Chapter 2 - The Feel Of Bayton The sun began to blaze at the horizon, shining a soft yellow glow through the open window of a bedroom that faces east. The hard wooden floors bathed in the light, while the thing under the blanket in bed seemed to cower away from it. A groan came from under the woven blanket, it had stars and moons knitted into it, the red, orange and yellow wool sparkled off the dark background of blue making them look alive. The room was small and cramped, it was lightly furnished, an oak wardrobe loomed large in one corner of the room, it was old, tattered and had several chips in its dark wood. A simple dressing table lay against the wall beside the window, nothing special apart from the mirror that sat upon it. It shined like it was regularly cleaned, it was surrounded by a border of light wood with a pattern craved into it in the shape of pretty flowers with the stems wriggling down around the bottom of the mirror. A worn hand-me-down rug lay across the floor, it was dark red in colour, its corners turned up like it had kicked repeatedly and not really cared for, it was littered with holes where the mice had gotten to it. A young woman rose from under the blanket, kicking it to the end of the wooden bed with her feet. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, her wavy brunette hair stood up in its end in a disorganised fashion. She got up and made her way unsteadily towards the door, yawning once as she stepped across the hard cold floor. Pushing open the door, it lead to a large room which looked like lots rolled into one. There was a large wooden dining table situated in the centre of the room, the surrounding chairs had green hand made cushions on them to offer the slightest sense of comfort, each chair seemed to be a slightly different colour wood. She walked slowly towards the newly lit fire on a wall of the room, kneeling down she rubbed her hands together, trying to hold them in close. Only a few embers had to started flickering into #life, burning bright orange as the kindling caught a flame. A section of the room was cut off from the rest, surrounded by a small stone wall. Several counter tops stood with an iron stove in the middle, the door to the stove had hinges that would get stuck and sometimes you would have to pull really hard to overpower them. The young woman got up from the floor and walked to the other side of the room, her long pink nightdress rippled gently in the breeze coming from a broken window on the west side of the room. She approached the door, her fist lightly clenched, ready to knock. The door had a craving in it, the words were hand chipped with the blade of a short knife, it was a scruffy and yet delicate craving, it read 'Nadia Boarwood's Room - Be careful Nutter at work'. She shook her head and decide against waking her sister, she knew it would only make her grumpy. Instead she moved towards the front door, slipping her bare feet into a pair of tired looking brown walking boots at the doorstep and walked outside. Her boots met the damp, muddy porch floor boards with a clunk and a creak. She walked down the cobbled path and past the black stone wall circling her house. She took a left and walked up the street. The road was cobbled just like everywhere else, making it uncomfortable to walk on. She looked up at the sign hanging from two metal chains on opposite buildings. The sign read 'Welcome to the Village of Bayton', the yellow words stood out from the olive green background on which they were set, Sophia never liked the olive green, she thought it was an ugly colour, it reminded her of murky unclean water. Bayton was a small farming village in which the Boarwood family now lived, it housed only around fifty people and it was the sort of place where everyone knew everyone else. There were only four roads which met at a central town square, usually used as a marketplace where a few passing visitors could buy local produce. In the middle of the town square was an fountain, which had been there as long as the village had, it hadn't worked for a single day since Sophia moved to town, she found it almost sad and depressing, something that didn't have a purpose and couldn't do anything about it. The only buildings at the square were a few houses and an inn called 'The Blue Hornet', where Sophia and Nadia's mum, Esmeralda Boarwood, now worked. It was usually quiet but she enjoyed serving drinks to her regulars and playing piano for those who wanted to listen. When Esmeralda was a young woman she didn't have a lot of money so she didn't have a good education, but when she met and married Augustus Boarwood, who was the grandson of a well-respected noble at the time, she wanted to learn all sorts of skills instead of being a lowly housewife. Augustus loved her even more for that and the pair were inseparable. Esmeralda ended up learning how to knit and sew, how to cook spectacular meals, could talk in eight different languages and play the piano. Sophia took this walk through Bayton every morning, she felt that it reminded her of everything she lost. Nadia was too young to remember the grim details of the night they lost their father. But at the age of 15 Sophia remembered everything, she was now growing up and at the age of 21 she hoped that she would have got over it by now but this was not the case. She was still traumatised by the death of her father, she was a person quick to anger and looked for trouble wherever she went. She had a few friends throughout the village but was beginning to lose them because she didn't make time for them. She feared this deep down but didn't show it on the outside, she thought it made her weak. She had no ambitions about what she wanted to do with her #life or how she could ever leave this place. She loved her mother and sister with