and most feared by all bandits. I just came out here to live in peace and now....well...”

I found myself shaking in anger. I couldn’t contain myself much longer,”It’s wrong. What happened to your wife, it should have never happened. You were only doing your job by enforcing peace and justice. I cannot just sit by while you suffer such an injustice. Do you know who it was that killed her?”
 “A man named Ripper and his gang. They came while she was tending to the garden...I...don’t ask me to tell you what they did....but they killed her. I had to send my boy Danny away to keep him safe.”

 Danny sighed and I saw him wipe away a few tears as he took another bite of his sandwich.

“For you and for Danny, tell me what I can do to help. Though I would prefer not to kill anyone....”I said, offering my help.

“I couldn’t ask you to do anything like that. But, if somehow you were able to capture Ripper and bring him to me. I would be eternally grateful.” Giles said with sadness is his deep voice.

  I stood up in my eagerness,“Just tell me where I can find him.”

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Got so inspired to write today! Here is Chapter 12.

Sparrow goes after Ripper the bandit to bring him to justice...afterwards she must confront Garth and ask him to join her in her efforts to overthrow Lucien...

Chapter 12
-Past and Future-


  “His camp is not far from here. Just follow the path to your right, when you leave here. You’ll know it when you see it. And be careful, his crew are capable of anything...”

 Giles words echoed through my head as I came upon the camp. I could see the bandits all sitting around their campfires and drinking. I didn’t see Ripper just yet and was thankful for that. I needed some way I could get rid of his gang as well. Why did it always have to be bandits? No matter how bad they are inside, when I look and see that they are just another human being, my finger freezes on the trigger. How is it that they could think of ending another’s life? It is a terrible thing...
  There came a commotion from the camp and I looked up to see a large man emerge from one of the caravans. I knew it was Ripper. The others let him into their circle and handed him a drink.    Courage was hiding next to me, ready to jump in with me at any moment. He was able to kill them if I were in danger. I just really wish I had a better idea than what I was about to do.

I stood up from my hiding place revealing my presence. I had left my weapons back at Giles and he was extremely concerned, but I told him ,I would be alright. The bandits all looked me over with smiles. My long hair draped over my face and chest. I had Kama’s robe back on, but I didn’t intend to make them think it was him this time. I just needed it for dramatic effect.

  “Well, well....who is this pretty?” Ripper asked, standing up and walking over. His thugs followed him. I held out an arm and pointed at him, not talking.
 “What’s the matter?,”Ripper asked, taking my arm and pulling me to him,”You ain’t scared of us are ya?”
  I let him lead me over to the fire and sit me down. “There we go. It’s nice and warm over here. How about some booze? Do ya drink, pretty?” Ripper offered me his drink. I just sat silent and unmoving.
  There came a chuckling from the bandits,”I don’t think she likes yeh, mate!” Ripper threw his bottle at him and they all laughed. Ripper took me by the chin and tilted my head up. My hair slid off my face and Ripper stopped. His grip tightened as he saw my face. He started shaking and I pointed at him again. He shouted and leapt back. The other bandits stood up as their leader recoiled and started jabbering incoherently.
  “What’s wrong? What is it?!” One of the bandits asked. Ripper just pointed at me then put his pointer finger to his temple like a gun. They all looked over as I stood up. I was wearing Giles’ wife’s death mask. After I told him what I intended, he let me use it.
  The other bandits didn’t really understand, but Ripper knew. I pointed at him again and he back away further. The other’s pulled out their guns and aimed at me.
 “Do we shoot it?!” One of them asked. Ripper pulled out his own gun and aimed shakily at me. I got a little scared now and let loose my Will fire at them all. I accidently set one of the caravan’s ablaze, frightening the bandits even further. They began shooting at me. Courage jumped from the shadows, attacking the nearest bandit. I felt searing pain in my right shoulder and cried out. I felt blood oozing out. I could barely see through the mask, only by the light of the fire could I tell where I was.  Courage was growling and snarling. The bandits couldn’t get hold of him, thank ness, as he attacked more of them. I was becoming increasingly claustrophobic 9in the mask and had to take it off.
  I turned away from them and removed it, tucking away in my robe. I set fire to more of their caravans and tents. Chaos ensued. All the bandits, now concerned for their living quarters tried snuffing out the fires with blankets that only fueled the blaze. I let loose more fire, feeling the heat of it all around me. I think only Ripper was concerned with my presence at the moment as the rest were trying to salvage the camp. I made sure that the others were thoroughly distracted before I grabbed Ripper with my arm. He shrank back as I tried to detain him. I called Courage over to me and he came running. The caravan next to us was burning fiercely and the heat was intense. Something exploded.
  My hearing went. I felt the blood on my face, in my hair. My shoulder still burned along with my face and my vision was blurred. I lifted a hand to pat myself down. The whole left side of my face felt raw and if I screamed, I couldn’t tell. I felt my left side and expected to feel more pain, but it was only mildly warm. My hearing started to come back to me and I could just barely hear the other men shouting to each other.
  “Is he dead?!”

“Just leave him, le’s get the hell out of here!”

Feet pounded away and I pushed myself up using my arm. I looked around and the entire camp was falling down around me. Ripper was lying next to me, hopefully unconscious and I saw no sign of Courage. Thinking quickly, I lifted Ripper as much I could, dragging his limp body away from the camp. I heard barking and Courage ran to my side. I tried to ignore my pain as I dragged Ripper along, hoping he wouldn’t regain consciousness as I did so. He looked to be badly burned.
  I had no time to stop and rest, so I continued. I followed the road back to Giles farm, barely staying conscious myself. When I arrived, Giles was waiting for me outside. He leapt from his rocking chair and ran to me. I dropped Ripper and fell. Giles caught me before I hit the ground and looked me over. I waved to say I was alright and pulled out the mask for him.

 “It’s alright, let’s get you inside. My god, what happened to you?” Giles carried me back into the house and looked around for a place to lay me down.
 “Don’t worry...just put me in the chair. Go tie up Ripper before he can get away....”I whispered.
So Giles sat me in a chair and grabbed some irons to place on Ripper. When he came back, he had a smile on his worn face. I wanted to smile at this but it hurt to do so. Giles remembered that I was injured and he fetched some water to clean my wounds.

  “I’m sorry,”He said after a while,”I shouldn’t have asked you to do such a thing for me. Your face is badly burned and your hair singed.”

“You have your justice. I don’t care about my hair that much...I used to have it short when I was little.” I said quietly. Courage sat by my side and Danny snoozed in his father’s bed.

