Chapter 1

Kieran was dawdling, he knew his father would be angry but it was not every day he got to escape into the forest. He had been working for forever and the day was beautiful, crisp and clear like a ripe apple. The sky was a deep blue and there was no wind, just the soft rustle of small animals in the bush.

The forest was his favorite place to be, though he had only been allowed to venture into it five times before this. Kieran didn’t know what it was about the forest but for some reason it calmed him and made him feel happier than he ever would in their village. The way the sounds of the birds and the stream and the rustling trees surrounded him made his heart beat happily and his thoughts slow.

Kieran skirted a bush with wicked looking thorns and continued on the almost indistinguishable forest path. He figured it had been a deer path or something of the like before the men from his village had started using it. He knew it had been from the time when the barbarians had come into his village and burned it to the ground.

Kieran wished something that exciting would happen to him, it seemed like the only exciting things happened so long ago.  Grandfather, an ancient, withered man living near Kieran had told him how all the men and women had gathered everything they could and ran, staying in the forest until there was no more smoke from the village. Grandfather said that this happened so long ago that his own grandfather had not been born. In fact, his grandfather’s father was just a little boy when they escaped into the forest.

Kieran skipped across the rocks that spanned the rather large stream, he knew it could get very deep and extremely dangerous after it had rained a lot but now it was quite calm and made a lovely sound as it rolled over the rocks and such. When he reached the other side, he began to look around for the plants he had been instructed to bring back. He searched leisurely, ambling from here to there, and then scampering away like a frightened rabbit, laughing. It was almost springtime, the weak winter sun growing stronger and the plants beginning to poke their sprouts out of the ground like a timid child afraid to leave its mother. All of the snow had melted and there would likely be no more until next year.

Suddenly Kieran saw what he had been looking for, the long leafy stems and downy tops of catmint. Pulling out his knife, Kieran cut two stems of it and sat down to cut it into pieces that he could fit in his waist pouch. He was slowly cutting it into four-inch long sticks when something caught his eye. He turned to look but nothing was there, Kieran frowned and turned back to his work, he was sure he had seen something. Then again, it could have just been an animal.

He finished cutting the stems and stowed them in his waist pouch, he stood up and was turning to leave to go gather lavender when he saw it again. It was just a glimpse but he was sure at what he saw. It was something white dashing between the bushes. Kieran turned and strained his eyes.

             Kieran saw it again, flash of white in the bushes on the other side of the stream; he froze and looked hard, trying to see what it was. Was it some animal like he had thought? However, no it was not, this time he realized what it was. It looked like a girl, a girl a little younger than him. She was moving soundlessly through the bushes, an almost impossible task. This was most odd! Kieran thought; there were no girls who looked like this in his village. Kieran looked harder and spotted her again, this time crouching in the green foliage with a peculiar look on her face. Kieran could see from his rock that she had unbelievable long blonde hair, it ran in rivers down her back and pooled into little swirls on the ground. She looked ethereal or almost exotic. He had to know who she was, and what she was doing.

Before Kieran could do anything though, a gust of wind blew by, ruffling his hair and bringing the sweet scent of violets. The wind reached the girl and swept over her too. She froze; her face slightly inclined and then whipped her head around to look at Kieran. Her mouth dropped open in amazement and she took a step backward.

“Hello?” Kieran called out to her, “Who are you?” The girl started and, seeing Kieran talking to her, took off in the opposite direction. Kieran sat dumbfounded for a second, why had she run from him. Nevertheless, the moment passed and Kieran felt a sort of burning in his chest, telling him Go! So he leapt up and splashed through the stream, taking off after the strange little girl.

Kieran could just see the ends of her bright white hair disappearing through the trees. Kieran ran faster than he thought he was capable of, a sort of tightness that was present whenever he ran too far or too fast replaced the strange feeling in his chest, but this time Kieran ignored it, racing on. The longhaired girl was a fast runner, dodging branches and swerving around undergrowth, Kieran ran as fast as he could after her but it was obvious she was faster. She leapt over a particularly large fallen tree leaving Kieran struggling to scale it.

