The REAL Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The morning sun rose over the golden hills. The mountain air was crisp and cool, the light from the sun reflecting of the white slopes and onto the small, tight village of St. Ian. The small brick houses with their black slate roofs and square chimneys were all waking to the new day. A tabby cat ran through the single main street, following St. Ian’s only road from its origin at the beginning of the woods. She ran on the gravel path, passing the bakers house, where the smell of fresh bread was filling the air, and the basket weavers house where bunches of reeds were drying on the porch.

The cat continued on, passing the tailor and shoemaker, cheese-maker and the doctor and a dozen other small families all plying some trade or another. Eventually, the cat came to the last house at the end of the road. It was no different from any of the others. It had a red painted door with three windows in the front, only one having real glass in it. The animal leapt up on the porch just in time for the door to burst open and four angry figures to walk out.

“For the last time Bella, you cannot come with us!” A boy of about fifteen with curly dark brown hair said.

“But it’s not fair! You all get to go and watch them all day! I have to stay here and clean their smelly wool!” A girl with bouncy short blond hair and blue-gray eyes yelled, fist clenched indignantly at her side.

“What Klaus means is you’re just not old enough to watch sheep yet.” An older girl said with shoulder length auburn hair.

“But I’m almost eight!” The young girl yelled, “It’s not fair! I don’t even have any friends to play with!”

“Bella, here.” The other boy with the spectacles said. “What about that cat over there? You could play with her.”

“I HATE cats!!!” She screamed, and the poor animal quickly disappeared behind the house.

“Either way, you’ll have to find a way to keep busy while we’re gone.” Klaus said as the three left to release to flock from the fold behind the house.

Bella left them to go pout and get a warm roll from Franz the Baker. Klaus sighed, Holly shook her head, and the other boy, Ivan, cleaned his spectacles on his shirt. They all knew she was still too young to take the flocks up the mountain but she made a scene every few weeks. The three friends grabbed their long staves and walked up the hill, keeping the few stragglers in line.

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The warm mid day sun shone down on the hills, burning the grass golden and causing the crickets to sing in response. The three friends were underneath their favorite tree, an old large laurel with deep green leaves that kept the warm stifling shade warm and stifling. Klaus felt his eyes growing heavier, as usual this time of day. Ivan poked him, smiling over the top of his glasses.

“Could you at least try and do your job?” He asked teasingly.

“Klaus has a hard enough time as it is.” Replied Holly with a wink, “He’s much too worn down because of all the questions that Mrs. Paige had given him for homework.”

“I don’t see you guys being much brighter.” Klaus said , closing his eyes and sighing.

“Oh yeah, well lets see if your memory is as good as you think. Here keep your eyes closed and describe Ivan for me.” Holly said with a smile that smacked of pride.

“Alright. Let’s see. Ivan is my age, fifteen, though he is a few months older. He has straight black hair that he parts on the side and combs over, though some always hangs in his eyes. He has blue eyes and a pair of brass spectacles. Um he usually wears the same diamond patterned sweater, with the grey and blue diamonds, and long grey pants, even in the summer. He… also always wears a scarf of some kind, and… oh and he’s a bit shorter than me.”

Ivan seemed to wince at the last comment but verified the rest. Holly made a mock bow as Klaus opened one eye. “Your turn!” He said with a slight grin. “Describe me.”

“Well, you’re laid back, careless at times. You’re way too passive and would sleep the day away if you coul-“ Holly was interrupted as Klaus cleared his through pointedly. “Oh fine. You’re as tall as me. You’re eyes are dark brown with some slight green wisps. Your wear the same kind of sweater as Ivan, though your shirt is always untucked and drooping out from underneath it. Let’s see what else. You never grin openly, always out one corner of your mouth or the other.”

Klaus grinned as she said it and Ivan found it very amusing. Klaus groaned slightly as he rolled over on the warm grass and looked at Ivan, “ You can go next since you think its so easy.”

Ivan sighed and closed his eyes. He said nothing for a few seconds then began speaking at twice normal speed.