  “I want to thank you for looking after Danny. He can be a handful sometimes. And he likes to go exploring by himself a lot. Part of the reason I sent him to Bowerstone. I couldn’t bear to live if he were killed as well.” Giles bandaged up my shoulder and covered the injured part of my face.
  “He’s a bit pushy, but all kids get excited sometimes. I should know, I was a bit of a brat myself.” I pulled the wine from my pack and pulled the stopper out with my teeth before taking a big swig of the stuff. I looked around Giles cabin and noticed some picture up on the mantle. I saw him with his wife when they were younger. There was another of him holding a baby Danny. The next picture had a couple I didn’t recognize. They held a new born child and had a young girl standing with them. The small girl looked familiar the longer I stared. Giles noticed my staring and took the picture from the mantle.
  “Old friends,”He said,”I sent Danny to go live with them, but I suppose he never found them, or maybe they moved away. It’s been years since I seen them or heard from them. Last I heard they just had a new baby girl. Can’t remember the name though. Their oldest was Rose-“

Whatever Giles said next I didn’t hear. His last sentence rang through my head and I couldn’t move or speak. Surely he couldn’t mean my Rose?
  “What’s wrong?” He asked after noticing my blank stare.

“Rose.....was my sister....”I squeaked. Giles chortled,”Your sister? Rose?” I could see him doing the math in his head. I took the picture from him and looked at it. There she was, it was Rose.

I suddenly reached inside my pack, pulling out her diary and opening up to the picture. I showed Giles and he had to blink several times before he believed what he was seeing.

“Rose! And you! Aww, this picture is so lifelike, who made it?” He asked in amazement.

“His name is Barnum. And he created some sort of machine that could capture an image...I dunno...but, you knew my parents!” I yelled. Giles shushed me, so I wouldn’t wake Danny.

“Yes, I did. Well, how is Rose? What are your parents doing now? I’d love to see them again! Your father...ohh I bet he told you some great stories. He went on all sorts of adventures and-“

I stopped Giles from speaking any further and went on long in to the night to explain what had happened. Giles and I shared the wine and tears as I told him everything I had gone through.
  He lay his head on the table and held up his hand.
“The flu....I can’t believe after everything they went through....all the things your father had to endure. The flu? And poor Rose and you....I can’t believe I used to work for such an ***. If I had known what happened to your parents, I would have come and raised you myself. Damn...”
  I pat his back trying to comfort him. I felt sleep coming and lay my head back in my chair. I woke to the smell of bacon cooking. Danny sat at the table tuning his lute more and Giles was making breakfast. He set plates down in front of me, Danny and even Courage.

“What did you do with Ripper?” I asked hoarsely.
  “He’s tied up in my barn. For now, let’s just eat.” Giles sat down and dug his fork into his eggs. I groggily ate my eggs, but gave my bacon to Courage. After breakfast Giles called me to the barn. I followed, limping a bit. I saw Ripper, tied up and sitting in a corner. He narrowed his eyes at the two of us. Apparently he had figured out I wasn’t Giles’ wife returned to seek revenge.

  “Sparrow. I need you to look after Danny a little while longer. I have to take Ripper back to town and see that he is hanged for what he did. I know I can trust you with Danny and he needs someone to look up to. I can’t give that to him. I was only interested in settling down....I’m old and worn out. But I know he’ll go on many grand adventures with you. Perhaps some day he’ll come back to see me. Until then...please look out for him.” Giles looked to me for reassurance that I could be trusted. I nodded.
  “I can think of nothing better. Besides, I’ve come to think of him as a little brother of sorts.” I smiled and Giles pulled Ripper to his feet.
“Thankyou, Sparrow. I’ll never forget this. If you ever need my help, I’ll be here.” Giles nodded to me and left the barn. “Oh and, tell Danny I’ll see him later alright?”

 I walked back to the house. Danny was playing his lute and singing lightly.
“Sparrow, she conquers with flame and sword, Striking down wherever it roared...no no...that’s no ....”
  “I think it’s nice.” I said as I entered. Danny jumped as he heard me. “It’s stupid. I can write better stuff...”

  “Grab your things, were going. We have to get to the tower before night again and you won’t have a lot of material by just hanging out here.” I said, picking up my pack, putting it on my other shoulder. Danny looked at me puzzled.
  “What about my dad? Did he say it was okay?” He asked.
“You dad has to go to town for a bit, so he said you could go adventuring with me for a while. And I promised I would take you. Now let’s go! We’re wasting daylight here!”I answered. Danny grabbed his little pack he made himself and stuffed his shoes back on. When we were all ready, I let him lead me to the tower.

  He was right the other night, when he said it wouldn’t take that long to get to the tower. I soon found myself climbing numerous stone steps in the shadow of a huge stone tower. I could feel something stirring within me, something excitable that made me agitated and giddy. It was almost like being filled with the power of Will. Though, thinking about who was supposed to live in the tower, I believe it had to be...
  Danny kept me going with a marching tune on his lute. It was cute and fun, making me laugh out loud. The whole experience was making me extremely happy and I felt almost as if I could fly.
  I closed my eyes and started dancing as we neared the entrance, even humming along. Courage barked and Danny stopped in his tracks making me knock the poor boy over as I bumped into him. “Oops! Sorry, I-“
  There in front of me stood who I could only assume was Garth. He was dark skinned with glowing blue lines covering most of his body. His hair was white as well as his beard. Both were braided as well. He had some sort of glass eyepatch covering a blind eye and a stern look on his face. His clothes were worn out and covered in many stains. There were beakers and vials in leather belts across his chest, also.

  “What business have you at my tower?” He spoke with a commanding tone, deep and rich. Danny hid behind me and Courage stood out in front.
 “Um...Is your name Garth?” I asked.

“Who wants to know? You look injured. Are you looking for some potions? I have plenty I can bring you if you’ve money to pay.” He offered.

“Well potions would be nice, but I came to talk to you. It’s very important.” I said calmly.

Garth looked me over carefully before waving for me to come over. I walked over to him with Danny and he took me by the shoulders. I gasped and cried out.
  “I’m sorry, you’re injured on both shoulders?” He asked as he led us into the tower.

“It’s a long story. Bullet in my left shoulder, burn on my neck and face. My fault for that part...It’s hard to control Will....” I said. Garth stopped and looked at me.

  “You can command Will? How long have you been able to do this?” He asked.

