The Twins - Chapter 14

Hey folks!
It seems that whatever deadline we give for ourselves we are unable to make. Amber's computer crashed, however, so we have a pretty good excuse (I think). Anywho, here is the long awaited Chapter 14, written by Amber. Fun times here, ya'll. I'll hopefully be working on the next chapter over break ... but I won't make any promises too soon. ;) Enjoy the chapter and be sure to comment!

Ciao,

C.
--------------
The day was young, and the sun had not yet arisen when Ellyn felt someone shake her from her sleep. She turned sleepily to the side and looked up to see Brynn fully garbed in hunting attire, with his bow and arrows in a sling across his shoulder.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“What time is it?”
“Almost five.”
Ellyn rolled back over. “I don’t think so.”
“Ellyn, you are coming with me. You promised the other day that you would. And it’s about time you learn how to properly hunt.”
“Well, I do not remember promising you anything, but since you woke me up I might as well.” Ellyn stood up, stretched, and picked up the long bow and arrows that Brynn had recently finished making.
“Here,” Brynn tossed her an apple. They walked at a brisk pace through the hill country in order to reach the woods beyond by sun-up. Little talk existed between them, as Ellyn was still half asleep and Brynn preferred a quiet morning. Taking Ellyn hunting was a risk, he knew, but if for some reason he could not hunt and Erath was still not recovered, someone would have to be able to get food. He heard a small snap, and glanced over at Ellyn to see that she had broken one of the arrows.
She shot him an awkward smile. “How exactly do you fit it in again?”
Brynn smiled, held back a teasing remark, and showed her where to place the notch. “But you don’t need to notch it quite yet,” he said. “It will be another half hour at least before we reach the forest.”
“Just trying to be prepared,” Ellyn said, but she placed the arrow back in its sling.
As Brynn predicted, they reached the woods thirty minutes later. The sun had just begun to rise, and golden streams of light poured through any spaces they could find, illuminating the forest with a misty, yellow hue. Brynn glanced around, checked the ground for prints, and then strode cautiously forward. He spotted a small herd of deer grazing about ten yards away, so far unaware of his existence. Nodding at Ellyn to watch him, Brynn silently put an arrow to his bow and lined up the shot with ease. His form was perfect, and he drew his arm back. Just then one of the deer put its head up, noticed Brynn, and took off. Brynn quickly released the arrow; it whistled through the air and narrowly missed the retreating target. He turned and looked at Ellyn, expecting her to have done something that scared them off, but she just shrugged. Brynn grunted, annoyed at losing so easy a shot.
“Alright,” he said, “let me teach you how to shoot.”
“I know how.”
“You said you’ve never shot anything in your life!” said Brynn in surprise.
“But I just watched you do it.”
“Ellyn, watching is not enough. It takes lots of practice as well, and your form needs to be perfect.”
Ellyn laughed gaily. “Watch me.” She slipped past him, walking cautiously around the trees in search of more prey. Brynn was surprised at how quiet she managed to be. That certainly did not seem like her. After about ten minutes of searching, she spotted a deer not far off. Shooting a playfully haughty glance at Brynn, Ellyn notched an arrow to her bow, held it up, and shot. She watched the air whistle through the air and come to a sudden stop in a dead stump just to the right of her target. The deer ran off, and Ellyn turned to look at Brynn, embarrassed. To her surprise, he looked impressed.
“Are you sure you’ve never shot before?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Positive,” Ellyn answered. “But I missed.”
“You almost hit the target, Ellyn. I couldn’t shoot that well until I was fourteen years old,” he told her.
“Thanks a lot,” she said sarcastically. “I feel so encouraged.” Brynn just laughed.
“Well, I meant it as a compliment. I’ve been shooting since I was eight years old,” he reminded her.
“Oh. Right. Um, thanks,” Ellyn answered, subdued. Brynn grinned.
“Come on. Let’s go get a deer.”
The two tramped through the woods for another half-hour before spotting a herd of deer.
“Alright,” Brynn said in a barely audible voice. “Let’s shoot at the same time and ee if one of us can hit something. Aim slightly to the left of the one you want to hit.”
Ellyn nodded, concentrating.
“On three,” Brynn whispered. “One,” he raised his bow and pulled an arrow from his quiver. Ellyn did the same. “Two.” He notched the arrow and aimed at the deer he wanted. Again, Ellyn mirrored his careful movements. Pulling back on the string, he whispered, “three.” Both arrows were released at exactly the same moment, hurtling through the air. Each went to a deer. The rest of the herd galloped off.
“Nice work,” Brynn said, turning to his companion. “Rylan and I tried to do that so many times, but one of us would always release first and scare the herd – What?” he stopped at Ellyn’s look.
“Who’s Rylan?” she asked.
“My brother,” he answered, walking through the brush where the two deer lay. Ellyn followed him.
“Older or younger?” she asked.
“Oh, older. Here, we can reuse these arrows,” Brynn said, jerking his from one of the deer.
“Brynn,” Ellyn said, her voice soft. “That deer is still moving,” she said, looking at the one she had shot.
“Don’t look,” he said shortly, pulling his knife from his belt. Ellyn turned away, grimacing. She heard Brynn grunt, and looked over at him. He was wiping blood from his knife.
“Next time aim for the heart. Instant death,” was all he said.
“Alright,” she answered.
“Do you want me to show you how to clean it?” he asked.
“No, you can do the dirty work. There is no way I’m skinning that thing and dumping out its insides.” She made a nasty face and turned away. Grinning, Brynn made no rebut and went over to the deer to begin his work.
Ellyn assisted Brynn as little as possible; not because she wasn’t willing to help, but because she thought it was disgusting. At last Brynn gave a nod of approval and slung the deer over his broad shoulders. As they walked through the woods, back to camp, he thought about the shot Ellyn had made.
“So how did you make that shot?” he asked. “How did you know what to do?”
“I learn by observance,” she answered. “It usually takes me once or twice watching something to figure out how to do it.”
“Interesting,” Brynn said. “Well, we may make a hunter of you yet. That is, when you get over the nasty part,” he teased.
Ellyn laughed. “Good luck.”

