Baby Steps
1354 Words
The night was dark as thunder volts shook the sky, and the wind blew with vigour in the field.
"You have to be kidding" Lizzy thundered "We can't harvest more Hannah, our mums will be worried sick and aunt Martha will be furious at us"
"You think they really care" Hannah spat "Our lands are going barren and we need to harvest all we can while we can, before we all starve to death"
"And that won't be tonight" Lizzy replied standing her ground.
" How long are you gonna pretend to be blind" Hannah asked furiously "We need to harvest now. No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow"
"Your right Hannah, no one knows what will happen tomorrow, but we can all see that a wind storm is coming today, and we need to protect our lives"
"Oh please Lizzy, you know the storm is a less bother compared to starvation"
Matilda was getting tired of watching their little chatter when Lizzy turned away from Hannah.
"Pack your harvests everyone, we leave before the storm sets" she announced as she turned back to Hannah
" You seem so certain that there will be no barley tomorrow, only God knows what you have up your sleeve" Lizzy spat as she strode to help others pack their harvests.
Strange, Matilda thought. This place had a strange vibe attached to it and the people spoke strangely too. Well, whatever they had going on she sure didn't want to starve.
she looked around the field trying to find little Beth but couldn't sight her, moving around the field she tried to find her but couldn't.
"Beth" she called out but only got the bustle of harvest packing as an answer.
She looked harder calling out for her till she got to the part where berries were planted.
"Beth" she called out as a gust of wind passed her.
"Beth" she repeated but got no reply, deciding against her mission she turned and started walking back, but stopped on her tracks when she heard the sound of branches snapping. She turned to see the cause of the snap but saw nothing, turning to go back a small silent voice which was almost a whisper stopped her.
You looking for me?
Beth, she thought as she immediately turned to see were the little girl was hiding, but was greeted by a gust of wind that sent her flying down to her butt.
"Am right here" Beth said as Matilda looked up to see the girl sitting near a pile of wood that had smoke streaming out of it, it seemed that the wind did more than giving her a butt ache.
"What are you doing here" she reprimanded while walking towards the girl who was camped near a tree.
" Watching the earth" Beth replied while looking at the smoke that evaporated from the wood.
"Oh my God" Matilda exclaimed not believing her ears " We are trying to beat the brewing wind storm while you seat here doing what?"
"Watching the earth" Beth replied
"Unbelievable" Matilda said " You could have freezed to death out here"
"But I didn't" Beth replied with a smile "Come sit" She said patting the ground next to her.
" A wind storm is brewing " Matilda said
" There will be no storms today " Beth replied " come sit " she repeated patting the same spot on the ground.
Matilda was reluctant, she didn't know what came over Beth but they needed to go home before the storm set. She made to protest and tell her that the idea was insane.
" please" Beth said quietly looking into her eyes "trust me"
She wanted to protest loudly or even still carry the girl back home but those eyes that shone like crystals and that angelic voice, she just couldn't resist.
"Whatever" She replied as she sat next to her.
"I want to show you something " Beth said as she lighted the log of wood and asked her to close her eyes. Matilda complied and therefore didn't see Beth's eye colour turn grey as she murmured a few spells under her breath.
" Open them " Beth said and Matilda immediately snapped her eyes open while searching her surroundings for a surprise.
Beth took her hand " Look up to the sky" she said.
Matilda looked at the little girl with uncertainty before slowly looking to the sky, what she saw was beyond wonder.
There in the sky were the stars that shone brightly as they seemed bigger than normal, they were of different shades of blue, red golden, blue and white, but what amazed her was the moon as it seemed to pulse in its position, it was large and looked like an eye which had dark shades of gray splashed in the middle. She was awed, in all her life she had never witnessed something so beautiful and entrancing, she was drawn to the view and couldn't look away.
" Beautiful" she whispered as she couldn't find the words to explain what she saw and felt, she felt drawn to the sky, as if it was calling and reaching out for her but she couldn't quite grab it.
" Indeed" little Beth replied and silence followed.
"The times have changed" Beth said making Matilda snap out of her daze.
" I sense death, blood shed and war" She said looking Matilda in the eye " The trees speak of it and the winds send us warnings"
She picked up a dry leaf and ignited it with the fire burning in front of them and brought it up to her face " But we do nothing about it"
Matilda got goosebumps from what she said which made her knock the the burning leaf out of her hand.
" What are you doing" she snapped "your going to burn yourself, come it's time to go home" she said while standing up and offering her hand to Beth.
"You don't believe me" the little girl asked innocently.
" We have no time for small talks Beth, we need to go"
Beth gave her a long hard look before taking her hand and standing up.
"How do we put off the fire " she asked
"It will go off on its own"Beth replied as she tugged her towards another direction so that Matilda didn't notice the fire go off on its own.
They kept on walking till Matilda felt someone tapping her.
"We are still friends right?"
" of course" Matilda answered " But you gotta stop saying weird things" she added as they continued their walk.
" It's high time you learned respect" Alex thundered.
"Respect" Magi scoffed " The whole town knows trouble is brewing and our dear sister's inaction is getting on their nerves"
"Is it" Alex asked " You seem too close to the folks these days Magi, remember that treason is highly outlawed"
"What are you trying to imply" Magi queried.
"You know perfectly well what am trying to imply Magi, signing Robert up for martial arts when you know he is perfectly not capable of ruling the seven Covens, talks in the table to spark the children's interest and spreading rumors about Martha in the lower town "
"Oh please, don't try sassing me for trying to look out for the people, the Barrel would soon move on us and if they succeed we become slaves, if we swear allegiance to the Beareau in exchange for protection we become slaves. They will only use our powers to facilitate their drug deals.
" And who says we can't fight against the Barrel" Alex snapped
" Don't tell me that you have no knowledge that Magic have almost gone extinct in the Covens since the Forbidden placed their curse, the remaining sorcerers would be made slaves if there is an invasion, and Martha the queen of the Covens sits and does nothing, what kind of future does that project for us"
"Enough of the nonsense Magi" Martha who had been sitting and listening to the two argue echoed.
" I will have no more of your....."
Lily happily burst into the room to announce their return.
"This matter will be addressed later" Martha said and left to welcome the children.
- Writer