“Holly is fourteen. She’s as tall as you, about 5’ 7. I don’t know her weight because it’s rude to ask but she is not fat or skinny, just slightly muscular. She has wavy auburn hair down to her shoulders and intense viridian eyes. She wears a sweater like ours except green instead of blue. And a skirt instead of pants obviously. Her right ring finger is slight smaller than her left one. She is left handed and has a small brass earring in her right ear. She likes sports and is good at fencing. Very good at it. She also-”

But before he could finish he was hit from both sides by a hail of acorns from Klaus and Holly. He stopped talking, and cleaned his spectacles again. Klaus and Holly sat down against the tree again, and a still quietness enveloped the three friends as they watched the sheep graze on the grass. They were often silent like this when they thought about their parents.

Ivan’s parents had died during a great war and he had been sent to live with his grandmother and his niece, Bella. That had been when he was only seven. Klaus had been found when he was not even a year old. He was raised by the local shepherd and when the shepherd disappeared into the woods, he was taken in by Ivan’s grandmother, who moved the family into the sheep farm. Holly had come to stay in the town a few years back. She had lost her mother at birth and her father when she was 5. She had wandered into the town and Ivan’s grandmother had opened the doors to her.

They watched the sheep intently as their minds wandered. Their thoughts were interrupted when they saw a black smudge moving up the hill. They relaxed when they saw the white bonnet that Granny always wore. She must have come to berate them for not bringing Bella.

“Ivan! Ivan, come here!” All three went down the hill.

“Granny, I can explain. Bella was just having one of her usual fits.” Ivan began, but he was cut short by the look on her face. “What happened?”

“It’s Bella.” The old woman said breathlessly, “We can’t find her. Franz said that she stopped by but after that no one saw her.”

“Maybe she went to hide from us and fell asleep.” Holly offered.

“But we can’t find her anywhere. The only place left she could be is…” but the old woman dared not say it, and stifled a quiet sob at the horrible thought.

The three friends and the old woman made their way down the hill and up the path. When they reached the village they immediately saw that everyone had stopped their daily work and had gathered in the middle of the road, by the old laurel tree. Granny ran up calling for Bella and asking if she was hurt. As they drew near they saw the crowd part slowly not daring to make eye contact. In the middle was the schoolteacher Mrs. Paige. She was sobbing.

“What is it? Did you find her? Did you find my Bella?”

Mrs. Paige and Granny both burst into tears as she shook her head no. The between sobs the story came out. Mrs. Paige had been sitting by the laurel tree when a golden retriever puppy ran past her, followed by Bella. They ran around the village and Mrs. Paige let them, thinking it would do Bella good to have a friend. But then, it happened. Bella chased the dog past the laurel tree, past the cheese-maker and the doctor, past the shoemaker and the tailor, past the basket-weaver and the baker, straight into the Black Forrest.

With this news all eyes turned towards the ominous evergreen woods. Holly, Klaus, and Ivan ran up the gravel road to the forest. There on the trail lay one of Bella’s pink bows from her dress. Holly picked it up and Ivan called into the woods after Bella. Klaus had never been this close to the woods before and he suddenly felt as if they grew tremendously in size, taking up the whole sky and earth. He felt dizzy and disorientated. His eyes grew heavy and he felt like weights were hanging from his shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Holly and Ivan ran to him as the world turned sideways and everything went dark.


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In the darkness a bright light shone. It lit up the whole world and bright white light seemed to be coming from everywhere and filling Klaus’ senses. He opened his eyes and blinked at the fierce white light. From out of nowhere, he saw a single golden star suspended in the air in front of him appear.

He jumped back when it spoke like a chorus of soothing voices.

“Let the dreamer dream, of things unseen
But let him no answer give
Heed your task, and when she asks
Don’t answer that you may live.”

The golden star shone brighter and brighter, blinding Klaus to everything else as the warm light flooded his veins with fire. He felt as if he was falling and drowning in the light. His head started pounding with pain. He faintly heard the sound of crickets chirping come into focus. He opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of his room above him.

He sat up, painfully clearly feeling the bump on his head throbbing. He got up slowly and sat at the edge of the straw bed. The door creaked open and Ivan came in. He sat next to Klaus and spoke quietly.

“You were out for six hours. Sorry, we didn’t catch you in time.” Ivan leaned forward as he cleaned his glasses and asked, “You want to talk about it? I’ve never seen you faint like that before.”

