The
forest that Seth had made camp in that night also happened to contain the
Barons place of residence, so both parties used the area to their advantage by
hunting and trapping the creatures that also resided there. This forest was
coated in tall thin pine trees, but occasionally, areas were punctuated with
the odd looking Kamra trees, their Prussian blue bark and bright red and yellow
flowers making them popular among artists, while their toxic fruit making them
popular among poets.
Seth woke early the next
morning and just lay in his hammock for a while listening to the “birds”
calling, well what we call birds now anyway Seth thought as he rolled off his
hammock, he stretched his arm and groped around in the half-light until he
found what he was looking for. He reattached his left arm and switched it on; a
soft whirring noise was now being produced by the little box between his
shoulder blades as the byronium crystal was set spinning. He sat and considered
his situation then pulled on his hat and slid off his cart. Seth took a deep
breath then started tugging his cart along the path. Seth knew not to use the
motor for this trip, for it would scare them away. Most people didn’t bother
with the prawns, as if you don’t bother them they won’t bother you, however,
they are extremely good eating and one prawn could last me a week thought Seth
as he arrived at a nearby lake. This lake obviously used to be a reservoir
before the nukes now it’s just a radiation pool. If you fall in; the
radiation’ll get you, if it doesn’t the prawns will. No-one knows what they mutated
from; some say birds others say horses. Seth routed around in his cart for his
fishing gear, catching prawns is different to catching fish, as prawns only go
for chunks of meat and can only be caught with nets, as they just break rods. Seth
threw his net and bait combo as far as he could into the lake, then tied the
other end to his cart, after making sure the cart was fastened to the ground
then after checking his gear Seth left his cart to check on his traps.
Ellyn also rose early. She
threw her bedding off her and climbed out of bed. She then sleepily padded to
the washrooms and bent over the sink to splash her face with the water that was
distilled on site. She went back to her room, more awake now, and threw on her
uniform. She wandered to the store cupboard, grabbed several buckets and walked
to the back door. She paused at the door to pull on a mask and then went down
the hill to the lake to collect water there. As she arrived she saw something
unfamiliar; someone’s cart was tethered on the opposite bank, she just
dismissed it and continued on. Ellyn filled the buckets, before going back up
the hill to the manor after deciding not to meddle with the cart. For all I
know it could be booby trapped she thought as she got back to the manor. She took
the buckets of water to the kitchens and fetched Valthers breakfast; she loaded
his tray with eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, fried potatoes and juice. Ellyn
ascended the steps up to Valthers bedroom. She knocked and entered the bedroom
and was hit with the smell of mixed body odour, his bed was still unmade from
when he got out of it this morning, but Valther was no-where to be seen, she
went over to the bed and placed the tray on it. As she turned around to leave
she felt hands grasp her shoulders and force her onto the bed face down,
spilling the breakfast. Valther started tearing at her uniform to try and get
it off her, and Ellyn let out a scream and shortly heard raised voices outside
the door but the door was locked so no-one could help her. She kept shouting
and screaming until Valther pushed her face into the bed so she couldn’t make a
sound. All she could do was sob silently into the bed.
Seth had been wandering the
manor gardens scrumping some shrooms when he heard a scream, he ran round the
house trying to locate its origin, he heard some more screaming and decided
what window it was coming from, luckily it wasn’t too high up. Seth reached
into his satchel and pulled a length of rope out with a rock on one end; he
threw the rock onto the roof, tested to see if it was secure, and started
climbing the rope up to the window. When he reached the window he saw a large
man hunched over a young girl with dark hair, the man had torn through her
outer clothes and was fighting to get her underclothes off. Seth made a
decision and in one fluid moment Seth smashed through the window and kicked the
man off the girl, he grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled out the window
after him.
Ellyn fell with a thud next
to the strange man who had saved her from Valther, although as she looked at
him sitting on the grass next to her. He was a tall gangly 18 year old boy with
a mess of brown hair on his head, his blue eyes shining from beneath a
respirator. He wore dark coloured trousers and a blue-and-white checker jumper
with a hood, a navy body warmer over the top, a tartan scarf around his neck,
utility belt around his waist and a brown leather satchel hanging from his
shoulder.
Seth studied the girl he had
just saved from the large man and saw a 17-ish year old girl, with long dark
hair and a slim frame; her pale skin was visible through of what was left of
her uniform. She had a small nose and dark almond eyes. Put it this way, he
could see why that man was trying to get her…
Seth broke the silence;
“You ok?”
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” said Ellyn as she turned
bright red.
“No problem” replied Seth
“Just helping a girl in need” Seth winked at her. “I guess you can’t really go
back there now?”
“No I suppose not” Ellyn
said looking at the broken window
“Do you have a room, to
uh…get changed?” asked Seth indicating to what was left of her uniform.
Ellyn looked down at the
tatters and attempted to cover herself a little better, turning bright red
again as Seth helped her up.
“Uh, yeah, this way” Ellyn
said. She beckoned Seth to follow her to the servant’s quarters. As they
entered they took their masks off, this is where Seth noticed Ellyn was wearing
red lipstick, and Ellyn noticed Seth hadn’t shaved in a while. The other
servants gave them strange looks as they passed, the news of what happened
mustn’t have spread yet.
“Wait out here please” Ellyn
muttered to Seth as they arrived at her room, Seth obediently obliged and Ellyn
darted into her room.
Ellyn pulled off the rags
and looked at her naked self in the mirror and checked for damage, a few
bruises on her shoulders and waist but that was it, luckily the boy had come in
time and stopped Valther from…
Ellyn interrupted herself
and put on her “casual clothes” – a pair of comfortable and tight fitting
purple trousers, with a plain t-shirt and woollen jumper. She had also threaded
her stone on a string and placed it around her neck. Ellyn opened the door and Seth
wandered in. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around the room with
growing awe.
They stood there in silence
once more, with both of them obviously waiting for the other to say something…
“So uh, my names Sethrus,
but you can call me Seth” Said Seth suddenly as he stuck out his hand.
“Ellyn my name is Ellyn”
Replied Ellyn as she touched his hand it made her jump, it was a skeletal frame
made of metal. Ellyn made a little gasp and Seth looked down,
”Ah, sorry about that” Seth
said as he changed hands. Seth stuck out his normal hand and Ellyn grasped it,
they shook hands smiling and they both thought:
This
is the start of a new story…
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