by MJ Schutte
Copyright 2011 by MJ Schutte
Smashwords Edition
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To Tracy
You give so much and ask for nothing in return.
My heart is yours, forever.
Table of contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 1
LILIAN CRAWLED AROUND the tree, trying to be as quiet as possible. She held her breath as she looked behind her. Her white dress was covered in mud but she didn’t care, as long as she stayed hidden. She turned her head forward again and looked straight into a pair of muscular legs. She scrambled to her feet and turned to run but a strong arm circled her waist and lifted her off the ground.
The man pulled her close to his chest.
A deep voice said softly, ‘Where are you going, little one?’
Lilian pounded her tiny fists against the thick, muscular arm around her waist but it was like hitting an oak tree.
‘Please put me down. PLEASE!’ she shrieked.
The man ignored her and started walking towards the river. Lilian pounded her fists even harder on the arm around her waist.
‘Put me down, you big ox,’ she screamed.
Again, there was no reaction from the man. Lilian decided to change tactics.
‘Please put me down,’ she pleaded in a sweet voice, ‘I promise to walk beside you and not be any trouble.’
Still the man ignored her and kept walking. As they reached the river, Lilian was still begging him to let her go.
‘So I should let you go?’ he snarled and proceeded to walk into the river. When he was about waist deep, he unceremoniously dumped Lilian into the cold water. She barely had time for one last scream before her head disappeared under the water.
Brighton waited with a grin on his face for Lilian to surface. Although he knew she had swum around his legs and already surfaced behind him, he didn’t turn around. It wasn’t that he saw her; instead, he sensed her presence behind him. He decided to act concerned. He reached down and felt under the water for her. It always made her feel special when he was concerned about her.
‘Lily!’ he called.
No answer.
‘LILY!’ he shouted louder.
‘Yes?’ came the voice from behind.
‘Lily! I thought you were drowning!’
‘Worried about me?’ she asked in a sweet voice.
‘Of course I am! You scared me half to death!’
‘Well, that’s what you deserve for finding me again and dumping me in the water,’ she told him, folding her arms across her chest.
She tried her best to look angry. It didn’t quite work.
‘You were dirty from crawling through the mud,’ Brighton defended.
‘And besides, the game is hide and find, not hide, find and then run away. Once I find you, the game is over but you always try to run. It was time to teach you a little lesson,’ he said waving his finger at her.
‘Yes, father,’ Lilian said sarcastically, rolling her eyes upward.
She tried to look down at what used to be a white dress. Although the water only reached up to Brighton’s waist, it came all the way up to her chest so she couldn’t really see much of the dirty dress. At thirteen years of age, she was a petite girl who still carried a slight bit of baby fat in her face. She had long, flowing, blonde curls that reached halfway down her back. Although she spent a lot of time out in the sun with Brighton, her skin was fair and unblemished. Her big eyes tipped by long, black eyelashes were a deep, cobalt blue and sparkled like sapphires.
Brighton was the complete opposite. At sixteen, he was tall and muscular. From age fifteen, he was already the tallest man in the village. He was just starting to grow a beard and some hair on his barrel-like chest matching his almost black hair. His skin was well tanned and there was not a hint of fat on his body.
Brighton and Lilian were playing hide and find in the woods near the village where they lived. Like every other time they played this, Lilian would go hide and then Brighton would find her. She never understood how he was able to do that. No hiding spot was ever good enough. The day before, she climbed to the top of the big oak tree in the middle of the woods thinking this was the perfect hiding place. She was still marvelling at her own genius when she saw Brighton at the top of the tree next to hers, waving at her with that silly, big grin on his face.
‘Take off that dress so I can wash it otherwise your mother might just break off my arm and give you a hiding with it,’ Brighton said.
Giggling a little Lilian made her way to the shallow water and started unbuttoning her dress.
‘I don’t think anyone could break your arm off. It’s as thick as a tree stump,’ she said.
Brighton lifted his arm and flexed his muscles, making a scary face. That brought fits of laughter from Lilian.
‘You’re not supposed to laugh. I’m trying to be scary,’ he complained.
Lilian laughed even harder. She couldn’t imagine Brighton being scary. He was always gentle with her. Brighton took off his shirt and tossed it onto the dry, smooth rocks next to the river. Lilian slipped out of the dress and held it out to him. Brighton didn’t notice; he was staring upriver to where the crossing was. A sense of danger washed over him for just a moment.
‘Here’s the dress Bri,’ she said.
She was the only one that called him “Bri”.
‘Now go lie down on a warm rock so your vest and undergarments can dry,’ Brighton instructed as he took the dress from her.
