Chapter 1
The noise of angry villagers rose from behind the trees as Andie tried to keep up with her brother’s pace. The adrenaline coursed through her veins as the smell of smoke filled her lungs. She coughed, gray fog filled her vision. How can they be so cruel? Andie thought as tears stung her eyes. How could they destroy our home, a home to children!
Her sadness soon turned into anger, which was an emotion she tried her best not to feel. Her brother, Eeron, had no trouble with his stamina. He was two years older than her, and was much stronger and quicker than Andie ever was. He seemed to realize her tiredness and grabbed ahold of her arm, continuing to run deeper and deeper into the woods, until they were finally far away enough from the mob of furious villagers. They could finally rest, which was something Andie hadn’t done in a long time.
Eeron sat down on a nearby stump, breathing heavily. Andie sat down on a log beside him, staring down at the ground in dismay. They had been driven out of their home, exiled. All because they were trying to survive. It had been their only option, and no one had seemed to care, no one had even tried to help them at all. Andie couldn’t believe how horrible and selfish people could be. Her vision became blurry as tears filled her eyes, taking careful breaths and trying not to let them spill. She slowly turned to her brother, who was breaking pieces of a stick and chucking them at a nearby tree. His face was full of scorn and disdain, she winced as she watched a piece of broken wood hit the tree with a hard thump.
“Hey, Eeron?” asked Andie, turning to her brother. He rolled his eyes and frowned at her. “What?”
The dark haired girl stared off in the distance, into the void of vast trees and grass. “W-Where do we go now? We have no idea where we are and we can’t go back!” That’s when she began to sob, loud and heartbroken. The last time she’d cried this hard was when their mother disappeared, leaving the two to fend for themselves. Eeron had convinced himself that she’d given up on them and didn’t want to bear the burden of taking care of them. However, Andie believed something had happened to her, still holding onto that sliver of hope that her mother was still alive out there, somewhere.
Her brother sighed, moving over to the log and sitting down beside her. His expression looked hopeless, like all his drive and strength was gone. He always had pushed himself so far, but Andie knew this was probably where he reached his limit. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Andie laid her head on his, the sound of the trees moving through the breeze being the only thing of noise in the dark and tall woods. Eeron took a deep breath before responding, “I don’t know, Andie. But we’ll find a place, I promise.”
“You don’t need to promise,” Andie told him. “It’ll only put more stress on your shoulders.” She sat up and turned toward her brother, who seemed to be contemplating things in his head. She wondered if he’d ever felt calm or at peace before, but she already knew the answer. And she knew that part of the reason was partially her fault.
Eeron had always tried to provide for Andie, especially since either mother had been struggling to make ends meet even when she was still around. Some part of her always wanted to help, however, not much you could do when everyone babied you or told you that you were “too young”. It made Andie upset and angry, but mostly hurt. She knew all her brother wanted to do was protect her, but she also wanted to try helping them out as well. Things went down hill when she found out her brother had resorted to stealing.
Her mind wandered to the one person who was kind to her in the village. That was Mrs. Wilhelm, she was a local washer. She would help her do laundry during the week, and in return, she’d get 5 coins. 5 coins hadn’t seemed like much at the time, but she knew it was a lot more than what her brother usually got. She never told anyone, not even her brother, about her job. Because she knew if she did, her brother would feel like all his work would’ve been for nothing. So, she kept the money and when she got things, she would lie and say she stole them. Her brother never batted an eye, afterall, he did the exact same thing.
Andie glanced down at her jacket pocket, a bag with at least 20 coins tucked inside. She patted it gently, then she watched as her brother got up abruptly. He grabbed his shoulder bag and slung it over his shoulder, making his way deeper into the woods. She got up and sprinted after him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. “Where are you going? How are we supposed to get out when we don’t have any idea where to go?”
Eeron sighed, pulling his arm away. “I don’t care where we end up, as long as it is far away from here.” He said the last part with so much bitterness, it startled Andie. She knew her brother was like this when agitated or enraged, but this was something else. This was pure hatred.
She followed her brother in silence, and soon it had begun to sprinkle. Water dripped onto the leaves and trickled down onto the forest floor, making the ground muddy. Andie tried her best to keep up with her brother, but he seemed to not notice how far behind she was. Every once in a while she’d glance back, as if imagining her home would make her feel better. It only made the pain hurt worse.
A few hours had passed, and she felt herself breathing heavily. She felt exhausted, they hadn’t stopped walking since they left the village. Now, it was almost nightfall, the sky turning from blue to an orangish pink color. A few stars stuck out from the evening sky, dancing from behind the clouds. Her brother was still far ahead, and she sprinted forward until she was close enough for him to hear her call out his name. “Eeron! Wait up!”
This seemed to get his attention, as Andie watched as her brother turned around to face her. He looked tired as well, but she was pretty sure he hadn’t realized this yet. She wiped the sweat from her forehead before speaking again. “We’ve walked so far from the village already, can we take a break?”
Eeron seemed to think about this, before sighing tiredly. “Rest does sound like a good idea. We can sleep here for tonight.” Andie nodded, and began picking up some sticks while her brother began to set up their tent. They had used this tent for the past month, it was something Andie had bought with her coins. Of course, Eeron didn’t know about that, so she covered it up by saying she stole it. He was a little skeptical on how she’d managed to steal a tent of all things, but nonetheless, he didn’t question it anymore.
Once everything was set up, the two orphans sat around the fire, the warmth and brightness of the fire making the woods seem a lot less threatening somehow. Andie rummaged through a bast and pulled out some bread rolls and berries, handing some to her brother. The two ate in silence, neither one of them uttering a single word. There wasn’t much to talk about, now that they had no place to live. Worries began to swirl around inside of Andie’s mind. Would this be what her life was like now? Running from angry mobs? Fighting and tricking to survive?
“We’ll leave at dawn. I heard there’s a village not too far from here. If we keep heading North, we should be able to get there by late noon,” her brother began to explain, pulling out a map from his shoulder bag. She peered over his shoulder and looked to where he was pointing. There was a picture of green and a castle, with big bold letters that spelt: Kranis.
Those words seem to piece together in Andie’s brain. She had heard of the kingdom of Kranis whenever Mrs. Wilhelm told her stories of visiting there. However, whenever she told them, she always had this sad, distant look on her face. Andie never knew why, but she never asked the frail woman why. She was now regretting asking, wishing she knew at least some information about the place Eeron wanted to go.
After a few hours of resting and planning their next move, Andie yawned. She realized it had been a while since she’d last slept, so the thought of slumber seemed pretty appealing, especially this late at night. Eeron had set out the fire and Andie crawled into the tent and into her sleeping bag. Her brother followed shortly after, climbing into his sleeping bag and turning to the side. Silence filled the atmosphere, the sounds of crickets and the branches of trees swaying creating all sorts of commotion, but in a peaceful way. It was almost like nature was trying to create its own song.
Andie tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep, but there was something inside her, a gut feeling telling her to ask the question that was practically eating her alive. She took a deep breath and turned to her brother, who looked like he was about to drift off to sleep. “Hey, Eeron?”
Her brother’s eyes shot open, annoyance clearly showing in his dark brown eyes. He frowned at her and snapped, “Andie, it’s late. What is it?”
“Do you think we’ll ever find home?” Those words seemed to hit Eeron like a boulder. Andie seemed to realize this, however, before she could apologize, her brother responded with words she wasn’t quite expecting, even from her pessimistic brother.
“It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten what home even feels like.”
