The Dawn of Darkness

The girl, Winnrey, went outside before sunrise. Everyone was just waking up for a long day of work. Deyna followed her to see what she was doing. Winnrey pulled an ornate wooden flute out of her pocket and blew. Three low, mysterious notes floated to Deyna’s ears. Then, a black figure appeared in the horizon. Flying closer and closer it looked like a black hawk. He had never seen one like it before. The hawk landed on her arm and she fixed something to its leg. Winnrey silently petted it for awhile. She then, lifted her arm and it flew away.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to hide from Me.” she said without turning to him. He hurried to walk beside her.

“Have you ever seen the sunrise from the treetops?” asked Deyna, thinking aloud. He blushed, realizing he’d spoken aloud.

“No.” She looked at him curiously with those lovely brown doe eyes.

“Well, come on! It’s really beautiful.” he said. She climbed up on to a branch and put out his hand. She took it and he pulled her up. With only a few scrapes and bruises they made it couple of branches shy of the top. The two sat together and waited silently for the sun to come up.

“It’s beautiful!” she breathed. The sun slowly rising, majestically changed the colors of the sky from black, to purple, to red, to orange to a rosy pink. His face lit up with the rising of the sun playing on his soft aureate curls.

“So are you two love birds going to sit here all day or are you coming down for breakfast?” laughed Zeek’s voice suddenly. From the higher branches, he swung down until he appeared in front of them wearing a devilish grin. Winnrey gasped in surprise and slipped off her perch. Zeek ran down the tree and caught her in his arms. Yes, he RAN down the tree. He spun around in circles until she was laughing for him to put her down.

“You’ll have to wait until you get back to the palace before you commit suicide, or your brothers will kill me!” he laughed.

“Put me down, pea brain!” she yelled.

“Yes your highness.” he said impudently, and unceremoniously dropped her. He ran back to Deyna’s house with Winnrey on his heels.

“You’re dead meat!” she yelled. Deyna ran after them to try to get some food before it was all eaten.

“Has Charlie eaten all of the food yet?” Deyna joked.

“Nope, not this time.” said Charlie, looking sad.

“Hurry up and get your food before it gets cold!” ordered Mrs. Orin. Deyna sat down with his plate piled high.

“Who was that letter for?” he asked Winnrey.

“It’s for my brothers and sister, the king and my other siblings of Terra. I decided to travel the world. You’d better not treat me differently!” she said.

“What were you doing outside so early in the morning?” asked Mr. Orin.

“I saw these two lovebirds watch the sunrise.” laughed Zeek.

“We ARE NOT lovebirds!” said Winnrey angrily. She slouched in her and folded her arms.

“Zeek, leave them be and eat!” Lauren spoke up, enjoying her new found voice.

“Come on, Winn. You know I was jokin’,” complained Zeek. She stuck her tongue at him. Zeek got up.

“Where are you going? You haven’t finished eat...” Winnrey’s voice trailed off, spying Zeek’s plate clear of all traces of crumbs.

Winnrey, Mrs. Orin, Laurel and Lauren, were left to clear the tables and wash the dishes. The guys went out to take care of the horses, feed the animals, start harvesting the crops, and gathering firewood. Zeek and Ditto helped as much as they could. They were luck enough to get the harvesting finished before the first snows began later that evening. Once all the chores were done, the boys hid out in the woods. Their plan was to ambush Winnrey with all the snowballs they created.

Winnrey stepped out of the house to see what the boys were doing. It was quiet, too quiet. The silence made the now ghostly forest more eerie than before. The silence exploded into a fury of mini snow avalanches. Winnrey stood there covered in snow. She looked like a snowman. Zeek walked up and place sticks for arms and rocks for the face on the “snowman”. Winnrey let out a muffled scream. The “snowman” exploded as she flailed. The boys scattered before her wrath.

“Run!” yelled Ditto.

“You are all in soooo much trouble!” she screamed, grabbing handfuls of snow. The snowball fight heated up as best it could in the freezing weather. They trooped in the house, soaking wet and stomping snow everywhere. Their laughter reached Mrs. Orin’s ears. She came in and shooed them to the fireplace, shooting towels and blankets at them like ammunition.

“You ruffians!!! Look at my rugs! They are SOAKING WET! Diabolus eats naughty children like you!” The robust, red haired woman stood with her hands on her hips, the force of a warrior radiating from her.

“Sorry.” They mumbled together. Mrs. Orin looked at their solemn faces and laughed.

“It’s okay. I’ll just air them out later.”