Update/ Within the Darkness: chapter 20

Hay Yall because of COVID 19 I am needing to take online courses. Because of this, I will be missing a weekend or two, sorry.

The village was oddly different from the last time either Maradith or Wallkery had remembered. A rudimentary wall and gate stretched around the homes and all of the houses that were along the river had proper doors with what looked to be spikes on the walls facing the river. The wall was a blockade of logs just taller than a person solidly fixed into the ground, there wasn’t any room for even an arrow to pass between the logs. The gate was wooden with metal reinforcements. And just inside of the gate a watchtower had been started. It was very apparent that the wall had been around for a while as there were sits in it from some previous attacks, they were on the border of the other kingdom. However, the gate was obviously new. Just outside of the gate was the tannery, where the villagers would take their leather to be scraped and stretched, for either selling or using for clothing.

As Wallkery neared the village front gate with Beast at her side, a mother that was tanning some leather herd her child shriek, apparently with delight, and turning around she shrieked and grabbed her child she ran further into the village. As the mother was trying to run the child kept struggling with her arms and trying to escape and go see the “Pretty doggie.” as she described it.

As the mother ran through the villages people turned their heads to watch her run and as she reached the blacksmith’s shop she cried “wolf!” and kept running in desperation carrying a child who kept asking “ Can we go see Pretty doggie, Please.” but the mother was running for home. Stalled the men stood just starring than quickly they grabbed any weapon that was within reach and rushed toward the front gate.

All of this happened fairly quickly but the blacksmiths chop as near the back gate so Maradith and Wallkery had time to prepare for what would most likely happen. they knew that the men would most likely come and try to fight Beast so Maradith ran ahead to explain whale Wallkery stayed with Beast outside of the gate. Sitting down facing Beast, Wallkery waited.

As Maradith reached the men she was quite out of breath, the men instantly thought that she had been running from the wolf, not stopping to listen to what she was saying which was something like “ Wolf……Beast……..safe…..” the men ran on to the gate. And Maradith decided that she needed to exercise more and taking a breath she started after the men.

Wallkery her rushing footsteps and turning she stood and seeing an army of men with weapons drawn she did the logical thing and Pulling her bow from shareholder and loosening her award in her sheath she notched an arrow and aimed.

When the men reached they saw a young woman who only one of them recognized the girl. As they got nearer they all stopped and stared as the woman had notched an arrow and the wolf had taken a defensive position. It was Bill Handson who eventually calmed things down. Sheathing his sword, he walked over, Wallkery remembered Bill from when she had fought him and as her grandfather had often said “You can always tell if you can trust someone by fighting them.” This was usually what he said before he trained with her, the bow was trained on the rest for the men.

When he reached the wolf, he bent to the level of the creature as it gave a low guttural growl. Looking into its eyes he seemed to be reading them and finally, his expression softened, reaching out his hand to rest on its head he spoke softly saying “calm” then standing he reached out and lowered Wallkery’s arm so the bow was no longer facing the men.