“I don’t know what happened. It was weird. I know I dreamed something but now I can’t remember any of it.”

An awkward pause.

“Their not going after her. You know that right. They say there’s no chance. We can’t…we can’t save her….”

“How’s Granny taking it?”

“Well, she’s been crying a lot. It was good that she had you to take care of though. She hadn’t left your side until just now. She cried herself to sleep.”

“Ivan, you know everything there’s to know about our village. Tell me honestly; is it true that no one has ever come out of the Black Forest?”

“For as long as this village has been here, no one has ever gone into the forest and come back out.”

“Are you sure? I mean someone must have come back. At least once…”

“Well…”Ivan suddenly became very focused on cleaned his spectacles very thoroughly.

“Ivan, what is it you’re not telling me!?!”

“He’s not telling you what you don’t want to know.” Holly said from the doorway. She was wearing a long dark cloak over her clothes and had her hearding staff in her hand.

“What are you guys talking about?” Klaus asked getting worried.

“You.” Ivan said looking down as Klaus’ eyes went wide with shock.

“Granny knew the shepherd that found you. On the night he found you he cam to her and told her what happened. You weren’t found. You were given to him, by a woman in a long dark green cloak, who came out of the woods. She gave him the basket and left saying that she’d be back someday. Then she went back into the forest.”

“What! Why didn’t anyone ever tell me this”

“Granny didn’t want you to know. She thought you’d go back into the forest to search for your real family. She couldn’t bare the thought of loosing you.”

“Well, how come she knows?” he said pointing at Holly. “Am I the only one who didn’t?”

“Calm down. I made Ivan tell me.” She said as she quickly grabbed Ivan’s wrist, swung it around and pinned his arm behind his back.

She released him after he called uncle for the umpteenth time and walked to Klaus. “So now that you know, what are you going to do about it. For some reason the woods didn’t kill you. You may be the only one who could rescue Bella.”

Klaus looked her in the eye, his thoughts running back in forth as he tried to make sense of everything. He saw Ivan fix his glasses and shake his head as if to warn Klaus to say no. Holly had waited long enough.

“Well, I know what I’m doing. Bella needs someone to save her!”

And with that she picked up the lantern and walked out the bedroom through the kitchen and out the door. Klaus and Ivan followed her, running to catch up to her brisk pace.

“You can’t possibly be serious! Klaus may have made it but whose to say you will. Not just that, whose to say the woods would even let him through this time. He’s not a baby anymore!” Holly kept walking as if not hearing Ivan. “Besides, you heard what everyone said. She’s been in there too long. All we’d be doing is adding more grief to the village. Holly you’re not listening, we don’t know what’s in there!”

Holly spun around, set the lantern down, and said, “Does it really matter? Because I’ll tell you what’s in there! There’s a little girl who’s scared and doesn’t know how to get out in there. Klaus she needs us!”

“Klaus there’s nothing we can do.”

“No, we can do something! We should have done something! We should just have let her come with us and none of this would have happened!” Holy said shamefully.

Another awkward silence as the warm night breeze swayed the tree tops gently.

“You guys don’t have to come with me. I hoped you would, but you don’t have to.” Holly said walking up to the woods.

“Wait. I’m coming with you.” Klaus said, “You’re right Bella does need us, and, well.. I want to find out what happened to…them.”

“Are you guys listening to yourselves! You want to go into the forest! The Forest!”

The two just walked into the forest, the heavy thick darkness surrounding them all around. The scent of pine assaulted their sense and they felt the resin soaked pine needles cling thickly to their shoes and pants. They groped onward in the darkness for awhile until they saw a light coming from up ahead.

“If you insist on going to your doom in a forest you may want to remember the lantern. That way you can see what’s eating you.” Ivan said with a rueful grin.

“Thanks Iv.” Klaus said smiling as he realized they had only walked a few feet and already they had been turned around.

“So, let’s look for clues.” Holly said.

“You know this forest isn’t as bad with some lantern light” Ivan remarked nervously, inspecting some whitish vines, only to find his hand sticking to them.

“Guys! Run!” Holly yelled.

