Solveis stepped onto her mountain freezing from head to toe, so freezing that she couldn’t think clearly. She saw that her brother had been brought off the yacht and was surrounded by some adults. They must have been attending to the knife wound. She began to walk toward him, but an adult stopped her. “You look absolutely freezing. You need to get warm now! Before you get sick. Run home,” the grown up commanded. When Solveis only chattered her teeth in response, they spoke again more firmly, “Now! Go get dry clothes!” Comforted by knowing what to do next, she sprinted to her cabin. The act of running was warming.
She rushed into her cabin, which wasn’t as heated as she’d hoped. She ran into the bathroom and was ill, then she retrieved clothes and changed. Just then, Girselle and En entered wet and cold. After all of them had all gotten into warm clothes, they sat on the floor of their cabin, wrapped in blankets, looking at each other.
In the middle of their quiet moment, Arlendr rushed in, dripping wet, arm heavily bandaged, and with crazy adrenaline eyes. He rushed past them and got changed himself. Then he rushed back into the room, stood where they were sitting, and stared at them.
“What are you doing, children?” he asked them.
“Getting warm,” En answered accurately.
Arlendr was surprised at this. Then he reflected for a moment, after which he went and got a coat and a blanket and wrapped himself up.
“It’s warmer down here,” En suggested.
Arlendr joined their circle.
Solveis felt bad that Livia wasn’t part of this moment. It seemed like an important one. Then, she thought, ‘Where were her parents, Livia, and all the civilians?’ She verbalized, “What have the parents been doing during all this?”
“In the head pike?” Arlendr suggested the possibility.
“Should I check?” En suggested.
Girselle beat him to it. She stood up, blanket and all, and went to find out. She came back quickly, running into the room. “Everyone is at the plateau. There’s a bonfire.”
Girselle led the way out, and toward the plateau.
Solveis spotted her parents, Livia, and even Livia’s family in a little group around the very large bonfire. It seemed like all the fort people, the cabin dwellers, and even a few from surrounding islands had gathered on and around the plateau.
Solveis joined Livia and company.
“Sulvi!” Livia shouted excitedly. “Did you hear?! They shot baby Oskar. That lady did!”
Solveis hadn’t known what had happened to everyone else while she was on the pirate adventure. She was now deeply concerned. Her mother, who was sitting very close by explained, “He’s fine. They grabbed him though, and attacked us.”
‘So that was what the alarm was about earlier’, Solveis thought. She asked, “What happened? Is everyone ok?”
Livia wanted to tell her story. She talked in a bubbling flow of words. “That lady grabbed baby Oskar. She held him hard and he cried. Then, the other lady held him. And, everybody – the fort people – came all around. I was there too. The mean lady grabbed me. I wiggled and dropped, but she kept grabbing me. – Look at my arm!” Livia pointed at a deep, sizable bruise on her arm.
Solveis wanted to know what had happened in full, so she didn’t speak and risk the story taking even longer to be told.
Livia went on, “And then, the people all tried to get me back, and Oskar too, but the two ladies were mean, and it took a long time. Finally, the lady threw me to the fort people, and one of them caught me. So I didn’t fall. – Oh, and little Oskar got away too. When everyone got back here, from the pirate ship, then Sir. Lou said, ‘Let’s have a bon fire’, cuz we have guests now. So we are going to eat with them, and keep warm.”
Livia’s account of the story had not been clearly told at all. Solveis would find out the details over the following weeks though by hearing different peoples’ version of the events. What had really happened was that Lilah and Mara had entered Molil at the east dock. Then they had walked up to the cabin, looking for some way to create a distraction. Lilah saw Livia and Oskar playing right outside the cabin.
Lilah swooped over and picked little Oskar up. She shook him hoping it would make him cry out. It did. Livia screamed at the crazy lady attacking her little friend. The adults came running from the head pike (the other cabin). The adults didn’t know what to think originally. But they sensed danger and tried to talk with Lilah and Mara. They tried to reason with them and get them to release the child. Lilah knew that the distraction would need to last a while longer, so she shoved Oskar into Mara’s arms and grabbed Livia who still hadn’t moved far away from her. Livia wiggled and between the wiggling and her natural bulk she was hard to hold onto. Lilah twisted Livia’s arm behind her back causing her to cry real tears of pain. The adults were really scared now. The fathers were beginning to move forward as if they would attack the women.
Lilah sensed that backup would be there momentarily to take her down.
“Drop the boy and prepare a boat,” Lilah commanded Mara.
Mara was more than happy to get out of there. She dropped the boy and ran off toward the dock. She remembered Brutoin and Yu saying that there were canoes and things in a storage area at the dock. Once she got near the dock though, she hid and waited for Lilah to return. She wasn’t followed because the group of parents were too preoccupied with Lilah hurting Livia.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Lilah needed to evade the fort people who would shortly be there with weapons and more of a plan of attack. She ran off with Livia in her arms, treating her roughly. Livia wailed in her ear, annoying her greatly. All the parents ran after her. Lilah was getting tired, running with a weight in her arms, but she’d have to keep this up as long as she could. Lilah was very tenacious; she could run fast and hard and fight through physical discomfort when she had to. Between Lilah’s running her hardest and the confusion of those who chased after her, Lilah was able to get a head start and evade them for a little. It didn’t take long for fort people to join the fight though. They followed more closely after her. They were prepared to take her down, but nervous sending long range attacks at her because there was a risk of hitting Livia. Lilah kept the chase up as long as she could. She saw that more reinforcements were coming and that it would be impossible to escape soon. She threw the heavy child at the group of parents and fort people. They rushed to catch Livia. Lilah sprinted off in the direction of the dock. She was followed by a few people, but she didn’t dwell on it. All she had to do was make it to the dock.