“Since I was told I had the blood of a hero.” I replied. Garth helped me up the stairs and to his study to sit me down before questioning me further. Danny sat in a chair with rollers and Courage rested on the cool floor. Garth fumbled through bottles of strange fluids and pulled out a red one.
 “Drink this. It helps with the healing process. Now...who told you about your lineage?” He sat leaning against his desk with his arms folded.

I drank the odd liquid that tasted strangely of cherry and mints and felt a bit better for it. When I finished I answered his question.
 “Theresa. She looks after me and is helping me on my quest to defeat a man named Lucien Fairfax.”
Garth frowned and turned away,”Really? And why would you want to ‘defeat’ him? What has he done to you?”

“He killed my sister and then he tried to kill me. Shot me out of the study window and I fell to the streets below.” I answered a bit angrily.
 Garth turned to me in disbelief,”Why should I accept this as truth? How do I know you are not luring me into one of his little traps? If you’re done feeding me this pack of lies, then I suggest you get out. I have important work to do.”

  “It’s not a pack of lies. Why would I lie about something like this? And further more, why would I bring a kid and my dog along with me? That night you had a fight with Lucien, did he mention something about two children?” I was angry at him for not believing what I was telling him.

Garth pondered at this,”He said a lot of things that night. I don’t care what he said, nor did I listen to his insanity. The man became deranged, obsessed with everything that had to do with the Old Kingdom. I was foolish enough to go as far as I did with it. I’ll admit my hands are not clean. Many men died because I continued to work with that man. Now, please just leave me to my solitude...”

  “What are you talking about? Solitude? You can’t have any solitude after what you just described. I think you’re planning something else, but before you go and do something stupid, listen to me. Listen to what I am saying now. I already have one of the heroes back at the guild with Theresa and we’re planning to bring Lucien down. But we need your help as well.” I tried to get through to him.
 Garth shook his head,”What is your plan? Are you just going to walk up and shoot him? He has gathered many men who are loyal to him. They will try everything to kill you, do you understand? It’s not as simple as you are making it.”

“I don’t know what the plan is, I’m just following my orders! Theresa has the plan and she told me that I must gather the three heroes, plus myself, to bring Lucien down. So please....come with me before he gets you. He nearly got Hammer before she bashed his goon’s face in. And he almost killed me that night ten years ago!” I was now on my feet and yelling at him. Danny was silent and just watching me. Garth shook his head again.

 “Get out of my tower now. You must leave now. I don’t want to hear anymore of this.” Garth ordered. I stood there staring in anger.

 “OUT!” He yelled in my face. I gasped and grabbed my things and Danny and we swiftly left the tower.
  Danny was kicking and shouting curses at the man and I was crying. Not enough sleep and being upset is not a combo. I was only doing as I instructed and he was yelling in my face. Maybe Hammer was right. But what was I going to do now? There had to be some way of convincing him to join us. I just wish I knew what it was.....

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Does anyone have any suggestions or criticisms for me? I'd like to know what you all think.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Chapter 13

Sparrow must find a way to convince Garth to join their cause before Lucien gets him first....

Chapter 13
-The Mage-


  I sat on the stairs leading up to the tower. Garth stood at his window watching me. I could feel his gaze even if I wasn’t looking, I knew. Danny played his lute, trying to come up with new songs to sing, even coming up with one for Garth. Though I don’t think it was working...
  I waited until nightfall and still he did not come down. He didn’t even offer a place for the night. I sat shivering with Danny and Courage on the cold stone steps. My bandages were bloody and needed changing soon, lest my wounds become infected. My face still stung horribly but I gritted my teeth and beared it. I was not leaving until I had my say, or Garth agreed to help.

“Can’t we just go up there and whack him in the head with something?” Danny suggested.

“We’re not going to kidnap him if that’s what you are suggesting.” I answered angrily, the movement of talking hurting worse. “If there was some way I could persuade him...something I could do, or show him...”

  I was reluctant to think of using my Will again. It wasn’t as easy as scaring him into coming. I had the sense that Garth needed to be shown respect. He looked very upset when I mentioned Lucien. Theresa mentioned they had split as partners. Something Lucien said had upset Garth to the point of leaving. Maybe it had to do with what Lucien was planning to do with the Spire?

  “Garth!,” I yelled up at the tower,”I want to show you something!”

I waited for a while and Garth poked his head out the tower window once more. I held out my uninjured hand and manifested the Will fire.
  “You call that fire?” He shouted down at me and conjured an enormous fireball, throwing it at a nearby oak. Danny high-tailed it back over to the tower and I ran with him as the oak came crashing down. I looked back up to yell at Garth, but he had gone again.

  “You are a stubborn one.” I heard him next to me and turned sharply to see him descending the stairs.

“Yeah, well I have a mission to complete. I treat it like a promise and I don’t break promises.” I retorted. Garth grunted as he approached.

  “Sorry for the tree. I thought it would fall the other way. When you said you could use Will, I’ll admit I was skeptical. Thought maybe you were one of Lucien’s lackeys trying to trick me into following you. But perhaps you are a Hero, at least, you show promise. It’s very cold out tonight, you may stay in my tower if you like, for now.” Garth waved us in and lead us back up the stairs.

  “Thank you,”I said to Garth. He responded with a few mumbles and pointed to a bed in the corner. Danny jumped on it and Courage lay down on the floor next to him. I saw Garth smirk for a moment before he sat back at his desk. He put his stern face back on as he looked at me.
  “So, you have a plan? What is it?” he asked.

I stopped and thought a moment. I never got a real answer from Theresa on how exactly we intended to take Lucien out. “I told you before, I don’t know. I am just the messenger. But I’ve been through all hell to get here.”

  “I can see that. I suppose you’re here to get revenge on Lucien then. I heard what you said about your sister and I’m sorry. If I had known what he intended to do, I would have stopped him.” Garth lowered his head and stared at the floor.

“Thank you again.” I looked around for a place to sit and pulled up a chair next to him. I winced as I hit my shoulder on a shelf while sitting down.

 Garth leaned forward in concern,”How did you get those injuries? They look serious.”

“My fault. I went to fight some bandits and got shot in the shoulder. Then a caravan exploded next to me after I set fire to it...”I looked over at Danny who had fallen asleep holding his lute.

  “Does it hurt?” Garth asked. I nodded. “Let me help you change those bandages. That is, if you don’t mind.”
  “It’s fine.” I answered and Garth started gathering some things from bookshelves scattered around the room. I set down my weapons and shifted in the chair as I slipped my arm from the sling carefully. I unraveled the bandage on my left arm, grimacing at the pain. I threw the old bandage on the floor and unwound the bandage on my head part way. I stopped when I got down to the burn and had to stifle a cry.