When Gavin awoke, Brynn and Ellyn were just coming into the camp. Brynn had a deer slung over his shoulder, something Gavin had always wished he could be able to do, and never quite understood how someone could do it.
“You never told me your sister could shoot,” Brynn said, dumping the deer on the ground.
“She can shoot?” Gavin asked in shock.
“I told you already, I learn from watching people,” said Ellyn, annoyed that they didn’t believe her.
“One would think you would be able to cook then, after watching your mom doing it,” Brynn replied.
“Oh, that’s sick,” Ellyn made a face and turned away.
“It was just a joke!”
“No, you’ve got blood all over your shoulder!”
Brynn craned his neck around to look. “Oh.” He shrugged and began to work on making a stew with the venison.
“So I was thinking about our situation last night,” Gavin said, spreading the map out on the ground, “and seeing that Erath will not be able to walk for a couple weeks at least, I think we should stay at the town of Rollagen until he is recovered enough. Then we will move on to the country of Peryon where Tiras is, and so forth.”
“Yes, that seems the only reasonable thing to do at the moment,” said Brynn. “But do we have enough money to pay rent for that long?”
“I have some. And we can get jobs while we are there.”
Brynn smiled. “Just so long as Ellyn doesn’t offer to cook for anyone.”
“I know of a nice inn at Rollagen,” Ellyn changed the subject. “I can go ahead and reserve two rooms, and you two can get Erath there.”
“I don’t want you going by yourself,” said Gavin.
“Well someone needs to make sure there are rooms available,” Ellyn replied. “We don’t want to get there and find out that they have all been reserved.”
“Hold on, we don’t even know how we are going to get Erath there,” Gavin said. “He’s in no condition to ride Ben, especially that far. And carrying him on a litter would take all day.”
“Couldn’t we go to town and get help?” Ellyn asked. “I’m sure someone has a cart or wagon, or something like that.”
“Ellyn, that is the first sensible idea you have had all day,” said Gavin.
“And the day is still young, perhaps it will happen again,” Brynn teased.
“Oh, get over yourselves,” Ellyn said in response, going over to Erath to change his bandages.
Erath turned his head slowly. “Don’t change the bandages today.”
“You said that yesterday. It cannot be put off,” Ellyn said firmly.
Erath grunted as Ellyn changed his bandages as gently as she could. He wished it were Gavin, because for some reason he felt he could be so much more open around him. Ellyn – well, she was different.
Gavin walked up. “Brynn and I are going to town now to get a wagon,” he said. “We should be back in a couple hours.” He added to Ellyn, “I don’t suppose you can stay out of trouble ‘til then?”
“Really Gavin, don’t be silly. I will be fine.”
“Alright,” he said. Looking at them both one more time, as if to assure himself they would not kill each other while he was gone, Gavin turned and left with Brynn.
Once Ellyn finished changing Erath’s bandages, she picked up her bow and arrows.
“You’re leaving?” Erath asked with surprise and perhaps even a bit of excitement.
“No, I am just practicing here,” said Ellyn. “Tell me something to hit.”
Erath was surprised. Ellyn usually was not one to involve him in any of her doings. He felt awkward going along with it. “I don’t care, just hit anything.”
“Oh, you are no fun.” Ellyn raised her bow.

