Lacey knelt on the edge of the small stream trickling down from the lagoon. Holding her dress down into the water as it ran over it, she was trying to wash the grime from the bird off. The smell was pretty bad too.
She scrubbed the fabric together then pushed it back into the water, the cold water rushed around her wrists. She kept scrubbing it for a while longer. When the smell was gone, and the grime washed out she pulled it out of the water and hung it on the vine she had strung for a clothesline. When she was done, she sank down to a rock and sighed. She was wearing the outfit Silvia had made for her out of the hides. It was well made for a ten-year-old, the dress came down to her knees and it had straps came over her shoulders. To complete the set she had made her a pare of soft boots to cover her bare feet.
Silvia was off scouting out a better way to climb the mountain. Lacey laughed "Silvia was a lively girl and sometimes she couldn't keep caught up with half the stuff she did." She thought to herself. Lacey got up from the rock, stretching the muscles in her arms, which were stiff from scrubbing for so long. She walked back to the lagoon. The small pond was now one of her favorite places on the island. Silvia liked to go out to the beach when she had finished with something or someone or when she was mad.
Though she did try to hide it which is sweet. She sat back down on the big rock and watched the water falling into the pond. The inland lagoon was small but was still big enough to swim around in and it is fresh water.
She had to wait for her dress to dry so she left the lagoon and walked down to the beach. The sun was behind the fluffy clouds high in the sky overhead which made the day a nice medium, not too hot but not stormy either. She started walking along the beach with the soft breeze blowing through her long hair that hung down her back. Usually she wore it in a braid but today it felt good to have the wind blowing through it.
She walked slowly, taking her time to enjoy the day. Suddenly a flash of light caught her eye. It was far out on the water, she stopped and squinted to see if she could see where it was coming from. Again, it flashed across her eye. It was coming off something out in the ocean. She stared out at the water, slowly a small outline of a ship came into view. When she noticed the ship getting bigger as it came closer her first instinct was to hide.
She quickly dove behind a bush, then peered through the leaves to see the ship getting even bigger. Soon she could hear shouts coming from it. She had to find Silvia, scrambling to her feet she ran as fast as she could to the tree. She jumped, grabbed the branch and hauled herself up. Running into the cabin she gave a quick scan of the place, seeing that Silvia was not in that room she quickly climbed the ladder to Silvia's room. She was not there either, she climbed on up to Silvia's hidden place in the tree.
She grabbed the knot and pulled. Quickly she rushed into the room and stopped, breathless. Silvia was sitting up to the table with her hand in a bowl of water. She stopped pulled her hand out of the bowl with a start as Lacey burst into the room. "Silvia!" cried Lacey in a rush trying to catch her breath. Silvia stood up quickly sensing something was wrong. "There is a shipping coming to the island!" Lacey continued Breathlessly.
Silvia rushed out of the hidden room pulling Lacey out along with her.
She quickly shut the door behind them. Dragging an out of breath Lacey behind her she quickly climbed down the tree. They ran down the path to the beach. Just before they reached it Silvia stopped and pulled Lacey behind one of the bushes at the edge of the dense forest. The ship was now remarkably close to the beach and they watched as small boats were being filled with figures. Her eyes drifted up to the flag waving in the breeze high atop the mast of the ship.
It was black with a silver skull and bones in a cross over it.
Lacey's hand came up to cover her mouth in surprise. She had never seen one of those flags before but her father had told her and her brother and sister many stories of pirates and the way they have been known to kill everything in their path. Silvia kept her hand on Lacey's arm as the men rowed their boats closer to the beach.
Lacey looked over at Sylvia who looked tense. Her lips were pressed tightly together in a thin line as she watched the men come closer. They stayed hidden as the men pulled their boats onto the beach. The girls counted six boats with 5 men in each. Lacey and Silvia watched as the men came up onto the beach not far from where they were hiding. Silvia's hand tightened on Lacey's arm.