“Wait, come back! Who are you?” he yelled but it was no use, she had disappeared. He kept on running in the direction she had gone but he could tell he would not find her. He looked hard into the trees, searching for any sign of the girl, but there was nothing. Kieran was appalled to feel tears prickling his eyes, What? Where are these tears coming from? It wasn’t as if he knew her or anything, so why did he feel so lonely? He desperately rubbed his arm across his eyes, trying to scrape away the tears. Why had the girl run away from him? He did not think he looked threatening or anything! For heaven’s sake, he was a gangly, awkward idiot according to everyone in the village. He was always underfoot and wrecking things, it was better for everyone when he disappeared into the forest on days like today.

 Kieran was just about to turn around and go home when a flash of white and green barreled into him, knocking him down. Whatever it was that had hit him had had enough momentum to fling him five feet in the air, making Kieran roll down a steep bank to the left of him. Faster and faster, he tumbled down the hill, rocks bruising him and bushes slashing his skin. When he finally reached the bottom he realized that the thing that had hit him had rolled down with him, and that thing was the little blonde haired girl. When he bounced to a stop, there suddenly was a small weight on him. He opened his eyes, and to his surprise, saw a small girl with startling blue eyes sitting on his chest. Most alarmingly, she had something extremely sharp pressed to his throat like a dagger. She glared at him then opened her mouth and said-
“Who are you, and why are you here?” When Kieran did not immediately answer, she pressed the sharp object even harder against his exposed windpipe.

“I- I’m Kieran! I was just walking when I saw you!” Kieran drew a ragged breath,

Please- please don’t hurt me, I didn’t mean to offend you!” And once again to Kieran’s immense embarrassment, his voice cracked and tears threatened to overflow onto his cheeks.

“Why should I believe you?” The little blonde haired girl wrinkled her nose and frowned at Kieran. So in a rush Kieran told her about his whole life, from the first time he remembered sneaking into the forest to just last week when his father had hit him because he was caught sneaking more food from the stores. And as he was talking, he did not notice that the little girl had lowered the sharp object and sat with a very curious look on her face, as if she had met someone she had missed for a very long time.

When he had finished he took a deep breath and looked at the girl. He smiled weakly hoping she would not slice the life from him. They looked at each other for what seemed like eternity. Kieran looked at her eyes and her small nose that turned up at the end; he looked at her blood red lips and the long hair that was dragging on the ground and draped across his chest; he looked at her sitting on his chest with something pressed against his neck, and feral hostility on her face. Kieran had never been this scared in his life, not even when his father found out he had been stealing food from the stores. She looked down at him inquisitively then to Kieran’s immense surprise, she slid off his chest and rested next to Kieran, who had sat up, with her legs bend beneath her.

“Who are you, Kieran? How did you see me?” The girl had a sort of hopeless curiosity about her, she inclined her body slightly toward Kieran, and her eyes were trained intently on him.

“What do you mean? You were running through the woods right near me! Of course I saw you.”

“Well next time don’t follow me!”

The girl stood up then straightened out her skirts and pushed her hair out of her face with the flat of her hand, then offered to help Kieran up. Kieran stood up and saw her about four paces away, stashing something under her vibrant green dress. The two things that leapt out at Kieran about her were her eyes and her hair, both remarkable. Her eyes were the purest, most unearthly blue Kieran had ever seen, they sparkled and danced with lights unseen. Her hair was astonishingly long and creamy white. It reached the ground and had wild curls and quite a few sticks and leaves tangled in. It was dirty and knotted but it swirled and flowed around her as if a wind was blowing. When both had stood up and taken a good look at each other the girl spoke again, “Who are you?” she said hesitantly in, surprisingly enough, a clear, musical voice.

“What do you mean?” Kieran asked.

“Why are you here?” the girl’s anger had seemed to morph into a kind of sadness, “Don’t you have a family? Why aren’t you spending time with them!”

Kieran felt quite confused but he still answered all the same. “Well, I guess you could say I have a family, it’s only me and my dad though. My mum….” Kieran let the rest kind of drift off; he did not need to tell this girl everything about him.

“Ach! It’s not so bad, mum’s are not good for much anyways,” the little girl sounded fully resolved on this manner, her voice had a note of finality in it that told Kieran she had experience with this particular topic. “You should be glad you don’t have one, I-“ the girl’s eyes widened as if she just realized something of great importance, “never mind. So who exactly are you?” Kieran was baffled and a little worried by this girl, he had never seen her before, and she was somewhat creepy. Kieran noticed she was now looking at him oddly, as if sizing him up for a fight. This left him completely unsettled because Kieran was usually somewhat of a dunce when it came to fighting, he always seemed to be beaten in a rather fast amount of time.