Mara heard the commotion coming her way. She saw Lilah while she was still a distance away. She left her hiding spot to get a vessel. She got a canoe ready. She also had the foresight to take all the other vessels out of the shed and drop them into the water, where they couldn’t be used. The moment Lilah was at the dock, they both got in the prepared canoe and rushed off. Fort people swam out to the floating canoes and kayaks, but Mara had a head start.
Solveis did not immediately learn all this from Livia’s accounting, but she had heard enough to satisfy her curiosity in the moment. It seamed, at least, that all her people were not seriously harmed. She checked with the mother. “Are all our people ok?”
The mother answered soothingly, “We’re shaken up, but no one’s really hurt.”
Solveis knew that Arlendr was hurt, but also that there was likely no permanent damage, so she didn’t mention it.
The mother, still communicating with her daughter, pointed sweetly at little Oskar, to show that everything was alright. He was frolicking happily with other kids his age.
“Sulvi!” Livia shouted, being filled with a new idea. “Look at all the kids here. Think how big a game of kickball we could play!” Livia’s eyes sparkled.
Solveis laughed.
Before Solveis went off with her little friend, her mother had more to say. The mother spotted Arlendr nearby. She softly touched her two children's’ wrists and guided them into sitting positions near her. “I’ll need you to tell me all about it later.”
Arlendr had been a warrior five minutes ago. He did not enjoy being treated like her child son. His eyes flickered, looking for some escape from the motherly embrace.
Solveis was shocked that her mother wasn’t being frantic and furious, shouting at her for being dangerous. Hadn’t she been wondering where her kids had been? Wasn’t she worried? Maybe she was just relieved that they hadn’t been grabbed like Livia. Solveis accidentally, clumsily verbalized her thoughts, “How come you’re not mad, and not knowing where we were?” Then, regretting saying anything, Solveis’s eyes became those of a scared deer.
“Should I be upset? Havel checked in on you. He said you were warming up in your cabin. That’s right isn’t it?” the mother talked pleasantly.
Solveis was confused. This seemed to be insufficient information to sooth the mother. She was referring to their recent whereabouts, what about before? Isn’t she mad about their going with the fort people? Solveis let go of this line of thinking. She realized that she’d somehow slipped the hook of parental upset. She might as well be happy about it for now, until the full story must be told later.
“I want to go play with Livia,” Solveis told her mother.
“Ok, darling. Help her get a game of kickball together. She seems all excited about that,” the mother suggested. She kissed her daughter’s cheek as the girl stood up. Arlendr also stood up to go. The mother kept him down long enough to kiss his cheek too, then released him to his peers.
Solveis walked toward Livia. But then, she saw that a game of kickball really was taking place. This was not the time. She needed to find out what had happened. Then she saw it, a group with the tiny man, the translucent boy, Sir. Lou and many others. She walked casually over to it.
“So we didn’t manage to get any of the artifacts back?” One of the fort people asked.
“Some of it was taken off onto our row boats, but not all,” Stefanie answered.
“It’s too bad. Those are all beloved items. I only hope they make it back to their homes someday,” Sir. Lou said mournfully.
“Was anyone seriously hurt?” Someone asked.
“Not seriously. Bruises, twisted ankles, cuts, but that’s all. The boy got a good cut, I think,” Stefanie answered.
The fort person looked at the translucent boy in worry. “Are you alright!?”
“Not me. That other boy. The cloven hoofed one,” he explained.
Stefanie saw Solveis hovering and asked, “Is Arlendr ok?”
“He didn’t tell me,” Solveis answered.
Lou explained, “It’ll hurt for a while, but I don’t think he’s sorry for the injury.”
Stefanie then looked to the boy at hand, “I hope you really are ok.” Then she asked Lou, “How is he getting home? How are they all getting home?”
Lou answered, “We’ll either escort them, or else we’ll house them until their people come for them.”
“I actually don’t live that far away, relatively…” the tiny man said, looking at the boy.
As interesting as this conversation was, Solveis found herself tired and wanting to rest. She left the conversation to find her family again and sat down with them. Little Oskar grabbed her hands and started fidgeting playfully with her fingers. Next thing she knew, she was being woken up by her mom’s warm hand on her shoulder. She had fallen asleep in the fire’s warmth, with her little brother cuddled up against her chest.
Sir. Lou was addressing the group, “I think it’s only fair that we all get an explanation of the evening’s events”. He spoke loudly and gently, “This is not a happy circumstance that we have been part of. I want to thank you all though, for doing your best, for making sure that every innocent person was brought to safety. That’s what really matters. To you all who have joined us not of your own will, I apologize. We will do our best to make sure you get home as soon as possible. – Thank you to all of you who have been preparing for this very event. Clearly the concern was warranted. Your service and sacrifice is appreciated.” At this, people agreed aloud. “Thank you also to the inhabitants of this island and the surrounding area, for being such gracious hosts. Everyone have a cup of hot chocolate. Everyone is welcome to stay here overnight if they need to. We can attend to more needs in the morning.”
Eventually, everyone went to their own part of the island and settled down. Visitors stayed in the Head Pike, and so the parents slept in the child cabin. The children were left to sleep in tight quarters, on the floor of the living room.