"Captain." Said a big burley man with one eye as he came to stand beside the tall, skinny man with a funny hat, standing closest to the girls. "Whata ya want?" replied the man in a gruff voice. The two men put their heads together and whispered in low tones that the others could not hear for a few minutes. The other men were gathered in bunches along the beach with their swords out, ready and nervous, as if knowing something would attack them. Lacey's eyes drifted over the men, they all looked hard and weather worn. Some even had limbs missing which were replaced with pieces of wood.
She tensed when one of the men looked right at their bush. Soon the man that had addressed the man he had called captained barreled out orders to start going inland. Silvia rose but stayed low she began following the men as they started through the brush. Lacey stayed where she was for a few more moments and then began following Silvia.
There was over 30 men stumbling into the forest, but they all stopped and stared in awe at the giant trees and different shrubs and plants of the forest around them.
"Stay alert!" yelled one of the men leading the group. "There seems to be a path here!" Barreled out one of the men. "It may lead us to a monster" cried the big burley man beside the captain. "Follow it!" barked the captain. The girls continued to follow the men as they moved down the path heading in the direction of the lagoon. The path went under their tree and as the men passed under it the girls jumped up into its branches and on up to the big limb that held the first floor of their hut. Sitting down the girls watched them for a few minutes. "I wonder where they are going." Lacey said to no one in particular.
"I don't know," Replied Silvia "but let's grab our spears just in case." The girls moved up the tree and grabbed their spears. Climbing back down to the ground they continued following in the direction the pirates had gone.
They headed toward the lagoon at a run but still high on the alert. When they got close, they climbed up into a tree along the path. Just as they got into the tree, they heard voices and shouting. The pirates came running down the path screaming and shouting tumbling over each other as if they could not get out of their fast enough. Pushing and shoving the tangle of men and their limbs flesh and wood was a sight to see. It was a mad rush with pulling and screaming and pushing. Men tumbling over and scrambling over others to get down the path ahead of the others.
The girls looked up the path to see if they could see what had them in such a ruckus. As the last of them were running past Lacey let out a gasp at the sight of her dress flying through the air, fire hot red waving it's sleeves which had lengthened to their maximum length. Silvia burst out laughing beside Lacey which caused her to start laughing too. The dress stopped at the sound of the girl's laughter. The girls climbed down from the tree; Lacey caught the dress just as it started to fade to pink and float to the ground. "I didn't know you could fly!" exclaimed Lacey as the dress faded from pink back to its original blue.
Silvia stood beside her "I thought we were going to have to fight them. I am going to make sure they leave" she said as she turned and headed down the path. Lacey grinned down at her dress "you are just full of surprises." She said and headed toward their tree. She still needed to mend it from when she fell and got caught in that tree.
Silvia's senses were on full alert as she ran down the path to the beach, by the time she got there the men were already in their boats and halfway out to their ship. She watched out of sight for a few minutes to make sure they did not come back. She had had a bad feeling all day and when Lacey had burst into her work room to tell her a ship was coming close to the island she had panicked. She stayed hidden as the last of the men made it onto their ship. With much shouting and noise, they got their sails up. As the Ship disappeared out on the great ocean Silvia headed back up the trail to their tree.
As she came close Lacey jumped down from the tree in her dress. "Are they gone?" she asked. "Yeah." Silvia replied. Lacey smiled down t her dress "I hope you don't mind that I used some of your thread to mend my dress." She said as she pointed to the nicely mended rip. "Of course, it's fine." Replied Silvia. Lacey jumped back up into the tree. "I will grab a spear and let's go hunting for some dinner." She said as she disappeared into the branches.
"Okie." Replied Silvia. Soon Lacey was back and the girls headed down up the path towards the lagoon, animals cam to drink from the fresh water stream there so all they would have to do is wait a small animal to come and then they could pounce. They walked in silence. Silvia lightly juggled her spear in her hands as she walked.