Lilian found a nice smooth spot and lay down in such a way that she could still see Brighton. He was furiously trying to wash out the mud stains from her dress. Lilian watched the muscles in his arms and chest flexing and suddenly had a strange feeling stirring in her stomach. It was as if a thousand butterflies were fluttering around inside her. Her eyes travelled upward to his face. This was not the first time she had this feeling while secretly watching Brighton. She asked her mother about it but, as usual, her mother did not have time for answering “silly questions”.
Brighton held up the dress. It was still very dirty so he dunked it in the water and tried again to get all the mud out. He did this a few more times until the dress was somewhat clean.
‘That’s better,’ Brighton declared, ‘It would have been easier with soap but this will have to do for now.’
Brighton hung the dress over a branch and walked over to Lilian. He shook his legs making drops of water fly everywhere.
‘NO BRI!’ Lilian shouted, ‘I’m almost dry!’
‘Sorr
y, you’re so small I didn’t see you there,’ Brighton teased.
‘That’s not funny!’ Lilian complained.
‘Ok, I’m sorry,’ he said quickly in a serious tone.
He knew Lilian didn’t like it when he teased her about her size, but sometimes he just couldn’t resist. Lilian was frowning at him, she looked very angry so Brighton decided to make it up to her.
‘Do you want me to brush your hair?’ he offered.
Her frown disappeared instantly, her anger forgotten.
‘Yes please,’ she purred as she sat up and turned her back towards him.
Brighton knew his offer would have the desired effect. He produced a hairbrush from his pocket and started working on the tangled mess of blond hair. Although it hurt a little to get the knots out, she did not complain for fear he might stop. Brighton always said she was pretty whenever her hair was neatly brushed out.
‘How come you have a hairbrush with you?’ Lilian asked.
‘To brush my hair,’ Brighton replied.
‘But you have short hair. It does not need brushing,’ she said.
‘Ok then, to brush your hair,’ Brighton admitted.
Lilian smiled to herself, thinking He is always so thoughtful.
Thomas watched the two children from across the river.
Brighton is not really a child anymore he thought.
As big as an ox and probably that strong.
Sitting on a rock, deep in the shadows and behind some undergrowth, he was certain that Brighton and Lilian could not see him.
‘Ok Brighton, let’s see if yesterday was just a coincidence,’ Thomas muttered to himself.
He gathered his thoughts and carefully started scouting the area for life with his mind. It was part of the talent he inherited from his ancestors. Just like them, he was able to feel other life forms around him. Lately he had been keeping his feeling for life to a minimum for fear that the Dark Ones will find him again, but yesterday he was certain Brighton sensed him while he was scouting the clearing where the goats grazed everyday. Thomas did not fear the Dark Ones, technically, he was one of them, but he did not want anything to do with them or their ways anymore.
His feeling reached the other side of the river and like before, he was able to detect Lilian but not Brighton. Even more disturbing was that Brighton’s head snapped up immediately. Thomas was sure Brighton was looking straight at him.
‘Impossible,’ he muttered.
He retracted his gift but still Brighton kept staring in his direction. Thomas didn’t move.
‘What’s wrong, Bri?’ Lilian asked dreamily when Brighton suddenly stopped brushing her hair.
The hot sun and rhythmic stroking had almost put her to sleep.
‘I thought I saw someone on the other side of the river,’ Brighton said.
‘On the other side? It is too far to see anyone there. I think you finally lost your mind,’ Lilian teased.
The joke seemed lost on him as he kept staring across the river.
‘Come; let’s go check on the goats. We can hang your dress up there to dry.’
Brighton retrieved the dress, picked up his shirt, took Lilian’s hand, and started towards the clearing.
Walking hand in hand with Brighton used to be the most natural thing in the world for Lilian but lately it’s been pure joy.
She loved the way his big, strong hand wrapped around her tiny hand made her feel safe.
He was truly the largest man she had ever seen and probably the strongest she thought.
Brighton looked down at Lilian as they walked.
‘Your hair looks nice like that. It makes you look very pretty,’ he said a bit awkwardly.
Lilian blushed and stuttered a thank you.
As they continued through the woods, Brighton stole quick glances at Lilian.
Although quite small for her age, she was growing into a very beautiful young woman.
He loved the way her long blonde curls swayed when she walked and how her deep blue eyes seemed to shine in contrast with her fair skin.
They reached the clearing and Brighton stepped behind her, put his hands on her hips, and lifted her up to sit on his shoulders.
‘Count the goats for me please?’ he asked.
Carefully she counted as if it was the most important job in the world.
After double-checking her tally, she said, ‘There is one missing.’
‘No, she is at the house. She will be giving birth soon, remember?’ Brighton reminded her.
