THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART EIGHT )

Nightfall came, it was getting late and Evelyne was
still up in the tree with Jay, she was to afraid to
come down, Jay was complaining he was hungry and he
started to cry. As she tried to comfort him as best
she could, suddenly along through the trees Evelyne
saw Fern running, so quickly Evelyne climbed down
and stopped Fern in her tracks.
"Mother!" cried Fern, "what's happened, why are you
out here and what's that burning smell?"
Evelyne quickly explained what had happened, with
tears in her eyes, she told Fern that they would have to go back to Meradith's and stay the night,
as there wasn't any food. Poor Evelyne didn't have
a clue what she would do, she was so tired.

They looked around to see if anything had survived
the fire, all Evelyne found were the skins that
Fern had washed and she had oiled earlier, it had
all become to much for Evelyne, she put Jay down
and fell to her knees crying,
"everything gone," she sobbed, "why oh why?"
Jay started to cry, not understanding why his
mother cried.

Fern knew she had to be brave and strong, so she
came over to her mother and put her arm around her.
"Mother we need to get going to Meradith's, it's
getting dark and we need protection from the night
creatures."
"Ofcourse," said Evelyne, "you are such a good girl, quick let us go immediately."

As they approached Meradith's camp, Evelyne was so
exhausted and tired, she collapsed, Fern cried out,
"help, help!" Meradith came out of one of the
wagons to see what all the noise was, then she saw
Fern and her family.
"Fern what has happened?" cried Meradith.
Fern grabbed Jay and cried, sobbing, she explained
to Meradith what had happened.

"Quickly we must get your mother inside, she is in
shock."
Once they were safely inside one of the wagons,
Meradith heated up some soup she had left in the
pot. The camp fire was still burning well, to keep
away any night creatures. Meradith also made some
camomile tea for Evelyne to calm her down.

That night when Bella's father Ivan returned home,
Meradith explained to him what had happened.
Ivan was a carpenter, he loved to work with wood,
he was an artist when it came to carving shapes and
figures. Meradith also enjoyed making wooden
jewellery, but Ivan could make chairs and tables,
not with legs, but flat pieces of wood engraved
with shapes around the outside. Like Nathen he was
tall, with fairish hair and a muscular body, it
seemed a lot of the forest men were fair haired,
Ivan had quite a long beard, which he kept plaited
with strands of bear skin, he was also a good hunter and his family never went hungry.

Ivan was now very worried that they could be
attacked at any time. He sat Meradith down and
explained that they could not stay there a moment
longer. That night they packed the wagons by fire
light. Eventually everything they had was loaded
into the two wagons. They did not sleep all night
apart from Evelyne and Jay who slep soundly.

Ivan attached the horses Prince and Shadow to the
wagons, Meradith drove one wagon with the children
Bella and Fern in the back and Ivan drove the other
wagon with Evelyne and Jay. Ivan was worried about
Nathen, not knowing if he was dead or alive.

The chickens had been loaded into makeshift wooden
boxes with holes in and travelled with Bella and
Fern, also Neona the goat was quite settled laying
down in the back with the girls.

"Can you calm those chickens down?" called Ivan to
Meradith.
"There's nothing we can do, they just don't like
being so confused," replied Meradith.
"Well," said Ivan, "I just hope we don't come
across any bad hunters."

"I will take you as far away as possible, then when
I'm sure you are all safe, I will look for Nathen."
Meradith was frightened, "but what if the hunters
capture you aswell? we will be all alone, please
don't go Ivan."

Ivan got down from the wagon and climbed up onto
Meradith's, he took her in his arms and kissed her
gently.
"I have to look for Nathen for Evelyne's sake, you
must understand."
Meradith agreed that if it was the other way around
she would be frantic, so they set off, not quite
sure of where they were going, or where they would
end up.

To be continued ........