As they got closer to the pond she was so focused on her hands and the spear that her foot caught, tripping her and sent her spear flying through the air to stab into the ground a few feet away from them as she fell face first in the dirt. She heard a gasp from Lacey as she went down. Dazed she quickly jumped back up shaking her head to clear it from the fall. She quickly turned around to see what had tripped her. She knew this path better than the back of her hand. She gasped at the legs sticking out of a bush bound at the ankles.
Parting the bush, she gasped at the boy bound and face down in the dirt. Lacey was staring in shock at him. Great, just what she needed was another person to be among and have to feed. Not that she didn't like Lacey, she had grown to love her like the sister she never had and she was glad for someone to talk with sometimes. She quickly grabbed her spear from where it had stabbed into the ground, then using her foot she pushed the boy over onto his back and placed her spear at his neck. She had never really seen a boy before, yes, she had seen and met men before, but never a boy. His face wash ashen white with fright and his big eyes with surprise. She could tell he had not expected to see them, he had probably thought they were a monster.
"Who are you?" lacey demanded in a surprisingly harsh voice. The boy squeaked as she put her spear against his throat. Silvia stood still, her surprise still in full swing. Then she added a little pressure to her spear at the side of his neck and repeated "Who are you?" The Boy's eyes grew even wider in fright, all color draining from his face. "Why is he bound?" Lacey asked Silvia. "I don't know." Silvia replied. The boy still had not spoken. Silvia looked at him again, her spear had loosened from against his neck. She moved it closer to Lacey's at his throat. "Who are you?" she demanded again.
"I..I....I'm....Tim..Timothy....uh, Timothy Grey." He stammered in fright, an almost inaudible whisper. "And why are you here? And tied up?" she asked him. His voice rose, "those %@#$ idiots! They tied me up and dragged me here!" He said rolling his eyes, his voice rising in anger. "I would rather have stayed on the ship and cleaned, but those half wood, idiots had to drag me here....." As the boy was talking Silvia's senses told her something was coming. She glanced over at Lacey who was staring down at her yellowing dress, their eyes met, and they turned toward the rusting in the bushes not far off. Silvia glanced down at the boy who was still going on about the men who had brought him there and gave a shake of her head as the monster came through the trees closer to where they were.
She smiled, it was one on the older ones that they had been hunting for about a month now. She jumped and pulled her spear into an attack position, Lacey followed her led and together they ran at it. The monster was surprised and let out a loud deep growl as it started to run straight towards them. Silvia jumped and shoved her spear right into its weakest spot, Lacey did the same and it let out a blood curdling scream as both spears went into its neck. Silvia nodded to Lacey as she pulled her spear back out and jumped down off the beast. The dead monster lay only about 3 feet away from the boy.
He lay staring at it with shock and fear in his eyes. Lacey snickered and jumped down beside Silvia. "Let me help you with those ropes." Lacey said as she kneeled down beside him and cut the ropes that bound him with her spear. As soon as he was free, he quickly scrambled backwards then jumping up he ran into the forest a little way. The girls could not see him, but Silvia could still sense him. She stayed where she was, Lacey stood up and came back to stand beside her. "Do we keep this one?" she asked pointing to the dead monster. "Just leave it, we can take care of it tomorrow." Replied Silvia turning and picking up the ropes that Lacey had cut from the boy's legs and wrists.
She could still sense him hiding in the bushes. "She nodded letting Lacey know he was still close "Let's go to the meadow." She said. Lacey nodded in agreement and they started toward the meadow, but then quickly took a different route to make sure that the boy could not find them and follow them back to their tree.