  “Stop,”Garth grabbed my wrist,”You’ll hurt yourself more. Let me help you.”

His grip was strong. I couldn’t help but stare at all the glowing blue lines covering him. They were even brighter at night and basked everything in pale blue light.
  “Now hold still, this is going to sting.” Garth told me, holding a beaker filled with thick green fluid and pouring it on my bullet wound. I screamed at the pain, but Garth quickly put a hand over my mouth as not to wake Danny. Courage lifted his head to check if I was alright. Seeing my pain, he trotted over and lay at my side.
  “Sorry...,” I whispered to Garth,”It hurts...”
“I told you , it’s going to sting. Here, bite on this.” Garth handed me a towel and I bit down as he administered more of the odd potion. Tears streaked down my cheeks as the wound sizzled.

  “This potion will make the hole in your arm repair much faster so that you won’t get an infection. I’ve also got another one to heal your face so that it won’t scar.”Garth explained.

I wanted to respond, but I was still stifling my screams. I just nodded to show I understood and he set the beaker down. I looked down at my shoulder and the bullet hole was nearly gone. I spit out the towel.
  “You made all these potions yourself? You’re a genius!” I whispered excitedly.
Garth smiled at the compliment.

“You might want to bite that towel again. I’m going to remove your face bandages.”he warned.

I stuffed the towel back in my mouth as he pulled the cloth from my face. I screamed into the towel and stomped on the floor. The pain was intense and I thought I was going to hit Garth, but I gripped the chair tightly instead. He removed the cloth and threw it to the ground while grabbing another beaker filled with some thin clear blue liquid. Garth dipped a cloth into it and then dabbed some on my face. I felt the pain melt away the instant he touched me. The relief must have showed on my face because Garth lightly chuckled. He finished applying the potion and took the towel from me.
  “There. Let it dry. You shouldn’t need any bandages now.” Garth sat back in his chair and sighed. I could now blink with my left eyelid and sat there blinking away.
 “What are you doing?” Garth looked at all my blinking.

  “I dunno, just making sure my eyelid works I guess....”I answered and stopped blinking repeatedly. Garth just shook his head.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” I requested.

“Go ahead.” Garth allowed.

“What are all those blue lines all over you? Experiment gone wrong?....or right?” I inquired.

  “These lines are the sign of a Will master. One who has studied and trained themselves to conquer their abilities. Though you may prefer to use fire or what have you, I have learned all types and become quite adept at using them. Yet I still prefer some over others. I like blades and lightning the best.” Garth answered.
  “Blades? Lightning?! I didn’t know I could learn those. What others are there? Tell me, please.” I begged.

“Well besides fire, lightning and blades, there are chaos, vortex, raise dead, time control and force push. How many have you learned so far?”he asked.

  “I know fire and I think force push...but I would love to learn them all if I could. Maybe you could teach me? I am willing to learn.” I bowed my head.

“Perhaps...but it’s not an easy thing. You must study and apply yourself. It took years for me to master each ability. But not tonight. Tonight you need your rest to finish healing those wounds. Tomorrow brings new challenges.” Garth stood up and helped me from my chair.
  “I have an extra cot you may use.” he pulled out a small fold out cot and set it up for me. It was only slightly moldy, but comfortable nonetheless. I took the wine from my pack and drank deep from it, but left enough for at least one more night. I quickly fell asleep watching Garth make swirling shapes with his Will fire. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

  I was shaken violently and fell off of my cot landing on my bad shoulder. I groaned and lifted my head.

  “RUN! GET OUT!” I heard Garth shouting. There was fire and the tower was shaking. Danny sat straight up in bed and Courage barked loudly. I could hear gun fire and enormous thunder claps. It sounded like I was in the middle of a battle field. I ran to Danny and scooped him up. I called for Courage and we all ran for the stairs. I nearly tripped and fell as another quake shook the tower.
  “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!”Danny screamed at me.
 “I don’t know!” Was all I could say. I truly didn’t know what was happening. Was there an accident? Was it an earthquake and the tower was falling down around us? But wait, there was thunder....

  I got Danny out of the tower and the instant we exited, I saw what was happening. A dozen men stood before me, clad in bulky coats and brandishing fierce weapons. Fear ran through me. I clutched Danny closer as I saw a gigantic black shard floating in the sky above them. Lightning was issuing from it’s center up to the top of the tower.
  “Garth!” I screamed. I had to go back. Lucien must be trying to capture him.
“Sparrow, do something!” Danny yelled as the men ran at me. I turned to run and found more men closing in. Where did they all suddenly come from?! There was no alternative and they weren’t backing down. I pulled out my gun and fired. One after the other, they fell. I set Danny down to reload and fired more. They backed off and pulled out guns of their own. I realized I had left my sword up in the tower. I could still use my Will but I was still skidish of it’s power. I used my force push on them, knocking some men over the railing, plummeting to the ground below.
  I took Danny’s hand and pulled him up the stairs as I ran to find Garth. More men crowded the steps and I sent them flying with an incredible force push. We made it to the study and I threw my sword on my back, heading for more stairs. We met with even more resistance and I my heart was sinking every time I had to shoot. They all fell at my feet and I leapt over their lifeless bodies to the top of the stairs.

  There was chaos in front of me. Bookshelves lay on the ground burning, potions spilled and dressers splintered. I looked past this blockade and saw Garth standing his ground on the balcony with magical blades whirling around him. The man blocking his escape was a frightening sight indeed. He was extremely tall, pale grey with blue spikes jutting out of his skin. He wore a dark coat and hat with a cloth covering most of his face.

  “You’re coming with me.” The dark man said.

“Never! I’ll never return to that place!” Garth retorted.

The dark man shot lightning at Garth making him crumple to the ground.

“NO!” I shouted.

Garth got to his hands and knees,”Look at you...you’re a freak. Nothing more than Lucien’s failed experiment!”

“You’re wrong, Garth. Lucien’s experiment was a radical success! You should have stayed...”The tall dark man swung his sword and the giant shard floated up to the balcony.

“And now, you’re coming with me...”The shard let out a jet of lightning engulfing the both of them. I closed my eyes at the intense light. When it disappeared, I looked around and They were all gone.

  “NO!!!” I screamed at their absence. “No! I could have saved him!” I dropped to my knees and sobbed. Danny sank down and rubbed my back.

  “He’s not dead you know. That creepy guy said he was taking him somewhere.” Danny tried to comfort me.

