Chapter II:
Oaksville Tower
It would be ten years until Reman’s past finally caught up with him. After Berethor gave him to a family he slowly started to fit in, he had forgotten about anything before his life there, Oaksville was his new home.
Reman was a normal teenager, well he appeared that way at least. He was a keen writer and reader, he would often be welcomed by a new novel left to him by the kind old traveller who would stop by the small town of Oaksville. The traveller hadn’t been to Oaksville for quite some time, and Reman was starting to eagerly await his arrival.
Over the years Reman had to adjust to his new family, it wasn’t hard, they were quite a nice family. Although his “little brother” was often portrayed by Reman as his “nemesis” as sibling relationships go it was a pretty normal one, with both of them annoying one or the other.
Reman had to start school a year late. But that didn’t matter because Reman caught on fast and showed a very fast adaptation into school. He soon joined people of his own age after the first year for he was accelerated a year.
The school itself was very small. It was the converted estate of the old Jeyals, who had moved on to “better places”. Of course the school was small because the town of Oaksville itself was quite small.
The school was quite small with rarely any new students causing them to join different grades. But not when Reman came for some reason it seemed that there was quite a large number of students who had enrolled.
As the years went by and Reman had to begin to get used to having his little brother irritating him at school as well. His little brother was obviously favoured by his father, but the kind woman who welcomed Reman on the day he was delivered by Berethor became his kind guardian.
Reman had developed a strong relationship with a girl, they were like siblings. Her name was Ruma and they always stood by each other. She was beautiful and her long brown hair flew in the wind. Maybe Reman fancied her, maybe, he could never ask though. He was too afraid that it would jeopardise their relationship.
To sum it up, Reman’s life was pretty good. Some days, well most days, Reman would go out into the forest with Ruma. Where they would sit on the hill and watch the clouds, much like Berethor and his brothers (minus the smoking of course).
It was summer and everyone was expecting the return of Adrogan Green-Tree. He was a common visitor to Oaksville and always told fantastic stories to the children, and trust me you should be ready for any kind of amazing story.
He was a druid (or tree-worshipper if you wish to be rude). Every boy and girl would await the day when Adrogan would come roaming into Oaksville (even if their parents wouldn’t let them out of the house).
Adrogan hadn’t been back in Oaksville for quite some time, but Reman’s memory of him was as vivid as it could be: He was an elderly man with a long grey beard; it had brown streaks through it which seemed quite strange. He wore a long green robe which covered his entire body (apart from his head, which was covered each time with one type or another of hat, which changed with every visit). Last of all was his staff which he used as his walking stick, it was tall and formed from wood.
Reman and Ruma were the lucky ones; they were allowed to see Adrogan while most parents resented him and kept their children indoors while he visited.
Reman found it hard to concentrate in school because of Adrogan’s forthcoming visit. He was often told off by the teachers for not paying attention.
‘Reman! Doesn’t your father ever tell you that day-dreaming doesn’t get you anywhere?’ says the teacher. Truth is Reman’s father had never said that, and in fact day-dreaming was quite common for him.
Most of his peers found it offensive and stupid to be so eagerly awaiting Adrogan Green-Tree’s arrival. It was after school that day when he and Ruma were walking home heard the two boys; Kamn and Uther talking.
‘Hey, did you hear? That damn “Green-Tree” is comin’. Those “Tree-Worshippers” should stay right out o’ this town.’ said Kamn.
‘Yeah, I wonder what stupid tricks he’ll do this time.’ said Uther.
These kind of slander infuriated Ruma. They were both brutish and ugly. The classic bullies in every way, and were as Ruma is quoted ‘Dumb as an Ogre’.
‘Hey you, don’t you dare talk about Green-Tree like that!’ she shouted at the two stupid thugs as they turned and faced Ruma. ‘Who do think you are?’ she continued.
‘No, who do you think you are?’ replied Kamn, having no confidence with his words. He just made himself look more stupid and idiotic.
‘How dare you speak to us like that!’ said Uther having his time to speak. ‘You better be lucky you’re a girl.’ he continued.
‘Hey, what’s that supposed to mean!” replied Ruma, getting more and more infuriating.
Reman had to jump in, and that he did. He stood in front of them trying to stop the fight before it went any further, which he sure didn’t want.
He grabbed Ruma by the arm and whispered in her ear:
‘Come on, that’s enough.’ he said as he pulled Ruma away from the two other boys.
Reman then walked with Ruma away from the main path, trying not to have the same events recur. They continued out of the school and returned home.
Reman stayed in his room until he heard a knock at the door, he looked out his bedroom door to see who it was. Reman’s mother opened the door and was greeted with an old angry and gritty voice, only one person could have such a voice.