all her heart and she didn't want to let them down. She felt guilt over her fathers death, felt like she was the cause of it in some way, no matter how many times she convinced herself that that was stupid, the thought always managed to creep back into her mind, she wanted to be rid of it. Sophia Boarwood was away from the world when a noise from above startled her. Her head stood upwards and to the left to track the noise but the suspect was already gone. More scurrying behind her, she followed it but couldn't see who made it. A small what appeared to be an animal crawled from behind a barrel on the ground of the town square. It travelled on all fours, it caught Sophia's eyes and stopped dead like a rabbit in the eyes of the predator. Sophia held its stare and opened her mouth to talk but the creature quickly moved a step back. Across her face crept a nasty smile. She picked up a small pebble from the ground and threw it, hitting the intruder on the ankle. There was an immediate reaction and the creature leapt to its feet and ran away into an alley as fast as its legs could carry him. "That's it Tommy" Sophia shouted "You run back to the woods!" Tommy Sprakan was a homeless orphan, only 9 years of age. His parents died in a raid of their town by King Yunoki's soldiers, no one wanted to take him in so he ran away until he came across the woods near Bayton. He was fast, agile and nimble, a kid who did not stick around where he didn't want to be. He climbed up onto a nearby ledge and his thin arms just about managed to pull him up onto the nearest roof. He ran across the joined roofs with nothing more than a light pitta patter like a slight drizzle in the autumn. His eyes were fixed on the tree line on the edge of town and he was not going to stop till he got there. He leapt from the final roof, landing in a thorn bush near to the ground, he rolled out from under its branches. His arms bled dark red and as he rolled it smudged over the mud that was caked over his whole body. Even his dark black skin tone could not hide the grubby nature of his figure. He disappeared into the tree line, he was a child who could choose to be seen or not be seen whenever he wanted. He was a scared kid but the people of Bayton had nothing but love for him. They knew he was harmless and would always offer him food, a bed and kindness whenever he wanted it, very rarely he took up their offer and he would always be gone before morning light. He was mischievous as well, like to steal but only little trinkets and would always return them after a few days. He would keep him in a specially dug hole in his tent in the woods. I suppose you could call it a tent, he made it out of logs and a collection of thin sticks that he could find around him. He used a blanket of leaves for cover, he had picked from the floor and stuck them together using tree sap that often feel from the nearby Gillian trees. He may not have been academically intelligent but he knew how to survive, he had been this way since he was four years old. He was terrified of people and shied away from people, save for one, Nadia Boarwood. He wouldn't talk to anyone else but her and only in whispers. He rushed past Nadia's window and was quiet about it, climbing a nearby tree he sat and watched the rustle of the branches shock a sleeping Nadia into #life. She shot upwards, unlike her sister's, her room face north, away from the sun so the darkness meant she always slept later. Nadia was not a girl to waste the day. She got up quick as a mouse and folded her own blanket at the end of her bed. Hers was also woven but this one had vials of green and yellow liquid all over it, laying on a purple background. Her room has very neat compared to her sisters but there was no space was unused. Sheets of paper hung from every inch of the walls, they had diagrams, equations and notes written all over them. Most were hand written but some were pages carefully ripped from books. She had a dresser in one corner but no wardrobe, on top of the dresser was a big bookcase that stretched to the ceiling. Many books were crammed onto the shelf and some lay on top of others, she did not like to throw books away. They were not novels or stories, they were all educational, some full of information far beyond her supposed years. Nadia had shocked her mother and sister with her thirst for knowledge and her ambition to succeed. She had a dream to join the Guild of Science and Amotology 500 miles away in the city of Paciadan where her father had gone for just a semester before being hauled off to Fort Goran by his mother and grandfather. It would be unfair to say that Nadia had gotten over her fathers death but she didn't let it rule her #life, she only wanted to make him proud. She went over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of tacky shorts and a muddy shirt. She slipped these on and went over to the window. Staring outside, she caught the flash of a moving foot in the corner of her eye and smiled, opened the window slowly, trying not to make a noise, climbed out and bent down onto her knees on the ground. She turned her head to face upwards and looked through the thick and the thin branches of the towering tree that shadowed her house. She clutched one of the lower branches and pull it to test its sturdiness. Feeling confident, she climbed up and move through the tree, climbing higher with every movement. She stopped when she saw Tommy's face pop out from behind the trunk. She whispered "Morning Tommy, been up to no good again?" Tommy just held her eye and shook his head slowly. She waited patiently for him to say something but the words never came. She smiled and spoke quietly. "Would you like to play a game?" Tommy nodded his head, a mischievous smile appeared on his face. Tommy always likes to play games.