  “He’s as as! You don’t know what Lucien will do...He intends to use us for something, our powers I think...then once he’s done.” I dragged my finger across my throat.
Courage licked my face, now healed from the potion. I stood up and walked back down the stairs expecting to see bodies all over, but there were none. I suppose they had been taken back with the shard to the Spire. Lucien will know there was foul play. I don’t think he will suspect me to be the culprit, but he’ll know he has a new enemy.

  “We can’t stay here, we have to report back to Theresa. She’ll know what to-“ But I didn’t finish my sentence. Theresa spoke through the seal.

“Sparrow. I know what happened. Please come back to the guild, I have something that may prove useful in our endeavors.”

“Come on Danny. We’re going back to the guild.” I told him as I tousled his hair. He yawned and gathered his belongings as I took a few potions from Garth’s bookshelves. They might come in handy later. When we finished, we set trail for the guild stopping only to get more sleep back at Giles’ cabin.

  Bower lake was a welcome sight after the last chaos filled days. Danny was worn to the bone from walking and I from fighting. What was more, I had killed people. It was like a weight on my chest. I didn’t know them, who they were, what they were doing working for such a cruel man...I suppose they were only doing as instructed, but so was I.

  Danny and I entered the guild, exhausted and wanting to just crash for a week.

“How was your trip? Meet anyone new? Get in a few brawls?” Hammer asked unwittingly. “Geez, you look like hell! What happened? Guess I should’ve gone after all...”

“Hammer, please. It’s been rough on young Sparrow. You have no idea what she has been through.”Theresa tried to hush her up.

  “Oh and I suppose you do? Well, alright. Sorry about that, I’m just bored being stuck here most days with miss mystic over there.” Hammer apologized.

  I just shook my head and looked up at Theresa waiting for her to tell me what I needed to do next.

  “You’ve done well. There was nothing you could have done to stop Lucien’s men from taking Garth. I knew it was a matter of time before he would get to him. I’m just glad they did not take you as well.” Theresa paused to flip through a book on the table in front of her before speaking again. “If we are to rescue Garth, we will need to know what Lucien is planning. When Lucien abandoned the castle he left most of his staff behind, including his butler.”

  “Jeeves?!” I blurted out.
Theresa smirked,”Yes, as you well remember. I believe he will be able to tell us all we need to know. He now spends his days at the Cow and Corset in Bowerstone market. Travel there and see what he can tell you about Lucien.”

  “You’re joking right? I shot the man! I really don’t think he’ll be so keen on talking to me...”I yelled at Theresa.

Hammer chortled,”You shot him? When? Why?”

“It’s a long story and I really don’t want to tell anyone...especially right now.” I said darkly.

  “Well, if this means a trip to the pub, we’ll just have to make that sacrifice.” Hammer said sarcastically.
  “Sorry, Hammer, but Sparrow must go alone. Save for young Daniel that is. I don’t want to rush you, but it is of the utmost importance that we move swiftly. Every second we waste gives Lucien more time to construct the Spire. Now go.”Theresa waved for me to leave.

“Fine.” I said coldly. She didn’t even mention that I had to kill a ton of men in my attempt to save Garth. Did she even care? I pulled Danny with me out of the cave and stormed down the hill. We were on our way back to Bowerstone.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

Sparrow lost the second hero to Lucien and is told by Theresa to fetch some information from his former butler, Jeeves....

Chapter 14
-A Hard Day-


  “Are you okay?”Danny asked timidly as we sat on the stone steps in front of Bowerstone clocktower. I had a sandwich in my lap, uneaten. Danny had nearly finished his and Courage was looking at mine, drooling. I stared straight ahead. Thoughts swirled around in my mind.

  “She didn’t even care. Probably thirty men, dead. I wonder if they had families.”I muttered mostly to myself.

  “Sparrow,”Danny tugged on my sleeve,”They were gonna kill us. It’s not like you could’ve done anything to stop them without hurting them. Besides, you were saving my life weren’t you? Doesn’t that count for something?”

“You’re right.”I said monotone. I threw my sandwich to Courage which he sloppily gulped down in one bite. “Come on. We better go find Jeeves.” We both stood up and I turned around to face about ten people all staring at me.
  I frowned as they all muttered and pointed. Finally someone approached me.

“You’re that Sparrow right? I heard what you did...I just can’t believe it!”The man said to me.
How did they find out about what happened at the tower?

  “You got a problem with it?”I said defensively.

“No no miss! I wanted to thank you!,”He took my hand and shook it,”You helped that Giles capture the bandit Ripper! We owe a lot to Giles, we’re so happy he finally got his justice.”

  I stepped back as more of a crowd gathered. I was stunned at this recognition and praise.
“It was nothing really. I just wanted to help him out.”I replied.

More people approached me and shook my hand, giving me well wishes and thank you’s. I just nodded and made my over to the Cow and Corset slowly. I entered the Cow and Corset a bit happier than before and looked around at all the people. I didn’t see Jeeves so far and decided to ask the barman.
  “Hey! Sparrow! What can I get for you, it’s on the house!”Tom the barman said smiling.

“I need some info, but whilst we’re on the subject of free booze, I’ll take a bottle of wine. My usual.”I answered. Tom took the bottle of cheap red wine from the shelf behind him and handed it to me.
  “So, what info do you want?”Tom asked.

“I need to know if a man named Jeeves comes in here. I need to speak with him”I said taking the bottle and putting in my pack.
  “Jeeves? The old butler from Fairfax? He’s upstairs right now, first room on your left.”Tom told me and wiped down the counter. I thanked him and ran up the stairs. I stopped just before the doorway to listen as I heard mutterings.
 
  “Oh...perhaps I should buy a house? No more hanging out in this dingy bar, mingling with the rabble. All these commoners...”

  I recognized that voice. It was indeed Jeeves. Danny poked me in the side causing me to laugh out loud.
 “Stop! That tickles!” I yelled and grabbed his hand.”What?”

“Are we going in?”Danny asked.

  “Excuse me, but what are you doing?”I looked up to find Jeeves standing there with his arm crossed.
 
 “Oh, uh....”I looked at his clothes. They were all tattered and filthy. He looked much older, but still the same.
 
 “Oh, I bet you’re here to get some dirt on Lucien. That old nutter has plenty of secrets still left and people will pay through the nose to get them. So, what do you want to know, hm? How about where he’s gone? I know everything.” Jeeves rubbed his greedy little hands together and waited for an answer.

  I stood up tall, still angered by the sight of him and asked flat out,”How about where he ditched my sisters body?”