‘You should restrain the good fer nothin’ son of yours!’ yelled Old Man Mansfield; Uther’s grandfather and carer.
By the time Reman’s mother had opened the door Old Man Mansfield was already well into his drunken rant.
‘Excuse me?’ replied Reman’s mother shocked at what Mansfield was implying.
‘I said you ought to teach the boy some discipline!’ continued Mansfield.
Reman’s mother had heard quite enough, she dismissed Mansfield before he could say anything about it, not like Reman’s mother could be swayed anyway.
Reman went back into his room and began to read, before quickly falling asleep.
When morning came Reman awoke to hear the birds singing outside, it seemed to good he didn’t really feel well, happy at least, it was the week end and he had no reason at all to be unhappy. In fact he was to meet Ruma at Oaksville Tower.
Oaksville Tower was a tree-house built by Reman and Ruma one long summer, it was an odd name seeing as Oaksville already had a tower, at the Town Hall.
Reman met Ruma early in the morning after he had eaten his breakfast and they quickly made haste towards Oaksville Tower.
Well Reman and Ruma both made their way out of town and down into the Oaksville forest, the sweet afternoon breeze went through Reman and Ruma’s hair as they ran through the forest towards the Tower.
There it was, Oaksville Tower, yes maybe the two of them were a bit too old for tree houses, but where else were they to find sanctuary?
It was built from wood left from Ruma’s uncle’s house, which he had tried to renovate. Oaksville Tower was built with many levels wrapping around an ancient Cyprus tree, which had grown oddly taller than the others.
Ruma and Reman climbed the ladder to the top of the Tower, one after the other.
At the top they felt as if they were looking over all of Promethia. To the north they could see the Moth Mountains which bordered the lands of Midgard and Grendilheim. To the east they could see the mountains of Dragon’s bane, to the west they could see the Deepwater Lake and to the south, they could see Mournwin the southern kingdom.
It was then, when Ruma noticed something coming in on the roads.
A man whose face was covered by his large hat, his green robes covered over the body of the horse he rode on. Could it be? The Mighty Green-tree had come.
Ruma’s heart was pounding, she ran quickly back to town Reman tried to keep up.
‘Green-Tree’s here! Green-Tree’s here!’ yelled Ruma, she hasn’t had this much excitement for quite a while, including last St. Alorn’s day (Promethian Christmas).
The reaction of the town’s people was something to be enjoyed. Some liked the fact that he had come to their town, some resented him each and every time he decided to “stop by”.
Then he came on his brown horse and the sound of excited children and parents slamming doors could be heard.
Ruma ran up to Adrogan with excitement, while Reman wasn’t quite sure and stayed back.
Ruma and Adrogan both began talking, well Ruma anyway. It didn’t take long for Adrogan to realise that Reman was with Ruma, so he invited him up.
Reman was greeted by Adrogan with a kind ‘Good Morning’ and Reman, nervous, replied with a simple ‘Hello Sir’.
‘Will you do any tricks for us this time Green-Tree?’ asked Ruma excitedly.
‘Oh I think I will.’ He replied with a smile. ‘Aren’t you a bit old for silly magic tricks?’ he asked.
‘Oh golly no.’ Ruma answered quickly.
‘That’s what I like to hear.’ said Green-Tree. ‘well then, I’ll be off.’ He concluded nodding his head.
Reman and Ruma got ready to enjoy the night that awaited them. It seemed too long away to handle as they tried to distract themselves.
They stopped by at the bakery on the corner for lunch. They enjoyed a nice salad roll which was really the best thing available in Oaksville, well apart from the rare occasions when they would get rare spices from the far east. These eastern foods were a favourite of Reman’s, but recently the shipments had been in decline.
Reman and Ruma both had to go back home for dinner that night.
As Reman sat at the dinner table eating his mother’s roast (which was quite good by the way) he listened to his father inviting him and his brother away to the city for work. Reman declined of course, he wasn’t interested in that area of work.
His father was a black-smith and his brother was the one who was to take over from his father one day.
But the time soon came, when the night began come. People flocked to the market fields awaiting Green-Tree’s arrival. Reman and Ruma sat on the grass in front of most of the other people who were ready to watch.
Then suddenly a mouse ran through the crowd of people and people began to notice and quickly jumped to their feet. But suddenly something began to happen; the mouse changed, grew larger and began to lose hair and its mouse-like shape until finally Green-Tree in his green robes and odd hat stood in front of them, holding his walking-stick in front of him.
It was a night of great enjoyment with sparks flying high, flying stones and other fantastical (and most certainly magical) tricks.
