Chapter 9
And suddenly Erin was standing there. Standing in a long bright orange sundress, that was split along he calf's and sporting golden lace up saddles she looked just as lovely and Amazonian as Brandon remembered seeing her nearly a week before. "Ezekiel! Brandon!" She called as she left her front door open behind her and quickly walked down the steps of her front porch.
"Erin...slow down!" Ezekiel intoned from the cart, as the young Leopardess nearly stumbled down the steps, her long legs moving far too fast as she rushed up to them. She wasn't showing, so unless Brandon had been told he wouldn't have been able to guess that the bubbly girl skipping towards him was quickly on her way to motherhood.
Her hazel eyes were glowing with a slight ember light and a large smile was plastered across her face which showed off the small fangs that were growing. Her excitement was instantly infections as she nearly danced to a stop in Brandon's wake and waved. A frilly, bubbly energy seemed to vibrate all around her as she danced on her heels.
IT was instantly infectious and Brandon found himself casting the young Leopardess a smile and a jovial "Good morning Erin!"
"Hey guys!" She called tilting her head to the side, her hazel gaze taking in the vegetable laden cart that Ezekiel was standing in. With a slight sigh she suddenly righted her head and bit her lip. "I'm soo glad you showed up....I've got a huge problem!"
"What's wrong Erin!?" Ezekiel asked her sharply, and with a small grunt Ezekiel hopped down from the cart, the movement bringing him to Brandon's side and a few paces to the right of his cousin.
"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" Ezekiel continued, his eyes clouded with worry, were taking her in from head to toe, as Ezekiel took a step in her direction.
Still smiling Erin released a frustrated hiss and Erin threw her hands up in the air. "Jesus! You and Mantilo and Drin are driving me insane! " She cried taking a step back from Ezekiel, denying his touch. "Every time I say something or go slightly faster than a snail you guys all act like I'm about to explode!"
Slightly humbled by Erin's words Ezekiel stopped trying to approach her, but with a slight pout in his words he tried to defend himself. "But..." He started. "We just want you and the baby to be safe."
"The baby....is months away!" Erin growled back at him, placing a hand to her stomach for only a second before she gestured to Ezekiel. "And no matter how much you mother Hens pick and peck at me....He or She won't arrive any safer." Erin insisted as she raised her hand and glanced at her wrist. IT was then that Brandon noticed the small watch clipped around her wrist.
Instantly guessing that something was pressing on Erin's mind Brandon tried to steer the conversation away from the argument he could feel brewing between the two cousins.
"Are you in a hurry Erin?" He asked tilting his head at the watch on Erin's wrist, that she had just dropped down to her side.
"You were saying something about a 'Huge problem' earlier...." Brandon continued catching Erin's gaze as he shrugged slightly. "If YOURE fine....then what IS wrong?"
With a small groan of sadness Erin dipped her chin to her chest. Her hair drifting forward over her shoulders to cover her face like a silken curtain. "Everything's getting out of control!" She sighed in response dramatically, before picking up her head and launching into a hasty.
"So three months ago I was picked to do most of the catering and prep for this year's Clan Celebration, right?" She paused only long enough for Ezekiel to nod, before she continued with her story. "Well, you see at the time.....that was a really good idea! I mean, I was available and I want to help out....but soon after that Aunt Glen came to me and she asked me if I wanted to start apprenticing as a Healer. You know when I wasn't being a Guardian. And of course I said yes! It was like a dream come true. I couldn't believe that...."
"Erin....Erin...." Brandon interrupted and waved his hands at the Leopardess, instantly her words faltered as her concertation was broken. As she slowed, Brandon let out a quick breath and shared a look with Ezekiel as his large cousins manic words seemed to go on and on. "Take a breath..." Brandon said softly, looking back at Erin and smiling at her slightly trying to get her to wind down. "And just tell us what the problem is...please?"
Brandon dropped his hands back down and with a small self- conscious smile, Erin complied by taking a slow deep breath, then she replied.
"The problem is that I've basically stretched myself too thin!...." She exclaimed as she motioned back at herself. "And I know that I need to do the prep for the Clan Celebration....but earlier today....one of the Leopardesses in the eastern village went into labor! And I've got to be there!"
"Who are we talking about?" Ezekiel suddenly asked her.
Erin's face split into a large grin before she said "It's the Shepherds." With a small bounce she went up on her tip toes then dropped back down. The anxious energy that had subsided slowly boiling back up to the surface. Erin's eyes grew wide as she let out a delighted giggle.
"Oh! Did you know that they made me the God parent? And after I became a healer the Shepard insisted I become their Wet Nurse. I promised to be there and It's my job to see the Shepherds through the birthing!" Erin's smile melted into a frown as she visibly began to fret. "I've just got to be there, Ezekiel! I cant miss it!"
"The Shepard's couldn't have picked a better person to be there for this occasion..." Ezekiel offered in a soothing tone, then he gestured to the cart behind himself saying. "But... If you go and do the birthing for the Shepherds....What about all of the prep you still have to get done before the Celebration? Wont you be set back?" Ezekiel asked her softly
"Well I've got everything covered....except for the giant cart of potatoes parked in the back of the cabin." Erin remarked.
"So you need someone to do all of the potato prep?"
Ezekiel asked, then frowned slightly at his cousin. "Where is Drin? Why can't he help you, Erin?"