  Jeeves face went from cheerful to panicked. He stuttered and backed away into his room. I followed and closed the door before Danny could enter. (“Hey!”)

  “Y-y-y-you!”Jeeves backed into a corner.

“Yes, me! Tell me what happened to my sister’s body.”I ordered.

Jeeves couldn’t get out a single word. He just babbled incoherently for about a minute before I stopped him.
  “Tell me now! I want to know if my sister has a grave I can go and visit!” I shouted at him. Jeeves made a break for the door, but I caught him and held him back.
 “Help!”He cried out. I put my hand over his mouth and pulled him back, tripping over a loose nail in the floorboards. We both toppled over and hit the floor with a loud thud. There was a bit of a scuffle and I pinned Jeeves down.
  “Now, you listen to me,” I said,”I’m not going to hurt you. I was a stupid kid last time and that bullet was meant for Lucien. Now listen! I need to know what happened to my sister’s body.”

  I let Jeeves up and he took a few deep breaths before speaking,”After that night, Lucien told me there had been an accident with you two. He said that the magic of the stone plinth had backfired or something. Of course he had not known that I was listening in on everything. I know he shot you both. He ordered me to dispose of your sister’s body.”

  I clenched my fists at these words. That Lucien would try to cover up the truth and then just toss out a child’s body.
 
 “Don’t worry, I had her properly buried in Bowerstone cemetery. You should find her there, though I don’t know where the grave keeper buried her. Just look around.”Jeeves sat on the bed.

  “I’m sorry I shot you before. I was so angry at what Lucien did. And thank you for having her put to rest in the right place.”I said softly.

  Jeeves nodded,”Anything else you need to know? Current location maybe?”I could see the wheels spinning in his greedy little mind again.

“How about everything he’s been up to since he started thinking about the Spire?”I asked.

  He looked a bit dumbfounded that I would know so much already. “Well....for the right price I could be willing to part with Lucien’s most secret diary.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him,”How much are we talking about?”

“Oh, say.....1000 gold pieces? It would be enough to get me a decent house around here at least.”Jeeves held out his hand. I frowned at the price.

  “I don’t have much myself. Only enough to buy some food and wine.”I answered.

“Well, I know there are some odd jobs to do around here. Perhaps you could get one?”Jeeves said with a bit of smugness.

  “Fine, but you had better not sell it to anyone else or next time, I will shoot to kill.”I of course was bluffing, but he didn’t know that and it was enough to keep him quiet. I opened the door and Danny gave me a stern look.
  “What the heck were you doing in there?” He asked.

“I was trying to weasel some information from the weasel, but now I gotta get a job so that I can get some dang info from him.”I answered walking down the steps. Danny followed me out and into the streets of the market. I wanted to go looking for a job, but before any of that, I had to go find Rose.
  “Where are we going now?”asked Danny.

“To the cemetery.”I replied.

“Why?” he asked again.

“Because I have some people to visit. Why does it matter where we’re going all the time? Or why? You said you wanted to follow me where ever I go, so just follow.”I said, mind gloomy.

 We walked silently through Old Town, ignoring others as they approached to praise me once more for a job well done. I just waved and gave a half-hearted smile. My mind was set on the grave that awaited me in the cemetery. What would I do once I found her? What would I say? There was nothing I could say.
  The cemetery gates were open wide like a gaping mouth waiting to devour more souls. I remembered it well. Everything was still quiet and peaceful. Nothing about it had changed, save for the many more graves that had been filled. I looked over the fresh names, none of them striking much chord. No one I knew from before. But wait. There was someone I knew here.

  “Here lies Arfur, a dirty rotten thief to his last breath.” I read the tombstone. Unexpected tears met my eyes at this statement. I wiped them away, thinking nothing of it. I was ready to cry the second I stepped into the place where my family was buried and gone.

  “My mum was buried back at the farm. I never got to say bye to her.” Danny said quietly. I looked down at the boy. He just stared straight at Arfur’s grave. I suddenly felt an immense surge of sadness flow through my chest for him. I’d forgotten about what happened and wondered about Giles. How lonely he must be without his wife and son. The sadness was too much to bear already and I hadn’t even seen Rose’s grave yet.

  “Come on.” I offered my hand to Danny, who took it gently and we strolled through the graveyard together. I read all the graves I didn’t recognize, hoping that she would be somewhere near. It seemed like ages we’d been searching and no such luck. Danny stopped to rest on a bench for a bit as I went on searching by myself. One after the other it was the same disappointment. I was beginning to wonder if Jeeves had been telling the truth, or if he just wanted me to get off his back about it. Sadness was being replaced with frustration and anger. “No. No. Nope. No.” I counted them off. Finally, Courage barked and ran off after something I couldn’t see.

  “Courage! Get back here!” I yelled after him. Why was everything so difficult?! I ran after the mutt, chasing him over a bridge and into a secluded area of the cemetery. He sopped at one grave in particular and barked up at me.
  “What has gotten into you, boy?”I asked nearly at my wits end. Danny ran up, huffing and puffing from the run. I looked at the grave Courage was sitting on. There was a small bouquet of roses laying on top of the lush grass that had made it’s way through the soil of the grave. There was a small, undecorated stone at the head of it that read:
 Here lies Rose.

That was it. Nothing more, nothing less, but it was all I needed. My mouth dropped open and my knees buckled. Hot tears flowed from my eyes and down onto the soft grave. My lower lip began to tremble and a tight knot formed in my throat. I tried to talk, but all that came was a tiny squeak. I bowed down onto the grass and clenched my teeth together. More squeaks escaped my throat and then shuddered sobs. I clasped my hands together and hung my head as I wailed my sorrow.
  She was here. Rose was here. She was really here and really dead. This hit me far harder than I had thought. Her grave here meant that she really had died up in that cold tower all those years ago. My sister, the only one I had called family, was really gone from my grasp.

  I lay myself on the soft grass and felt the warm earth. At least she wasn’t cold anymore. She wasn’t hungry or tired. I just cried into the dirt, clutching at the blades of grass between my fingers. Danny took out his lute and started to play a sad tune for me. I lay there forever, just listening to the heart crushing melody and pressing my face to the warm dirt. I cried and cried until I had no tears left. Danny stopped playing as I sat up, dirt mixing with the remainder of the tears on my face. I stood slowly, shuddering breaths escaping me, and hugged Danny. He hugged me back and soon, we strolled out of the little corner and onto our next ask.