The two looked at what she pointed at and saw several large hairy spiders crawl down the trees. They were the size of a sheep and were a strange iridescent red color. They also seemed very hungry.

The three ran down the path in the woods as fast as they could, scrambling up inclines, and down gulches. Far back at the entrance to the woods, by the gravel path, two big thick trees seemed to expand until they were almost touching, blocking the path. From her small house, Granny blew out her candle as she said, “Be safe my dears. And please remember the dream Klaus.”

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Bella had caught up to the dog earlier that day, before sunset. She had followed the dog to a clearing surrounded by bluish green bushes. The dog, which she had named Silver, had gone and laid down by a small pool next to a tree and a slab of moss covered granite. They reached the clearing as the final rays of the sun colored the sky pink, with the blue clouds running across it.

As the white moon rose above the tree tops in the blue sky, Silver let out a howl. As it did, the bushes around the clearing suddenly opened millions of plate sized bright pink flowers that let off a dull glow. The clearing was filled with the scent of vanilla and roses. In the pond, Bella saw large bright blue fish swimming around that also let of a soft glow. The bubbles from their mouths rose up in the water and out of the water into the air, and floated around the clearing.

Silver ran around, jumping up trying to bite the bubbles, and Bella joined in, jumping to pop the bubbles. She bumped the tree and what had looked like bark turned out to be large brown moths that had been sleeping on the tree. With a flutter of dusty wings the moths flew off, revealing their glowing purple wings.

Bella danced with the moths, the bubbles, the dog, and the moon. It seemed as if magic and music was all around her and on the air, coming from the mystical woods. Next to the stone slab she found a patch of large ripe strawberries and ate as the sweet red juice ran down her chin. Then she drank from the cool fresh pool and lay down on the soft moss. Silver lay down next to her and soon she fell asleep to the dull glow and the beating heart of her puppy.

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“Poor Bella. Think how terrible it must be for her in this dark, humid forest. She’s probably sitting somewhere huddled in a little ball to afraid to move.” Holly said.

“I’m just glad we got away from those spiders.” Klaus said, stopping to take a breath.

“I tried to warn you abou- hey what’s that!” Ivan said noticing something purple sticking out of a bush.

“Its one of her bows! She came past here! Everyone, look for a trail.”

They began doing what they normally did when a sheep got lost. As they moved around looking for the regular signs, Klaus found branches that were broken and still white. She had been past here recently. Holly was the one who found the tell tale shoeprints, following the tell tale dog prints.

The three set of at a brisk jog, identifying more signs as they grew hot on the track. Dog fur, small pieces of cloth, flattened patches of grass all pointed a clear way. They picked up the pace when they noticed a set of new tracks following Bella’s.

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Bella felt herself gently swaying as she opened her eyes groggily. She was aware of soft short fir beneath her, and the trotting sound of hoof beats. She could somewhat distinguish a figure with long blond hair in front of her. She was singing.

As Bella heard the song she felt herself drift back to sleep, unable to resist the siren’s song of slumber. The horses heavy breathing and rhythmic heartbeat reminded her of something long ago but she could no longer focus as sleep over took her.

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The three ran through a clearing with a small pool and a single tree. By the light of the lantern they saw small white flowers on the bushes, ugly brown moths on the tree, and pale bland fish in the pool. They saw the clear imprint of where Bella had slept. They also saw the dogs tracks go off into the woods, and then what looked like hoof prints come into the clearing.

They were about to follow the new trail, when they heard what sounded like a dirgefull drum beat. Voices sang from the trees a very saddening song, and the trees seemed to grow again. Klaus felt himself suddenly grow tired. He sat down, looked over and saw Ivan already asleep on his knees with his face in the dirt and his hindquarters in the air drooling into the dust. Holly lay down on the moss against the tree and closed her eyes. Klaus, felt himself slip away too.

As his eyes were closing, he vaguely saw several figures in long light green robes walk forth and snuff out the lantern. Darkness fell with his eyelids.

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End Chapter


So thats Chapter 1. It's a bit long. In the end I may end up chopping the various chapters up into smaller pieces or recombining them in diffrent ways. Well what do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know. By the way, P & L as thanks for being such supportive readers I referenced you (in a very subtle way) in the chapter. Thank you and good night.