“Well I said my name is Kieran, what’s yours?” The little girl gave him a profound frown and seemed to weigh her options. Finally, she answered in her simple, plain manner Kieran was getting used to.

“Just call me Emma .”

“Emma ?” Kieran had never heard that name before, it was unusual, but it was pretty. He said it silently to himself, the hiss of the first sound, his tongue sliding off the top of his mouth, touching the bottom then flitting back up to flick the top of his mouth to complete the name.

“Yes, that is my name,” she answered sourly.

“Er, h- how old are you?” Emma  looked surprised that he asked, but quickly composed herself and answered.

“Oh! I’m eleven too,” Kieran exclaimed. Emma  let out a sort of grimace, as if it were a shame they had this in common.

Kieran did not notice this though and he plowed on in his curious little interrogation. “Do you live in the village?” I have never seen her there… if I had I would remember her!

“Not really…” Emma  answered his question cautiously; it was obvious she did not like answering these personal questions.

“What do you mean ‘not really’? You either live in the village or not, give me a straight answer,” Kieran was starting to get exasperated at her half ass answers. “So which is it?”

“Don’t talk to me that way! And if you require a ‘straight answer’” her voice was the epitome of mocking, “then fine, I do not live in the village.”

“Really?” Kieran had always fancied not living in the village, “Where do you live then?”

“Um, that way,” Emma pointed ambiguously back towards the woods, her earlier anger almost gone from her voice. 

“Wait, you live in the woods?” Kieran peered through the trees as if a house was sitting there, all alone. “Aren’t you afraid of bandits?”

Emma scoffed imperiously. She informed him haughtily that she did not live in the middle of a forest but in a village a little ways over the ridge. Moreover, if he would kindly stop interviewing her, she needed to get home and back inside the safety of the walls and Kieran would be smart to do the same.

“There’s a village back there?” Kieran had never heard of this village then, he always thought the closest village was a ways “that-a-way” as his father always said while pointing towards the pretty little valley.

“That topic of our conversation is closed,” Emma said harshly. Kieran understood that she did not want to talk about herself at all. It seemed to make her very uncomfortable.

“S- Sorry.”

Emma ignored him completely. The whole conversation had been choppy and awkward so couldn’t entirely blame her. Instead, she just stared at Kieran scrupulously, as if he was an unusual animal no one had ever seen before. After a second’s thought Kieran decided that the best course of action was to take none. He just stared back at the little girl, taking in every detail about her. There was a long thin scar on her collarbone, it was very faint, but it looked like it had been extremely painful when it was fresh. Her dress was

indecently short, like it belonged to one of the little children. It also looked as if she had tried to cut it even shorter but given up halfway around. It was bright green. Kieran had never seen such a bright piece of cloth and, under closer inspection, it appeared she had rubbed leaves over it to give it such a bright color.

“I need to leave.” Kieran looked up, startled. Emma had spoken so suddenly he almost jumped.

“Will you come out here tomorrow? Will I see you then?” Kieran looked hopefully at Emma , “Because we are friends now, right?” Emma just stared at him, then she let out a laugh, “Maybe I’ll be here, maybe I won’t, you never know! And I would not classify us as friends, I think we are more of acquaintances,” Emma smiled and took off running, seeming to fly soundlessly over the ground. Kieran had turned around and started home before Emma looked back at him and smiled.

            “Get up! Get up!” Kieran opened his eyes. The soft light of morning filtered through the air, lighting up the particles of dust floating there.

            “I said get up!” a smacking noise and Kieran was almost propelled off his bed by the force of the slap. Kieran scrambled up, the thin blanket falling to the floor. He stood facing his father; the large man’s face was already a violent shade of purple for so early in the morning. But Kieran was used to it, his father’s moods were as unpredictable as the weather, that is to say there was no telling when and for what reason he would swing into a violent passion, throwing things and yelling until he calmed down as fast as he had started. Kieran’s father let out a huff of air, sending the illuminated dust specks spinning.

            “Awake now are we?” Kieran shuffled to the side a bit, “it’s almost midmorning! I come home from the garden fully expecting you to be fully awake and completing your chores but here you are still asleep!” Kieran’s father glared at him, “Well? Are you going to tell me why you slept late?” Kieran furrowed his eyebrows, scrunched up his nose, and lifted the left side of his mouth. He knew this made him look rather vacant and stupid but he could not help doing this whenever contemplating things.