  Rose’s grave never left my mind that day as I toiled away at a strenuous black smithing job forging swords. It was grueling work, but I now had a fire fueling my efforts. It burned like Hell-fire in my belly. Angry thoughts clouded my mind and I was bound and determined to earn that gold to get Lucien’s diary. I want to know what he thought after he had killed my sister and tried to kill me. I pounded the white hot metal with a heavy mallet, sweat dripping profusely off my brow. My hair was tied back roughly into a ponytail to keep it from getting in my way. My muscles ached for rest as I hammered the last of the swords for the day. The black smith was pleased with my work and rewarded me with a nice satchel of gold. It was a nice sum of gold, but still not enough to pay Jeeves. I’d have to work tomorrow as well and possibly the next day.

  Danny, Courage and I returned to the Cow and Corset, hungry and worn from our hard work. Danny had collected quite a load of money from his gig as a bard and offered it to me.

  “No, I won’t, you earned your money, I won’t take it.” I refused.

“But, I only earned it because of you! All day, people asked me to play songs about you beating Ripper! I had them eating out of my hands. You should have seen ‘em, Sparrow!”Danny exclaimed, holding the bag of money in front of my face. I gently pushed it away.

  “Danny, I really only have one more day of work to earn the rest, it’s no problem at all. You keep your money.”I told him, taking a sip of my wine. He just shrugged and stuffed it back in his pack. We finished our dinner at a comfortable pace, watching other villagers stumble around and ramble on. I noticed Jeeves sitting in a corner clutching a bottle of whiskey protectively. Tomorrow I would hopefully have the diary and be one step closer to my goal.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

I swear the story will pick up soon. >_< It's just so hard to write about fetching a diary...anyways.

Sparrow finally has enough money to pay for the diary...

Chapter 15
-Lucien’s Diary-


  The next morning met us with a bitter chill. My night had been rough. I had vague visions of Lucien whispering somewhere dark and cold. He felt so close to me, as if I could reach out and grasp at his coat. My head pounded, but I tried to shake it off. I had another hard day of labor ahead of me.
  I looked over at Danny who was soundly dreaming away on the bed next to mine, his golden locks shading his face. He looked so peaceful laying there, I decided not to wake him and headed downstairs by myself. Early risers and all-nighters filled the Cow and Corset. Barmaids served the drunkards their breakfast of beer as I tousled my hair, trying to get it to lie flat.

  “Ah, Sparrow! Up n’ at ‘em! Where ya off to today?” One such barmaid asked. I stopped scratching my nose and looked at her.

  “Oh! Well...I was going back to work for the blacksmith today. Saving up and such...”I mumbled off and sidled outside. The market was bust as the sun shone up over the walls of Bowerstone, giving the town a charming glow. I smirked at this little moment and felt like today would be . At least, I hoped it would. I wandered over towards the pie stall vender to check if he had any fresh pies that would make for a breakfast before work.

  “Ah, young Sparrow! Come for breakfast then?” The vendor asked with high enthusiasm. I chuckled at this display of over affection.

  “Well, I take it word of Ripper’s capture has spread like wildfire? Does everyone in town know my name?”I questioned.

  “They do now! So, what’ll it be? Blueberry?  Blackberry? Cherry?” He waved his hands towards the fresh pies waiting to be bought. I looked them over, thinking of which flavor I was in the mood for, when I saw a peculiar item on display. It appeared to be a round pastry with a hole cut in the middle and drizzled in a sort of frosting.

  “Um...what are those?”I pointed.

The stall vendor sighed,”Oh, my sister made them. Says they’ll be a big hit, but I dunno.”

  “What are they called?”I asked, picking one up and looking it over.

“She calls them donuts. Don’t know what for though.”He stroked his chin.

“Well, I’ll take one.” I grinned and handed him the gold for it. He shrugged and pocketed the coins as I took a big bite of the sugary dough. The second it hit my tongue I was in heaven. It was chewy, sugary heaven. I gobbled down the first and went back for another. I bought two more this time and wolfed them down in an instant. People around stopped and looked over at the stall. I just couldn’t get over the wonderful succulent taste of the donuts. Soon ,other people came to see what had gotten their hero so riled up. It seemed that I was causing quite a commotion just with the simple act of eating. Some villagers purchased some donuts and to the vendors surprise, more and more came to eat the fabulous, sugar smothered pastry.
  It wasn’t long before he was cleaned out and left wondering if he should have asked his sister for more. I licked my fingers (though it probably wasn’t a idea) and smacked my lips, trying to savor the sweetness for a bit longer.

  “You don’t even have one left?” I asked, almost begging.
“Sorry, I’ll have more tomorrow. Guaranteed!”He was positively beaming by now.
I just trudged off to the blacksmith’s wanting more.

  The day was long once more, and it grew more difficult as it got into the evening hours. All that sugar had given me a rush this morning, but now it was waning and I was growing weary. The hammer felt like a hundred ton weight I had to lift. The blacksmith stopped me and payed me for my work. I thanked him and headed back to the tavern, unhappy with my performance but glad to be done. The sun hadn’t even begun to set as I returned to the Cow and Corset. I headed up to my room to count how much I had collected and to see if Danny had returned as well. It was no surprise to discover he was not there waiting, though I admit it was a bit lonely without him there.
   I pulled another satchel of gold from my pack and piled all of it together on the bed, counting each piece. It took a while but finally I had finished counting. There was exactly one thousand gold pieces that I had collected. Reluctantly, I scooped them up into one bag and made my way downstairs to the main part of the bar. I skimmed over the crowd in search of Jeeves and found him back in his corner.

  “Here.” I plopped the sack of gold in front of him. He just stared up at me, disbelieving that I came up with the money so fast. “Well? Are you gonna give me the diary or not?”I asked impatiently.

  Jeeves took the gold and hid it deep in his coat, looking around to see if anyone were watching before he spoke. I’ve hidden the diary in a very safe place, but to get it you must return to Bower Lake.” He took out a scrap of paper with some scribbles on it and held it out to me. I took it swiftly and looked it over. It made absolutely no sense and my patience was growing thin.
  “What the hell is this mess? Why can’t you just take me there?”I questioned angrily.

“Well, I would, but I’ve got some gold to spend.”He smiled drunkenly and stood. I opened my mouth to yell when I heard Theresa once more in my head.

  “Sparrow, you need to get that diary.”She spoke in her usual calm, yet irritated manner.

“I’m trying!” I yelled in my frustration. A few people scooted their chairs away and stared in my direction. My face burned from embarrassment and I quickly made my way out the door to an alley nearby.