Nearly four hours later, Gavin and Brynn returned on a cart driven by an old workhorse. There was an old man at the front holding the reins. Gavin jumped off the back and walked over to where Erath was lying. “You ready?”
“Just get it over with.”
Brynn came alongside Gavin, and together they lifted up the stretcher on which Erath was lying. He grunted at first and bit his lip until it bled, but refused to let himself cry. They carried him over to the wagon and set him in it as gently as they could. The ride back to Rollagen was rough, as the cart was bumpy and therefore exceedingly painful for Erath. He bore it the best he could, and his pride kept him from showing any obvious signs of pain. They reached Rollagen by nightfall. The farmer was kind enough to drive them to the inn, where Gavin and Brynn had already reserved two rooms. They bid him goodnight, and after the slow process of getting Erath into his room which he would share with Brynn, they all went exhaustedly to bed.

Gavin awoke before the others, and went to the nearby tavern to eat. As he walked down the street, he noticed that the town of Rollagen was fairly large as far as towns go, and was also quite prosperous. It was a clean and organized town, lacking in crimes, and most of the people there were quite friendly. Gavin was surprised to see that there was barely anyone on the streets. A few people were headed hurriedly in the direction of the town square, but that was all. Curious, Gavin followed them. He reached the square, and stopped. An enormous crowd was gathered, and a man standing on the back of a cart was reading names from a huge piece of paper. Gavin nudged a tall man standing next to him. “What is that he’s reading?”
“Names for the draft.”
“Draft?” Gavin asked in surprise.
“Yeah, I’m surprised you have not heard about it! There is an army coming down from Borrador. They’ve been splitting into battalions and ravaging different cities. The word is out that they are coming here.”
Gavin was shocked. “When will they be here?”
“Could be a couple of days, could be a week.”
He had heard enough. Gavin turned and headed back to the inn, where he found that everyone was up.
“Gavin, where were you?” Ellyn asked, meeting him in the hall. “I hope you got me something to eat.”
“No time for that,” said Gavin. “Where is Brynn?”
“I think he is in his room still. Is something wrong?”
Brynn came out of his room just then. “I’m going to get something to eat, do you want anything?”
“Brynn, listen. I was just at the town square, and they are drafting people now. Armies of Borrador are ravaging towns, and they are coming here.”
Brynn’s face hardened. “When will they get here?”
“A week or less.”
Brynn put fingers to his temple, thinking hard. “We cannot get out of here, unless we wish to abandon Erath. But I doubt that thought is in any of our minds.”
The twins shook their heads in unison.
“If we are stuck here, we should help,” said Gavin.
“Help with what?” Ellyn asked. “Are you seriously considering fighting against the men from Borrador? Because if you are, I do not want to be left out.”
“Ellyn, obviously they would not let you fight,” Gavin said. “But they would let me and Brynn.”
Brynn nodded. “If we cannot get out of here, I would rather not just sit around and do nothing.”
“Well what am I supposed to do then?” asked Ellyn in annoyance.
“Take care of Erath I suppose,” Brynn said.
“That could present a problem,” Gavin cut it. “But we can figure that out later. I’m going back to the square to get our names on that list.”
Brynn nodded, and Gavin left.
“That is definitely not like him,” said Ellyn.
“What?” Brynn asked.
“Joining some army – Gavin never does that kind of thing! I don’t know what has gotten into him lately. And I’m nervous for him. He has never fought before in his life.”
“Gavin will be fine. He may be inexperienced with a blade, but he knows how to use his head better than most people can.”
“I just hope that is enough to keep him alive.”