Young Writers Society

I know it's been a while, so I'll review what's happened so far. Will got sucked into a book he was reading, called The Septribes. Now he's made friends with some Byklaws, people with two claws on each hand, and he's only just starting his adventure. A horde of Garks completely massacred the village during their celebrations, and Will and his friends were only just rescued from their hiding place inside a cave. I realize it's not very exciting yet, but don't worry, we're getting there. I've been hesitating for so long because I know it's not the best, but I guess that's why we do reviews, eh? Anyway, I'll stop talking. Hope you enjoy it!

Napodi looked sadly at the pitiful gathering of chunks of food on the floor in the middle of the circle. It had taken hours to scour what was left of the bakery for surviving food, but they hadn’t found much. Fortunately, Pamela the Baker, living up to her name by being sweet as honey, had kept everyone in optimistic moods. This included Millie and Max who were at the moment pretending to feed bread crumbs to their crutches.

Will’s eyes darted around the room every once and awhile, as if checking to make sure everyone was still in the same places as he last saw them. Meanwhile, he spoke cordially with Swain the Sheep herder, who was about a year older than he was. The short, rusty blonde-haired boy looked younger than most sixteen year olds, and loved to joke and play tricks on people; Napodi knew this from experience.

Swain was the one who had first heard them shouting in the cave, and called for the others to come help him. The others were now sitting in a circle on the ground of a cabin: Pamela the Baker, Penelope the Weaver, Theron the Hunter, his twin brother Torrence the tall Butcher, and Swain’s gorgeous Gemi sister, Tabitha the Sheep herder.

Nearly everyone expected Theron and Tabitha to get married some day, but Napodi thought different. Why would an animal lover like Tabitha want to marry a hunter? At least he would be a better husband than his Gemi, the towering Torrence. The tall, long faced butcher was as known for his quick temper as Theron was for his gentle kindness.

She sighed as she watched the two speak quietly together, Tabitha’s eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly. She didn’t think she’d ever understand that kind of thing.

Will, to his surprise, felt almost relaxed. Ever since their new friends dug them out of their rocky prison, Will hadn’t been questioned, attacked, or starved since. He actually felt relatively safe as he looked around the comfortable cabin.

It was one of the only cabins that had not been completely obliterated, but still showed signs that the Garks had paid a visit. The rug over the dirt floor was almost entirely shredded, and the majority of the furniture had been torn to rubble. Still, it had much of the same homey feeling Napodi’s little hut had, with its stone fireplace flickering light on the walls. The smell of smoke and sweet bread had taken over their nostrils, a smell Will much preferred to the scent he had woken up to that morning.

He looked at Napodi questionably as she poked at her food. Ever since they had escaped the cave, Napodi had been strangely quiet.

As Will remembered the piles of bloody corpses they had passed on their way out of Lower Byklaw, he wasn’t surprised. Napodi had completely broken down at the gory sight, squeezing her eyes tightly shut, frozen in place. Finally, not knowing what else to do, Will had gently taken her hands in his and led her out slowly, step by step.

Then Will winced at his stupidity. Duh! We haven’t found her dad yet! He didn’t fully understand the relationship between Napodi and her father since he didn’t have much of one with his own. Yet, he thought he understood slightly, since he felt sadness for the kind man who had given him a place to stay. He found it hard to believe he had survived, but decided to keep an optimistic attitude for Napodi anyway.

Will jumped out of his pensive state when Torrence slammed his fist down on the table. “We need to go to the king,” the butcher said heatedly, “There is nothing else we can do. He was supposed to protect us from things like this. He did not keep his side of the contract!”

“My Gemi is correct.” Theron agreed, only slightly calmer than his twin brother. “We paid our taxes and did not cause trouble, yet this must have been the massacre of the century. We need to see what is going on. We must demand an audience.”

“One thing I want to know is why.” The others quieted respectfully to make way for Pamela’s hushed voice. “Why would he let the Garks through? Never, in all my life, has a good king like King Adrian completely betrayed a village.” The baker’s kind face trembled, lines creasing her forehead.

“Here is another question,” Napodi spoke up. Everyone looked in her direction. “Has this happened to other villages, or just us? And if it is the latter, then why us?”

“You all have made some excellent points.” Penelope was absent-mindedly knitting in her lap, her wrinkled face serious, but her pale blue eyes dancing in the firelight. “But, it is my opinion that we should not speak of such things at this present time. As we cannot do anything immediately, let us celebrate our lives and be grateful we can enjoy them a bit longer.

“And tomorrow, after searching for more survivors, we will travel to our neighbors for information and perhaps advice, then work our way to the castle. Is this a good plan?” She looked around at all the faces surrounding the table. Torrence made a sound of impatience, but seeing the rest of them nodding in agreement, he kept his mouth shut.

The rest of the group, however, was more than happy to take Penelope’s advice to heart. It took some time, but at every minute they became more and more relaxed.

Eventually, everyone was laughing, smiling, and chattering amongst each other. By the time Penelope and Pamela declared they were tired and going to bed, Will and the younger Byklaws were still going full throttle. An hour later, Millie and Max had fallen asleep on a pile of shredded material, and the young men and women were still talking, although with considerably softer voices.

Theron told Will of a time Swain had hidden amongst the sheep as Theron searched for Tabitha, holding a bunch of flowers he had picked for her. Swain had erected a sort of catapult with a bucket of old, dirty water at one end. When Theron was at the right place, Swain stepped hard on the other side of the catapult. The tough Byklaw had yelped as the water soaked him to the skin and toppled over into a patch of unlucky sheep manure, loosing his bundle of flowers to the wind.

Swain guffawed at the memory. “Those flowers must have gone up to the moon! Of course, I was a much less mature, fickle boy then.”

This led Tabitha and Theron into gales of laughter. “As if you ever grew out of that phase! Besides, this happened less than a year ago!” Tabitha was rolling around in her seat of ripped material. As Napodi and Will laughed uncontrollably with them, Swain protested, insisting it had to be much longer ago than that.

Finally, when the teens’ eyes kept threatening to close, Theron yawned. “I do not know what every-one else thinks, but I believe it is time for some rest.” The others murmured their agreement, and they began scavenging for bits of shredded material to sleep on.

As Will settled down next to Napodi, the twins, and his new friends, he reflected on what had hap-pened since he appeared inside the book. He beat up a Oiseye, slept in a hammock, ate a Tiger Claw, played Slam Ball, got attacked by a horde of murderous bat-like monsters, and made friends with a bunch of people with claws coming out of their knuckles. He grinned at the idiocy of it.

Will glanced over at Napodi, who was checking on the twins. She wasn’t at all like the girls at school. They gossiped, preened their hair obsessively, covered their faces with colorful goo, and stabbed each other in the backs –twenty-four seven. But Napodi, she didn’t care how she looked, at least not obsessively. She didn’t hide behind a mask, but rather threw her true self out there for everyone to see.

As Will slowly settled into sleep, he had one last conscious thought. She’s not that bad, for a girl.

******************

Thanks for reading! Please tear it apart, I need all the help I can get!

Thanks again!

--Anna