Dwellers of the New World Chapter Seventeen ( Pt 3 ) A Friend In Need

Ben approached the man with the boy and the owl on his shoulder, as Cinnamon made the introductions. “Ben! This is Brad and his son Simon.” The two men gazed at one another, unsure, until Brad finally broke the ice. He reached out his hand in welcome. “Pleased to meet you Ben, Cinnamon tells me you're in charge of the children.”

Ben wasn't sure he liked being referred to as the children's charge, the responsibility was more than he'd bargained for. “Well to be honest, I'd be grateful for some help, we have to get these children back to their families, but getting them passed the barracks could be a problem and some of the boys are too young to remember where they came from, which makes my job even more difficult. We also need horses and carts; I have two horses that could be useful, but we need more.”

Brad thought about how hard it had been for his travelling friends getting down to the bay, and the fact that Cinnamon was still being searched for; this wouldn't be an easy task, that's for sure. “I'm not really sure how I can help, but I'll do what I can, though it might take a while to get some horses and carts together, you see they belong to the locals down here and they need them to get to the plantations.”

“Any help would be good,” replied Ben, “the children can sleep on board the Flying Fish till we can sort something out.” Ben wasn't fazed by the fact they couldn't leave straight away, in fact he welcomed the idea of hanging around the coast, even though he missed Fern and Netty, being on the Ocean with all the trauma they'd been through, had taken its toll on him, he also was finding it hard to work out in his mind, what Varden had in store for Dawson.

“The quicker they get Dawson to this cave, the sooner he'll get well,” uttered Cinnamon, watching the others resting down on the shore.

Varden had told Addie that he knew of someone who could help Dawson, he'd said that as soon as they landed, they should take him to meet his friend Si, though Varden had been worried in case his friend would get angry for telling others of his hiding place, but the boy hoped Si would be okay about it, knowing that Dawson would be healed once he swam in the healing waters within the cave. This was exactly where they would be heading once they caught their breath.

“Can I go with them! Please – please Father!” Begged Simon, tugging on his father's sleeve.

Brad wasn't convinced that leaving his son with these people was the best course of action. “No Son! Not now – when we get back from the plantation, we'll both go with these people, that I know you're so desperate to help, but now we've work to do.”

Putting his head down, Simon looked sulkily at the sand, digging his heals in, but knew his Father wouldn't change his mind, so decided he had no choice but to accept his decision.

Brad turned to Ben before they left, telling him of their plans. “We're working up at the plantation today, while I'm up there I'll ask around, see if anyone would mind lending us their horse and cart. We'll see you either later on today, or tomorrow morning – if that's okay?”

“That would be fine,” replied Ben. “I'll also be bedding down on the ship tonight. Your help will be valuable – thank you.”

“What about you?” Said Brad, fixing his eyes on Cinnamon and wondering how her parents must be feeling.

“Oh!” She shrugged her shoulders, pretty sure she wasn't going home. “I'm staying here until I know more about Dawson, I want to be there when they return to the ship, though I've no idea how they'll manage to get to the cave. I've come too far to miss a thing, it's all very exciting!” She proclaimed, rubbing her hands together.

Brad understood her excitement, but was still worried about her family. “What about your parents? Aren't you at all concerned for them?”

Cinnamon became agitated at his questions. “I don't know how things are back home – if I do return, my parents will only tell me to get back to work, but I don't want to work for any man who can steal children from their families – I'm sure my parents will understand when they find out what kind of person Gregor is.”

Brad was inclined to agree with her and said as much, but decided not to talk any more on the subject. “Well – we must be going, got a busy day ahead of us, we'll see you later.” He took his son's hand leading him up the beach. “Come on Simon.”

Cinnamon could perceive the sad expression on the boy's face. “We'll definitely see you later Simon – I'll look forward to it!” She sent a huge smile the boy's way and waved. “Come on Will,” she voiced, let's go join the others.”

The fog was setting in again as they returned to the children, who were now running amok all over the place, desperate to be playing.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Seventeen ( Pt 4 ) Helping Hands | ABCtales