"So," Lacey said as they sat on the branch just outside their tree house, "are we just going to let him stay out there all alone?" "Yes." Silvia answered with a shrug of her shoulders "There's not much we can do for him. He ran after you untied him." "plus, where would he sleep?" she added. Lacey sighed and then giggled "poor thing." "Poor? Didn't you hear him, they way he talked about those men?" asked Silvia. " Let's go to the meadow now and get some food for dinner." Stated Silvia. The girls climbed down from the tree and headed to the meadow as they continued their conversation about the boy. "
Well, I guess if he is smart he should be fine." Said Lacey. "Yeah, because we have already taken care of most of the monsters." Said Silvia. "Unless he is stupid enough to get killed by one of the few remaining ones left in the forest." Lacey added.
They soon reached the meadow and caught themselves a rabbit. When they left the meadow, their boots were damp from the wet grass. Silvia had the rabbit on her spear and they headed for their tree. When they had the rabbit stew on the fire Lacey stayed to tend it and Silvia headed out to check on Tim, "That is what he had said his name is." She said to herself as she jumped from the root to the ground and going along the path that lead to the lagoon where she had last sensed him. As she got near the lagoon she jumped up into a tree and went from tree to tree quietly until she was in a tree beside the water. Tim was sitting on a rock at the edge of the lagoon with his bare feet in the water. She could hear him muttering to himself. "Who do they think they are? They think they are so big, killing a monster in front of me...and my shipmates....force me to come here..."
"Is he complaining?" Silvia thought to herself. "We saved his ungrateful life." She shook her head. At that moment she lost her balance a little but caught herself by grabbing a small branch above her head. The leaves made a rustling sound. She went down lower just in case he looked over at where she had been. She looked at him again, he was looking into the trees beside where she was. She smiled a little at the look on his face. The poor boy was scared out of his wits.
She grabbed a small twig and pinched it between her fingers, it snapped, and the boy jumped up looking into the darkening forest. She rustled the leaves again, and couldn't stop the squeal that came out of her mouth as he jumped at the sound and fell backwards into the water with a big splash. She put a hand to her mouth to stifle the laugh that racked her body. She quickly jumped down from the tree and headed away as fast as she could before she burst out laughing. She got about halfway to their tree before she could not hold it any longer and fell on the ground in a fit of laughter.
Lacey sat at the stone table, she had just pulled the stew off the fire and it was now burning low. The room was dim but still light enough to eat by. The door opened and Silvia came in, her face was red and tears were on her cheeks. Leaves and dirt was in her hair and clothing. Her silver locks were a rats nest. "What happened to you?!" Lacey asked as she got up, concern written on her face. "Nothing." Was all Silvia said as she went over and landed face first on the pile of hides in the corner that Lacey called her bed.
"you don't look o k, you look like you rolled in the dirt." She said sitting don again. Silvia still had her face in the fur of the blanket, she slowly sat up and then moved to the table. She kneeled at the table then could not help letting out a giggle as she began telling Lacey what had happened. The girls were in a laughing fit, cackling like a bunch of chickens as they ate their rabbit stew.
Lacey got up from the table and gathered up the dishes and headed up the tree to the hidden room to wash them. When she came back Silvia was sitting up to the table trying to run the brush through her silver hair. The pink strip was already braded and hanging to the side. Silvia stopped as Lacey came down the ladder. "Can you help me, I can't get some of the leaves out." She said. Lacey nodded and knelt behind her and took the brush from her. She looked down at the mess and pulled out a couple leaves. "You should just get a bath to get all this out." "No!" cried Silvia, "That boy, Tim is around there. There is no way I am bathing in that lagoon as long as he is there!" "Okay, Okay, we will just have to do the best we can without water." Lacey replied as she began pulling the brush through the tangled mess of hair. Slowly, bit by bit she got it straightened out. About a half hour later, and with a lot of screams and yells from Silvia her hair was snarl free and back to it's glossy state.
Lacey pulled it back into a braid and tied it up with a bit of leather. She sighed and set down the brush. Silvia yawned, "Good night." She said grabbing the brush and disappearing up the ladder to her bed. Lacey smiled and headed straight to her pile of hides. Laying down she thought. "Maybe it is a good thing that boy came. She has needed someone her age around here and he can't be much older if any." Soon she drifted into a sound sleep.