After Reman and Ruma had finished watching Green-Tree’s “banquet of magical feasts” as it became known by the Oaksville Courier (a small village newspaper) they went home. Reman retreated back up to his room where he ended the day reading his favourite book.
The next morning Reman woke up to a knock at the door, it was the week-end. Ruma was at the door, as would happen commonly on the week-end.
She had wanted to go to the market for quite some time but every time they seemed to be interrupted by something or another. But this time was different.
Reman quickly rose up from his bed, the book he read the night before fell to the ground. He grabbed his coat and pouch filled with his money he had collected from the work on the fields, and quickly ran downstairs to meet Ruma at the door.
They walked casually down the street, well Reman anyway, towards the market. The cobblestone path had grass growing in between the loose stones.
As they reached the large oak-Tree at the centre of the town they saw the markets.
They walked in and began to browse, the peace wasn’t to last though. Ruma had spied something not quite fine. Thieves ran through the market isles pushing people out of the way as they went.
‘Hey Stop!’ yelled Ruma, knowing in her heart what they were doing was wrong.
Then suddenly the thieves were tripped and fell to the ground with a large slam. Moaning in pain from their broken noses and bruised bodies the thieves looked up and saw Adrogan Green-Tree standing above them, staff held in front of him.
He kept his staff fixed in one position with both hands and leaned to one side, looking at the two thieves’ faces.
‘Well, look at this, maybe you should think of listening to the girl next time. Maybe you’ll save yourself a nose. Now go, get out of my sight.’ said Adrogan in pity.
Adrogan leaned down to pick up the sack of gold that the thieves had taken.
‘Oh I’m too old for this.’ He said supporting his back.
He grunted and then looked at Ruma and Reman, who were both looking up at him, eyes wide.
‘Now you two, would you be able to take this back to who they stole it from?’ he said looking down at them.
‘Um, we didn’t see who they took it off.’ said Ruma looking up at Green-Tree.
‘Okay then, well I’ll look after this, I’m sure someone will want it.’ said Adrogan holding the sack of gold in his hand.
The two of them continued through the markets, although they couldn’t seem to regain the past excitement they had before the thieves.
As they spent most of the day there at the Markets, they eventually decided to go home after lunch.
When Ruma got home, her mother had something special for her. She held in her hands a dress, one Ruma had admired from the store window in Maral.
‘Mother! How could you have afforded this?’ she said running up to feel its silk.
‘Well you’re a beautiful girl and you need beautiful things.’ said her mother.
‘That isn’t what I meant.’ replied Ruma looking at her mother seriously.
Ruma was on top of the world, she hadn’t had a better day in quite some time.
It was different for Reman though.
At Reman’s house his father and brother were both seen off by his mother and Reman. Reman was in an odd mood, wasn’t very happy really.
His mother tried to cheer him up only to have Reman try to do his mother a favour and stay up in his room. His mother worried about Reman upstairs, what could have caused such unusual behaviour from him? She wasn’t at all sure.
Reman sat on his bed reading the next volume of his favourite series, just as he did most nights.
Then later on at around 9 o’clock there was a knock on his bedroom door.
‘Come in.’ he said moving his eyes to the door and away from his book.
It was his mother, holding a book.
‘I thought this might cheer you up a bit, I hope it does.’ she said as she handed him the book and kissed him on his forehead.
‘Thank-you.’ Whispered Reman as his mother walked out the door.
He planned to wake up early the next day, so he could say sorry to his mother as soon as possible, he didn’t like making her feel bad, but he didn’t want to disturb her as she went to bed.
Little did Reman know that his mother didn’t sleep that night, she just sat in the living room chair, waiting for morning.
He fell asleep in his bed, but was awoken soon after. He heard screams, his heart leapt into his throat. What happened?
He ran out of his room and then downstairs and there she was, his mother lying on the floor clenching a wound to her chest.
“Mother!” he yelled as he ran to his mother’s side. “Who did this to you?” he continued.
The front door was wide open.
‘Reman, I want you to run, far away, we aren’t your real family, they were after you I want you to run far from here, and don’t dare look back. Remember I love you… son.’ she said, those where the last words that came from Reman’s sweet mother.
The truth had been revealed to Reman, he began to recall Berethor and the others, what really happened.
And so run he did.
So while Ruma was lying in bed with her new dress across the end of her bed, while Green-Tree rested in the Inn getting used to the bed and while the people he thought were his Father and Brother went off to the capital Reman ran, trying to fight back the tears as he realized what he was leaving behind.
I'm thinking of writing a Children's novel about Reman and Ruma's many adventures as kids.