Erin smiled softly at the mention of her husband and Mate, then simply said. "Drin's out helping the metal smiths in the northern village prepare works and haul their weapons down into the fields for the Celebration." With a small shrug Erin finished with a roll of her eyes. "He hasn't been back for two days."
Brandon sensed that there was something that she still had to say so he tilted his head at her and asked. "So....?"
"Ummmm...." Erin hesitated, biting her bottom lip. "Well, if you guys don't mind....?" She began to suggest.
"You want us to do the prep....?" Brandon asked her slowly. Instantly Erin's eyes tried to light up and she opened her mouth to speak.
But before Erin could even take a breath to respond, Ezekiel was releasing a growl and stepping back.
"No...." He said pointing at his cousin. Erin's face fell, and with a small whimper, she put up her hands in the fashion of a prayer clasped in front of her breast. Silently begging. Wide eyes. Lips trembling. It was enough to make Brandon laugh as he watched the young girl easily manipulate Ezekiel as Glen often manipulated Mantilo.
"Please...." Erin softly cried, drawing out the word so that it became a whine. "Oh please Ezekiel!" Erin begged.
To Brandon surprise Ezekiel was far from easily swayed.....at first. He tried to negate Erin's demands.
"No, Erin!" He hissed in a stern voice that Brandon had really heard him use. "I've got a whole village patrol. And I've got to go and visit Crystal....I...I can't!" Ezekiel looked at his cousin, with her hands still out to him in imploration and let out a groan as he put a hand over his eyes "Stop begging Erin! Don't do this to me."
"Please...Please cousin! My Hero!" Erin cried once more, her voice sounding pinched and choked as though she were about to burst into tears.
"What are you waiting for? Just give the girl what she asked for already. You know you want to..." Brandon said with a soft smile. He looked over at Ezekiel and raised his eyebrows at him, because he already knew he was going to give into his cousin's demands. IT was painfully apparent that she was beloved by Ezekiel. And that she cherished him in return.
Ezekiel looked up and glanced back at Brandon. Obviously seeing his defeat in Brandon's smile, Ezekiel's shoulders slumped and with a groan of surrender he said. "Erin....I'm gonna kill you."
"Yes!" Erin released a woot of victory, dropping her hands and sending a fist into the air.
"Yes...yes ...YESSS!" Erin chanted as she spun in a circle, then she rushed into Ezekiel's arms and embraced him with a squeal of excitement. Ezekiel laughed and hugged her back, but before Ezekiel's arms had even fully settled over her to hug her back, Erin was breaking away from him and skipping away back into the cabin.
"I'm sorry....I'm already late, so I've really got to go!" She called to them as she turned and went up the cabins steps. Just before she disappeared back into her home she called over her shoulders. "The potatoes are behind the house....Thank you guys so much!"
With a small sigh Ezekiel shook his head and went to follow her. Leaving Brandon behind without a word he jogged up Erin's steps, and disappeared into her home. But he was only gone for a few moments before he reemerged with two small metal objects clutched in his right fists.
"Come on." He sighed once he had returned to Brandon's side. Then Ezekiel turned on his heel, still carrying the metal objects and lead Brandon's around to the back of the cabin.
The cart of potatoes sat parked in the middle rear of Erin's cabin. A small vibrant field of green grass separated her home from the cool and en-shadowed pine forest that bordered the Leopards lands. Pine tree laden with pine needles tinkled softly in the mid-day wind, and the buzz of insects and the crackle of earth followed Brandon and Ezekiel as they walked around the home.
With a small sigh Ezekiel wordlessly, walked up to the cart, and deftly started pulling apart the strings and ropes that were baring the potatoes from falling out.
With a practiced flick of his wrist Ezekiel soon had all of the rope untied, and with a small directive to Brandon he called "Stand back." Before he too stepped back and with a slightly thundering all of the potatoes in the cart, slowly poured out of the cart and became a mound on the field floor.
"Here, I got these out of Erin's kitchen..." Ezekiel said, holding a twisted piece of metal, which was rounded and thin at the tip to Brandon.
"What's this?" Brandon asked him as he twisted the strange object one way and then another, slightly confused by the odd angles of the metal pieces.
It can't be a weapon...
He thought to himself as he examined the metal.
Brandon knew that a blade would have to be much longer and heavier to do any real damage. So the short, blunted metal object in his hand obviously wasn't a blade, but it still appeared to him like it could be used to cut...something.
Brandon glanced out to the horizon noticing Erin's back was just disappearing into the distance as she rushed to her first birthing. Ezekiel's response pulled his eyes back to him.
"It's a vegetable peeler Brandon." Ezekiel replied absentmindedly, his back was turned to Brandon as he handled the potatoes piled at his feet, but a moment after Ezekiel spoke his entire body went still. Then with a slight frown dancing across Ezekiel's face, he turned to Brandon slowly.
"Wait....Why don't you know what that is?" he asked....a small suspicious squint of his blue eyes connecting with Brandon's.
To this question all Brandon could do was shrug and sigh.
"Um...." He hesitated, tilting the newly named object in his hand to the side. "Well, maybe because I don't know how to peel potatoes?" Brandon softly admitted as he glanced up from the "peeler" and back at Ezekiel.
Ezekiel chuckled, but the chuckle was dry and quickly turned into a growl as he sighed softly and reached up. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "This...." He said. "Is going to be a long long day."