Two days later Silvia was coming back from a patrol around the Island.
She had also went up the mountain a little ways and had ended up sensing a big flock of the big black birds. She had scouted out where they were and had watched them for a little bit while they were eating another kind of monster which it looked like they had killed.
She had retreated slowly as to not disturb them. It would still be a while before they went over the mountain. She had left t sunrise and now it was after noon sometime and she was hungry. She jumped up the tree to the hut and opened the door. Lacey was sitting up to the table. Silvia went in and sat beside her. There were nuts scattered on the table and a bowl with already shelled ones inside. There were shells scattered on the floor. Silvia grabbed a couple huts and shoved them in her mouth.
"Hey!" Lacey said and slapped her hand as it went to the bowl again. Silvia pulled her hand back. "Do you know how long I have been at this and you just come and eat them!." She snatched the bowl away. "Ugh!" Silvia said as she got up and headed for her hidden room. She had just gotten to her door when she sensed Tim under their tree. She shut the door quietly and went down the tree to where she could see him.
There he was standing not far below her. She lay down on the branch and looked over at him. She could hear him muttering to himself "They came this way." "Oh, come on! This forest is just way too big." He yelled. She sighed. He was looking for them, Why? Her senses caught something else coming their way. She jumped and ran to the porch and grabbed her spear that she had set there when she had returned from her scouting. She rushed down the tree and stopped on the lowest branch and listened.
She could still sense the monster and it was getting closer, but it was not too close yet. She jumped on down to the ground. Tim who was leaning against a tree close by jumped in fright at her sudden appearance. She hadn't killed a monster on her own but this one was too close now to go get Lacey. She stood ready as the monster came closer. The trees shook and branches were snapping. Tim came over to stand beside her "what's coming?" he asked, ready to run.
She did not look at him, the growling noise came closer and Tim began to run in the opposite direction of the noise. He hid behind a tree a few yards away. Silvia stood at the ready as the bear like monster came out of the trees. It was about feet taller than her. When it saw her, it let out a growling noise and rushed right for her. She jumped as it reached her and right at that same moment Lacey leaped from the tree, spear in hand too, and they each drove their spears deep into its neck. It fell hard onto the ground.
The girl's breaths came hard and fast. They looked up and their eyes met. "Thanks." Said Silvia. Lacey nodded and climbed up out of sight into a different tree. Making her way back to their tree, careful that Tim could not see the way she went. "Great, another monster under their tree." Thought Silvia to herself. She had been making sure to avoid killing them here because she would have to move them later.
Tim came out from behind the tree and looked with frightened eyes at the monster. "This forest is still dangerous." She glowered. "You shouldn't be out without a weapon." She added. Tim nodded and moved closer to her and the dead beast. Silvia still stood on top of it. "Can you eat them?" he asked. "No." Silvia said in disgust and jumping down. "Oh, so you guys just go around killing these things? And what do you do with the rest of your time?" Asked Tim, kicking the monster to reassure himself that it was indeed dead, before moving back a little.
Silvia went over to a big root that came out of the ground and set her spear on it then jumped up to sit on it. She swung her legs as she tried to think of a way to answer. Tim was quite too, waiting for her to answer. She sighed, looked at him and then quickly looked away. "Not much, I guess I have never really thought about it." She said jumping down. He laughed, "well, I guess, thank you for saving me.....again." Tim said. "Look Tim, stay out of trouble, I would rather not have to keep saving your life." With that she headed towards the lagoon as to not let him know that they were right under her home.
She still did not trust him. He laughed after her. "I can take care of myself, you don't have to worry about me." He shouted after her. "I'm not." She snapped back at him and then jumped up into the closest tree and ran off to circle back around to her tree. "the poor boys must be starving by now. But who cares, he said he can take care of himself." she thought to herself as she ran along branches and jumped from tree to tree holding her spear in her hand.