            “Well, last night I got to bed fairly late because, erm, well because I was cleaning out the west garden, there were quite a few weeds and such. I guess my body felt deprived of its few hours of sleep and decided to catch up on it this morning,” Kieran swallowed hard, “sir.”

            “So you’re telling me that you were out weeding late into the night? And your body made you oversleep?” Kieran’s father looked incredulous.

            “Erm, yes?”

            “ You are the most dim-witted and utterly deceitful little boy to ever grace this earth,” his  father growled, “and I shall be checking the west garden to see how well you have ‘weeded’, do you understand?”

            “Yes, sir.”

            “Now get dressed and get to your chores!” and he turned and stomped out of the house. Kieran could see him stalking down the road in the village. Kieran turned around, shedding his nightclothes. He had lied, well not entirely; there was some truth in it. He had not been lying when he said he had gotten to sleep late…. However, it was not because he had been weeding (damn, I am going to have to do that quickly before Father goes to look), no it was because he had been thinking of the queer little girl he had met in the forest the day before. She was so mystifying, threatening him then turning entirely cordial and even borderline friendly. Kieran was not entirely sure he liked her, she was too difficult to understand, and she acted a bit superior. Nevertheless, somewhere in his body he could feel a weird ache, he wanted to see her again, even just to say hello. Kieran turned, looking for his cloak. Absentmindedly he brushed his fingers across his throat where Emma had pressed what he assumed to be a knife. It felt as if the knife was still pressed there. Kieran could almost still feel the shard edge pressing deeper  and deeper into his windpipe.

            Grabbing his own dagger, Kieran tucked it into its sheath on the belt around his waist and strapped his pouch to the same belt. Kieran was planning on going into the forest again, it was not to see the girl again, he told himself, this trip was only to finish collecting the plants he had forgotten yesterday. Checking he had not forgotten anything, Kieran walked out of his house.

            The town Kieran lived in could be summed up in two words: soggy and glum. It rained almost one hundred seventy-five days a year, and the rain never seemed to quite evaporate fully before it rained again. The day before yesterday it had rained and the ground was still damp, Kieran’s feet made a squishy sound as he tramped across the ground. He hated this village and almost everyone in it. No one was particularly friendly and what’s more, no one seemed to care the remotest bit about him. Kieran lived in perpetual misery because of this, and of course many other reasons. Kieran didn’t even associate with the children his age, though he had used to be friends with a lot of them. But then they had grown apart, the rest of the children growing closer and Kieran growing farther. It had never occurred to him that this might be his fault. He always attributed it to the fact that they didn’t want to be friends with him, and thought themselves better than him. This only made Kieran resent them more.

            Kieran was almost to the forest when he heard a voice behind him, “I hope you’re not going in there!”

            Kieran turned, his father was standing in the path behind him, looking expectantly at Kieran with an annoyed look.

            “I was just going to go collect the rest of the plants,” Kieran said it happily, as though he were doing his father a favor. Kieran usually found that his father fell for this and would immediately allow Kieran to do whatever he had offered. Though it appeared it was not quite working out that way this time.

            “No. I've sent that bizarre red haired girl to do it,” his father said, his previous anger forgotten, “You know, the really weird one.”

            “Who? Oh, you mean Brenyn.” Kieran frowned, he wouldn’t really classify Brenyn as bizarre she was more of an individual or something that sounded nicer. She was actually kind of sweet, in her own tweaked way.

            “Yes, her.” Kieran’s father seemed to remember that he had been angry, his face flushed again, “Now, I want to actually work. You haven’t done an honest day of work in your life! Ever since you were a baby! But that changes today, I want you to go help the Father in the Abbey, he specially requested you today.” Kieran hated helping the Father, all he got to do was sit in this little chair or on the ground in a corner and listen to the Father talk about the holiness of God. Then he would ask Kieran all of these complicated questions to see if he was really listening. It was dreadful.

            But Kieran answered with a “Yes, sir” and dutifully started back toward the small Abbey, making sure he dragged his feet.. He would much rather be out in the forest searching for Emma again. Kieran was sure it would be horribly  boring, sitting in his, little corner.

            Four hours later Kieran had to agree, he had been right.