  “There is no need to get upset. Jeeves won’t double cross you. He has no reason. Go back to the lake and search using those directions he gave you.”Theresa ordered.

  “And how do you suppose I do that? These so called directions are rubbish! Nothing but scribbles, I can’t make anything out!” I retorted, flipping the paper every which way to try and make sense of it.

  “I’m sorry, I cannot help you there. Just hurry.”Theresa ended the conversation and I stormed out of the alley muttering foul things under my breath. I decided to go and look for Danny and Courage. The faster we get that diary, the better. I found the two of them singing and howling across the bridge, getting a crowd gathered. Danny bowed as he finished his last song and I snatched him up.
  “Hey! What’s the problem?!”He grouched as I pulled him out of town.

“I paid off Jeeves and now we’re going to get the diary.”I explained in short.

He just raised his eyebrow, clearly just as confused as I. But he knew when not to ask questions, so we all silently made our way to the lake only stopping once to rest.
  It was mid morning when we arrived at the lake. I pulled out the piece of paper and looked around, finally just giving up and tossing it. Danny picked it up as I slumped down, crouching and crossing my arms. Danny squinted and nodded, whispering to himself. Courage licked his nose and panted wanting to go and jump back in the lake.

  “Got it!”Danny shouted, making me fall over sideways.

“Will you stop shouting!”I screamed, standing and dusting myself off.

  “Fine then, I won’t tell you where the diary is.” He crossed his arms and turned away.

I grabbed him by the shoulders and picked him up off the ground,”How about you tell me right now? Or I’ll leave you here while I go on my grand adventures?”

  “Well, I dunno, it seems like you need me more than I need you at the moment.”He grinned slyly. I just narrowed my eyes and let him down slowly.

  “Alright then, fine. Where is it?” I asked, trying to be pleasant.

“Just follow me!” Danny shouted at the top of his lungs over the fields of Bower Lake. It was all I could muster not to shut him up. He led me down the winding trail to the base of the lake and over towards hero hill.
  “It’s right over h-“There suddenly came a quake of the earth, knocking us both off our feet and Courage barked incessantly. There were four stumps in front of us, but the middle one began to rise from the ground. Large wooden arms burst forth from the dirt, spraying us with rocks and debris. I rolled out of the way, dragging Danny back with me. Two large blue eyes emerged from beneath all the moss, bark and soil. Then the creature opened it’s cave like mouth to let out a thunderous roar. It picked up a chunk of the ground and hurled it at us. I picked up Danny and just barely escaped the impact.
  “It’s a troll! It’s a troll! It’s a freaking TROLL!” I shrieked.
“Is Jeeves trying to kill us?!” Danny yelled as I tossed him behind a rock.

  “Stay here. Don’t move, do you understand?!” I said, pulling my pistol out. Danny wanted to argue, but I gave him a stern look and he stayed put. I then ran back towards the hulking monster. It’s beady little eyes watched my carefully, tracking my movement. I started shooting at it, trying anything I could. There was no effect as it kept chunking rocks and loose ground at me.

  “Shoot the nerves!” I heard Danny yelling at me.
“What nerves?!” I yelled back.
  “The little squirmy thingies! They look like worms!”He pointed. I turned just in time to see the troll pounding the ground in front of him. I had no time to move and was hit by the resulting shock wave, hitting the trunk of a tree nearby. My back ached tremendously, but I managed to stand anyways and aimed back at the troll. I finally managed to locate what Danny was talking about and shot one. The troll let out another roar upon impact. I shot more and stumbled around, dodging more attempts to knock me back. It was slowing down, but so was I. My back screamed at me and my gun had run out of bullets. I had no time to reload. I remembered my will. Perhaps it could hit the nerves? It was worth a try and I shot a fireball at the grumbling troll. It’s arm got in the way, but being made of bark, caught on fire. It let out a shriek and struck the ground trying to stamp out the fire.
  I shot more at the troll, catching him on fire until it was out of control. He was ablaze and roared, trying to strike me once more until finally it shrank back into the ground, disappearing. I breathed heavily, slowly approaching where it had gone. Courage came back out from behind the rock with Danny and ran over to the spot where the troll had gone. My eyes were still wide open and my heart was pounding. Courage started to dig and bark.

  “It’s okay, Courage. It’s gone now...”I panted.

Danny walked over to see what he was doing. “I don’t think it’s the troll he’s digging for. Look.” Danny held up a large, black leather bound book. I raced over to him and snatched it up. I opened it up and looked all through the pages. My face drooped when I noticed I couldn’t understand a word. It was all written in some sort of odd lettering.
  “Wh....huh?....I...this can’t be....”I flipped through it, trying to find something that made some sense.

  “Sparrow, bring it back to me. I can read it for you.”Theresa said.

“Of course you can.” I said to myself as we all climbed the hill and entered the cullis gate.

  “Tell me something. If you know when and what happens to me, why didn’t you tell me there would a be a troll waiting for me when I went looking for the diary?” I asked, handing her the diary.

  “I didn’t know what to expect. I can only hear you through the seal, that is all. I check in every now and then to see how you are.”Theresa explained, taking the diary and laying it open on the table.
  “Check....up on me?”I asked in disbelief. Danny snickered and I conked him on the head. “Ow...”

  “You’re keeping tabs on me? Like I’m a baby or something?” I questioned angrily.

Hammer stepped up. And put a hand on my shoulder,”Hey, there. Been having fun without me?”

“Shhh.” Theresa quieted us both and we glared at her. She ruffled through the pages a few times and we sat looking at one another. The same question arose in both our minds. How on earth was she reading that?

  “Hm...It will take some time for me to translate. For now, why don’t you all leave the guild for a while? Hammer, perhaps you would like to back to Oakfield? Sparrow, you as well. I’ll call you when I have figured out the next step.” Theresa ordered.

  “Finally I can get out of this stuffy old cave and have some fun!” Hammer exclaimed, grabbing her weapon of choice and waiting for me. I just stood there, frowning and getting fed up with all these orders to go and stop.
  “Fine. I’ll go, but when I get back I want some real progress this time. I’m tired of being just a messenger and delivery girl.” I told Theresa.

  She didn’t respond and so I ran into the cullis gate, my patience was gone.

---

My closest friends are in my head!

I just realised I've been reading this on an internet forum. I thought I was reading a book. Also, I happen to find this more interesting than the actual game. You've put so much personality into Sparrow, and it just makes me really want to join in and make a character of my own to meet Sparrow. Become an author. DO IT. Lol.