‘Yes, now I remember.’
They spent the rest of the afternoon lying in the sun making up stories of all the great adventures they would go on together.
All too soon, the sun touched the top of the mountain and Brighton knew it was time to go home.
Once the sun disappeared behind the mountain, darkness came quickly in these parts.
This did not scare him; he was far more worried about his mother’s reaction if he got home too late.
The village was nestled in a relatively flat spot deep in the mountains. The only way to and from the little village was through a narrow pass to the east.
As far as everyone knew, there were no passes north, south, or west. It didn’t really matter though as this was effectively the western edge of the known world. The mountains stretched from the great sea in the north, all the way down to the great sea in the south. Nobody had ever crossed these mountains and returned. Some people claimed that there is only darkness beyond the mountains, but Brighton thought it to be a cruel attempt at scaring little children.
He could not imagine why anyone would want to leave here. This was the perfect place to live.
The town was surrounded by forests with a single path leading towards the east. It was only about half a day’s travel in any direction before you would reach the mountains. The town itself was little more than a random collection of wooden houses with some footpaths leading between them. Everywhere in the forest there were small clearings.
Brighton brought the goats out to one of these clearings everyday. The grazing was much better than close to town. The village was small, only a few hundred inhabitants. The mountains protected them from the winter cold to such an extent that it hardly ever snowed.
Although the official name was Clareton, everybody here referred to it as “Four Mountains” since it looked like the four mountain peaks surrounding it guarded the village.
Brighton sat up.
‘Someone is coming,’ he said slowly.
A few moments later Thomas appeared from out of the woods.
Instead of heading into town, he went straight towards Brighton and Lilian.
‘Isn’t he your cousin?’ Lilian asked.
‘No, he’s my mother’s uncle or something like that; I’m not really sure.’
When Thomas was close, Brighton got up and walked over to greet him.
‘Hello, Thomas,’ Brighton said to the old man.
‘Good day Brighton, good day Lilian,’ Thomas greeted back.
‘What brings you out this way?’ Brighton enquired.
‘I was looking for lemons on the other side of the river,’ Thomas said.
Brighton looked down at the obviously empty knapsack and frowned.
‘But I couldn’t find any,’ Thomas quickly added.
‘Next time I’ll go with you,’ Brighton offered.
‘Brighton knows where the best lemon trees are,’ Lilian boasted.
‘Thank you,’ Thomas smiled, ‘but that’s not why I came to greet you. On my way back, I saw a little white goat in the woods. I thought I recognized it as one of yours.’
Brighton looked at the goats grazing in the field and saw the white one was missing.
‘Yes, it looks like our white goat is missing. I’ll go look for her quickly.’
He turned to Lilian, ‘Lily, please take the rest of the goats home and tell mother I’ll be along soon. I have to go find that naughty goat. She is probably after those sweet, blue flowers t
hat only grow close to the oak trees.’
‘But I counted them and they were all here,’ Lilian quickly defended.
‘I know. She must have wandered off after that,’ Brighton smiled.
‘Shall I wait for you at your house?’ she asked.
‘No, that’s not necessary,’ Brighton replied.
A little disappointed, Lilian walked towards the goats and looked for the big ram. She knew that she only had to take the rope around his neck and lead him home for all the other goats to follow.
Brighton thanked Thomas and headed for the woods.
Thomas called after Lilian, ‘Wait for me; I’ll help you with the goats.’
She would have preferred to walk home with Brighton but since that wasn’t going to happen, she was happy for Thomas’ company.
To Lilian he looked as old as the biggest oak in the woods. He had long white hair and many wrinkles on his face. Although he walked without a limp or any difficulty, he always had a thick walking stick with him.
She liked him; he was always kind to her and quick to make a joke.
‘I don’t really need the help but would like the company,’ Lilian said when Thomas reached her.
‘I know you might not need help but maybe I do,’ Thomas replied, ‘Have you seen how old I am?’
Lilian put her hand over her mouth to hide the giggle escaping her lips. When she could control her voice again, she said innocently, ‘Old? I didn’t think you were more than a hundred years old.’
‘Oh, what I would give to be that young again,’ he teased.
This time Lilian couldn’t hide her giggling.
If only you knew how true that was, Thomas thought to himself.
Brighton headed straight for the spot where he knew the little white goat would be. Although darkness was falling quickly, it would be easy to see her completely white coat so Brighton wasn’t very worried about finding her. He reached the place where the blue flowers grew and looked around. It only took him moments to spot the goat and he started towards her. As he took the first step, a sense of extreme danger washed over him.
Brighton stopped dead and carefully looked everywhere.
